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Suddenly he's got my attention; finally, something worth listening to. “I'd be willing to do that."
"You understand that this is purely for investigational purposes, not therapeutic. You may benefit from
it with further gains in your intelligence, but this is not medically necessary for your health."
"I understand. I suppose I have to sign a consent form."
"Yes. We can also offer you some compensation for participating in this study.” He names a figure, but
I'm barely listening.
"That'll be fine.” I'm imagining where this might lead, what it might mean for me, and a thrill runs
through me.
"We'd also like you to sign a confidentiality agreement. Clearly this drug is enormously exciting, but
we don't want any announcements to be made prematurely."
"Certainly, Dr. Shea. Has anyone been given additional injections before?"
"Of course; you're not going to be a guinea pig. I can assure you, there haven't been any harmful side
effects."
"What sort of effects did they experience?"
"It's better if we don't plant suggestions in your mind: you might imagine you were experiencing the
symptoms I mention."
Shea's very comfortable with the doctor-knows-best routine. I keep pushing. “Can you at least tell me
how much their intelligence increased?"
"Every individual is different. You shouldn't base your expectations on what's happened to others."
I conceal my frustration. “Very well, Doctor."
* * * *
If Shea doesn't want to tell me about hormone K, I can find out about it on my own. From my terminal
at home I log on to the datanet. I access the FDA's public database, and start perusing their current
INDs, the Investigational New Drug applications that must be approved before human trials can
begin.
The application for hormone K was submitted by Sorensen Pharmaceutical, a company researching
synthetic hormones that encourage neuron regeneration in the central nervous system. I skim the
results of the drug tests on oxygen-deprived dogs, and then baboons: all the animals recovered
completely. Toxicity was low, and long-term observation didn't reveal any adverse effects.
The results of cortical samples are provocative. The brain-damaged animals grew replacement
neurons with many more dendrites, but the healthy recipients of the drug remained unchanged. The