Osamu Oboro
Super-Earth
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2010
(This post is probably going to be a bit longer than most, so I apologize in advance. This will contain Sam's history and current predicament)
Sam sighed and began his story, "Sorry, Emma, but I have to backtrack here quite a ways. And some of it will seem egotistical, but please believe me when I say it's show some key underlying concepts. Anyway, when I was a child, science was my dream. I loved every aspect of it; the experimentation, the discovery, the learning, all of it. So it comes as no surprise to me now, when I think back on how everyone used to say I was so gifted. In truth, everything just seemed to fit, I didn't see it as anything special. My mother, Kassandra, was so supportive of me. We had only each other, my father having lost a battle with prostate cancer."
At this he started to sob a bit, but got himself back under control. Taking a deep shuttering breath he continued, "She did everything in her power to support me, and I did everything I could to be the perfect son for her, the woman who was sacrificing so much to provide for me. One day she took me to her work, a chemical engineering firm called Synthetics, Inc. Ironically at her job it was "Bring your daughter to work" day. She sat me in front of a computer and showed me what she did, which was modeling chemical compounds and how they interacted with one another. I was only ten at the time, so my memory of the exact detail is a bit murky. but I can remember her being stuck on some incredibly complex syntheses. I then spoke up, telling her what would later be found to be the correct compounds. The point of these syntheses was to develop a more effective anti-cancer drug. She was surprised at first, but then ran the simulations and found them to work even better. The people she worked with only laughed at her when she presented her findings, saying that those reactions would never work. She, being the passionate woman she was, kept pushing to everyone, including her supervisor, and ended up getting fired two days later, for no reason at all. Her boss said that they couldn't have an idealist in the company. She's off of work for six months, barely managing to scrape by. After six months of hardship, she gets a call from her boss, telling her that she was right. He begs her to come back, promising her bigger pay and a promotion to boot. She then tells him it was me who made the presumption, and hung up on him. I felt terrible, I honestly believed at that time that it was my fault my mother got fired. And as much as she tried to tell me otherwise, I didn't believe her. I still don't believe."
Sam started to choke up again, but took a shuttering breath and forged on, "She then fell ill to cancer herself. It was as if irony had a sick sense of humor; the synthesis she gave to her boss was the only thing that could save her life, but the bastard that was her supervisor threw it away when she rejected coming back. She held on for as long as she could, but eventually it took her. I sat by her side everyday until she expired. Being still a kid, I was incredibly naive, telling her that I would cure her and make her all better. One of the nurses, Candice, worked part-time as a secretary over at ChemTek and knew my mom personally. I had seen her several times when she came over to visit. She offered my mom to take me as her legal ward, and before I knew it, I was now this woman's adopted child. But that's not all; she actually salvaged the scans from my mom's computer and took them. Apparently she overheard me telling my mother what compounds should be used, and fought my case for me. I was still upset from seeing my mother die, so I didn't appreciate just how much effort she put in for me until much later. For days Candice and I were hounded by people, trying to get us to do interviews, talk shows, newspaper articles. Eventually we gave in and did a short newspaper interview, which we quickly realized to be a huge mistake. It caused huge legal battles, with watchdog agencies claiming that no child could have figured out how to create this drug and it must have been a fluke. Other competitors tried to discredit the research, stating that their tests called it flawed. Candice and I campaigned hard for the use of the new compound, but it was eventual that we lost."
Sam bowed his head dejectedly and clenched his hands in obvious frustration, "It was from that moment on I vowed to try and make the world better, one where medical companies and petty legal fights wouldn't be a factor in determining what sick or injured people survived or died. Coupled with the pain of loss of my mother, I became engrossed with biochemistry and genetics, trying to learn what I could. If there is a cure for something, it should be available to everyone, that was my philosophy. Then, two years later, two days after my twelfth birthday, I got a letter from Harvard. They had heard of me, the 'child prodigy' as I was called, who created the miracle cure for cancer. They offered to pay for all of my expenses, food, housing, tuition, you name it; but the fine print stated I had to be accompanied by a legal guardian until I was sixteen. Candice offered to be said guardian, and I accepted. Everyday, Candice and I went to classes from that point, and in four years she left, stating I was old enough now and could take care of myself. I had grown rather attached to her, so it felt like I was losing my mother all over again. One year after she left, I had finished graduate school with highest honors and got two Ph.Ds, one in cellular biochemistry and the other in genetics."
Sam took another breath and continued, "Being the youngest Harvard graduate at the time, I was extremely popular among medical companies, especially those delving into genetics. Again, irony was practically spitting in my face. I wanted nothing to do those people, not after they basically told everyone who could have been saved all those years ago to fuck off. Instead, I created my own vaccines and medications, ones that weren't based purely on synthetic chemicals. These were unique because they used the cause's own defense mechanisms against it, forcing it to slowly die out and the patient to get better. To clarify the term cause, I mean for illnesses things like bacteria, viruses and other pathogens, and in cancer, the chaotic unbounded division of body cells. It took me four years, but eventually, after countless more of those accursed battles with watchdog agencies and competing medical companies, I managed to get my products distributed worldwide, and reduced the worldwide rates of cancer, AIDS, cholera and the like by over 80%. The masses hailed my name, to them I was a hero. But to the big businesses, I was public enemy number one. They hound me to this day, looking for anything to discredit me and get thrown in prison. And now that I'm basically creating a substitute for prosthetic limbs and plastic surgery, I have those people on my ass too. They've all joined forces and are out to get me."
Sam chuckled, "I believe Albert Einstein said it best, 'Great spirits will always encounter violent opposition from mediocre minds.' I wouldn't call my pursuers mediocre, they're incredibly brilliant. But their greed and lust for power and control cloud their judgment and make them forget the true purpose of medicine: to help people."
Sam breathed in once more, "And now we have this procedure. After months of testing and experimentation, I figured out a way to reform peoples bodies and generate tissue without painful, wasteful surgery. This procedure basically turns the body to clay and allows the surgeon to mold it to whatever the patient specifies. The surgeon can then use 'Miracle mass to add tissue where it is needed. Then he can resolidify the patient and have them out of the clinic in less than a day, regardless of the extensiveness of the procedure. This was especially popular with females, who wanted to reform their bodies to give them more self-confidence. I agreed to their requests, and did the procedure, tweaking my formula as I went along. Then, the religious groups got into an uproar over my research, saying that I was committing a sin against God for reforming 'his grand design'. Naturally they tried their damnedest to get me off the experimental scene, but I prevailed. They still hound me to this day, sending me death threats and threatening to have me thrown in prison for my 'crimes', Then, as if things weren't difficult enough, about eight months ago, I had two female patients, each separated by a period of about two months. The first one wanted the same thing you did, a breast augmentation. After she woke up in recovery, she experienced the nymphomania as well. And no matter how many times I tried the knockout medicine, it didn't work, so I 'released' her. She wasn't happy about that, called me a rapist and a slaver, and told the authorities. I almost went to prison, but then a good friend of mine came forward and saved my ass. The case was dismissed as a warning, although I did feel bad, so I offered the woman monetary compensation. She accepted, but the watchdogs kept tabs on me, even to this day. The second case was the butch woman I told you about when we first met, and it went the same way again. So now here I am with two strikes on my record, and the judge told me if this happens again, my ass is going to the big house."
Sam sighed, "And there you have it. My entire life story up to this point. I really hope it answered a lot of questions for you."
(Well, hopefully that shed some light on his motivation and the reason why he feels so guilty all the time.)
Sam sighed and began his story, "Sorry, Emma, but I have to backtrack here quite a ways. And some of it will seem egotistical, but please believe me when I say it's show some key underlying concepts. Anyway, when I was a child, science was my dream. I loved every aspect of it; the experimentation, the discovery, the learning, all of it. So it comes as no surprise to me now, when I think back on how everyone used to say I was so gifted. In truth, everything just seemed to fit, I didn't see it as anything special. My mother, Kassandra, was so supportive of me. We had only each other, my father having lost a battle with prostate cancer."
At this he started to sob a bit, but got himself back under control. Taking a deep shuttering breath he continued, "She did everything in her power to support me, and I did everything I could to be the perfect son for her, the woman who was sacrificing so much to provide for me. One day she took me to her work, a chemical engineering firm called Synthetics, Inc. Ironically at her job it was "Bring your daughter to work" day. She sat me in front of a computer and showed me what she did, which was modeling chemical compounds and how they interacted with one another. I was only ten at the time, so my memory of the exact detail is a bit murky. but I can remember her being stuck on some incredibly complex syntheses. I then spoke up, telling her what would later be found to be the correct compounds. The point of these syntheses was to develop a more effective anti-cancer drug. She was surprised at first, but then ran the simulations and found them to work even better. The people she worked with only laughed at her when she presented her findings, saying that those reactions would never work. She, being the passionate woman she was, kept pushing to everyone, including her supervisor, and ended up getting fired two days later, for no reason at all. Her boss said that they couldn't have an idealist in the company. She's off of work for six months, barely managing to scrape by. After six months of hardship, she gets a call from her boss, telling her that she was right. He begs her to come back, promising her bigger pay and a promotion to boot. She then tells him it was me who made the presumption, and hung up on him. I felt terrible, I honestly believed at that time that it was my fault my mother got fired. And as much as she tried to tell me otherwise, I didn't believe her. I still don't believe."
Sam started to choke up again, but took a shuttering breath and forged on, "She then fell ill to cancer herself. It was as if irony had a sick sense of humor; the synthesis she gave to her boss was the only thing that could save her life, but the bastard that was her supervisor threw it away when she rejected coming back. She held on for as long as she could, but eventually it took her. I sat by her side everyday until she expired. Being still a kid, I was incredibly naive, telling her that I would cure her and make her all better. One of the nurses, Candice, worked part-time as a secretary over at ChemTek and knew my mom personally. I had seen her several times when she came over to visit. She offered my mom to take me as her legal ward, and before I knew it, I was now this woman's adopted child. But that's not all; she actually salvaged the scans from my mom's computer and took them. Apparently she overheard me telling my mother what compounds should be used, and fought my case for me. I was still upset from seeing my mother die, so I didn't appreciate just how much effort she put in for me until much later. For days Candice and I were hounded by people, trying to get us to do interviews, talk shows, newspaper articles. Eventually we gave in and did a short newspaper interview, which we quickly realized to be a huge mistake. It caused huge legal battles, with watchdog agencies claiming that no child could have figured out how to create this drug and it must have been a fluke. Other competitors tried to discredit the research, stating that their tests called it flawed. Candice and I campaigned hard for the use of the new compound, but it was eventual that we lost."
Sam bowed his head dejectedly and clenched his hands in obvious frustration, "It was from that moment on I vowed to try and make the world better, one where medical companies and petty legal fights wouldn't be a factor in determining what sick or injured people survived or died. Coupled with the pain of loss of my mother, I became engrossed with biochemistry and genetics, trying to learn what I could. If there is a cure for something, it should be available to everyone, that was my philosophy. Then, two years later, two days after my twelfth birthday, I got a letter from Harvard. They had heard of me, the 'child prodigy' as I was called, who created the miracle cure for cancer. They offered to pay for all of my expenses, food, housing, tuition, you name it; but the fine print stated I had to be accompanied by a legal guardian until I was sixteen. Candice offered to be said guardian, and I accepted. Everyday, Candice and I went to classes from that point, and in four years she left, stating I was old enough now and could take care of myself. I had grown rather attached to her, so it felt like I was losing my mother all over again. One year after she left, I had finished graduate school with highest honors and got two Ph.Ds, one in cellular biochemistry and the other in genetics."
Sam took another breath and continued, "Being the youngest Harvard graduate at the time, I was extremely popular among medical companies, especially those delving into genetics. Again, irony was practically spitting in my face. I wanted nothing to do those people, not after they basically told everyone who could have been saved all those years ago to fuck off. Instead, I created my own vaccines and medications, ones that weren't based purely on synthetic chemicals. These were unique because they used the cause's own defense mechanisms against it, forcing it to slowly die out and the patient to get better. To clarify the term cause, I mean for illnesses things like bacteria, viruses and other pathogens, and in cancer, the chaotic unbounded division of body cells. It took me four years, but eventually, after countless more of those accursed battles with watchdog agencies and competing medical companies, I managed to get my products distributed worldwide, and reduced the worldwide rates of cancer, AIDS, cholera and the like by over 80%. The masses hailed my name, to them I was a hero. But to the big businesses, I was public enemy number one. They hound me to this day, looking for anything to discredit me and get thrown in prison. And now that I'm basically creating a substitute for prosthetic limbs and plastic surgery, I have those people on my ass too. They've all joined forces and are out to get me."
Sam chuckled, "I believe Albert Einstein said it best, 'Great spirits will always encounter violent opposition from mediocre minds.' I wouldn't call my pursuers mediocre, they're incredibly brilliant. But their greed and lust for power and control cloud their judgment and make them forget the true purpose of medicine: to help people."
Sam breathed in once more, "And now we have this procedure. After months of testing and experimentation, I figured out a way to reform peoples bodies and generate tissue without painful, wasteful surgery. This procedure basically turns the body to clay and allows the surgeon to mold it to whatever the patient specifies. The surgeon can then use 'Miracle mass to add tissue where it is needed. Then he can resolidify the patient and have them out of the clinic in less than a day, regardless of the extensiveness of the procedure. This was especially popular with females, who wanted to reform their bodies to give them more self-confidence. I agreed to their requests, and did the procedure, tweaking my formula as I went along. Then, the religious groups got into an uproar over my research, saying that I was committing a sin against God for reforming 'his grand design'. Naturally they tried their damnedest to get me off the experimental scene, but I prevailed. They still hound me to this day, sending me death threats and threatening to have me thrown in prison for my 'crimes', Then, as if things weren't difficult enough, about eight months ago, I had two female patients, each separated by a period of about two months. The first one wanted the same thing you did, a breast augmentation. After she woke up in recovery, she experienced the nymphomania as well. And no matter how many times I tried the knockout medicine, it didn't work, so I 'released' her. She wasn't happy about that, called me a rapist and a slaver, and told the authorities. I almost went to prison, but then a good friend of mine came forward and saved my ass. The case was dismissed as a warning, although I did feel bad, so I offered the woman monetary compensation. She accepted, but the watchdogs kept tabs on me, even to this day. The second case was the butch woman I told you about when we first met, and it went the same way again. So now here I am with two strikes on my record, and the judge told me if this happens again, my ass is going to the big house."
Sam sighed, "And there you have it. My entire life story up to this point. I really hope it answered a lot of questions for you."
(Well, hopefully that shed some light on his motivation and the reason why he feels so guilty all the time.)