Mathematicians and Scientists (Saanvi×Ben)

Chapter 16: Efforts and Experiments

Saanvi

I wake up with a slight feeling there's something wrong. I can't quite put my finger on what it is given that everything about the moment is theoretically perfect. 

Ben and I fell asleep watching Titanic yesterday afternoon. At some point I must have put my feet up on the couch and eneded up half laying on his lap. Ben is still asleep so I try to be still and not wake him up, but something feels off.

That's when I realize it's Monday! I look at the clock on the wall. It reads 9:00.  We should've left for work over an hour ago.

"Ben! We're later for work!" I tell him.

We both rush around aimlessly.  We're already an hour late, and there's not much we can do about it.

Within 10 minutes, we are both ready to go. We jump in the car and Ben drives. We get to the Research center in 15 minutes. When we walk in, the head doctor, Dr. Wright asks to speak with us. 

"Dr. Bahl, Mr. Stone, you two better have a rather good reason for showing up an hour and a half late from work."  She says.

"I'm so sorry, Dr. Wright. We went on a trip this weekend and got back yesterday. Both of us forgot to set an alarm, and we came over as soon as we woke up and realized what had happened. It won't happen again. " I say.

"Do you know what the typical punishment is for people who aren't on time to their jobs?" She asks. Then looks me in the eye. "They get fired. "

"Look, Dr. Wright. It was my fault. We only went on this trip in the first place because of my son - the one with Leukemia that you guys have been treating. We should've come back earlier and I should've set an alarm. Don't blame Saanvi. "

"There is no need to play the blame game. I just wanted an explanation.  I will let it slide this once. But if it happens again, there will be consequences. Now you two get to work. " She says and walks away.

"That was close," I say lightheartedly as I look at Ben. He looks upset. "What's wrong?"

"I almost got you in trouble." He says. "This relationship is supposed to be good. I'm supposed to help you, support you. But instead, you could've lost your job because of me."

"It's not your fault. I forgot to set an alarm too."

"It is my fault.  I asked you to stay. If you had gone home, you wouldn't have forgotten. I should've been more responsible. "

"It's not a big deal, okay? Stuff happens. Don't blame yourself. " I say. He still looks sad, but we don't have time for this right now. "We need to get to work now. "

He nods his head and walks away.

I've never seen him like that - so disappointed in himself. I don't like it.

But I need to get to work. I head into my lab and look at the DNA sequencing results. To my surprise, it looks like the DNA anomaly can be eliminated. The rat that I tested on lived, and he has no traces of the anomaly whatsoever. 

The next step after testing on animals is to do human testing. I don't have a ton of options given that there are only 192 people in the world with the anomaly.  It would be wrong to test on anyone else. I decide I have to experiment on myself.

I take the same concoction I gave the rat and put it in the syringe. I decide to start with a small dose. I inject 2 mL into my arm.

I feel a bit lightheaded, but mostly fine. I decide to work on some other paperwork for a bit while I give it time to take effect.  I have an endless stack of paperwork on cancer patients I haven't filed yet.

Before I know it, 2 hours have passed. Someone knocks on the door.

"Come in." I say.

Ben walks in. He looks better from earlier.

"So I see you've finally decided to get a start on all that paperwork. What made you decide to do that?" He says.

"Oh. Nothing.  I say. I just didn't have much else to be doing."

I decide not to tell him about experimenting on myself. I have a feeling he wouldn't like it.

"Oh come on. You never do paperwork. You always leave it for the low level interns. What's really going on?"

I didn't take into account that I can't lie to him. He already knows something is up. I might as well tell him.

"I think I found a way to eliminate the DNA anomaly safely.  Well, in a rat. So I decided to test a low dosage on myself, and I am waiting for it to take effect.  "

I look at him, and he looks scared but also slightly mad.

"You can't experiment on yourself, Saanvi! It isn't safe. You could get hurt. We will find a way to survive the death date that doesn't involve putting ourselves in harms way, okay? Promise me you won't experiment on yourself anymore?"

"Okay. I won't." I say.

I don't want to worry him. Maybe he will find a way for us to survive the death date. I don't intend to stop experimenting, but I can at least do it carefully. 

"Mick said she wants me to come over when I get a free minute so I'm going to go over there for a while. I'll be back to pick you up before you get off though."

"Okay." I reply. "Let me know how it goes. "

He touches my shoulder for a minute. "Be safe. " he says.

Once he walks out, I decide to at least find the results of the testing I already did on myself. I'm not technically lying to Ben since this is not doing more testing.

I take a sample from my DNA and run it through the sequencer. I go back to my paperwork since the sequencer takes several hours to run.

***

A few hours later, I look at the results. They show that there are less trace amounts of the marker. This means the experiment worked. Using a higher dosage may even eliminate it completely. 

I know that I promise Ben I would stop experimenting on myself,  but finding a cure could save him. And all the rest of the passengers. One broken promise won't outweigh the decades we could spend together if this is successful.

I up the dosage to 10 mL and inject it into my arm. I immediately feel dizzy. I try to sit down, but I just fall. I reach for my phone and dial Ben's number, but I'm out before he picks up.