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Potion of Eternal Youth

Cool air blew on Axel's surprised face as the door opened. Dozens of similar suit-clad scientists were bustling around the aquarium which through the length of the room of the room.

Only one word came to Axel's mind, "Wow!"

"Yes, truly a place to be amazed by." said a grinning Mr.Rahul.

One of the many scientists, walked towards Axel, "Hello, Mr.Axel. My name is Dr. Hitoshi Kagawa. I'll explain to you, the working of this amazing potion." Saying this he took out a vial from his pocket, containing a dense, pinkish liquid.

Axel couldn't say anything; he was still dumbstruck by the fact that such a thing had been discovered. He just extended his hand and shook with the scientist.

Dr.Kagawa started his explanation, "Starting first with the reason why we age and finally die. Surprisingly, the very thing that keeps us alive kills us; oxygen. Yes, the one thing without which a human cannot survive for more than a few seconds kills it. The reason? When oxygen reacts with the brook down food particles in our body; glucose, amino acids, etc, certain oxides are produced, mainly nitrogenous oxides, which are poisonous and cause aging and ultimately death. Most of these oxides are passed out of the body through urine but still some amount is left behind in the body. Therefore it is said that one should eat food rich in anti-oxidants to make one look youthful. There are anti-oxidants found in grapes, fish, etc."

"Then shouldn't eating these be enough to slow down, or pause aging?" ,asked Axel.

"No, it wouldn't as these anti-oxidants are weak and are present in minimal quantity. So we searched for answers in the bodies of many long living organisms. First we found a high level of ant-oxidants in Great Basin Bristlecone pines. The anti-oxidants were pretty powerful, 65% strength. It was strong enough to drastically slow down aging but still it wasn't strong enough to completely stop aging. After years of research we finally found our answer in the Turritopsis Dohrnii, more commonly called the immortal jellyfish, which is known to be the longest-living creature and could potentially live on forever without dying of old age with the high concentration of anti-oxidants it has, a staggering 95%!"

"Shouldn't that be poisonous? Wouldn't it completely absorb all oxygen?"

"For a humans, yes, which we found out only after a death of one of the people on whom we were testing on. After that we have never tested on a human ever. We found out that cats have almost exactly same tolerance for anti-oxidants: humans can tolerate up to 91% while cats can tolerate up to 90%. But thankfully after that we have had no deaths."

"So how did you 'reduce' the concentration?"

"Well we added the two extracts to get the perfect balance. Using 5 parts of the jellyfish extract and 1 part pine, extract we reached a perfect 90% concentration and reached this magnificent little potion."

The scientist took a deep breath and continued, "After being tested on cats and declared safe it was tested again on humans; I had volunteered myself to not allow death of innocents, and now I am the first human to have his aging stopped. Of course the effect will get diminished in 2-3 years and then I'll have to swallow the contents of this little vial here and again my aging will be stopped."

"If the tests have worked out safely why hasn't it been sent through to all the SIEVE bases and in fact into the outside world?" asked Axel.

"Well, we still do not know if there are any side effects or not, I had only taken the potion three months ago. After the effect will have worn off, my body will be scanned for any side-effect and if none are detected this will be made public. Of course, till then manufacture will continue side by side."

"SIEVE never fails to surprise me, first the particle displacer, then the overpowered bombs, followed by the modified virus and of course this potion. Simply amazing!" said a thoroughly wonderstruck Axel.

The other laughed and said, "I am not boasting, but I have to agree with you!"

"Also I had one more question, is this effective against diseases as such?"

"Ah yes, I forgot to tell you about this downside which we are working on to eliminate; this potion is useless against diseases and radiation effects. Two of SIEVES employees, one who had received a heavy dose of radiation while working on the bombs while the other who had contracted Ebola had been brought here, we tried the potion on but it failed and now we have lost both of them. We already knew that this won't be effective against diseases as it is not caused by oxidation and therefore anti-oxidants won't work. After that we have started working on another portion." Saying this Dr. Kagawa headed to the far corner of the room

There was a huge setup with numerous tubes filled with a light greenish bubbly fluid. The scientist continued, "Well, one of the few incurable diseases left is AIDS caused by the HIV, which you already have seen has been decoded by us. In that process we have got our hands on the toxin secreted by the virus to dissolve the membrane and penetrate the human body cell. We then chemically decoded the toxin and then finally came up with the perfect anti-toxin which completely neutralizes the effect of its counterpart. So since HIV has the strongest toxin in the world, the anti-toxin we have produced is the strongest anti-toxin in the world, strong enough to even kill the weaker viruses. But yes, it has similar problems like the potion of eternal youth; an overdose can theoretically kill you. Another thing is it can act as a cure."

Axel got surprised, "But isn't this supposed to a cure?"

"This potion can completely immunize your body after we have completed tampering with it and finally testing it but just like the other potion, which can stop ageing but not reverse it, this potion can save you from diseases but not cure them.", explained the other.

Just then Mr.Rahul came walking in , "Well Axel it looks a s if your times up. Follow me I'll take you back up, your car will be waiting for you. Your flight is timed to depart at 9:30. The only time slot free of air traffic."

Axel looked at his watch, "But it's just 5:30. Why am I leaving so early?"

"Well at 6 o'clock the office rush starts and the usual 1 hour ride will become a tiring 3 hour long journey."

Axel remembered the right to the base and a grin crept on his face, "Well, let's not keep anything to luck."

Bidding adieu to Dr.Kagawa, Axel headed back up with the Mumbai head. The same driver was waiting in the shack but he was caught taking a snooze and therefore received a scolding from his boss. Even though Mr. Rahul was screaming him at the driver in Hindi, it did seem like the same scene that he had witnessed in Accra.

Even after leaving early Axel still got caught in traffic and caught a catnap in the car. Next thing he knew, he was somehow dragging his drowsy self up the airplane staircase.

As the pilot revved up the engines, Axel asked, "Where off to now? As far as I know, are we going to the New York base?"

"No sir. Unluckily your mission was advanced and so no more sight-seeing for you"

Ahh, finally action!

This was his last thought as he again drifted off into sleep.