Panacea Chapter 9

by J.R. Wagner

Click for original photo source

I strongly recommend reading chapters 1-7 before continuing

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6 
Chapter 7 
Chapter 8


I ran to Tessa (more like a shuffle at this point) and attempted to pull her off the man she was beating with her bloodied fists.  Tears were streaming down her face as she screamed and struck the man.  Eventually I had to tackle her to get her off the guy, who had long since fallen unconscious.

 We both fell to the ground. She rolled me onto my back and was on top of me before I knew what was happening.  She had her fist raised, her clenched hand was dripping blood, and I was pretty sure she was about to start wailing on me. She had a crazy look in her eyes.

"Tessa," I said as calmly as possible. (I was far from calm.)

She paused there for a moment as if she were considering the sound of my voice and then fell into a heap and began to cry.  I tried to comfort her but the instant I touched her, she pushed me away.  So, I left her to her emotional purging and decided to see if I could find anything of interest on the unconscious man laying a few feet away.

I rolled over to his side (What? It's easier than getting up, walking a few steps and then stooping back down -gotta think of the knees!) and sat up.  I made it a point not to look at his face, which was beaten worse than I'd seen anyone beaten before.  That girl's got major issues, I thought as I rummaged through his exterior pockets. 

I found a couple of high-capacity magazines, one of those pre-threaded dental flossers (pink), some sugar free gum (must have a clean mouth obsession) and an ID card.

just like this

 I had to do a double take on the ID card.  The photo looked familiar.  It was Tessa's dad.  I put it in the pile with all the other junk I'd collected and checked the over-sized pockets in his pants. Nothing interesting. A tooth brush and a small tube of toothpaste -the little ones your dentist gives out after you've had a cleaning.

The man's hands began to twitch a bit and I decided I was done with my search, so, picking up the magazines, the flosser and the ID card, I returned (yes, I actually got up and walked) to Tessa's side, who was now on her knees and wiping the tears from her face.

"I found this," I said carefully laying my booty on the ground beside her (except for the flosser, which I began working on my teeth).

She looked down at the small pile with an uninterested expression until she noticed the ID card.   Tessa pulled it out from under the clips causing them to smack into each other while I cringed hoping she didn't inadvertently cause the ammo to fire.  She lifted the ID close to her face with one hand while wiping her eyes with the other.

Kind of like this only cooler

For a long time she inspected the card until eventually she began rotating it then finally turning it on its side and inspecting the edges. Finally, she removed a razor knife from her pocket, set the badge on the ground and sliced off the edge just beside the picture.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Something isn't right?" she replied.

Again she lifted the badge, this time squeezing the edges causing it to bulge out on either side.  She tipped it over and a small white square fell onto her hand.  She held it up showing me the opposite side.  It looked like a maze with a blue square in the center.

"What is it?" I asked.

Rolling her eyes at my stupidity, she got to her feet.

"This is a RFID chip.  Do you know what an RFID chip is, Roland?" she asked as if I was a third-grader.

"Of course I know what an RFID chip is.  Just never seen one like that before," I replied. (remind me to Google that later) "What's the big deal?"

RFID

"Two things.  First, this isn't my dad's active ID badge. As you can see," she said tossing it at me, "it expired several weeks ago.  Second, they don't use RFID in this building. They use NFC, which I'm sure you aren't familiar with.  (It doesn't have to do with a football championship game? I thought.) Anyway, RFID -Radio Frequency Identification and NFC -Near Field Communication technology are used in loads of places," she continued, stepping over the still unconscious yet twitching man in black as if he were a fallen log. "NFC's are more commonly used for security purposes -like getting into a building where RFID's are used to locate something -in a warehouse, for example."

NFC

"So you think your dad was being tracked?" I asked.

"No, moron, I said his card had expired.  I think he intentionally put the RFID chip inside his card as a clue."

We began descending the ladder.

"A clue?  For who?

"For me, doof.  When I was younger every time he wanted to give me a gift, he would leave a trail of clues for me to follow until I found it. As I got older, the clues got harder."

"Why do I feel like I'm in that movie National Treasure?"

"We've been playing this game long before that movie came out. Anyway, I know where we need to go next." she said.

"Care to enlighten me or are you just going to ditch me again?"

"You've proven yourself quasi-useful so I'll keep you for the moment," she said.

"Awfully nice of you."

"There is a warehouse two hours north of here.  We need to get there by dark."

While she didn't say it, I knew we'd be breaking into a huge, creepy, dark warehouse.  Perfect.

Panacea -chapter 8

by J.R. Wagner

Image credit: Vinícius Carvalho

I strongly recommend reading chapters 1-7 before continuing

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6 
Chapter 7

Pushing through the hordes of people moving in the opposite direction, I jumped/rolled over the turnstyle (What? did you think I was Trinity from The Matrix?) and managed to fall flat on my back, knocking the wind out of me.  Several kind folks actually stepped on me an not one effing person bothered to stop and see if I was all right. 

By the time I got to my feet, the crowds of people had thinned and I was able to make my way to the elevators. I pushed the button and waited for a moment.  Several more boom's sent me ducking for cover and I finally realized the elevator power, along with the power to the rest of the building was not working.

I moved to the stairs and quickly opened the fire door. Emergency backup lighting was flickering eerily as I conquered the first set of steps. I read the placard outside the second floor door looking for Tessa's father's name. No-go.  Up another flight of stairs.  And another...and another.

By the time I reached the fifth floor, I felt as if my chest were going to implode -that is, if my lungs didn't shrivel up and die first. I bent over, hands on knees to catch my breath and stop my head from spinning enough so I could read the sign when the door swung open hitting me square in the ass and propelling me forward into the railing.

I turned around ready, for the first time in my life, to inflict some sort of physical harm upon the person who'd opened the door. A man dressed all in black (Just like the guys at Tessa's house) was on all fours and looked to be in extreme pain. He looked up at me for a second before barfing on the steps.

I realized it was the act of a coward to kick a man when he's down but I couldn't help myself. I gave him a good kick in the gut (it actually hurt my foot...a little) sending him onto his side.  Before he could react, I slipped through the door.

Fortunately, I had some momentum as I moved through because I ran smack into another man in black and he happened to be restraining the girl I was looking for. Tessa.  The man fell off balance and lost his grip on Tessa's arm, which was bent at an awkward angle behind her back.  Tessa didn't waste any time gripping the shotgun he was holding (her shotgun) and kicking him in the crotch.  He instantly fell to his knees gripping his family jewels and screaming in pain, which didn't last long because Tessa knocked him out cold with the butt of her gun.

My mouth hung open as I watched her remove a pistol from his holster.  I'd never seen that kind of violence in person before and certainly never dished out by a high school girl. Frankly, she scared me. Reason #468 why women rule the world.   They'll kick your ass just after smiling at your face and not think twice about it.

She stuffed the pistol in her waist band, looked at me, then did a double take.

"Seriously?" she said, rolling her eyes.

"What?" I asked.

She didn't answer, just turned and ran down the hall.

"I just saved you you ungrateful b..."

She opened the last door at the end of the hall and was gone before I could finish. I ran after her (It was more like a fast walk, but given a fitness handicap, for me, it's a run.) and stopped outside the door.

 

Great.  More stairs.

I followed. Inside was a long door-less hallway with another one of those seizure inducing lights at the far end.  I could see Tessa stop at the far end of the hall.  She then started climbing up the wall...like Spiderman. At that point I was certain the lack of oxygen to my brain was causing hallucinations. 

I trotted after her calling her name a few times -no, she didn't answer, just kept climbing.  A loud noise that got louder as I moved closer to Spiderwoman seemed to be coming from above.  When I finally reached the end of the hall, I realized she didn't have super powers.  A ladder bolted to the wall extended up to an open hatch where I could see Tessa's feet vanish.

I cursed and climbed.  The noise just got louder -so loud that the ladder was vibrating.  When I got about half-way up, I finally realized what it was.  A helicopter. I pulled and pushed myself up to the top, cursing every fast-food restaurant that added to my excessive weight and clogged arteries as I climbed.  

When I cleared the hatch (and the big metal air conditioning unit that was blocking my view) I saw not one but three helicopters hovering above the roof.  They quickly moved away leaving silence and dust in their wake. 

Sort of like this (click for credit link)

I spotted Tessa kneeling on a man in black's chest and punching him repeatedly in the face.

This couldn't end well.

The story continues...

Chapter 9

-----------------------------------
 To purchase Exiled, option the movie rights, hire me as a writer for the next Blade Runner film, the next Star Wars film...any film! For updates on the soon-to-be-released novella(pictured below), book 2 updates, for videos, fan art, contests and more awesomeness, visit my website (click on the website tab)

New from J.R. Wagner...

A tale of perseverance, strength and redemption.

Coming soon.

www.TheNeverChronicles.com

In bookstores now

Panacea -chapter 7

By J.R. Wagner

As promised, I have come up with a title for my Nanotechnology story.  Panacea.

I strongly recommend reading chapters 1-6 before continuing.

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6

I was walking as quickly as  I could (but not so quick as to attract attention) along the sidewalk back toward the building.  Toward the building where Tessa's father's lab was located. Where she had run off, shotgun in hand in an attempt to rescue him from whoever it was that so desperately wanted his memory-altering nanotechnology discovery.

I could have walked away.  I should have walked away. I've no idea why I didn't decide to do just that -I mean, Wendy's was right down the block and I'm pretty sure I had enough for a Dave's Hot 'N Juicy 3/4lb Triple, large fries and a Coke four times the size of my bladder.

As I entered the courtyard outside the main entrance folks were still chowing down on their lunches or chatting it up.  My stomach growled when I spotted what looked like a Tupperware container full of home made baked ziti yet I willed myself to turn and step through the revolving door.

The lobby was your typical corporate office building lobby.  Marble tile floors, open two-story design, a reception desk with an insanely hot blonde woman talking to someone on her headset.  Several people walked past the desk and through one of a dozen turnstyles while waving their FOB keys at the sensor mounted on the front of the turnstyle.  A little green light would flash and they would pass through.

Yes, kind of like this -minus the Gamorrean guard

Problem number one; getting past the desk and to the elevators (no way I was taking the stairs). I strolled up to the desk exuding sexiness and leaned casually on the counter.

"Can I help you?" the blonde asked.

"Yes," I said, giving my best Brad Pitt smile.

"Are you okay? Do you need to use the bathroom or something?"

Crap. I relaxed my face and repositioned myself against the counter.  This time, I decided to go for the authoritarian approach.  I stood as straight as possible and looked down my nose at the receptionist.

"I'm here to see Dr. Sorin," I said.

She quickly typed into her keyboard, looked at the screen for a moment and then lifted her head.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Sorin is not available today."

"I have an appointment," I said, confidence wavering.

"The Dr. marked his calendar as do not disturb all day.  Perhaps you have the wrong appointment time?"

Perhaps?  Who says that? Seriously.

"No. I am certain the appointment is for today. Perhaps you could get him on the phone for me. It was a very important appointment and I've traveled several hours to be here."

She looked at me through her long, perfect eyelashes for a moment (probably thinking I was a bad liar) before punching a number on her keypad.  We waited in silence for about a minute. She played with her fingernails and I tried as hard as I could not to look at her cleavage. Finally, she tapped a key and looked up at me.

"His receptionist isn't picking up.  Strange," she said.

"Is that out of the ordinary?" I asked.

"Yes, they're supposed to always have someone to take calls."

Not good.

"Do you have his direct office line?"

I'm pretty sure she was about to tell me to piss off when a loud boom followed by a building wide power failure sent everyone into a panic.  The emergency lighting kicked on for a few seconds then flickered off leaving only daylight to illuminate the lobby.

Two more boom's sent everyone in the lobby running for the door. In the distance, I could hear a fire engine.  That was fast.  I contemplated joining the hordes and bolting for the door but decided I needed to at least make sure Tessa was okay.

The story continues...

Chapter 8
Chapter 9

-----------------------------------

To purchase Exiled, bid on the movie rights, hire me as a writer for the next Blade Runner film, the next Star Wars film...for updates on the soon-to-be-released novella, book 2 updates, for videos, fan art, contests and more, visit my website!

www.TheNeverChronicles.com

In bookstores now

Panacea -Chapter 6 (Formerly: Enhancing and destroying memories with Nanotechnology really)

By J.R. Wagner

Click for image credit

A quick side note.  Due to the popularity of this story, I'll come up with a title for next week's post. Stay tuned!

I strongly recommend reading chapters 1-5 before continuing
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5

Careening. It sounds like a great word to describe how we were traveling but it isn't.  Turns out Careening is a nautical term and we were most assuredly not over water.  The dirt bike was now at top speed moving along a walking trail sending inattentive exercisers diving for the grass that bordered the path.

For my part, I was squeezing Tessa's waist (not entirely a bad thing) while praying to every god I could think of as we weaved around dogs, strollers, rollerbladers, cyclists and all other forms of pedestrian ambulation.

I was quite certain our pursuers had given up the chase once we exited Tessa's property but still, she had the accelerator rolled all the way back and gave no indication that we would slow anytime soon. I wasn't familiar with the trail (I told you, I'm a slob) nor where it ended but was hoping the end was near as the vibration from the bike had gotten both my bladder and bowels in an uproar and I'm pretty sure this type of bike wasn't meant for a fat guy like me let alone two passengers.

We passed under a bridge over which cars went zipping past and nobody seemed the wiser to our plight.  I still couldn't get over the fact that we had managed to go from DEFCON 5 to DEFCON 1 in a matter of seconds.  Dr. Nano-Man wasn't kidding when he said people would kill to get their hands on his discovery.

We slowed as we reached the trail head and for the first time, I realized where we were. Tessa's father's lab was two blocks away.  I could see the McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's trifecta (the only one in town) across the street. Ironic that the walking trail ended at three fast-food joints.




A wave of fear swept over me as she turned onto the street and headed toward her father's lab.

"Are you insane?" I yelled.

Between the helmet and the buzz of the motor (dirt bikes buzz, road bikes wail, Harley's roar) I couldn't hear my own cries and was sure she couldn't either. I started frantically tapping her mid-section with my fingers (yes I was too afraid to completely remove my hand) but she must have thought it was a nervous tick or something because she completely ignored me.

I could see the building ahead on the left side of the road. No police cars surrounded the building.  No flames erupted from the upper floors. No men in black body armor scurried around the perimeter.  Several people were eating their lunches at the tables that surrounded the fountain in front of the main entrance -all oblivious to the precariousness of their current situation.

I tapped harder with both sets of fingers as we slowed but Tessa merely elbowed me in the ribs and rolled the accelerator back.  Much to my relief we passed the building, continued two more blocks, then took a left and pulled into a three-story parking garage.  She parked on the roof and I awkwardly hopped off nearly falling to the ground under the weight of the backpack she had given me to wear.

We removed our helmets and Tessa slid the backpack off my shoulder.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Getting my father," she said.

"You do realize there is no way they aren't watching his building, right?"

"Yes."

"And you're still going to get him? You're still going to TRY to get him, I should say."

"Yes."

Her expression was completely unreadable but I couldn't believe that a high-school-aged-girl would fearlessly run into danger to rescue her father. I wasn't buying it.

"Do you understand why they were at your house? They were waiting for YOU.  They were going to kidnap you and use you as leverage to get what they wanted from your father," I said, surprisingly concise about it.

"And if they take him and he doesn't give them what they want, they will try to leverage his life against me just the same. The only way out of this is if we're together," she replied.

Tessa ran her fingers through her hair a few times before tying it up in a pony tail with the band around her wrist.  Her jaw was set. It was clear she was preparing to go find her father and there was nothing I could say to change her mind.

"I'm coming with you," I said. (quite possibly the stupidest thing ever to escape my lips)

She rolled her eyes in that bitchy teenage way all girls do and began moving toward the stairs at the corner of the garage roof.

"Go home Rol-and," she said without looking back.

I jogged to her side.

"I can't let you do this alone," I said, slightly out of breath.

"Cant you?" she said turning to face me, "Look at yourself.  Do you really think you'd be anything other than a hindrance? I've already had to rescue you once, you can't run more than ten feet without falling into a state of respiratory distress and I bet you've never shot a gun in your life."

"I can shoot a gun," I said. (I play Black Ops all the time)

"Really?" she asked, her words dripping with doubt.

She slid the backpack off her shoulder and set it on the ground.  Tessa unzipped the top of the bag and removed, to my surprise, a shotgun. She thrust it into my hands and reached back into the bag.  It was heavy -surprisingly heavy. It didn't look anything like the guns from Black Ops and certainly weighed more than my X-Box controller.

"Load it," she said tossing two shells at me.

I went to catch the shells and managed to drop the gun.  On my foot. It hurt. I cursed and quickly picked up the gun and both shells.  Keeping my eyes on the gun (because I knew Tessa was rolling hers) I looked for some indication of where to put the red shells. In Black Ops, all you have to do is press the green re-load button.

Panacea -Chapter 5 (Formerly: Enhancing and destroying memories really)

By J.R. Wagner

image credit: giantbomb.com

I highly recommend reading parts 1-4 before continuing
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4

We stepped into a foyer that would easily fit my entire house. Tessa didn't slow as I stared gape-jawed at the area. Wide, sweeping marble staircase; check. Niches filled with strange looking sculptures; check. Ugly paintings in uglier golden frames; check.

"Hurry up," Tessa said from the opposite end of the foyer.

I jogged to catch up. We crossed under several arched doorways and into the kitchen (insanely large, ornate, clean, as you can imagine) where she began rummaging through cabinets.

yes, just like this

Something caught my eye outside the windows that overlooked the pool. Movement. I walked toward the window to get a better look but whatever it was had disappeared.

"Do you have a dog?" I asked.

"No, why?"

Before I could reply the floor-to-ceiling window beside me shattered. I instinctively dove to the ground and not so instinctively wet my pants (just a bit). A second window shattered and I spotted something cylindrical hit the floor.  Just as I was able to focus on it, smoke began pouring from both ends.  Crap.

I looked over to where Tessa had been standing only to see empty space rapidly filling with smoke.  She ditched me.  That didn't take long.  My lungs and eyes began to burn and I knew I had to get out. I forced myself to stand and ran through the archway and into the dining room.

My eyes teared as I coughed -I'm not sure if it was from the running or the smoke.  I sat in a fancy wooden chair at the over-sized dining table to catch my breath and evaluate the situation. That's when Tessa reappeared in a doorway at the far end of the room.

"Get up, idiot!" she shouted.

I got up (slowly). She ran to me, grabbed my hand and pulled me behind her. We passed through the doorway where she had appeared a moment before, down a long hallway and up a set of stairs (not the sweeping marble stairs). Continually wiping the tears from my eyes with my free hand, my legs burning from the too-fast ascent and my lungs still protesting, I followed. We reached the top (thank god) and turned down another hallway and through a door.  Tessa slammed it behind us.

"What's happening?" I asked.

She ignored me and moved quickly to a large cabinet. Everything was a blur as the tears continued to spill and I continued to wipe. Tessa grabbed me by my shirt and once again, pulled me along behind her.  We moved into a smaller room off the first and again she shut and locked the door.  It was a bathroom. That much I could tell. She let go of my shirt and began rummaging through a cabinet.

"Look at me," she said.

I looked in the direction of her blurry outline as she roughly grabbed my chin.

"Open your eyes."

Something wet instantly hit my eyeball (left one) as I strained to open them fully. It then hit my right. She let go of my chin and stuffed a towel in my face. I wiped my eyes and was thankfully able to see once again. Tessa was standing beside an open door.  She had a large black backpack over her shoulders and an anxious look on her face.

"Lets go!" she shouted impatiently.

"What is going on?" I asked, moving across the room.

"They've come for me," she said, stepping through the door.

A loud bang sounded from behind us and once again she was tugging on my shirt. She pulled me into a dark, narrow space. If I didn't know any better, I would have guessed it was a linen closet.

"Shut the door," she said.

I shut and locked the door.  Darkness.

"What's going..."

"Shut up," she said.

Something clicked and light outlined what I thought was the back wall of the closet. Tessa pushed on the wall (door?) revealing another small room where an overhead fluorescent light was blinking to life. She stooped and pulled a nearly invisible latch in the floor.  A rectangular hatch fell open revealing a metal ladder. Another loud bang sounded somewhere nearby.

"Go," she whispered.

I went. It was a long descent -it didn't help that I couldn't see anything but darkness below. As I moved down the ladder small lights that must have been on motion sensors clicked on.  Above me, Tessa secured the hatch and began moving down. Quickly, she was just above me.

"Hurry," she said impatiently.

I hurried, finally hitting the bottom.  More lights clicked on revealing a cement room.  Tessa brushed past me and jerked a black tarp that was draped over something against the wall.

I instantly knew things were going to get worse before they got better.

The story continues...

Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8 
Chapter 9

Panacea -Chapter 4 (Formerly: Enhancing and destroying memories through nanotechnology...really.)

By J.R. Wagner

Photo from TelicThoughts.com

 If you haven't read parts one, two and three, I highly recommend it. Links below.

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

 So there I was playing  chauffeur to this insanely hot high school girl who happened to be the daughter of the man who held one of the worlds greatest powers in his own two hands and all I could think as we were pulling out of the school parking lot was, she's illegal, she's illegal, she's illegal.

We had been together all of thirty seconds and I'd managed to delude myself into believing that not only would this girl find me attractive but, in short order, I would be placed in a situation where I would have to consider the pros and cons of risking a statutory rape charge. Like I said, deluded.

"So...Roland.  Interesting name," she said.

"It is, actually.  My parent's named me after..."

"I need to stop home before we go to my Dad's office, all right?" 

It wasn't a question (even though there is a question mark at the end of the sentence). 

"Your father was very explicit with his instructions. No stops. No detours."

"Well, Roland," she said Roland in that way you say a stupid name when you're a kid.  You know, drag it out -enunciate each syllable. Rol-and. "I doubt Daddy anticipated I'd be beginning my period today so if you don't stop, we are going to have a major problem. Understand?"

I nodded my head like a moron. Why do girls/women always play the period card when they aren't getting what they want.  I'll tack that one up on my board -reason number 467 why women rule the world.

My dad told me once (yeah, good ole Dad).

 Son, I'm going to tell you something and you best remember it for the rest of your life.  

He looked down the hall to make sure my mother was out of earshot.  

Women rule the world.  Don't question it, don't try to understand it, just accept it and keep it in the back of your mind with every action you take and you'll be okay.

Naturally I created a cork board titled. 'Why Women Rule the World' and I'd add things to it as I discovered them. Yes, I'm up to number 467.

I looked over at...damn, I never got her name. 

"I never got your name," I said.

"Tessa," she said not looking up as she furiously typed something into her phone.

"Tessa," I repeated.

"Is there a problem, Rol-and?" she asked, finally looking up at me.

If she wasn't so beautiful, I would have been upset but reason number twelve totally precluded that possibility.  Her pissy attitude seemed to melt off her face and she actually smiled at me causing something to stir inside (reason number one) and I knew we were stopping at her house.

***

After she punched in the code to open the gates (yes, there is a giant black gate at the end of her cobbled driveway) I slowly drove up what had to be a three-quarter mile drive to the front of the house. 

The house, guest house and pool house (seriously -check out the photo. Don't ask where I got it, all will be clear...eventually -if I survive) were surrounded by a stone retaining wall making the giant mansion even more imposing.

Panacea -Chapter 3 (Formerly: Enhancing and destroying memories through nanotechnology...really.)

By J.R. Wagner

photo from a great article by SmartPlanet.com

 If you haven't read chapters one and two, I highly recommend it. Links below.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2

Did I mention I'm a college student? Yep. Sixth year senior.  My parent's aren't exactly thrilled when they write a check each semester but I guess they assume it's a better option than allowing me to move back in. I'm working on my library science degree.

A quick way to a bloody lip would be to tell me my field of study will be obsolete before I graduate (I have temper issues). My father once said, Most fields will be obsolete before you graduate! What can I say? He's an ass.

Where was I before I digressed? Right....the whole 'I was wrong about everything.' bit.  That seems to be a common theme in my life lately -being wrong.  I prefer to think of my wrongness as life lessons.

Anyway, my 'friend' asked me to do him a favor before we parted ways and I, like the idiot I am, agreed.  He said it was simple, would only take a few minutes and would help him (and humanity) out tremendously.

I pulled up to Planet Hills High School in my 1986 Chevy el Camino (shut up) and was greeted by several disgusted expressions as students exited the building  and walked to their much nicer modes of transportation provided by Mommy and Daddy.

Two words: Chick. Magnet.

Panacea -Chapter 1 (Formerly: Enhancing and destroying memories through nanotechnology...really.)

by J.R. Wagner








My 'friend' is a doctor.  A Neurologist to be precise.  In his day job he deals with traumatic brain injury patients. On the side he runs a research program studying the implementation of a nanotechnology based medicine into stimulating brain function.