E.S. Pski for My
Babushka
While sitting in her English Lit. class, listening to the sound of smacking gum and drumming pencils, Sara slowly fell in and out of a sleepy daze. It was too easy not to pay attention with the electronic teacher staring blankly at the class through the gigantic color monitor at the front of the room. The electronic voice droned on about the significance of Robert Frost in poetry. Sara had never heard of Robert Frost, nor did she care what influence he had on poets. She had no desire to take this English class. Sara was a pharmaceutical major, and classes related to her field of study were the only ones that interested her. The whole class seemed to be asleep, as was the usual day at the University of Dayton. The monitor at the front of the room finally went blank, indicating to the students that class time was over. Sara darted out of the room and into the ice blue hallway that was beginning to cram with hundreds of people. The corridor to the pharmaceutical lab was a long one, and Sara hurried to get on the moving walkway before it was packed with students in a hurry to get to their classes. The walkway ended at the tall green doors of the pharmaceutical lab. The obnoxious humming of the walkway suddenly ceased as Sara shut the doors and entered the lab to be greeted with the soft lull and pinkish glow of the laboratory lights.
"Hows the project coming? Did you put the gel into a pill form yet?" came a loud and obnoxious voice across the room. It belonged to Daniel Byduf, the overly eager and irritating freshman who worked across from Sara.
"Yeah" she said in her soft but irritated voice, "I finally got enough ready for testing on the rats. I wish I could just bypass all that though and go straight to a human test. That's where I could find out the most effective results of this."
Sara had been working for two years to develop a highly advanced pill that, when taken, would give the user the ability to read the minds of others. The pill uses a protein called EAAT2, which recycles glutamate. Glutamate is the chemical used by nerve cells to send messages to each other. The EAAT2 is combined with FK506 and cyclosporin which restores damaged nerve cells in the brain. When these three items are highly concentrated and combined with a nerve growth factor (NGF), Sara hoped the outcome would be mind reading.
"Sara, you know bypassing the rat tests would go against company regulations. I would be forced to report you to the board of directors, then your project would be terminated and I would be forced to takeover your little idea and turn it into something that actually might be useful someday." Sara hated the fact that Dan knew of her experimental project. She tried to keep it as quiet as possible so she could take small risks without being caught.
"Dan, you know I would never jeopardize my project that badly, especially by letting it end up in your hands. I've worked too hard for this to throw it away." Sara sighed as she thought of all the researching, late hours, and pleading with the board that she had to do over the past two years to get this pill approved for testing. But her hard work had finally paid off, and as soon as possible she would begin the tests on the lab rats. Results would just be so much more satisfying on human beings.
"I gotta do the paperwork to get approval for more rats for my tests Dan, and that means you need to leave."
"Hey, I can take a hint. I'm headed out for dinner anyway." Dan remarked as he inserted his pass key into the slot to allow him out of the room. The second the heavy doors clamped shut, Sara took two of her experimental fluorescent orange gel caps out of the bottle and immediately swallowed them.
"If I can't have real human test subjects, I'll have to test them on myself." ,she whispered to the lab rats scratching at the glass in their cages. "No offense to you of course, but how am I going to find out the effects of a mind reading drug if I test it on someone who I can' t communicate with?" The rats just continued scratching.
The next day in class, Sara was still bored. "Who cares about Walt Whitman?" Sara thought to herself as she doodled on her notebook with a purple pen. The electronic teacher was at it again with her wearisome chatter. Sara began to doze off. A loud yelling jolted her awake causing her to knock everything off her desk. "What is it?" she frantically yelled.
"The name of the poem is O Captain! My Captain! " the computer teacher answered back. The yelling continued in Sara's ears.
"Stop the shouting!" She screamed. Other students in the class began to turn around to see what the commotion was all about.
"Can nobody else hear that awful noise?" The girl in black turned around and gave Sara an evil look.
"Sara." the girl said calmly. "Walt Whitman is a brilliant poet, not an awful noise."
"Not the poem, You can't hear that yelling?"
"I don't know what you're talking about Sara."
Sara began breathing in short gasps and she felt the explosive rapid beating of her heart in her chest. Suddenly all the shouting came to an abrupt halt.
"I think I'm going to be sick" Sara gasped as she bolted down the hallway to the bathroom. After emptying the contents of her stomach she felt much better.
"Of course! The pills." she finally realized as she stared into the toilet at her lunch of a few still undigested pieces of bologna, macaroni salad and the small piece of a fluorescent orange gel cap. Sara was bewildered at the events that had taken place and went down to the lab to record her observations.
"I wish I could remember what they were saying. I can't believe this pill actually works. Whose thoughts could I have intercepted?" Sara asked the rats who were all busy playing in their pile of wood shavings. Sara ate two more orange gel caps and headed for home with her thoughts, and the thoughts of whoever he was that had invaded her mind. As she lay in bed trying to fall asleep, the voices began again. This still startled her, but now Sara was ready to listen. A loud voice that seemed to be Russian whispered with malice in her ear,
"Alright, do I have everything ready for the job? Clip, my .40 caliber cougar pistol, silencer, gloves, plans, radio, and my second escape route. That should be everything. President Stallone will never know what's coming." After hearing this, Sara began to break out into a cold sweat and her hands began to shake violently.
"I could not possibly be reading the mind of an assassin of president Stallone. I just don't think it's possible..." Sara kept going over the sound of the voice in her head. It haunted her dreams that night, and she knew she had to do something. Sara was jolted awake by the angry voice in the morning:
"My imbecile of a boss, Vladimir will be next to go for hurting my poor little babushka back in Moscow. I can't believe the resistance placed him in charge of this entire operation."
"I have to notify somebody about this Russian attempt to assassinate the president. I wonder if a white house operator could do anything if I got that far?" Sara said to her frightened reflection in the bathroom mirror. She grabbed the telephone and called information.
"White house please, and it's a very important call ma'am." Sara cried as her knuckles turned white from gripping the phone.
"All of our calls are important and will be processed in the order received." the dull monotone voice replied over the receiver. Finally an operator picked up the call.
"Good morning, White house, this is Sonja Kinski. How may I help you?"
"I have an emergency. I know there is going to be an attempt by the Russians to assassinate the president sometime soon." Sara quickly said.
"I am so glad you called!" Sonja exclaimed. "We were afraid this would happen after the United States wouldn't sign the Moscow treaty."
"You can notify the proper authorities?"
"Yes, yes of course. I'll have extra security put around the president and the white house. To prove this isn't a prank call, I just need your name and address for verification purposes."
"My name is Sara Rogers and I live at 9328 West Gate Terrace in Dayton, Ohio." Sara said. She felt the greatest sense of relief that this woman could get the proper help to president Stallone. Sonja came back on the line.
"We'll have someone over right away to take your statement properly, for legal purposes of course. Thank you for your help, good bye." and the call was cut off. Sara felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders and she could rest easy that she had helped out her country.
"Maybe I'll be on television for my heroics!" she said to no one in particular.
Sonja immediately phoned Vladimir after hanging up with Sara.
"Someone's onto the plan. You'd better take care of her."
"Consider it done. I knew tapping the white house phones was worth the money. Why won't anyone give me the credit I deserve!" Vladimir's gruff voice barked before slamming the phone down. He knew his plan to tap the white house phones had been ingenious. Nothing would stand in the way of elimination of the president.
Hours later, Sara was making her favorite dinner of Macaroni salad and a bologna sandwich when a knocking at the door caused her to jump.
"Who is it?" Sara joyfully asked the person knocking on her door.
"I am Vladimir from the United States government, I'm here to take your statement." said the deep voice on the other side. Sara opened the door without hesitation and stared a tall man in the face. He was at least a head taller than Sara, and very well built. His chiseled jaw jutted out and the cruelty in his eyes was also shown in the sneer on his face. Sara could almost see her frightened expression reflected in the man's polished leather jacket. She had one chance to look into his eyes before her gaze was diverted to the Beretta .40 caliber cougar gun in his hand.
Sara did get to be on television that night. Her murder was a top story on the news, and appeared just before a special report flashed across the screen that the president had been assassinated.
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