Dreamer, Schemer, & The Gate

Chapter 1:
REM Wakes

“I can do this. It’ll be revolutionary. The world won’t be the same. I just need a little more money and time,” Danny Hama muttered as he hunched over his small work desk. He assumed his wife, Arinya, was listening to him. She had long since left the room, being intimately acquainted with this dreamer’s ramblings after years of enduring them. She faked a communication on her Holographic Personal Assistant as an excuse to leave, but Danny was so engrossed in his work that her effort was unnecessary. He had not noticed her leave.
Arinya had more pressing matters to address with the top management of the company she worked for, Imminent Curative Equipment. She was Project Manager of the new product ICE was about to introduce: Nano-Probe Launcher. She was confident it could save lives and revolutionize the field of medical technology. The FDA had given its preliminary approval, and the company lawyers were working out the final legal details with them. She had to ensure that the final documents were submitted to the Legal Department, and that the device functioned to the specifications described.
She was checking her old messages on her HPA when it pinged with a new message from Marketing. Roger, the head of the department, frantically questioned her for the umpteenth time whether there were any issues that might possibly cause the launch to be delayed. He did not want his ad campaign schedule to be disrupted. Arinya conveyed to him that everything was a go the last time she checked… yesterday! She reassured him that she would check again immediately, and used that as the excuse to end their conversation.
She wondered aloud, “Why’s that man so anxious every time we speak?”
Roger was a top executive in the company, and she was just a Project Manager. The Legal Department had the project anyway, and they were responsible for it at this point. Yet he called her about it with his voice teetering on the verge of paranoia.
The Nano-Probe Launcher was a device that contained small, nanocarbon-based controllers that internally restrained cell division in order to stop cancer. Marketing stressed ‘treatment’ rather than ‘cure’ just in case there were complications with the product. Arinya suspected that Legal had a hand in that terminology change.
“It’s a Legal/Marketing conspiracy!” She had mused when the company founders sheepishly told her, as if it was their own decision.
The NPL was not a typical cancer “treatment” device. It was two systems that worked together to stop abnormal cell growth in the body. The Launcher was a small device similar to a battery-assisted passive RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) that could be permanently implanted in the body. It could have its command software upgraded, and its battery recharged, wirelessly through the skin. Its job was to program, repair, and house probes to be released as a swarm to a targeted organ or tissue when unregulated cell growth occurred. The device released its probes when doctors confirmed the presence of cancer cells and activated it.
The Nano-Probes went to work by inserting themselves into those cells and halted their multiplication. Healthy cells did not divide rapidly to trigger this function, so they were left alone. When the targeted cell eventually died, the probe jumped to the next cancer cell. The body then removed the dead cells through its own natural processes. This system was designed to stop tumors from growing and, thus, prevent cancer from metastasizing. Afterwards, the probes would return to the Launcher and await future signs of tumorigenesis. The Legal Department contended that since it did not address the causes of the cell’s accelerated splitting to begin with, it should not be called a cure.
NPL had three advantages. First, it was easy to spot cancer cells anywhere in the body because it focused on cell division rates, not chemical signatures. Next, it did not have the side effects associated with chemotherapy or radiation treatment since it did not use either. Finally, other methods had to be administered to patients over long stretches of time. This meant countless pills, numerous office visits, or extended admissions to the hospital. Nano-Probe Launcher was installed once as a simple outpatient procedure in a specialist’s office. Then the primary physician could manage and monitor the device with RFID. Arinya knew these advantages improved the patient’s quality of life, and reduced cost. She felt they were key to adaptation of the technology.
She could foresee other applications for this technology. The probes could be programmed to do different things like administer medicine directly to a diseased organ, repair scarred or damaged tissue inside the body, remove fat from inside the arteries, etc. However, those ideas could come to fruition only if the system delivered as promised first. Tackling cancer was the primary goal of the company founders, so its success in doing what it originally intended to do was crucial.
“This will revolutionize humanity, not the pipedream you’re obsessed with.” Arinya grumbled to her husband as she walked by him and went to the kitchen to grab some food. He did not notice that either.