Poison and Cure

IV - Flattery

بسم الله
In the name of God
August 8th, 2004 11:48pm
Augusta, GA, Center of Decay

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"Mr. Silas, why are you no longer prefaced with Doctor rather than Mister?"

He sighs, pausing the typing on his laptop.

I quickly add, "Only if you're comfortable telling me, of course. But I'd prefer to learn from the source rather than a newspaper."

"Frankly, I don't care what you ask; it's your constant interruption that is..." He shakes his head, "My doctoral license was removed after I performed so-called 'inhumane experiments'."

"Oh."

Almost with disdain, he shoots me a look, "It wasn't inhumane, trust me. I simply used the excess blood from a transaction, with permission of the patient, to form a cure for leukaemia, and then inject it back into the patient's body. The patient was cured."

"And that was inhumane?"

"To them, since I didn't have the Association's permission," he scoffs, "But it was aggravating that the United Medical Laboratory ended up being caught for child experiments, much less noble and more harmful than my own so-called slip-up."

I vividly remember the scandal they caused, and remember how horrible it was. Children were physically disfigured, dead, or in comas, and the two that weren't had severe trauma; it was on every newspaper, no exaggeration.

The scientists involved were not incarcerated because they 'didn't have solid evidence'. These men were powerful, though, rich and incredibly popular. In this sinful world humanity has crafted, if you are a chemist, you can get away with almost anything if you keep it from the general public; you can become as powerful as the president. Current records show they paid off the police and judge to withhold condemning evidence. After that information was made public, they flew under the radar and the United Medical Laboratory appointed new heads of the organization, brushing all torture and scandal under the rug.

Even now, you can't find anything on it if you were to try.

It was a terrible event, and it gave me further motivation to get into the chemistry field to bring justice to those children.

"Did they give you your medical license back? And that whole scenario was so sad, subhaanAllaah."

His facial expression shows no change as he comments, "Yes, very sad. You should pray for them. Moving on, I believe they tried to contact me to be put on some kind of parole for my medical license, but I denied it. I didn't want them to benefit from any of my good work if I provided any."

"Hm. That makes sense. Do you believe that the Association is corrupt?"

The Association refers to the United Medical Laboratory, and it was coined after the incident.

"Of course. Anyone who doesn't is ignorant, naive, arrogant, or proud. Or at least has no spine to cling to truth."

"I believe the same. I'm glad you think so."

"Good. If you didn't agree, you would be immediately unemployed."

My eyebrows furrow, "Really?"

"Yes. Someone who supports or turns the other cheek to the probability of such horror and pain will never be supported by my payment if I can prevent it."

"That's good that you're aware, maashaa'Allaah! I really admire that, especially becau-"

"Alright, enough flattery. Are there any more questions?"