The artificial glow of the screen throws harsh shadows across your darkened room, and you check the clock on your computer as you take another pull at your coffee. It reads 3:27. You're not really used to staying up this late, but you've been waiting and hoping for a response to your application, which was supposed to be sent by today. The only reason you've stayed up, checking and rechecking your email, is because of the enormous time zone difference. If you're to go to where this trial is taking place, your circadian rhythm will need adjusting anyway.
You hit the little circular arrow in your browser bar, refreshing the page, and wait the agonizing four seconds while it reloads. A moment of disappointment is replaced by excitement when an new message pops up. You open it with one click, your hands slightly trembling.
To whom it may concern:
You have been selected to participate in the trial as detailed in our flyer. Please follow all further instruction pertaining to pre-test requirements. This trial is expected to last a month; please pack accordingly should the trial require you to travel. Medical expenses will be paid for, and participants will also receive monetary bonuses for each day they choose to participate, to be given upon completion of the trial.
The following is a list of documentation required to enter.
1.Physical exam dated within the last two months
2.Complete vaccination record updated within the last six months
3.History of injury, illness, or condition prompting entry into the trial, dated within the last three moths
4.Metabolic panel, CBC, and drug screening dated within the last two months
5.List of medication, dated within the last two weeks
6.Passport or other form of ID updated within the last six moths
As a reminder, the trial will begin at 21/6, but all participants are expected to be present and accounted for by 20/6. Requests for housing accommodations can be made if the participant indicates he or she is traveling.
If you have any questions regarding this documentation, you may contact your primary care provider or our staff.
Your request for housing has been approved. Please speak with the staff for further information.
Thank you for your cooperation.
You sit back and smile around your mug, closing the email and turning off your computer with a few clicks. You planned ahead and gathered most of the required documentation, and getting the rest should be little problem for you. The chair wobbles slightly as you stand with some difficulty and limp over to your bed, your gaze roving across the cross-country trophies and medals caught in the light of your powering-down computer. A smile flits across your lips again as you observe the shimmers in the reflective surfaces darken and vanish. Soon you'll have your legs back.
You first see her during the fourth day of testing. The scientists have to make sure their participants are healthy and no one has any lurking genetic issues that might complicate things, so they have a small contingent of Oasis' top geneticists present to run the screenings. Day in, day out, it's been test after test after test, back to back. Certain bits of you really hurt from where they took biopsies and your whole body aches with fatigue. You're tired from jet lag and…you suppose wouldn't really call it stress, but you have needed to navigate a lot of unusual things, from international security to international roads to international culture. The scientists are never the same, either; each, it seems, was hired for his or her own specialty, and they all treat you differently.
This woman in particular seems especially interested in your case, prodding you with questions while she prods and analyzes your body for data. You end up telling her a little about your running career and your college goals before it all came crashing down. In return, she introduces as herself as Ministerin turn and tells you a little bit about herself. You find it kind of amazing that one of the Ministers of Oasis themselves would take it upon themselves to help out with this experiment, as you assumed they'd be too busy. She just laughs and tells you it's beneficial to her to be involved. The scope of this project is large, she says, so the genetic diversity is fascinating to study. You pose a few questions about the future of genetic engineering and wonder aloud what genetic enhancements would be like in the next few decades. She seems to notice your curiosity and expresses interest in getting to know more about what you think, but unfortunately she has other duties to attend to .
You don't see her again as the study progresses, but you're soon too distracted by pain to care. The study focuses on replacement of missing limbs (this segment in particular focusing on muscles and tendons), and the biopsies the scientists took are being used to grow replacements. The tests they're running now focus on reconnecting the cloned muscle and nerve fibers to preexisting tissue naturally, something that's always been a challenge in the past. So you reluctantly allow them to split your injured leg to the bone and place the fully-grown clone.
When you awaken from the anesthesia, you're told that the experiment was a highly probable success.
You stumble your way through recovery and more tests, but with each you feel more and more confident that the trial did work, and the happy noises the science wonks are making further support this. You limp, then walk, then run on the treadmill, your legs protesting at the use, but it feels amazingto run again. As the trial winds down, though, you begin to wonder where you could go next. Your scholarship for cross-country is gone, and your money is drying up. You don't have the cash to finish your science degree, and you begin to spend evenings looking for menial work.
Then you receive a message.
Congratulations on the successful trial. I know you've been having some trouble acclimatizing to your financial situation. I would like to meet and speak with you in person; I have an offer that may interest you.
-Minister O'Deorain
You don't wait to respond.
