《Gelf's Last Job》
Prologue - Decades of Progress
The Panacea Corporation first registered as a Brazilian company in 1985, having successfully leased large tracts of rainforest land from the federal government for research purposes.
In 1987, Panacea announced a cure for HIV. An intensive three-month outpatient treatment procedure resulted in complete eradication of the virus in 88% of patients; a second round of treatment increased that rate to 96%. By 1990, Panacea clinics were in 74 countries and all fifty of the United States - anywhere that could grant regulatory approval fast enough.
In 1992, Panacea announced a preventative treatment against several forms of cancer. The four-hour chemotherapy procedure involved intra-arterial and peritoneal injections, destroying nascent stage 0 and stage 1 carcinomas in every area of the body other than the brain, with virtually no side effects in healthy patients. Marketed as Cancer Cleansing, the product was soon covered by all major insurers. By 1998, cancer diagnosis saw its first major drop in decades: patients who had the Cleansing at least once were more than 80% less likely to be diagnosed with malignant carcinoma.
In 1995, Panacea announced trials on eight new vaccines: malaria, dengue, influenza A, rhinovirus A, and four unknown coronaviruses (considered to be at high risk of migrating from animals to humans, as influenza does). Six of the viruses were approved for regulatory testing by 1998; most notably, the influenza A vaccine protected against all strains of human flu for five years.
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(The rhinovirus A vaccine was considered a failure as it would require a booster every two years. The vaccine derived from the bat coronavirus was discontinued as unnecessary, although the swine-, rodent-, and avian-derived vaccines were seen as valuable.)
Deaths from malaria and dengue dropped precipitously in the late 90s and early 00s under the widespread administration of the new vaccines.
2005 saw the global roll-out of Mind Refresh, an overnight treatment that reversed the early symptoms of Altzheimer¡¯s disease. One treatment per year was sufficient to reduce or eliminate early dementia symptoms in 87% of patients. Panacea also published research identifying other causes of dementia that could be addressed separately from their procedure.
From its founding, The Panacea Corporation had remained a closely-held concern, steered by a Board of Directors made up solely of members of the enigmatic Fernando family. Only the CEO, Claudete Fernando, acted as a public face and voice for the company.
But in 2010, despite their massive wealth and influence internationally, The Panacea Corporation was facing a difficult decision. The world was changing, and some of the Board began to believe it was time for them to go public.
It was a question, not of economics, but of image. And for this question they called in an expert.
Chapter 1 - Disruption
The day that Matthias Gelf was blown up was a typical day for him: which is to say, incredibly busy. He had one in-person meeting and two conference calls in the morning, and more than an hour of work to do before he could break for lunch.
He had just unwrapped his steak sandwich at his desk when Jamie Lunczesi knocked and announced herself. The offices were relatively small, as any client time was conducted in the conference rooms, but he nodded to one of the two chairs facing his desk and waved her in.
Jamie was Gelf''s senior-most employee: his first hire when he''d started Gelf Marketing Solutions almost a decade earlier. She was a short woman who hid effectively behind thick-framed glasses and her ever-present organizer. Despite her plain appearance and clothing, she projected competence and spoke with confidence, a surprisingly resonating contralto.
"What''s the topic?" Gelf offered, re-wrapping his sandwich to give her his full attention.
"My position here," Jamie said, her eyes trained on her lap where the leather portfolio was open to a page of notes. "We need to discuss what I can expect going forward."
Gelf nodded. "Somebody sniffing around?"
"Pretty much always," she said with a half-smile. "Connors Matheson this time. Partner guaranteed in three years."
"So tell them to come back and offer you partner in three years," he shot. "The associates there make chicken feed."
Jamie sighed. "That''s not what''s making me think about the offer." She wasn''t watching her boss''s face and didn''t see his growing frown. "They''re offering final say over the clients I manage, after ninety days."
"Ah." Gelf took a minute to center himself, and then a second minute, waiting for Jamie to match his eyes. "And I won''t give you that control." Another moment of silence; Jamie nodded, and Gelf continued. ¡°Do you understand why?¡±
Jamie allowed herself a quick smirk. ¡°I can¡¯t answer that in a way that won¡¯t insult you.¡±
¡°Control freak, right,¡± Gelf said, but he saw Jamie shake her head. ¡°There¡¯s another reason?¡±
A low hum came softly from Jamie¡¯s throat as she considered how to respond. Finally: ¡°You won¡¯t pass on authority because you don¡¯t trust me. Or Dylan, or Pierre. You¡¯re not confident in our abilities to deliver the product without your oversight.¡±
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Gelf shook his head. ¡°Not true, Jamie. Not true at all. I¡¯m certain you can handle your own clients, and Dylan is well on her way to do the same. Pierre needs more time.¡± He balled his hands into fists, suppressing the urge to stand and pace. ¡°It¡¯s not a judgment call at all - it¡¯s a commitment I made to myself when I started GMS.¡±
¡°A commitment not to let your employees manage their own cases?¡± Jamie asked wryly.
¡°To always have final say, final creative control, over everything I was managing. I wanted to avoid being like the large advertising firm that I left behind. Where senior managers took credit for cases they never touched but blamed their subordinates for any mistakes. Crap runs downhill, profits flow to the top.¡±
¡°So, this isn¡¯t a temporary thing?¡± Jamie asked. ¡°Working here, I¡¯ll never make partner, never have my own book of business separate from you?¡± The question came out as challenging, frustrated.
¡°Working for me, no,¡± Gelf said. ¡°I¡¯m not interested in growing like that. But, here¡¯s what we can do.¡± He pointed a finger at her portfolio and was unsurprised to see her writing down what he said. ¡°Start putting out feelers with the clients that seem most comfortable with you, see how they would feel about working for Lunczesi Advertising, or however you¡¯d style yourself. We can workshop it. Then, when you think you¡¯re ready, we¡¯ll sit down and draw up the split. You can take Dylan with you if she prefers.¡±
Jamie finished writing and stared at the words on the page. ¡°You want to get rid of me?¡±
Gelf scoffed. ¡°Not even a little bit. You¡¯re fantastic here. But my business model is that I, myself, have final say on every case I take on. You know we¡¯ve turned down business when I didn¡¯t have the bandwidth for it.¡± His hand rested briefly on a stack of folders representing potential new business; most of them he would refer to other firms. ¡°When you decide you want final say, don¡¯t try to pry it out of the hands of Connors Matheson or Deeling Whittier. Hang your own shingle, Jamie. You can do it any way you want, but you might consider having a rule like mine.¡±
¡°All right. Meeting at two?¡± Jamie stood, and Gelf began to open his sandwich up a second time.
¡°See you then.¡±
Jamie took the lead in the 2 pm meeting ¨C a damage control case with a sundries manufacturer after a scandal involving one of their celebrity endorsements. Jamie was perfectly in her element for the meeting, reminding Gelf how grateful he was to have her. He made sure to tell her that before they parted ways for the rest of the afternoon.
The day dragged on, and he finally left the office at 7 pm. It was a bad time to be on public transport in Manhattan, but Gelf was used to it. Plenty of men and women in suits making their way home at that late hour; the chill of the August evening cut through him.
Much worse was the piece of chassis that literally cut through him a moment later, as a car bomb detonated at the corner of Wall and William. Gelf was next to the car when it happened. Heat destroyed his suit and charred his flesh as his torso was cut diagonally across his midsection. He died within moments.
In the ensuing pandemonium, the two paramedics that removed Gelf¡¯s body from the scene went unnoticed. In the two days it took his employees to connect his sudden absence to the terrorist attack, Gelf was moved thousands of miles away.
Chapter 2 - Rebuilt
He awoke in no pain, but in darkness. His efforts to move were thwarted by bonds he couldn''t see, and he was both scared and tired. A woman''s voice called his name.
"Matthias. Matthias, can you hear me?" A short pause, and then again, "Matthias? Matthias."
He attempted to respond, but his inhalation caught on something. He found himself coughing uncontrollably, his lungs trying to remove something wet.
"Easy now, careful." The hand at his forehead was uncomfortably warm. "Are you awake now?"
"Gelf," he choked out as the coughing subsided.
"Yes, sir. Mister Gelf -"
"Just... Gelf," he interjected. "That''s what I go by. Where am I?"
"Mato, Brazil," a deeper woman''s voice responded. She didn''t sound as close. "Panacea''s head facility."
"Okay. And why am I here?"
"You were badly injured," the first softer voice said. "Panacea recovered you and brought you here."
Gelf paused to reflect on this, but he drew a big blank. He vaguely remembered closing a sale in the afternoon, nothing further.
"I can''t see anything," he offered, trying to swallow down the panic.
"You''re blindfolded," the same soft voice said again. "And immobilized. It''s all part of the procedure."
He tried to think of what ''procedure'' she might mean. Panacea was known for providing a wide range of medical treatments and being at the forefront of vaccine research, but when he read up on them, he didn''t remember anything about emergency surgery. They were a pharma and device company, with some specialized clinical facilities. But, why had he researched them in the first place? He must have had a reason...
"I''m here because of the retainer agreement," he finally said with more certainty than he felt.
"That''s right," the deeper voice - the older woman, he decided - said from what he was gauging to be the foot of his bed. She had a clipped accent that he had heard from Brazilian English-speakers before. "The contract had an emergency treatment clause - it''s standard for high-value employees. Most see it as a major perk of working here."
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"I''m not your employee," Gelf insisted. "If I''m not mistaken - based on my memory of a contract I signed three weeks ago - you wanted to consult on a PR issue. We agreed to talk in secret, set things up for about a week from now. I guess you saved me the cost of a plane ticket."
"The original calendar date of the meeting has come and gone, I''m afraid," the older woman sighed. "But we''ll be happy to wait until your condition has progressed."
Another wave of panic hit Gelf, and he found himself coughing uncontrollably for another minute. Both women waited until he calmed down and spoke again. "How long?"
The younger woman spoke. "I should introduce you to Doctor Almeida. He can explain more about your condition."
"How long since the accident?" Gelf insisted, and put as much steel into his voice as he could.
"We really should allow the doctor -"
"A day? A week? How long?"
"Six months," the older woman finally said. "To be exact: today is day one-hundred and ninety-one of your treatment."
Gelf cursed.
A nasal voice, probably male, interjected in what Gelf assumed was Portuguese. It wasn''t Spanish, which Gelf spoke and understood moderately well, but he could pick out several of the common words.
The younger woman immediately took on the role as translator. "Doctor Almeida says that you need to stay relaxed and pace yourself. Too much stress could impede your progress."
"Progress towards what?" Gelf asked, kept in the dark in more ways than one.
"Your spine was severed at your ninth thoracic vertebra," she continued to translate. "Your heart and lungs were intact, but nothing below them. Entire systems were absent or failing when you arrived."
Gelf felt his eyes widen in horror, felt some sort of cloth against his lids. "How am I alive?"
"We have," the older woman began, "a number of experimental programs that we were able to bring to bear in your case. Your organs have been replaced."
"A maioria deles," the doctor interjected.
"Most of them," the young woman translated, then continued. "The missing endocrine, digestive, and urinary organs have been reattached and tested, but the legs take longer to grow."
"I''m missing my legs," Gelf repeated, the panic rising, worse this time.
"Temporarily," the older woman insisted. "Calm down, Mister Gelf. The programs are still technically experimental, but you''re nowhere near the first patient. You''ll have everything back before you leave here - and all in perfect working order, absent even the normal wear and tear. Like you''re twenty again."
These further details did nothing to generate calm. "Who authorized this?" he finally managed to ask. "I didn''t consent to treatment, so who did?"
"I did," the older woman responded. "You weren''t able to make these decisions for yourself. It was an emergency. You have full control over your treatment going forward."
"And who exactly is it I''m speaking to?" Gelf tried to sound a lot more confident than he felt.
The older woman responded. "Standing next to you is your case worker, Kara Leeman. Doctor Almeida is here as well.
"And I am Claudette Fernando, chief executive of Panacea. I have a very important job for you, Mister Gelf. And when you are ready to hear the specifics, I''m quite certain you''ll be interested. "
Ch. 3 - Patient Intake
Archimedes was finishing a plan of action on a young female patient when his new instructions came in. The new orders were not at all to his liking, so he decided an in-person discussion was required. He pulsed signals into his communicator to be moved, then began severing and withdrawing several tendrils into his central mass.
An urgent email was sent to his orderly, Jeremy: "Tray AR-79 relocated to Lab 1, Rack G, any empty slot. Highest priority."
Jeremy Silvas immediately stopped his cleaning task when the nearby terminal sounded. He logged in, read the instruction, and allowed himself a sigh. The specimen trays were massive and heavy, AR-79 especially so, and Lab 1 was at the very rear of the building. He was expected to do the relocations slowly and carefully so as to disturb the contents as little as possible, but they also seemed annoyed at the time it took him. And within a day or two they would almost certainly have him move it back.
He wished he knew what the point of it all was. His immediate supervisor claimed complete ignorance as to the origination of these commands. Jeremy knew Panacea did amazing work and were highly secretive, but he had taken this job expecting he''d get to see some part of the research they were doing.
With great care, Jeremy unlocked the rack and spread his arms to grip the tray, almost two meters wide. As he slid it out, he felt more than heard the sloshing of the liquid therein and detected the faint odor that always accompanied these moves. Jeremy suppressed his growing nausea and slowly, carefully, placed the tray on the wheeled cart that was set aside for just such transfers.
Jeremy passed no other workers on his long trek down to Lab 1, but once in the lab, he nodded cordially to the two researchers working there. Neither of them had specimen trays or other samples in front of them. Their work seemed to consist only of tracking data and records on the computer. He needed the assistance of one of the men there, a supervisor he knew, to unlock Rack G. It had two keyholes, and his key only opened one.
Jeremy always found the Lab 1 racks to be more revolting than those in the other labs. Some of the biological samples had been allowed to grow between adjacent trays, despite this obvious breach of experimental protocol (and basic cleanliness). His supervisor had made it very clear that this was to be expected and ignored. Once Jeremy had very carefully slid the tray into the vacant shelf in Rack G and made sure to secure the cabinet lock, he proceeded on his way, certain he would be called in before long to move the same tray yet again.
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Archimedes felt the sharp spike of visceral joy and satisfaction as his connection to the executive committee stabilized.
This enthusiasm dulled as he tasted their emotions and found disapproval and irritation to dominate. There was an underscent of panic as well that he didn''t understand.
¡°Your new instructions are most urgent,¡± Athena insisted. ¡°If you had any questions, you could have asked them over the digital system. Why are you here?¡± He still felt a background of respect and affection that always flowed from her, but the disapproval was strong.
¡°Is there some extra-medical reason why this particular patient is so important?" Archimedes asked.
Erastus replied with a hot rebuke. ¡°The circumstances of your patients are not your concern. We merely need you to focus on their treatment and recovery.¡±
¡°I am overseeing the care of fifteen patients and actively concerned with the treatment of seven. You have instructed me to give those over to colleagues and focus solely on this one male patient. Yes, his case is severe, but the treatment is not novel. This is atypical behavior for you, these are not orders that I recognize, and therefore I wish to have more understanding of why they are important." Archimedes felt several of the leaders respond to this explanation with the scent of agreement.
After a short pause, Athena replied, ¡°We are reaching a decision on public disclosure. This man is our best candidate for leading that venture.¡±
This took Archimedes by surprise; he hadn''t been aware that the matter of disclosure had progressed so far. ¡°Why then are we so concerned? He is missing only the lower parts of his body. I can easily regrow his lungs and place him on equipment allowing him to function even with the lower half absent.¡±
¡°He will not consider that acceptable. Restore him to full health and operation. That is how we gain our best bargaining position with him.¡±
¡°You are correct; this is not my area of expertise. When this patient, Gelf, is stabilized you will return me to my larger roster?¡± Archimedes attempted broadcast professional concern, but he knew some amount of his ambition shone through.
Erasmus answered, ¡°Should this patient recover fully, it will have even more clearly proved your abilities as a healer. We will expand your roster and place you over Hypatia and Manach''s teams."
"Then I shall assure the patient''s full recovery." After appropriate salutations, Archimedes severed the connections, retracting full into his tray again before once more summoning his orderly.
Jeremy sighed. It was almost exactly 36 hours since AR-79 was moved, and sure enough, he was now instructed to move it back.
He didn''t mind the work. He just wished there was some way to know if anything he did was actually important.