Part 1
Miranda sat at her work bench in the cleanroom of the university’s Biochemistry lab. She’d successfully completed her PhD last year on the subject of delaying the ageing process in mice.
The drugs she’d help develop with her rather eccentric professor, Prof Jardine had started to show results with both mice and rats and now they were working on a slightly stronger formula to be trialed on pigs whose genetic makeup was far closer to humans which had always been the end goal and then hopefully unlock the door to fame and fortune for them both as well as the more junior research assistants employed in the lab.
What the others in the lab were not aware of was that Miranda and Prof Jardine had secretly developed a formula to inject into their lab mice and rats that first accelerated the aging process which was then reversed by their new anti ageing drug. They’d viewed the potential criticism from animal rights groups as far too risky to publicise this aspect of their research, however the premature aging enabled them to greatly reduce the time it took them to prove that their process worked. What would have taken two years to prove could now be done in a matter of months.
Trialing this on pigs would be a hugs step forward for their research. Miranda filled the first syringe with the ageing accelerant ready for use in the first unsuspecting pig a two-year old sow they affectionately called Janet. Miranda would drive out to the university’s farm outside of town later that afternoon to administer the drug.
She carefully placed the syringe on her desk ready for packing when the phone rang. It was the IT department checking if the issue she’d complained about with the network earlier that week had now been resolved. “They always ring at the wrong time!” she thought to herself.
With that as she went to put the phone down she felt a sharp prick in her left arm. She let out a loud yelp and as she looked down she could see that the syringe was now hanging out of the underside of her left forearm. Somehow the syringe had got caught in her lab coat sleeve without her realizing and as she moved her arm back so the need pierced her skin.
Panicking she looked at the syringe, only about a third of its contents had gone into her body. She had no idea what she should do, She couldn’t admit to her mistake as only her and her professor knew of the substance’s existence. Surely it wouldn’t take affect would it she thought? If she injected herself with the anti aging antidote she couldn't be sure of the effects, what if she suddenly started to look noticeably younger, she’d lose her job for using and un-certified drug. She simply had to hope that the aging serum would not be strong enough to have any noticeable effect, after all it had never been used on humans before and may not work at all – she hoped.
She visited the pig farm and administered the drug to the unsuspecting Janet to begin the next stage of the drug’s trials and drove home in a cold sweat with her mind racing as to what might happen to her and what she could possibly do.
When she got home her boyfriend James was already waiting for her and asked how her day had been. She hesitated in her reply and almost told him but knew that this was one secret she had to keep to herself. She felt bad about not sharing her mistake and her on-going concern but knew that whatever fate awaited her she would need to face alone.
James immediately sensed that something wasn’t quite right and asked her if anything had happened and she managed to palm him off with a line about some test results being very disappointing and realizing she’d made a stupid mistake with dosage and that the last month’s work had probably been wasted because of this and she was annoyed with herself and would have to tell her boss the next day. This appeared to satisfy James who consoled her saying anyone can make a mistake and at least no-one was harmed. “Little does he know” she thought to herself.
They had dinner and went to bed early, James attempted some foreplay but she politely rejected his advances claiming to be very very tired which she genuinely was.
Part 2
Miranda woke from a terribly fitful night’s sleep, she’d woken numerous times and each time found herself drenched in sweat. Thankfully James was a heavy sleeper and although her tossing and turning had clearly disturbed him, he appeared to snore his way through the night as usual. His snoring had not helped her efforts to go back to sleep at all, but in the three years they’d been together she had grown used to this. She wasn’t as keen on the thick bushy beard he’d grown over the last year or so. She used to love his square jawline, but he always felt the need to be so on trend, sometimes, despite her good looks she often felt boring beside him. But to keep him happy she usually wore short skirts showing off her great legs and her long glossy dark hair fell to just below her shoulder blades. She knew she was something of a looker especially in academic circles where most people were devoid of any sense of style. Her regular trips to the gym also kept her figure trim and her boobs pert and firm and despite her dark hair her bright blue eyes displayed something of her Irish roots.
She showered and whilst drying her body tried to ignore the dull pain from the needle mark on her forearm surrounded by a small bruise. She dried her hair tying it in a top knot and applied just a little more makeup than usual. She wore a short denim skirt, navy blue tights, her favourite brown ankle boots with the 2” chunky heel, striped vest and baggy pale grey cardigan. She looked like a hip, but not overly fashion conscious student and probably a little younger than her 24 years. This was aided by the small ring through her left nostril that was done at James’s request not long after they’d met. He was into his tattoos and piercings and she now possessed three piercings in her left ear, two in her right and one in her naval, but overall she felt that she’d taken edgy quite far enough.
The day was uneventful other than she felt so incredibly tired and found it a little hard to concentrate on her work. She understandably put this down to her lack of sleep the night before and her mind going back to her stupid mistake of yesterday. One part of her brain kept telling her to forget it, there was no evidence to support her fears that the aging process would be triggered in humans and the other part kept telling her of the dangers.
Thankfully, other than continued disrupted sleep patterns and a general feeling of lethargy over the next two weeks nothing eventful had happened and she was beginning to feel that her fears were completely unfounded. The pig she’d experimented on was definitely aging more rapidly than its siblings and so that element of the experiment appeared to be displaying some early signs of success. Of course accelerating aging was one thing, slowing it may still be quite another. When she reported this to her professor he was delighted by the progress the trials were showing and soon thought they could increase the numbers for the next stage.
Then when driving home she could feel her period starting, she felt sure this was earlier than expected. Over the next few days she experienced the heaviest period of her life and hoped this was not related to her carelessness in the lab. She also noticed that she was slightly more irritable by James and some of the students in the university. It was not anything much but once or twice she’d snapped at a remark that she would simply have laughed at before. She made a mental note to bite her tongue before speaking and to try to be as nice as possible to everyone, especially to James.
It was now the fourth week since her careless error and for the first time in over two years of regular gym attendance she found herself struggling to keep up in her spinning class. She knew she was fitter than most of the class but today she was a middling performer at best and she was also completely saturated with sweat, something that would never normally happen. She’d tied her dark hair back in a ponytail; and it was actually sticking to the seat running down her back.
When she entered the changing rooms afterwards she couldn’t believe how red- faced she was and found herself still gasping for air a full 5 minutes after the end of the class. This had never happened before and when she asked Sally the instructor if she’d pushed the class harder than usual she was told that actually she’d backed off a little because she noticed that Miranda in particular seemed to be struggling. Miranda thanked her for that, giving an excuse that she must be coming down with something, but deep down she feared she knew all to well what was beginning to take place.
At home that evening her mind raced s to what she could do. She argued with James who felt she wasn’t paying any attention to what he’d been saying. She knew this was the case and so wanted to tell him how careless she’d been but knew if she told anyone it would have to be Professor Jardine. She knew that he’d be in the lab the next day and resolved to tell him. She had no idea how he’d react but as their research was pushing some ethical boundaries he’d be obliged to help.