The Pain Colony by Shanon Hunt

Author:Shanon Hunt [Hunt, Shanon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Narrow Ledge Publishing
Published: 2019-08-21T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 44

Allison stared at Elaine, aghast. “You? You did this to me?”

“No! Well, I didn’t mean to do anything to you. Dr. Chambers asked me to set up an account. He had documents, power of attorney, and everything looked correct. I didn’t have any idea I was doing anything illegal. I swear it was just a logistical thing, setting up the account. Carol was away that week taking her daughter to college. He just asked me to do it because Carol was away. I didn’t know. I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

She regarded Elaine with distrust, as Elaine rambled her apology.

“But there’s something else,” Elaine continued, “and this is the important part. This is why I decided to come and talk to you.”

She handed Allison a small envelope. On the outside was written “B. Elliott.”

“Bradley.” It was all she could think of to say. She opened the envelope to find a short note and a flash drive inside.

Brad,

I’ve been trying to contact you for several days regarding the protocol for LXR102016. We’ve had some setbacks, as you’ll see from the video included. Please contact me as soon as possible so we can discuss next steps for this model. We’d also like to discuss the other models, especially the germline animals, as we fear we may observe the same dose-limiting toxicity.

Regards,

Jenna

Allison twisted to reach her laptop and powered it on.

“This is really something,” Elaine said. “I just want you to be prepared.”

She inserted the flash drive and loaded the video. The Camry filled with the sound of screeching monkeys. She fumbled for the volume button. The video appeared to have been taken inside a large warehouse, where several huge chain-link cages—maybe three stories tall and elaborately equipped with ropes and jungle gyms—stood lined up in a row. Each cage contained six to eight chimpanzees.

Quandary had never conducted studies with chimps. It wasn’t easy to find primate labs that used chimpanzee models anymore. The chimps were climbing and jumping, hollering at each other. Normal chimp behavior as far as Allison could tell. She wrung her hands as she waited for something to happen.

A woman’s voice spoke from behind the camera. “This is the day 120 video observation of Cohorts 3 and 4. The date is July 9, 2019. I’m Jenna Wolfe, lead researcher in the primate bay.”

The camera bobbed toward one of the cages, then stabilized. Wolfe stepped in front and spoke to the camera.

“This unit is Cohort 3. All animals were injected seven days ago with their fourth dose of LXR102016, 1.4 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. As predicted, the subjects appear to have no pain. They not only walk across the hot plate to get food, but they stand and sit comfortably on the hot plate. The plate is currently set to 120 degrees Fahrenheit, which causes first-degree burns. We’ve increased the temperature to 140 degrees and see no reaction from the subjects, even after they sustain second-degree burns. The additional pain sensitivity tests, which include pricking and piercing the

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