Potence 2

[Shelby]

Potence: Chapter 2

After his encounter with Doctor Holden, Greg wasted no time in leaving the labs. He knew that he would likely have to be in at his customary 8AM, but the joy of working with his idol erased any lingering concerns about the fallout of his passing his report to someone else.

The morning quickly came around, and Greg found himself walking into The Pharm with a quiet sense of trepidation. The euphoria of last night?s promotion had worn off. Now he was worried, ?Am I good enough? echoed in his mind as he stepped into the cool air conditioned building, ignoring the heat of the summer sun.

Strangely, those were the same thoughts going through the mind of Doctor Holden at that precise moment. Holden was checking his emails, and had come across one from General Palmer. The General was a leading figure in Army research circles and like Doctor Holden was one of a small handful of men who knew the secret of Potence.

Potence, you see, was not really an attempt to aid sufferers of muscular dystrophy, but a government attempt to create better soldiers. They had succeeded and created Potence after years of work. However, there was a problem. In every case of exposure to Potence, the test subjects, had experienced severe psychological problems and often died shortly after given complications with their hearts.

As one of the worlds leading research scientists, and given the failure of the military scientists to solve this issue, Doctor Holden had been chosen to try to perfect the problems of Potence. The general regularly checked with the good doctor for progress reports, however, after one year, he was starting to get impatient?

The general?s latest email made it clear he was seeking a resolution to the ?little problem? with Potence and that ?given current budget constraints that a satisfactory result was needed shortly?. Doctor Holden could read through the lines. He knew he was an increasing tight deadline. Given his reputation, if the project failed he could gain employment at any pharmaceutical company he chose.

However, it would be a dent in his perfect record. More concerning, originally he had refused to work for the government until the good general had produced photographs of him in what could best be described as a ?compromising situation?. Doctor Holden had little choice, he had to get break, and shortly.

Greg walked into the restricted section of The Pharm and instantly knew that the news he would be assisting Doctor Holden had got out. Everyone, from the security guard to the other researchers suddenly started giving him respect. People who had ignored him the previous day were greeting him like a long lost friend. The effect was rather intimidating and Greg started to worry if he was sufficiently talented to work with Doctor Holden?

However, whether for good or ill, Greg did not actually see Doctor Holden that day. When he reported to the sealed lab he found a note, leaving several instructions for the day. Greg was to take delivery of the mice, establish a control group and select several mice for a shot of Potence. He had a full workup to do on each mouse, size, weight, heart rate and 50 mice to play with. All in all, a long and rather uneventful day. But Greg did not care, it meant he was away from all the false friends he had suddenly created.

As he started to catalogue the mice, Greg?s mind wondered as to what Doctor Holden was doing. His note had been vague, saying only that he had to ?get out of the lab for a day? and that he would be ?back on Monday?. Given that today was Friday, Greg did not mind, and besides, it allowed him to get familiar with the lab without worrying about tripping over the good doctor.

Across town, in the comfort of his home Doctor Holden was seeking some relief from the pressure cooker called Project Potence. He had, after reading the email from the General, ordered some relief in the form of a ?companion? for the day. Having entered his credit card details, Doctor Holden was now simply waiting for his stress relief to arrive.

Meanwhile, Greg was working hard to catalogue the mice. His nerves started to get the better of him as his hands started to shake as he picked up a delicate instrument. Whenever he was nervous his hands often shook. In fact, his nerves was the main reason he had stopped lab work and progressed to data analysis, less chance of breaking something valuable.

However, Greg wanted this particular lab job more then anything he had ever desired before and so he started breathing exercises to calm himself. He stood still, closed his eyes and slowly breathed in and out, what little chest he had expanded and deflated. He repeated the exercise 9 more times and then opened his eyes again. The room was still the same, he had dropped nothing, but for the moment, his nervousness had passed. Greg smiled to himself as he continued to catalogue the mice, maybe things were going to turn out for the best after all.

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Sorry its taken a while for any action to occur. Next installement will include some actual growth as well as character growth

[sexiscriptor]

Originally Posted by Shelby

Holden was checking his emails, and had come across one from General Palmer. The general?s latest email made it clear he was seeking a resolution to the ?little problem? with Potence and that ?given current budget constraints that a satisfactory result was needed shortly?. Doctor Holden could read through the lines. He knew he was an increasing tight deadline. Given his reputation, if the project failed he could gain employment at any pharmaceutical company he chose."

Won't lie, i TOTALLY had to give a little giggle at that. Because I totally WOULD work my way up to a position to play catalyst to Muscle Growth. A little pressure here, a little blackmail there, and BAMMO we got megamuscle labboys

because then things really would "turn out for the best"

and don't worry about taking your time with the story; especially if you're to have us anticipate BOTH muscle AND character growth! jesus man, all at once? however will we contain ourselves?
take your time, I know I'll gladly enjoy the results
~Palmer

[Ender]

Originally Posted by Shelby

Potence: Chapter 2

....Potence, you see, was not really an attempt to aid sufferers of muscular dystrophy, but a government attempt to create better soldiers. They had succeeded and created Potence after years of work. However, there was a problem. In every case of exposure to Potence, the test subjects, had experienced severe psychological problems and often died shortly after given complications with their hearts.

Well, as people get mad at me for pointing out...When you have people grow considerably larger than normal (either in height or width), you get problems with the cardio-vascular and pulmonary systems. Because assuming you maintain normal proportions if you double the size you increase the volume and weight by a factor of 8 (2 cubed) so you need to move 8 times the blood volume in a circulatory system that is 8 times larger and that requires like 60 times the power to keep the blood moving to get that kind of scaling need to keep a very large person alive. The internal organs to support that won't fit the form-factor/template of a normal (IE regular size) human, to cram it all into a transportable package means the package won't look human and will require modification to the DNA to change the template.

If the General thinks he's going to get 8-10' super soldiers out of Potence, somebody didn't do a good job of controlling expectations...

When dealing with the government in general and the military in particular... If you don't take great care to be sure your sponsor doesn't believe he is going to get something you are not going to provide because it is not possible in the real world or just not on the list of deliverables; Your program will be a failure in the eyes of your sponsor (the guy that signs the checks) even if you exceed every requirement that you are required by the contract.

When that happens it get really ugly really fast... I've been there and seen it first hand from both sides. In the end every body loses.

Ender

[Shelby]

Sorry Chapter 3 has been a while coming, personal life issues have kinda taken over... Hope to get it posted within the next week or so.