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Narrator
If human flesh is just binary code waiting to be rewritten by an ancient intelligence, what happens when a desperate scientist decides to play God with his own biology?
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Narrator
Welcome to year 2030, where Dr. Benny Spritzer has just made himself subject number one.
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Shitala
What's going on here?
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Shitala
Is that Benny? I heard the code being called!
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Narrator
Dr. Vantari, chief of the ICU. She was one of the best intensivists in New York City. Benny had been, still was, one of her favorites. They weathered numerous crises together, but none so blank and numbing as this.
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Narrator
142.
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Narrator
60. 128. 175.
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Narrator
Dr. Shitala Vantari watched the wildly fluctuating digital display of her patient's heart rate with trepidation. For the past 24 hours, her friend and colleague, Dr. Barnett "Benny" Spritzer, had occupied bed 12 in her intensive care unit, and she could not yet name his disease, let alone cure it. Bad enough that he had fallen into a witless stupor in the hospital elevator, wheeled into the ICU by the panicky house staff, but
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Narrator
if she believed what the eminent Dr. Dimitrov Garcia was whispering in the corridor, Dr. Spritzer brought this on himself.
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Narrator
Even if she was willing to accept Benny was capable of inflicting such horrific injury on himself, which she wasn't, how in the name of medical science was it possible to engineer the gross biological aberration enveloping him?
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Narrator
Could it be Dimitrov was simply using the opportunity to smear Benny's reputation and obscure his own role in the tragedy?
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Narrator
A suspicion contradicting everything she understood about the highly principled Dr. Garcia. She hadn't slept enough, was drinking too much coffee, and smoking too many cigarettes.
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Shitala
Dimitrov, wait! I saw the report! What the hell is going on here? Why didn't you tell me?
Dimitrov
Shitala, I thought you were on rounds.
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Shitala
I'm not sure what's going on with Benny either. You don't think he had anything to do with this, do you?
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Dimitrov
I'm sorry Shitala, I do. He saw an opportunity and despite the risk he took it.
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Shitala
I just don't understand.
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Shitala
You look exhausted. When do you sleep?
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Shitala
No time for that, Dimitrov. Not with what's going on here.
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Shitala
Incredible. How he wound up like this?
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Shitala
Bastard! I could've helped him if only I knew sooner!
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Dimitrov
We all feel the same way, Shitala. Maybe he'll make it.
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Dimitrov
Then we can all give him what he deserves. A race was already in progress to save what was at stake.
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Narrator
Episode 2.
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Narrator
Three months before the alarms and before occupying bed 12 in the ICU, Dr. Spritzer's biology was still following nature's rules. Rules encoded on genes passed on to him in an unbroken chain thousands of generations long.
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Narrator
On that morning at Washington Hospital in the South Bronx, Benny led his team of resident physicians on rounds. Their first stop, a unit reserved for patients carrying the contagious baggage of a community blighted by decades of neglect.
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Benny
Gear up everyone. We may be here for a while today.
Narrator
Trailing six sweat-soaked residents in full PAPR gear.
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Narrator
Here the air was a commodity, constantly vacuumed away by negative pressure hums, scrubbed by HEPA filters bathed in the violet glare of ceiling-mounted UVC sterilizers.
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Narrator
Behind their hoods and double gloves, the team breathed their own recycled carbon dioxide, pasting of latex and anxiety. The restants fanned out around the bed like a protective barrier, leaving Benny alone at the patient's head.
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Narrator
Before them lay Matteo, twenty-four, admitted three weeks ago with what should have been a manageable case of breakthrough HIV.
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Narrator
Instead, his chart was a disaster of spiking fevers, crashing blood pressure, bone marrow failure. At first, they blamed a toxic reaction to his salvage antiretroviral therapy. When that fell apart, a colder theory took root, that Matteo's blood carried a resistant strain, one that mocked their entire drug cocktail.
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Narrator
But it was the transmission vector that chilled the staff to the bone. Matteo hadn't had a sexual partner, shared a needle, or received blood in three years. If the timeline held, this wasn't just a drug-resistant mutation. It was a pathogen that had found a new way to travel.
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Benny
Can you hear me okay through this helmet?
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Benny
How are you feeling today, Matteo?
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Matteo
Loud and clear. Not too bad, Doc.
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Benny
How's your appetite? Nurse said you lost another pound.
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Matteo
What can you expect? You try eating the stuff they feed you in here?
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Benny
There. What do you actually like? Maybe we can put in a special request.
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Matteo
Only what my mom makes, really. You haven't lived till you had her mafongo.
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Benny
Mom's mafongo? What could be better? Kathy, before we clear the floor, tell the head nurse we're approving mafongo for our guy here.
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Narrator
The hood nodded its assent.
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Matteo
That's the best news I've had in a while.
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Narrator
Back in the gowning area, the team peeled off their protective gear and dropped it in the bins marked "used." Out on the open ward, despite the tang of disinfectant, the air felt almost clean after the recycled stuff they'd left behind.
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Female Resident
Dr. Spritzer?
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Benny
Oh, hey.
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Benny
What's up, Kathy?
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Female Resident
I know nobody's sure yet, but how likely is it Matteo picked this up a new way? Aerosol, maybe?
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Benny
Hmm.
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Benny
I hope not. For everyone's sake, let's keep that one between us until we know more. We're moving as fast as we can. Did his food request make it to the front desk?
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Female Resident
Yes. They were glad to bend the rules for once. Everyone likes Matteo.
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Benny
Good. Thanks. Let's go say hi to Aisha in bed eight. I think her MRI came back this morning.
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Narrator
Benny knew that for now this topic must remain carefully managed. Casual speculation was to be discouraged.
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Narrator
When conclusive evidence was available of how this deadly disease was spread, then, a carefully worded announcement would be made. It was not the time for panic in the streets.
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Narrator
The lab that day was a sanctuary of mundane frustration. Dimitrov slumped in his chair, glaring at a centrifuge like he could will it to spin faster. At her station, Maryliss lingered over her coffee break, stirrer clicking against the cup, one eye on her motionless colleague.
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Maryliss
So, out with it, Dr. D. You've been moping since you walked in. How'd it go last night?
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Dimitrov
She was stunning, Maryliss, truly. Last week when we met, I barely had look at her.
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Dimitrov
But last night, she was something else.
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Maryliss
Sounds like a great start. I sense a butt coming, though. Spill it.
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Dimitrov
We went for pierogies. The conversation was effortless. And then, she smiled.
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Maryliss
Oh no, here we go. What was it? Spinach? Tooth to gum ratio?
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Dimitrov
Worse. Her front teeth, one looked to be missing, the rest crooked. Threw off the whole symmetry of her face.
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Maryliss
You're a piece of work, Dr. D.
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Maryliss
And you're ready to bail because a couple of her teeth didn't get the memo?
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Dimitrov
That's not it. I'm not dumping her. I like her spirit. But here's this smart, gorgeous woman with one flaw nature stuck her with, right out there for everyone to see. And she was upfront about it, told me the whole story. No money to fix it growing up. Took a lot of grief for it.
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Maryliss
Yeah?
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Dimitrov
And then she didn't leave out a single detail. The childhood, the social stuff, all of it. A little much, honestly. And get this. Her big dream is to be a famous singer.
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Maryliss
This girl's got cajones.
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Maryliss
Now I see what you mean about her spirit. Not that easy coping with a bad hand nature deals you.
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Narrator
The conversation was interrupted as Benny walked in from rounds,
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Benny
Sorry to interrupt. I guess I missed something good.
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Maryliss
No worries. Dr. D's just dishing about his hot date. Beautiful girl, hard luck story, the whole bit.
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Dimitrov
The problem is, we've forgotten how to appreciate what can't be improved. Because we're too busy chasing perfect. So, enough about my night.
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Dimitrov
How are you holding up, Benny?
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Benny
Okay, I guess. My echo's in a few days.
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Benny
The TEE, kind. Not exactly looking forward to it.
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Maryliss
I'm sorry to hear that, Benny. Aren't you asleep for that part, at least?
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Benny
Should be, yeah. I know it's not a big deal, but...
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Dimitrov
We've got your back, Benny. It will be fine.
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Narrator
Mary-Lise nodded in agreement.
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Benny
Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. It's like the dentist. No fun, but no biggie.
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Narrator
Benny didn't say what he was actually thinking. That this might just be the start of something much bigger.
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Narrator
Episode 3. Benny understood he possessed a gene that could cause his main blood vessel, the aorta, to rupture suddenly. He also understood there was no cure for his condition, meaning his life was forever balanced against that one lethal weakness. The procedure he was preparing for could tell him just how far he had traveled along that road. Meanwhile, he was about to discover that a much smaller heart had already run out of time.
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Narrator
On the eve of Benny's medical procedure, he and Maryliss were preparing to shut down the molecular biology lab. Dimitrov spent the afternoon attending the Morbidity and Mortality Conference at the medical school, located in a prosperous Westchester neighborhood several miles north of Washington Hospital.
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Shitala
Hey Benny, Dr. D messaged us. He said he should be here in a minute and wants to share some important info from the conference.
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Benny
Hmm. Okay, but I was hoping to get out of here on time tonight. I'm guessing he wouldn't have called if it wasn't important.
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Maryliss
Sure. Let's just finish putting this stuff away now.
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(Door Creaks Open)
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Maryliss
Hey Dr. D, how are things in Pelham?
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Dimitrov
They just murdered an innocent child.
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Dimitrov
And whose hands is the blood on? No one.
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Maryliss
Dr. D, slow down. Take a breath. What child? What happened at the M&M conference?
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Dimitrov
A toddler, Mary-Lise. They called him Rico. Barely three years old. Brought into our ER and total cardiac arrest. Dead before the house staff could even get a central line into him. And why? Because some back-alley genetic cowboys in an unregulated offshore clinic decided to play God.
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Benny
A genetic procedure on a three-year-old? For God's sake, what were they trying to cure?
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Dimitrov
Cure. They weren't curing a damn thing. They were enhancing. They used a crude, unshielded delivery system to completely knock out the child's muscle regulator gene. The myostatin gene.
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Maryliss
The one that determines how much muscle you have?
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Dimitrov
Exactly. A brake pedal. The parents wanted a superbaby. A designer athlete built from the cradle. They deleted the gene so his skeletal muscles would grow unchecked. And it worked. The autopsy photos showed an infant with a definition of a professional bodybuilder. It was grotesque, Mary-Lise.
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Maryliss
Then what killed him? If the muscles were firing, how did his system go into arrest?
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Dimitrov
The heart is a muscle too. The heart muscle took up the genetic modification. And without the myostatin brake pedal, the heart walls just kept thickening.
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Benny
I get it. The heart became so muscle-bound, so thick, that there was no room left for blood to actually fill the chamber. The poor kid's heart literally choked itself to death from the inside out.
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Benny
And
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Benny
the people who administered the injection? The clinic?
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Dimitrov
As you might expect, Benny. Vanished into the digital ether. The website is offline. The paper trail leads to a shell company in an offshore tax haven. And the local authorities have no jurisdiction. The rogue scientists got their data. The parents got a tiny corpse. And the accountability just evaporates.
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Benny
It's a tragedy, Dimitrov. The helpless are the first ones to suffer from this kind of arrogance.
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Benny
But listen, guys. Sorry, but I have to get out of here exactly on time tonight. The Long Island Expressway is already going to be a parking lot, and I need to get home and prep for the procedure first thing in the morning.
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Dimitrov
Right. Of course, Benny. Go. Your health comes first. We shouldn't be shouting about cardiac failure on the eve of your own evaluation anyway.
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Benny
Thanks. I'll pull all the data from the mortality repository when I get back. Let's catch up on the details of their vector failure tomorrow afternoon. As long as Chitala clears me for duty.
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Maryliss
Good luck tomorrow, Benny. Don't worry about the bench. I'll take care of the substates.
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Benny
Appreciate it, Maryliss. See you both tomorrow.
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Narrator
The scientists get their data. The parents get a tiny corpse. And accountability evaporates into the legal ether. Leaving his colleagues to lock up the laboratory benches, Benny steps out into the cold New York evening, his mind racing against the looming shadow of tomorrow's ultrasound probe. He thinks he is merely fighting to survive the winter. As Benny drives home into the gathering New York gridlock, the image of a child's failing heart echoes in the dark. He believes tomorrow morning's diagnostic probe is the ultimate fork in his road. But a different design has already been set in motion. What Benny is entirely unaware of is that events about to unfold right inside his own home will draw him further into a world of genetic manipulation he has never conceived of.
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Narrator
New episodes of Binary and Bone drop every two weeks. Subscribe to find out. For those interested in seeing the characters in action, video versions of all episodes are available at no cost on YouTube, the channel @BinaryandBone.
