Do Not Bring Your Swamp Things Here, I Warn You

Alec Holland, Scientist and Teacher, Dead at 36

Dr. Alec Holland, an expert in botany and biochemistry, died yesterday outside of his laboratory on the outskirts of Houma, Louisiana. He was 36.

Born in Stamford, Connecticut, Dr. Holland received his Doctorates from Harvard University, where he worked as a researcher for several years, before moving to Middle Area, Pennsylvania last year to take a position teaching high school chemistry. He taught for one year, then resigned to return to research.

Police are still investigating the circumstances not only of Holland's death, but also the deaths of his partner, Dr. Linda Ridge, and their employees, as well as the explosion that destroyed their lab. The only statement being released at the moment is that foul play is suspected.

Dr. Holland is survived by his father, Larry, of Stamford, Connecticut; and an older brother, Edward, of Quinn, Oregon.

*ring-click!*

"Hello?"

"Alec? It's Linda."

"Hi! I was thinking it'd been a while."

"Yeah, well, things have been busy 'round here."

"Wherever 'here' is..."

"Well, actually, that's what I'm calling about. I wasn't allowed to tell you before now, but our recent work has changed that. It's called the Defense Department Initiative. Technically a secret government agency, it's really more of a think tank."

"'Defense Department?' You've been working for the military, all this time?"

"That's just the name, Alec. It's not really military. All the stuff that we work on is for eventual civilian use. They've been funding my end of the stuff we've been doing, including helping you out with that weirdness you had going on in the school last year."

"...Oh. Well, okay. So why are you allowed to tell me this now?"

"Because they think we've done as much good as we can separately, and with this last set of formulas you've come up with, they think we'd be better off working together for the last few months they figure it should take for us to finally crack the problem. So, I was asked to call and make the offer."

"And just what is their offer?"

"Full funding, our own facility with its own small staff where we can work in isolation without interruption. Whatever it takes to finally produce the bio-restorative formula and make it viable for wide-scale use."

"Wow. Um. I'll want to see something in writing -- I trust you, but I'll need more before I'm sure of them -- but the school year's over, all the grades are in, so I don't have to worry about breaking my commitment to the school."

"Great! You'll be hearing from a man named Matthew Cable. He'll have the paperwork and, if you sign on, will make the arrangements to get you moved out. How's Louisiana sound to you?"

Well. I don't know just what's been happening, the last several days. Even for this town, some of what I seem to remember couldn't possibly have been right. Also, I haven't felt my consciousness that far expanded since those couple of times back in grad school. Anyway, it was... interesting. I may have some new ideas to try, some new approaches on the Formula. Linda, if you're reading this, I'll be in touch later.

Consider every possibility that unexpected absenteeism for class may, for all anyone knows given the level of commentary flying back and forth this evening, reach even as high as 100% tomorrow. Probably not, but file under Not Taking Anything For Granted. Instead, swing by stationer's on the way in in the morning and acquire sufficient stock of folders and such that everyone in class will each have one for their assignments to be put in, to be given to them in the event of their absence. Should've long since done so, but live and learn. Also ensure preparedness to vary rate of material covered tomorrow in accordance with attendance, so that if most are out, they'll have a chance to catch up the next day. If this continues longer than that, then there might need to be words.

I hope everyone's had an enjoyable holiday vacation and is ready (or ready enough, anyway) for classes to begin again tomorrow.

Due to the recent weather, and especially in honor of those students who went on the ski trip, we'll be focusing this week on exothermic reactions -- those which generate heat. I'm sure we'll all appreciate this, assuming I don't set myself on fire again. :-)

Hm. On the one hand, I've worked out a formula for what I'm reasonably certain is an exothermic compound suitable for deicing and heat generation that's several times more powerful than what's currently commonly available, but on the other hand, from what the news has been showing of the size of the avalanche, producing enough of it to form a channel through the snow to the lodge would require nearly a week of synthesis time, and about twenty times the volume of supplies than I could readily acquire in that time. So... if I'd known a month ago that this was going to happen, I might've been able to do something to help. Now? Not so much. How frustrating.

I should probably have posted something like this a little earlier, but whatever. Anyway, I'm not dropping, but between Thanksgiving (for which I'm flying home to Maine ahead of time and sticking around a couple days extra) and a super-urgent deadline a couple of weeks later for a massive new customer rollout (for which I'm on the stick for several separate pieces of the puzzle), I need to dial things down a bit, to make sure everything gets done. Dr. Holland can be presumed to still be generally around, and for anything more particular, I'll still probably be findable on IRC -- or failing that, on AIM -- anytime I'm online, to ask questions of. I just won't necessarily have a lot of time for active play for the next few weeks.

Dominik, thank you for the flowers. It's good to see that the strictures upon you have loosened at least a little.

How are things going, overall? I get the sense that not all is well, but not really anything more specific, and, well, this is Middle Area.

A plant is delivered to Dominik's hospital room. Specificially, a Rhododendron ponticum. There is, as there often is with floral deliveries, a note attached:

Dominik,

Thought you might appreciate a bit of floral color while you recuperate. Audrey says hi. Get well soon.

--Dr. Holland

Has anyone heard from Dominik today? All the Office had to say was that his sister had delivered a doctor's note to excuse his absence.

EDIT: I did some calling around town. Dominik is not just out sick, but is, in fact, in the hospital. He's apparently also not allowed any visitors. I hate to have to say it -- to even think it -- but there's some timing in this that stinks, at least to me.

So, it only now occurs to me, after having tried to talk some sense to Radek, that it's possible that at least some of his problem might be neurochemical rather than purely psychological, which is a hurdle that I thankfully never had to deal with myself. It would explain the odd reaction to the "treatment" -- unstable chemistry interacting with unstable chemistry.

Of course, it also means that there possibly just isn't any talking that'll work much, until something is done to stabilize that.

Hey! It's that "ask me what my character thinks of yours" meme! You know how it works.

Well. What with one thing and another, I nearly forgot the date. Happy Birthday To Me, I guess.

The house of Dr. Alec Holland is probably a bit larger than a man of his modest needs would ordinarily need, except that he needs the extra space to house his own personal laboratory, and an expanse of backyard large enough to build a greenhouse on for his primary experimental subjects. Upkeep appears to be minimal, and minimally done, the better to have time to either continue his research or work on matters related to his day job. This evening, the lights are on in front, as he's gotten himself cleaned up from his earlier work to receive visitors who've asked to meet him.

I've been continuing analysis of both the... well, "drug" is nearly a misnomer, but the substance used on the Pods, and the antidote. This stuff is... amazing. Half of the composition is stuff that I wouldn't have even thought to formulate, much less design for actual use on a multi-celled organism.

I suppose it would have to be the pineal gland. I mean, it produces melatonin, which is involved in regulation of sleep cycles and might therefore have behavioral side effects... and if we want to take certain older and, quite frankly, more mystical applications, was known as the "seat of the soul" and possibly a vestige of the so-called "third eye". What if those ideas are more true than usually accepted? I find it somewhat distasteful to think so, but what if? In that case, who knows just what injecting some exotic cocktail of chemicals into it could do?

How much trial and error would you have to do to get the real result you wanted? How sure could you be of how one formula's effects would differ between one person and another? Could you simulate it? Would you just have to try it out on people? How wide a sample size would you need? Who really thought it would be a good idea to drill a tiny hole in a person's skull in order to get a needle through their brain so they could inject this stuff?!

It baffles me. In a way, it's brilliant, and yet, it's horrifying at the same time, the scatter-shot manner of it and disregard for what could possibly happen, in favor of using the populace of the school as guinea pigs.

I just... *sigh*

Elizabeth:

It's a very fine drop. Quite nice. I'll enjoy it for some time to come. Thank you.

Well. It would seem that we've gotten most of the so-called "Pod People" cured back to whatever normal is for them. I've mixed up an extra batch of the antidote, so we should have plenty to go around for everyone who needs it. I understand that there are still some tasks that need to be taken care of, but since the labwork is, as far as I know, complete for now, I've gotten all of the equipment packed up and ready to get my stuff back home and the rest sent back to King Pharmaceuticals, our impromptu corporate sponsors.

A few words of thanks: First, to Elizabeth "Chief Ducky" Weir, for confiding in me and then taking up the organizational reins. Second, to, well, everyone else, students and teachers, who helped out by acquiring samples, processing samples, taking notes, getting formulas worked out, keeping people informed, performing guard duties, and just otherwise running around and working as part of the group to get this problem solved. Thirdly, to my remote colleagues: Ed Smith and Tadenishi Kensuke at King Pharmaceuticals -- as promised, guys, your debt is paid with me -- Dr. Woodrue and everyone else he got together back at Harvard; and as always, Dr. Linda Ridge -- you never did tell me where you're working these days -- who took the copies of notes that I'd sent them as a backup and stepped up admirably in reading through them and helping add to the brain trust in cracking the chemical puzzles. Also, Ed, Ken? My compliments on the CT/MRI machine; it worked beautifully and I look forward to the day when KP can make it an actually affordable piece of equipment.

Finally, to all of my lab assistants from the student populace: I know I'm not the only one who'd been taking notes on our progress. I would ask, as the cliché goes, that you use your powers only for good, because, as I've been informed, at least some of the members of the so-called Team Awesome will not hesitate to re-form the group in response to anyone else getting shady ideas like what we've been dealing with.

The situation has deteriorated during the day today. That "going to ground" I mentioned? It's become necessary. More details and directions here; check other students' blog entries elsewhere for a cornucopia of information.

"Doctor Woodrue? Alec Holland. Well, I'm fine, but Middle Area is... weird, and... look, I'm sorry to be short about this, but I need to get to the school shortly, so I don't have a lot of time and I need a big favor. I'm Cc:'ing you on an update that I'm sending Linda -- Linda Ridge? Yeah. -- of what I've had to deal with for the last several days. I'd like to see what you can make of it, but more to the point, I need you to talk to IT and get them to reopen my accesses to the school's systems for... a few days, hopefully not more than a week or two. I suspect that if this takes that long to figure out, having them shut me down again will be the least of my problems. Okay, thanks, Professor. I really appreciate it. I'll be in touch. Bye."

Dr. Holland had worked on the samples he had off and on during non-class periods, as he had time, and had packed them up to take back home just as soon as he could manage it at the end of the day. Those who had agreed to help with lab duties were told where he lived -- a fairly short walk from the school -- and moved in and out as class and other duties permitted; as a volunteer effort, he was glad for the assistance but wasn't going to make any demands. There were some interesting results, insofar as they helped weed out where things were as one would expect, narrowing down where the answers could possibly be found... but nothing definitive, nothing that could yet be truly isolated as the treatment itself or its effects. Such is the nature of science.

Among the duties that had to be handled, either by himself or by one of the others, was keeping an eye of events online and answering phones. The phone call from Elizabeth had led him to other lines of pondering, and particularly once he found out what had happened to Liz and Izzy, he knew he had to start actually acting on plans.

---

"Ed? It's Alec. Figured I'd find you still in the lab. Is our Honorable Colleague from Nippon there, too? Great, conf him in, will you? Tadei! Yeahhh, not so great. Listen, I have a situation going on, and... no, look, I only helped grow pot in a greenhouse that one time, okay? This is serious, so could you please just listen? Thank you.

"Long story short, there's been a new pharmaceutical psych treatment being pushed around the school here, and... well, just trust me when I say that it's not what was promised. If it was one of yours, you'd have heard about it, right? Exactly. No, I don't know who. I'm sending you guys a copy of the labwork I've gotten done so far, partially so you can see what I mean, and partially just for safe-keeping. No, seriously, it's a bad scene, and people are getting hurt. Don't you think I might've thought of that, if I had the kind of proof I'd need? It's bad enough that I have to consider hiding out to finish working on this, without you guys getting on my case.

"What I need from you is to borrow a truckload of gear... or be allowed to invade your lab with a pack of student helpers, I'm not sure I care which. Don't make me say-- All right, fine: You owe me, guys. Cryptoflorinase tampanol? You know you wouldn't have cracked that without my help, right? Finally. Thank you. You guys come through for me on this, and we're square. Okay. I'm sending the stuff now; maybe you'll feel better about it once you've looked it over. Tomorrow. Good. Okay. Bye, guys."

All right. I've spent the day today doing the initial preparatory processing of the first sets of samples we got. Unfortunately, we all have classes tomorrow, which limits the amount of time that any of us has to work on this problem, if we're to maintain any sort of front that keeps us from being suspected by the Fine Young CannibalsSuper-Students. So! I need volunteers -- students who have particular skill in biology and/or chemistry classes who are willing to be taught, as quickly as possible, anything they need to be in order to help handle doing lab-work, so Nurse Dorian and I can focus on studying the results and hopefully figuring some things out. We'll be alternately working in the school lab itself or the lab I have set up at my house.

Also, others should focus on making sure everyone stays safe. At this point, any of us getting caught is probably bad. This may mean that at some point we might all need to hide out somewhere, but hopefully it won't come to that. In the meantime, be careful, everyone.

Linda,

Hope things are well with you. You know the old "In The Event of My Demise" thing, from crime/spy movies and novels? Well, this is mine, although it's early yet, and death may not be the worst to happen. Middle Area, PA is a very strange town -- I'd heard rumors, but hadn't experienced it until just recently -- and I'd recommend you not come here unless absolutely necessary. I, unfortunately, don't have a lot that's concrete at the moment, but I'm including a packet of information that was being provided to parents at the high school about a supposed new psychiatric treatment for disturbed and depressed kids, as well as the one written-down copy of my mental notes on the situation. Something is Very Wrong around here right now, and that treatment is a part of it. I know it sounds nutty, but I'm getting to think that this is that sort of place.

Most of the active investigation is being done by some of the unaffected kids, so expect more as I receive it, either by post or, if I think I can chance it, by e-mail. Given the possibility that being caught may cause me to... change, I'm not sure if or how I'll be able to convince you, should we be able to fix this, that everything's really okay, as opposed to only saying it to stop you from looking for more information yourself, so... be careful.

I love you.

--Alec

Um. I had previously expected most of my communication to be with Elizabeth (Weir), to minimize who knew about the two of you. But I just heard about what happened to her, so, um. I'm concerned all around. Not really sure what else I can/should say, I'm sorry.

And, not to distract from that, but Dom Ravnok contacted me this evening, having apparently talked with Mathilda. He was wondering what the plan was going to be. He deduced as much as I was willing to tell him -- acquiring a sample for study -- but was sure not to mention you, not knowing who else know/should know.

There are a number of people at the school who've bought the wrong ticket, and ended up taking a bad ride. I've been keeping an eye out, and I've noticed that you see this too. I'd like to discuss it with you, if you're willing.

As he tends to do on at least some days during the week, Dr. Holland takes a few minutes at the immediate end of the school day to stop off at home and check on a few things. Make sure the greenhouse's irrigation is working, get the mail from the mailbox, take out the case containing his tranq gear from that summer co-op at the zoo and take out both pistols and the supply of darts... Little things, y'know? He lives close to the school, so he gets back to his classroom pretty quickly to wait for Elizabeth and Mathilda to show up, the pistols accessible but concealed, though probably not well enough to pass a more expert inspection.

((cross-reference))

Well. That was... interesting, in more ways than one. I'm getting the increasing sense that something's going on. More later.

( Synopsis of P/T meetings... )

Okay. So. Something. Murdoc Niccals had been out for the first week of the term. When he'd returned, he was a fairly disturbed-seeming kid, until something happened, and he was suddenly all clean-cut and attentive. I met his older brother this evening, and he was the same way... also new, or the elder brother influencing the younger? Now Warren comes back from his mysterious few days' out, and he's all clean-cut. Jason's suddenly different, too, but his Mom was there, and he wasn't out, but... I dunno, I get the feeling it's related. And I've had parents tell me that they were going to "do something" about the problems their kids have had... should I be expecting more sudden changes, inexplicable via even modern psychiatry? ... or psychopharmacology, now that I think on the pamphlets that were being circulated about a new medication?

And now... I see that the posts I can see on the local kids' blogs are absolutely on fi--uh, abuzz with questions of what's going on with all of the kids who are suddenly changed. I'm really starting to wonder; observation will be necessary.

People to watch for changes... Well, the Sands boys, Liz (given much of the blog shouting I see, she's especially one to watch for a sudden change beyond just attendance), Clair and Radek, Pansy (who I've never met, but if she's suddenly extremely not a delinquent, that itself is telling). Also see if there's much to see from other teachers' opinions.

((Assume that there's a subsequent page of private-note asahj;hsdfhfaklj when he sees, for example, Tetu and Ruthven, who he presumably sees in the teachers' lounge and such.))

((cross-reference))

Course work proceeds apace. Intro to Physical Science likely to be reaching the Distillation of Wood lab in the next week. Chem class doing okay with atomic model, although Xian Lei coming to me for help today brought to my attention that some of the quantum theory aspects I'd gone into may be beyond the expectations for a high school class; re-examine course text and adjust as needed.

Had an interesting conversation with Liz Sherman. Jewish, and apparently serious enough about it, at least for now, to be making the effort of repentance/atonement for even such wrongs as cutting classes. Tried to engage on being available to talk about whatever the larger problems are around here, but was unsurprisingly unsuccessful. Did mention a recent breakup with unnamed long-term boyfriend, though; cross-reference attendance records from 2-3 weeks ago, see if there's any connection with her absences. Also mentioned that he started acting weird shortly after, which could just be the breakup, but may also be significant. Something to keep in mind, anyway.

Projects that students have come to me for help with, and thus I should expect follow-up papers/demos from:
* Svlad Cjelli (experimental rocket fuel -- keep a close eye on that one)
* Eiko Takashima (needed potash (K₂CO₃; in stock) and charcoal (not in stock, but offered pointers on where it could be found and lent IPS textbook for dist. of wood exp. in case she wanted to make her own) for incense for some religious ceremony. Check with Sandburg, when she submits her follow-up, for help with the non-science stuff.)
* Dominik Ravnok (transfer student, just got paperwork; terrarium/ecosystem. Has apparently done something similar before, wants to try again at small scale, but final goal is apparently something larger -- "The Octagon", he called it)

Warren Peace absent today. Check with Office tomorrow if he's out again, see if they know what's going on.

In other news... Haven't found any prior art matching F424, so this one may well be mine to do with as I please. Gathered up all the relevant notes, will be arranging archival copies at the post office and bank on the way in to work tomorrow.

Well, despite or possible due to not knowing just who'll be reading this, there's only so much I can say publicly at the moment, but... Formula 424 turned out to be not so much a plant growth formula as an organic solvent that wiped out more than a few of my test plants. However, it's a really good solvent, with some interesting properties.

The coffee pot in MAHS' teacher's lounge had long been a cesspool of caked-up baked-in coffee residue. Granted, I haven't been here long, but the sedimentary layers implied years of hard use with insufficient cleaning. A couple of weeks ago, I tried some of F424 on the pot, partially to confirm that it was what I thought it was and partially to determine just how good it was at its job. I was... markedly pleased.

A few particular notes:

• It's a binary compound, heat-activated.
• Once the components have been mixed and the compound activated, its reaction to organic materials is slightly exothermic. Not a whole lot, but enough so that enough of it working at once would start to cause small amounts of it spitting up. I had to cover the top of the pot with an aluminum foil cap to keep it from doing so onto the table.
• Regular dish soap, oddly enough, neutralizes it, which made washing the pot a couple of times before putting it back into service -- well, assuming the machine itself worked -- not quite as bad an idea as I should've realized at the time that it could've been.
• But now the coffee pot is really clean, like it was brand new...
• ...Which means that it needs to be handled very carefully at all times, because, well, I don't want to think about what would happen if it splashed onto someone's skin.
• I'm still analyzing the post-reaction sludge, but from what I've seen so far, the reaction breaks down the solvent even as the solvent breaks down the organic material. After filtering out any unreacted solvent, the remains seem fairly safe for contact, and may even be bio-degradable, although that's where I'm still doing analysis, just to make sure.
• Also still researching to double-check, but a first look seems to find no indications of prior art. If, as I suspect, this is a new compound, I might be able to sell the rights and make back the cost of the stuff that got wrecked in its failed use as a plant growth formula, and maybe a little more.

I'm at least confident enough that I may see if what's wrong with the machine is more clogging, and thus if running some 424 through it can clear it out (hopefully without damaging any parts inside).