Modern Medicine

 

Modern Medicine
(a lost work circa 1992 or so recovered unexpectedly from an unfamiliar internet site)

As the century turned we found ourselves in the favorable position of having solved the most intimate secrets of our genes.  Powerful computers and complex amino acid baths, aided by high resolution molecular scanning allowed us to map the complete DNA sequences of millions of people.  From these we were able to create specific bio-molecular models for ideal cellular metabolism that could be adapted to the specific needs of individual members of any race.

 

Alas, the ratio of instruments for medical research and vitality synthesis to the oppressive number of people populating our planet left not a glimmer of hope that these modern miracles of medicine might be used to serve the common person.  The great satisfaction enjoyed with the culmination of our medical skills was severely mitigated by the virtual impossibility of applying our wealth to the service of humanity.

 

Then this odd prophetic poem came to light:

A Visit to the Surgeon, A.D. 2051

’twas a jolly wicked spider’s bonny bite that stole away the pain that was my spite,

e’ gave me rest from hurt that made me wish my life’d desert and let me sleep at peace a little more.

The nasty nimble spider’s claws did prick, as ‘e climbed about me: Nickety! Nick! Nick!

I tried to brush ‘im ‘way, for which ‘e bit my hand and stayed, and set to work upon my painful sore.

The clever crafty spider’s job was begun with incisions which ‘e closed with silk ‘e spun.

And while ‘e was inside, about and about ‘e pried, tucking up the bits with which e’d done.

The viral germy spider left a mob of mitey organisms deep inside wot settl’d the dispeptics of my own organal stew, and left me feeling whole; like I was new.

Say bonny wicked spider, How’d y’ do?

 

 <narrator> Research in microbial and viral agricultural tools was already far ahead, stabilizing the global food chain.  Ditto that research applied to toxic hazards.  Our skies were turning green with the micro-florae that cleansed the air of chemicals and dust, returning to earth as valuable fertilizers.  With the advent of our detailed knowledge of biochemistry there was little danger of allergy, infection or toxicity; fear for which had curbed earlier deployment of these remarkable synthetic organisms.  The new micro-organisms were jacketed with proteins that are inert to the animal metabolisms.

Quid pro quo, the mechanisms learned from medicine that allowed the safe use of new viruses and microbes in environmental engineering, were met with applications of mutagenic sciences that lead to the organic reprogramming of human metabolisms.

New viruses were chief among the modern treatments synthesised.  Viruses in particular were most useful, as they naturally invade and manipulate a host’s DNA.  These tiny, scarcely living bits of protein were designed to selectively reconstruct the faulty bits of genes responsible for various diseases, to provide inhibitors for the by-products of other faulty genes, or function in  lieu of still others.

The greater part of the impetus which solved the riddle of human genetics was the misfortunate appearance of AIDS.  The first application of an artificial infectious cure was the introduction of an altered HIV that not only prevented the deadly HIV from infecting exposed people, but also neutralised the action of deadly HIV already present.  There was then great trepidation regarding the introduction of this new virus, as it must be spread throughout the population to be effective.  Now everyone carries the benign form of last century’s greatest killer organism as an inherited symbiont.

Cancer and organic diseases were of primary interest to researchers.  However, advanced cases of these ailments inevitably wrought extensive damages to tissues which often remained after the initial cause of the disease was cured.  Patients granted the boon of the new microbial elixirs might be stabilised but remain severely impaired.  The option of surgery remained beyond the resources of the common person, hence few people ever benefited from full restoration from the aftermath of disease.

Here, the crafty nimble spider was the unsought solution. Quick to breed, the simple arachnids were cautiously tamed by biochemical tropisms and inhibitions to do the finer work of lasers.  Lest the patient bleed too much, great beetles were trained to respond to the pheronomic signals of spiders, who in turn might not proceed until the beetle’s pheronomes had signalled it was firmly clamped in place to retard the flow of blood from arteries or veins.

The hive behaviors of ants and termites were adapted to the organisation of the medical bugs.  Chemical analysis was performed by minute ingestion of tissue samples.  The insect’s metabolic responses to the samples were pheronomes instructing their cousins and brethren how to proceed.  This specialisation of work included the conveyance of appropriate microbes and viruses to tissues requiring their help.

Even cancer was turned to a useful purpose.  Where organic damage was too severe for insects and microbes to cure, tumor buds, implanted by insects and tended by viruses, were grown to specification as alternatives to the failing natural organs.  The organs replaced could then be speedily and devourously removed.

Broken bones also became the province of the new symbiotic medicine.  The spiders proved able to induce a patient’s muscles to manipulate and set his own bones, so that microbes could then hasten them to knit sturdily.  The awkward casts of the past were quickly made obsolete and have been virtually forgotten.

A further unexpected and amazing outcome was the arachnids’ extraordinary sensitivity to the bio-electrical junctions used by acupuncturists.  The great monster spider that greets a patient today is responsible for a variety of complete treatments, as well as preparing a patient for any further necessary treatment.  This great spider does indeed bite, but only once.  Thereafter the patient drifts blissfully awake, aware and secure in the comfort of humanity’s greatest friends, who once were considered only pests and plagues.

 

Note: This story was inspired by the spider, which visited the authors early one morning after two days when the pain was so extreme they could not sleep. 

The spider applied an accu-puncture/pressure therapy and the pain vanished nearly instantly, a highly memorable occasion. 

The origins of the spider have been speculated upon here.  The authors have had other visitors from the futures which is how They learned the sky was green.

 

Enjoy!

 

Love, Grigori Rho Gharveyn aka Greg Gourdian, falcon, Chameleon, Roger Holler, etc., et al., ad infinitum, ad absurdum…