January 12, 2011

     January twelfth we got a call back from a scientist at UCLA. He had been working over the formula for about a week, and said he had synthesized a small amount of it. As he put it, the results of his tests with the chemical were terrifying. he didn't want to say more over the phone, and wanted us to visit his lab. We had been travelling around at this point, killing time and trying to make the best out of being fugitives, so we were in northern california. It took us most of the night to get to the university.
   When we got there, we parked in the back, and made our way into his lab. We walked through a small room where there were cages filled with rats. they were kinda like fish tanks. About half of the rats were dead. and the ones in the chambers labeled "Control" watched us walk by. We made it into the doctor's office and he greeted us. Then he lead us to another room where he had been working. The formula was written on the wall, over three different chalkboards, each piece of it broken up into sub-compounds. It looked like a scene from a movie, the scientist, surrounded by his scrawlings on the walls. He took us to a table in the center of the room, one of those chemist countertops, with the burners and crap, and brought out another rat in a cage. He explained to us that the chemical we had sent him was a form of plastic, but that it was modified heavily. The reader's digest version is that the plastic could be made inexpensively, but extended the usability of normal petroleum plastic. It was a filler plastic, so you could make more plastic, but at a smaller price. But that wasn't all he had found out about it. There was one portion of the formula that didn't sit right with him. He felt that if it were combined with certain compounds, it would become very volatile. So, he had gathered a sample of those compounds, and done an experiment. What he discovered then is what had scared him so badly. The compound, when mixed with certain plastic explosives, would create a unique compound. Then he showed us the scary part.
     He placed the rat in a small box with windows on it, and used tongs to insert a portion of the compound, mixed with the plastic explosives, into a small container that was also inside the box. He closed the lid, sealed it up, and made sure we were looking in through the window. Then he detonated the explosive. Really, it was a very small explosion, smaller than most firecrackers. The rat seemed startled, and moved further away from the explosion, but seemed otherwise fine. For about thirty seconds, we thought it was. Then the rat started moving around the box very quickly. It started running laps, as quickly as it could, until one of its legs stopped moving right, and it began to limp. Soon, half of its body was running, and half was dragging on the floor. Then a thick foam poured from its mouth, and it stopped moving.
    We were, understandably, shocked. The scientist explained that the compound was a neurotoxin that didn't seem to activate until it was combined with the plastic explosive, and then detonated. Then, he calmly walked to the door, stepped outside, and locked us in.