Without standing or offering a hand, Ridley motioned for him to sit on the other couch. Maddox sat down and placed his briefcase on the floor next to him. Ridley poured two glasses of tea, drizzled honey into both cups, then handed one to him. A waft of peppermint filled his nose, opening his eyes and causing him to sit up straighter. He took a sip and swallowed. The liquid seemed to invigorate his mind as the peppermint was absorbed into his bloodstream.
"Fresh-cut peppermint tea," Ridley said, taking a sip and then placing his glass on the coffee table. His gravelly voice was impossible to ignore or mistake. Maddox had heard it before and, expecting it, was able to keep his mind from wondering how a man with such a sinister-sounding voice could be so successful. "Amazing what a simple brew can do for the body. It doesn't hold a candle to what you've been involved in, though it probably tastes better."
Maddox smiled, trying not to look nervous.
"I've been following your work quite closely. Your breakthroughs with the Wnt pathway and limb regeneration in embryonic chickens." Maddox's eyes widened.
Ridley grinned. "Why don't you explain it to me."
Maddox grew excited. He never expected to be in a position to explain something to the Richard Ridley. "As you know… may know… the Wnt pathway is a network of proteins that, in essence, tells a growing fetus where, how, and when to grow limbs. But it becomes dormant after birth. Mother Nature's kill switch so to speak, preventing uncontrolled additions, like a sixth finger growing on the hand when you get a cut. What we tried to do was reactivate the pathway in adults so that when a finger is cut off, the active Wnt proteins tell the cells to grow new ligaments, bones, and muscles, not just a layer of new skin."
Ridley cleared his throat. "But — and correct me if I'm wrong — the Wnt pathway, while a brilliant attempt, is a rather embarrassing dead end."
Maddox hunched as his ego deflated. Ridley knew more than he was letting on.
"But" — Ridley waggled a finger at him—"you're already pursuing a different path, aren't you?"
A lot more than he was letting on.
Maddox remained silent, knowing that any verification of his current work would be a breach of his contract with CreGen and would lead to his firing and probably legal action against him. Just being here, instead of vacationing in the Caribbean where he was supposed to be, would be enough to get him fired.
"You don't need to say anything. I know it puts you in a.. situation.
So I'll say it for you. You've managed to regenerate limbs on rats — tails, legs, even ears."
Maddox's eyes widened. "How do you know that? We haven't published—"
Ridley held up his hand, silencing him. "Please. Let me finish. You've also partially regenerated limbs on pigs and sheep, though with less success. But the creme de la creme is what you, and you alone, have managed to do with… humans."
"Now wait a minute," he said, sitting up straight. "The work on sheep and pigs is highly classified. There is no way you could—"
Ridley raised his hands. "And yet, I do. Corporate espionage is a wonderful thing. Don't think your bosses at CreGen haven't sent spies in our direction. If not for Mr. Reinhart and Gen-Y, you'd probably be privy to Manifold's secrets as well." He leaned forward. "I notice you didn't mention the human experimentation."
"That's because there isn't any," Maddox said, looking at the floor.
Ridley smiled, put his glass down and picked up the folder on the tabletop. He opened it and began reading. "Boy. Fifteen years old. Admitted to Mass General Hospital because he sliced off the tip of his left index finger while… trying to dissect a frog in his basement. The year was 1986." He looked up. "Sound familiar?"
"How did you get access to my medical history?"
"If I can bypass security at CreGen, do you really think HIPAA stands a chance?" He closed the file and returned it to the tabletop; then, like a striking snake, he grabbed hold of Maddox's left hand. He held it up, inspecting the perfect left index finger. "You regenerated your fingertip. Not on the clock, mind you. On your own."
Maddox yanked his hand away and sat back, crossing his arms.
"No need to get upset. I admire your tenacity, even if it is inspired by vanity." He removed a folded piece of paper from his trousers pocket and slowly unfolded it. "Tell me how and I'll show you what's on this piece of paper."
"What could be on that piece of paper that would make me tell you something like that?"
"Your future," he said. "Aren't you interested?"
Maddox held out for five seconds and then said, "Pig bladder extract. It… helps construct the microscopic scaffolding for incoming human cells and emits chemical signals that stimulate the regrowth process."
"That's… unusual," Ridley said, then smiled.
"Pig extracts are used in diabetes treatments, producing islet cells that help reverse the disease in humans when transplanted."
"So you figured they could also help regrow limbs."
Maddox shrugged. "At the time. Beyond that it's another dead end. The process doesn't work."
Ridley nodded. "Then your research has stagnated?"
He didn't answer the question. He couldn't answer the question. It was too embarrassing to admit failure on something he'd spent his life on. Besides, he could see that Ridley knew the answer.
"As a young man, before all this," he said, waving his arms at the room around them, "I was obsessed with maps. I would chart land routes from one point to another, say Beijing to Paris, over and over until it appeared I had exhausted all the possibilities. But then I tried something different, like your pig bladder, I turned the map upside down and new possibilities emerged. But this technique ultimately ended in frustration as I once again ran out of possibilities. Using my father's resources I turned to a final resource that is both hard to come by and often quite expensive — the ancient past. I purchased ancient maps from dealers around the world, legal and black market. Trade routes were revealed. Secret passages. Tunnels dug and forgotten. Each map revealed more. In this way I came to learn that the ancient past is one of the best ways to uncover secrets in the modern world. It is a belief I hold to this day and a lesson you will soon learn… if you're interested."
"I… don't know if I can."
Ridley laughed like it was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard. "You regenerated your fingertip. You have ambition beyond the scope of CreGen, who, may I remind you, takes credit for your discoveries. But you're stuck, just like we are. You can regenerate a fingertip. So what? Kids under the age of eleven sometimes regenerate severed fingertips. You merely extended the age limit on fingertip regeneration."
"By twenty-two years!"
Ridley smiled. "Impressive, I know. But it's not the golden goose, is it? Full limb regeneration. Organ regeneration. Spine, brain, memory regeneration. Those are the real prizes."
Excitement overtook Maddox's concerns. He could see that Ridley just might give him the keys to the kingdom, but he had a few requirements. "I want credit."
"Done," he replied, handing Maddox the slip of paper he'd just finished unfolding. "My offer. Accept it and I will reveal the past that will take us to the future."
As Maddox read over the few lines of text, his eyes widened with each word. He was being offered more than the key to the kingdom; this was the key to the universe! Unlimited research funding, a salary that would make him a multimillionaire, and some of the best names in the business would be at his disposal.
"Do you accept?"
Maddox nodded slowly. This was not the kind of proposal to chew on.
"Very good." Ridley took a sip of tea and got comfortable, his big body stressing the limits of the sofa on which he sat. "The problem with the Wnt pathway is that no one has been able to break what I call the 'natural barrier.' Humans can sometimes regenerate fingertips, as you've shown, but no one has been able to figure out what molecular pathway triggers this kind of natural regrowth. Pathways for triggering regrowth in other parts of the human body simply don't exist."