"It looks better on you than me.”
She sat on the bed and began pouring.”You like milk in your tea, but no sugar.”
"Yes, but how did you-" "I asked at the lab. In case I needed to know. By the way, your kitchen is a mess.”
She passed him the tea. "Thank you. Sorry about the kitchen. It's because I live alone.”
"Before I go today, I'll clean it.”
The dressing gown had fallen open and Martin said, "About going. I hope you're not in any hurry.”
Allowing the garment to stay the way it was, she smiled again.”Mind your fingers on the plate; it's hot.”
He told her, "I'm not sure I believe all this. Breakfast in bed is a luxury I haven't had in years.”
"You should have it often. You deserve it.”
"But you're the guest. I should have done this for you.”
She assured him, "I like it this way. More tea?"
"Maybe later.”
He put down his cup and reached out for her. Yvonne shrugged off the dressing gown, let it slide to the floor, and came to him. Holding her, and this time unhurriedly, he moved his hands, exploring, over her breasts and thighs. Kissing her, he said, "You have a beautiful body.”
"Too much of it.”
She laughed.”I need to take off weight.”
Reaching downward, she pinched a thigh and held a roll of creamy flesh between her thumb and forefinger.”What I need is some of your Peptide 7. Then I could be thin, the way those rats are.”
"Not necessary.”
Martin's face was in her hair.”I like everything you have, just the way it is.”
As the minutes passed, their passion of the night before rekindled and grew. Martin was erect, Yvonne eagerly clasping him to her as he prepared to enter her. She urged, "Go on! Do it!"
But instead he stopped abruptly, his arms loosening. Then he grasped Yvonne's shoulders and held her away. "What did you say?" "I said, do it!" "No. Before that.”
She pleaded, "Martin, don't torture me! I want you now. ""at did you say?" "Oh, shit!" Frustrated, the mood between them shattered, she let herself fall back.”Why did you do that?" "I want to know what you said. About Peptide 7.”
She answered petulantly, "Peptide 7? Oh, I said that if I took some, maybe I could be thin like the rats. But what - - .”
"That's what I thought.”
He leaped from the bed.”Hurry up! Get dressed.”
"Why?" "We're going to the lab.”
She asked incredulously, "Now?" Martin had thrown on a shirt and was pulling on trousers. "Yes. Right now.”
Could it be true, he asked himself. Could it possibly be true? Martin stood, looking down from above, at a dozen rats that had taken turns in running through the maze. At his request, Yvonne had brought them from the animal room. They were a group which, for several months, had been injected with the partially purified peptide mix, and more recently with Peptide 7. All of the rats were thin-far thinner than when the injections had begun. Now Yvonne was returning the last rat to its cage. It was still early Sunday morning. Apart from the two of them and a watchman they had spoken to on the way in, the institute was silent and deserted. Like the other animals that preceded it, the twelfth rat began eating from a container in its cage. Martin observed, "They still feed well.”
"They all do," Yvonne agreed.”Now, will you tell me what this is about?" "All fight. Because the rats we gave peptides to have lost weight, got thin, and some of them are gaunt, all of us here assumed their general health is poorer.”
He added ruefully, "It wasn't very scientific.”
"What difference does it make?"
"Possibly a lot. Supposing their health hasn't worsened. Suppose they're all perfectly well? Maybe more so than before. Suppose Peptide 7, as well as improving memory, caused a healthy weight loss.11 "You mean "I mean," Martin said, "we may have stumbled on something for which people have been searching for centuries-a way to metabolize food in the body without producing fat and therefore weight gain.”
Yvonne regarded him openmouthed.”But that could be terribly important.”
"Of course-if it's true.”
"But it's something you weren't looking for.”
"Lots of discoveries have happened when scientists were seeking something else.”
"So what do you do next?" Martin considered.”I need advice from specialists. Tomorrow I'll arrange to get them here.”
"In that case," Yvonne said hopefully, "can we go back to your house now?" He put his arm around her.”I never heard a better idea.”
"I'll send you a detailed report, of course," the visiting veterinarian informed Martin, "and it will include measurement of body fat, blood chemistry, urine and stool analyses done in my own lab. But I can tell you right now that those are some of the healthiest rats I've come across, particularly remembering their advanced age.”
"Thank you, Doctor," Martin said.”It's what I'd hoped for.”
Today was Tuesday and the veterinarian, Dr. Ingersoll, an elderly specialist in small mammals, had come from London on a morning train. He would return that afternoon. Another expert, a nutritionist from Cambridge, was due at the Harlow institute two days later. "I suppose," Dr. Ingersoll said, "you wouldn't care to tell me precisely what it is you've been injecting into those rats of yours?" "If you don't mind," Martin replied, "I'd prefer not. At least not yet.,, The veterinarian nodded.”I rather thought you'd say that. Well, whatever it is, my dear fellow, you are obviously onto something interesting.”
Martin smiled, and left it there. On Thursday, the nutritionist, Ian Cavaliero, provided information that was even more intriguing. "Possibly what you have done in treating those rats," he pronounced, "is change the functioning of either their endocrine glands or their central nervous systems, or perhaps both. The result is, the calories they take in with food are converted to heat instead of fat. If not carried to extremes, there's no harm in that. Their bodies simply get rid of the excess heat through evaporation or some other means.”
Dr. Cavaliero, a young scientist whom Martin had known at Cambridge, was widely regarded as a leading authority on nutrition. "New data are emerging," he reported, "showing that different individuals---or animals-have differing efficiencies for utilizing calories. Some calories go into fat, but a lot get used for the kind of body work we never see or feel. For example, cells pumping ions, such as sodium, out of themselves and into the blood in a continuous cycling process.”
The nutritionist continued, "Other calories must go into heat, just to maintain body temperature. It's been discovered, though, that the proportion going to heat, metabolic work, or fat varies widely. Therefore if you can change and control that proportionas you appear to be doing with these animals-it represents a major advance.”
A small group whom Martin had invited to join the discussion with Cavaliero listened intently. It comprised Rao Sastri, two other staff scientists, and Yvonne. Sastri interjected, "That fat-work-heat variation is undoubtedly why some fortunate persons can eat large meals, yet never put on weight.”
"Exactly.”
The nutritionist smiled.”We've all met, and probably envied, those kind of people. But something else may be affecting your rats also--a satiety factor.”
Martin said, "Through the CNST' "Yes. The central nervous system is, of course, highly regulated by brain peptides. And since you inform me that the injected material affects the brain, it could be reducing brain signals of hunger... So, one way or another, your compound plainly has a desirable antiobesity effect.”
The discussion continued and, next day, Martin used Cavaliero's words, "desirable antiobesity effect," in a confidential report sent directly to Sam Hawthorne. "While an enhancement of memory through Peptide 7 remains our primary objective," Martin wrote, "we will experiment additionally with what, at first glimpse, appears as a positive, promising side effect which may have clinical possibilities.”