Dr. Marsteller Chapter 7
7
One of the
editors of Science was an old friend
of his from graduate school. He called
Dr. Marsteller up.
-Sly, this
blew my doors off. I had to talk to you
in person about it.
-We are
very excited.
-Well, I’m
just flabbergasted. This is real?
-As real as
you or me.
-Wow.
Publishing
an article usually takes months, but they published it in the next issue two
weeks later.
Over the
course of those two weeks, Alexandria had no success with the experiments. And when the article came out she was
furious. She confronted him in Dr.
Marsteller’s office.
-You don’t
understand Alexandria; it’s simple, we were going to lose our funding.
-That’s no
reason to commit academic fraud!
-It doesn’t
matter if the experiments work.
-They’re
not going to work. How many times do I
have to tell you? They will not
work! I’m going to go to the media. I thought you had integrity. The magnitude of this is incredible!
Well, the
shit has hit the fan, thought Dr. Marsteller.
-You’re not
going to the media.
-What?
-Do you
want your PhD?
-You’re
blackmailing me?
-Call it
what you want, but you’ll never have a PhD if you go to the media or newspapers or whatever. You can defend next month if you want. Finish the unimaginative experiment you were
working on and graduate next month. But
God help me if you say a word about this.
Alexandria
looked at him in disbelief.
-You’re
threatening me? You’re the most
disgusting man I’ve ever seen. Don’t
talk to me again! I’m finishing my
experiments in our other lab over in the chemistry building. I’ll take my PhD and get out of here, but
don’t say a word to me again.
-That’s
fine. I’ll even give you your own room.
She stomped
out of the office and through a wall of photographers and out in the lawn. Takes care of one problem, thought Dr.
Marsteller. Looks like I’ll have to do
the experiment myself. Should be
interesting getting back in the lab again.
Then he put
on a lab coat, even though he hadn’t worn one in years, looked in the mirror,
running his hand through his wild white hair, experimented with which
expression on his face seemed most dignified, wondered what hardwired
evolutionary reason was behind that expression seeming dignified, and went out
to meet the cameras.
This originally appeared in Dr. Marsteller