The next time the group met was at Roger’s home. Tom lived closer to Roger than the others and was already there when the others started arriving.

The others arrived to find Tom and Roger watching coverage of a hurricane that had hit Florida early that morning. The damage was significant but the loss of life had been reduced due to the preparations those in the predicted path had taken for preparation and evacuation.

“We may get remnants of a hurricane in Tennessee, but by the time it gets to us it’s usually just rain and a little wind.” Roger said. “The thing that we have is tornadoes. Hurricanes are tracked for sometimes days and everyone knows where they’re going and when they will arrive more or less. But tornadoes, they come out of nowhere suddenly and before you know it they have moved on and destroyed everything they touch. If it’s day, you many get a warning a few minutes before they hit. But if it’s night, you wake up when your roof goes missing and maybe more.”

“In Texas, we were lucky enough to get both.” said Chris. “Hurricanes on the coast and tornadoes everywhere else.”

“Is that where Dorothy lived in the Wizard of Oz when the tornado came and carried her away?” said Noah.

“No. She lived in Kansas.” said Tom.

“I knew that.” said Noah. “I just asked to see if you would answer, Tom. Anything in an old movie, you’ll know.”

“Baiting me, huh?” said Tom.

“Just a little.” said Noah.

“Hey I’ve got something to show you.” said Ryan as he searched through his text messages.

“What is it?” asked Chris.

“It’s a link to a video short from an episode of Portlandia. You’ve got to see this.” said Ryan.

“If it’s not over a couple of minutes I’ll watch.” said Noah.

“Don’t worry. It’s short.” assured Ryan.

Having finally found the text and link, Ryan began the video and adjusted the volume and picture size so more could view it. It was a short titled “Vegan Portlandia”.

After a few seconds Noah began to smile. “Oh I’ve seen this. But it’s good enough to watch again.”

After watching the 2 minute video, which held everyone’s attention, Noah asked, “Who sent you that?”

“My brother. He sends me stuff like that at least two or three times a week. He’s a driver for FedEx and I think his friends send stuff like this to him and he just forwards it.” said Ryan.

“Yes. It doesn’t seem like something your mom would send. Too much guy humor. Women just don’t appreciate good farting sketches.” Said Tom.

“Changing the subject, but what’s on the menu tonight?” asked Chris.

“Bar-b-que, chips, and potato salad.” said Roger.

“I hope you’ve got enough.” said Justin. “I closed my door and worked through lunch today and I’m half starved.”

“What were you working on that would make you miss lunch?” asked Roger.

“I was doing more reading about our project. Or things pertaining to it. It’s almost consumed me the last 2 weeks.” said Justin.

“I thought you were looking a little lighter.” said Noah. “Lost any weight?”

“Maybe a few pounds. But nothing serious.” Said Justin.

“I remember back in the 1970s when personal computers were coming out, my dad got a Commodore 64 and would stay up late hours playing on it.” said Tom. “He would skip meals on the weekends and eat at his desk while playing on it. At least he had a plate of food on the desk so we thought he was eating. The dog may have gotten more of it than dad did. I’ll bet he lost 10-15 pounds over a month or two. Worse than a teenager on TikTok.”

“I remember that about half your comments every time we get together begin with the 2 words “I remember”.” said Ryan.

“Just wait till you’re my age.” said Tom. “You’ll have so many memories that almost everything you hear will bring something to mind; if you still have a mind.”

“What’s the beer choices this evening?” asked Noah.

“Something I had a hard time finding.” said Roger. “Smithwick for the beer, and I thought for a little variety I would get some hard cider. So I got some Magners.”

“Are those local craft brews?” asked Noah.

“No. I tasted them on a trip to Ireland about 10 years ago and liked them. The Smithwick is an Irish red ale and the Magners is Irish cider.” said Roger.

“What if they suck?” said Noah.

“I’m hoping you’ll think they do. There will be more leftover for me.” said Roger.

It was usual at each one’s home that their wife would do something else away from the home while the friends met. Earlier that afternoon, Roger’s wife Laura had prepared the bar-b-que and potato salad. She had bought pork ribs and slow cooked and sauced them up and had them arranged on 3 baking pans. They were covered and on top of the range waiting for the guys to dig in. The guys formed a line and went by the food, picnic style, and loaded up their plates with the bar-b-que, potato salad, and chips. A cooler at the end of the line was filled with the ale and cider. Tom had placed a metal bucket in the center of the table for the bones when they were sucked clean of the meat. Damp cloth napkins were near each chair for each one.

As each took his place at the table and began eating, it got quiet for a while. The food was good and each wanted to eat his fill, especially Justin. One might be excused for thinking the group had been starved a few days.

After the food began to dwindle and the trips for seconds grew less frequent, conversation slowly returned to normal.

“So what have you been reading Justin?” asked Chris.

Justin cleared his mouth and began, “Lots of things about drugs and mechanisms of action, testing considerations, and target populations.”

“Target populations. Do you mean us?” said Tom.

“Sure.” said Justin, smiling.

“Don’t you think before we get started on the research we should all agree on what the potion should do when we have it? And what it shouldn’t do?” said Ryan.

“I’m sure that might help us know how to go about it.” said Chris.

“I’ll say its main objective would be to guarantee the person who takes it would tell the truth. That is, not lie.” said Justin.

“What do you mean by telling the truth though? And who’s truth? Their truth? Your truth? Does it mean you get an answer to a question posed to the person that agrees with the person’s knowledge of the correct answer? Do you mean the person won’t intentionally mislead you or allow you to reach a wrong supposition or conclusion by telling a half truth or withholding information? Does it mean even more than these?” asked Ryan.

“I heard a good working definition of lie. It is designed deception.” said Tom.

“Sodium thiopental was supposed to make a person give an answer that agreed with their knowledge of the correct answer to the question they were asked . It could not to my knowledge keep a person from misleading someone. I think we have to be satisfied if our formula achieves the more narrow definition of telling the truth.” Said Justin.

“Which is….?” asked Ryan.

“It means THE truth. It means not subjective. It means if you directly question a person, they give you an answer that agrees with what they consider to be true. They would not hide the truth. If it does more than that, that’s just a bonus.” said Justin.

“Hide the truth?”, asked Ryan.

“Yes. Sometimes I think of truth as an animal that wants to be free. It wants to be known. It doesn’t want to be caged or hidden. Lies seek to hide it; to conceal and confuse it. But it wants to be known. It wants to be freed.” said Justin.

“Whoa.” said Roger.

“So you are looking at a direct action instead of passive action, if that makes sense. That is a white lie versus passive deception.” said Ryan.

“Yes…..I think.” said Justin.

“Next objective. It must not sedate the patient or in any way impair their other functions, thought, or judgement.” said Chris. “That is, in all other ways they would just be themselves.”

“You must admit that for some folks, the inability to lie would mean they weren’t themselves.” said Justin.

“Then they would be their old selves, only better.” said Tom.

“Could be not better for them though.” Said Noah.

“How so?” replied Tom.

“Their telling the truth could cost them. It could cost them whatever they are trying to get or keep by telling the lie. In extreme situations, it could cost them their life or their freedom” said Noah.

“Yes. And they would act natural in doing it.” said Roger with a sly grin.

“I think you’ve been doing more homework on this than the rest of Justin.” Said Tom.

“I have been reading a lot about lying. I’m amazed at the number of studies on it out there. Studies about when people lie. What they lie about. To whom they lie. Cultural correlations to lying. One study examines lying in 58 different countries.” said Justin.

“But there’s more than 58 countries in the world.” said Roger. “And some countries have more than 1 cultural or ethnic group. That’s adding up to a world full of liars Justin.”

“I wonder if there’s any culture or group in the world that doesn’t lie as a matter of routine?” asked Justin. “That’s the study I’d like to see.”

“Tom and I know of at least 1 place where everyone tells the truth; don’t we Tom.” said Roger.

“I’ve not had as much to drink as you’ve had.” said Tom. “But I still have no idea where that would be.”

“Sure you do. You’re the one who told us all about it a month or two ago.” said Roger.

“Now I’m really dumbstruck.” said Tom. “Does anyone else remember where I said that was?”

“You know.” said Roger. “Shangri-La.”

Tom groaned.

“So what are our objectives so far? We’ve said our formula would cause a person to tell the truth, however we define that, and it would have no sedative or personality-changing effects. Other than the person wouldn’t lie. Do we want to add any more?” said Tom.

“Let’s agree on one big one. It would cause no harm. I mean it wouldn’t cause a bunch of side effects like making you have a stroke, a seizure, a heart attack, or one of those things on that long list of bad things they speed-talk during those drug ads on TV.” said Ryan.

“Yes. I guess we better make sure to include that.” said Justin.

“So tell the truth, not be a zombie, and not die. Got it.” said Tom.

“And that’s all?” said Chris.

“Like that’s not enough? Yes, that’s all.” said Justin.

“Piece of cake.” said Noah.

“Yeah, that’s some cake.” said Roger.

“Now that we have that decided, what will our teams be? We can have 3 teams of 2 or 2 teams of 3. What’s it gonna be?” asked Chris.

“I think we should have 2 teams. This is new to all of us and we will need to check each other on ideas and that will be better if we have more checkers. With 2 teams we can always have 2 on a team checking the ideas and research of the third.” said Tom.

“I can buy that.” said Chris. “Any discussion on that?”

No one had any.

“I’m wondering how we collaborate between meetings.” Said Noah. “If we can only talk and compare notes every 2 weeks when we meet, this may take a lifetime or two.”

“Where have you been the last 3 years?” said Ryan. “I know we didn’t use it much, but the rest of the country worked remotely and did Zoom calls for meetings. We can just do it with that.”

“But is that secure?” asked Noah.

“I suppose there were lots of meetings discussing corporate secrets and mergers during the last few years that took place entirely with those remote meeting tools. If it was secure enough for them, it will be for us.” Said Ryan.

“How can we run simulations? All the software for that is on the servers at the lab. If we can’t run computer simulations, it will be like going back 50 years and having to do everything in the lab and by hand.” said Chris.

“I don’t have many fond memories of test tubes, beakers, and Bunsen burners.” said Tom.

“I’ve got that covered.” said Ryan.

“Covered? How?” asked Justin.

“Before Lo Phat was leaving for his last trip to the motherland, he was running behind at the lab on his “to do” list. He asked me to update the simulation program on the server since he knew I had been a computer science major before changing to chemistry. And I guess he saw on my resume copy he had that I had done software maintenance at the lab I worked at before coming here.”

“He knows that much about you?” said Justin, in a surprised tone.

“He knows that much about all of us. If it’s in our employee file, he knows it.” Said Ryan.

“But how will the servers at the lab being up-to-date help us with access to run simulations?” asked Justin. “And they likely have keystroke loggers anyway and would record all our work.”

“They would if we ran the simulations there.” said Ryan. “But I was able to make a copy of the program before returning the keys to Lo Phat. I can put it on my system at home and we can run them on it.”

“If you were caught doing that it would be..” Ryan cut Justin off before he could finish.

“I know. Not good.” said Ryan.

“Hey Roger, Do you think we could get some clandestine time on the NMR machine for testing any compounds once we get that far?” asked Justin.

Before Justin could finish the sentence, Alexa interrupted, “Nuclear magnetic resonance is a physical phenomenon in which nuclei in a strong constant magnetic field are perturbed by a weak oscillating magnetic field and respond by producing an electromagnetic signal with a frequency character….”

“Alexa. Stop.” said Roger.

“What triggered that?” asked Noah.

“I don’t know. Did I miss someone saying Alexa?” said Roger.

Alexa responded again after hearing Roger say “Alexa.”

“Alexa. Stop.” repeated Roger.

No one admitted to saying it or hearing anyone else say it.

“I thought Alexa was not supposed to initiate a conversation without being asked by name. So how did that happen?” said Noah.

Alexa responded again after hearing Noah say “Alexa.”

“Alexa. Stop.” said Noah.

“Well there are several possibilities.” said Ryan. “It could have misinterpreted something in the immediately preceding conversation as being “A”. Justin was talking just before “A” interrupted. What did you say Justin?”

“I asked about getting time on the NMR machine.” said Justin.

But how did you say it. Your exact words.” pressed Ryan.

Justin began, “I think it was something like asking if we could get some clandestine time..”

“Stop. Clandestine could sound something like the wake up word, “A.” said Ryan.

“Not to me.” Said Justin. “Not even with a lot more beer.”

“Laura said it’s happened before. “A” (alexa) blurting something out like that without being called. One time last month it was just some silly phrase that sounded like it came out of a Disney princess movie about always following your feelings.” said Roger. “She found out how to review the transcript of what “A” hears and looked at it and didn’t see anything that she thought could have been interpreted as “A”.

“Creepy.” said Justin.

“It happens.” said Ryan. “It happened to some writer for a consumer technology review magazine recently and he wrote about it. He said it started laughing this scary laugh in the middle of the night. Liked to scared the bejesus out of him.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard other folks talk about it talking out of turn.” said Tom. When you place microphones around your home hooked up to a computer with internet and they are always listening, you never know what may happen”

“Like HAL?” asked Noah.

“Almost.” Said Tom. “But not has bad. HAL could read lips”

“We’re getting sidetracked.” Said Justin. “Where were we before “A” interrupted?”

“You were asking about getting Roger to use the NMR machine at the lab.” said Noah.

“That’s right. Well what about it?” said Justin.

“That could be risky.” said Roger. “I know how to operate it and I’m sure I could do what we need. But we don’t have anything to test yet and may never. I’ll try to figure out a way we could if needed. I also need to determine how connected the machine is to the lab computer. If it directly reports and that report can’t be intercepted, it would not be good for me or any of us. I’m not the risk taker that Ryan is.”

“Has anyone read enough yet about the method of action of sodium thiopental to have any possible strategy to make it non-sedating?” asked Ryan.

“I’ve got a couple of possible angles.” Said Justin. “One involves making it non-sedating by having a part of the molecule bind to the sedation-activating receptors that humans have. If it were melatonin, there would be 2 of these receptors. This would have the effect of reducing the sedative action of the drug. Think of non-sedating antihistamine drugs and you can get the idea.”

“I’ll not think of those right now. I’m getting sleepy enough as it is.” said Noah. “What’s the other angle you had in mind?”

“The other idea is by binding with and rendering useless the compound itself by changing it slightly. This would cause the receptor to not recognize it and refuse to bind it. Think of a drug that works like a SSRI.” said Justin.

“But SSRIs have to do with serotonin, not melatonin.” said Tom.

“I’m surprised you know that Tom.” said Justin.

“Well, I did read a little since our last meeting.” said Tom.

“So you probably know then that serotonin is a precursor to melatonin and by reducing the serotonin uptake you would have the effect of reducing the melatonin effects. So it would be a selective uptake model.” said Justin.

“Yeah. I was just about to say that.” said Tom. “But I think you’re describing 2 different methods of action and calling both receptor binding. On the first, you said you would block the receptor from attaching to something by attaching something different to it. On the second you said you would change the molecule so it wouldn’t bind to the receptor. Same difference. On the selective uptake, you are trying to make a molecule more attractive, not less, aren’t you? ” Said Tom.

“You must have read more than just a little. But yes, I follow you. With the caveat that you are trying to make something that’s useless attach on the receptor binding. So you want the useless stuff to be attractive. ” said Justin.

“Then we should agree that we need to find something that is attractive and make sure it binds with the receptors we want to target and appears to the receptors we don’t want to target. That seems to be to be selective uptake.” said Tom.

“I can agree with that.” said Justin.

So let’s call that method selective uptake. Agreed?” asked Tom.

No one said anything otherwise, so Tom assumed agreement.

Turning back to Justin, Tom asked, “But do you think you could change the thiopental just enough to make it non-sedating yet still retain its capacity to cause truth telling?”

“Whatever it turned out to be, it would need to work like sodium thiopental by selectively suppressing the higher cortical functions that enable a person to formulate a believable lie. This seems to take place in the frontal lobes of the cerebral cortex and also possibly the cingulate gyrus.” said Justin.

“Are you sure about that?” challenged Chris, suppressing a laugh as long as he could.

“Yes I am.” said Justin before realizing Chris had been bluffing.

“Yes……… well….. we’ll come back to that later.” said Noah.

“So are we ready to decide who’s on each team?” asked Justin.

“Might as well. It’s not like we have a blueprint for our paths, so let’s just do it.” said Ryan. We have 2 analytical guys and the rest of us are development. I think we should have one analytical guy on each team and 2 development.”

“That seems to make sense. So who will be the 2 development guys on Roger’s team?” said Noah.

“How about you and me?” said Justin. “Anyone have a problem with that?” he said, looking around.

“So that leaves me and you on Tom’s team.” said Chris, looking at Ryan.

“I’m OK with it. For what it’s worth.” said Ryan.

”Now, have we worked on this long enough tonight? My brain’s getting tired and I had hoped to get just a good game of cards in before packing it in for the night.” said Chris.

“Let’s see. We have the teams identified. The objectives are set. And we have two possible approaches courtesy of Justin. That seems like a good start for our first foray.” said Tom. “But time is not on our side like it was earlier in the evening and we do have to work tomorrow. What game did you have in mind?”

“I guess it is later than I thought. How about a game of rummy?” said Chris.

“I’ve got a better idea. How about a game of Dutch blitz? It will move faster and that might keep us awake.” said Roger. “I’ve got a couple of decks of cards for that. And 6 playing rummy is more than I can keep up with just now.”

“You young guys go ahead. I’m too tired for something that active. I think I’ll just go on home and hit the rack.” said Tom.

“Me too.” said Justin. “My apartment is across town and if the traffic is good it takes 25 minutes to get there.

“I think you’re just wanting to go home and read some more about our project.” said Chris.

“Well. Maybe. But before we break up for the night, let’s all agree that before we get back together we will do more reading and explore some options for further pursuit. Did you ever figure out the VPN and secure messaging systems Ryan?”

“No. I forgot to do that. I’ll do that before we meet again.” said Ryan.

Tom and Justin got up to leave as the rest settled around the table for a spirited game of Dutch Blitz.

The following day it was back to work at the lab for all the group. Roger and Tom were in the analytical across the hallway separating analytical from development while the rest were in the development lab. They could talk in the break/lunch room but tried to avoid talking about their extracurricular project as much as possible. Slip-ups did occur on occasion, and at first were concerning to the group. But since nothing seemed to happen afterwards, they became more lax about it. That later proved to be a bad practice.

Roger spent some time trying to figure out how he could use the NMR machine to run tests without the company knowing about it.

Ryan spent time trying to evaluate VPN options and secure messaging platforms.

Justin spent time doing more reading on sodium thiopental, drug research methodologies, and also AI.

Noah spent time playing with the chemistry simulation program on the company server, exploring its capabilities with the recent update.

Chris spent somewhat less time than the others and concentrated his attention on learning about dosing rates for drugs and how those were determined for trials.

Tom spent the least time of all because he had been helping his wife watch their grandchildren for several evenings over the prior week.