Chapter 16
There had been many attempts to get to Dr. Gurber. Thanks to the Hit team of lawyers, Most were afraid to tackle the Clinic and Dr. Gurber. There was one lingering threat. The Hazlewoods. They had originally set up the first formula. While it was illegal, and uncopyrighted, they were going to claim that it was still theirs and not Allen's. Or, they wanted to be compensated. Most attorneys felt that there was a good chance that they were going to get something, Even though they had been arrested and convicted for selling the drug originally. Dr. Gurber had gone through the proper channels and had done the research. The medical community had accepted Allen's side of things. But, again, something was going to happen.
There were a group of renegade attorneys who would take on cases just to put a notch in their legal books. The Hazlewoods finally found the right attorneys to take on this case. It was not long before Dr. Gurber had a summons to go to civil court. OF course, the hit team went right to work. If the Hazlewoods wanted to play, well, it was going to cost them.
Right off the bat, the first volley was fired. In laymen's terms, the court gave advantage to the Hazlewoods because they were up against the large amount of resources the Clinic and Dr. Gurber had. This crippled some of the tactics the hit team were going to use. The battle was going to be ugly.
There were no freezes on any moneys, but there had to be accounting. So, normal operation budgets were exempt, but Dr. Gerber's money and Caroline's money were limited. They could not make any large moves of funds except for normal living and operating expenses. The Hit team were allowed funds to mount a defense. Dr. Gurber was guilty before the trial began. All of this was duly noted.
The underground, (consisting of the RG's and parts of the Gay community), which took care of some of the first of the patients went into action. They were going to find out exactly what was going on with the Hazlewoods. After all, if they managed to get control of the drug and its rights, then forget the help that the Clinic and all of Dr. Gerber's organization had contributed to all the communities.
The Hazlewoods and their attorney's had no idea as to the large group of people wishing to infiltrate their office and organization. At first, it was the trash being disposed of outside the attorney's offices. Then it was following around all the investigators looking into things. Every time an investigator would approach one of the patients or witnesses, it was reported back to the hit team and proper injunctions were presented to the court. At the rate it was going, this was going to take 2 years for the Hazlewoods just to assemble their case and evidence. It became painfully obvious to their attorneys after only the first month.
Much was presented to the court. Finally, the court decided to be the broker of witnesses and evidence. There were highly unusual presidencies set as a result of the legal wrangling.
The Hazlewoods wanted to interview Mary from the first. Mary was insistent that she didn't trust these people and that she would not consent to anything unless the court and law enforcement were present. She felt that she was the main target for any retribution as she was the key witness. She ended up getting an attorney of her own. (Paid for by the Gurber foundation.)
The Malay that resulted from the fights over evidence and the constant injunctions and legal battles resulted in a media frenzy. Every early patient was called. Every supplier and every researcher involved in NOL-5 had face time with an attorney. Even Caroline had to give a deposition. (Of course, under protest.)
All of this wrangling ended up taking a year. It was speed up by a short tempered judge who saw the attorneys battling it out over ever line. The hit team had done their job and made it so expensive for the Hazlewoods to take this action that most of the resources they had were gone. Time for court and an ending.
Caroline and Allen went to court in their business attire. No fun and games here. The outside of the courthouse was a zoo. The entire New Orleans police dept. had to be called to control the crowd outside. Every group who had an interest in what was happening came out for their side. Unfortunately for the Hazlewoods, most of the crowds were supporting Dr. Gurber.
The next big obstacle was picking a jury. Everyone had heard of Allen and the work he had been doing over the last 5 or 6 years. Everyone knew who he was. Everyone had an opinion. It finally became obvious that a jury would not be seated very soon. The judge quickly became frustrated. It also became obvious that a change in vinue would not help. Allen had the right to a fair and impartial jury. Jurors were impossible to find. It was not a thing where the court had much of a choice.
There was another call to the registered voters of Orleans parish and Jefferson parish for Jurors. Finally, they managed to find 6 souls who didn't know much about the Gurber foundation. It was finally agreed that they could finally present evidence.
IT didn't take long for Mary to be called. Mary was the most important witness in the whole case.
The Hazlewoods group of attorneys asked their questions and presented the situation as it happened. Of course, their spin on things were presented. But, it didn't take long for The Gerber's to present their sides. (It is not necessary for me to repeat the testimony back and forth. It was pretty much the way things happened.)
Then, the Hazlewoods wanted to call Caroline. This presented a problem. This was Dr. Gerber's wife. She did not have to testify against her husband. But, because of the circumstances, She agreed to limited testimony. The judge in this case made sure that there were no tricks. Again, all of the testimony was just as it had happened.
Things began to get strange as it was time for Dr. Gurber to be called as a witness. Just before it was time, the Hazelwood's attorneys wanted a conference with the judge. As in all cases, The attorneys for both groups went into chambers. There it was presented to the judge that there were outside influences disrupting their case. As the Gurber foundation was not involved in anything, We could not be blamed. They made several accusations. But, as they could not prove our involvement, they asked for Dr. Gurber to be held to special rules. More legal mumbo jumbo. Every legal trick in the book was being used. So far, nothing was making any headway. The jury was obviously getting tired of the legal wrangling. We always presented a strong defensive stance. We let them throw their best shot and we countered it.
Allen basically recounted the complete history of the drug and his dealings with the Hazlewoods. The way he was treated and others from the TS community was relayed in graphic detail. Allen was being the Clinical doctor. Step by step and blow by blow. Questions were directing Allen to the fact that he had to buy the drug from the Hazlewoods and that in effect was also illegal. He had broke the law to get a sample of the drug himself. This was the key point. The Hit team countered with a history of all the patients Allen and the foundation had helped legally and a question of what might have happened if the Hazlewoods might have had control of the drug. It was not pretty.
The lawyers were worried about Ben Carter to be called. Ben as you remember was the New Orleans city policeman who did not agree to the treatments. He was unconscious when his doctor put him in the program. Ben had settled with his doctor and his doctor agreed to pay for the treatment. Ben had no ill will against Dr. Gurber. He would be friendly to them as the Clinic was a place of kindness and help.
It was the Hazelwood's contention that as the treatment had been administered without the patient's permission, this was a prime example of the abuses in the program. This should not have happened. Ben defended Allen. He knew he would have died. While he didn't like the side effects of the drug, it did save his life. Not The clinic's fault. The referring doctor was at fault. It was still twisted in a way to make it look bad.
Over and over, the Hazlewoods would call a patient and it would blow up in their faces.
Finally, it was my turn and, I kept to the same story as everyone else. The Hazlewoods tried to make a play on Dr. Drag. That of course didn't work. I actually Lied under oath. I had some real secrets.
The frustration was building and the Hazlewoods were grasping at straws. It was obvious that the case was going to The Gurbers. At that point, the hit team asked for a motion for dismissal. No one expected what happened next. Just as the judge granted the dismissal, Mr. Hazlewood stood and pointed a dart gun at Allen and shot him. Bert and Ken, Our Secret service friends were in the room, shot Mr. Hazlewood just as a second dart was loaded into the gun and pointed at Caroline. There were more darts found in his pocket and all with the same mix of drugs. The dart gun was full of Aids infected blood and a mix of exotic drugs and poisons. Allen almost died on the way to the Center clinic. Hazlewood had mixed up a special potion which was the mutigen from the original formula and a bunch of female hormones and some nerve toxins. Allen's body was shutting down. There was more than enough of samples of the poison to get a good Idea as to what the team was dealing with. A decision was made. There was no choice but to give him NOL-6. Allen soon recovered from the poison. I still don't know what the final result was. Allen now, rarely ever appeared in male dress from that moment on. I had my suspicions as to what happened. I was looking into His eyes very often and while there was something wrong, I didn't detect any eye color change. I was the victim of a sneaky trick. I should have known, but, I wasn't looking for it. All during the trial and after, the RG's were working on the case. They were the main source of information gathering. I was a member of this group and while I was a witness in the trial, I claimed no knowledge of what was going on in the background. I Lied. The RG's were working with the gay community, gathering what they could about the Hazlewoods. No one knew they would try to hurt Allen. We had failed that mission. But as to the collection of data, well, there were no surprises in the case. Remember who the Rough Girls were? They were the Party girls and the hustlers who banded together in the Quarter to protect themselves and the New girls from undue abuse from anyone. We were the ones who had the reputation of putting it to anyone who messed with us. We would dress in the Bondage wear and Dominatrix wear while in the quarter. Everyone knew who we were and especially me. I got approached more than anyone else. I was the CEO of the Clinic/hotel know as the Center and a RG. I was never ever messed with, Just asked to have conversations with prospective patients and people who were curious about the center and treatments we did. I will always be a member of the RG's. The RG's had a particular costume or if you will, a uniform. Because of the nature of the clinic and patients coming and going, I did not wear my "costume" at work. But it was my responsibility to wear it when going out in the quarter. I took my role very seriously and ever off hour was spent in the quarter directing lost souls to where they needed to be. Some of my sisters wore the costume all the time. They understood why I didn't. I had been given a little immunity to some of the rules. But, those who lived in the RG world, were never harrassed by anyone. Most of us were martial arts trained and also carried some kind of weapon. We also believed in strenght in numbers. Touch a RG and you would have 15 big bad females on top of you in two heartbeats.
Mrs. Hazlewood was sentenced to 5 more years in prison because of the attempt on Dr. Gerber's life. The Civil case was dismissed. Everything went back to somewhat normal. Dr. Gurber and Caroline continued their work on Cancer and Aids. They had found a cure. There were other things being worked on. The Gene map for the human body was being decoded.
It had been know that the attempt on Dr. Gerber's life had made things very difficult for Allen and Caroline. Finally, I had to ask what was going on. I was his friend and wanted to know what NOL-6 had done to him. Allen decided to call the inner circle together just as in the early days.
We were all gathered together. Me, Mary, Billie and Robert, all of the original patients, Caroline, and our favorite feds, Bert and Ken.
Allen was in scrubs. But something was defiantly wrong. I had learned much about the drug we were using and its effects on the body. I knew that it reversed any process to the opposite of its conclusion to the extreme. Allen walked into the center of our gathering and started pulling off his, or now should I say Her clothing. Allen was now Angel.
Allen explained. "The mix of poisons in the dart were specifically designed to poison and then mutate me so that if we used NOL5 to fight the condition being induced, it would backfire. We had seen the mix before in a previous patient who died at the clinic. We had tried to use NOL5 and the very effect the Hazlewoods wanted, happened to him. He turned into a mass of cells which couldn't decide what to be. The body became a mass of jelly. Living Jelly which would not die. We were instantly suspicious as to the source of the infliction."
I asked. "Why were we not told of this monstrous thing?"
Allen shook his/her head. "We knew this was deliberate. We didn't want that monster to know that we knew what was going on. We decided to wait. During that time, there was an accident in the lab. (Recounted in earlier chapters.) One of the staff was infected by a bomb in the lab. Aids was released in our lab and accidentally mixed with active cultures. Nol6 was invented. One of the less known things about 6 was the genetic mutation which gives immunity to everything and longer life. The mutigen which was in the poison was designed to mutate my DNA to something which the opposite of, was monstrous. We caught it. NOL 6 was the result of a remix of the components of the original mix. It had Aids to react to. We could now control the outcome. The Mutigen which was used on me was the same as NOL5 but at 20 times the normal dose. We just redirected the path Nol6 would take the modifications. I decided to let it turn me into a female instead of the monster pile of jelly as the first victim. We now have NOL 6 and I am now going to be Female. You are the only group which knows the full story now. I may not tell anyone else. I may just let the world think I just dress funny and let it go. Who knows what we want right now. I just want peace and quiet. And by the way Leslie, I noticed you were checking out the color of my eyes frequently. That was my clue you were figuring out what was really happening. I have been wearing a pair of painted contacts for months now. My eyes have changed to a solid white except for the pupil itself."
WE were all speechless. Some of the group just cried and ran up and hugged the naked Allen/Alice. Some of us wanted revenge. I just sat there numb and quiet. After all, what could I say. His development had just began. There was much more transformation to occur. He just had to endure it. Better than being a mass of jelly.......
One other comment as to the condition Dr. Gurber was left in. As a result of the large dose of the mutigen, there were things which were different in reaction to the drug, from a normal patient and dosing. Yes, Alice was going to be huge breasted living doll. But the radical eye color and strange dosing was giving Alice unusual abilities. Alice's eyesight was unusually good and she could hear unusually well. All of her senses were perfect. The other thing which could not be explained was the full use of her brain. Most humans only use 10 to 15 percent of their full mental capasity. The rewrite of her DNA made Alice absolutly perfect in almost every way. This one fact was hidden from us till much later when a full review of all the effects of what had happened was revieled.
And Alice would be accepted to the RG's as a full member. You had to be a new Female to join. We were going to really enjoy the iniation cerimony. No one had ever told Dr. Gurber of the cerimony and outside the group, had been kept secret. After all, we had to have some kind of secret iniation for being a secret group. Made sense to us.
Just before ending of book, Dr. Gurber and a team of other doctors including Caroline, find the final answer to the sex change aspect of his drug. They are now able to cure a cancer at a much slower rate and no sex change will occur. They discovered that by reducing the amount of the hormones and leaving the main ingredient alone, they can achieve the elimination of the cancer but at a slower rate. Instead of working in "days", it works in Weeks. In the beginning, this had been tried, but there was an exact ratio which had to be maintained. Dr. Gurber had not found that ratio until 4 or five years later. The drug still caused an addiction. But those patients who are about to die in less than two months still have to go to the extreme form of the drug and have a sex change. Those patients who are on the extreme form of the Digem drug have to stay on it. They are addicted to the stronger form of it and will die with out it. It is the ultimate irony.
The final bit of information......The Gems don't age. The immune systems prevent aging. Digems are almost immortal. This stirs even more stuff........
We had managed to get Alice to finally come out. It was difficult and a decision both Allen and Caroline had to make. Alice was going to be every bit a DD and probably more. It was one of the side effects of the drug. The coming out party for Alice was a big blowout in the Quarter. It was Mardi-Gras al over. Alice was shown a party for one person that New Orleans had never given before. And who would have thought that a Plastic surgeon could find a cure for cancer?
I wrote this book because I wanted to look at what society would do if the freaks ruled the world. I also wanted to show what kind of power the doctors of the world have. After all, they are human beings too. As of right now, there are some cures for some kinds of cancer. This book showed what could happen if there were a complete cure, at a price. Who would pay? Everyone would. Who wants to die.
I modeled allot of the characters in this book after people I know and some of which are named in the book as themselves. (I know lots of people in the French Quarter. They know who they are.....).
Now, I throw down the gauntlet. I challenge those who have read this little story to continue it. I want the Digem universe to continue. I have left several threads of the plot open and unanswered deliberately. The last chapter of this story is a setup. And why not. After all, sooner or later, the world has to change. Lets make a statement to everyone out there as to how we want it to change.
I want to especially thank one person. Marilyn Hartley, who as a TS, gave me the thoughts in the beginning, which lead to the premise of this book. Her character portrayed in this book is very like her. Some of you may know her. Tell her I said hello.
Love to all. Leslie Josette Gill