Chapter 10: Covert Operative?

When Casey returned to the lab, she found it difficult to focus. A moral dilemma weighed heavily on her mind: Should she continue to help the Alliance or maintain her previous status quo and avoid further involvement with it?

She started fiddling with her equipment to make her distraction less obvious. Regardless of her decision, she didn't want it to seem as though she had become aware of the anomalies at the plant.

Rather than heading straight home, she teleported to one of her favourite gardens. Fiddling with the camera button on her shirt, she wandered among the fragrant orchids and rainbow roses. It was a live feed, so her visit to the chemical plant that morning would already be in the hands of the Alliance.

Eventually, she started strolling home, thinking that although she knew something unusual was going on at the plant and trusted Ruth, she needed more information before making such a major decision, particularly since her father was involved.

She felt the most significant insights would come from her father and Percy's files. So, she would park the anger she felt towards her father and see if she could get more information from him about his work. Then, she would open Percy's file on Vietnam veterans.

When she arrived, her father was home, sitting in his favourite chair. He looked up and said, "Hi Casey, how was your day?" It was unusual for him to inquire about her day, so she was immediately on guard.

"Fine," she responded. I visited the plant." She could tell this was not a surprise to him, so she continued, "I met your friend Donald."

He looked a little tired when he said, "I wouldn't call him my friend, but I know him."

"Oh," she said, surprised.

"I got the impression he knew you well."

"We have been acquainted for a very long time, but that doesn't mean he knows me," he responded a little cautiously.

"I visit the plant often, but we have never socialised," he said.

"What do you do when you visit the plant?" she asked.

"I check in with the team to ensure that chemical distribution meets the requirements. I don't think you should visit the plant, Casey. If I had known you were going, I would have stopped you," he said calmly as if the topic were as basic as 'what do you want for dinner.'

"Why?" she asked without trying to sound alarmed.

"I'm not going to discuss it. I have told you before that there are things that might jeopardise our safety, and this is one of them. Just stay away."

Without another word, he practically jumped out of his chair and went to his bedroom.

Casey stared at his chair for a few minutes before she pulled herself together and headed for her study. She knew Ruth was trying to contact her, but she didn't want to speak to her until she had spoken to her father, which she had now done, and reviewed Percy's veterans file.

Sitting at her desk, she took several deep breaths before opening the file. It started in an unexpected place: a meeting with the president of the day, Richard Nixon. It briefly mentioned the request from Nixon and how the conversation unfolded, in which Percy agreed to work with the returning veterans.

Casey had to take a break and research Vietnam and the war, as she wasn't familiar with it. She learned it happened way back, starting over a hundred years ago in 1955, and was one of the most devastating conflicts of the 20th century, leaving deep and lasting impacts on the people of Vietnam and the broader region, as well as on the United States. The war was a complex, multilayered struggle with political, ideological, and cultural dimensions, involving the fight between communist forces and anti-communist forces backed by the United States and its allies.

From what Casey absorbed from the files, her grandfather studied his mother's journals on anti-aging. Based on this information and his access to various labs and other scientists over the years, he continued to develop and refine the formula, which had great success in prolonging the lives of those who could afford the privilege.

Nixon wanted Percy to use his knowledge and skills to reverse the impact of the chemical weapons to which veterans had been exposed. This was an exciting challenge for Percy, and although he had doubts about whether he could do it—up until now, the formula hadn't been tested in such cases—he was willing to give it a go.

This was never made public. It was managed through a relationship set up with the Department of Veterans Affairs. It was overwhelmed by the sheer number of returning soldiers and lacked the resources and infrastructure to properly meet their needs. So, they were enthusiastic about any support and didn't ask many questions.

Percy had the geographical knowledge related to where the chemical weapons were released in Vietnam, so the Department of Veterans Affairs would refer all veterans who had been in these areas to Percy for physical examinations and a wellness program. The ongoing program was eventually managed as an annex to the National Institute of Ageing.

The program was moderately successful, and Percy was protected from any backlash. If the veteran didn't survive, Percy could not be blamed, as he was merely running a wellness program.

One of Percy's journals focused on the formula for the pills given to the veterans, which included colloidal silver. Casey hadn't heard of this before, but further research showed it could be used for water purification and anti-aging, so maybe this could replace lysoid, if she could locate it.

Aside from making a note of possibly replacing lysoid with colloidal silver, Casey was furious that her grandfather would be involved in experimenting on the veterans without their knowledge or any public testing of the product. If this was what was happening back then, she hated to imagine what was happening now in her father's lab and at the chemical plant.

With this new knowledge, she contacted Ruth. She was keen to find out whether the footage from the plant was useful, and as she had already absorbed the Vietnam Veteran file into her memory, she was free to meet the next morning.

Casey wasn't surprised that Conney and Graham were at Ruth's when she arrived; she was pleased to see them. After greeting each other, Casey asked whether the footage from the plant was of any help. With a smile on her face, Conney excitedly responded, "Yes, it was invaluable; nobody has been able to get through the front door. Security is a bitch," she said.

Followed by, "But we couldn't hear anything; we think it was due to the frequency breakers surrounding the building. Can you tell us what was said?"

Casey didn't hesitate to tell them everything she could remember, including her suspicions about Alexa and her hiccups. In return, Conney and Graham took turns telling Casey everything they knew. They had made many assumptions, and Casey could verify some of them; however, there was still much more to uncover.

Before Casey offered more help, she wanted to understand their plan and what the Alliance aimed to achieve. Graham responded with anger in his voice,

"Bring down the government."

Conney glanced at Graham and then at Casey. "Casey, our long-term goal is to be the catalyst for an equitable and fair society, and we are taking it one step at a time. We are not sure how this will play out; at this stage, we are trying to gather as much information as we can."

Ruth joined the conversation, saying, "We have several connections within Calberra that help us understand how decisions are made and who has the real power. However, we don’t want them to act until we know what we need to do to establish the right infrastructure to support change, and this is difficult because no one we know has complete knowledge of the landscape."

Conney added, "No one has the whole picture, so we are trying to gather as much information as possible to gain a clearer understanding of what the goal needs to be." 

Graham asked, "Are you willing to help us?" Casey had a few more questions, and once she was satisfied, she said, a little too excitedly, "I'm in. What do I need to do?"

Ruth responded, "We need you to keep doing your job. You are the only person from the lab that the Alliance has. Like our friends in Calberra, we need you to feed us information as required while doing your job, without raising suspicion. Can you do that?"

Without hesitation, Casey's response was "Yes."