Are you still curious about how it all happened?  I apologize for cutting the last transmission short but this was absolutely necessary.  I did this for your safety so that they don’t trace the whereabouts of the transmission that you received a few days ago.  This one is encrypted so there is no need to worry this time.

So are you ready for the truth?  I’m not holding back this time  (I did so before, as I feared that what I was writing you could possibly be traced to your location once it was sent.).  I’m cutting right to the chase.

Several thousand years ago in my time, the “Fountain Formulas” and “Fountain Treatments” didn’t exist.  Drawing stem cells from newborns was not federal law, either.

Heck.  Back in my time, this kind of research was just beginning to take form.  The year was 2015 A.D. when all this started to happen.  This was before the Fountain Era began, so FE was not used until that point.

While the so-called “Fountain Treatments” and “Fountain Formulas” were not created yet, the stem cells were being used to grow new organs for those who needed them.  It was the young stem cells that they used to create all these new organs for these people.  This was the original purpose for those cells.  They were meant to save people’s lives.  All this came from the stem cell research they did on laboratory mice just a few years before that.

Before you form any kind of assumption in your head, let me make it clear to you.  I am just a retired architect turned test subject, with numerous years of research experience.  Even after all these years, I’m still not an expert on stem cell research.  I will get to my experience as a test subject shortly, but I just wanted to clarify any confusion you might have on my knowledge of this matter.  What I know regarding the past is common knowledge, accumulated from many centuries of experience.  The government will tell you that the formula and the research was all their doing, but don’t believe them.  It is complete and utter nonsense and a far cry from the truth.

Getting back on track, using stem cells for growing new organs was a big success.  Everyone started using it and it was used in every hospital around the country, and eventually the world.  The success of this research led to some additional research projects.  Some of them were centered around reversing the aging process.

It took the scientists a few years, but they eventually figured out how to reverse the aging process.  They knew exactly where the aging occurred and were convinced that they had it all figured out.  All they needed was a test subject to prove their findings.

I can remember the very day that I volunteered for the project.  It was February 4, 2020.  This was just a couple weeks after my father died.  Having his funeral just a week ago, I was just finishing all of the legal settlements.

After sorting out all the paperwork, I was given Everroot Inc., my father’s architectural firm.  Not wanting the business, I sold it to a larger firm.  I mean, can you blame me for taking this action?  You wouldn’t, if you knew that I worked for him for nearly 40 years.  Granted, I helped lead all of his client’s ambitious projects, but I was starting to get tired of it.

It was on that morning in February that I received a call from a friend of mine named Steve.  He was a cytologist, and was on the verge of finishing one of his research projects that he contributed to.  All this was new to me, since we haven’t talked in a while.  After a lengthy exchange of conversation, I learned all about this project, and the goal associated with it.

The name of this project was “Project Fountain”, and the research was focused on reversing the aging process in humans.  This project was top secret and 100% funded by the government, so he told me to remain quiet about it.

After hearing more about the secret project, Steve asked if I wanted to serve as the first test subject.  I’ll never forget what he said.

“Are you ready to make history?”  He asked me.

“I don’t know, Stephen.” I told him.  “That’s quite a bit of money to invest in something that is not guaranteed to work.”

“You will not regret it!” he insisted.  “Trust me.”

Again, I refused.

Regardless, Steve kept pleading over and over again.  He wasn’t about to give up on something that he truly believed would change history.  “Can you at least take a risk for once? We won’t know whether this will work unless we have someone test it out.”

“Okay, sure.”  I finally told him.

And it was straightforward after that.  Project Fountain was ready to finish its research.  I flew out to the laboratory in Baltimore and filled out some paperwork.  I was ID’d, analyzed and scanned.  Everything was all ready to go.  All they needed was some young stem cells.  I thought that they could use my stem cells, but they insisted me that they needed young stem cells for the process to work.  On hearing this, I suggested that they could take stem cells from my son, Evan.  After giving them his age, they told me that I needed someone younger than that.  My son, after all was 38 at the time.  Just how young did they want them?  I thought to myself.  Did they actually want to use a child?

I then gave them the names of my granddaughters.  Sarah was too old. Being the oldest, she was 16.  Jennifer and Julie were still too old, being 12 and 10.

“Is there anyone in your family younger than that?” They asked me.

“How young?”  I scoffed.  “Do you want them fresh out of the womb?”

“Anyone younger than five would be fine.”

After thinking about this for a while, nothing came to mind.  How could I serve as a test subject if they don’t have the stem cells they need?  It then suddenly came to me.  My son Evan’s family had one more kid that I didn’t think of, and he was the only boy.  His name was Baron, and he just turned two and a half.

When I told them about Baron, they agreed that they could use him.

After contacting Evan, I encountered a problem.  He couldn’t come out with Baron until the summer, because of his work schedule.  I contacted the laboratory and gave them the news.  To make a long story short, Project Fountain was postponed.  They agreed to wait until the summer to finish the project.

When summer came around, Evan came with his family, and brought Baron to the laboratory.  Evan was informed on the process that his son would undergo and assured him that it was quick and harmless.  The process went well, and they were able to extract from Baron all the stem cells that they needed.

After that, Evan left with his family and went home.  This left me with the scientists, who were preparing for the procedure.  The procedure didn’t happen right away.  They needed more time to prepare for it.

Like the day that I volunteered for the project, I can remember the very day that I underwent the first Fountain Treatment in history.  The date was June 21, 2020.  Exactly five months since my father died.

I can remember getting up early in the morning and driving to the airport.  I had to fly to Baltimore, since the distance was too far for me to drive.  On my flight out there, the sky was clear, and I could remember seeing a golden glow emanating from the sun into the first class cabin.

From there, the travel felt like mere minutes.  After getting off the plane, I was met by Leon Alexander, the head of research for Project Fountain.  We shook hands and we exited the airport.  He escorted me to the laboratory in a black Mercedes-Benz.

On my way there, I was thinking about the treatment.  I was not afraid of receiving it at all.  I actually doubted that it would actually work.  At the same time, part of me wanted it to work.  I mean, I have spent a fortune just to be one of their first test subjects.  I didn’t want all this money to go to waste.

Once at the laboratory, I was taken into a room.  The process was just as they told me on the trip there from the airport: just a simple injection.  And just like that, they took Baron’s cells and injected them into me.  I was told that I would be coming in monthly to be monitored on any changes in the body.  After hearing this, I was discharged from the laboratory.  I was driven to the airport and flew back to Chicago.  I then drove to my home in Highland Park.

One year passed, then two years.  Even then, I didn’t see any changes in my body.  After four years, I was just about to give up on them.  I told them that their project was a waste of time and I didn’t want any part in it anymore.  They insisted that I should stay and give it a chance.  Reluctantly, I did.  After all, I already invested a few million dollars into the project.  I didn’t want to see this go to waste.

It was not until five years after the treatment that I started to notice my body feeling a little younger.  There was something different about me.  My body felt healthier and there were fewer wrinkles on my skin.  This greatly encouraged the scientists when they saw this.  They figured that I looked at least two years younger.  Before I left, they told me how they were able to clone Baron’s cells from five years ago.  Some additional modifications were made to them, so they wanted me to try the new treatment.  I accepted it, and they injected the newly created stem cells inside of me.

One month later, I looked completely different.  In glancing through some old pictures, I looked exactly like I did 10 years ago.  This shocked me at first, but then I began to accept the new reality.  This also surprised the scientists, who began celebrating when they saw my new age.  As was the typical practice with each visit, they extracted some of my stem cells and I returned home to Highland Park.

In just three months, I looked just as I did in my college days.  (I was actually fresh out of college, but I’m not one to quibble with formalities, especially at my advanced age.)  The same drill continued.  I went in, got my stem cells extracted and left.

One month later, I could not believe my eyes.  Upon looking in the mirror, I was shocked beyond belief.  The date was November 21, 2025.  I was a teenager again.  This greatly concerned me.  This had to be stopped, since I didn’t want to go the way of Benjamin Button.

When I flew out to Baltimore for my treatment, I expressed my concerns.  I was barely tall enough to drive to the airport, and I was going to die in just a couple months.  The scientists assured me that I wouldn’t die, but would only get as young as Baron was when he got his stem cells extracted.

This greatly troubled me.  I didn’t want to be a child again!  Perhaps a teenager, but a child is too young!  I would be too small to drive, and too small to do most of the things that I enjoy doing.  I insisted that they stopped my aging right away, but they told me that there was nothing that could be done, and that I would have to wait until my body aged normally.  Reluctantly, I got my stem cells extracted and they drove me back to the airport.

On the way back, they announced to me that Project Fountain was taking more volunteers.  Furthermore, they said that I was such a resourceful test subject and the project was so successful that they were going to expand their research.  There would be 30 new test subjects and they would expand their laboratory to facilitate all the research.  This tired me, as I was sick of being treated like a science experiment.  But after remembering all the money that I put into this project, I let out a reluctant sigh and took my flight home.

One month later, what the scientists told me happened right down to a “T”.  I was three years old again.  The exact age my grandson Baron was when he got the stem cells injected.  In spite of this, I didn’t let this slow me down at all.  I acted like an adult in spite of the unfortunate circumstances I faced.  I was an adult trapped in a child’s body.

After getting in the car, it was no use.  I was way too small to reach the accelerator.  Even when I adjusted the seat all the way forward, my little legs were still out of reach.  This angered and frustrated me.  Three weeks ago, I could still drive the car.  But since then, it didn’t stop my determination.

As I exited the car, another car entered the driveway.  It was one of the scientists.  Since they knew that I was too young, they escorted me to the airport and went with me to Baltimore.  He then joined another scientist there and we drove to the laboratory.

Once again, they extracted my stem cells when I was there.  It was nothing new.  Just the same monthly procedure.  I then heard about all the new test subjects and some of the results from them.  From what I heard, they were even younger.  A middle-aged woman who tried it a month ago was now in her twenties.  A man who was in his mid-forties was now a teenager again.  Upon hearing these results, I had a bad feeling about this.  The scientists, however, couldn’t be any more excited.  They wanted to expand their research even more and build a new research facility.  This made me upset, as something like this could easily go out of hand.

Finally, I spoke up, expressing my concerns about their research, and how they were moving a bit too quickly.  When I told them this, they told me to be quiet.  I was just a baby, they told me.  I was to remain quiet, because I “didn’t know anything”.  Why, I wanted to beat the living daylights out of them!  But I resisted, because I knew that my little body didn’t have the strength to take them down.

After I was led out of the laboratory, I saw what looked like 20 different news cameras.  All of the cameras were aimed at me, with several reporters wanting to interview Leon Alexander, the head of research for Project Fountain.  This was a really big story, and they wanted to get as much information as possible.  After Leon answered all their questions, he shooed the media away, and escorted me to a black sedan.

Once in the sedan, I was again told to be quiet and I was told not to mention a word to anyone.  If I did, he threatened to send me to a child psychologist, and then a mental institution.  He then assigned me to a caregiver, who adopted me.  It was a woman who looked like she was in her thirties.

Leon arranged a meeting place with this woman and he took me there.  After leaving with the woman, that was the last time that I heard from the scientists and Project Fountain for a while.

With that, Fountain Laboratories was underway, and I began my new life, unaware of the activity that went on inside it.

How did the Fountain Laboratories begin?  It took me a while but….Wait!  I think that they traced my location.  This will have to wait until another time.  I have encrypted the transmission so they don’t find either of us.  Before they find me, I need to send this now.  I fear for my safety, as well as yours.  Be strong, and don’t believe their lies!  I hope that I have been able to instill some curiosity inside of you.  You should be convinced by now.  I must leave now!  I will send you another transmission when I’m in a safe place.  Be strong, my friend!

Bruce Everroot

July 23, 10720 A.D.

END LOG

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©2012  K. L. Walker