1966
Dec. 4
Mr. Spencer once spoke of a flower called the Stairway to the Sun. Supposedly this flower would give the person who consumed it incredible abilities. Everyone thought it was nothing more than a rumor or legend that Mr. Spencer was telling us, but later research would prove us wrong.
The first person to recognize the validity of that story was my teacher, Dr. James Marcus. He hypothesized that a virus, hereto unknown, might exist that could alter DNA.
That man was so perspicacious!
His hypothesis turned out to be correct!
The virus discovered in that flower was labeled "Progenitor." For three months in Africa we worked diligently, fretting over results, and staved off attacks from the Ndipaya. After such time, our efforts were finally rewarded.
Even Dr. Marcus, who until yesterday looked exhausted, was in good spirits. He wants to return home as soon as possible to delve deeper into his research.
I feel the same way. I want to learn the secrets of this Progenitor virus as soon as possible.
1967
Feb. 12
We've hit the metaphorical brick wall. We brought the Progenitor flower back from Africa and attempted to cultivate it here. The initial culture samples of the Progenitor virus have not shown DNA-altering characteristics.
We cultivated the flower to mass-produce the Progenitor virus.
At first, everything proceeded smoothly. The plants were strong, and grew quickly. In a short amount of time they flowered.
But here is when a major problem surfaced! The flowers did not contain the Progenitor virus!
Perhaps the environment in which they're grown triggers the development of the virus. This matter must be investigated further.
March 23
We've made no progress. We've tried cultivating the flower under different conditions, but with no luck in triggering development of the virus itself. Thus far we have tried changing the soil, water, temperature, and light exposure all with no success.
I got into a heated debate with Dr. Marcus about the direction this research was taking.
During that debate, Mr. Spencer interjected some foolhardy notion of starting a company.
Without the Progenitor virus there's no point in starting a company. Does he not see that? It's all pointless!
