Jack's return visits to the doctor were going well. The gene therapy had repaired the damage caused by the mini stroke and all the tests pointed to complete recovery. The doctor noted that Jack seemed more relaxed and cheerful. Jack agreed, he had also noticed he had more energy and was enjoying his work again. The reward of doing the job his way and the interaction and thanks he received from other researchers made the hours fly. He was focused and much more able to take things in stride, a trait he would soon find useful.
Jack was awakened early one morning a few weeks after he had posted his software by a call. It was from Phylicia. “Jack, we have a problem,” she said.
“Oh, hi Phylicia what's up,” he said sleepily.
“Your website, access is above normal, my friend tells me it's under investigation by the administration. She doesn't know how much longer it will be allowed to remain online.”
“Phylicia the website can't go down now, it is making a significant contribution to the independent research community.”
“I know Jack, I’m sorry.”
“Isn't there some way to placate the administrators?”
“Well, according to my friend they are going to want to meet the 'high school student' who created it. What are we going to do?”
“First, tell your friend that I’m sorry for the trouble. I'm also sorry I got you involved in this; I never expected there to be so much interest in the software. I thought it would take months not weeks before I made any headway with the research community. Second, tell your friend to give the administration my name and phone number, I'll explain as best I can. And I'll do my best to minimize the involvement of anyone else.”
“Okay Jack. I'll keep you informed, and don’t worry about me I can take care of myself, bye.”
Things moved fast, less than a week later a meeting had been scheduled between Jack and the university administrators. Jack knew that he needed to present a convincing case that would persuade the administrators to fund the website for the good of the research community.
When Jack had finished his presentation the university's Head of Information Technology spoke up, “Mr. Jackson we are not here to argue the worth of your research. But that you have used the resources of this university in a somewhat deceptive way I believe can also not be argued. You have used a public outreach program set up by the university to encourage high school students with their research and you have used it for personal reasons. We understand that your proposal passed our committee's approval but this website on our server is supporting researchers without recognition of the university's resources being used. We also believe that your promotion of some discredited methods of synthetic biology reflects poorly on the university. We think we have been very understanding so far. But because of the reasons I have just stated, we must now advise you that you have one week to move your website to other servers or we will be forced to shut it down without your cooperation. Do you understand Mr. Jackson?”
Jack felt defeated. “Yes,” he said.
Back in his apartment Jack posted that the website would need a new home and that he only had a week to find one. He received words of encouragement from the researchers using his software. Most of them weren't even involved in viral research but were using it for biological redesign, synthetic bio-bricks, and a host of other applications. But unfortunately, even with all the well wishes, no one offered him a host server.
Jack sighed.
Oh Miri, won't I ever learn?
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