He is our CEO. Then I will give you a walk through the barn. That is … what we call a “Barn” Kuhn showed the double quote sign in the air. Technical terms for it is a vivarium.

Follow me. I will take you to Mr. Berman’s office.”

Part 1

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The interview continued (Office of Dr. Berman)

“Boy, all this so confusing,” Storsky shakes his head in bewilderment. “Vampires, the Dark side, populating dead bodies, manipulating the objects. In the movies, it is so much simpler. Vampires just drink blood because…because they are vampires. They suppose to drink blood.”

“Movies are made for people who need to be entertained so they buy tickets. Here is the research center subsidized by the government. We are working, Mr. Storsky.” Berman pulled a pack of Marlboro out of his pocket, “Do you smoke?”

“No.”

“Do you mind if I smoke?”

“No, go right ahead.”

Berman lights the cigarette, takes a drag, and continues.

“Just bear with me, would you,” Storsky nodded.

“OK, you are a young man Mr. Storsky. What are you twenty-four, twenty-five?”

“Twenty-six.”

“Ok Twenty-six. You’ve played computer games did you?”

“Sure.”

“Well then imagine that you bought the coolest game and you are very eager to start playing.”

Storsky nodes again. He looks interested.

“Well can you physically be inside the game?”

This question throws Storsky off. He is trying to make sure he understood Dr. Berman correctly. “Do you mean physically?” Storsky looks at Dr. Berman, as he nods “Well…No.”

“So what do you need to do to start playing?”

“I’d pick a character,” Storsky opens his eyes wide in slight bewilderment.

“Exactly. You cannot physically be inside the game. Therefore, you are delegating your consciousness to a character that can exist inside the game. Right?”

“Delegate my consciousness?” reiterated Storsky as if tasting the concept.

“Sure, to some extent. You make choices, you move your character around, you pick weapons, magics, you fight, right? My kid is doing this and that’s how I know. Although the set of game options is the same for everybody, each person brings his own consciousness into the game. They as if exist inside the game, not physically, but mentally.”

“Yeah,” Storsky licks his lips and nods.

“The same thing with vamps. They are the entities of a different reality – the Dark Side. They cannot physically exist in our world, so whoever sits on the Dark side picks a “character”, in this case, a human body, the dead body, of course, and then delegates their consciousness to it.”

“But how do they do it?” Berman sees a sparkle of curiosity in Storsky’s eyes.

“Ah…” Berman lifts his finger in the air as if spotting a fly in the ceiling.

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” he finishes the cigarette and put the butt in the ashtray. “They occupy what’s available, a corpse.”

“Hm … a dead body usually decays pretty quickly. So how do they preserve the carcass?“

“A very good question! I see you have a curious mind, Mr. Storsky. We don’t know exactly, but it definitely due to the liquid that is called a “Vamprophyll.”

“Vamprophyll?...” reiterates Storsky in half question half statement.

“Vamprophyll is an organic agent that has an unusual chemical composition. Its molecule is similar to the chlorophyll, but with the different molecular structure and an additional large percentage of sulfur and, strangely, plutonium.
Vamprophyll does not only preserve the corpse but also gives a vampire its incredible power.”

Storsky wanted to say something, but seeing that Berman was being on a roll, stops his question in the mid-air.

“… and, by the way, “ Berman crosses his legs,
“I am not the only one who’s suggesting this. The presence of the radioactive atoms in the Vamprophyll molecule causes a constant need for recharging. In other words, a vampire energetically cannot maintain itself. It needs energy from outside. And that’s where the molecule of hemoglobin plays an extremely important role. Come up here,” Berman invited Storsky to the lab that is adjacent to the interview room.

“Take a look at this tube,” Berman picks up a tube from the many tubes that stand on the rack. Do you see this green liquid? That’s taken from inside of a vamp’s body. Now let me take a tincture of it and put it under the microscope.”

Berman places the liquid under the microscope and continues.

“A direct photon hit triggers a chemical reaction followed by the intense exertion of heat. This heat literally burns the vampire cells from inside bringing a vampire relatively quick and yet a torturous death.”

“Don’t vampires sleep in coffins?”

“Sleep in coffins?” Berman laughs reiterating Storsky’s question.

“Vampires don’t actually sleep. The coffin is just a communication portal between our world and the Dark side.”

“So what happened with the Vamp when he is in a coffin?”

“What happens with the character when you paused the game? Basically it’s turned off, temporarily.”

“The game can be turned off, but they cannot turn off our World,” Storsky tilts his head to the right contemplating.

“Of course not, but they can cut off the communication link. Pow! No more handshake. We lost the connection. Anyhow, they don’t sleep in coffins, young man. Here, in our lab, each of vampires has his own individual room, as they call them a cave. But I digressed.”

“Why do we need vampires you might ask? I see by your eyes that this is a good question.
I tell you why. In this company, we concentrate on making artificial blood.
I see from your resume that you worked in a blood reserve center so you understand why reserving of blood is so important.”

“For blood transfusions, I think.”

“Exactly. So why do we keep vamps around? To test the quality of the artificial blood.”

Berman now looks directly at Storsky. “So you, young man, is going to ‘draw vamps’ blood.”

Storsky’s head jerks back but then he smiles, “That’s pretty cool!”

To be continued...