From THE CHRONICAL April 4, 20..

Terrorists Target Thinkers

The offices and labs of Infinity Research Ltd. had to be evacuated yesterday when a member of Dr. Mel Noonian's team discovered a large bomb had been delivered instead of the supplies that had been ordered.

The bomb squad was able to safely disarm it, however, work was disrupted for the entire day. CEO Roberta A. Hein has closed down shop for a week in order to extensively increase security.

This is the fifth attack against Infinity Research since they anounced what they believed at the time to be a marvelous new treatment for disease and disability.

From THE CHRONICAL April 6, 20..

Murder at Infinity Research!

Infinity Research Ltd. CFO Pierre de la Tour was assassinated at his home late last night by a single gunman. De la Tour had been hosting a dinner party whose guest list included Dr. Mel Noonian, who was a close, personal friend to the deceased.

Dr. Noonian is well-known as the discoverer of the Cogit Cure, the new technology that can change your body even more radically and thoroughly than surgury ever could -- simply by putting thoughts in your head.

Police do not yet know if Dr. Noonian was the shooter's intended target. All nine members of Dr. Noonian's research team, as well as Infinity Research's executives, have received credible death threats since announcing their discovery and patenting the Cogit Cure.

"Hey, Mel." Dr. Nathan Summers, one of Noonian's teammates, came up to him at de la Tour's funeral. Summers had a newspaper article highlighted on his Palm.

"Listen to this:

'My deepest condolences to Pierre de la Tour's family and friends. It is terrible that some people feel they have to resort to violence and terror when they are threatened by something new. I am confident that, like atomic energy, the Cogit Cure will one day benefit us all. Of course, the dead at Nagasaki and Hiroshima would like to remind us that even the technology with the greatest benefits can be used for terrible and deadly ends. -- Gwenevere M.'

Noonian stayed silent, at first. He sighed as he said "We have made the blind see, the crippled walk, and rid autistic children of their demons. They could say we have brought the world into an Age of Miracles. Instead, they cry and gnash their teath about the End of Days."

Summers knew how close Noonian and de la Tour had been, but even he couldn't tell if the tears on his boss' face were for his friend or for the good he may never get the chance to do.

The funny little effect they stumbled upon while doing a mind-numbing test of decades-old placebo research was now on trial before a United Nations Tribunal. Politicians and diplomats trying to decide if the Cogit Cure is a weapon of mass destruction or a medical marval. Anything in excess or used improperly can be a weapon: too much water and you can drown a man, but a single cup of it can also save his life if he has been deprived. Anyone who codes Cogit Cures knows that one bit of bad syntax could kill, on the other hand, anyone who has the kind of knowledge of human thought needed to code a Cogit Cure can not help but love humankind and want to do whatever she or he can to protect and help their fellows. And now some ignorant laymen were going to bend to hysterical idiots and stop them from further developing this technology.

What they really needed to work on was a patch for human stupidity.

Dr. Paula Goldstein, another researcher in their group, came up to them with her baby on her hip. She and Summers quietly spoke those things that you say at funerals, while Noonian, sitting between them, said nothing. He could have been lost in his thoughts or lost in his greif. He could have been, but the way he tensed when Detective Vinny Samson walked up to them said he was very much aware of their surroundings.

"You'd better have brought your and your family's suitcases, Paula," Detective Samson grunted, "We're moving those of you with kids into safehouses first."

Goldstein nodded. "How long are we going to have to stay in hiding?"

"At least until the Tribunal's over, and probably longer that that. We can't let you have any communication with the office, at first, either. Not until those hackers are stopped." Samson ground out.

"What hackers?" Summers asked.

"A group calling themselves 'Individual Hackers' has targeted your team in particular and say they're going to hack you and destroy your research. Oh, I don't know if you were told, Mel, but you're getting air-lifted to a secure location after the funeral, too." Samson was stopped by Noonian's voice as he turned to leave.

"I'm not going."

"I beg your pardon, sir?" Samson growled.

"I can't leave the project. I have a two o'clock tomorrow with a little boy who has Down's Syndrome. I'd rather be killed trying to help him, than be alive and useless."

The techies, both the ones employed by Infinity Research and the ones on loan from the police, ignored Roberta A. Hein, CEO, as she paced behind them as they feverishly worked.

She froze in place as one of them spoke up.

"Huh, that's odd."

"What's odd? What is it?" Hein demanded.

"This virus I just stopped. All it does is erase an e-mail that was sent today to Dr. Noonian. The odd thing is, I already checked that e-mail and its just text. Less than 50 words."

"Oh my God!" Everyone in the room jumped as Hein screamed and ran for the phone. "The virus the hackers sent isn't for our computers, but for our people!"

At his desk, Dr. Noonian stared at an e-mail on his screen, a look of horror frozen on his dead face. His phone starts to ring.