Chief medical examiner Dr. Maura Isles was at work in her private lab. It was actually the basement of her townhouse, which she had converted in to a laboratory. Her family always had money and her job as medical examiner provided her with a good income. In the past she had a tendency to spend a lot of money buying stuff that she really didn't need, but the last few month something had changed. She had decided to spend some of her money on her home-lab, so she could work on a special project in total discretion.
About an hour ago she had asked her best friend Jane to come over to her house, as she wanted to show her something important. She was finishing up some work in her lab, when she heard Jane enter the front door of her house. The both had keys to each other's houses, as the spent a lot of time together.
"Maura?"
"Down here, in the basement!"
"The basement? I didn't even realise this place had a basement" Jane said as she made her way down the stairs. "Wow, what's going on here? You've got a full lab in here!"
"Yeah, I needed a place to work on something in private, so had this built a few months ago."
"What's with all the secrecy Maura?"
"Remember Dr. Schrauber from a few months ago? We were called to het laboratory when they found his body. He died of natural causes, so we only had a quick look around the place."
"Yeah, what has that to do with all this?" said Jane as she looked around the lab that was full of machines and cages filled with mice.
"Well, Dr. Schrauber was working on something when he died, the formula was on this whiteboard. Thanks to my photographic memory, it was all stored in the back of my brain somewhere. Then a few weeks later, when I was stuck in traffic, I suddenly realised what he was working on and what he might have done wrong. So I decided to try and finish his work."
"So, spill, what's this all about Maura??"
"He was working on something that can almost instantly heal a wound. Something that could same may lives. And you know what, I've fixed it! It works!!"
"Amazing, how does it work?"
"Well, if you have an open wound, you just cover it with this liquid and within a few second the open flesh gets covered by a new layer of skin! Now, there is also a drawback, as if you pour the liquid over a wound that is gaping open, you end up with a deformed limb. The gash just gets covered with a layer of skin. Not the most pleasing on the eyes, but at least the patient won't bleed out on the way to hospital."
"So instead of dealing with dead all day, you have discovered something that saves lives!"
"Yeah, but there is something else the formula can be used for. Do you remember that my lab technicians went on strike about six months ago and I asked you to assist me on an autopsy of this young woman's body that had come in?"
"You mean that emo girl that had been strangled?"
"Yes, that's the one I meant. When we started to undress her, we found all these piercings all over her body. At first we were kind of shocked to see so much metal all over her body. But as time went on I think we both started to appreciate how nice it looked on her."
"After a while I even thought about getting one or two piercings of my own, but then I realised I wasn't into the pain that comes with getting them done."
"Same here, Jane. But what if I tell you that with the help of this formula a piercing is healed within seconds!?!"
Maura walked over one of the cages with mice and pulled one of them out. As Jane got a closer look at it, she realised that the mouse had four barbells pierced in its back!
"If you dip the needle into the formula just before you pierce the skin with it, it will drag the formula into the wound and it will start to form new skin along the edge of the freshly pierced hole. By spraying some more formula on the needle whilst it is still in the skin, this will drain along the needle and that makes sure that the piercing is healed before you take the needle back out!"
Whilst Maura was explaining this procedure, she was doing just as she was saying. Jane stood there in amazement as she saw her friend adding a fifth barbell to the mouse's back. The poor animal only shrieked for a few seconds, as the needle made its way through its flesh. But it quickly went back to acting normal, even with the needle still sticking through the top layer of its skin.
"Here, help me with this" said Maura as she used her elbow to slide over a box full of barbells.
"Un screw one of the balls at the end and then feed the metal rod into the hole in the needle."
Jane did as was asked and Maura pulled the needle and piercing jewel through the skin. As soon as the needle was out, she asked Jane to screw the ball back on the end of the rod. She then put the mouse back into its cage. Jane was amazed to see the mouse going back to its normal business as if nothing had happened.
"Oh my God, this is so cool! But have you tried this on something other than mice?"
"No, I haven't, but it pretty sure it's OK. Some of these mice where treated a few months ago and they still are in great condition. No side effects. Actually, the reason I asked you here is to help me pierce myself."
"Are you sure? What if it doesn't work?"
"Based on my work with the mice and all the other analysis that I've done, I'm 99,99% sure that it works and that it's safe. The initial piercing will still hurt, so that's why I need your help."
"OK, let's get started, what do I need to do Maura?"
Maura went over to a cabinet and grabbed some supplies, a fresh needle and some circular barbells. Instead of the normal syringe needle she had been using before, she now went for a bigger 6 gauge (4mm / 0.16 inch) version.
