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Alice looked pretty, with a red dress and red lipstick. At least, that is how she felt. She entered the bar and ordered a whiskey on the rock. Better get drunk in a public place looking dashing than in her pyjamas with a stain of pizza and cheap red wine. She scanned around there for a familiar face, and there he was.

Eske always seemed to be where he wasn't expected. He sat alone at his table by the window, sipping beer from an open bottle and playing on his phone. It didn't look like he had been noticed by anyone else, but then it would take some doing even to notice him sitting still as he did. He looked tired, he must have been half-asleep or something.

She grabbed her drink and walked in his direction. As she came near enough, he turned toward her and smiled. The smile was not friendly nor unfriendly. Just neutral and distant, which suited her fine.

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'May I?' she asked.

'Sure.'; he said without much enthusiasm.

'I almost believe you are following me.'; she joked.

'I'm not.'; he replied with equal neutrality. Then added: 'I already said I'm not interested.'

'It was a joke. You seem to be everywhere I go lately.'; she told him.

He shrugged: ’Didn’t notice.’

'What are you playing?'; she inquired, pointing to his cell phone.

'Snake.'; he answered. And continued: 'I'm always losing.'

'I think I know the feeling.'; she said, sipping on her glass.

'Got dumped?'; he asked.

She laughed: 'No, I didn't even have a date. I thought drinking in a bar was less sad than drinking alone. So my date is actually with this'; and she raised her glass.

'Lucky whiskey.'; he complimented and raised his beer as well.

'You are not very talkative, are you?'

Eske chuckled while drinking from his beer: 'Funny you say that. My friends always told me I was very chatty. I could talk, and talk and never got tired.'; he paused and continued: 'I especially used to talk when my girlfriend had a... hum... crises. Would distract her.'; and Eske's voice trailed off, and he stared out the window, lost in thought. His eyes were empty yellow pools reflecting nothing. There was no one behind them now. Only emptiness.

'I'm really sorry about her death. I know how hard it can be.'; she tried to comfort him. But it only made him more silent.

'She is not dead.'; he whispered, his voice hollow and distant. The words sounded so strange coming from his mouth that they gave her goosebumps.

'Is that a wig?'; he changed the conversation.

Alice looked at him, confused. 'A wig?'

'Yeah. Wig. You said you recovered from cancer, and your hair is already long, so is it?'

'Are you always that blunt?'; Alice asked, surprised. 'Why do you care if I wear a wig?'

'You sat here. You started the conversation. I'm keeping up. If you don't like it, you can go.'

'Is not. I stopped chemo maybe three years ago. And tried an experimental treatment.'; she explained. 'That is why I feel like shit today. My request for human trial was denied.'; she paused, looking at the windows as well: 'Again.'

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'Sorry.'; he nodded. 'What is the treatment based on?'

'If I explained to you. You wouldn't believe me.'; Alice said, smiling weakly. 'But it works. Not sure what kind of effect it has on the long term, but it works.'; she sighed.

'I'm listening.'; he leaned forward and lowered his voice.

'Day, my dead boyfriend, collected a sample. I don't know from where or what it is, but it is not registered in any database. We discovered that depending on each specimen, it exists as a marker in DNA. However, it has no standard. In ten mice, two of them had a value under 0.9%. However, if blasted with this sample, cells stop ageing, cells regenerate faster, but there are some side effects.'; she put her hand over her chest and frowned: 'The last time I took it, I went crazy, hallucinating, seeing things, I couldn't sleep.'

'So, is a hallucinogen that cures cancer?'; he asked. 'Did you stop taking it?'

'I couldn't handle the hallucinations. I started to have a constant bad flavour in my mouth. Before any hallucination started, I would feel these horrible cold goosebumps and have auditive deprivation for a couple of seconds. Then I would see things that made no sense.'

'Come again?'; he asked.

'One example is a little girl who has a cat, a dead cat. And all she was doing was to work to provide food for her cat.'; she described the image clearly. 'But she didn't live on earth. The whole scenery was yellowish. It was awful. It was warm, dusty, and crowded. And all she could think was I must feed my cat.'; she shook her head. 'And she kept working. That's what I saw. Over and over.'

'Sounds scary.'; he agreed.

'Yes, but it was getting worst. I don't know if it is a twist in my mind or if it is some sort of vision. But that little girl hunted me for months. I saw some mice go berserker too. I have no idea if the sample acts upon individuals or if it's a collective.'; she shivered.

'A collective?'; he asked. 'Like a hive?'

Alice nodded slowly: 'Something like that.'

'Acting as a fungus?'; he suggested.

'No.'; she shook her head: 'I don't know where Day got it, but he believed it was a residue of something. A recollection of... time.'; she paused: 'He believed that there are more versions of ourselves through time. And what he got was a sample of several times gathered in a unique sample. I sound crazy, don't I? But he believed that time was a matter, and it could be calculated through an enzyme what probability we existed in the cosmos. He called it timeline footprint. Or T-DNA.'

'T-DNA?'; he repeated.

'Well, yes. It sounds stupid, but he was brilliant.'; she grinned sadly. 'Anyway, I am living proof I survived cancer and kept all my hair.'; she pointed to her head.

'What if it comes back?'

'I guess I will have new nightmares.'; she replied.

‘You say it’s black particles, like dark dust?’

‘Yes, that is an accurate description.’

‘The bad taste in your mouth, what was it?’

‘Like wet paper but mixed with stale water or something. Just thinking about it makes my stomach sick.’

'Can I try?'; he offered.

'Beg your pardon?'

'You need a human trial, I'm offering.'; he said.

'How much money do you want for that?'; she asked suspiciously.

He smiled: 'None. Let's say I'm just curious,’

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