20 Questions with Dr. Desmond McManus - Cori Heisler, The Pain Truth © 2120 MMI Dr. McManus, now living in Basel, founded Luna's largest Æsculapian clinic. A veteran of both off planet and Earth based tours of duty. Dr. McManus has seen the best and worst that humanity has to offer, from Switzerland to Ganymede. He has taken time out from his intensive schedule at the prestigious Montressor Clinics Nerve Regeneration Center to take via hololink.
PT: Good morning, Dr. McManus. How are you? And let me say that it's great to have you with us. DM: Thank you. Cori, and fine, thank you. Does "How are you?" count as one of the 20? PT: Afraid not. DM: Damn. Well, ready when you are. PT: Here goes. Why did you feel the need to establish Beaulac Clinic? DM: Alison was a dear friend of mine, and one of the guiding lights of our order. We used to say that she was the only one who could get Zweidler's ear - by grabbing and twisting. She did a lot of good work, work that hasn't come to the public eye, but which was the basis for many of the advances in medicine the order has made since its inception. This was my way of getting he name in the public eye. She certainly deserved the spotlight. PT: Why didn't you stay to oversee the clinic's operations? DM: I got homesick, pure and simple. I've been up there and I like down here a lot better. PT: Why the old fashioned underground architecture, even though we have the materials to build on the Lunar surface? DM: Well, places like Olympian Towers and even Artemis generally have their own private clinics and practitioners. I wanted to make a statement that Beaulac Clinic was there for everyone. It's not as scenic as one of those new style towers, and it may not be in the glamorous center of Olympus, but that's not the point. It;s closer to the people who really need a clinic. PT: Do you ever look at the way your successor is running things and say, "I could have done better. I could have made that place something really special"? DM: Now, I think you're doing a disservice to the tremendous job Dr. Grabowski has done up there. Would I have done things differently? Perhaps - I don't know the factors that have gone into his decisions, but I certainly have no grounds to sit here and second guess. Dr. Grabowski has done one hell of a job. You can quote me on that. PT: Do you sat that, even knowing about the increasingly controversial political stands that Dr. Grabowski has taken on issues like experimentation with taint?  DM: as long as he's a good doctor and runs a good clinic, i don't care if he advocates renaming Luna	"The Emerald City" and crowns himself "Emperor Oz the First." PT: Do you agree or disagree with Dr. Grabowski's stands on matters like working with children diagnosed with Aberrant Syndrome? DM: I'd probably have to know what his stands are before saying anything. PT: Essentially, Dr. Grabowski has been a strong advocate of locating children with the taint and using them, as he put it, "as a resource for humanity." He claims that there are ways in which studying the taint might prove beneficial in the long run. Do you agree? DM: Well, we're fools to close off any avenue of knowledge - PT: So you agree? DM: Calm down, Miss Heisler. All I said was that we'd be idiots to close off any avenue of knowledge that might be of benefit down the road. On the other hand, there is some research that is too dangerous, or that doesn't promise any real benefit. We should avoid those, and we should look long and hard at any work we do with taint and Aberrant Syndrome. We know what that stuffs capable of. PT: Do you have any thoughts on these new diseases like D. and Wexler's Disease that seem to be appearing in increasing numbers? DM: I'm a nerve specialist - if and when one of these new pathogens attacks the nervous system, then I might have an informed comment to make on the matter. Until then, I don't have a clue. PT: Even thought there are rumors that taint is causing these diseases? DM: That's a damn fool thing to say. One of the things I despise most is people laying everything at the foot of Aberrants and the mutations that cause them. Baseball team didn't win? It's Aberrants. Crops didn't grow right? Its the taint. They've become our societal scapegoats, which keeps us from looking at problems seriously. PT: Switching gears a bit, what are you working on now? DM: At the moment, I'm working on some fascinating research with Doctors Huanh and Marr about way in which we can stimulate regrowth of damaged nerve tissue, and even use vitakinesis to grow new nerve tissue where none has existed before. It's fascinating stuff, and it offers all sorts of exciting possibilities.	PT: Where do you see the psi orders taking the rest of humanity? DM: I don't see us taking humanity anywhere. I see us going with the rest of humanity - we're still humans, after all - to whatever destiny awaits us. You'd have to ask Proxy Herzog about that one. PT: So you don't see psions having nay special destiny? DM: We're just people, with the same flaws and frailties as the rest of the species. Yes, we can do a few things that maybe you can't, but then again, someone's always been stronger, faster or more powerful than his neighbor. It's a question of scale, that's all. PT: And Aberrants? Where do they fit in? DM: You know, I honestly pity them. They're sick, not evil. I just wish we could ha have found a treatment a century ago. PT: How do you think the families of those killed in Aberrant attacks would feel about your "pity" for those creatures? DM: Oh, I'm not denying that Aberrants have committed many monstrous deeds. But they were human once, and might be human now, and I refuse to condemn an entire group of humans based o the actions of a few, or even a great many. look at the actions of the Space Brigade, for example - positive angels by comparison. PT: So if the Aberrants wanted to return to Earth, you'd be interested in seeing them come home? DM: Well, their attacks seem to indicate that they do want to return to Earth - they just don't want to share it with us. If they could return peacefully, why not? And if we can cure Aberrant Syndrome, eradicate the taint, that may be a possibility some day. PT: Do you think we can? DM: I'm a doctor. I'm at least allowed to hope. PT: Speaking of returns, will you ever return to off planet practice, or is your research the most important thing to you? DM: I don't see them as mutually incompatible. Perhaps microgravity will make a difference in my work. Perhaps I'll need to return to Luna or Ganymede, or go interstellar now that we have operational jump ships. We'll see. PT: Is there anything you wish you'd done differently? DM: I wish I'd told Alison to get the hell out of France, for one thing. But all in all, it's been a great trip so far. PT: Any last thoughts? DM: God, I hope these aren't my last ones. There's still too much to do.

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