"Top of the eve to you Cueball!" Davies replied laughing lightly. "I'm glad you could make it, I guarantee it will be well worth having to come back to the lab for." he smiled. "As I'm sure you are aware that I have developed a new drug and have been testing it on volunteer subjects yes?" he said.

"Indeed. I have been just sitting back, figuring if it failed, I would'nt hear much about it, but if it did well, I hoped you would clue me in." he said grinning as he started a fresh pot of coffee.

"I figured as much." Davies said as he sat down behind his desk. "I would like to tell you all about this drug and it's effects but I have a request. I want you to use the drug first. I myself have used it. There is only one effect, no side effects, and it is definitly not addictive."

Standing by the coffee pot with sugar in his empty mug, waiting, Stuart replied, "I have to say, it sounds too good to be true, but I've known you long enough to agree to trying the drug. I do ofcourse find it hard to believe there are no dangers to this."

"There have been no side effects out of the 50 subjects I've used except on 2 of them. They both sleep walk, therefore walking about the room during the course of the drug. This can cause a hazard to anyone doing the drug and not being monitored if they are prone to sleep walking. I ofcourse, had placed the subjects in an empty room to do the testing. Are you prone to sleep walk Professor?" Davies asked grinning.

"Not that I know of." he laughed lightly while pouring his coffee. "How long will this drugs effect last? Are the effects similiar to ones found in LSD? Also, what have you named this little gem?"

"Questions, questions." Davies replied. "Ok, knowing who you are, and what you're apt to do while under the influence, I give you 2, 3 hours tops. The amount of time varies for each individual. By that, I mean it's pretty much up to you as to how long you stay under. I had one subject here for 21 hours. I got to monitor him laying down for that long, just saying the "F" word every 45 minutes or so." he said as he walked over to the cabinet and began to unlock its door. "The effects of LSD are shallow compared to this little gem I call Paradox_360." Smiling, Davies asked, "Would you like this in a coated pill or chewable tablet?"

Finishing off his coffee, Stuart replied, "Chewable? Really? Man, that's cool, give me one of those, that is if it tastes good." he laughed. "I like the name, makes it all the more intriging to me. I'm guessing since you've gotten the drug out and all ready for me that you want to get on with the show, so I'll stop with the questions for now." He walked over and took the tablet from Davies.

"Now, you chew the tablet and lay down here on the couch. No Freud jokes please." he said grinning. "Just relax and let the show begin. I'll monitor you and when you come around, we'll discuss the effects."

Stuart started chewing the tablet and laid down on the couch. "Well, I'm off, see you in a bit my friend." He closed his eyes, began to relax and waited.

Stuart opened his eyes suddenly,he realized he had fallen asleep. He proceeded to get up and explain that he had possibly slept through the effect of the drug when he realized that his surroundings were not that of the lab.

He was surrounded by a beautiful place. The trees were full of colour, the ground was carpeted with beautiful wildflowers of every kind imaginable. The air was so fresh and clean smelling, he felt as if he were on another planet. "Perhaps, that is the paradox?" he pondered. As he walked about, admiring the wonderful blue sky, and seeing the birds fly above him, he sensed there was something strange happening. He stopped and wondered why such a wonderful place, a place more incredible than he could ever have imagined seem odd somehow. "What was it?" he thought.

Just then as he went to lean against a huge oak tree, he fell. "What the heck?" he thought as he stood up again. He touched the tree lightly. His hand went right through the tree. "Dear God!" he yelled outloud. He now knew what it was that he found strange. As he had had walked through the field the wildflowers and grass did not brush his feet and legs. He is in what he considers some sort of holographic paradise. He plopped down and laughed. "Ok. professor, I get it. You can't have your cake and eat it too eh?" He began to wait for the drug to wear off. Soon he realized it wasnt wearing off and wondered why. He then recalled what Davies had said to him, that it depended on the individual. "Looks like I'm not quite done with the ride" he thought. So he decided to explore this little paradox.

He walked around or actually through this paradise for over and hour just being simply amazed at its beauty. He had come across animals, and insects but they all passed right through him as if he were a ghost. He came upon a river and decided to follow it. As he walked he realized that he is becoming hungry. If only he could snatch some fruit off of one of those trees he thought. He sat down by one of the fruit bearing trees to rest and ponder his holographic paradise. "I wonder if this is the same place that all the subjects ventured too, it really is a sad state of being. Such a wonderful place that you really can not enjoy." he said outloud to himself.

As he put his hand out to brace himself to stand up, he felt something. He actually 'felt' something. He picked up his hand to discover a piece of fruit from the tree he was sitting under. The odd thing is that the fruit has been half eaten. "Now why do you suppose I can touch this?" he asked outloud. Just as he said this a large snake dropped it's head down and said, "Because you are dead. You are Man." it laughed evilly and lifted itself back up into the tree. Stuart jumped to his feet being both astonished by the talking snake and having great revelation, yelled "Oh my God! This cant be! I'm in EDEN?? NO no no ...." He continued ranting outloud. "That's why I can't touch anything, because I'm of Adam? This is too surreal for me."

Stuart woke up and jumped to his feet for real this time. He stared at Davies with his eyes big, mouth open and arms stretched out but being speechless, and said nothing.

Professor Davies was sitting on the edge of his desk reading outloud. "But the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." He looked over at Stuart and said, "And we chose knowledge over paradise?"