A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for protecting a shelled computer program with a startup code featuring multiple-route execution. The apparatus includes a plurality of compartments for articles, the compartments arranged in a rotatable cylindrical array with one opening for each compartment on the surface of the cylinder. In addition to the bio-absorbable carrier component, a therapeutic agent component can also be provided. In which way the sub-signal is transmitted depends on the compression that can be achieved by the encoder.