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1THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN
2
3  (c) 1969 by Michael Crichton
4
5
6
7  FOREWORD
8
9  This book recounts the five-day history of a major American scientific crisis.
10
11  As in most crises, the events surrounding the Andromeda Strain were a compound of foresight and foolishness, innocence and ignorance. Nearly everyone involved had moments of great brilliance, and moments of unaccountable stupidity. It is therefore impossible to write about the events without offending some of the participants.
12
13  However, I think it is important that the story be told. This country supports the largest scientific establishment in the history of mankind. New discoveries are constantly being made, and many of these discoveries have important political or social overtones. In the near future, we can expect more crises on the pattern of Andromeda. Thus I believe it is useful for the public to be made aware of the way in which scientific crises arise, and are dealt with.
14
15  In researching and recounting the history of the Andromeda Strain, I received the generous help of many people who felt as I did, and who encouraged me to tell the story accurately and in detail.
16
17  My particular thanks must go to Major General Willis A. Haverford, United States Army; Lieutenant Everett J. Sloane, United States Navy (Ret.); Captain L. S. Waterhouse, United States Air Force (Vandenberg Special Projects Division); Colonel Henley Jackson and Colonel Stanley Friedrich, both of Wright Patterson; and Murray Charles of the Pentagon Press Division.
18
19  For their help in elucidating the background of the Wildfire Project, I must thank Roger White, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Houston MSQ; John Roble, NASA Kennedy Complex 13; Peter J. Mason, NASA Intelligence (Arlington Hall); Dr. Francis Martin, University of California (Berkeley) and the President's Science Advisory Council; Dr. Max Byrd, USIA; Kenneth Vorhees, White House Press Corps; and Professor Jonathan Percy of the University of Chicago (Genetics Department).
20
21  For their review of relevant chapters of the manuscript, and for their technical corrections and suggestions, I wish to thank Christian P. Lewis, Goddard Space Flight Center; Herbert Stanch, Avco, Inc.; James P. Baker, Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Carlos N. Sandos, California Institute of Technology; Dr. Brian Stack, University of Michigan; Edgar Blalock, Hudson Institute; Professor Linus Kjelling, the RAND Corporation; Dr. Eldredge Benson, National Institutes of Health.
22
23  Lastly, I wish to thank the participants in the Wildfire Project and the investigation of the -so-called Andromeda Strain. All agreed to see me and, with many, my interviews lasted over a period of days. Furthermore, I was able to draw upon the transcripts of their debriefing, which are stored in Arlington Hall (Substation Seven) and which amounted to more than fifteen thousand pages of typewritten manuscript. This material, stored in twenty volumes, represents the full story of the events at Flatrock, Nevada, as told by each of the participants, and I was thus able to utilize their separate viewpoints in preparing a composite account.
24
25  This is a rather technical narrative, centering on complex issues of science. Wherever possible, I have explained the scientific questions, problems, and techniques. I have avoided the temptation to simplify both the issues and the answers, and if the reader must occasionally struggle through an and passage of technical detail, I apologize.
26
27  I have also tried to retain the tension and excitement o events in these five days, for there is an inherent drama in the story of Andromeda, and if it is a chronicle of stupid, deadly blunders, it is also a chronicle of heroism and intelligence.
28
29  M.C.
30
31  Cambridge, Massachusetts 
32
33  January 1969
34
35  
36
37  DAY 1
38
39  Contact
40
41  1. The Country of Lost Borders
42
43  A man with binoculars. That is how it began: with a man standing by the side of the road, on a crest overlooking a small Arizona town, on a winter night.
44
45  Lieutenant Roger Shawn must have found the binoculars difficult. The metal would be cold, and he would be clumsy in his fir parka and heavy gloves. His breath, hissing out into the moonlit air, would have fogged the lenses. He would be forced to pause to wipe them frequently, using a stubby gloved finger.
46
47  He could not have known the futility of this action. Binoculars were worthless to see into that town and uncover its secrets. He would have been astonished to learn that the men who finally succeeded used instruments a million times more powerful than binoculars.
48
49  There is something sad, foolish, and human in the image of Shawn leading against a boulder, propping his arms on it, and holding the binoculars to his eyes. Though cumbersome, the binoculars would at least feel comfortable and familiar in his hands. It would be one of the last familiar sensations before his death.
50
51  We can imagine, and try to reconstruct, what happened from that point on.
52
53  Lieutenant Shawn swept over the town slowly and methodically. He could see it was not large, just a half-dozen wooden buildings, set out along a single main street. It was very quiet: no lights, no activity, no sound carried by the gentle wind.
54
55  He shifted his attention from the town to the surrounding hills. They were low, dusty, and blunted, with scrubby vegetation and an occasional withered yucca tree crusted in snow. Beyond the hills were more hills, and then the flat expanse of the Mojave Desert, trackless and vast. The Indians called it the Country of Lost Borders.
56
57  Lieutenant Shawn found himself shivering in the wind. It was February, the coldest month, and it was after ten. He walked back up the road toward the Ford Econovan, with the large rotating antenna on top. The motor was idling softly; it was the only sound he could hear. He opened the rear doors and climbed into the back, shutting the doors behind him.
58
59  He was enveloped in deep-red light: a night light, so that he would not be blinded when he stepped outside. In the red light the banks of instruments and electronic equipment glowed greenly.
60
61  Private Lewis Crane, the electronics technician, was there, also wearing a parka. He was hunched over a map, making calculations with occasional reference to the instruments before him.
62
63  Shawn asked Crane if he were certain they had arrived at the place, and Crane confirmed that they had. Both men were tired: they had driven all day from Vandenberg in search of the latest Scoop satellite. Neither knew much about the Scoops, except that they were a series of secret capsules intended to analyze the upper atmosphere and then return. Shawn and Crane had the job of finding the capsules once they had landed.
64
65  In order to facilitate recovery, the satellites were fitted with electronic beepers that began to transmit signals when they came down to an altitude of five miles.
66
67  That was why the van had so much radio-directional equipment. In essence, it was performing its own triangulation. In Any parlance it was known as single-unit triangulation, and it was highly effective, though slow. The procedure was simple enough: the van stopped and fixed its position, recording the strength and direction of the radio beam from the satellite. Once this was done, it would be driven in the most likely direction of the satellite for a distance of twenty miles. Then it would stop and take new coordinates. In this way, a series of triangulation points could be mapped, and the van could proceed to the satellite by a zigzag path, stopping every twenty miles to correct any error. The method was slower than using two vans, but it was safer-- the Army felt that two vans in an area might arouse suspicion.
68
69  For six hours, the van had been closing on the Scoop satellite. Now they were almost there.
70
71  Crane tapped the map with a pencil in a nervous way and announced the name of the town at the foot of the hill: Piedmont, Arizona. Population forty-eight; both men laughed over that, though they were both inwardly concerned. The Vandenberg ESA, or Estimated Site of Arrival, had been twelve miles north of Piedmont. Vandenberg computed this site on the basis of radar observations and 1410 computer trajectory projections. The estimates were not usually wrong by more than a few hundred yards.
72
73  Yet there was no denying the radio-directional equipment, which located the satellite beeper directly in the center of town. Shawn suggested that someone from the town might have seen it coming down-- it would be glowing with the heat-- and might have retrieved it, bringing it into Piedmont.
74
75  This was reasonable, except that a native of Piedmont who happened upon an American satellite fresh from space would have told someone-- reporters, police, NASA, the Army, someone.
76
77  But they had heard nothing.
78
79  Shawn climbed back down from the van, with Crane scrambling after him, shivering as the cold air struck him. Together, the two men looked out over the town.
80
81  It was peaceful, but completely dark. Shawn noticed that the gas station and the motel both had their lights doused. Yet they represented the only gas station and motel for miles.
82
83  And then Shawn noticed the birds.
84
85  In the light of the full moon he could see them, big birds, gliding in slow circles over the buildings, passing like black shadows across the face of the moon. He wondered why he hadn't noticed them before, and asked Crane what he made of them.
86
87  Crane said he didn't make anything of them. As a joke, he added, "Maybe they're buzzards."
88
89  "That's what they look like, all right," Shawn said.
90
91  Crane laughed nervously, his breath hissing out into the night." But why should there be buzzards here? They only come when something is dead." 
92
93  Shawn lit a cigarette, cupping his hands around the lighter, protecting the flame from the wind. He said nothing, but looked down at the buildings, the outline of the little town. Then he scanned the town once more with binoculars, but saw no signs of life or movement.
94
95  At length, he lowered the binoculars and dropped his cigarette onto the crisp snow, where it sputtered and died.
96
97  He turned to Crane and said, "We'd better go down and have a look." 
98
99  2. Vandenberg
100
101  THREE HUNDRED MILES AWAY, IN THE LARGE, square, windowless room that served as Mission Control for Project Scoop, Lieutenant Edgar Comroe sat with his feet on his desk and a stack of scientific-journal articles before him. Comroe was serving as control officer for the night; it was a duty he filled once a month, directing the evening operations of the skeleton crew of twelve. Tonight, the crew was monitoring the progress and reports of the van coded Caper One, now making its way across the Arizona desert.
102
103  Comroe disliked this job. The room was gray and lighted with fluorescent lights; the tone was sparsely utilitarian and Comroe found it unpleasant. He never came to Mission Control except during a launch, when the atmosphere was different. Then the room was filled with busy technicians, each at work on a single complex task, each tense with the peculiar cold anticipation that precedes any spacecraft launch.
104
105  But nights were dull. Nothing ever happened at night. Comroe took advantage of the time and used it to catch up on reading. By profession he was a cardiovascular physiologist, with special interest in stresses induced at high-G accelerations.
106
107  Tonight, Comroe was reviewing a journal article titled "Stoichiometrics of Oxygen-Carrying Capacity and Diffusion Gradients with Increased Arterial Gas Tensions." He found it slow reading, and only moderately interesting. Thus he was willing to be interrupted when the overhead loudspeaker, which carried the voice transmission from the van of Shawn and Crane, clicked on.
108
109  Shawn said, "This is Caper One to Vandal Deca. Caper One to Vandal Deca. Are you reading. Over."
110
111  Comroe, feeling amused, replied that he was indeed reading.
112
113  "We are about to enter the town of Piedmont and recover the satellite."
114
115  "Very good, Caper One. Leave your radio open.
116
117  "Roger."
118
119  This was a regulation of the recovery technique, as outlined in the Systems Rules Manual of Project Scoop. The SRM was a thick gray paperback that sat at one corner of Comroe's desk, where he could refer to it easily. Comroe knew that conversation between van and base was taped, and later became part of the permanent project file, but he had never understood any good reason for this. In fact, it had always seemed to him a straightforward proposition: the van went out, got the capsule, and came back.
120
121  He shrugged and returned to his paper on gas tensions, only half listening to Shawn's voice as it said, "We are now inside the town. We have just passed a gas station and a motel. All quiet here. There is no sign of life. The signals from the satellite are stronger. There is a church half a block ahead. There are no lights or activity of any kind."
122
123  Comroe put his journal down. The strained quality of Shawn's voice was unmistakable. Normally Comroe would have been amused at the thought of two grown men made jittery by entering a small, sleepy desert town. But he knew Shawn personally, and he knew that Shawn, whatever other virtues he might have, utterly lacked an imagination. Shawn could fall asleep in a horror movie. He was that kind of man.
124
125  Comroe began to listen.
126
127  Over the crackling static, he heard the rumbling of the van engine. And he heard the two men in the van talking quietly.
128
129  Shawn: "Pretty quiet around here."
130
131  Crane: "Yes sir." 
132
133  There was a pause.
134
135  Crane:. "Sir?"
136
137  Shawn: "Yes?"
138
139  Crane: "Did you see that?"
140
141  Shawn: "See what?"
142
143  Crane: "Back there, on the sidewalk. It looked like a body." 
144
145  Shawn: "You're imagining things."
146
147  Another pause, and then Comroe heard the van come to a halt, brakes squealing.
148
149  Shawn: "Judas." 
150
151  Crane: "It's another one, sir.
152
153  Shawn: "Looks dead."
154
155  Crane: "Shall I--"
156
157  Shawn: "No. Stay in the van."
158
159  His voice became louder, more formal, as he ran through the call. "This is Caper One to Vandal Deca. Over."
160
161  Comroe picked up the microphone. "Reading you. What's happened?"
162
163  Shawn, his voice tight, said, "Sir, we see bodies. Lots of them. They appear to be dead." 
164
165  "Are you certain, Caper One?"
166
167  "For pete's sake," Shawn said. "Of course we're certain."
168
169  Comroe said mildly, "Proceed to the capsule, Caper One."
170
171  As he did so, he looked around the room. The twelve other men in the skeleton crew were staring at him, their eyes blank, unseeing. They were listening to the transmission.
172
173  The van rumbled to life again.
174
175  Comroe swung his feet off the desk and punched the red "Security" button on his console. That button automatically isolated the Mission Control room. No one would be allowed in or out without Comroe's permission.
176
177  Then he picked up the telephone and said, "Get me Major Manchek. M-A-N-C-H-E-K. This is a stat call. I'll hold."
178
179  Manchek was the chief duty officer for the month, the man directly responsible for all Scoop activities during February.
180
181  While he waited, he cradled the phone in his shoulder and lit a cigarette. Over the loudspeaker, Shawn could be heard to say, "Do they look dead to you, Crane?"
182
183  Crane: "Yes Sir. Kind of peaceful, but dead.'
184
185  Shawn: "Somehow they don't really look dead. There's something missing. Something funny ... But they're all over. Must be dozens of them."
186
187  Crane: "Like they dropped in their trucks. Stumbled and fallen down dead." 
188
189  Shawn: "All over the streets, on the sidewalks ..."
190
191  Another silence, then Crane: "Sir!"
192
193  Shawn: "Judas." 
194
195  Crane: "You see him? The man in the white robe, walking across the street--"
196
197  Shawn: "I see him."
198
199  Crane: "He's just stepping over them like--"
200
201  Shawn: "He's coming toward us."
202
203  Crane: "Sir, look, I think we should get out of here, if you don't mind my--"
204
205  The next sound was a high-pitched scream, and a crunching noise. Transmission ended at this point, and Vandenberg Scoop Mission Control was not able to raise the two men again.
206
207  
208
209  
210
211  3. Crisis
212
213  GLADSTONE, UPON HEAIUNG OF THE DEATH OF "Chinese" Gordon in Egypt, was reported to have muttered irritably that his general might have chosen a more propitious time to die: Gordon's death threw the Gladstone government into turmoil and crisis. An aide suggested that the circumstances were unique and unpredictable, to which Gladstone crossly answered: "All crises are the same."
214
215  He meant political crises, of course. There were no scientific crises in 1885, and indeed none for nearly forty years afterward. Since then there have been eight of major importance; two have received wide publicity. It is interesting that both the publicized crises-- atomic energy and space capability-- have concerned chemistry and physics, not biology.
216
217  This is to be expected. Physics was the first of the natural sciences to become fully modern and highly mathematical. Chemistry followed in the wake of physics, but biology, the retarded child, lagged far behind. Even in the time of Newton and Galileo, men knew more about the moon and other heavenly bodies than they did about their own.
218
219  It was not until the late 1940's that this situation changed. The postwar period ushered in a new era of biologic research, spurred by the discovery of antibiotics. Suddenly there was both enthusiasm and money for biology, and a torrent of discoveries poured forth: tranquilizers, steroid hormones, immunochemistry, the genetic code. By 1953 the first kidney was transplanted and by 1958 the first birthcontrol pills were tested. It was not long before biology was the fastest-growing field in all science; it was doubling its knowledge every ten years. Farsighted researchers talked seriously of changing genes, controlling evolution, regulating the mind-- ideas that had been wild speculation ten years before.
220
221  And yet there had never been a biologic crisis. The Andromeda Strain provided the first.
222
223  According to Lewis Bornheim, a crisis is a situation in which a previously tolerable set of circumstances is suddenly, by the addition of another factor, rendered wholly intolerable. Whether the additional factor is political, economic, or scientific hardly matters: the death of a national hero, the instability of prices, or a technological discovery can all set events in motion. In this sense, Gladstone was right: all crises are the same.
224
225  The noted scholar Alfred Pockrun, in his study of crises (Culture, Crisis and Change), has made several interesting points. First, he observes that every crisis has its beginnings long before the actual onset. Thus Einstein published his theories of relativity in 1905-15, forty years before his work culminated in the end of a war, the start of an age, and the beginnings of a crisis.
226
227  Similarly, in the early twentieth century, American, German, and Russian scientists were all interested in space travel, but only the Germans recognized the military potential of rockets. And after the war, when the German rocket installation at Peenernfinde was cannibalized by the Soviets and Americans, it was only the Russians who made immediate, vigorous moves toward developing space capabilities. The Americans were content to tinker playfully with rockets and ten years later, this resulted in an American scientific crisis involving Sputnik, American education, the ICBM, and the missile gap.
228
229  Pockran also observes that a crisis is compounded of individuals and personalities, which are unique:
230
231  ***
232
233  It is as difficult to imagine Alexander at the Rubicon, and Eisenhower at Waterloo, as it is difficult to imagine Darwin writing to Roosevelt about the potential for an atomic bomb. A crisis is made by men, who enter into the crisis with their own prejudices, propensities, and predispositions.  A crisis is the sum of intuition and blind spots, a blend of facts noted and facts ignored.
234
235  Yet underlying the uniqueness of each crisis is a disturbing sameness. A characteristic of all crises is their predictability, in retrospect. They seem to have a certain inevitability, they seem predestined. This is not true of all crises, but it is true of sufficiently many to make the most hardened historian cynical and misanthropic.
236
237  ***
238
239  In the light of Pockran's arguments, it is interesting to consider the background and personalities involved in the Andromeda Strain. At the time of Andromeda, there had never been a crisis of biological science, and the first Americans faced with the facts were not disposed to think in terms of one. Shawn and Crane were capable but not thoughtful men, and Edgar Comroe, the night officer at Vandenberg, though a scientist, was not prepared to consider anything beyond the immediate irritation of a quiet evening ruined by an inexplicable problem.
240
241  According to protocol, Comroe called his superior officer, Major Arthur Manchek, and here the story takes a different turn. For Manchek was both prepared and disposed to consider a crisis of the most major proportions.
242
243  But he was not prepared to acknowledge it.
244
245  ***
246
247  Major Manchek, his face still creased with sleep, sat on the edge of Comroe's desk and listened to the replay of the tape from the van.
248
249  When it was finished, he said, "Strangest damned thing I ever heard," and played it over again. While he did so, he carefully filled his pipe with tobacco, lit it, and tamped it down.
250
251  Arthur Manchek was an engineer, a quiet heavyset man plagued by labile hypertension, which threatened to end further promotions as an Army officer. He had been advised on many occasions to lose weight, but had been unable to do so. He was therefore considering abandoning the Army for a career as a scientist in private industry, where people did not care what your weight or blood pressure was.
252
253  Manchek had come to Vandenberg from Wright Patterson in Ohio, where he had been in charge of experiments-- in spacecraft landing methods. His job had been to develop a capsule shape that could touch down with equal safety on either land or sea. Manchek had succeeded in developing three new shapes that were promising; his success led to a promotion and transfer to Vandenberg.
254
255  Here he did administrative work, and hated it. People bored Manchek; the mechanics of manipulation and the vagaries of subordinate personality held no fascination for him. He often wished he were back at the wind tunnels of Wright Patterson.
256
257  Particularly on nights when he was called out of bed by some damn fool problem.
258
259  Tonight he felt irritable, and under stress. His reaction to this was characteristic: he became slow. He moved slowly, he thought slowly, he proceeded with a dull and plodding deliberation. It was the secret of his success. Whenever people around him became excited, Manchek seemed to grow more disinterested, until he appeared about to fall asleep. It was a trick he had for remaining totally objective and clearheaded.
260
261  Now he sighed and puffed on his pipe as the tape spun out for the second time.
262
263  "No communications breakdown, I take it?"
264
265  Comroe shook his head. "We checked all systems at this end. We are still monitoring the frequency." He turned on the radio, and hissing static filled the room. "You know about the audio screen?"
266
267  "Vaguely," Manchek said, suppressing a yawn. In fact, the audio screen was a system he had developed three years before. In simplest terms, it was a computerized way to find a needle in a haystack-- a machine program that listened to apparently garbled, random sound and picked out certain irregularities. For example, the hubbub of conversation at an embassy cocktail party could be recorded and fed through the computer, which would pick out a single voice and separate it from the rest.
268
269  It had several intelligence applications.
270
271  "Well," Comroe said, "after the transmission ended, we got nothing but the static you hear now. We put it through the audio screen, to see if the computer could pick up a pattern. And we ran it through the oscilloscope in the corner." 
272
273  Across the room, the green face of the scope displayed a jagged dancing white line-- the summated sound of static.
274
275  "Then," Comroe said, "we cut in the computer. Like so."
276
277  He punched a button on his desk console. The oscilloscope line changed character abruptly. It suddenly became quieter, more regular, with a pattern of beating, thumping impulses.
278
279  "I see," Manchek said. He had, in fact, already identified the pattern and assessed its meaning. His mind was drifting elsewhere, considering other possibilities, wider ramifications.
280
281  "Here's the audio," Comroe said. He pressed another button and the audio version of the signal filled the room. It was a steady mechanical grinding with a repetitive metallic click.
282
283  Manchek nodded. "An engine. With a knock."
284
285  "Yes sir. We believe the van radio is still broadcasting, and that the engine is still running. That's what we're hearing now, with the static screened away."
286
287  "All right," Manchek said.
288
289  His pipe went out. He sucked on it for a moment, then lit it again, removed it from his mouth, and plucked a bit of tobacco from his tongue.
290
291  "We need evidence," he said, almost to himself. He was considering categories of evidence, and possible findings, contingencies...
292
293  "Evidence of what?" Comroe said.
294
295  Manchek ignored the question. "Have we got a Scavenger on the base?
296
297  "I'm not sure, sir. If we don't, we can get one from Edwards."
298
299  "Then do it." Manchek stood up. He had made his decision, and now he felt tired again. An evening of telephone calls faced him, an evening of irritable operators and bad connections and puzzled voices at the other end.
300
301  "We'll want a flyby over that town," he said. "A complete scan. All canisters to come directly. Alert the labs."
302
303  He also ordered Comroe to bring in the technicians, especially Jaggers. Manchek disliked Jaggers, who was effete and precious. But Manchek also knew that Jaggers was good, and tonight he needed a good man.
304
305  ***
306
307  At 11:07 p.m., Samuel "Gunner" Wilson was moving at 645 miles per hour over the Mojave Desert. Up ahead in the moonlight, he saw the twin lead jets, their afterburners glowing angrily in the night sky. The planes had a heavy, pregnant look: phosphorus bombs were slung beneath the wings and belly.
308
309  Wilson's plane was different, sleek and long and black. It was a Scavenger, one of seven in the world.
310
311  The Scavenger was the operational version of the X-18. It was an intermediate-range reconnaissance jet aircraft fully equipped for day or night intelligence flights. It was fitted with two side-slung 16mm cameras, one for the visible spectrum, and one for low-frequency radiation. In addition it had a center-mount Homans infrared multispex camera as well as the usual electronic and radio-detection gear. All films and plates were, of course, processed automatically in the air, and were ready for viewing as soon as the aircraft returned to base.
312
313  All this technology made the Scavenger almost impossibly sensitive. It could map the outlines of a city in blackout, and could follow the movements of individual trucks and cars at eight thousand feet. It could detect a submarine to a depth of two hundred feet. It could locate harbor mines by wave-motion deformities and it could obtain a precise photograph of a factory from the residual heat of the building four hours after it had shut down.
314
315  So the Scavenger was the ideal instrument to fly over Piedmont, Arizona, in the dead of night.
316
317  Wilson carefully checked his equipment, his hands fluttering over the controls, touching each button and lever, watching the blinking green lights that indicated that all systems were in order.
318
319  His earphones crackled. The lead plane said lazily, "Coming up on the town, Gunner. You see it?"
320
321  He leaned forward in the cramped cockpit. He was low, only five hundred feet above the ground, and for a moment he could see nothing but a blur of sand, snow, and yucca trees. Then, up ahead, buildings in the moonlight.
322
323  "Roger. I see it."
324
325  "Okay, Gunner. Give us room."
326
327  He dropped back, putting half a mile between himself and the other two planes. They were going into the P-square formation, for direct visualization of target by phosphorus flare. Direct visualization was not really necessary; Scavenger could function without it. But Vandenberg seemed insistent that they gather all possible information about the town.
328
329  The lead planes spread, moving wide until they were parallel to the main street of the town.
330
331  "Gunner? Ready to roll?"
332
333  Wilson placed his fingers delicately over the camera buttons. Four fingers: as if playing the piano.
334
335  "Ready." 
336
337  "We're going in now."
338
339  The two planes swooped low, dipping gracefully toward the town. They were now very wide and seemingly inches above the ground as they began to release the bombs. As each struck the ground, a blazing white-hot sphere went up, bathing the town in an unearthly, glaring light and reflecting off the metal underbellies of the planes.
340
341  The jets climbed, their run finished, but Gunner did not see them. His entire attention, his mind and his body, was focused on the town.
342
343  "All yours, Gunner."
344
345  Wilson did not answer. He dropped his nose, cracked down his flaps, and felt a shudder as the plane sank sickeningly, like a stone, toward the ground. Below him, the area around the town was lighted for hundreds of yards in every direction. He pressed the camera buttons and felt, rather than heard, the vibrating whir of the cameras.
346
347  For a long moment he continued to fall, and then he shoved the stick forward, and the plane seemed to catch in the air, to grab, and lift and climb. He had a fleeting glimpse of the main street. He saw bodies, bodies everywhere, spread-eagled, lying in the streets, across cars...
348
349  "Judas," he said.
350
351  And then he was up, still climbing, bringing the plane around in a slow arc, preparing for the descent into his second run and trying not to think of what he had seen. One of the first rules of air reconnaissance was "Ignore the scenery "; analysis and evaluation were not the job of the pilot. That was left to the experts, and pilots who forgot this, who became too interested in what they were photographing, got into trouble. Usually they crashed.
352
353  As the plane came down into a flat second run, he tried not to look at the ground. But he did, and again saw the bodies. The phosphorus flares were burning low, the lighting was darker, more sinister and subdued. But the bodies were still there: he had not been imagining it.
354
355  "Judas Priest," he said again. "Sweet Judas."
356
357  ***
358
359  The sign on the door said DATA PROSSEX EPSILON, and underneath, in red lettering, ADMISSION BY CLEARANCE CARD ONLY. Inside was a comfortable sort of briefing room: screen on one wall, a dozen steel-tubing and leather chairs facing it, and a projector in the back.
360
361  When Manchek and Comroe entered the room, Jaggers, was already waiting for them, standing at the front of the room by the screen. Jaggers was a short man with a springy step and an eager, rather hopeful face. Though not well liked on the base, he was nonetheless the acknowledged master of reconnaissance interpretation. He had the sort of mind that delighted in small and puzzling details, and was well suited to his job.
362
363  Jaggers rubbed his hands as Manchek and Comroe sat down. "Well then," he said. "Might as well get right to it. I think we have something to interest you tonight. " He nodded to the projectionist in the back. "First picture."
364
365  The room lights darkened. There was a mechanical click, and the screen lighted to show an aerial view of a small desert town.
366
367  "This is an unusual shot," Jaggers said. "From our files. Taken two months ago from Janos 12, our recon satellite. Orbiting at an altitude of one hundred and eighty-seven miles, as you know. The technical quality here is quite good. Can't read the license plates on the cars yet, but we're working on it. Perhaps by next year." 
368
369  Manchek shifted in his chair, but said nothing.
370
371  "You can see the town here," Jaggers said. "Piedmont, Arizona. Population forty-eight, and not much to look at, even from one hundred and eighty-seven miles. Here's the general store; the gas station-- notice how clearly you can read GULF-- and the post office; the motel. Everything else you see is private residences. Church over here. Well: next picture." 
372
373  Another click. This was dark, with a reddish tint, and was clearly an overview of the town in white and dark red. The outlines of the buildings were very dark.
374
375  "We begin here with the Scavenger IR plates. These are infrared films, as you know, which produce a picture on the basis of heat instead of light. Anything warm appears white on the picture; anything cold is black. Now then. You can see here that the buildings are dark-- they are colder than the ground. As night comes on, the buildings give up their heat more rapidly."
376
377  "What are those white spots?" Comroe said. There were forty or fifty white areas on the film.
378
379  "Those," Jaggers said, "are bodies. Some inside houses, some in the street. By count, they number fifty. In the case of some of them, such as this one here, you can make out the four limbs and head clearly. This body is lying flat. In the street."
380
381  He lit a cigarette and pointed to a white rectangle. "As nearly as we can tell, this is an automobile. Notice it's got a bright white spot at one end. This means the motor is still running, still generating heat."
382
383  "The van," Comroe said. Manchek nodded.
384
385  "The question now arises," Jaggers said, "are all these people dead? We cannot be certain about that. The bodies appear to be of different temperatures. Forty-seven are rather cold, indicating death some time ago. Three are warmer. Two of those are in this car, here." 
386
387  "Our men," Comroe said. "And the third?"
388
389  "The third is rather puzzling. You see him here, apparently standing or lying curled in the street. Observe that he is quite white, and therefore quite warm. Our temperature scans indicate that he is about ninety-five degrees, which is a little on the cool side, but probably attributable to peripheral vasoconstriction in the night desert air. Drops his skin temperature. Next slide." 
390
391  The third film flicked onto the screen.
392
393  Manchek frowned at the spot. "It's moved."
394
395  "Exactly. This film was made on the second passage. The spot has moved approximately twenty yards. Next picture.
396
397  A third film.
398
399  "Moved again!"
400
401  "Yes. An additional five or ten yards."
402
403  "So one person down there is alive?"
404
405  "That," Jaggers said, "is the presumptive conclusion."
406
407  Manchek cleared his throat. "Does that mean it's what you think?"
408
409  "Yes sir. It is what we think."
410
411  "There's a man down there, walking among the corpses?"
412
413  Jaggers shrugged and tapped the screen. "It is difficult to account for the data in any other manner, and--"
414
415  At that moment, a private entered the room with three circular metal canisters under his arm.
416
417  "Sir, we have films of the direct visualization by P-square." 
418
419  "Run them," Manchek said.
420
421  The film was threaded into a projector. A moment later, Lieutenant Wilson was ushered into the room. Jaggers said, "I haven't reviewed these films yet. Perhaps the pilot should narrate."
422
423  Manchek nodded and looked at Wilson, who got up and walked to the front of the room, wiping his hands nervously on his pants. He stood alongside the screen and faced his audience, beginning in a flat monotone: "Sir, my flybys were made between 11:08 and 11: 13 p.m. this evening. There were two, a start from the east and a return from the west, done at an average speed of two hundred and fourteen miles per hour, at a median altitude by corrected altimeter of eight hundred feet and an--"
424
425  "Just a minute, son," Manchek said, raising his hand. "This isn't a grilling. Just tell it naturally."
426
427  Wilson nodded and swallowed. The room lights went down and the projector whirred to life. The screen showed the town bathed in glaring white light as the plane came down over it.
428
429  "This is my first pass," Wilson said. "East to west, at 11:08. We're looking from the left-wing camera which is running at ninety-six frames per second. As you can see, my altitude is falling rapidly. Straight ahead is the main street of the target..." 
430
431  He stopped. The bodies were clearly visible. And the van, stopped in the street, its rooftop antenna still turning slow revolutions. As the plane continued its run, approaching the van, they could see the driver collapsed over the steering wheel.
432
433  "Excellent definition," Jaggers said. "That fine-grain film really gives resolution when you need--"
434
435  "Wilson," Manchek said, "was telling us about his run."
436
437  "Yes sir," Wilson said, clearing his throat. He stared at the screen. "At this time I am right over target, where I observed the casualties you see here. My estimate at that time was seventy-five, sir." 
438
439  His voice was quiet and tense. There was a break in the film, some numbers, and the image came on again.
440
441  "Now I am coming back for my second run," Wilson said. "The flares are already burning low but you can see--"
442
443  "Stop the film," Manchek said.
444
445  The projectionist froze the film at a single frame. It showed the long, straight main street of the town, and the bodies.
446
447  "Go back."
448
449  The film was run backward, the jet seeming to pull away from the street.
450
451  "There! Stop it now."
452
453  The frame was frozen. Manchek got up and walked close to the screen, peering off to one side.
454
455  "Look at this," he said, pointing to a figure. It was a man in knee-length white robes, standing and looking up at the plane. He was an old man, with a withered face. His eyes were wide.
456
457  "What do you make of this?" Manchek said to Jaggers.
458
459  Jaggers moved close. He frowned. "Run it forward a bit." 
460
461  The film advanced. They could clearly see the man turn his head, roll his eyes, following the plane as it passed over him.
462
463  "Now backward," Jaggers said.
464
465  The film was run back. Jaggers smiled bleakly. "The man looks alive to me, sir." 
466
467  "Yes," Manchek said crisply. "He certainly does."
468
469  And with that, he walked out of the room. As he left, he paused and announced that he was declaring a state of emergency; that everyone on the base was confined to quarters until further notice; that there would be no outside calls, or communication; and that what they had seen in this room was confidential.
470
471  Outside in the hallway, he headed for Mission Control. Comroe followed him.
472
473  "I want you to call General Wheeler," Manchek said. "Tell him I have declared an SOE without proper authorization, and ask him to come down immediately." Technically no one but the commander had the right to declare a state of emergency.
474
475  Comroe said, "Wouldn't you rather tell him yourself?" "I've got other things to do," Manchek said.
476
477  
478
479  
480
481  4. Alert
482
483  WHEN ARTHUR MANCHEK STEPPED INTO THE small soundproofed booth and sat down before the telephone, he knew exactly what he was going to do-- but he was not very sure why he was doing it.
484
485  As one of the senior Scoop officers, he had received a briefing nearly a year before on Project Wildfire. It had been given, Manchek remembered, by a short little man with a dry, precise way of speaking. He was a university professor and he had outlined the project. Manchek had forgotten the details, except that there was a laboratory somewhere, and a team of five scientists who could be alerted to man the laboratory. The function of the team was investigation of possible extraterrestrial life forms introduced on American spacecraft returning to earth.
486
487  Manchek had not been told who the five men were; he knew only that a special Defense Department trunk line existed for calling them out. In order to hook into the line, one had only to dial the binary of some number. He reached into his pocket and withdrew his wallet, then fumbled for a moment until he found the card he had been given by the professor:
488
489  IN CASE OF FIRE -- Notify Division 87 -- Emergencies Only
490
491  He stared at the card and wondered what exactly would happen if he dialed the binary of 87. He tried to imagine the sequence of events: Who would he talk to? Would someone call him back? Would there be an inquiry, a referral to higher authority?
492
493  He rubbed his eyes and stared at the card, and finally he shrugged. One way or the other, he would find out.
494
495  He tore a sheet of paper from the pad in front of him, next to the telephone, and wrote:
496
497  2^0
498
499  2^1
500
501  2^2
502
503  2^3
504
505  2^4
506
507  2^5
508
509  2^6
510
511  2^7
512
513  This was the basis of the binary system: base two raised to some power. Two to the zero power was one; two to the first was two, two squared was four; and so on. Manchek quickly wrote another line beneath:
514
515  2^0 -> 1
516
517  2^1 -> 2
518
519  2^2 -> 4
520
521  2^3 -> 8
522
523  2^4 -> 16
524
525  2^5 -> 32
526
527  2^6 -> 64
528
529  2^7 -> 128
530
531  Then he began to add up the numbers to get a total of 87. He circled these numbers:
532
533
534  2^0 -> (1)
535
536  2^1 -> (2)
537
538  2^2 -> (4)
539
540  2^3 -> (8)
541
542  2^4 -> (16)
543
544  2^5 -> (32)
545
546  2^6 -> (64)
547
548  2^7 -> (128)
549
550  = (87)
551
552
553  And then he drew in the binary code. Binary numbers were designed for computers which utilize an on-off, yes-no kind of language. A mathematician once joked that binary numbers were the way people who have only two fingers count. In essence, binary numbers translated normal numbers which require ten digits, and decimal places-- to a system that depended on only two digits, one and zero.
554
555  2^0 -> (1) -> 1
556
557  2^1 -> (2) -> 1
558
559  2^2 -> (4) -> 1
560
561  2^3 -> (8) -> 0
562
563  2^4 -> (16) -> 1
564
565  2^5 -> (32) -> 0
566
567  2^6 -> (64) -> 1
568
569  2^7 -> (128) -> 0
570
571  Manchek looked at the number he had just written, and inserted the dashes: 1-110-1010. A perfectly reasonable telephone number. Manchek picked up the telephone and dialed. The time was exactly twelve midnight.
572
573  
574
575  
576
577  
578  DAY 2
579
580  Piedmont
581
582  
583
584  
585
586  
587  5. The Early Hours
588
589  THE MACHINERY WAS THERE. THE CABLES, THE codes, the teleprinters had all been waiting dormant for two years. It only required Manchek's call to set the machinery in motion.
590
591  When he finished dialing, he heard a series of mechanical clicks, and then a low hum, which meant, he knew, that the call was being fed into one of the scrambled trunk lines. After a moment, the humming stopped and a voice said, "This is a recording. State your name and your message and hang up." 
592
593  "Major Arthur Manchek, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Scoop Mission Control. I believe it is necessary to call up a Wildfire Alert. I have confirmatory visual data at this post, which has just been closed for security reasons." 
594
595  As he spoke it occurred to him that it was all rather improbable. Even the tape recorder would disbelieve him. He continued to hold the telephone in his hand, somehow expecting an answer.
596
597  But there was none, only a click as the connection was automatically broken. The line was dead; he hung up and sighed. It was all very unsatisfying.
598
599  Manchek expected to be called back within a few minutes by Washington; he expected to receive many calls in the next few hours, and so remained at the phone. Yet he received no calls, for he did not know that the process he had initiated was automatic. Once mobilized, the Wildfire Alert would proceed ahead, and not be recalled for at least twelve hours.
600
601  Within ten minutes of Manchek's call, the following message clattered across the scrambled maximum-security cable Five minutes later, there was a second cable which named units of the nation: the men on the Wildfire team:
602
603  ***
604
605  =UNIT=
606
607  TOP SECRET
608
609  CODE FOLLOWS
610
611  AS
612
613  CBW 9/9/234/435/6778/90 
614
615  PULG COORDINATES DELTA 8997
616
617  MESSAGE FOLLOWS 
618
619  AS
620
621  WILDFIRE ALERT HAS BEEN CALLED. REPEAT WILDFIRE ALERT HAS BEEN CALLED. COORDINATES TO READ NASA/AMC/NSC COMB DEC. TIME OF COMMAND TO READ LL-59-07 ON DATE.
622
623  FURTHER NOTATIONS 
624
625  AS
626
627  PRESS BLACKFACE POTENTIAL DIRECTIVE 7-L2 ALERT STATUS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
628
629  END MESSAGE
630
631  ===  
632
633  DISENGAGE
634
635  ***
636
637  This was an automatic cable. Everything about it, including the announcement of a press blackout and a possible directive 7-12, was automatic, and followed from Manchek's call.
638
639  ***
640
641  =UNIT=
642
643  TOP SECRET
644
645  CODE FOLLOWS
646
647  AS
648
649  MESSAGE FOLLOWS AS THE FOLLOWING MALE AMERICAN CITIZENS ARE BEING PLACED ON ZED KAPPA STATUS. PREVIOUS TOP SECRET CLEARANCE HAS BEEN CONFIRMED. THE NAMES ARE+
650
651  STONE, JEREMY ..81
652
653  LEAVITT, PETER ..04
654
655  BURTON, CHARLES .L51
656
657  CHRISTIANSENKRIKECANCEL THIS LINE CANCEL
658
659  TO READ AS
660
661  KIRKE, CHRISTIAN  .142
662
663  HALL, MARK  .L77
664
665  ACCORD THESE MEN ZED KAPPA STATUS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
666
667  END MESSAGE END MESSAGE
668
669  In theory, this cable was also quite routine; its purpose was to name the five members who were being given Zed Kappa status, the code for "OK" status. Unfortunately, however, the machine misprinted one of the names, and failed to reread the entire message. (Normally, when one of the printout units of a secret trunk line miswrote part of a message, the entire message was rewritten, or else it was reread by the computer to certify its corrected form.)
670
671  The message was thus open to doubt. In Washington and elsewhere, a computer expert was called in to confirm the accuracy of the message, by what is called "reverse tracing." The Washington expert expressed grave concern about the validity of the message since the machine was printing out other minor mistakes, such as "L" when it meant "1."
672
673  The upshot of all this was that the first two names on the list were accorded status, while the rest were not, pending confirmation.
674
675  ***
676
677  Allison Stone was tired. At her home in the hills overlooking the Stanford campus, she and her husband, the chairman of the Stanford bacteriology department, had held a party for fifteen couples, and everyone had stayed late. Mrs. Stone was annoyed: she had been raised in official Washington, where one's second cup of coffee, offered pointedly without cognac, was accepted as a signal to go home. Unfortunately, she thought, academics did not follow the rules. She had served the second cup of coffee hours ago, and everybody was still there.
678
679  Shortly before one a.m., the doorbell rang. Answering it, she was surprised to see two military men standing side by side in the night. They seemed awkward and nervous to her, and she assumed they were lost; people often got lost driving through these residential areas at night.
680
681  "May I help you?"
682
683  "I'm sorry to disturb you, ma'am," one said politely. "But is this the residence of Dr. Jeremy Stone?"
684
685  "Yes," she said, frowning slightly. "It is."
686
687  She looked beyond the two men, to the driveway. A blue military sedan was parked there. Another man was standing by the car; he seemed to be holding something in his hand.
688
689  "Does that man have a gun?" she said.
690
691  "Ma'am," the man said," we must see Dr. Stone at once.
692
693  It all seemed strange to her, and she found herself frightened. She looked across the lawn and saw a fourth man, moving up to the house and looking into the window. In the pale light streaming out onto the lawn, she could distinctly see the rifle in his hands.
694
695  "What's going on?"
696
697  "Ma'am, we don't want to disturb your party. Please call Dr. Stone to the door." 
698
699  "I don't know if--"
700
701  "Otherwise, we will have to go get him," the man said.
702
703  She hesitated a moment, then said, "Wait here."
704
705  She stepped back and started to close the door, but one man had already slipped into the hall. He stood near the door, erect and very polite, with his hat in his hand. "I'll just wait here, ma'am," he said, and smiled at her.
706
707  She walked back to the party, trying to show nothing to the guests. Everyone was still talking and laughing; the room was noisy and dense with smoke. She found Jeremy in a corner, in the midst of some argument about riots. She touched his shoulder, and he disengaged himself from the group.
708
709  "I know this sounds funny," she said, "but there is some kind of Army man in the hall, and another outside, and two others with guns out on the lawn. They say they want to see you."
710
711  For a moment, Stone looked surprised, and then he nodded. "I'll take care of it," he said. His attitude annoyed her; he seemed almost to be expecting it.
712
713  "Well, if you knew about this, you might have told--"
714
715  "I didn't," he said. "I'll explain later."
716
717  He walked out to the hallway, where the officer was still waiting. She followed her husband.
718
719  Stone said, "I am Dr. Stone."
720
721  "Captain Morton," the man said. He did not offer to shake hands. "There's a fire, sir."
722
723  "All right," Stone said. He looked down at his dinner jacket. "Do I have time to change?"
724
725  "I'm afraid not, sir." 
726
727  To her astonishment, Allison saw her husband nod quietly. "All right."
728
729  He turned to her and said, "I've got to leave." His face was blank and expressionless, and it seemed to her like, a nightmare, his face like that, while he spoke. She was confused, and afraid.
730
731  "When will you be back?"
732
733  "I'm not sure. A week or two. Maybe longer."
734
735  She tried to keep her voice low, but she couldn't help it, she was upset. "What is it?" she said. "Are you under arrest?"
736
737  "No," he said, with a slight smile. "It's nothing like that. Make my apologies to everyone, will you?"
738
739  "But the guns--"
740
741  "Mrs. Stone," the military man said, "it's our job to protect your husband. From now on, nothing must be allowed to happen to him."
742
743  "That's right," Stone said. "You see, I'm suddenly an important person. " He smiled again, an odd, crooked smile, and gave her a kiss.
744
745  And then, almost before she knew what was happening, he was walking out the door, with Captain Morton on one side of him and the other man on the other. The man with the rifle wordlessly fell into place behind them; the man by the car saluted and opened the door.
746
747  Then the car lights came on, and the doors slammed shut, and the car backed down the drive and drove off into the night. She was still standing by the door when one of her guests came up behind her and said, "Allison, are you all right?"
748
749  And she turned, and found she was able to smile and say, "Yes, it's nothing. Jeremy had to leave. The lab called him: another one of his late-night experiments going wrong."
750
751  The guest nodded and said, "Shame. It's a delightful party." 
752
753  In the car, Stone sat back and stared at the men. He recalled that their faces were blank and expressionless. He said, "What have you got for me?"
754
755  "Got, sir?"
756
757  "Yes, dammit. What did they give you for me? They must have given you something."
758
759  "Oh. Yes sir."
760
761  He was handed a slim file. Stenciled on the brown cardboard cover was PROJECT SUMMARY: SCOOP.
762
763  "Nothing else?" Stone said.
764
765  "No sir."
766
767  Stone sighed. He had never heard of Project Scoop before; the file would have to be read carefully. But it was too dark in the car to read; there would be time for that later, on the airplane. He found himself thinking back over the last five years, back to the rather odd symposium on Long Island, and the rather odd little speaker from England who had, in his own way, begun it all.
768
769  ***
770
771  In the summer of 1962, J. J. Merrick, the English biophysicist, presented a paper to the Tenth Biological Symposium at Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. The paper was entitled "Frequencies of Biologic Contact According to Speciation Probabilities." Merrick was a rebellious, unorthodox scientist whose reputation for clear thinking was not enhanced by his recent divorce or the presence of the handsome blond secretary he had brought with him to the symposium. Following the presentation of his paper, there was little serious discussion of Merrick's ideas, which were summarized at the end of the paper.
772
773  ***
774
775  I must conclude that the first contact with extraterrestrial life will be determined by the known probabilities of speciation. It is an undeniable fact that complex organisms are rare on earth, while simple organisms flourish in abundance. There are millions of species of bacteria, and thousands of species of insects. There are only a few species of primates, and only four of great apes. There is but one species of man.
776
777  With this frequency of speciation goes a corresponding frequency in numbers. Simple creatures are much more common than complex organisms. There are three billion men on the earth, and that seems a great many until we consider that ten or even one hundred times that number of first contact would consist of a plague brought back from the bacteria can be contained within a large flask. 
778
779  All available evidence on the origin of life points to an evolutionary progression from simple to complex life forms. This is true on earth. It is probably true throughout the universe. Shapley, Merrow, and others have calculated the number of viable planetary systems in the near universe. My own calculations, indicated earlier in the paper, consider the relative abundance of different organisms throughout the universe.  
780
781  My aim has been to determine the probability of contact between man and another life form. That probability is as follows: 
782
783  
784  FORM: PROBABILITY
785
786  Unicellular organisms or less (naked genetic in formation): .7840 
787
788  Multicellular organisms, simple: .1940
789
790  Multicellular organisms, complex but lacking coordinated central nervous system: .0140 
791
792  Multicellular organisms with integrated organ systems including nervous system: .0018 
793
794  Multicellular organisms with complex nervous system capable of handling 7+ data (human capability): .0002 
795
796  TOTAL: 1.0000
797
798  ***
799
800  These considerations lead me to believe that the first human interaction with extraterrestrial life will consist of contact with organisms similar to, if not identical to, earth bacteria or viruses. The consequences of such contact are disturbing when one recalls that 3 per cent of all earth bacteria are capable of exerting some deleterious effect upon man. 
801
802  ***
803    
804  Later, Merrick himself considered the possibility that the first contact would consist of a plague brought back from the moon by the first men to go there.  This idea was received with amusement by the assembled scientists.
805
806  One of the few who took it seriously was Jeremy Stone. At the age of thirty-six, Stone was perhaps the most famous person attending the symposium that year. He was professor of bacteriology at Berkeley, a post he had held since he was thirty, and he had just won the Nobel Prize. 
807
808  The list of Stone's achievements-- disregarding the particular series of experiments that led to the Nobel Prize-- is astonishing. In 1955, he was the first to use the technique of multiplicative counts for bacterial colonies. In 1957, he developed a method for liquid-pure suspension. In 1960, Stone presented a radical new theory of operon activity in E. coli and S. tabuh, and developed evidence for the physical nature of the inducer and repressor substances. His 1958 paper on linear viral transformations opened broad new lines of scientific inquiry, particularly among the Pasteur Institute group in Paris, which subsequently won the Nobel Prize in 1966.
809
810  In 1961, Stone himself won the Nobel Prize. The award was given for work on bacterial mutant reversion that he had done in his spare time as a law student at Michigan, when he was twenty-six. 
811
812  Perhaps the most significant thing about Stone was that he had done Nobel-caliber work as a law student, for it demonstrated the depth and range of his interests. A friend once said of him: "Jeremy knows everything, and is fascinated by I the rest." Already he was being compared to Einstein and to Bohr as a scientist with a conscience, an overview, an appreciation of the significance of events.
813
814  Physically, Stone was a thin, balding man with a prodigious memory that catalogued scientific facts and blue jokes with equal facility. But his most outstanding characteristic was a sense of impatience, the feeling he conveyed to every one around him that they were wasting his time. He had a bad habit of interrupting speakers and finishing conversations, a habit he tried to control with only limited success.  His imperious manner, when added to the fact that he had won the Nobel Prize at an early age, as well as the scandals of his private life-- he was four times married, twice to the wives of colleagues-- did nothing to increase his popularity.
815
816  Yet it was Stone who, in the early 1960's, moved forward in government circles as one of the spokesmen for the new scientific establishment. He himself regarded this role with tolerant amusement-- a vacuum eager to be filled with hot gas, " he once said-- but in fact his influence was considerable.
817
818  By the early 1960's America had reluctantly come to realize that it possessed, as a nation, the most potent scientific complex in the history of the world. Eighty per cent of all scientific discoveries in the preceding three decades had been made by Americans. The United States had 75 per cent of the world's computers, and 90 per cent of the world's lasers. The United States had three and a half times as many scientists as the Soviet Union and spent three and a half times as much money on research; the U. S. had four times as many scientists as the European Economic Community and spent seven times as much on research. Most of this money came, directly or indirectly, from Congress, and Congress felt a great need for men to advise them on how to spend it.
819
820  During the 1950's, all the great advisers had been physicists: Teller and Oppenheimer and Bruckman and Weidner. But ten years later, with more money for biology and more concern for it, a new group emerged, led by DeBakey in Houston, Farmer in Boston, Heggerman in New York, and Stone in California.
821
822  Stone's prominence was attributable to many factors: the prestige of the Nobel Prize; his political contacts; his most recent wife, the daughter of Senator Thomas Wayne of Indiana; his legal training. All this combined to assure Stone's repeated appearance before confused Senate subcommittees-- and gave him the power of any trusted adviser. 
823
824  It was this same power that he used so successfully to implement the research and construction leading to Wildfire.
825
826  ***
827
828  Stone was intrigued by Merrick's ideas, which paralleled certain concepts of his own. He explained these in a short paper entitled "Sterilization of Spacecraft," printed in Science and later reprinted in the British journal Nature. The argument stated that bacterial contamination was a two-edged sword, and that man must protect against both edges.
829
830  Previous to Stone's paper, most discussion of contamination dealt with the hazards to other planets of satellites and probes inadvertently carrying earth organisms. This problem was considered early in the American space effort; by 1959, NASA had set strict regulations for sterilization of earth origin probes.
831
832  The object of these regulations was to prevent contamination of other worlds. Clearly, if a probe were being sent to Mars or Venus to search for new life forms, it would defeat the purpose of the experiment for the probe to carry earth bacteria with it.
833
834  Stone considered the reverse situation. He stated that it was equally possible for extraterrestrial organisms to contaminate the earth via space probes. He noted that spacecraft that burned up in reentry presented no problem, but "live" returns-- manned flights, and probes such as the Scoop satellites-- were another matter entirely. Here, he said, the question of contamination was very great.
835
836  His paper created a brief flurry of interest but, as he later said, "nothing very spectacular." Therefore, in 1963 he began an informal seminar group that met twice monthly in Room 410, on the top floor of the University of California Medical School biochemistry wing, for lunch and discussion of the contamination problem. It was this group of five men: Stone and John Black of Berkeley, Samuel Holden and Terence Lisset of Stanford Med, and Andrew Weiss of Stanford biophysics-- that eventually formed the early nucleus of the Wildfire Project. They presented a petition to the President in 1964, in a letter consciously patterned after the Einstein letter to Roosevelt, in 1940, concerning the atomic bomb.
837
838  ***
839
840  University of California
841
842  Berkeley, Calif.
843
844  June 10, 1964
845
846
847
848  The President of the United States 
849  
850  The White House
851
852  1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
853
854  Washington, D.C.
855
856  Dear Mr. President:
857
858  Recent theoretical considerations suggest that sterilization procedures of returning space probes may be inadequate to guarantee sterile reentry to this planet's atmosphere. The consequence of this is the potential introduction of virulent organisms into the present terrestrial ecologic framework.
859
860  It is our belief that sterilization for reentry probes and manned capsules can never be wholly satisfactory. Our calculations suggest that even if capsules received sterilizing procedures in space, the probability of contamination would still remain one in ten thousand, and perhaps much more. These estimates are based upon organized life as we know it; other forms of life may be entirely resistant to our sterilizing methods.
861
862  We therefore urge the establishment of a facility designed to deal with an extraterrestrial life form, should one inadvertently be introduced to the earth. The purpose of this facility would be twofold: to limit dissemination of the life form, and to provide laboratories for its investigation and analysis, with a view to protecting earth life forms from its influence.
863
864  We recommend that such a facility be located in an uninhabited region of the United States; that it be constructed underground; that it incorporate all known isolation techniques; and that it be equipped with a nuclear device for self-destruction in the eventuality of an emergency. So far as we know, no form of life can survive the two million degrees of heat which accompany an atomic nuclear detonation.
865
866  Yours very truly,
867
868  Jeremy Stone 
869
870  John Black
871
872  Samuel Holden
873
874  Terence Lisset
875
876  Andrew Weiss
877
878  ***
879
880  Response to the letter was gratifyingly prompt. Twenty-four hours later, Stone received a call from one of the President's advisers, and the following day he flew to Washington to confer with the President and members of the National Security Council. Two weeks after that, he flew to Houston to discuss further plans with NASA officials.
881
882  Although Stone recalls one or two cracks about "the goddam penitentiary for bugs," most scientists he talked with regarded the project favorably. Within a month, Stone's informal team was hardened into an official committee to study problems of contamination and draw up recommendations.
883
884  This committee was put on the Defense Department's Advance Research Projects List and funded through the Defense Department. At that time, the ARPL was heavily invested in chemistry and physics-- ion sprays, reversal duplication, pi-meson substrates-- but there was growing interest in biologic problems. Thus one ARPL group was concerned with electronic pacing of brain function (a euphemism for mind control); a second had prepared a study of biosynergics, the future possible combinations of man and machines implanted inside the body; still another was evaluating Project Ozma, the search for extraterrestrial life conducted in 1961-4. A fourth group was engaged in preliminary design of a machine that would carry out all human functions and would be self-duplicating.
885
886  All these projects were highly theoretical, and all were staffed by prestigious scientists. Admission to the ARPL was a mark of considerable status, and it ensured future funds for implementation and development.
887
888  Therefore, when Stone's committee submitted an early draft of the Life Analysis Protocol, which detailed the way any living thing could be studied, the Defense Department responded with an outright appropriation of $22,000,000 for the construction of a special isolated laboratory. (This rather large sum was felt to be justified since the project had application to other studies already under way. In 1965, the whole field of sterility and contamination was one of major importance. For example, NASA was building a Lunar Receiving Laboratory, a high-security facility for Apollo astronauts returning from the moon and possibly carrying bacteria or viruses harmful to man. Every astronaut returning from the moon would be quarantined in the LRL for three weeks, until decontamination was complete. Further, the problems of "clean rooms" of industry, where dust and bacteria were kept at a minimum, and the "sterile chambers" under study at Bethesda, were also major. Aseptic environments, "life islands," and sterile support systems seemed to have great future significance, and Stone's appropriation was considered a good investment in all these fields.)
889
890  Once money was funded, construction proceeded rapidly. The eventual result, the Wildfire Laboratory, was built in 1966 in Flatrock, Nevada. Design was awarded to the naval architects of the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics, since GD had considerable experience designing living quarters on atomic submarines, where men had to live and work for prolonged periods.
891
892  The plan consisted of a conical underground structure with five floors. Each floor was circular, with a central service core of wiring, plumbing, and elevators. Each floor was more sterile than the one above; the first floor was non-sterile, the second moderately sterile, the third stringently sterile, and so on. Passage from one floor to another was not free; personnel had to undergo decontamination and quarantine procedures in passing either up or down.
893
894  Once the laboratory was finished, it only remained to select the Wildfire Alert team, the group of scientists who would study any new organism. After a number of studies of team composition, five men were selected, including Jeremy Stone himself. These five were prepared to mobilize immediately in the event of a biologic emergency.
895
896  Barely two years after his letter to the President, Stone was satisfied that "this country has the capability to deal with an unknown biologic agent." He professed himself pleased with the response of Washington and the speed with which his ideas had been implemented. But privately, he admitted to friends that it had been almost too easy, that Washington had agreed to his plans almost too readily.
897
898  Stone could not have known the reasons behind Washington's eagerness, or the very real concern many government officials had for the problem. For Stone knew nothing, until the night he left the party and drove off in the blue military sedan, of Project Scoop.
899
900  ***
901
902  "It was the fastest thing we could arrange, sir," the Army man said.
903
904  Stone stepped onto the airplane with a sense of absurdity. It was a Boeing 727, completely empty, the seats stretching back in long unbroken rows.
905
906  "Sit, first class, if you like," the Army man said, with a slight smile. "It doesn't matter." A moment later he was gone. He was not replaced by a stewardess but by a stern MP with a pistol on his hip who stood by the door as the engines started, whining softly in the night.
907
908  Stone sat back with the Scoop file in front of him and began to read. It made fascinating reading; he went through it quickly, so quickly that the MP thought his passenger must be merely glancing at the file. But Stone was reading every word.
909
910  Scoop was the brainchild of Major General Thomas Sparks, head of the Army Medical Corps, Chemical and Biological Warfare Division. Sparks was responsible for the research of the CBW installations at Fort Detrick, Maryland, Harley, Indiana, and Dugway, Utah. Stone had met him once or twice, and remembered him as being mild-mannered and bespectacled. Not the sort of man to be expected in the job he held.
911
912  Reading on, Stone learned that Project Scoop was contracted to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena in 1963. Its avowed aim was the collection of any organisms that might exist in "near space, " the upper atmosphere of the earth. Technically speaking, it was an Army project, but it was funded through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, a supposedly civilian organization. In fact, NASA was a government agency with a heavy military commitment; 43 per cent of its contractual work was classified in 1963.
913
914  In theory, JPL was designing a satellite to enter the fringes of space and collect organisms and dust for study. This was considered a project of pure science-- almost curiosity-- and was thus accepted by all the scientists working on the study.
915
916  In fact, the true aims were quite different.
917
918  The true aims of Scoop were to find new life forms that might benefit the Fort Detrick program. In essence, it was a study to discover new biological weapons of war.
919
920  Detrick was a rambling structure in Maryland dedicated to the discovery of chemical-and-biological-warfare weapons. Covering 1,300 acres, with a physical plant valued at $100,000,000, it ranked as one of the largest research facilities of any kind in the United States. Only 15 per cent of its findings were published in open scientific journals; the rest were classified, as were the reports from Harley and Dugway. Harley was a maximum-security installation that dealt largely with viruses. In the previous ten years, a number of new viruses had been developed there, ranging from the variety coded Carrie Nation (which produces diarrhea) to the variety coded Arnold (which causes clonic seizures and death). The Dugway Proving Ground in Utah was larger than the state of Rhode Island and was used principally to test poison gases such as Tabun, Sklar, and Kuff-11.
921
922  Few Americans, Stone knew, were aware of the magnitude of U.S. research into chemical and biological warfare. The total government expenditure in CBW exceeded half a billion dollars a year. Much of this was distributed to academic centers such as Johns Hopkins, Pennsylvania, and the University of Chicago, where studies of weapons systems were contracted under vague terms. Sometimes, of course, the terms were not so vague. The Johns Hopkins program was devised to evaluate "studies of actual or potential injuries and illnesses, studies on diseases of potential biological-warfare significance, and evaluation of certain chemical and immunological responses to certain toxoids and vaccines."
923
924  In the past eight years, none of the results from Johns Hopkins had been published openly. Those from other universities, such as Chicago and UCLA, had occasionally been published, but these were considered within the military establishment to be "trial balloons"-- examples of ongoing research intended to intimidate foreign observers. A classic was the paper by Tendron and five others entitled "Researches into a Toxin Which Rapidly Uncouples Oxidative Phosphorylation Through Cutaneous Absorption."
925
926  The paper described, but did not identify, a poison that would kill a person in less than a minute and was absorbed through the skin. It was recognized that this was a relatively minor achievement compared to other toxins that had been devised in recent years.
927
928  With so much money and effort going into CBW, one might think that new and more virulent weapons would be continuously perfected. However, this was not the case from 1961 to 1965; the conclusion of the Senate Preparedness Subcommittee in 1961 was that "conventional research has been less than satisfactory" and that "new avenues and approaches of inquiry" should be opened within the field.
929
930  That was precisely what Major General Thomas Sparks intended to do, with Project Scoop.
931
932  In final form, Scoop was a program to orbit seventeen satellites around the earth, collecting organisms and bringing them back to the surface. Stone read the summaries of each previous flight.
933
934  Scoop I was a gold-plated satellite, cone-shaped, weighing thirty-seven pounds fully equipped. It was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Purisima, California, on March 12, 1966. Vandenberg is used for polar (north to south) orbits, as opposed to Cape Kennedy, which launches west to east; Vandenberg had the additional advantage of maintaining better secrecy than Kennedy.
935
936  Scoop I orbited for six days before being brought down. It landed successfully in a swamp near Athens, Georgia. Unfortunately, it was found to contain only standard earth organisms.
937
938  Scoop II burned up in reentry, as a result of instrumentation failure. Scoop III also burned up, though it had a new type of plastic-and-tungsten-laminate heat shield.
939
940  Scoops IV and V were recovered intact from the Indian Ocean and the Appalachian foothills, but neither contained radically new organisms; those collected were harmless variants of S. albus, a common contaminant of normal human skin. These failures led to a further increase in sterilization procedures prior to launch.
941
942  Scoop VI was launched on New Year's Day, 1967. It incorporated all the latest refinements from earlier attempts. High hopes rode with the revised satellite, which returned eleven days later, landing near Bombay, India. Unknown to anyone, the 34th Airborne, then stationed in Evreux, France, just outside Paris, was dispatched to recover the capsule. The 34th was on alert whenever a spaceflight went up, according to the procedures of Operation Scrub, a plan first devised to protect Mercury and Gemini capsules should one be forced to land in Soviet Russia or Eastern Bloc countries. Scrub was the primary reason for keeping a single paratroop division in Western Europe in the first half of the 1960's.
943
944  Scoop VI was recovered uneventfully. It was found to contain a previously unknown form of unicellular organism, coccobacillary in shape, gram-negative, coagulase, and triokinase-positive. However, it proved generally benevolent to all living things with the exception of domestic female chickens, which it made moderately ill for a four-day period.
945
946  Among the Detrick staff, hope dimmed for the successful recovery of a pathogen from the Scoop program. Nonetheless, Scoop VII was launched soon after Scoop VI. The exact date is classified but it is believed to be February 5, 1967. Scoop VII immediately went into stable orbit with an apogee of 317 miles and a perigee of 224 miles. It remained in orbit for two and a half days. At that time, the satellite abruptly left stable orbit for unknown reasons, and it was decided to bring it down by radio command.
947
948  The anticipated landing site was a desolate area in northeastern Arizona.
949
950  ***
951
952  Midway through the flight, his reading was interrupted by an officer who brought him a telephone and then stepped a respectful distance away while Stone talked.
953
954  "Yes?" Stone said, feeling odd. He was not accustomed to talking on the telephone in the middle of an airplane trip.
955
956  "General Marcus here," a tired voice said. Stone did not know General Marcus. "I just wanted to inform you that all members of the team have been called in, with the exception of Professor Kirke." 
957
958  "What happened?"
959
960  "Professor Kirke is in the hospital," General Marcus said. "You'll get further details when you touch down."
961
962  The conversation ended; Stone gave the telephone back to the officer. He thought for a minute about the other men on the team, and wondered at their reactions as they were called out of bed.
963
964  There was Leavitt, of course. He would respond quickly. Leavitt was a clinical microbiologist, a man experienced in the treatment of infectious disease. Leavitt had seen enough plagues and epidemics in his day to know the importance of quick action. Besides, there was his ingrained pessimism, which never deserted him. (Leavitt had once said, "At my wedding, all I could think of was how much alimony she'd cost me.") He was an irritable, grumbling, heavyset man with a morose face and sad eyes, which seemed to peer ahead into a bleak and miserable future; but he was also thoughtful, imaginative, and not afraid to think daringly.
965
966  Then there was the pathologist, Burton, in Houston. Stone had never liked Burton very well, though he acknowledged his scientific talent. Burton and Stone were different: where Stone was organized, Burton was sloppy; where Stone was controlled, Burton was impulsive; where Stone was confident, Burton was nervous, jumpy, petulant. Colleagues referred to Burton as "the Stumbler," partly because of his tendency to trip over his untied shoelaces and baggy trouser cuffs and partly because of his talent for tumbling by error into one important discovery after another.
967
968  And then Kirke, the anthropologist from Yale, who apparently was not going to be able to come. If the report was true, Stone knew he was going to miss him. Kirke was an ill-informed and rather foppish man who possessed, as if by accident, a superbly logical brain. He was capable of grasping the essentials of a problem and manipulating them to get the necessary result; though he could not balance his own checkbook, mathematicians often came to him for help in resolving highly abstract problems.
969
970  Stone was going to miss that kind of brain. Certainly the fifth man would be no help. Stone frowned as he thought about Mark Hall. Hall had been a compromise candidate for the team; Stone would have preferred a physician with experience in metabolic disease, and the choice of a surgeon instead had been made with the greatest reluctance. There had been great pressure from Defense and the AEC to accept Hall, since those groups believed in the Odd Man Hypothesis; in the end, Stone and the others had given in.
971
972  Stone did not know Hall well; he wondered what he would say when he was informed of the alert. Stone could not have known of the great delay in notifying members of the team. He did not know, for instance, that Burton, the pathologist, was not called until five a.m., or that Peter Leavitt, the microbiologist, was not called until six thirty, the time he arrived at the hospital.
973
974  And Hall was not called until five minutes past seven.
975
976  ***
977
978   It was, Mark Hall said later, "a horrifying experience. In an instant, I was taken from the most familiar of worlds and plunged into the most unfamiliar. " At six forty-five, Hall was in the washroom adjacent to OR 7, scrubbing for his first case of the day. He was in the midst of a routine he had carried out daily for several years; he was relaxed and joking with the resident, scrubbing with him.
979
980  When he finished, he went into the operating room, holding his arms before him, and the instrument nurse handed him a towel, to wipe his hands dry. Also in the room was another resident, who was prepping the body for surgery-- applying iodine and alcohol solutions-- and a circulating nurse. They all exchanged greetings.
981
982  At the hospital, Hall was known as a swift, quick-tempered, and unpredictable surgeon. He operated with speed, working nearly twice as fast as other surgeons. When things went smoothly, he laughed and joked as he worked, kidding his assistants, the nurses, the anesthetist. But if things did not go well, if they became slow and difficult, Hall could turn blackly irritable.
983
984  Like most surgeons, he was insistent upon routine. Everything had to be done in a certain order, in a certain way. If not, he became upset.
985
986  Because the others in the operating room knew this, they looked up toward the overhead viewing gallery with apprehension when Leavitt appeared. Leavitt clicked on the intercom that connected the upstairs room to the operating room below and said, "Hello, Mark."
987
988  Hall had been draping the patient, placing green sterile cloths over every part of the body except for the abdomen. He looked up with surprise. "Hello, Peter," he said.
989
990  "Sorry to disturb you," Leavitt said. "But this is an emergency."
991
992  "Have to wait," Hall said. "I'm starting a procedure."
993
994  He finished draping and called for the skin knife. He palpated the abdomen, feeling for the landmarks to begin his incision.
995
996  "It can't wait," Leavitt said.
997
998  Hall paused. He set down the scalpel and looked up. There was a long silence.
999
1000  "What the hell do you mean, it can't wait?"
1001
1002  Leavitt remained calm. "You'll have to break scrub. This is an emergency."
1003
1004  "Look, Peter, I've got a patient here. Anesthetized. Ready to go. I can't just walk--"
1005
1006  "Kelly will take over for you."
1007
1008  Kelly was one of the staff surgeons.
1009
1010  "Kelly?"
1011
1012  "He's scrubbing now," Leavitt said. "It's all arranged. I'll expect to meet you in the surgeon's change room. In about thirty seconds."
1013
1014  And then he was gone.
1015
1016  Hall glared at everyone in the room. No one moved, or spoke. After a moment, he stripped off his gloves and stomped out of the room, swearing once, very loudly.
1017
1018  ***
1019
1020  Hall viewed his own association with Wildfire as tenuous at best. In 1966 he had been approached by Leavitt, the chief of bacteriology of the hospital, who had explained in a sketchy way the purpose of the project. Hall found it all rather amusing and had agreed to join the team, if his services ever became necessary; privately, he was confident that nothing would ever come of Wildfire.
1021
1022  Leavitt had offered to give Hall the files on Wildfire and to keep him up to date on the project. At first, Hall politely took the files, but it soon became clear that he was not bothering to read them, and so Leavitt stopped giving them to him. If anything, this pleased Hall, who preferred not to have his desk cluttered.
1023
1024  A year before, Leavitt had asked him whether he wasn't curious about something that he had agreed to join and that might at some future time prove dangerous.
1025
1026  Hall had said, "No."
1027
1028  Now, in the doctors' room, Hall regretted those words. The doctors' room was a small place, lined on all four walls with lockers; there were no windows. A large coffeemaker sat in the center of the room, with a stack of paper cups alongside. Leavitt was pouring himself a cup, his solemn, basset-hound face looking mournful.
1029
1030  "This is going to be awful coffee," he said. "You can't get a decent cup anywhere in a hospital. Hurry and change.
1031
1032  Hall said, "Do you mind telling me first why--"
1033
1034  "I mind, I mind," Leavitt said. "Change: there's a car waiting outside and we're already late. Perhaps too late." 
1035
1036  He had a gruffly melodramatic way of speaking that had always annoyed Hall.
1037
1038  There was a loud slurp as Leavitt sipped the coffee. "Just as I suspected, " he said. "How can you tolerate it? Hurry, please." 
1039
1040  Hall unlocked his locker and kicked it open. He leaned against the door and stripped away the black plastic shoe covers that were worn in the operating room to prevent buildup of static charges. "Next, I suppose you're going to tell me this has to do with that damned project."
1041
1042  "Exactly," Leavitt said. "Now try to hurry. The car is waiting to take us to the airport, and the morning traffic is bad."
1043
1044  Hall changed quickly, not thinking, his mind momentarily stunned. Somehow he had never thought it possible. He dressed and walked out with Leavitt toward the hospital entrance. Outside, in the sunshine, he could see the olive U.S. Army sedan pulled up to the curb, its light flashing. And he had a sudden, horrible realization that Leavitt was not kidding, that nobody was kidding, and that some kind of awful nightmare was coming true.
1045
1046  ***
1047
1048  For his own part, Peter Leavitt was irritated with Hall. In general, Leavitt had little patience with practicing physicians. Though he had an M.D. degree, Leavitt had never practiced, preferring to devote his time research. His field was clinical microbiology and epidemiology, and his specialty was parasitology. He had done parasitic research all over the world; his work had led to the discovery of the Brazilian tapeworm, Taenia renzi, which he had characterized in a paper in 1953.
1049
1050  As he grew older, however, Leavitt had stopped traveling. Public health, he was fond of saying, was a young man's game; when you got your fifth case of intestinal amebiasis, it was time to quit. Leavitt got his fifth case in Rhodesia in 1955. He was dreadfully sick for three months and lost forty pounds. Afterward, he resigned his job in the public health service. He was offered the post of chief of microbiology at the hospital, and he had taken it, with the understanding that he would be able to devote a good portion of his time to research.
1051
1052  Within the hospital he was known as a superb clinical bacteriologist, but his real interest remained parasites. In the period from 1955 to 1964 he published a series of elegant metabolic studies on Ascaris and Necator that were highly regarded by other workers in the field.
1053
1054  Leavitt's reputation had made him a natural choice for Wildfire, and it was through Leavitt that Hall had been asked to join. Leavitt knew the reasons behind Hall's selection, though Hall did not.
1055
1056  When Leavitt had asked him to join, Hall had demanded to know why. "I'm just a surgeon," he had said.
1057
1058  "Yes," Leavitt said. "But you know electrolytes."
1059
1060  "So?"
1061
1062  "That may be important. Blood chemistries, pH, acidity and alkalinity, the whole thing. That may be vital, when the time comes."
1063
1064  "But there are a lot of electrolyte people," Hall had pointed out. "Many of them better than me."
1065
1066  "Yes," Leavitt had said. "But they're all married."
1067
1068  "So what?"
1069
1070  "We need a single man."
1071
1072  "Why?"
1073
1074  "It's necessary that one member of the team be unmarried." 
1075
1076  "That's crazy," Hall had said.
1077
1078  "Maybe," Leavitt had said. "Maybe not."
1079
1080  They left the hospital and walked up to the Army sedan. A young officer was waiting stiffly, and saluted as they came up.
1081
1082  "Dr. Hall?"
1083
1084  "Yes."
1085
1086  "May I see your card, please?"
1087
1088  Hall gave him the little plastic card with his picture on it. He had been carrying the card in his wallet for more than a year; it was a rather strange card-- with just a name, a picture, and a thumbprint, nothing more. Nothing to indicate that it was an official card.
1089
1090  The officer glanced at it, then at Hall, and back to the card. He handed it back.
1091
1092  "Very good, sir." 
1093
1094  He opened the rear door of the sedan. Hall got in and Leavitt followed, shielding his eyes from the flashing red light on the car top. Hall noticed it.
1095
1096  "Something wrong?"
1097
1098  "No. Just never liked flashing lights. Reminds me of my days as an ambulance driver, during the war." Leavitt settled back and the car started off. "Now then," he said. "When we reach the airfield, you will be given a file to read during the trip."
1099
1100  "What trip?"
1101
1102  "You'll be taking an F-104," Leavitt said.
1103
1104  "Where?"
1105
1106  "Nevada. Try to read the file on the way. Once we arrive, things will be very busy."
1107
1108  "And the others in the team?"
1109
1110  Leavitt glanced at his watch." Kirke has appendicitis and is in the hospital. The others have already begun work. Right now, they are in a helicopter, over Piedmont, Arizona.
1111
1112  "Never heard of it," Hall said.
1113
1114  "Nobody has," Leavitt said, "until now."
1115
1116  
1117
1118   
1119
1120  
1121  6. Piedmont
1122
1123  AT 9:59 A.M. ON THE SAME MORNING, A K-4 JET helicopter lifted off the concrete of Vandenberg's maximum-security hangar MSH-9 and headed east, toward Arizona.
1124
1125  The decision to lift off from an MSH was made by Major Manchek, who was concerned about the attention the suits might draw. Because inside the helicopter were three men, a pilot and two scientists, and all three wore clear plastic inflatable suits, making them look like obese men from Mars, or, as one of the hangar maintenance men put it, "like balloons from the Macy's parade."
1126
1127  As the helicopter climbed into the clear morning sky, the two passengers in the belly looked at each other. One was Jeremy Stone, the other Charles Burton. Both men had arrived at Vandenberg just a few hours before-- Stone from Stanford and Burton from Baylor University in Houston.
1128
1129  Burton was fifty-four, a pathologist. He held a professorship at Baylor Medical School and served as a consultant to the NASA Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston. Earlier he had done research at the National Institutes in Bethesda. His field had been the effects of bacteria on human tissues.
1130
1131  It is one of the peculiarities of scientific development that such a vital field was virtually untouched when Burton came to it. Though men had known germs caused disease since Henle's hypothesis of 1840, by the middle of the twentieth century there was still nothing known about why or how bacteria did their damage. The specific mechanisms were unknown.
1132
1133  Burton began, like so many others in his day, with Diplococcus pneumoniae, the agent causing pneumonia. There was great interest in pneumococcus before the advent of penicillin in the forties; after that, both interest and research money evaporated. Burton shifted to Staphylococcus aureus, a common skin pathogen responsible for "pimples" and "boils." At the time he began his work, his fellow researchers laughed at him; staphylococcus, like pneumococcus, was highly sensitive to penicillin. They doubted Burton would ever get enough money to carry on his work.
1134
1135  For five years, they were right. The money was scarce, and Burton often had to go begging to foundations and philanthropists. Yet he persisted, patiently elucidating the coats of the cell wall that caused a reaction in host tissue and helping to discover the half-dozen toxins secreted by the bacteria to break down tissue, spread infection, and destroy red cells.
1136
1137  Suddenly, in the 1950's, the first penicillin-resistant strains of staph appeared. The new strains were virulent, and produced bizarre deaths, often by brain abscess. Almost overnight Burton found his work had assumed major importance; dozens of labs around the country were changing over to study staph; it was a "hot field." In a single year, Burton watched his grant appropriations jump from $6,000 a year to $300,000. Soon afterward, he was made a professor of pathology.
1138
1139  Looking back, Burton felt no great pride in his accomplishment; it was, he knew, a matter of luck, of being in the right place and doing the right work when the time came.
1140
1141  He wondered what would come of being here, in this helicopter, now.
1142
1143  Sitting across from him, Jeremy Stone tried to conceal his distaste for Burton's appearance. Beneath the plastic suit Burton wore a dirty plaid sport shirt with a stain on the left breast pocket; his trousers were creased and frayed and even his hair, Stone felt, was unruly and untidy.
1144
1145  He stared out the window, forcing himself to think of other matters. "Fifty people," he said, shaking his head. "Dead
1146
1147  within eight hours of the landing of Scoop VII. The question is one of spread."
1148
1149  "Presumably airborne," Burton said.
1150
1151  "Yes. Presumably."
1152
1153  "Everyone seems to have died in the immediate vicinity of the town," Burton said. "Are there reports of deaths farther out?
1154
1155  Stone shook his head. "I'm having the Army people look into it. They're working with the highway patrol. So far, no deaths have turned up outside."
1156
1157  "Wind?"
1158
1159  "A stroke of luck," Stone said. "Last night the wind was fairly brisk, nine miles an hour to the south and steady. But around midnight, it died. Pretty unusual for this time of year, they tell me."
1160
1161  "But fortunate for us."
1162
1163  "Yes." Stone nodded. "We're fortunate in another way as well. There is no important area of habitation for a radius a of nearly one hundred and twelve miles. Outside that, of course, there is Las Vegas to the north, San Bernardino to the west, and Phoenix to the east. Not nice, if the bug gets to any of them."
1164
1165  "But as long as the wind stays down, we have time."
1166
1167  "Presumably," Stone said.
1168
1169  For the next half hour, the two men discussed the vector problem with frequent reference to a sheaf of output maps drawn up during the night by Vandenberg's computer division. The output maps were highly complex analyses of geographic problems; in this case, the maps were visualizations of the southwestern United States, weighted for wind direction and population.
1170
1171  [Graphic:  About page 58.  First map of mountain west of USA, showing examples of the staging of computerbase output mapping.  Each shows coordinates around population centers and other important areas.  A second map shows the weighting that accounts for wind and population factors and is consequently distorted in Southern CA, and Southern NV.  A third map shows the computer projection of the effects of wind and population in a specific "scenario."  None of the maps is from the Wildfire Project.  They are similar, but they represent output from a CBW scenario, not the actual Wildfire work.  (Courtesy General Autonomics  Corporation)]
1172
1173  Discussion then turned to the time course of death. Both men had heard the tape from the van; they agreed that everyone at Piedmont seemed to have died quite suddenly. 
1174
1175  "Even if you slit a man's throat with a razor," Burton said, "you won't get death that rapidly. Cutting both carotids and jugulars still allows ten to forty seconds before unconsciousness, and nearly a minute before death."
1176
1177  "At Piedmont, it seems to have occurred in a second or two." 
1178
1179  Burton shrugged. "Trauma," he suggested. "A blow to the head." 
1180
1181  "Yes. Or a nerve gas."
1182
1183  "Certainly possible."
1184
1185  "It's that, or something very much like it," Stone said. "If it was an enzymatic block of some kind-- like arsenic or strychnine-- we'd expect fifteen or thirty seconds, perhaps longer. But a block of nervous transmission, or a block of the neuro-muscular junction, or cortical poisoning-- that could be very swift. It could be instantaneous."
1186
1187  "If it is a fast-acting gas," Burton said, "it must have high diffusibility across the lungs--"
1188
1189  "Or the skin," Stone said. "Mucous membranes, anything. Any porous surface."
1190
1191  Burton touched the plastic of his suit. "If this gas is so highly diffusible..."
1192
1193  Stone gave a slight smile. "We'll find out, soon enough."
1194
1195  ***
1196
1197  Over the intercom, the helicopter pilot said, "Piedmont approaching, gentlemen. Please advise."
1198
1199  Stone said, "Circle once and give us a look at it."
1200
1201  The helicopter banked steeply. The two men looked out and saw the town below them. The buzzards had landed during the night, and were thickly clustered around the bodies.
1202
1203  "I was afraid of that," Stone said.
1204
1205  "They may represent a vector for infectious spread," Burton said. "Eat the meat of infected people, and carry the organisms away with them."
1206
1207  Stone nodded, staring out the window.
1208
1209  "What do we do?"
1210
1211  "Gas them," Stone said. He flicked on the intercom to the pilot. "Have you got the canisters?"
1212
1213  "Yes sir." 
1214
1215  "Circle again; and blanket the town."
1216
1217  "Yes sir." 
1218
1219  The helicopter tilted, and swung back. Soon the two men could not see the ground for the clouds of pale-blue gas.
1220
1221  "What is it?"
1222
1223  "Chlorazine," Stone said. "Highly effective, in low concentrations, on aviary metabolism. Birds have a high metabolic rate. They are creatures that consist of little more than feathers and muscle; their heartbeats are usually about one-twenty, and many species eat more than their own weight every day." 
1224
1225  "The gas is an uncoupler?"
1226
1227  "Yes. It'll hit them hard."
1228
1229  The helicopter banked away, then hovered. The gas slowly cleared in the gentle wind, moving off to the south. Soon they could see the ground again. Hundreds of birds lay there; a few flapped their wings spastically, but most were already dead.
1230
1231  Stone frowned as he watched. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he knew he had forgotten something, or ignored something. Some fact, some vital clue, that the birds provided and he must not overlook.
1232
1233  Over the intercom, the pilot said, "Your orders, sir?"
1234
1235  "Go to the center of the main street," Stone said, "and drop the rope ladder. You are to remain twenty feet above ground. Do not put down. Is that clear?"
1236
1237  "Yes sir."
1238
1239  "When we have climbed down, you are to lift off to an altitude of five hundred feet."
1240
1241  "Yes sir." 
1242
1243  "Return when we signal you."
1244
1245  "Yes sir." 
1246
1247  "And should anything happen to us--"
1248
1249  "I proceed directly to Wildfire," the pilot said, his voice dry.
1250
1251  "Correct."
1252
1253  The pilot knew what that meant. He was being paid according to the highest Air Force pay scales: he was drawing regular pay plus hazardous-duty pay, plus non-wartime special-services pay, plus mission-over-hostile-territory pay, plus bonus air-time pay. He would receive more than a thousand dollars for this day's work, and his family would receive an additional ten thousand dollars from the short-term life insurance should he not return.
1254
1255  There was a reason for the money: if anything happened to Burton and Stone on the ground, the pilot was ordered to fly directly to the Wildfire installation and hover thirty feet above ground until such time as the Wildfire group had determined the correct way to incinerate him, and his airplane, in midair.
1256
1257  He was being paid to take a risk. He had volunteered for the job. And he knew that high above, circling at twenty thousand feet, was an Air Force jet with air-to-air missiles. It was the job of the jet to shoot down the helicopter should the pilot suffer a last-minute loss of nerve and fail to go directly to Wildfire.
1258
1259  "Don't slip up," the pilot said. "Sir."
1260
1261  The helicopter maneuvered over the main street of the town and hung in midair. There was a rattling sound: the rope ladder being released. Stone stood and pulled on his helmet. He snapped shut the sealer and inflated his clear suit, puffing it up around him. A small bottle of oxygen on his back would provide enough air for two hours of exploration.
1262
1263  He waited until Burton had sealed his suit, and then Stone opened the hatch and stared down at the ground. The helicopter was raising a heavy cloud of dust.
1264
1265  Stone clicked on his radio. "All set?"
1266
1267  "All set."
1268
1269  Stone began to climb down the ladder. Burton waited a moment, then followed. He could see nothing in the swirling dust, but finally felt his shoes touch the ground. He released the ladder and looked over. He could barely make out Stone's suit, a dim outline in a gloomy, dusky world.
1270
1271  The ladder pulled away as the helicopter lifted into the sky. The dust cleared. They could see.
1272
1273  "Let's go," Stone said.
1274
1275  Moving clumsily in their suits, they walked down the main street of Piedmont.
1276
1277  
1278
1279  
1280
1281  
1282
1283  7. "An Unusual Process"
1284
1285  SCARCELY TWELVE HOURS AFTER THE FIRST KNOWN human contact with the Andromeda Strain was made at Piedmont, Burton and Stone arrived in the town. Weeks later, in their debriefing sessions, both men recalled the scene vividly, and described it in detail.
1286
1287  The morning sun was still low in the sky; it was cold and cheerless, casting long shadows over the thinly snow-crusted ground. From where they stood, they could look up and down the street at the gray, weathered wooden buildings; but what they noticed first was the silence. Except for a gentle wind that whined softly through the empty houses, it was deathly silent. Bodies lay everywhere, heaped and flung across the ground in attitudes of frozen surprise.
1288
1289  But there was no sound-- no reassuring rumble of an automobile engine, no barking dog, no shouting children.
1290
1291  Silence.
1292
1293  The two men looked at each other. They were painfully aware of how much there was to learn, to do. Some catastrophe had struck this town, and they must discover all they could about it. But they had practically no clues, no points of departure.
1294
1295  They knew, in fact, only two things. First, that the trouble apparently began with the landing of Scoop VII. And second, that death had overtaken the people of the town with astonishing rapidity. If it was a disease from the satellite, then it was like no other in the history of medicine.
1296
1297  For a long time the men said nothing, but stood in the street, looking about them, feeling the wind tug at their over63
1298
1299  sized suits. Finally, Stone said, "Why are they all outside, in the street? If this was a disease that arrived at night, most of the people would be indoors." 
1300
1301  "Not only that," Burton said, "they're mostly wearing pajamas. It was a cold night last night. You'd think they would have stopped to put on a jacket, or a raincoat. Something to keep warm."
1302
1303  "Maybe they were in a hurry."
1304
1305  "To do what?" Burton said.
1306
1307  "To see something," Stone said, with a helpless shrug.
1308
1309  Burton bent over the first body they came to. "Odd," he said. "Look at the way this fellow is clutching his chest. Quite a few of them are doing that."
1310
1311  Looking at the bodies, Stone saw that the hands of many were pressed to their chests, some flat, some clawing.
1312
1313  "They didn't seem to be in pain," Stone said. "'Their faces are quite peaceful."
1314
1315  "Almost astonished, in fact," Burton nodded. "These people look cut down, caught in midstride. But clutching their chests."
1316
1317  "Coronary?" Stone said.
1318
1319  "Doubt it. They should grimace-- it's painful. The same with a pulmonary embolus."
1320
1321  "If it was fast enough, they wouldn't have time."
1322
1323  "Perhaps. But somehow I think these people died a painless death. Which means they are clutching their chests because--"
1324
1325  "They couldn't breathe," Stone said.
1326
1327  Burton nodded. "It's possible we're seeing asphyxiation. Rapid, painless, almost instantaneous asphyxiation. But I doubt it. If a person can't breathe, the first thing he does is loosen his clothing, particularly around the neck and chest. Look at that man there-- he's wearing a tie, and he hasn't touched it. And that woman with the tightly buttoned collar."
1328
1329  Burton was beginning to regain his composure now, after the initial shock of the town. He was beginning to think clearly. They walked up to the van, standing in the middle of the street, its lights still shining weakly. Stone reached in to turn off the lights. He pushed the stiff body of the driver back from the wheel and read the name on the breast pocket of the parka.
1330
1331  "Shawn."
1332
1333  The man sitting rigidly in the back of the van was a private named Crane. Both men were locked in rigor mortis. Stone nodded to the equipment in the back.
1334
1335  "Will that still work?"
1336
1337  "I think so," Burton said.
1338
1339  "Then let's find the satellite. That's our first job. We can worry later about--"
1340
1341  He stopped. He was looking at the face of Shawn, who had obviously pitched forward hard onto the steering wheel at the moment of death. There was a large, arc-shaped cut across his face, shattering the bridge of his nose and tearing the skin.
1342
1343  "I don't get it," Stone said.
1344
1345  "Get what?" Burton said.
1346
1347  "This injury. Look at it."
1348
1349  "Very clean," Burton said. "Remarkably clean, in fact.  Practically no bleeding..."
1350
1351  Then Burton realized. He started to scratch his head in astonishment, but his hand was stopped by the plastic helmet.
1352
1353  "A cut like that," he said, "on the face. Broken capillaries, shattered bone, torn scalp veins-- it should bleed like hell." 
1354
1355  "Yes," Stone said. "It should. And look at the other bodies. Even where the vultures have chewed at the flesh: no bleeding." 
1356
1357  Burton stared with increasing astonishment. None of the bodies had lost even a drop of blood. He wondered why they had not noticed it before.
1358
1359  "Maybe the mechanism of action of this disease--"
1360
1361  "Yes," Stone said. "I think you may be right." He grunted and dragged Shawn out of the van, working to pull the stiff body from behind the wheel. "Let's get that damned satellite," he said. "This is really beginning to worry me."
1362
1363  Burton went to the back and pulled Crane out through the rear doors, then climbed in as Stone turned the ignition. The starter turned over sluggishly, and the engine did not catch.
1364
1365  Stone tried to start the van for several seconds, then said, "I don't understand. The battery is low, but it should still be enough--"
1366
1367  "How's your gas?" Burton said.
1368
1369  There was a pause, and Stone swore loudly. Burton smiled, and crawled out of the back. Together they walked up the street to the gas station, found a bucket, and filled it with gas from the pump after spending several moments trying to decide how it worked. When they had the gas, they returned to the van, filled the tank, and Stone tried again.
1370
1371  The engine caught and held. Stone grinned. "Let's go."
1372
1373  Burton scrambled into the back, turned on the electronic equipment, and started the antenna rotating. He heard the faint beeping of the satellite.
1374
1375  "The signal's weak, but still there. Sounds over to the left somewhere." 
1376
1377  Stone put the van in gear. They rumbled off, swerving around the bodies in the street. The beeping grew louder. They continued down the main street, past the gas station and the general store. The beeping suddenly grew faint.
1378
1379  "We've gone too far. Turn around."
1380
1381  It took a while for Stone to find reverse on the gearshift, and then they doubled back, tracing the intensity of the sound. It was another fifteen minutes before they were able to locate the origin of the beeps to the north, on the outskirts of the town.
1382
1383  Finally, they pulled up before a plain single-story woodframe house. A sign creaked in the wind: Dr. Alan Benedict.
1384
1385  "Might have known," Stone said. "They'd take it to the doctor." 
1386
1387  The two men climbed out of the van and went up to the house. The front door was open, banging in the breeze. They entered the living room and found it empty. Riming right, they came to the doctor's office.
1388
1389  Benedict was there, a pudgy, white-haired man. He was seated before his desk, with several textbooks laid open. Along one wall were bottles, syringes, pictures of his family and several others showing men in combat uniforms. One showed a group of grinning soldiers; the scrawled words: "For Benny, from the boys of 87, Anzio."
1390
1391  Benedict himself was staring blankly toward a corner of the room, his eyes wide, his face peaceful.
1392
1393  "Well," Burton said, "Benedict certainly didn't make it outside--"
1394
1395  And then they saw the satellite.
1396
1397  It was upright, a sleek polished cone three feet high, and its edges had been cracked and seared from the heat of reentry. It had been opened crudely, apparently with the help of a pair of pliers and chisel that lay on the floor next to the capsule.
1398
1399  "The bastard opened it," Stone said. "Stupid son of a bitch." 
1400
1401  "How was he to know?"
1402
1403  "He might have asked somebody," Stone said. He sighed. "Anyway, he knows now. And so do forty-nine other people. " He bent over the satellite and closed the gaping, triangular hatch. "You have the container?"
1404
1405  Burton produced the folded plastic bag and opened it out. Together they slipped it over the satellite, then sealed it shut.
1406
1407  "I hope to hell there's something left," Burton said.
1408
1409  "In a way," Stone said softly, "I hope there isn't."
1410
1411  They turned their attention to Benedict. Stone went over to him and shook him. The man fell rigidly from his chair onto the floor.
1412
1413  Burton noticed the elbows, and suddenly became excited. He leaned over the body. "Come on," he said to Stone. "Help me."
1414
1415  "Do what?"
1416
1417  "Strip him down."
1418
1419  "Why?"
1420
1421  "I want to check the lividity.
1422
1423  "But why?"
1424
1425  "Just wait," Burton said. He began unbuttoning Benedict's shirt and loosening his trousers. The two men worked silently for some moments, until the doctor's body was naked on the floor.
1426
1427  "There," Burton said, standing back.
1428
1429  "I'll be damned," Stone said.
1430
1431  There was no dependent lividity. Normally, after a person died, blood seeped to the lowest points, drawn down by gravity. A person who died in bed had a purple back from accumulated blood. But Benedict, who had died sitting up, had no blood in the tissue of his buttocks or thighs.
1432
1433  Or in his elbows, which had rested on the arms of the chair.
1434
1435  "Quite a peculiar finding," Burton said. He glanced around the room and found a small autoclave for sterilizing instruments. Opening it, he removed a scalpel. He fitted it with a blade-- carefully, so as not to puncture his airtight suit-- and then turned back to the body.
1436
1437  "We'll take the most superficial major artery and vein," he said.
1438
1439  "Which is?"
1440
1441  "The radial. At the wrist."
1442
1443  Holding the scalpel carefully, Burton drew the blade along the skin of the inner wrist, just behind the thumb. The skin pulled back from the wound, which was completely bloodless. He exposed fat and subcutaneous tissue. There was no bleeding.
1444
1445  "Amazing."
1446
1447  He cut deeper. There was still no bleeding from the incision. Suddenly, abruptly, he struck a vessel. Crumbling red-black material fell out onto the floor.
1448
1449  "I'll be damned," Stone said again.
1450
1451  "Clotted solid," Burton said.
1452
1453  "No wonder the people didn't bleed." 
1454
1455  Burton said, "Help me turn him over. " Together, they got the corpse onto its back, and Burton made a deep incision into the medial thigh, cutting down to the femoral artery and vein. Again there was no bleeding, and when they reached the artery, as thick as a man's finger, it was clotted into a firm, reddish mass.
1456
1457  "Incredible." 
1458
1459  He began another incision, this time into the chest. He exposed the ribs, then searched Dr. Benedict's office for a very sharp knife. He wanted an osteotome, but could find none. He settled for the chisel that had been used to open the capsule. Using this he broke away several ribs to expose the lungs and the heart. Again there was no bleeding.
1460
1461  Burton took a deep breath, then cut open the heart, slicing into the left ventricle.
1462
1463  The interior was filled with red, spongy material. There was no liquid blood at all.
1464
1465  "Clotted solid," he said. "No question."
1466
1467  "Any idea what can clot people this way?"
1468
1469  "The whole vascular system? Five quarts of blood? No." Burton sat heavily in the doctor's chair and stared at the body he had just cut open. "I've never heard of anything like it. There's a thing called disseminated intravascular coagulation, but it's rare and requires all sorts of special circumstances to initiate it." 
1470
1471  "Could a single toxin initiate it?"
1472
1473  "In theory, I suppose. But in fact, there isn't a toxin in the world--"
1474
1475  He stopped.
1476
1477  "Yes," Stone said. "I suppose that's right.'
1478
1479  He picked up the satellite designated Scoop VII and carried it outside to the van. When he came back, he said, "We'd better search the houses.
1480
1481  "Beginning here?"
1482
1483  "Might as well," Stone said.
1484
1485  ***
1486
1487  It was Burton who found Mrs. Benedict. She was a pleasant-looking middle-aged lady sitting in a chair with a book on her lap; she seemed about to turn the page. Burton examined her briefly, then heard Stone call to him.
1488
1489  He walked to the other end of the house. Stone was in a small bedroom, bent over the body of a young teenage boy on the bed. It was obviously his room: psychedelic posters on the walls, model airplanes on a shelf to one side.
1490
1491  The boy lay on his back in bed, eyes open, staring at the ceiling. His mouth was open. In one hand, an empty tube of model-airplane cement was tightly clenched; all over the bed were empty bottles of airplane dope, paint thinner, turps.
1492
1493  Stone stepped back. "Have a look." 
1494
1495  Burton looked in the mouth, reached a finger in, touched the now-hardened mass. "Good God," he said.
1496
1497  Stone was frowning. "This took time," he said. "Regardless of what made him do it, it took time. We've obviously been oversimplifying events here. Everyone did not die instantaneously. Some people died in their homes; some got out into the street. And this kid here..." 
1498
1499  He shook his head. "Let's check the other houses."
1500
1501  On the way out, Burton returned to the doctor's office, stepping around the body of the physician. It gave him a strange feeling to see the wrist and leg sliced open, the chest exposed-- but no bleeding. There was something wild and inhuman about that. As if bleeding were a sign of humanity. Well, he thought, perhaps it is. Perhaps the fact that we bleed to death makes us human.
1502
1503  ***
1504
1505  For Stone, Piedmont was a puzzle challenging him to crack its secret. He was convinced that the town could tell him everything about the nature of the disease, its course and effects. It was only a matter of putting together the data in the proper way.
1506
1507  But he had to admit, as they continued their search, that the data were confusing:
1508
1509  ***
1510
1511  A house that contained a man, his wife, and their young daughter, all sitting around the dinner table. They had apparently been relaxed and happy, and none of them had had time to push back their chairs from the table. They remained frozen in attitudes of congeniality, smiling at each other across the plates of now-rotting food, and flies. Stone noticed the flies, which buzzed softly in the room. He would, he thought, have to remember the flies.
1512
1513  ***
1514
1515  An old woman, her hair white, her face creased. She was smiling gently as she swung from a noose tied to a ceiling rafter. The rope creaked as it rubbed against the wood of the rafter.
1516
1517  At her feet was an envelope. In a careful, neat, unhurried hand: "To whom it may concern." 
1518
1519  Stone opened the letter and read it. "The day of judgment is at hand. The earth and the waters shall open up and mankind shall be consumed. May God have mercy on my soul and upon those who have shown mercy to me. To hell with the others. Amen." 
1520
1521  Burton listened as the letter was read. "Crazy old lady," he said. "Senile dementia. She saw everyone around her dying, and she went nuts."
1522
1523  "And killed herself?"
1524
1525  "Yes, I think so."
1526
1527  "Pretty bizarre way to kill herself, don't you think?"
1528
1529  "That kid also chose a bizarre way," Burton said.
1530
1531  Stone nodded.
1532
1533  ***
1534
1535  Roy O. Thompson, who lived alone. From his greasy coveralls they assumed he ran the town gas station. Roy had apparently filled his bathtub with water, then knelt down, stuck his head in, and held it there until he died. When they found him his body was rigid, holding himself under the surface of the water; there was no one else around, and no sign of struggle.
1536
1537  "Impossible," Stone said. "No one can commit suicide that way." 
1538
1539  ***
1540
1541  Lydia Everett, a seamstress in the town, who had quietly gone out to the back yard, sat in a chair, poured gasoline over herself, and struck a match. Next to the remains of her body they found the scorched gasoline can.
1542
1543  ***
1544
1545  William Arnold, a man of sixty sitting stiffly in a chair in the living room, wearing his World War I uniform. He had been a captain in that war, and he had become a captain again, briefly, before he shot himself through the right temple with a Colt .45. There was no blood in the room when they found him; he appeared almost ludicrous, sitting there with a clean, dry hole in his head.
1546
1547  A tape recorder stood alongside him, his left hand resting on the case. Burton looked at Stone questioningly, then turned it on.
1548
1549  A quavering, irritable voice spoke to them.
1550
1551  "You took your sweet time coming, didn't you? Still I am glad you have arrived at last. We are in need of reinforcements. I tell you, it's been one hell of a battle against the Hun. Lost 40 per cent last night, going over the top, and two of our officers are out with the rot. Not going well, not at all. If only Gary Cooper was here. We need men like that, the men who made America strong. I can't tell you how much it means to me, with those giants out there in the flying saucers. Now they're burning us down, and the gas is coming. You can see them die and we don't have gas masks. None at all. But I won't wait for it. I am going to do the proper thing now. I regret that I have but one life to kill for my country."
1552
1553  The tape ran on, but it was silent.
1554
1555  Burton turned if off. "Crazy," he said. "Stark raving mad."
1556
1557  Stone nodded.
1558
1559  "Some of them died instantly, and the others...went quietly nuts."
1560
1561  "But we seem to come back to the same basic question. Why? What was the difference?"
1562
1563  "Perhaps there's a graded immunity to this bug," Burton said. "Some people are more susceptible than others. Some people are protected, at least for a time."
1564
1565  "You know," Stone said, "there was that report from the flybys, and those films of a man alive down here. One man in white robes."
1566
1567  "You think he's still alive?"
1568
1569  "Well, I wonder," Stone said. "Because if some people survived longer than others-- long enough to dictate a taped speech, or to arrange a hanging-- then you have to ask yourself if someone maybe didn't survive for a very long time. You have to ask yourself if there isn't someone in this town who is still alive."
1570
1571  It was then that they heard the sound of crying.
1572
1573  ***
1574
1575  At first it seemed like the sound of the wind, it was so high and thin and reedy, but they listened, feeling puzzled at first, and then astonished. The crying persisted, interrupted by little hacking coughs.
1576
1577  They ran outside.
1578
1579  It was faint, and difficult to localize. They ran up the street, and it seemed to grow louder; this spurred them on.
1580
1581  And then, abruptly, the sound stopped.
1582
1583  The two men came to a halt, gasping for breath, chests heaving. They stood in the middle of the hot, deserted street and looked at each other.
1584
1585  "Have we lost our minds?" Burton said.
1586
1587  "No," Stone said. "We heard it, all right."
1588
1589  They waited. It was absolutely quiet for several minutes. Burton looked down the street, at the houses, and the jeep van parked at the other end, in front of Dr. Benedict's house.
1590
1591  The crying began again, very loud now, a frustrated howl.
1592
1593  The two men ran.
1594
1595  It was not far, two houses up on the right side. A man and a woman lay outside, on the sidewalk, fallen and clutching their chests. They ran past them and into the house. The crying was still louder; it filled the empty rooms.
1596
1597  They hurried upstairs, clambering up, and came to the bedroom. A large double bed, unmade. A dresser, a mirror, a closet.
1598
1599  And a small crib.
1600
1601  They leaned over, pulling back the blankets from a small, very red-faced, very unhappy infant. The baby immediately stopped crying long enough to survey their faces, enclosed in the plastic suits.
1602
1603  Then it began to howl again.
1604
1605  "Scared hell out of it," Burton said. "Poor thing."
1606
1607  He picked it up gingerly and rocked it. The baby continued to scream. Its toothless mouth was wide open, its cheeks purple, and the veins stood out on its forehead.
1608
1609  "Probably hungry," Burton said.
1610
1611  Stone was frowning. "It's not very old. Can't be more than a couple of months. Is it a he or a she?"
1612
1613  Burton unwrapped the blankets and checked the diapers. "He. And he needs to be changed. And fed." He looked around the room. "There's probably a formula in the kitchen..." 
1614
1615  "No," Stone said. "We don't feed it."
1616
1617  "Why not?"
1618
1619  "We don't do anything to that child until we get it out of this town. Maybe feeding is part of the disease process; maybe the people who weren't hit so hard or so fast were the ones who hadn't eaten recently. Maybe there's something protective about this baby's diet. Maybe..." He stopped. "But whatever it is, we can't take a chance. We've got to wait and get him into a controlled situation." 
1620
1621  Burton sighed. He knew that Stone was right, but he also knew that the baby hadn't been fed for at least twelve hours. No wonder the kid was crying.
1622
1623  Stone said, "This is a very important development. It's a major break for us, and we've got to protect it. I think we should go back immediately." 
1624
1625  "We haven't finished our head count."
1626
1627  Stone shook his head. "Doesn't matter. We have something much more valuable than anything we could hope to find. We have a survivor."
1628
1629  The baby stopped crying for a moment, stuck its finger in its mouth, and looked questioningly up at Burton. Then, when he was certain no food was forthcoming, he began to howl again.
1630
1631  "Too bad," Burton said, "he can't tell us what happened."
1632
1633  "I'm hoping he can," Stone said.
1634
1635  ***
1636
1637  They parked the van in the center of the main street, beneath the hovering helicopter, and signaled for it to descend with the ladder. Burton held the infant, and Stone held the Scoop satellite-- strange trophies, Stone thought, from a very strange town. The baby was quiet now; he had finally tired of crying and was sleeping fitfully, awakening at intervals to whimper, then sleep again.
1638
1639  The helicopter descended, spinning up swirls of dust. Burton wrapped the blankets about the baby's face to protect him. The ladder came down and he climbed up, with difficulty.
1640
1641  Stone waited on the ground, standing with the capsule in the wind and dust and thumpy noise from the helicopter.
1642
1643  And, suddenly, he realized that he was not alone on the street. He turned, and saw a man behind him.
1644
1645  He was an old man, with thin gray hair and a wrinkled, worn face. He wore a long nightgown that was smudged with dirt and yellowed with dust, and his feet were bare. He stumbled and tottered toward Stone. His chest was heaving with exertion beneath the nightgown.
1646
1647  "Who are you?" Stone said. But he knew: the man in the pictures. The one who had been photographed by the airplane.
1648
1649  "You..." the man said.
1650
1651  "Who are you?"
1652
1653  "You... did it..."
1654
1655  "What is your name?"
1656
1657  "Don't hurt me... I'm not like the others..."
1658
1659  He was shaking with fear as he stared at Stone in his plastic suit. Stone thought, We must look strange to him. Like men from Mars, men from another world.
1660
1661  "Don't hurt me..."
1662
1663  "We won't hurt you," Stone said. "What is your name?"
1664
1665  "Jackson. Peter Jackson. Sir. Please don't hurt me."
1666
1667  He waved to the bodies in the street. "I'm not like the others..." 
1668
1669  "We won't hurt you," Stone said again.
1670
1671  "You hurt the others .
1672
1673  "No. We didn't."
1674
1675  "They're dead."
1676
1677  "We had nothing--"
1678
1679  "You're lying," he shouted, his eyes wide. "You're lying to me. You're not human. You're only pretending. You know I'm a sick man. You know you can pretend with me. I'm a sick man. I'm bleeding, I know. I've had this ... this ... this..."
1680
1681  He faltered, and then doubled over, clutching his stomach and wincing in pain.
1682
1683  "Are you all right?"
1684
1685  The man fell to the ground. He was breathing heavily, his skin pale. There was sweat on his face.
1686
1687  "My stomach," he gasped. "It's my stomach."
1688
1689  And then he vomited. It came up heavy, deep-red, rich with blood.
1690
1691  "Mr. Jackson--"
1692
1693  But the man was not awake. His eyes were closed and he was lying on his back. For a moment, Stone thought he was dead, but then he saw the chest moving, slowly, very slowly, but moving.
1694
1695  Burton came back down.
1696
1697  "Who is he?"
1698
1699  "Our wandering man. Help me get him up."
1700
1701  "Is he alive?"
1702
1703  "So far."
1704
1705  "I'll be damned," Burton said.
1706
1707  ***
1708
1709  They used the power winch to hoist up the unconscious body of Peter Jackson, and then lowered it again to raise the capsule. Then, slowly, Burton and Stone climbed the r into the belly of the helicopter.
1710
1711  They did not remove their suits, but instead clipped on a second bottle of oxygen to give them another two hours of breathing time. That would be sufficient to carry them to the Wildfire installation.
1712
1713  The pilot established a radio connection to Vandenberg so that Stone could talk with Major Manchek.
1714
1715  "What have you found?" Manchek said.
1716
1717  "The town is dead. We have good evidence for an unusual process at work."
1718
1719  "Be careful," Manchek said. "This is an open circuit."
1720
1721  "I am aware of that. Will you order up a 7-12?"
1722
1723  "I'll try. You want it now?"
1724
1725  "Yes, now."
1726
1727  "Piedmont?"
1728
1729  "Yes."
1730
1731  "You have the satellite?"
1732
1733  "Yes, we have it."
1734
1735  "All right," Manchek said. "I'll put through the order."
1736
1737  
1738
1739  
1740
1741  
1742  8. Directive 7-12
1743
1744  DIRECTIVE 7-12 WAS A PART OF THE FINAL Wildfire Protocol for action in the event of a biologic emergency. It called for the placement of a limited thermonuclear weapon at the site of exposure of terrestrial life to exogenous organisms. The code for the directive was Cautery, since the function of the bomb was to cauterize the infection-- to burn it out, and thus prevent its spread.
1745
1746  As a single step in the Wildfire Protocol, Cautery had been agreed upon by the authorities involved-- Executive, State, Defense, and AEC-- after much debate. The AEC, already unhappy about the assignment of a nuclear device to the Wildfire laboratory, did not wish Cautery to be accepted as a program; State and Defense argued that any aboveground thermonuclear detonation, for whatever purpose, would have serious repercussions internationally.
1747
1748  The President finally agreed to Directive 7-12, but insisted that he retain control over the decision to use a bomb for Cautery. Stone was displeased with this arrangement, but he was forced to accept it; the President had been under considerable pressure to reject the whole idea and had compromised only after much argument. Then, too, there was the Hudson Institute study.
1749
1750  The Hudson Institute had been contracted to study possible consequences of Cautery. Their report indicated that the President would face four circumstances (scenarios) in which he might have to issue the Cautery order. According to degree of seriousness, the scenarios were:
1751
1752  1. A satellite or manned capsule lands in an unpopulated area of the United States. The President may cauterize the area with little domestic uproar and small loss of life. The Russians may be privately informed of the reasons for breaking the Moscow Treaty of 1963 forbidding aboveground nuclear testing.
1753
1754  2. A satellite or manned capsule lands in a major American city. (The example was Chicago.) The Cautery will require destruction of a large land area and a large population, with great domestic consequences and secondary international consequences.
1755
1756  3. A satellite or manned capsule lands in a major neutralist urban center. (New Delhi was the example.) The Cautery will entail American intervention with nuclear weapons to prevent further spread of disease. According to the scenarios, there were seventeen possible consequences of American-Soviet interaction following the destruction of New Delhi. Twelve led directly to thermonuclear war.
1757
1758  4. A satellite or manned capsule lands in a major Soviet urban center. (The example was Stalingrad.) Cautery will require the United States to inform the Soviet Union of what has happened and to advise that the Russians themselves destroy the city. According to the Hudson Institute scenario, there were six possible consequences of American-Russian interaction following this event, and all six led directly to war. It was therefore advised that if a satellite fell within Soviet or Eastern Bloc territory the United States not inform the Russians of what had happened. The basis of this decision was the prediction that a Russian plague would kill between two and five million people, while combined Soviet-American losses from a thermonuclear exchange involving both first and second-strike capabilities would come to more than two hundred and fifty million persons.
1759
1760  As a result of the Hudson Institute report, the President and his advisers felt that control of Cautery, and responsibility for it, should remain within political, not scientific, hands. The ultimate consequences of the President's decision could not, of course, have been predicted at the time it was made.
1761
1762  Washington came to a decision within an hour of Manchek's report. The reasoning behind the President's decision has never been clear, but the final result was plain enough:
1763
1764  The President elected to postpone calling Directive 7-12 for twenty-four to forty-eight hours. Instead, he called out the National Guard and cordoned off the area around Piedmont for a radius of one hundred miles. And he waited.
1765
1766  
1767
1768  
1769
1770  
1771  9. Flatrock
1772
1773  MARK WILLIAM HALL, M.D., SAT IN THE TIGHT rear seat of the F- 104 fighter and stared over the top of the rubber oxygen mask at the file on his knees. Leavitt had given it to him just before takeoff-- a heavy, thick wad of paper bound in gray cardboard. Hall was supposed to read it during the flight, but the F-104 was not made for reading; there was barely enough room in front of him to hold his
1774
1775  I hands clenched together, let alone open a file and read.
1776
1777  Yet Hall was reading it.
1778
1779  On the cover of the file was stenciled WILDFIRE, and underneath, an ominous note:
1780
1781  THIS FILE IS CLASSIFIED TOP SECRET. 
1782
1783  Examination by unauthorized persons is a criminal offense punishable by fines and imprisonment up to 20 years and $20,000.
1784
1785  When Leavitt gave him the file, Hall had read the note and whistled.
1786
1787  "Don't you believe it," Leavitt said.
1788
1789  "Just a scare?"
1790
1791  "Scare, hell," Leavitt said. "If the wrong man reads this file, he just disappears."
1792
1793  "Nice."
1794
1795  "Read it," Leavitt said, "and you'll see why."
1796
1797  The plane flight had taken an hour and forty minutes, cruising in eerie, perfect silence at 1.8 times the speed of sound. Hall had skimmed through most of the file; reading it, he had found, was impossible. Much of its bulk of 274 pages consisted of cross-references and interservice notations, none of which he could understand. The first page was as bad as any of them:
1798
1799  THIS IS PAGE 1 OF 274 PAGES
1800
1801  PROJECT: WILDFIRE 
1802
1803  AUTHORITY: NASA/AMC
1804
1805  CLASSIFICATION: TOP SECRET (NTK BASIS)
1806
1807  PRIORITY: NATIONAL (DX)
1808
1809  SUBJECT: Initiation of high-security facility to prevent dispersion of toxic extraterrestrial agents.
1810
1811  CROSSFILE: Project CLEAN, Project ZERO CONTAMINANTS, Project CAUTERY
1812
1813  SUMMARY OF FILE CONTENTS:
1814
1815  By executive order, construction of a facility initiated January 1965. Planning stage March 1965. Consultants Fort Detrick and General Dynamics (EBD) July 1965. Recommendation for multistory facility in isolated location for investigation of possible or probable contaminatory agents. Specifications reviewed August 1965. Approval with revision same date. Final drafts drawn and filed AMC under WILDFIRE (copies Detrick, Hawkins). Choice of site northeast Montana, reviewed August 1965. Choice of site southwest Arizona, reviewed August 1965. Choice of site northwest Nevada, reviewed September 1965. Nevada site approved October 1965.
1816
1817  Construction completed July 1966. Funding NASA, AMC, DEFENSE (unaccountable reserves). Congressional appropriation for maintenance and personnel under same.
1818
1819  Major alterations: Millipore filters, see page 74. Self-destruct capacity (nuclear), page 88. Ultraviolet irradiators removed, see page 81. Single Man Hypothesis (Odd Man Hypothesis), page 255.
1820
1821  PERSONNEL SUMMARIES HAVE BEEN ELIMINATED FROM THIS FILE. PERSONNEL MAY BE FOUND IN AMC (WILDFIRE) FILES ONLY.
1822
1823  The second page listed the basic parameters of the system, as laid down by the original Wildfire planning group. This specified the most important concept of the installation, namely that it would consist of roughly similar, descending levels, all underground. Each would be more sterile than the one above.
1824
1825  THIS IS PAGE 2 OF 274 PAGES
1826
1827  PROJECT: WILDFIRE
1828
1829  PRIMARY PARAMETERS
1830
1831  1. THERE ARE TO BE FIVE STAGES:
1832
1833  Stage 1: Non-decontaminated, but clean. Approximates sterility of hospital operating room or NASA clean room. No time delay of entrance.
1834
1835  Stage II: Minimal sterilization procedures: hexachlorophene and methitol bath, not requiring total immersion. One-hour delay with clothing change.
1836
1837  Stage III: Moderate sterilization procedures: total-immersion bath, UV irradiation, followed by two-hour delay for preliminary testing. Afebrile infections of UR and GU tracts permitted to pass. Viral symptomatology permitted to pass.
1838
1839  Stage IV: Maximal sterilization procedures: total immersion in four baths of biocaine, monochlorophin, xantholysin, and prophyne with intermediate thirty-minute UV and IR irradiation. All infection hafted at this stage on basis of symptomatology or clinical signs. Routine screening of all personnel. Six-hour delay.
1840
1841  Stage V: Redundant sterilization procedures: no further immersions or testing, but destruct clothing x2 per day. Prophylactic antibiotics for forty-eight hours. Daily screen for superinfection, first eight days.
1842
1843  2. EACH STAGE INCLUDES:
1844
1845  1. Resting quarters, individual
1846
1847  2. Recreation quarters, including movie and game room
1848
1849  3. Cafeteria, automatic
1850
1851  4. Library, with main journals transmitted by Xerox or TV from main library Level 1.
1852
1853  5. Shelter, a high-security antimicrobial complex with safety in event of level contamination.
1854
1855  6. Laboratories:
1856
1857  a) biochemistry, with all necessary equipment for automatic amino-acid analysis, sequence determination, O/R potentials, lipid and carbohydrate determinations on human, animal, other subjects.
1858
1859  b) pathology, with EM, phase and LM, microtomes and curing rooms. Five full-time technicians each level. One autopsy room. One room for experimental animals.
1860
1861  c) microbiology, with all facilities for growth, nutrient, analytic, immunologic studies. Subsections bacterial, viral, parasitic, other.
1862
1863  d) pharmacology, with material for dose-relation and receptor site specificity studies of known compounds. Pharmacy to include drugs as noted in appendix.
1864
1865  e) main room, experimental animals. 75 genetically pure strains of mice; 27 of rat; 17 of cat; 12 of dog; 8 of primate.
1866
1867  f) nonspecific room for previously unplanned experiments. 
1868
1869  7. Surgery: for care and treatment of staff, including operating room facilities for acute emergencies.
1870
1871  8. Communications: for contact with other levels by audiovisual and other means.
1872
1873  COUNT YOUR PAGES
1874
1875  REPORT ANY MISSING PAGES AT ONCE
1876
1877  COUNT YOUR PAGES
1878
1879  As Hall continued to read, he found that only on Level 1, the topmost floor, would there be a large computer complex for data analysis, but that this computer would serve all other levels on a time-sharing basis. This was considered feasible since, for biologic problems, real time was unimportant in relation to computer time, and multiple problems could be fed and handled at once.
1880
1881  He was leafing through the rest of the file, looking for the part that interested him-- the Odd Man Hypothesis-- when he came upon a page that was rather unusual.
1882
1883  THIS IS PAGE 255 OF 274 PAGES
1884
1885  BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE THIS PAGE FROM A HIGH-SECURITY FILE HAS BEEN DELETED
1886
1887  THE PAGE IS NUMBER: two hundred fifty-five/255
1888
1889  THE FILE IS CODED: Wildfire
1890
1891  THE SUBJECT MATTER DELETED IS: Odd Man Hypothesis
1892
1893  PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS CONSTITUTES A LEGAL DELETION FROM THE FILE WHICH NEED NOT BE REPORTED BY THE READER.
1894
1895  MACHINE SCORE REVIEW BELOW
1896
1897  Hall was frowning at the page, wondering what it meant, when the pilot said, "Dr. Hall?"
1898
1899  "Yes."
1900
1901  "We have just passed the last checkpoint, Sir. We will touch down in four minutes."
1902
1903  "All right." Hall paused. "Do you know where, exactly, we are landing?"
1904
1905  "I believe," said the pilot, "that it is Flatrock, Nevada."
1906
1907  "I see," Hall said.
1908
1909  A few minutes later, the flaps went down, and he heard a whine as the airplane slowed.
1910
1911  ***
1912
1913  Nevada was the ideal site for Wildfire. The Silver State ranks seventh in size, but forty-ninth in population; it is the least-dense state in the Union after Alaska. Particularly when one considers that 85 per cent of the state's 440,000 people live in Las Vegas, Reno, or Carson City, the population density of 1.2 persons per square mile seems well suited for projects such as Wildfire, and indeed many have been located there.
1914
1915  Along with the famous atomic site at Vinton Flats, there is the Ultra-Energy Test Station at Martindale, and the Air Force Medivator Unit near Los Gados. Most of these facilities are in the southern triangle of the state, having been located there in the days before Las Vegas swelled to receive twenty million visitors a year. More recently, government test stations have been located in the northwest corner of Nevada, which is still relatively isolated. Pentagon classified lists include five new installations in that area; the nature of each is unknown.
1916
1917  
1918
1919  
1920
1921  
1922
1923  10. Stage I
1924
1925  HALL LANDED SHORTLY AFTER NOON, THE hottest part of the day. The sun beat down from a pale, cloudless sky and the airfield asphalt was soft under his feet as he walked from the airplane to the small quonset hut at the edge of the runway. Feeling his feet sink into the surface, Hall thought that the airfield must have been designed primarily for night use; at night it would be cold, the asphalt solid.
1926
1927  The quonset hut was cooled by two massive, grumbling air conditioners. It was furnished sparsely: a card table in one corner, at which two pilots sat, playing poker and drinking coffee. A guard in the corner was making a telephone call; he had a machine gun slung over his shoulder. He did not look up as Hall entered.
1928
1929  There was a coffee machine near the telephone. Hall went over with his pilot and they each poured a cup. Hall took a sip and said, "Where's the town, anyway? I didn't see it as we were coming in."
1930
1931  "Don't know, Sir." 
1932
1933  "Have you been here before?"
1934
1935  "No Sir. It's not on the standard runs."
1936
1937  "Well, what exactly does this airfield serve?"
1938
1939  At that moment, Leavitt strode in and beckoned to Hall. The bacteriologist led him through the back of the quonset and then out into the heat again, to a light-blue Falcon sedan parked in the rear. There were no identifying marks of any kind on the car; there was no driver. Leavitt slipped behind the wheel and motioned for Hall to get in.
1940
1941  As Leavitt put the car in gear, Hall said, "I guess we don't rate any more."
1942
1943  "Oh yes. We rate. But drivers aren't used out here. In fact, we don't use any more personnel than we have to. The number of wagging tongues is kept to a minimum." 
1944
1945  They set off across desolate, hilly countryside. In the distance were blue mountains, shimmering in the liquid heat of the desert. The road was pock-marked and dusty; it looked as if it hadn't been used for years.
1946
1947  Hall mentioned this.
1948
1949  "Deceptive," Leavitt said. "We took great pains about it. We spent nearly five thousand dollars on this road."
1950
1951  "Why?"
1952
1953  Leavitt shrugged. "Had to get rid of the tractor treadmarks. A hell of a lot of heavy equipment has moved over these roads, at one time or another. Wouldn't want anyone to wonder why."
1954
1955  "Speaking of caution," Hall said after a pause, "I was reading in the file. Something about an atomic self-destruct device."
1956
1957  "What about it?"
1958
1959  "It exists?"
1960
1961  "It exists."
1962
1963  Installation of the device had been a major stumbling block in the early plans for Wildfire. Stone and the others had insisted that they retain control over the detonate/no detonate decision; the AEC and the Executive branch had been reluctant. No atomic device had been put in private hands before. Stone argued that in the event of a leak in the Wildfire lab, there might not be time to consult with Washington and get a Presidential detonate order. It was a long time before the President agreed that this might be true.
1964
1965  "I was reading," Hall said, "that this device is somehow connected with the Odd Man Hypothesis."
1966
1967  "It is."
1968
1969  "How? The page on Odd Man was taken from my file."
1970
1971  "I know," Leavitt said. "We'll talk about it later."
1972
1973  ***
1974
1975  The Falcon turned off the potted road onto a dirt track. The sedan raised a heavy cloud of dust, and despite the heat, they were forced to roll up the windows. Hall lit a cigarette.
1976
1977  "That'll be your last," Leavitt said.
1978
1979  "I know. Let me enjoy it."
1980
1981  On their fight, they passed a sign that said GOVERNMENT PROPERTY KEEP OFF, but there was no fence, no guard, no dogs-- just a battered, weather-beaten sign.
1982
1983  "Great security measures," Hall said.
1984
1985  "We try not to arouse suspicion. The security is better than it looks."
1986
1987  They proceeded another mile, bouncing along the dirt rut, and then came over a hill. Suddenly Hall saw a large, fenced circle perhaps a hundred yards in diameter. The fence, he noticed, was ten feet high and sturdy; at intervals it was laced with barbed wire. Inside was a utilitarian wooden building, and a field of corn.
1988
1989  "Com?" Hall said.
1990
1991  "Rather clever, I think."
1992
1993  They came to the entrance gate. A man in dungarees and a T-shirt came out and opened it for them; he held a sandwich in one hand and was chewing vigorously as he unlocked the gate. He winked and smiled and waved them through, still chewing. The sign by the gate said:
1994
1995  GOVERNMENT PROPERTY 
1996
1997  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
1998
1999  DESERT RECLAMATION TEST STATION
2000
2001  Leavitt drove through the gates and parked by the wooden building. He left the keys on the dashboard and got out. Hall followed him.
2002
2003  "Now what?"
2004
2005  "Inside," Leavitt said. They entered the building, coming directly into a small room. A man in a Stetson hat, checked sport shirt, and string tie sat at a rickety desk. He was reading a newspaper and, like the man at the gate, eating his lunch. He looked up and smiled pleasantly.
2006
2007  "Howdy," he said.
2008
2009  "Hello," Leavitt said.
2010
2011  "Help you folks?"
2012
2013  "Just passing through," Leavitt said. "On the way to Rome."
2014
2015  The man nodded. "Have you got the time?"
2016
2017  "My watch stopped yesterday," Leavitt said.
2018
2019  "Durn shame," the man said.
2020
2021  "It's because of the heat."
2022
2023  The ritual completed, the man nodded again. And they walked past him, out of the anteroom and down a corridor. The doors had hand-printed labels: "Seedling Incubation"; "Moisture Control"; "Soil Analysis." A half-dozen people were at work in the building, all of them dressed casually, but all of them apparently busy.
2024
2025  "This is a real agricultural station," Leavitt said. "If necessary, that man at the desk could give you a guided tour, explaining the purpose of the station and the experiments that are going on. Mostly they are attempting to develop a strain of corn that can grow in low-moisture, high-alkalinity soil.
2026
2027  "And the Wildfire installation?"
2028
2029  "Here," Leavitt said. He opened a door marked "Storage" and they found themselves staring at a narrow cubicle lined with rakes and hoes and watering hoses.
2030
2031  "Step in," Leavitt said.
2032
2033  Hall did. Leavitt followed and closed the door behind him. Hall felt the floor sink and they began to descend, rakes and hoses and all.
2034
2035  In a moment, he found himself in a modern, bare room, lighted by banks of cold overhead fluorescent lights. The walls were painted red. The only object in the room was a rectangular, waist-high box that reminded Hall of a podium. It had a glowing green glass top.
2036
2037  "Step up to the analyzer," Leavitt said. "Place your hands flat on the glass, palms down." 
2038
2039  Hall did. He felt a faint tingling in his fingers, and then the machine gave a buzz.
2040
2041  "All right. Step back." Leavitt placed his hands on the box, waited for the buzz, and then said, "Now we go over here. You mentioned the security arrangements; I'll show them to you before we enter Wildfire." 
2042
2043  He nodded to a door across the room.
2044
2045  "What was that thing?"
2046
2047  "Finger and palm-print analyzer," Leavitt said. "It is fully automatic. Reads a composite of ten thousand dermatographic lines so it can't make a mistake; in its storage banks it has a record of the prints of everyone cleared to enter Wildfire." 
2048
2049  Leavitt pushed through the door.
2050
2051  They were faced with another door, marked SECURITY, which slid back noiselessly. They entered a darkened room in which a single man sat before banks of green dials.
2052
2053  "Hello, John," Leavitt said to the man. "How are you?"
2054
2055  "Good, Dr. Leavitt. Saw you come in."
2056
2057  Leavitt introduced Hall to the security man, who then demonstrated the equipment to Hall. There were, the man explained, two radar scanners located in the hills overlooking the installation; they were well concealed but quite effective. Then closer in, impedance sensors were buried in the ground; they signaled the approach of any animal life weighing more than one hundred pounds. The sensors ringed the base.
2058
2059  "We've never missed anything yet," the man said. "And if we do . . . " He shrugged. To Leavitt: "Going to show him the dogs?"
2060
2061  "Yes," Leavitt said.
2062
2063  They walked through into an adjoining room. There were nine large cages there, and the room smelled strongly of animals. Hall found himself looking at nine of the largest German shepherds he had ever seen.
2064
2065  They barked at him as he entered, but there was no sound in the room. He watched in astonishment as they opened their mouths and threw their heads forward in a barking motion.
2066
2067  No sound.
2068
2069  "These are Army-trained sentry dogs," the security man said. "Bred for viciousness. You wear leather clothes and heavy gloves when you walk them. They've undergone laryngectomies, which is why you can't hear them. Silent and vicious." 
2070
2071  Hall said, "Have you ever, uh, used them?"
2072
2073  "No," the security man said. "Fortunately not."
2074
2075  ***
2076
2077  They were in a small room with lockers. Hall found one with his name on it.
2078
2079  "We change in here," Leavitt said. He nodded to a stack of pink uniforms in one corner. "Put those on, after you have removed everything you are wearing."
2080
2081  Hall changed quickly. The uniforms were loose-fitting one-piece suits that zipped up the side. When they had changed they proceeded down a passageway.
2082
2083  Suddenly an alarm sounded and a gate in front of them slid closed abruptly. Overhead, a white light began to flash. Hall was confused, and it was only much later that he remembered Leavitt looked away from the flashing light.
2084
2085  "Something's wrong," Leavitt said. "Did you remove everything?"
2086
2087  "Yes," Hall said.
2088
2089  "Rings, watch, everything?"
2090
2091  Hall looked at his hands. He still had his watch on.
2092
2093  "Go back," Leavitt said. "Put it in your locker."
2094
2095  Hall did. When he came back, they started down the corridor a second time. The gate remained open, and there was no alarm.
2096
2097  "Automatic as well?" Hall said.
2098
2099  "Yes," Leavitt said. "It picks up any foreign object. When we installed it, we were worried because we knew it would pick up glass eyes, cardiac pacemakers, false teeth-- anything at all. But fortunately nobody on the project has these things."
2100
2101  "Fillings?"
2102
2103  "It is programmed to ignore fillings."
2104
2105  "How does it work?"
2106
2107  "Some kind of capacitance phenomenon. I don't really understand it," Leavitt said.
2108
2109  They passed a sign that said:
2110
2111  YOU ARE NOW ENTERING LEVEL I -- PROCEED DIRECTLY TO IMMUNIZATION CONTROL
2112
2113  Hall noticed that all the walls were red. He mentioned this to Leavitt.
2114
2115  "Yes," Leavitt said. "All levels are painted a different color. Level I is red; II, yellow; III, white; IV, green; and V, blue."
2116
2117  "Any particular reason for the choice?"
2118
2119  "It seems," Leavitt said, "that the Navy sponsored some studies a few years back on the psychological effects of colored environments. Those studies have been applied here."
2120
2121  They came to Immunization. A door slid back revealing three glass booths. Leavitt said, "Just sit down in one of them." 
2122
2123  "I suppose this is automatic, too?"
2124
2125  "Of course."
2126
2127  Hall entered a booth and closed the door behind him. There was a couch, and a mass of complex equipment. In front of the couch was a television screen, which showed several lighted points.
2128
2129  "Sit down," said a flat mechanical voice. Sit down. Sit down." 
2130
2131  He sat on the couch.
2132
2133  "Observe the screen before you. Place your body on the couch so that all points are obliterated." 
2134
2135  He looked at the screen. He now saw that the points were arranged in the shape of a man.
2136
2137  He shifted his body, and one by one the spots disappeared. "Very good," said the voice. "We may now proceed. State your name for the record. Last name first, first name last." 
2138
2139  "Mark Hall," he said.
2140
2141  "State your name for the record. Last name first, first name last."
2142
2143  Simultaneously, on the screen appeared the words:
2144
2145  SUBJECT HAS GIVEN UNCODABLE RESPONSE
2146
2147  "Hall, Mark."
2148
2149  "Thank you for your cooperation, " said the voice. "Please recite, 'Mary had a little lamb.' "
2150
2151  "You're kidding," Hall said.
2152
2153  There was a pause, and the faint sound of relays and circuits clicking. The screen again showed:
2154
2155  SUBJECT HAS GIVEN UNCODABLE RESPONSE
2156
2157  "Please recite."
2158
2159  Feeling rather foolish, Hall said, "Mary had a little lamb, her fleece was white as snow, and everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go."
2160
2161  Another pause. Then the voice: "Thank you for your cooperation. " And the screen said:
2162
2163  ANALYZER CONFIRMS IDENTITY 
2164
2165  HALL, MARK
2166
2167  "Please listen closely," said the mechanical voice. "You will answer the following questions with a yes or no reply. Make no other response. Have you received a smallpox vaccination within the last twelve months?"
2168
2169  "Yes."
2170
2171  "Diphtheria?" 
2172
2173  "Yes." 
2174
2175  "Typhoid and paratyphoid A and B?"
2176
2177  "Yes."
2178
2179  "Tetanus toxoid?"
2180
2181  "Yes."
2182
2183  "Yellow fever?"
2184
2185  "Yes, yes, yes. I had them all."
2186
2187  "Just answer the question please. Uncooperative subjects waste valuable computer time."
2188
2189  "Yes," Hall said, subdued. When he had joined the Wildfire team, he had undergone immunizations for everything imaginable, even plague and cholera, which had to be renewed every six months, and gamma-globulin shots for viral infection.
2190
2191  "Have you ever contracted tuberculosis or other mycobacterial disease, or had a positive skin test for tuberculosis?
2192
2193  "No." 
2194
2195  "Have you ever contracted syphilis or other spirochetal disease, or had a positive serological test for syphilis?"
2196
2197  "No." 
2198
2199  "Have you contracted within the past year any gram-positive bacterial infection, such as streptococcus, staphylococcus, or pneumococcus?"
2200
2201  "No."
2202
2203  "Any gram-negative infection, such as gonococcus, meningeococcus, proteus, pseudomonas, salmonella, or shigella?"
2204
2205  "No."
2206
2207  "Have you contracted any recent or past fungal infection, including blastomycosis, histoplasmosis, or coccidiomycosis, or had a positive skin test for any fungal disease?"
2208
2209  "No." 
2210
2211  "Have you had any recent viral infection, including poliomyelitis, hepatitis, mononucleosis, mumps, measles, varicella, or herpes?"
2212
2213  "No." 
2214
2215  "Any warts?"
2216
2217  "No." 
2218
2219  "Have you any known allergies?"
2220
2221  "Yes, to ragweed pollen."
2222
2223  On the screen appeared the words:
2224
2225  ROGEEN PALEN
2226
2227  And then after a moment:
2228
2229  UNCODABLE RESPONSE
2230
2231  "Please repeat your response slowly for our memory cells." Very distinctly, he said, "Ragweed pollen." On the screen:
2232
2233  RAGWEED POLLEN    
2234
2235  CODED
2236
2237  "Are you allergic to albumen?" continued the voice.
2238
2239  "No."
2240
2241  "This ends the formal questions. Please undress and return to the couch, obliterating the points as before." 
2242
2243  He did so. A moment later, an ultraviolet lamp swung out on a long arm and moved close to his body. Next to the lamp was some kind of scanning eye. Watching the screen he could see the computer print of the scan, beginning with his feet.
2244
2245  [graphic of a foot]
2246
2247  "This is a scan for fungus," the voice announced. After several minutes, Hall was ordered to lie on his stomach, and the process was repeated. He was then told to lie on his back once more and align himself with the dots.
2248
2249  "Physical parameters will now be measured," the voice said. "You are requested to lie quietly while the examination is conducted." 
2250
2251  A variety of leads snaked out at him and were attached by mechanical hands to his body. Some he could understand the half-dozen leads over his chest for an electrocardiogram, and twenty-one on his head for an electroencephalogram. But others were fixed on his stomach, his arms, and his legs.
2252
2253  "Please raise your left hand," said the voice.
2254
2255  Hall did. From above, a mechanical hand came down, with an electric eye fixed on either side of it. The mechanical hand examined Hall's.
2256
2257  "Place your hand on the board to the left. Do not move. You will feel a slight prick as the intravenous needle is inserted." 
2258
2259  Hall looked over at the screen. It flashed a color image of his hand, with the veins showing in a pattern of green against a blue background. Obviously the machine worked by sensing heat. He was about to protest when he felt a brief sting.
2260
2261  He looked back. The needle was in.
2262
2263  "Now then, just lie quietly. Relax."
2264
2265  For fifteen seconds, the machinery whirred and clattered. Then the leads were withdrawn. The mechanical hands placed a neat Band-Aid over the intravenous puncture.
2266
2267  "This completes your physical parameters," the voice said.
2268
2269  "Can I get dressed now?"
2270
2271  "Please sit up with your right shoulder facing the television screen. You will receive pneumatic injections."
2272
2273  A gun with a thick cable came out of one wall, pressed up against the skin of his shoulder, and fired. There was a hissing sound and a brief pain.
2274
2275  "Now you may dress," said the voice. "Be advised that you may feel dizzy for a few hours. You have received booster immunizations and gamma G. If you feel dizzy, sit down. If you suffer systemic effects such as nausea, vomiting, or fever, report at once to Level Control. Is that clear?"
2276
2277  "Yes."
2278
2279  "The exit is to your right. Thank you for your cooperation. This recording is now ended."
2280
2281  ***
2282
2283  Hall walked with Leavitt down a long red corridor. His arm ached from the injection.
2284
2285  "That machine," Hall said. "You'd better not let the AMA find out about it."
2286
2287  "We haven't," Leavitt said.
2288
2289  In fact, the electronic body analyzer had been developed by Sandeman Industries in 1965, under a general government contract to produce body monitors for astronauts in space. It was understood by the government at that time that such a device, though expensive at a cost of $87,000 each, would eventually replace the human physician as a diagnostic instrument. The difficulties, for both doctor and patient, of adjusting to this new machine were recognized by everyone. The government did not plan to release the EBA until 1971 and then only to certain large hospital facilities.
2290
2291  Walking along the corridor, Hall noticed that the walls were slightly curved.
2292
2293  "Where exactly are we?"
2294
2295  "On the perimeter of Level 1. To our left are all the laboratories. To the right is nothing but solid rock."
2296
2297  Several people were walking in the corridor. Everyone wore pink jumpsuits. They all seemed serious and busy.
2298
2299  "Where are the others on the team?" Hall said.
2300
2301  "Right here," Leavitt said. He opened a door marked CONFERENCE 7, and they entered a room with a large hardwood table. Stone was there, standing stiffly erect and alert, as if he had just taken a cold shower. Alongside him, Burton, the pathologist, somehow appeared sloppy and confused, and there was a kind of tired fright in his eyes.
2302
2303  They all exchanged greetings and sat down. Stone reached into his pocket and removed two keys. One was silver, the other red. The red one had a chain attached to it. He gave it to Hall.
2304
2305  "Put it around your neck, " he said.
2306
2307  Hall looked at it. "What's this?"
2308
2309  Leavitt said, "I'm afraid Mark is still unclear about the Odd Man."
2310
2311  "I thought that he would read it on the plane."
2312
2313  "His file was edited."
2314
2315  "I see." Stone turned to Hall. "You know nothing about the Odd Man?"
2316
2317  "Nothing," Hall said, frowning at the key.
2318
2319  "Nobody told you that a major factor in your selection to the team was your single status?"
2320
2321  "What does that have to do--"
2322
2323  "The fact of the matter is," Stone said, "that you are the Odd Man. You are the key to all this. Quite literally." 
2324
2325  He took his own key and walked to a corner of the room. He pushed a hidden button and the wood paneling slid away to reveal a burnished metal console. He inserted his key into a lock and twisted it. A green light on the console flashed on; he stepped back. The paneling slid into place.
2326
2327  "At the lowest level of this laboratory is an automatic atomic self-destruct device," Stone said. "It is controlled from within the laboratory. I have just inserted my key and armed the mechanism. The device is ready for detonation. The key on this level cannot be removed; it is now locked in place. Your key, on the other hand, can be inserted and removed again. There is a three-minute delay between the time detonation locks in and the time the bomb goes off. That period is to provide you time to think, and perhaps call it all off." 
2328
2329  Hall was still frowning. "But why me?"
2330
2331  "Because you are single. We have to have one unmarried man." 
2332
2333  Stone opened a briefcase and withdrew a file. He gave it to Hall. "Read that."
2334
2335  It was a Wildfire file.
2336
2337  "Page 255," Stone said.
2338
2339  Hall turned to it.
2340
2341  Project: Wildfire
2342
2343  ALTERATIONS
2344
2345  1. Millipore(R) Filters, insertion into ventilatory system. Initial spec filters unilayer styrilene, with maximal efficiency of 97.4% trapping. Replaced in 1966 when Upjohn developed filters capable of trapping organisms of size up to one micron. Trapping at 90% efficiency per leaf, causing triple-layered membrance to give results of 99.9%. Infective ratio of .1% remainder too low to be harmful. Cost factor of four or five-layered membrance removing all but .001% considered prohibitive for added gain. Tolerance parameter of 1/1,000 considered sufficient. Installation completed 8/12/66.
2346
2347  2. Atomic Self-Destruct Device, change in detonator close-gap timers. See AEC/Def file 77-12-0918.
2348
2349  3. Atomic Self-Destruct Device, revision of core maintenance schedules for K technicians, see AEC/Warburg file 77-14-0004.
2350
2351  4. Atomic Self-Destruct Device, final command decision change. See AEC/Def file 77-14-0023. SUMMARY APPENDED.
2352
2353  SUMMARY OF ODD MAN HYPOTHESIS: First tested as null hypothesis by Wildfire advisory committee. Grew out of tests conducted by USAF (NORAD) to determine reliability of commanders in making life/death decisions. Tests involved decisions in ten scenario contexts, with prestructured alternatives drawn up by Walter Reed Psychiatric Division, after n-order test analysis by biostatistics unit, NIH, Bethesda.
2354
2355  Test given to SAC pilots and groundcrews, NORAD workers, and others involved in decision-making or positive-action capacity. Ten scenarios drawn up by Hudson Institute; subjects required-- to make YES/NO decision in each case. Decisions always involved thermonuclear or chem-biol destruction of enemy targets.
2356
2357  Data on 7420 subjects tested by H,H, program for multifactorial analysis of variance; later test by ANOVAR program; final discrimination by CLASSIF program. NIH biostat summarizes this program as follows:
2358
2359  It is the object of this program to determine the effectiveness of assigning individuals to distinct groups on the basis of scores which can be quantified. The program produces group contours and probability of classification for individuals as a control of data.
2360
2361  Program prints: mean scores for groups, contour confidence limits, and scores of individual test subjects.
2362
2363  K.G. Borgrand, Ph.D. NIH
2364
2365  RESULTS OF ODD MAN STUDY: The study concluded that married individuals performed differently from single individuals on several parameters of the test. Hudson Institute provided mean answers, i.e. theoretical "right" decisions, made by computer on basis of data given in scenario. Conformance of study groups to these right answers produced an index of effectiveness, a measure of the extent to which correct decisions were made.
2366
2367  Group: Index of Effectiveness
2368
2369  Married males: .343
2370
2371  Married females: .399
2372
2373  Single females: .402
2374
2375  Single males: .824
2376
2377  
2378  The data indicate that married men choose the correct decision only once in three times, while single men choose correctly four out of five times. The group of single males was then broken down further, in search of highly accurate subgroups within that classification. Results of special testing confirm the Odd Man Hypothesis, that an unmarried male should carry out command decisions involving thermonuclear or chem-biol destruct contexts.
2379
2380  Single males, total: .824
2381
2382  Military:
2383
2384  commissioned officer: .655
2385
2386  noncommissioned officer: .624
2387
2388  Technical:
2389
2390  engineers: .877
2391
2392  ground crews: .901
2393
2394  Service:
2395
2396  maintenance and utility: .758
2397
2398  Professional:
2399
2400  Scientists: .946
2401
2402  
2403  These results concerning the relative skill of decision-making individuals should not be interpreted hastily.  Although it would appear that janitors are better decision makers than generals, the situation is in reality more complex.  PRINTED SCORES ARE SUMMATIONS OF TEST AND INDIVIDUAL VARIATIONS. DATA MUST BE INTERPRETED WITH THIS IN MIND. Failure to do so may lead to totally erroneous and dangerous assumptions.
2404
2405  Application of study to Wildfire command personnel conducted at request of AEC at time of implantation of self-destruct nuclear capacity.  Test given to all Wildfire personnel; results filed under CLASSIF WILDFIRE: GENERAL PERSONNEL (see ref. 77-14-0023).  Special testing for command group.
2406
2407  
2408  Name: Index of Effectiveness
2409
2410  Burton: .543
2411
2412  Leavitt: .601
2413
2414  Kirke: .614
2415
2416  Stone: .687
2417
2418  Hall: .899
2419
2420  Results of special testing confirm the Odd Man Hypothesis, that an unmarried male should carry out command decisions involving thermonuclear or chem-biol destruct contexts.
2421  
2422  When Hall had finished reading, he said, "It's crazy."
2423
2424  "Nonetheless," Stone said, "it was the only way we could get the government to put control of the weapon in our hands.
2425
2426  "You really expect me to put in my key, and fire that thing?"
2427
2428  "I'm afraid you don't understand," Stone said. "The detonation mechanism is automatic. Should breakthrough of the organism occur, with contamination of all Level V, detonation will take place within three minutes unless you lock in your key, and call it off."
2429
2430  "Oh," Hall said, in a quiet voice.
2431
2432  
2433
2434  
2435
2436  
2437
2438  11. Decontamination
2439
2440  A BELL RANG SOMEWHERE ON THE LEVEL; STONE glanced up at the wall clock. It was late. He began the formal briefing, talking rapidly, pacing up and down the room, hands moving constantly.
2441
2442  "As you know," he said, "we are on the top level of a five-story underground structure. According to protocol it will take us nearly twenty-four hours to descend through the sterilization and decontamination procedures to the lowest level. Therefore we must begin immediately. The capsule is already on its way."
2443
2444  He pressed a button on a console at the head of the table, and a television screen glowed to life, showing the coneshaped satellite in a plastic bag, making its descent. It was being cradled by mechanical hands.
2445
2446  "The central core of this circular building," Stone said, "contains elevators and service units-- plumbing, wiring, that sort of thing. That is where you see the capsule now. It will be deposited shortly in a maximum-sterilization assembly on the lowest level."
2447
2448  He went on to explain that he had brought back two other surprises from Piedmont. The screen shifted to show Peter Jackson, lying on a litter, with intravenous lines running into both arms.
2449
2450  "This man apparently survived the night. He was the one walking around when the planes flew over, and he was still alive this morning." 
2451
2452  "What's his status now?"
2453
2454  "Uncertain," Stone said. "He is unconscious, and he was vomiting blood earlier today. We've started intravenous dextrose to keep him fed and hydrated until we can get down to the bottom."
2455
2456  Stone flicked a button and the screen showed the baby. It was howling, strapped down to a tiny bed. An intravenous bottle was running into a vein in the scalp.
2457
2458  "This little fellow also survived last night," Stone said. "So we brought him along. We couldn't really leave him, since a Directive 7-12 was being called. The town is now destroyed by a nuclear blast. Besides, he and Jackson are living clues which may help us unravel this mess."
2459
2460  Then, for the benefit of Hall and Leavitt, the two men disclosed what they had seen and learned at Piedmont. They reviewed the findings of rapid death, the bizarre suicides, the clotted arteries and the lack of bleeding.
2461
2462  Hall listened in astonishment. Leavitt sat shaking his head.
2463
2464  When they were through, Stone said, "Questions?"
2465
2466  "None that won't keep," Leavitt said.
2467
2468  "Then let's get started," Stone said.
2469
2470  ***
2471
2472  They began at a door, which said in plain white letters: TO LEVEL II It was an innocuous, straightforward, almost mundane sign. Hall had expected something more-- perhaps a stern guard with a machine gun, or a sentry to check passes. But there was nothing, and he noticed that no one had badges, or clearance cards of any kind.
2473
2474  He mentioned this to Stone. "Yes," Stone said. "We decided against badges early on. They are easily contaminated and difficult to sterilize; usually they are plastic and high-heat sterilization melts them."
2475
2476  The four men passed through the door, which clanged shut heavily and sealed with a hissing sound. It was airtight. Hall faced a tiled room, empty except for a hamper marked I 'clothing." He unzipped his jumpsuit and dropped it into the hamper; there was a brief flash of light as it was incinerated.
2477
2478  Then, looking back, he saw that on the door through which he had come was a sign: "Return to Level I is NOT Possible Through this Access."
2479
2480  He shrugged. The other men were already moving through the second door, marked simply EXIT. He followed them and stepped into clouds of steam. The odor was peculiar, a faint woodsy smell that he guessed was scented disinfectant. He sat down on a bench and relaxed, allowing the steam to envelop him. It was easy enough to understand the purpose of the steam room: the heat opened the pores, and the steam would be inhaled into the lungs.
2481
2482  The four men waited, saying little, until their bodies were coated with a sheen of moisture, and then walked into the next room.
2483
2484  Leavitt said to Hall, "What do you think of this?"
2485
2486  "It's like a goddam Roman bath," Hall said.
2487
2488  The next room contained a shallow tub ("Immerse Feet ONLY") and a shower. ("Do not swallow shower solution. Avoid undue exposure to eyes and mucous membranes.") It was all very intimidating. He tried to guess what the solutions were by smell, but failed; the shower was slippery, though, which meant it was alkaline. He asked Leavitt about this, and Leavitt said the solution was alpha chlorophin at pH 7.7. Leavitt said that whenever possible, acidic and alkaline solutions were alternated.
2489
2490  "When you think about it," Leavitt said, "we've faced up to quite a planning problem here. How to disinfect the human body-- one of the dirtiest things in the known universe-- without killing the person at the same time. Interesting.
2491
2492  He wandered off. Dripping wet from the shower, Hall looked around for a towel but found none. He entered the next room and blowers turned on from the ceiling in a rush of hot air. From the sides of the room, UV lights clicked on, bathing the room in an intense purple light. He stood there until a buzzer sounded, and the dryers turned off. His skin tingled slightly as he entered the last room, which contained clothing. They were not jumpsuits, but rather like surgical uniforms-- light-yellow, a loose-fitting top with a V-neck and short sleeves; elastic banded pants; low rubber-soled shoes, quite comfortable, like ballet slippers.
2493
2494  The cloth was soft, some kind of synthetic. He dressed and stepped with the others through a door marked EXIT TO LEVEL II. He entered the elevator and waited as it descended.
2495
2496  Hall emerged to find himself in a corridor. The was here were painted yellow, not red as they had been on Level I. The people wore yellow uniforms. A nurse by the elevator said, "The time is 2:47 p.m., gentlemen. You may continue your descent in one hour." 
2497
2498  They went to a small room marked INTERIM CONFINEMENT. It contained a half-dozen couches with plastic disposable covers over them.
2499
2500  Stone said, "Better relax. Sleep if you can. We'll need all the rest we can get before Level V. " He walked over to Hall. "How did you find the decontamination procedure?"
2501
2502  "Interesting," Hall said. "You could sell it to the Swedes and make a fortune. But somehow I expected something more rigorous." 
2503
2504  "Just wait," Stone said. "It gets tougher as you go. Physicals on Levels III and IV. Afterward there will be a brief conference." 
2505
2506  Then Stone lay down on one of the couches and fell instantly asleep. It was a trick he had learned years before, when he had been conducting experiments around the clock. He learned to squeeze in an hour here, two hours there. He found it useful.
2507
2508  ***
2509
2510  The second decontamination procedure was similar to the first. Hall's yellow clothing, though he had worn it just an hour, was incinerated.
2511
2512  "Isn't that rather wasteful?" he asked Burton.
2513
2514  Burton shrugged. "It's paper."
2515
2516  "Paper? That cloth?"
2517
2518  Burton shook his head. "Not cloth. Paper. New process."
2519
2520  They stepped into the first total-immersion pool. Instructions on the wall told Hall to keep his eyes open under water. Total immersion, he soon discovered, was guaranteed by the simple device of making the connection between the first room and the second an underwater passage. Swimming through, he felt a slight burning of his eyes, but nothing bad.
2521
2522  The second room contained a row of six boxes, glass-walled, looking rather like telephone booths. Hall approached one and saw a sign that said, "Enter and close both eyes. Hold arms slightly away from body and stand with feet one foot apart. Do not open eyes until buzzer sounds. BLINDNESS MAY RESULT FROM EXPOSURE TO LONG-WAVE RADIATION." 
2523
2524  He followed the directions and felt a kind of cold heat on his body. It lasted perhaps five minutes, and then he heard the buzzer and opened his eyes. His body was dry. He followed the others to a corridor, consisting of four showers. Walking down the corridor, he passed beneath each shower in turn. At the end, he found blowers, which dried him, and then clothing. This time the clothing was white.
2525
2526  They dressed, and took the elevator down to Level III.
2527
2528  ***
2529
2530  There were four nurses waiting for them; one took Hall to an examining room. It turned out to be a two-hour physical examination, given not by a machine but by a blank-faced, thorough young man. Hall was annoyed, and thought to himself that he preferred the machine.
2531
2532  The doctor did everything, including a complete history birth, education, travel, family history, past hospitalizations and illnesses. And an equally complete physical. Hall became angry; it was all so damned unnecessary. But the doctor shrugged and kept saying, "It's routine."
2533
2534  After two hours, he rejoined the others, and proceeded to Level IV.
2535
2536  ***
2537
2538  Four total-immersion baths, three sequences of ultraviolet and infrared light, two of ultrasonic vibrations, and then something quite astonishing at the end. A steel-walled cubicle, with a helmet on a peg. The sign said, "This is an ultraflash apparatus. To protect head and facial hair, place metal helmet securely on head, then press button below." 
2539
2540  Hall had never heard of ultraflash, and he followed directions, not knowing what to expect. He placed the helmet over his head, then pressed the button.
2541
2542  There was a single, brief, dazzling burst of white light, followed by a wave of heat that filled the cubicle. He felt a moment of pain, so swift he hardly recognized it until it was over. Cautiously, he removed the helmet and looked at his body. His skin was covered with a fine, white ash-- and then he realized that the ash was his skin, or had been: the machine had burned away the outer epithelial layers. He proceeded to a shower and washed the ash off. When he finally reached the dressing room, he found green uniforms.
2543
2544  ***
2545
2546  Another physical. This time they wanted samples of everything: sputum, oral epithelium, blood, urine, stool. He submitted passively to the tests, examinations, questions. He was tired, and was beginning to feel disoriented. The repetitions, the new experiences, the colors on the walls, the same bland artificial light...
2547
2548  Finally, he was brought back to Stone and the others. Stone said, "We have six hours on this level-- that's protocol, waiting while they do the lab tests on us-- so we might as well sleep. Down the corridor are rooms, marked with your names. Further down is the cafeteria. We'll meet there in five hours for a conference. Right?"
2549
2550  Hall found his room, marked with a plastic door tag. He entered, surprised to find it quite large. He had been expecting something the size of a Pullman cubicle, but this was bigger and better-furnished. There was a bed, a chair, a small desk, and a computer console with built-in TV set. He was curious about the computer, but also very tired. He lay down on the bed and fell asleep quickly.
2551
2552  ***
2553
2554  Burton could not sleep. He lay in his bed on Level IV and stared at the ceiling, thinking. He could not get the image of that town out of his mind, or those bodies, lying in the street without bleeding...
2555
2556  Burton was not a hematologist, but his work had involved some blood studies. He knew that a variety of bacteria had effects on blood. His own research with staphylococcus, for example, had shown that this organism produced two enzymes that altered blood.
2557
2558  One was the so-called exotoxin, which destroyed skin and dissolved red cells. Another was a coagulase, which coated the bacteria with protein to inhibit destruction by white cells.
2559
2560  So it was possible that bacteria could alter blood. And it could do it many different ways: strep produced an enzyme, streptokinase, that dissolved coagulated plasma. Clostridia and pneumococci produced a variety of hemolysins that destroyed red cells. Malaria and amebae also destroyed red cells, by digesting them as food. Other parasites did the same thing.
2561
2562  So it was possible.
2563
2564  But it didn't help them in finding out how the Scoop organism worked.
2565
2566  Burton tried to recall the sequence for blood clotting. He remembered that it operated like a kind of waterfall: one enzyme was set off, and activated, which acted on a second enzyme, which acted on a third; the third on a fourth; and so on, down through twelve or thirteen steps, until finally blood clotted.
2567
2568  And vaguely he remembered the rest, the details: all the intermediate steps, the necessary enzymes, the metals, ions, local factors. It was horribly complex.
2569
2570  He shook his head and tried to sleep.
2571
2572  ***
2573
2574  Leavitt, the clinical microbiologist, was thinking through the steps in isolation and identification of the causative organism. He had been over it before; he was one of die original founders of the group, one of the men who developed the Life Analysis Protocol. But now, on the verge of putting that plan into effect, he had doubts.
2575
2576  Two years before, sitting around after lunch, talking speculatively, it had all seemed wonderful. It had been an amusing intellectual game then, a kind of abstract test of wits. But now, faced with a real agent that caused real and bizarre death, he wondered whether all their plans would prove to be so effective and so complete as they once thought.
2577
2578  The first steps were simple enough. They would examine the capsule minutely and culture everything onto growth media. They would be hoping like hell to come up with an organism that they could work with, experiment on, and identify.
2579
2580  And after that, attempt to find out how it attacked. There was already the suggestion that it killed by clotting the blood; if that turned out to be the case, they had a good start, but if not, they might waste valuable time following it up.
2581
2582  The example of cholera came to mind. For centuries, men had known that cholera was a fatal disease, and that it caused severe diarrhea, sometimes producing as much as thirty quarts of fluid a day. Men knew this, but they somehow assumed that the lethal effects of the disease were unrelated to the diarrhea; they searched for something else: an antidote, a drug, a way to kill the organism. It was not until modern times that cholera was recognized as a disease that killed through dehydration primarily; if you could replace a victim's water losses rapidly, he would survive the infection without other drugs or treatment.
2583
2584  Cure the symptoms, cure the disease.
2585
2586  But Leavitt wondered about the Scoop organism. Could they cure the disease by treating the blood clotting? Or was the clotting secondary to some more serious, disorder?
2587
2588  There was also another concern, a nagging fear that had bothered him since the earliest planning stages of Wildfire. In those early meetings, Leavitt had argued that the Wildfire team might be committing extraterrestrial murder.
2589
2590  Leavitt had pointed out that all men, no matter how scientifically objective, had several built-in biases when discussing life. One was the assumption that complex life was larger than simple life. It was certainly true on the earth. As organisms became more intelligent, they grew larger, passing from the single-celled stage to multicellular creatures, and then to larger animals with differentiated cells working in groups called organs. On earth, the trend had been toward larger and more complex animals.
2591
2592  But this might not be true elsewhere in the universe. In other places, life might progress in the opposite direction-- toward smaller and smaller forms. Just as modern human technology had learned to make things smaller, perhaps highly advanced evolutionary pressures led to smaller life forms. There were distinct advantages to smaller forms: less consumption of raw materials, cheaper spaceflight, fewer feeding problems...
2593
2594  Perhaps the most intelligent life form on a distant planet was no larger than a flea. Perhaps no larger than a bacterium. In that case, the Wildfire Project might be committed to destroying a highly developed life form, without ever realizing what it was doing.
2595
2596  This concept was not unique to Leavitt. It had been proposed by Merton at Harvard, and by Chalmers at Oxford. Chalmers, a man with a keen sense of humor, had used the example of a man looking down on a microscope slide and see in the bacteria formed into the words "Take us to your leader." Everyone thought Chalmers's idea highly amusing.
2597
2598  Yet Leavitt could not get it out of his mind. Because it just might turn out to be true.
2599
2600  ***
2601
2602  Before he fell asleep, Stone thought about the conference coming up. And the business of the meteorite. He wondered what Nagy would say, or Karp, if they knew about the meteorite.
2603
2604  Probably, he thought, it would drive them insane. Probably it will drive us all insane.
2605
2606  And then he slept.
2607
2608  ***
2609
2610  Delta sector was the designation of three rooms on Level I that contained all communications facilities for the Wildfire installation. All intercom and visual circuits between levels were routed through there, as were cables for telephone and teletype from the outside. The trunk lines to the library and the central storage unit were also regulated by delta sector.
2611
2612  In essence it functioned as a giant switchboard, fully computerized. The three rooms of delta sector were quiet; all that could be heard was the soft hum of spinning tape drums and the muted clicking of relays. Only one person worked here, a single man sitting at a console, surrounded by the blinking lights of the computer.
2613
2614  There was no real reason for the man to be there; he performed no necessary function. The computers were self-regulating, constructed to run check patterns through their circuits every twelve minutes; the computers shut down automatically if there was an abnormal reading.
2615
2616  According to protocol, the man was required to monitor MCN communications, which were signaled by the ringing of a bell on the teleprinter. When the bell rang, he notified the five level command centers that the transmission was received. He was also required to report any computer dysfunction to Level I command, should that unlikely event occur.
2617
2618  
2619
2620  
2621
2622  
2623
2624
2625
2626  DAY 3
2627
2628  Wildfire
2629
2630  
2631
2632
2633
2634  12. The Conference
2635
2636  
2637  "TIME TO WAKE UP, SIR."
2638
2639  Mark Hall opened his eyes. The room was lit with a steady, pale fluorescent light. He blinked and rolled over on his stomach.
2640
2641  "Time to wake up, Sir."
2642
2643  It was a beautiful female voice, soft and seductive. He sat up in bed and looked around the room: he was alone.
2644
2645  "Hello?"
2646
2647  "Time to wake up, Sir."
2648
2649  "Who are you?"
2650
2651  "Time to wake up, Sir."
2652
2653  He reached over and pushed a button on the nightstand by his bed. A light went off. He waited for the voice again, but it did not speak.
2654
2655  It was, he thought, a hell of an effective way to wake a man up. As he slipped into his clothes, he wondered how it worked. It was not a simple tape, because it worked as a response of some sort. The message was repeated only when Hall spoke.
2656
2657  To test his theory, he pushed the nightstand button again. The voice said softly, "Do you wish something, Sir?"
2658
2659  "I'd like to know your name, please."
2660
2661  "Will that be all, Sir?"
2662
2663  "Yes, I believe so."
2664
2665  "Will that be all, Sir?"
2666
2667  He waited. The light clicked off. He slipped into his shoes and was about to leave when a male voice said, "This is the answering-service supervisor, Dr. Hall. I wish you would treat the project more seriously."
2668
2669  Hall laughed. So the voice responded to comments, and taped his replies. It was a clever system.
2670
2671  "Sorry," he said, "I wasn't sure how the thing worked. The voice is quite luscious."
2672
2673  "The voice," said the supervisor heavily, "belongs to Miss Gladys Stevens, who is sixty-three years old. She lives in Omaha and makes her living taping messages for SAC crews and other voice-reminder systems."
2674
2675  "Oh," Hall said.
2676
2677  He left the room and walked down the corridor to the cafeteria. As he walked, he began to understand why submarine designers had been called in to plan Wildfire. Without his wristwatch, he had no idea of the time, or even whether it was night or day. He found himself wondering whether the cafeteria would be crowded, wondering whether it was dinner time or breakfast time.
2678
2679  As it turned out, the cafeteria was almost deserted. Leavitt was there; he said the others were in the conference room. He pushed a glass of dark-brown liquid over to Hall and suggested he have breakfast.
2680
2681  "What's this?" Hall said.
2682
2683  "Forty-two-five nutrient. It has everything needed to sustain the average seventy-kilogram man for eighteen hours."
2684
2685  Hall drank the liquid, which was syrupy and artificially flavored to taste like orange juice. It was a strange sensation, drinking brown orange juice, but not bad after the initial shock. Leavitt explained that it had been developed for the astronauts, and that it contained everything except air-soluble vitamins.
2686
2687  "For that, you need this pill," he said.
2688
2689  Hall swallowed the pill, then got himself a cup of coffee from a dispenser in the corner. "Any sugar?"
2690
2691  Leavitt shook his head. "No sugar anywhere here. Nothing that might provide a bacterial growth medium. From now on, we're all on high-protein diets. We'll make all the sugar we need from the protein breakdown. But we won't be getting any sugar into the gut. Quite the opposite."
2692
2693  He reached into his pocket.
2694
2695  "Oh, no."
2696
2697  "Yes," Leavitt said. He gave him a small capsule, sealed in aluminum foil.
2698
2699  "No," Hall said.
2700
2701  "Everyone else has them. Broad-spectrum. Stop by your room and insert it before you go into the final decontamination procedures." 
2702
2703  "I don't mind dunking myself in all those foul baths," Hall said. "I don't mind being irradiated. But I'll be goddammed--"
2704
2705  "The idea," Leavitt said, "is that you be as nearly sterile as possible on Level V. We have sterilized your skin and mucous membranes of the respiratory tract as best we can. But we haven't done a thing about the GI tract yet."
2706
2707  "Yes," Hall said, "but suppositories?"
2708
2709  "You'll get used to it. We're all taking them for the first four days. Not, of course, that they'll do any good," he said, with the familiar wry, pessimistic look on his face. He stood. "Let's go to the conference room. Stone wants to talk about Karp."
2710
2711  "Who?"
2712
2713  "Rudolph Karp."
2714
2715  ***
2716
2717  Rudolph Karp was a Hungarian-born biochemist who came to the United States from England in 1951. He obtained a position at the University of Michigan and worked steadily and quietly for five years. Then, at the suggestion of colleagues at the Ann Arbor observatory, Karp began to investigate meteorites with the intent of determining whether they harbored life, or showed evidence of having done so in the past. He took the proposal quite seriously and worked with diligence, writing no papers on the subject until the early 1960's, when Calvin and Vaughn and Nagy and others were writing explosive papers on similar subjects.
2718
2719  The arguments and counter-arguments were complex, but boiled down to a simple substrate: whenever a worker would announce that he had found a fossil, or a proteinaceous hydrocarbon, or other indication of life within a meteorite, the critics would claim sloppy lab technique and contamination with earth-origin matter and organisms.
2720
2721  Karp, with his careful, slow techniques, was determined to end the arguments once and for all. He announced that he had taken great pains to avoid contamination: each meteorite he examined had been washed in twelve solutions, including peroxide, iodine, hypertonic saline and dilute acids. It was then exposed to intense ultraviolet light for a period of two days. Finally, it was submerged in a germicidal solution and placed in a germ-free, sterile isolation chamber; further work was done within the chamber.
2722
2723  Karp, upon breaking open his meteorites, was able to isolate bacteria. He found that they were ring-shaped organisms, rather like a tiny undulating inner tube, and he found they could grow and multiply. He claimed that, while they were essentially similar to earthly bacteria in structure, being based upon proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids, they had no cell nucleus and therefore their manner of propagation was a mystery.
2724
2725  Karp presented his information in his usual quiet, unsensational manner, and hoped for a good reception. He did not receive one; instead, he was laughed down by the Seventh Conference of Astrophysics and Geophysics, meeting in London in 1961. He became discouraged and set his work with meteorites aside; the organisms were later destroyed in an accidental laboratory explosion on the night of June 27, 1963.
2726
2727  Karp's experience was almost identical to that of Nagy and the others. Scientists in the 1960's were not willing to entertain notions of life existing in meteorites; all evidence presented was discounted, dismissed, and ignored.
2728
2729  A handful of people in a dozen countries remained intrigued, however. One of them was Jeremy Stone; another was Peter Leavitt. It was Leavitt who, some years before, had formulated the Rule of 48. The Rule of 48 was intended as a humorous reminder to scientists, and referred to the massive literature collected in the late 1940's and the 1950's concerning the human chromosome number.
2730
2731  For years it was stated that men had forty-eight chromosomes in their cells; there were pictures to prove it, and any number of careful studies. In 1953, a group of American researchers announced to the world that the human chromosome number was forty-six. Once more, there were pictures to prove it, and studies to confirm it. But these researchers also went back to reexamine the old pictures, and the old studies-- and found only forty-six chromosomes, not forty-eight. 
2732
2733  Leavitt's Rule of 48 said simply, "All Scientists Are Blind." And Leavitt had invoked his rule when he saw the reception Karp and others received. Leavitt went over the reports and the papers and found no reason to reject the meteorite studies out of hand; many of the experiments were careful, well-reasoned, and compelling.
2734
2735  He remembered this when he and the other Wildfire planners drew up the study known as the Vector Three. Along with the Toxic Five, it formed one of the firm theoretical bases for Wildfire.
2736
2737  The Vector Three was a report that considered a crucial question: If a bacterium invaded the earth, causing a new disease, where would that bacterium come from?
2738
2739  After consultation with astronomers and evolutionary theories, the Wildfire group concluded that bacteria could come from three sources.
2740
2741  The first was the most obvious-- an organism, from another planet or galaxy, which had the protection to survive the extremes of temperature and vacuum that existed in space. There was no doubt that organisms could survive-- there was, for instance, a class of bacteria known as thermophilic that thrived on extreme heat, multiplying enthusiastically in temperatures as high as 70deg C. Further, it was known that bacteria had been recovered from Egyptian tombs, where they had been sealed for thousands of years. These bacteria were still viable.
2742
2743  The secret lay in the bacteria's ability to form spores, molding a hard calcific shell around themselves. This shell enabled the organism to survive freezing or boiling, and, if necessary, thousands of years without food. It combined all the advantages of a space suit with those of suspended animation.
2744
2745  There was no doubt that a spore could travel through space. But was another planet or galaxy the most likely source of contamination for the earth?
2746
2747  Here, the answer was no. The most likely source was the closest source-- the earth itself.
2748
2749  The report suggested that bacteria could have left the surface of the earth eons ago, when life was just beginning to emerge from the oceans and the hot, baked continents. Such bacteria would depart before the fishes, before the primitive mammals, long before the first ape-man. The bacteria would head up into the air, and slowly ascend until they were literally in space. Once there, they might evolve into unusual forms, perhaps even learning to derive energy for life directly from the sun, instead of requiring food as an energy source. These organisms might also be capable of direct conversion of energy to matter.
2750
2751  Leavitt himself suggested the analogy of the upper atmosphere and the depths of the sea as equally inhospitable environments, but equally viable. In the deepest, blackest regions of the oceans, where oxygenation was poor, and where light never reached, life forms were known to exist in abundance. Why not also in the far reaches of the atmosphere? True, oxygen was scarce. True, food hardly existed. But if creatures could live miles beneath the surface, why could they not also live five miles above it?
2752
2753  And if there were organisms out there, and if they had departed from the baking crust of the earth long before the first men appeared, then they would be foreign to man. No immunity, no adaptation, no antibodies would have been developed. They would be primitive aliens to modern man, in the same way that the shark, a primitive fish unchanged for a hundred million years, was alien and dangerous to modern man, invading the oceans for the first time.
2754
2755  The third source of contamination, the third of the vectors, was at the same time the most likely and the most troublesome. This was contemporary earth organisms, taken into space by inadequately sterilized spacecraft. Once in space, the organisms would be exposed to harsh radiation, weightlessness, and other environmental forces that might exert a mutagenic effect, altering the organisms.
2756
2757  So that when they came down, they would be different.
2758
2759  Take up a harmless bacteria-- such as the organism that causes pimples, or sore throats-- and bring it back in a new form, virulent and unexpected. It might do anything. It might show a preference for the aqueous humor of the inner eye, and invade the eyeball. It might thrive on the acid secretions of the stomach. It might multiply on the small currents of electricity afforded by the human brain itself, drive men mad.
2760
2761  This whole idea of mutated bacteria seemed farfetched and unlikely to the Wildfire people. It is ironic that this should be the case, particularly in view of what happened to the Andromeda Strain. But the Wildfire team staunchly ignored both the evidence of their own experience-- that bacteria mutate rapidly and radically-- and the evidence of the Biosatellite tests, in which a series of earth forms were sent into space and later recovered.
2762
2763  Biosatellite II contained, among other things, several species of bacteria. It was later reported that the bacteria had reproduced at a rate twenty to thirty times normal. The reasons were still unclear, but the results unequivocal: space could affect reproduction and growth.
2764
2765  And yet no one in Wildfire paid attention to this fact, until it was too late.
2766
2767  ***
2768
2769  Stone reviewed the information quickly, then handed each of them a cardboard file. "These files," he said, "contain a transcript of autoclock records of the entire flight of Scoop VII. Our purpose in reviewing the transcript is to determine,
2770
2771  if possible, what happened to the satellite while it was in orbit." 
2772
2773  Hall said, "Something happened to it?"
2774
2775  Leavitt explained. "The satellite was scheduled for a six-day orbit, since the probability of collecting organisms is proportional to time in orbit. After launch, it was in stable orbit. Then, on the second day, it went out of orbit.
2776
2777  Hall nodded.
2778
2779  "Start," Stone said, "with the first page."
2780
2781  Hall opened his file.
2782
2783  AUTOCLOCK TRANSCRIPT 
2784
2785  PROJECT: SCOOP VII
2786
2787  LAUNCHDATE:
2788
2789  ABRIDGED VERSION. FULL TRANSCRIPT
2790
2791  STORED VAULTS 179-99,
2792
2793  VDBG COMPLEX EPSILON.
2794
2795  HOURS MIN SEC PROCEDURE
2796
2797  T MINUS TIME
2798
2799  0002 01 05 Vandenberg Launch pad Block 9, Scoop Mission Control, reports systems check on schedule.
2800
2801  0001 39 52 Scoop MC holds for fuel check reported from Ground Control.
2802
2803  STOP CLOCK STOP CLOCK. REALTIME LOSS 12 MINUTES.
2804
2805  0001 39 52 Count resumed. Clock corrected.
2806
2807  0000 41 12 Scoop MC holds 20 seconds for Launch pad Block 9 check. Clock not stopped for built-in hold.
2808
2809  000030 00 Gantry removed.
2810
2811  000024 00 Final craft systems check.
2812
2813  000019 00 Final capsule systems check.
2814
2815  000013 00 Final systems checks read as negative.
2816
2817  000007 12 Cable decoupling.
2818
2819  000001 07 Stat-link decoupling.
2820
2821  000000 05 Ignition.
2822
2823  000000 04 Launch pad Block 9 clears all systems.
2824
2825  000000 00 Core clamps released. Launch.
2826
2827  T PLUS TIME
2828
2829  000000 06 Stable. Speed 6 fps. Smooth EV approach.
2830
2831  000000 09 Tracking reported.
2832
2833  000000 11 Tracking confirmed.
2834
2835  000000 27 Capsule monitors at g 1.9. Equipment check clear.
2836
2837  0000 01 00 Launch pad Block 9 clears rocket and capsule systems for orbit.
2838
2839  "No point in dwelling on this," Stone said. "It is the record of a perfect launch. There is nothing here, in fact, nothing for the next ninety-six hours of flight, to indicate any difficulty on board the spacecraft. Now turn to page 10." 
2840
2841  They all turned.
2842
2843  TRACK TRANSCRIPT CONT'D 
2844
2845  SCOOP VII
2846
2847  LAUNCHDATE:
2848
2849  ABRIDGED VERSION
2850
2851  HOURS MIN SEC PROCEDURE
2852
2853  10 12 Orbital check stable as reported by Grand Bahama Station.
2854
2855  009634 19 Orbital check stable as reported by Sydney.
2856
2857  009647 34 Orbital check stable as reported by Vdbg.
2858
2859  0097 04 12 Orbital check stable but system malfunction reported by Kennedy Station.
2860
2861  0097 05 18 Malfunction confirmed.
2862
2863  0097 07 22 Malfunction confirmed by Grand Bahama. Computer reports orbital instability. 
2864
2865  0097 34 54 Sydney reports orbital instability. 
2866
2867  0097 39 02 Vandenberg computations indicate orbital decay.
2868
2869  0098 27 14 Vandenberg Scoop Mission Control orders radio reentry.
2870
2871  009912 56 Reentry code transmitted.
2872
2873  0099 13 13 Houston reports initiation of reentry. Stabilized flight path. 
2874
2875  "What about voice communication during the critical period?"
2876
2877  "There were linkups between Sydney, Kennedy, and Grand Bahama, all routed through Houston. Houston had the big computer as well. But in this instance, Houston was just helping out; all decisions came from Scoop Mission Control in Vandenberg. We have the voice communication at the back of the file. It's quite revealing."
2878
2879  TRANSCRIPT OF VOICE COMMUNICATIONS SCOOP MISSION CONTROL VANDENBERG AFB HOURS 0096:59 TO 0097:39 
2880
2881  THIS IS A CLASSIFIED TRANSCRIPT.
2882
2883  IT HAS NOT BEEN ABRIDGED OR EDITED.
2884
2885  HOURS MIN SEC COMMUNICATION
2886
2887  0096 59 00 HELLO KENNEDY THIS IS SCOOP MISSION CONTROL. AT THE END OF 96 HOURS OF FLIGHT TIME WE HAVE STABLE ORBITS FROM ALL STATIONS. DO YOU CONFIRM.
2888
2889  0097 00 00 1 think we do, Scoop. Our check is going through now. Hold this line open for a few minutes, fellows.
2890
2891  0097 03 31 Hello, Scoop MC. This is Kennedy. We have a stable orbit confirmation for you on the last passby. Sorry about the delay but there is an instrument snag somewhere here.
2892
2893  0097 03 34 KENNEDY PLEASE CLARIFY. IS YOUR SNAG ON THE GROUND OR ALOFT.
2894  
2895  0097 03 39 I am sorry we have no tracer yet. We think it is on the ground.
2896
2897  0097 04 12 Hello, Scoop MC. This is Kennedy. We have a preliminary report of system malfunction aboard your spacecraft. Repeat we have a preliminary report of malfunction in the air. Awaiting confirmation.
2898
2899  0097 04 15 KENNEDY PLEASE CLARIFY SYSTEM INVOLVED.
2900
2901  0097 04 18 I'm sorry they haven't given me that. I assume they are waiting for final confirmation of the malfunction.
2902
2903  0097 04 21 DOES YOUR ORBITAL CHECK AS STABLE STILL-HOLD.
2904
2905  0097 04 22 Vandenberg, we have confirmed your orbital check as stable. Repeat the orbit is stable.
2906
2907  0097 05 18 Ah, Vandenberg, I am afraid we also confirm readings consistent with system malfunction on board your spacecraft. These include the stationary rotor elements and spanner units going to mark twelve. I repeat mark twelve.
2908
2909  0097 05 30 HAVE YOU RUN CONSISTENCY CHECK ON YOUR COMPUTERS.
2910
2911  0097 05 35 Sorry fellows but our computers check out. We read it as a real malfunction.
2912
2913  0097 05 45 HELLO, HOUSTON. OPEN THE LINE TO SYDNEY, WILL YOU. WE WANT CONFIRMATION OF DATA.
2914
2915  0097 05 51 Scoop Mission Control, This is Sydney Station. We confirm our last reading. There was nothing wrong with the spacecraft on its last passby here.
2916
2917  0097 06 12 OUR COMPUTER CHECK INDICATES NO SYSTEMS MALFUNCTION AND GOOD ORBITAL STABILITY ON SUMMATED DATA. WE QUESTION KENNEDY GROUND INSTRUMENT FAILURE.
2918
2919  0097 06 18 This is Kennedy, Scoop MC. We have run repeat checkouts at this end. Our reading of system malfunction remains. Have you got something from Bahama.
2920
2921  0097 06 23 NEGATIVE, KENNEDY. STANDING BY.
2922
2923  0097 06 36 HOUSTON, THIS IS SCOOP MC. CAN YOUR PROJECTION GROUP GIVE US ANYTHING.
2924
2925  0097 06 46 Scoop, at this time we cannot. Our computers have insufficient data. They still read stable orbit with all systems going.
2926
2927  0097 07 22 Scoop MC, this is Grand Bahama Station. We report passby of your craft Scoop Seven according to schedule. Preliminary radar fixes were normal with question of increased transit times. Please hold for systems telemetry.
2928
2929  0097 07 25 HOLDING, GRAND BAHAMA.
2930
2931  0097 07 29 Scoop MC, we are sorry to say we confirm Kennedy observations, Repeat, we confirm Kennedy observations of systems malfunction. Our data are on the trunk to Houston. Can they be routed to you as well. station.
2932
2933  0097 07 34 NO, WE WILL WAIT FOR HOUSTON'S PRINTOUT. THEY HAVE LARGER PREDICTIVE BANKING UNITS. 
2934
2935  0097 07 36 Scoop MC, Houston has the Bahama Data. It is going through the Dispar Program. Give us ten seconds.
2936
2937  0097 07 47 Scoop MC, this is Houston. The Dispar Program confirms systems malfunction. Your vehicle is now in unstable orbit with increased transit time of zero point three seconds per unit of arc. We are analyzing orbital parameters at this time. Is there anything further you wish as interpreted data.
2938
2939  0097 07 59 NO, HOUSTON. SOUNDS LIKE YOU'RE DOING BEAUTIFULLY.
2940
2941  0097 08 10 Sorry, Scoop. Bad break.
2942
2943  0097 08 18 GET US THE DECAY RATIOS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. COMMAND WISHES TO MAKE A  DECISION ON INSTRUMENTATION TAKEDOWN WITHIN THE NEXT TWO ORBITS.
2944
2945  0097 08 32 Understand, Scoop. Our condolences here.
2946
2947  0097 11 35 Scoop, Houston Projection Group has confirmed orbital instability and decay ratios are now being passed by the data trunk to your station.
2948
2949  0097 11 44 HOW DO THEY LOOK, HOUSTON.
2950
2951  0097 11 51 Bad.
2952
2953  0097 11 59 NOT UNDERSTOOD. PLEASE REPEAT.
2954
2955  0097 12 07 Bad: B as in broken, A as in awful, D as in dropping.
2956
2957  0097 12 15 HOUSTON, DO YOU HAVE A CAUSATION.  THAT SATELLITE HAS BEEN IN EXCELLENT ORBIT FOR NEARLY ONE HUNDRED HOURS. WHAT HAPPENED TO IT.
2958
2959  0097 12 29 Beats us. We wonder about collision. There is a good wobble component to the new orbit.
2960
2961  0097 12 44 HOUSTON, OUR COMPUTERS ARE WORKING THROUGH THE TRANSMITTED DATA. WE AGREE A COLLISION. HAVE YOU GUYS GOT SOMETHING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD.
2962
2963  0097 13 01 Air Force Skywatch confirms our report that we have nothing around your baby, Scoop.
2964  
2965  0097 13 50 HOUSTON, OUR COMPUTERS ARE READING THIS AS A RANDOM EVENT. PROBABILITIES GREATER THAN ZERO POINT SEVEN NINE.
2966
2967  0097 15 00 We can add nothing. Looks reasonable. Are you going to bring it down.
2968
2969  0097 15 15 WE ARE HOLDING ON THAT DECISION, HOUSTON. WE WILL NOTIFY AS SOON AS IT IS MADE.
2970
2971  0097 17 54 HOUSTON, OUR COMMAND GROUP HAS RAISED THE QUESTION OF WHETHER*************************.
2972
2973  0097 17 59 [reply from Houston deleted]
2974
2975  0097 18 43 [Scoop query to Houston deleted]
2976
2977  0097 19 03 [reply from Houston deleted]
2978
2979  0097 19 11 AGREE, HOUSTON. WE WILL MAKE OUR DECISION AS SOON AS WE HAVE FINAL CONFIRMATION OF ORBITAL SHUTDOWN FROM SYDNEY. IS THIS ACCEPTABLE.
2980
2981  0097 19 50  Perfectly, Scoop. We are standing by.
2982
2983  0097 24 32 HOUSTON, WE ARE REWORKING OUR DATA AND NO LONGER CONSIDER THAT********IS LIKELY.
2984
2985  0097 24 39 Roger, Scoop.
2986
2987  0097 29 13 HOUSTON, WE ARE STANDING BY FOR SYDNEY.
2988
2989  0097 34 54 Scoop Mission Control, this is Sydney Station. We have just followed the passby of your vehicle. Our initial readings confirm a prolonged transit time. It is quite striking at this time.
2990
2991  0097 35 12 THANK YOU, SYDNEY.
2992
2993  0097 35 22 Bit of nasty luck, Scoop. Sorry.
2994
2995  0097 39 02 THIS IS SCOOP MISSION CONTROL TO ALL STATIONS. OUR COMPUTERS HAVE JUST CALCULATED THE ORBITAL DECAY FOR THE VEHICLE AND WE FIND IT TO BE COMING DOWN AS A PLUS FOUR. STANDBY FOR THE FINAL DECISION AS TO WHEN WE WILL BRING IT DOWN.
2996
2997  
2998  Hall said, "What about the deleted passages?"
2999
3000  "Major Manchek at Vandenberg told me," Stone said, "that they had to do with the Russian craft in the area. The two stations eventually concluded that the Russians had not, either accidentally or purposely, brought down the Scoop satellite. No one has since suggested differently."
3001
3002  They nodded.
3003
3004  "It's tempting," Stone said. "The Air Force maintains a watchdog facility in Kentucky that tracks all satellites in earth orbit. It has a dual function, both to follow old satellites known to be in orbit and to track new ones. There are twelve satellites in orbit at this time that cannot be accounted for; in other words, they are not ours, and are not the result of announced Soviet launches. It is thought that some of these represent navigation satellites for Soviet submarines. Others are presumed to be spy satellites. But the important thing is that Russian or not, there are a hell of a lot of satellites up there. As of last Friday, the Air Force reported five hundred and eighty-seven orbiting bodies around the earth. This includes some old, nonfunctioning satellites from the American Explorer series and the Russian Sputnik series. It also includes boosters and final stages-- anything in stable orbit large enough to reflect back a radar beam."
3005
3006  "That's a lot of satellites."
3007
3008  "Yes, and there are probably many more. The Air Force thinks there is a lot of junk out there-- nuts, bolts, scraps of metal-- all in more or less stable orbit. No orbit, as you know, is completely stable. Without frequent corrections, any satellite will eventually decay out and spiral down to earth, burning up in the atmosphere. But that may be years, even decades, after the launch. In any event, the Air Force estimates that the total number of individual orbiting objects could be anything up to seventy-five thousand."
3009
3010  "So a collision with a piece of junk is possible."
3011
3012  "Yes. Possible." 
3013
3014  "How about a meteor?"
3015
3016  "That is the other possibility, and the one Vandenberg favors. A random event, most likely a meteor."
3017
3018  "Any showers these days?"
3019
3020  "None, apparently. But that does not rule out a meteor collision."
3021
3022  Leavitt cleared his throat. "There is still another possibility." 
3023
3024  Stone frowned. He knew that Leavitt was imaginative, and that this trait was both a strength and a defect. At times, Leavitt could be startling and exciting; at others, merely irritating. "It's rather farfetched," Stone said, "to postulate debris from some extragalactic source other than--"
3025
3026  "I agree," Leavitt said. "Hopelessly farfetched. No evidence for it whatever. But I don't think we can afford to ignore the possibility."
3027
3028  A gong sounded softly. A lush female voice, which Hall now recognized as that of Gladys Stevens of Omaha, said softly, "You may proceed to the next level, gentlemen."
3029
3030  
3031
3032  
3033
3034  
3035
3036  13. Level V
3037
3038  LEVEL V WAS PAINTED A QUIET SHADE OF BLUE, AND they all wore blue uniforms. Burton showed Hall around.
3039
3040  "This floor," he said, "is like all the others. It's circular. Arranged in a series of concentric circles, actually. We're on the outer perimeter now; this is where we live and work. Cafeteria, sleeping rooms, everything is out here. Just inside is a ring of laboratories. And inside that, sealed off from us, is the central core. That's where the satellite and the two people are now." 
3041
3042  "But they're sealed off from us?"
3043
3044  "Yes." 
3045
3046  "Then how do we get to them?"
3047
3048  "Have you ever used a glove box?" Burton asked.
3049
3050  Hall shook his head.
3051
3052  Burton explained that glove boxes were large clear plastic boxes used to handle sterile materials. The boxes had holes cut in the sides, and gloves attached with an airtight seal. To handle the contents, you slipped your hands into the gloves and reached into the box. But your fingers never touched the material, only the gloves.
3053
3054  "We've gone one step further," Burton said. "We have whole rooms that are nothing more than glorified glove boxes. Instead of a glove for your hand, there's a whole plastic suit, for your entire body. You'll see what I mean." 
3055
3056  They walked down the curved corridor to a room marked CENTRAL CONTROL. Leavitt and Stone were there, working quietly. Central Control was a cramped room, stuffed with electronic equipment. One wall was glass, allowing the tails, were considered particularly trying. Many a scientist workers to look into the adjacent room. 
3057
3058  Through the glass, Hall saw mechanical hands moving the  capsule to a table and setting it down. Hall, who had never  seen a capsule before, watched with interest. It was smaller than he had imagined, no more than a yard long; one end was seared and blackened from the heat of reentry. 
3059
3060  The mechanical hands, under Stone's direction, opened the little scoop-shaped trough in the side of the capsule to expose the interior. 
3061
3062  "There," Stone said, taking his hands from the controls. The controls looked like a pair of brass knuckles; the operator slipped his own hands into them and moved his hands as he wanted the mechanical hands to move. 
3063
3064  "Our next step," he said, "is to determine whether there is still anything in the capsule which is biologically active.  Suggestions?"
3065
3066  "A rat," Leavitt said. "Use a black Norway." 
3067
3068  The black Norway rat was not black at all; the name simply designated a strain of laboratory animal, perhaps the most famous strain in all science. Once, of course, it had been  both black and Norwegian; but years of breeding and countless generations had made it white, small, and docile. The biological explosion had created a demand for genetically uniform animals. In the last thirty years more than a thousand strains of "pure" animals had been evolved artificially.  In the case of the black Norwegian, it was now possible for a  scientist anywhere in the world to conduct experiments using this animal and be assured that other scientists elsewhere could repeat or enlarge upon his work using virtually identical organisms. 
3069
3070  "Follow with a rhesus," Burton said. "We will want to get onto primates sooner or later.  The others nodded. Wildfire was prepared to conduct experiments with monkeys and apes, as well as smaller, cheaper animals. A monkey was exceedingly difficult to work with: the little primates were hostile, quick, intelligent. Among  scientists, the New World monkeys, with their prehensile tails, were considered particularly trying.  Many scientists had engaged three or four lab assistants to hold down a monkey while he administered an injection-- only to have the prehensile tail whip up, grasp the syringe, and fling it across the room.
3071
3072  The theory behind primate experimentation was that these animals were closer biologically to man. In the 1950's, several laboratories even attempted experiments on gorillas, going to great trouble and expense to work with these seemingly most human of animals. However, by 1960 it had been demonstrated that of the apes, the chimpanzee was biochemically more like man than the gorilla. (On the basis of similarity to man, the choice of laboratory animals is often surprising. For example, the hamster is preferred for immunological and cancer studies, since his responses are so similar to man's, while for studies of the heart and circulation, the pig is considered most like man.)
3073
3074  Stone put his hands back on the controls, moving them gently. Through the glass, they saw the black metal fingers move to the far wall of the adjoining room, where several caged lab animals were kept, separated from the room by hinged airtight doors. The wall reminded Hall oddly of an automat.
3075
3076  The mechanical hands opened one door and removed a rat in its cage, brought it into the room, and set it down next to the capsule. The rat looked around the room, sniffed the air, and made some stretching movements with its neck. A moment later it flopped over onto its side, kicked once, and was still.
3077
3078  It had happened with astonishing speed. Hall could hardly believe it had happened at all.
3079
3080  "My God," Stone said. "What a time course."
3081
3082  "That will make it difficult," Leavitt said.
3083
3084  Burton said, "We can try tracers..."
3085
3086  "Yes. We'll have to use tracers on it," Stone said. "How fast are our scans?"
3087
3088  "Milliseconds, if necessary."
3089
3090  "It will be necessary."
3091
3092  "Try the rhesus, " Burton said. "You'll want a post on it, anyway." 
3093
3094  Stone directed the mechanical hands back to the wall, opening another door and withdrawing a cage containing a large brown adult rhesus monkey. The monkey screeched as it was lifted and banged against the bars of its cage.
3095
3096  Then it died, after flinging one hand to its chest with a look of startled surprise.
3097
3098  Stone shook his head. "Well, at least we know it's still biologically active. Whatever killed everyone in Piedmont is still there, and still as potent as ever. " He sighed. "If potent is the word."
3099
3100  Leavitt said, "We'd better start a scan of the capsule."
3101
3102  "I'll take these dead animals," Burton said, "and run the initial vector studies. Then I'll autopsy them." 
3103
3104  Stone worked the mechanical hands once more. He picked up the cages that held the rat and monkey and set them on a rubber conveyor belt at the rear of the room. Then he pressed a button on a control console marked AUTOPSY. The conveyor belt began to move.
3105
3106  Burton left the room, walking down the corridor to the autopsy room, knowing that the conveyor belt, made to carry materials from one lab to another, would have automatically delivered the cages.
3107
3108  Stone said to Hall, "You're the practicing physician among us. I'm afraid you've got a rather tough job right now."
3109
3110  "Pediatrician and geriatrist?"
3111
3112  "Exactly. See what you can do about them. They're both in our miscellaneous room, the room we built precisely for unusual circumstances like this. There's a computer linkup there that should help you. The technician will show you how it works." 
3113
3114  
3115
3116  
3117
3118  
3119
3120  14. Miscellaneous
3121
3122  HALL OPENED THE DOOR MARKED MISCELLANEOUS, thinking to himself that his job was indeed miscellaneous-- keeping alive an old man and a tiny infant. Both of them vital to the project, and both of them, no doubt, difficult to manage.
3123
3124  He found himself in another small room similar to the control room he had just left. This one also had a glass window, looking inward to a central room. In the room were two beds, and on the beds, Peter Jackson and the infant. But the incredible thing was the suits: standing upright in the room were four clear plastic inflated suits in the shape of men. From each suit, a tunnel ran back to the wall.
3125
3126  Obviously, one would have to crawl down the tunnel and then stand up inside the suit. Then one could work with the patients inside the room.
3127
3128  The girl who was to be his assistant was working in the room, bent over the computer console. She introduced herself as Karen Anson, and explained the working of the computer.
3129
3130  "This is just one substation of the Wildfire computer on the first level," she said. "There are thirty substations throughout the laboratory, all plugging into the computer. Thirty different people can work at once."
3131
3132  Hall nodded. Time-sharing was a concept he understood. He knew that as many as two hundred people had been able to use the same computer at once; the principle was that computers operated very swiftly-- in fractions of a second while people operated slowly, in seconds or minutes. One person using a computer was inefficient, because it took several minutes to punch in instructions, while the computer sat around idle, waiting. Once instructions were fed in, the computer answered almost instantaneously. This meant that a computer was rarely "working," and by permitting a number of people to ask questions of the computer simultaneously, you could keep the machine more continuously in operation.
3133
3134  "If the computer is really backed up, " the technician said, "there may be a delay of one or two seconds before you get your answer. But usually it's immediate. What we are using here is the MEDCOM program. Do you know it?"
3135
3136  Hall shook his head.
3137
3138  "It's a medical-data analyzer," she said. "You feed in information and it will diagnose the patient and tell you what to do next for therapy, or to confirm the diagnosis."
3139
3140  "Sounds very convenient."
3141
3142  "It's fast," she said. "All our lab studies are done by automated machines. So we can have complex diagnoses in a matter of minutes."
3143
3144  Hall looked through the glass at the two patients. "What's been done on them so far?"
3145
3146  "Nothing. At Level I, they were started on intravenous infusions. Plasma for Peter Jackson, dextrose and water for the baby. They both seem well hydrated now, and in no distress. Jackson is still unconscious. He has no pupillary signs but is unresponsive and looks anemic."
3147
3148  Hall nodded. "The labs here can do everything?"
3149
3150  "Everything. Even assays for adrenal hormones and things like partial thromboplastin times. Every known medical test is possible."
3151
3152  "All right. We'd better get started."
3153
3154  She turned on the computer. "This is how you order laboratory tests," she said. "Use this light pen here, and check off the tests you want. Just touch the pen to the screen." 
3155
3156  She handed him a small penlight, and pushed the START button.
3157
3158  The screen glowed.
3159
3160  MEDCOM PROGRAM
3161
3162  LAB/ANALYS
3163
3164  CK/JGG/1223098
3165
3166  BLOOD:
3167
3168  COUNTS RBC 
3169
3170  RETIC
3171
3172  PLATES
3173
3174  WBC
3175
3176  DIFF
3177
3178  HEMATOCRIT
3179
3180  HEMOGLOBIN
3181
3182  INDICES MCV
3183
3184  MCHC:
3185
3186  PROTIME
3187
3188  PTT
3189
3190  SED RATE
3191
3192  CHEMISTRY:
3193
3194  BRO
3195
3196  CA
3197
3198  CL
3199
3200  MG
3201
3202  PO4
3203
3204  K
3205
3206  NA
3207
3208  CO2
3209
3210  ENZYMES:
3211
3212  AMYLASE
3213
3214  CHOLINESTERASE
3215
3216  LIPASE
3217
3218  PHOSPHATASE,ACID
3219
3220  ALKALINE
3221
3222  LDH
3223
3224  SGOT
3225
3226  SGPT
3227
3228  PROTEIN:
3229
3230  ALB
3231
3232  GLOB
3233
3234  FIBRIN
3235
3236  TOTAL FRACTION
3237
3238  DIAGNOSTICS:
3239
3240  CHOLEST
3241
3242  CREAT
3243
3244  GLUCOSE
3245
3246  PBI
3247
3248  BEI
3249
3250  I
3251
3252  IBC
3253
3254  NPN
3255
3256  BUN
3257
3258  BILIRU, DIFF
3259
3260  CEPH/FLOC
3261
3262  THYMOL/TURB
3263
3264  BSP
3265
3266  PULMONARY:
3267
3268  TVC
3269
3270  TV
3271
3272  IC
3273
3274  IRV
3275
3276  ERV
3277
3278  MBC
3279   
3280  STERIOD:
3281
3282  ALDO
3283
3284  L7-OH
3285
3286  17-KS
3287
3288  ACTH
3289
3290  VITS
3291
3292  A
3293
3294  ALL
3295
3296  B
3297
3298  C
3299
3300  E
3301
3302  K
3303
3304  
3305  URINE:
3306
3307  SP
3308
3309  GR
3310
3311  PH
3312
3313  PROT
3314
3315  GLUC
3316
3317  KETONE
3318
3319  ALL ELECTROLYTES
3320
3321  ALL STERIODS
3322
3323  ALL INORGANICS
3324
3325  CATECHOLS
3326
3327  PORPHYRINS
3328
3329  UROBIL
3330
3331  5-HIAA
3332
3333
3334  Hall stared at the list. He touched the tests he wanted with the penlight; they disappeared from the screen. He ordered fifteen or twenty, then stepped back.
3335
3336  The screen went blank for a moment, and then the following appeared:
3337
3338  TESTS ORDERED WILL REQUIRE FOR EACH SUBJECT
3339
3340  20 CC WHOLE BLOOD
3341
3342  LO CC OXALATED BLOOD
3343
3344  L2 CC CITRATED BLOOD
3345
3346  15 CC URINE
3347
3348  The technician said, "I'll draw the bloods if you want to do physicals. Have you been in one of these rooms before?"
3349
3350  Hall shook his head.
3351
3352  "It's quite simple, really. We crawl through the tunnels into the suits. The tunnel is then sealed off behind us."
3353
3354  "Oh? Why?"
3355
3356  "In case something happens to one of us. In case the covering of the suit is broken-- the integrity of the surface is ruptured, as the protocol says. In that case, bacteria could spread back through the tunnel to the outside."
3357
3358  "So we're sealed off."
3359
3360  "Yes. We get air from a separate system-- you can see the thin lines coming in over there. But essentially you're isolated from everything, when you're in that suit. I don't think you need worry, though. The only way you might possibly break your suit is to cut it with a scalpel, and the gloves are triple-thickness to prevent just such an occurrence."
3361
3362  She showed him how to crawl through, and then, imitating her, he stood up inside the plastic suit. He felt like some kind of giant reptile, moving cumbersomely about, dragging his tunnel like a thick tail behind him.
3363
3364  After a moment, there was a hiss: his suit was being sealed off. Then another hiss, and the air turned cold as the special line began to feed air in to him.
3365
3366  The technician gave him his examining instruments. While she drew blood from the child, taking it from a scalp vein, Hall turned his attention to Peter Jackson.
3367
3368  ***
3369
3370  An old man, and pale: anemia. Also thin: first thought, cancer. Second thought, tuberculosis, alcoholism, some other chronic process. And unconscious: he ran through the differential in his mind, from epilepsy to hypoglycernic shock to stroke.
3371
3372  Hall later stated that he felt foolish when the computer provided him with a differential, complete with probabilities of diagnosis. He was not at that time aware of the skill of the computer, the quality of its program.
3373
3374  He checked Jackson's blood pressure. It was low, 85/50. Pulse fast at 110. Temperature 97.8. Respiration's 30 and deep.
3375
3376  He went over the body systematically, beginning with the head and working down. When he produced pain-- by pressing on the nerve through the supra-orbital notch, just below the eyebrow-- the man grimaced and moved his arms to push Hall away.
3377
3378  Perhaps he was not unconscious after all. Perhaps just stuporous. Hall shook him.
3379
3380  "Mr. Jackson. Mr. Jackson."
3381
3382  The man made no response. And then, slowly, he seemed to revive. Hall shouted his name in his ear and shook him hard.
3383
3384  Peter Jackson opened his eyes, just for a moment, and said, "Go...away..." 
3385
3386  Hall continued to shake him, but Jackson relaxed, going limp, his body slipping back to its unresponsive state. Hall gave up, returning to his physical examination. The lungs were clear and the heart seemed normal. There was sm., tenseness of the abdomen, and Jackson retched once, bringing up some bloody drooling material. Quickly, Hall did a basolyte test for blood: it was positive. He did a rectal exam and tested the stool. It was also positive for blood.
3387
3388  He turned to the technician, who had drawn all the bloods and was feeding the tubes into the computer analysis apparatus in one corner.
3389
3390  "We've got a GI bleeder here," he said. "How soon will the results be back?"
3391
3392  She pointed to a TV screen mounted near the ceiling. "The lab reports are flashed back as soon as they come in. They are displayed there, and on the console in the other room. The easy ones come back first. We should have hematocrit in two minutes."
3393
3394  Hall waited. The screen glowed, the letters printing out:
3395
3396  
3397  JACKSON, PETER LABORATORY ANALYSES
3398
3399  TEST: NORMAL: VALUE
3400
3401  HEMATOCRIT: 38-54: 21
3402
3403  "Half normal," Hall said. He slapped an oxygen mask on Jackson's face, fixed the straps, and said, "We'll need at least four units. Plus two of plasma."
3404
3405  "I'll order them."
3406
3407  "To start as soon as possible."
3408
3409  She went to phone the blood bank on Level II and asked them to hurry on the requisition. Meantime, Hall turned his attention to the child.
3410
3411  It had been a long time since he had examined an infant, and he had forgotten how difficult it could be. Every time he tried to look at the eyes, the child shut them tightly. Every time he looked down the throat, the child closed his mouth. Every time he tried to listen to the heart, the child shrieked, obscuring all heart sounds.
3412
3413  Yet he persisted, remembering what Stone had said. These two people, dissimilar though they were, nonetheless represented the only survivors of Piedmont. Somehow they had managed to beat the disease. That was a link between the two, between the shriveled old man vomiting blood and the pink young child, howling and screaming.
3414
3415  At first glance, they were as different as possible; they were at opposite ends of the spectrum, sharing nothing in common.
3416
3417  And yet there must be something in common.
3418
3419  It took Hall half an hour to finish his examination of the child. At the end of that time he was forced to conclude that the infant was, to his exam, perfectly normal. Totally normal. Nothing the least bit unusual about him.
3420
3421  Except that, somehow, he had survived.
3422
3423  
3424
3425  
3426
3427  
3428
3429  
3430
3431  15. Main Control
3432
3433  STONE SAT WITH LEAVITT IN THE MAIN CONTROL room, looking into the inner room with the capsule. Though cramped, main control was complex and expensive: it had cost $2,000,000, the most costly single room in the Wildfire installation. But it was vital to the functioning of the entire laboratory.
3434
3435  Main control served as the first step in scientific examination of the capsule. Its chief function was detection-the room was geared to detect and isolate microorganisms. According to the Life Analysis Protocol, there were three main steps in the Wildfire program: detection, characterization, and control. First the organism had to be found. Then it had to be studied and understood. Only then could ways be sought to control it.
3436
3437  Main control was set up to find the organism.
3438
3439  Leavitt and Stone sat side by side in front of the banks of controls and dials. Stone operated the mechanical hands, while Leavitt manipulated the microscopic apparatus. Naturally it was impossible to enter the room with the capsule and examine it directly. Robot-controlled microscopes, with viewing screens in the control room, would accomplish this for them.
3440
3441  An early question had been whether to utilize television or some kind of direct visual linkup. Television was cheaper and more easily set up; TV image-intensifiers were already in use for electron microscopes, X-ray machines, and other devices. However, the Wildfire group finally decided that a TV screen was too imprecise for their needs; even a double-scan camera, which transmitted twice as many lines as the usual TV and gave better image resolution, would be insufficient. In the end, the group chose a fiber optics system in which a light image was transmitted directly through a snakelike bundle of glass fibers and then displayed on the viewers. This gave a clear, sharp image.
3442
3443  Stone positioned the capsule and pressed the appropriate controls. A black box moved down from the ceiling and began to scan the capsule surface. The two men watched the viewer screens:
3444
3445  "Start with five power," Stone said. Leavitt set the controls. They watched as the viewer automatically moved around the capsule, focusing on the surface of the metal. They watched one complete scan, then shifted up to twenty-power magnification. A twenty-power scan took much longer, since the field of view was smaller. They still saw nothing on the surface: no punctures, no indentations, nothing that looked like a small growth of any kind.
3446
3447  "Let's go to one hundred," Stone said. Leavitt adjusted the controls and sat back. They were beginning what they knew would be a long and tedious search. Probably they would find nothing. Soon they would examine the interior of the capsule; they might find something there. Or they might not. In either case, they would take samples for analysis, plating out the scrapings and swabs onto growth media.
3448
3449  Leavitt glanced from the viewing screens to look into the room. The viewer, suspended from the ceiling by a complex arrangement of rods and wires, was automatically moving in slow circles around the capsule. He looked back to the screens.
3450
3451  There were three screens in main control, and all showed exactly the same field of view. In theory, they could use three viewers projecting onto three screens, and cover the capsule in one third the time. But they did not want to do that-- at least not now. Both, men knew that their interest and attention would fatigue as the day wore on. No matter how hard they tried, they could not remain alert all the time. But if two men watched the same image, there was less chance of missing something.
3452
3453  The surface area of the cone-shaped capsule, thirty-seven inches long and a foot in diameter at the base, was just over 650 square inches. Three scans, at five, twenty, and one hundred power, took them slightly more than two hours. At the end of the third scan, Stone said, "I suppose we ought to proceed with the 440 scan as well."
3454
3455  "But?"
3456
3457  "I am tempted to go directly to a scan of the interior. If we find nothing, we can come back outside and do a 440."
3458
3459  "I agree."
3460
3461  "All right," Stone said. "Start with five. On the inside."
3462
3463  Leavitt worked the controls. This time, it could not be done automatically; the viewer was programmed to follow the contours of any regularly shaped object, such as a cube, a sphere, or a cone. But it could not probe the interior of the capsule without direction. Leavitt set the lenses at five diameters and switched the remote viewer to manual control. Then he directed it down into the scoop opening of the capsule.
3464
3465  Stone, watching the screen, said, "More light."
3466
3467  Leavitt made adjustments. Five additional remote lights came down from the ceiling and clicked on, shining into the scoop.
3468
3469  "Better?"
3470
3471  "Fine."
3472
3473  Watching his own screen, Leavitt began to move the remote viewer. It took several minutes before he could do it smoothly; it was difficult to coordinate, rather like trying to write while you watched in a mirror. But soon he was scanning smoothly.
3474
3475  The five-power scan took twenty minutes. They found nothing except a small indentation the size of a pencil point. At Stone's suggestion, when they began the twenty-power scan they started with the indentation.
3476
3477  Immediately, they saw it: a tiny black fleck of jagged material no larger than a grain of sand. There seemed to be bits of green mixed in with the black.
3478
3479  Neither man reacted, though Leavitt later recalled that he was "trembling with excitement. I kept thinking, if this is it, if it's really something new, some brand new form of life..."
3480
3481  However, all he said was, "Interesting."
3482
3483  "We'd better complete the scan at twenty power," Stone said. He was working to keep his voice calm, but it was clear that he was excited too.
3484
3485  Leavitt wanted to examine the fleck at higher power immediately, but he understood what Stone was saying. They could not afford to jump to conclusions-- any conclusions. Their only hope was to be grindingly, interminably thorough. They had to proceed methodically, to assure themselves at every point that they had overlooked nothing.
3486
3487  Otherwise, they could pursue a course of investigation for hours or days, only to find it ended nowhere, that they had made a mistake, misjudged the evidence, and wasted time.
3488
3489  So Leavitt did a complete scan of the interior at twenty power. He paused, once or twice, when they thought they saw other patches of green, and marked down the coordinates so they could find the areas later, under higher magnification. Half an hour passed before Stone announced he was satisfied with the twenty-power scan.
3490
3491  They took a break for caffeine, swallowing two pills with water. The team had agreed earlier that amphetamines should not be used except in times of serious emergency; they were stocked in the Level V pharmacy, but for routine purposes caffeine was preferred.
3492
3493  The aftertaste of the caffeine pill was sour in his mouth as Leavitt clicked in the hundred-power lenses, and began the third scan. As before, they started with the indentation, and the small black fleck they had noted earlier.
3494
3495  It was disappointing: at higher magnification it appeared no different from their earlier views, only larger. They could see, however, that it was an irregular piece of material, dull, looking like rock. And they could see there were definitely flecks of green mined on the jagged surface of the material.
3496
3497  "What do you make of it?" Stone said.
3498
3499  "If that's the object the capsule collided with," Leavitt said, "it was either moving with great speed, or else it is very heavy. Because it's not big enough--"
3500
3501  "To knock the satellite out of orbit otherwise. I agree. And yet it did not make a very deep indentation."
3502
3503  "Suggesting?"
3504
3505  Stone shrugged. "Suggesting that it was either not responsible for the orbital change, or that it has some elastic properties we don't yet know about."
3506
3507  "What do you think of the green?"
3508
3509  Stone grinned. "You won't trap me yet. I am curious, nothing more."
3510
3511  Leavitt chuckled and continued the scan. Both men now felt elated and inwardly certain of their discovery. They checked the other areas where they had noted green, and confirmed the presence of the patches at higher magnification.
3512
3513  But the other patches looked different from the green on the rock. For one thing, they were larger, and seemed somehow more luminous. For another, the borders of the patches seemed quite regular, and rounded.
3514
3515  "Like small drops of green paint, spattered on the inside of the capsule," Stone said.
3516
3517  "I hope that's not what it is."
3518
3519  "We could probe," Stone said.
3520
3521  "Let's wait for 440." 
3522
3523  Stone agreed. By now they had been scanning the capsule for nearly four hours, but neither man felt tired. They watched closely as the viewing screens blurred for a moment, the lenses shifting. When the screens came back into focus, they were looking at the indentation, and the black fleck with the green areas. At this magnification, the surface irregularities of the rock were striking-- it was like a miniature planet, with jagged peaks and sharp valleys. It occurred to Leavitt that this was exactly what they were looking at: a minute, complete planet, with its life forms intact. But he shook his head, dismissing the thought from his mind. Impossible.
3524
3525  Stone said, "If that's a meteor, it's damned funny-looking." 
3526
3527  "What bothers you?"
3528
3529  "That left border, over there." Stone pointed to the screen. "The surface of the stone-- if it is stone-- is rough everywhere except on that left border, where it is smooth and rather straight." 
3530
3531  "Like an artificial surface?"
3532
3533  Stone sighed. "If I keep looking at it," he said, "I might start to think so. Let's see those other patches of green." 
3534
3535  Leavitt set the coordinates and focused the viewer. A new image appeared on the screens. This time, it was a close-up of one of the green patches. Under high magnification the borders could be seen clearly. They were not smooth, but slightly notched: they looked almost like a gear from the inside of a watch.
3536
3537  "I'll be damned," Leavitt said.
3538
3539  "It's not paint. That notching is too regular."
3540
3541  As they watched, it happened: the green spot turned purple for a fraction of a second, less than the blink of an eye. Then it turned green once more.
3542
3543  "Did you see that?"
3544
3545  "I saw it. You didn't change the lighting?"
3546
3547  "No. Didn't touch it."
3548
3549  A moment later, it happened again: green, a flash of purple, green again.
3550
3551  "Amazing." 
3552
3553  "This may be--"
3554
3555  And then, as they watched, the spot turned purple and remained purple. The notches disappeared; the spot had enlarged slightly, filling in the V-shaped gaps. It was now a complete circle. It became green once more.
3556
3557  "It's growing," Stone said.
3558
3559  ***
3560
3561  They worked swiftly. The movie cameras were brought down, recording from five angles at ninety-six frames per second. Another time-lapse camera clicked off frames at half-second intervals. Leavitt also brought down two more remote cameras, and set them at different angles from the original camera.
3562
3563  In main control, all three screens displayed different views of the green spot.
3564
3565  "Can we get more power? More magnification?" Stone said.
3566
3567  "No. You remember we decided 440 was the top."
3568
3569  Stone swore. To obtain higher magnification, they would have to go to a separate room, or else use the electron microscopes. In either case, it would take time.
3570
3571  Leavitt said, "Shall we start culture and isolation?"
3572
3573  "Yes. Might as well."
3574
3575  Leavitt turned the viewers back down to twenty power. They could now see that there were four areas of interest, three isolated green patches, and the rock with its indentation. On the control console, he pressed a button marked CULTURE, and a tray 4t the side of the room slid out, revealing stacks of circular, plastic-covered petri dishes. Inside each dish was a thin layer of growth medium.
3576
3577  The Wildfire project employed almost every known growth medium. The media were jellied compounds containing various nutrients on which bacteria would feed and multiply. Along with the usual laboratory standbys-- horse and sheep blood agar, chocolate agar, simplex, Sabourad's medium-- there were thirty diagnostic media, containing various sugars and minerals. Then there were forty-three specialized culture media, including those for growth of tubercule bacilli and unusual fungi, as well as the highly experimental media, designated by numbers: ME-997, ME-423, ME-A12, and so on.
3578
3579  With the tray of media was a batch of sterile swabs. Using the mechanical hands, Stone picked up the swabs singly and touched them to the capsule surface, then to the media. Leavitt punched data into the computer, so that they would know later where each swab had been taken. In this manner, they swabbed the outer surface of the entire capsule, and went to the interior. Very carefully, using high viewer magnification, Stone took scrapings from the green spots and transferred them to the different media.
3580
3581  Finally, he used fine forceps to pick up the rock and move it intact to a clean glass dish.
3582
3583  The whole process took better than two hours. At the end of that time, Leavitt punched through the MAXCULT computer program. This program automatically instructed the machine in the handling of the hundreds of petri dishes they had collected. Some would be stored at room temperature and pressure, with normal earth atmosphere. Others would be subjected to heat and cold; high pressure and vacuum; low oxygen and high oxygen; light and dark. Assigning the plates to the various culture boxes was a job that would take a man days to work out. The computer could do it in seconds.
3584
3585  When the program was running, Stone placed the stacks of petri dishes on the conveyor belt. They watched as the dishes moved off to the culture boxes.
3586
3587  There was nothing further they could do, except wait twenty-four to forty-eight hours, to see what grew out.
3588
3589  "Meantime," Stone said, "we can begin analysis of this piece of rock-- if it actually is rock. How are you with an EM?"
3590
3591  "Rusty," Leavitt said. He had not used an electron microscope for nearly a year.
3592
3593  "Then I'll prepare the specimen. We'll also want mass spectrometry done. That's all computerized. But before we do that, we ought to go to higher power. What's the highest light magnification we can get in Morphology?"
3594
3595  "A thousand diameters."
3596
3597  "Then let's do that first. Punch the rock through to Morphology." 
3598
3599  Leavitt looked down at the console and pressed MORPHOLOGY. Stone's mechanical hands placed the glass dish with the rock onto the conveyor belt.
3600
3601  They looked at the wall clock behind them. It showed 1100 hours; they had been working for eleven straight hours.
3602
3603  "So far," Stone said, "so good." 
3604
3605  Leavitt grinned, and crossed his fingers.
3606
3607  
3608
3609  
3610
3611  
3612
3613  
3614  16. Autopsy
3615
3616  BURTON WAS WORKING IN THE AUTOPSY room. He was nervous and tense, still bothered by his memories of Piedmont. Weeks later, in reviewing his work and his thoughts on Level V, he regretted his inability to concentrate.
3617
3618  Because in his initial series of experiments, Burton made several mistakes.
3619
3620  According to the protocol, he was required to carry out autopsies on dead animals, but he was also in charge of preliminary vector experiments. In all fairness, Burton was not the man to do this work; Leavitt would have been better suited to it. But it was felt that Leavitt was more useful working on preliminary isolation and identification.
3621
3622  So the vector experiments fell to Burton.
3623
3624  They were reasonably simple and straightforward, designed to answer the question of how the disease was transmitted. Burton began with a series of cages, lined up in a row. Each had a separate air supply; the air supplies could be interconnected in a variety of ways.
3625
3626  Burton placed the corpse of the dead Norway rat, which was contained in an airtight cage, alongside another cage containing a living rat. He punched buttons; air was allowed to pass freely from one cage to the other.
3627
3628  The living rat flopped over and died.
3629
3630  Interesting, he thought. Airborne transmission. He hooked up a second cage with a live rat, but inserted a Millipore filter between the living and dead rat cages. This filter had perforations 100 angstroms in diameter-- the size of a small virus.
3631
3632  He opened the passage between the two cages. The rat remained alive.
3633
3634  He watched for several moments, until he was satisfied. Whatever it was that transmitted the disease, it was larger than a virus. He changed the filter, replacing it with a larger one, and then another still larger. He continued in this way until the rat died.
3635
3636  The filter had allowed the agent to pass. He checked it: two microns in diameter, roughly the size of a small cell. He thought to himself that he had just learned something very valuable indeed: the size of the infectious agent.
3637
3638  This was important, for in a single simple experiment he had ruled out the possibility that a protein or a chemical molecule of some kind was doing the damage. At Piedmont, he and Stone had been concerned about a gas, perhaps a gas released as waste from the living organism.
3639
3640  Yet, clearly, no gas was responsible. The disease was transmitted by something the size of a cell that was very much bigger than a molecule, or gas droplet.
3641
3642  The next step was equally simple-- to determine whether dead animals were potentially infectious.
3643
3644  He took one of the dead rats and pumped the air out of its cage. He waited until the air was fully evacuated. In the pressure fall, the rat ruptured, bursting open. Burton ignored this.
3645
3646  When he was sure all air was removed, he replaced the air with fresh, clean, filtered air. Then he connected the cage to the cage of a living animal.
3647
3648  Nothing happened.
3649
3650  Interesting, he thought. Using a remotely controlled scalpel, he sliced open the dead animal further, to make sure any organisms contained inside the carcass would be released into the atmosphere.
3651
3652  Nothing happened. The live rat scampered about its cage happily.
3653
3654  The results were quite clear: dead animals were not infectious. That was why, he thought, the buzzards could chew at the Piedmont victims and not die. Corpses could not transmit the disease; only the bugs themselves, carried in the air, could do so.
3655
3656  Bugs in the air were deadly.
3657
3658  Bugs in the corpse were harmless.
3659
3660  In a sense, this was predictable. It had to do with theories of accommodation and mutual adaptation between bacteria and man. Burton had long been interested in this problem, and had lectured on it at the Baylor Medical School.
3661
3662  Most people, when they thought of bacteria, thought of diseases. Yet the fact was that only 3 percent of them produced human disease; the rest were either harmless or beneficial. In the human gut, for instance, there were a variety of bacteria that were helpful to the digestive process. Man needed them, and relied upon them.
3663
3664  In fact, man lived in a sea of bacteria. They were everywhere-- on his skin, in his ears and mouth, down his lungs, in his stomach. Everything he owned, anything he touched, every breath he breathed, was drenched in bacteria. Bacteria were ubiquitous. Most of the time you weren't aware of it.
3665
3666  And there was a reason. Both man and bacteria had gotten used to each other, had developed a kind of mutual immunity. Each adapted to the other.
3667
3668  And this, in turn, for a very good reason. It was a principle of biology that evolution was directed toward increased reproductive potential. A man easily killed by bacteria was poorly adapted; he didn't live long enough to reproduce.
3669
3670  A bacteria that killed its host was also poorly adapted. Because any parasite that kills its host is a failure. It must die when the host dies. The successful parasites were those that could live off the host without killing him.
3671
3672  And the most successful hosts were those that could tolerate the parasite, or even turn it to advantage, to make it work for the host.
3673
3674  "The best adapted bacteria," Burton used to say, "are the ones that cause minor diseases, or none at all. You may carry the same single cell of Strep. viridians on your body for sixty or seventy years. During that time, you are growing and reproducing happily; so is the Strep. You can carry Staph. aureus around, and pay only the price of some acne and pimples. You can carry tuberculosis for many decades; you can carry syphilis for a lifetime. These last are not minor diseases, but they are much less severe than they once were, because both man and organism have adapted." 
3675
3676  It was known, for instance, that syphilis had been a virulent disease four hundred years before, producing huge festering sores all over the body, often killing in weeks. But over the centuries, man and the spirochete had learned to tolerate each other.
3677
3678  Such considerations were not so abstract and academic as they seemed at first. In the early planning of Wildfire, Stone had observed that 40 per cent of all human disease was caused by microorganisms. Burton had countered by noting that only 3 per cent of all microorganisms caused disease. Obviously, while much human misery was attributable to bacteria, the chances of any particular bacteria being dangerous to man were very small. This was because the process of adaptation-- of fitting man to bacteria-- was complex.
3679
3680  "Most bacteria," Burton observed, "simply can't live within a man long enough to harm him. Conditions are, one way or another, unfavorable. The body is too hot or too cold, too acid or too alkaline, there is too much oxygen or not enough. Man's body is as hostile as Antarctica to most bacteria." 
3681
3682  This meant that the chances of an organism from outer space being suited to harm man were very slim. Everyone recognized this, but felt that Wildfire had to be constructed in any event. Burton certainly agreed, but felt in an odd way that his prophecy had come true.
3683
3684  Clearly, the bug they had found could kill men. But it was not really adapted to men, because it killed and died within the organism. It could not be transmitted from corpse to corpse. It existed for a second or two in its host, and then died with it.
3685
3686  Satisfying intellectually, he thought.
3687
3688  But practically speaking they still had to isolate it, understand it, and find a cure.
3689
3690  ***
3691
3692  Burton already knew something about transmission, and something about the mechanism of death: clotting of the blood. The question remained-- How did the organisms get into the body?
3693
3694  Because transmission appeared to be airborne, contact with skin and lungs seemed likely. Possibly the organisms burrowed right through the skin surface. Or they might be inhaled. Or both.
3695
3696  How to determine it?
3697
3698  He considered putting protective suitings around an experimental animal to cover all but the mouth. That was possible, but it would take a long time. He sat and worried about the problem for an hour.
3699
3700  Then he hit upon a more likely approach.
3701
3702  He knew that the organism killed by clotting blood. Very likely it would initiate clotting at the point of entrance into the body. If skin, clotting would start near the surface. If lungs, it would begin in the chest, radiating outward.
3703
3704  This was something he could test. By using radioactively tagged blood proteins, and then following his animals with scintillometer scans, he could determine where in the body the blood first clotted.
3705
3706  He prepared a suitable animal, choosing a rhesus monkey because its anatomy was more human than a rat's. He infused the radioactive tagging substance, a magnesium isotope, into the monkey and calibrated the scanner. After allowing equilibration, he tied the monkey down and positioned the scanner overhead.
3707
3708  He was now ready to begin.
3709
3710  The scanner would print out its results on a series of human block outlines. He set the computer printing program and then exposed the rhesus to air containing the lethal microorganism.
3711
3712  Immediately, the printout began to clatter out from the computer:
3713
3714  [graphic of disease spread in human body]
3715
3716  It was all over in three seconds. The graphic printout told him what he needed to know, that clotting began in the lungs and spread outward through the rest of the body.
3717
3718  But there was an additional piece of information gained. Burton later said, "I had been concerned that perhaps death and clotting did not coincide-- or at least did not coincide exactly. It seemed impossible to me that death could occur in three seconds, but it seemed even more unlikely that the total blood volume of the body-five quarts-could solidify in so short a period. I was curious to know whether a single crucial clot might form, in the brain, perhaps, and the rest of the body clot at a slower pace." 
3719
3720  Burton was thinking of the brain even at this early stage of his investigation. In retrospect, it is frustrating that he did not follow this line of inquiry to its logical conclusion. He was prevented from doing this by the evidence of the scans, which told him that clotting began in the lungs and progressed up the carotid arteries to the brain one or two seconds later.
3721
3722  So Burton lost immediate interest in the brain. And his mistake was compounded by his next experiment.
3723
3724  ***
3725
3726  It was a simple test, not part of the regular Wildfire Protocol. Burton knew that death coincided with blood clotting. If clotting could be prevented, could death be avoided?
3727
3728  He took several rats and injected them with heparin, an anticoagulating drug-- preventing blood-clot formation. Heparin was a rapid-acting drug widely used in medicine; its actions were thoroughly understood. Burton injected the drug intravenously in varying amounts, ranging from a low-normal dose to a massively excessive dose.
3729
3730  Then he exposed the rats to air containing the lethal organism.
3731
3732  The first rat, with a low dose, died in five seconds. The others followed within a minute. A single rat with a massive dose lived nearly three minutes, but he also succumbed in the end.
3733
3734  Burton was depressed by the results. Although death was delayed, it was not prevented. The method of symptomatic treatment did not work.
3735
3736  He put the dead rats to one side, and then made his crucial mistake.
3737
3738  Burton did not autopsy the anticoagulated rats.
3739
3740  Instead, he turned his attention to the original autopsy specimens, the first black Norway rat and the first rhesus monkey to be exposed to the capsule. He performed a complete autopsy on these animals, but discarded the anticoagulated animals.
3741
3742  It would be forty-eight hours before he realized his error.
3743
3744  The autopsies he performed were careful and good; he did them slowly, reminding himself that he must overlook nothing. He removed the internal organs from the rat and monkey and examined each, removing samples for both the light and electron microscopes.
3745
3746  To gross inspection, the animals had died of total, intravascular coagulation. The arteries, the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver and spleen-- all the blood-containing organs-- were rock-hard, solid. This was what he had expected.
3747
3748  He carried his tissue slices across the room to prepare frozen sections for microscopic examination. As each section was completed by his technician, he slipped it under the microscope, examined it, and photographed it.
3749
3750  The tissues were normal. Except for the clotted blood, there was nothing unusual about them at all. He knew that these same pieces of tissue would now be sent to the microscopy lab, where another technician would prepare stained sections, using hematoxylin-eosin, periodic acid-Schiff, and Zenker-formalin stains. Sections of nerve would be stained with Nissl and Cajal gold preparations. This process would take an additional twelve to fifteen hours. He could hope, of course, that the stained sections would reveal something more, but he had no reason to believe they would.
3751
3752  Similarly, he was unenthusiastic about the prospects for electron microscopy. The electron microscope was a valuable tool, but occasionally it made things more difficult, not easier. The electron microscope could provide great magnification and clear detail-but only if you knew where to look. It was excellent for examining a single cell, or part of a cell. But first you had to know which cell to examine. And there were billions of cells in a human body.
3753
3754  At the end of ten hours of work, he sat back to consider what he had learned. He drew up a short list:
3755
3756  1. The lethal agent is approximately 1 micron in size. Therefore it is not a gas or molecule, or even a large protein or virus. It is the size of a cell, and may actually be a cell of some sort.
3757
3758  2. The lethal agent is transmitted by air. Dead organisms are not infectious.
3759
3760  3. The lethal agent is inspired by the victim, entering the lungs. There it presumably crosses over into the bloodstream and starts coagulation.
3761
3762  4. The lethal agent causes death through coagulation. This occurs within seconds, and coincides with total coagulation of the entire body vascular system.
3763
3764  5. Anticoagulant drugs do not prevent this process.
3765
3766  6. No other pathologic abnormalities are known to occur in the dying animal.
3767
3768  Burton looked at his list and shook his head. Anticoagulants might not work, but the fact was that something s the process. There was a way that it could be done. He knew that.
3769
3770  Because two people had survived.
3771
3772  
3773
3774  
3775
3776  
3777
3778  17. Recovery
3779
3780  AT 1147 HOURS, MARK HALL WAS BENT OVER THE computer, staring at the console that showed the laboratory results from Peter Jackson and the infant. The computer was giving results as they were finished by the automated laboratory equipment; by now, nearly all results were in.
3781
3782  The infant, Hall observed, was normal. The computer did not mince words:
3783
3784  SUBJECT CODED-- INFANT-- SHOWS ALL LABORATORY VALUES WITHIN NORMAL LIMITS
3785
3786  However, Peter Jackson was another problem entirely. His results were abnormal in several respects.
3787
3788  SUBJECT CODED JACKSON, PETER
3789
3790  LABORATORY VALUES NOT WITHIN NORMAL LIMITS FOLLOW
3791
3792  TEST : NORMAL : VALUE
3793
3794  HEMATOC : 38-54 : 21 INITIAL
3795
3796  25 REPEAT
3797
3798  29 REPEAT
3799
3800  33 REPEAT
3801
3802  37 REPEAT
3803
3804  BUN : 10-20 : 50
3805
3806  COUNTS RETIC : 1 : 6
3807
3808  BLOOD SMEAR SHOWS MANY IMMATURE ERYTHROCYTE FORMS
3809
3810  TEST : NORMAL : VALUE
3811
3812  PRO TIME : L2 : 12
3813
3814  BLOOD PH : 7.40 : 7.31
3815
3816  SGOT : 40 : 75
3817
3818  SED RATE : 9 : 29
3819
3820  AMYLASE : 70-200 : 450
3821
3822  Some of the results were easy to understand, others were not. The hematocrit, for example, was rising because Jackson was receiving transfusions of whole blood and packed red cells. The BUN, or blood urea nitrogen, was a test of kidney function and was mildly elevated, probably because of decreased blood flow.
3823
3824  Other analyses were consistent with blood loss. The reticulocyte count was up from 1 to 6 per cent.  Jackson had been anemic for some time. He showed immature red-cell forms, which meant that his body was struggling to replace lost blood, and so had to put young, immature red cells into circulation.
3825
3826  The prothrombin time indicated that while Jackson was bleeding from somewhere in his gastrointestinal tract, he had no primary bleeding problem: his blood clotted normally.
3827
3828  The sedimentation rate and SGOT were indices of tissue destruction. Somewhere in Jackson's body, tissues were dying off.
3829
3830  But the pH of the blood was a bit of a puzzle. At 7.31, it was too acid, though not strikingly so. Hall was at a loss to explain this. So was the computer.
3831
3832  SUBJECT CODED JACKSON, PETER 
3833
3834  DIAGNOSTIC PROBABILITIES
3835
3836  1. ACUTE AND CHRONIC BLOOD LOSS ETIOLOGY GASTROINTESTINAL .884 NO OTHER STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT SOURCES. 
3837
3838  2. ACIDOSIS ETIOLOGY UNEXPLAINED FURTHER DATA REQUIRED SUGGEST HISTORY
3839
3840  Hall read the printout and shrugged. The computer might suggest he talk to the patient, but that was easier said than done. Jackson was comatose, and if he had ingested anything to make his blood acid, they would not find out until he revived.
3841
3842  On the other hand, perhaps he could test blood gases. He turned to the computer and punched in a request for blood gases.
3843
3844  The computer responded stubbornly.
3845
3846  PATIENT HISTORY PREFERABLE TO LABORATORY ANALYSES
3847
3848  Hall typed in: "Patient comatose."
3849
3850  The computer seemed to consider this, and then flashed back:
3851
3852  PATIENT MONITORS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH COMA -- EEG SHOWS ALPHA WAVES DIAGNOSTIC OF SLEEP
3853
3854  "I'll be damned," Hall said. He looked through the window and saw that Jackson was, indeed, stirring sleepily. He crawled down through the tunnel to his plastic suit and leaned over the patient.
3855
3856  "Mr. Jackson, wake up..."
3857
3858  Slowly, he opened his eyes and stared at Hall. He blinked, not believing.
3859
3860  "Don't be frightened," Hall said quietly. "You're sick, and we have been taking care of you. Do you feel better?"
3861
3862  Jackson swallowed, and nodded. He seemed afraid to speak. But the pallor of his skin was gone; his cheeks had a slight pinkish tinge; his fingernails were no longer gray.
3863
3864  "How do you feel now?"
3865
3866  "Okay... Who are you?
3867
3868  "I am Dr. Hall. I have been taking care of you. You were bleeding very badly. We had to give you a transfusion."
3869
3870  He nodded, accepting this quite calmly. Somehow, his manner rung a bell for Hall, who said, "Has this happened to you before?"
3871
3872  "Yes," he said. "Twice."
3873
3874  "How did it happen before?"
3875
3876  "I don't know where I am," he said, looking around the room. "Is this a hospital? Why are you wearing that thing?"
3877
3878  "No, this isn't a hospital. It is a special laboratory in Nevada." 
3879
3880  "Nevada?" He closed his eyes and shook his head. "But I'm in Arizona..." 
3881
3882  "Not now. We brought you here, so we could help you."
3883
3884  "How come that suit?"
3885
3886  "We brought you from Piedmont. There was a disease in Piedmont. You are now in an isolation chamber."
3887
3888  "You mean I'm contagious?"
3889
3890  "Well, we don't know for sure. But we must--"
3891
3892  "Listen," he said, suddenly trying to get up, "this place gives me the creeps. I'm getting out of here. I don't like it here." 
3893
3894  He struggled in the bed, trying to move against the straps. Hall pushed him back gently.
3895
3896  "Just relax, Mr. Jackson. Everything will be all right, but you must relax. You've been a sick man." 
3897
3898  Slowly, Jackson lay back. Then: "I want a cigarette."
3899
3900  "I'm afraid you can't have one."
3901
3902  "What the hell, I want one." 
3903
3904  "I'm sorry, smoking is not allowed."
3905
3906  "Look here, young fella, when you've lived as long as I have you'll know what you can do and what you can't do. They told me before. None of that Mexican food, no liquor, no butts. I tried it for a spell. You know how that makes a body feel? Terrible, just terrible."
3907
3908  "Who told you?"
3909
3910  "The doctors."
3911
3912  "What doctors?"
3913
3914  "Those doctors in Phoenix. Big fancy hospital, all that shiny equipment and all those shiny white uniforms. Real fancy hospital. I wouldn't have gone there, except for my sister. She insisted. She lives in Phoenix, you know, with that husband of hers, George. Stupid ninny. I didn't want no fancy hospital, I just wanted to rest up, is all. But she insisted, so I went."
3915
3916  "When was this?"
3917
3918  "Last year. June it was, or July."
3919
3920  "Why did you go to the hospital?"
3921
3922  "Why does anybody go to the hospital? I was sick, dammit." 
3923
3924  "What was your problem?"
3925
3926  "This damn stomach of mine, same as always."
3927
3928  "Bleeding?"
3929
3930  "Hell, bleeding. Every time I hiccoughed I came up with blood. Never knew a body had so much blood in it."
3931
3932  "Bleeding in your stomach?"
3933
3934  "Yeah. Like I said, I had it before. All these needles stuck in you--" he nodded to the intravenous lines-- "and all the blood going into you. Phoenix last year, and then Tucson the year before that. Now, Tucson was a right nice place. Right nice. Had me a pretty little nurse and all." Abruptly, he closed his mouth. "How old are you, son, anyhow? You don't seem old enough to be a doctor.
3935
3936  "I'm a surgeon," Hall said.
3937
3938  "Surgeon! Oh no you don't. They kept trying to get me to do it, and I kept saying, Not on your sweet life. No indeedy. Not taking it out of me." 
3939
3940  "You've had an ulcer for two years?"
3941
3942  "A bit more. The pains started out of the clear blue. Thought I had a touch of indigestion, you know, until the bleeding started up." 
3943
3944  A two-year history, Hall thought. Definitely ulcer, not cancer.
3945
3946  "And you went to the hospital?"
3947
3948  "Yep. Fixed me up fine. Warned me off spicy foods and hard stuff and cigarettes. And I tried, sonny, I sure did. But it wasn't no good. A man gets used to his pleasures.
3949
3950  "So in a year, you were back in the hospital."
3951
3952  "Yeah. Big old place in Phoenix, with that stupid ninny George and my sister visiting me every day. He's a book-learning fool, you know. Lawyer. Talks real big, but he hasn't got the sense God gave a grasshopper's behind."
3953
3954  "And they wanted to operate in Phoenix?"
3955
3956  "Sure they did. No offense, sonny, but any doctor'll operate on you, give him half a chance. It's the way they think. I just told them I'd gone this far with my old stomach, and I reckoned Id finish the stretch with it." 
3957
3958  "When did you leave the hospital?"
3959
3960  "Must have been early August sometime. First week, or thereabouts." 
3961
3962  "And when did you start smoking and drinking and eating the wrong foods?"
3963
3964  "Now don't lecture me, sonny," Jackson said. "I'v6 been living for sixty-nine years, eating all the wrong foods and doing all the wrong things. I like it that way, and if I can't keep it up, well then the hell with it."
3965
3966  "But you must have had pain," Hall said, frowning.
3967
3968  "Oh, sure, it kicked up some. Specially if I didn't eat. But I found a way to fix that.
3969
3970  "Yes?"
3971
3972  "Sure. They gave me this milk stuff at the hospital, and wanted me to keep on with it. Hundred times a day, in little sips. Milk stuff. Tasted like chalk. But I found a better thing."
3973
3974  "What was that?"
3975
3976  "Aspirin," Jackson said.
3977
3978  "Aspirin?"
3979
3980  "Sure. Works real nice."
3981
3982  "How much aspirin did you take?"
3983
3984  "Fair bit, toward the end. I was doing a bottle a day. You know them bottles it comes in?"
3985
3986  Hall nodded. No wonder the man was acid. Aspirin was acetylsalicylic acid, and if it was taken in sufficient quantities, it would acidify you. Aspirin was a gastric irritant, and it could exacerbate bleeding.
3987
3988  "Didn't anybody tell you aspirin would make the bleeding worse?" he asked.
3989
3990  "Sure," Jackson said. "They told me. But I didn't mind none. Because it stopped the pains, see. That, plus a little squeeze." 
3991
3992  "Squeeze?"
3993
3994  "Red-eye. You know."
3995
3996  Hall shook his head. He didn't know.
3997
3998  "Sterno. Pink lady. You take it, see, and put it in cloth, and squeeze it out..." 
3999
4000  Hall sighed. "You were drinking Sterno," he said.
4001
4002  "Well, only when I couldn't get nothing else. Aspirin and squeeze, see, really kills that pain." 
4003
4004  "Sterno isn't only alcohol. It's methanol, too."
4005
4006  "Doesn't hurt you, does it?" Jackson asked, in a voice suddenly concerned.
4007
4008  "As a matter of fact, it does. It can make you go blind, and it can even kill you." 
4009
4010  "Well, hell, it made me feel better, so I took it," Jackson said.
4011
4012  "Did this aspirin and squeeze have any effect on you? On your breathing?"
4013
4014  "Well, now you mention it, I was a tad short of breath. But what the hell, I don't need much breath at my age."
4015
4016  Jackson yawned and closed his eyes.
4017
4018  "You're awful full of questions, boy. I want to sleep now."
4019
4020  Hall looked at him, and decided the man was right. It would be best to proceed slowly, at least for a time. He crawled back down the tunnel and out to the main room. He turned to his assistant:
4021
4022  "Our friend Mr. Jackson has a two-year history of ulcer. We'd better keep the blood going in for another couple of units, then we can stop and see what's happening. Drop an NG tube and start icewater lavage." 
4023
4024  A gong rang, echoing softly through the room.
4025
4026  "What's that?"
4027
4028  "The twelve-hour mark. It means we have to change our clothing. And it means you have a conference."
4029
4030  "I do? Where?"
4031
4032  "The CR off the dining room."
4033
4034  Hall nodded, and left.
4035
4036  ***
4037
4038  In delta sector, the computers hummed and clicked softly, as Captain Arthur Morris punched through a new program on the console. Captain Morris was a programmer; he had been sent to delta sector by the command on Level I because no MCN messages had been received for nine hours. It was possible, of course, that there had been no priority transmissions; but it was also unlikely.
4039
4040  And if there had been unreceived MCN messages, then the computers were not functioning properly. Captain Morris watched as the computer ran its usual internal check program, which read out as all circuits functioning.
4041
4042  Unsatisfied, he punched in the CHECKLIM program, a more rigorous testing of the circuit banks. It required 0.03 seconds for the machine to come back with its answer: a row of five green lights blinked on the console. He walked over to the teleprinter and watched as it typed:
4043
4044  MACHINE FUNCTION ON ALL CIRCUITS WITHIN RATIONAL INDICES
4045
4046  He looked and nodded, satisfied. He could not have known, as he stood before the teleprinter, that there was indeed a fault, but that it was purely mechanical, not electronic, and hence could not be tested on the check programs.  The fault lay within the teleprinter box itself.  There, a sliver of paper from the edge of the roll had peeled away and, curling upward, had lodged between the bell and striker, preventing the bell from ringing. It was for this reason that no MCN transmissions had been recorded.
4047
4048  Neither machine nor man was able to catch the error.
4049
4050  
4051
4052  
4053
4054  
4055
4056  
4057  18. The Noon Conference
4058
4059  ACCORDING TO PROTOCOL, THE TEAM MET EVERY twelve hours for a brief conference, at which results were summarized and new directions planned. In order to save time the conferences were held in a small room off the cafeteria; they could eat and talk at the same time.
4060
4061  Hall was the last to arrive. He slipped into a chair behind his lunch-- two glasses of liquid and three pills of different colors-- just as Stone said, "We'll hear from Burton first."
4062
4063  Burton shuffled to his feet and in a slow, hesitant voice outlined his experiments and his results. He noted first that he had determined the size of the lethal agent to be one micron.
4064
4065  Stone and Leavitt looked at each other. The green flecks they had seen were much larger than that; clearly, infection could be spread by a mere fraction of the green fleck.
4066
4067  Burton next explained his experiments concerning airborne transmission, and coagulation beginning at the lungs. He finished with his attempts at anticoagulation therapy.
4068
4069  "What about the autopsies?" Stone said. "What did they show?"
4070
4071  "Nothing we don't already know. The blood is clotted throughout. No other demonstrable abnormalities at the light microscope level."
4072
4073  "And clotting is initiated at the lungs?"
4074
4075  "Yes. Presumably the organisms cross over to the bloodstream there-- or they may release a toxic substance, which crosses over. We may have an answer when the stained sections are finished. In particular, we will be looking for damage to blood vessels, since this releases tissue thromboplastin, and stimulates clotting at the site of the damage."
4076
4077  Stone nodded and turned to Hall, who told of the tests carried out on his two patients. He explained that the infant was normal to all tests and that Jackson had a bleeding ulcer, for which he was receiving transfusions.
4078
4079  "He's revived," Hall said. "I talked with him briefly."
4080
4081  Everyone sat up.
4082
4083  "Mr. Jackson is a cranky old goat of sixty-nine who has a two-year history of ulcer. He's bled out twice before: two years ago, and again last year. Each time he was warned to change his habits; each time he went back to his old ways, and began bleeding again. At the time of the Piedmont contact, e was treating his problems with his own regimen: a bottle of aspirin a day and some Sterno on top of it. He says this left him a little short of breath."
4084
4085  "And made him acidotic as hell," Burton said.
4086
4087  "Exactly."
4088
4089  Methanol, when broken down by the body, was converted to formaldehyde and formic acid. In combination with aspirin, it meant Jackson was consuming great quantities of acid. The body had to maintain its acid-base balance within fairly narrow limits or death would occur. One way to keep the balance was to breathe rapidly, and blow off carbon dioxide, decreasing carbonic acid in the body.
4090
4091  Stone said, "Could this acid have protected him from the organism?"
4092
4093  Hall shrugged. "Impossible to say."
4094
4095  Leavitt said, "What about the infant? Was it anemic?"
4096
4097  "No," Hall said. "But on the other hand, we don't know for sure that it was protected by the same mechanism. It might have something entirely different."
4098
4099  "How about the acid-base balance of the child?"
4100
4101  "Normal," Hall said. "Perfectly normal. At least it is now." 
4102
4103  There was a moment of silence. Finally Stone said, "Well, you have some good leads here. The problem remains to discover what, if anything, that child and that old man have in common. Perhaps, as you suggest, there is nothing in common. But for a start, we have to assume that they were protected in the same way, by the same mechanism."
4104
4105  Hall nodded.
4106
4107  Burton said to Stone, "And what have you found in the capsule?"
4108
4109  "We'd better show you," Stone said.
4110
4111  "Show us what?"
4112
4113  "Something we believe may represent the organism," Stone said.
4114
4115  ***
4116
4117  The door said MORPHOLOGY. Inside, the room was partitioned into a place for the experimenters to stand, and a glass-walled isolation chamber further in. Gloves were provided so the men could reach into the chamber and move instruments about.
4118
4119  Stone pointed to the glass dish, and the small fleck of black inside it.
4120
4121  "We think this is our 'meteor,' " he said. "We have found something apparently alive on its surface. There were also other areas within the capsule that may represent life. We've brought the meteor in here to have a look at it under the light microscope." 
4122
4123  Reaching through with the gloves, Stone set the glass dish into an opening in a large chrome box, then withdrew his hands.
4124
4125  "The box," he said, "is simply a light microscope fitted with the usual image intensifiers and resolution scanners. We can go up to a thousand diameters with it, projected on the screen here."
4126
4127  Leavitt adjusted dials while Hall and the others stared at the viewer screen.
4128
4129  "Ten power," Leavitt said.
4130
4131  On the screen, Hall saw that the rock was jagged, blackish, dull. Stone pointed out green flecks.
4132
4133  "One hundred power."
4134
4135  The green flecks were larger now, very clear.
4136
4137  "We think that's our organism. We have observed it growing; it turns purple, apparently at the point of mitotic division." 
4138
4139  "Spectrum shift?"
4140
4141  "Of some kind."
4142
4143  "One thousand power," Leavitt said.
4144
4145  The screen was filled with a single green spot, nestled down in the jagged hollows of the rock. Hall noticed the surface of the green, which was smooth and glistening, almost oily.
4146
4147  "You think that's a single bacterial colony?"
4148
4149  "We can't be sure it's a colony in the conventional sense," Stone said. "Until we heard Burton's experiments, we didn't think it was a colony at all. We thought it might be a single organism. But obviously the single units have to be a micron or less in size; this is much too big. Therefore it is probably a larger structure-- perhaps a colony, perhaps something else." 
4150
4151  As they watched, the spot turned purple, and green again. "It's dividing now," Stone said. "Excellent."
4152
4153  Leavitt switched on the cameras.
4154
4155  "Now watch closely."
4156
4157  The spot turned purple and held the color. It seemed to expand slightly, and for a moment, the surface broke into fragments, hexagonal in shape, like a tile floor.
4158
4159  "Did you see that?"
4160
4161  "It seemed to break up."
4162
4163  "Into six-sided figures."
4164
4165  "I wonder," Stone said, "whether those figures represent single units."
4166
4167  "Or whether they are regular geometric shapes all the time, or just during division?"
4168
4169  "We'll know more," Stone said, "after the EM." He turned to Burton. "Have you finished your autopsies?" 
4170
4171  "Yes."
4172
4173  "Can you work the spectrometer?"
4174
4175  "I think so."
4176
4177  "Then do that. It's computerized, anyway. We'll want an analysis of samples of both the rock and the green organism." 
4178
4179  "You'll get me a piece?"
4180
4181  "Yes." Stone said to Leavitt: "Can you handle the AA analyzer? "
4182
4183  "Yes."
4184
4185  "Same tests on that."
4186
4187  "And a fractionation?"
4188
4189  "I think so," Stone said. "But you'll have to do that by hand." 
4190
4191  Leavitt nodded; Stone turned back to the isolation chamber and removed a glass dish from the light microscope. He set it to one side, beneath a small device that looked like a miniature scaffolding. This was the microsurgical unit.
4192
4193  Microsurgery was a relatively new skill in biology-- the ability to perform delicate operations on a single cell. Using microsurgical techniques, it was possible to remove the nucleus from a cell, or part of the cytoplasm, as neatly and cleanly as a surgeon performed an amputation.
4194
4195  The device was constructed to scale down human hand movements into fine, precise miniature motions. A series of gears and servomechanisms carried out the reduction; the movement of a thumb was translated into a shift of a knife blade millionths of an inch.
4196
4197  Using a high magnification viewer, Stone began to chip away delicately at the black rock, until he had two tiny fragments. He set them aside in separate glass dishes and proceeded to scrape away two small fragments from the green area.
4198
4199  Immediately, the green turned purple, and expanded.
4200
4201  "It doesn't like you," Leavitt said, and laughed.
4202
4203  Stone frowned. "Interesting. Do you suppose that's a nonspecific growth response, or a trophic response to injury and irradiation? "
4204
4205  "I think," Leavitt said, "that it doesn't like to be poked at." 
4206
4207  "We must investigate further," Stone said.
4208
4209  
4210
4211  
4212
4213  
4214
4215  19. Crash
4216
4217  FOR ARTHUR MANCHEK, THERE WAS A CERTAIN kind of horror in the telephone conversation. He received it at home, having just finished dinner and sat down in the living room to read the newspapers. He hadn't seen a newspaper in the last two days, he had been so busy with the Piedmont business.
4218
4219  When the phone rang, he assumed that it must be for his wife, but a moment later she came in and said, "It's for you. The base." 
4220
4221  He had an uneasy feeling as he picked up the receiver. "Major Manchek speaking."
4222
4223  "Major, this is Colonel Burns at Unit Eight." Unit Eight was the processing and clearing unit of the base. Personnel checked in and out through Unit Eight, and calls were transmitted through it.
4224
4225  "Yes, Colonel?"
4226
4227  "Sir, we have you down for notification of certain contingencies. " His voice was guarded; he was choosing his words carefully on the open line. "I'm informing you now of an RTM crash forty-two minutes ago in Big Head, Utah."
4228
4229  Manchek frowned. Why was he being informed of a routine training-mission crash? It was hardly his province.
4230
4231  "What was it?"
4232
4233  "Phantom, Sir. En route San Francisco to Topeka."
4234
4235  "I see," Manchek said, though he did not see at all.
4236
4237  "Sir, Goddard wanted you to be informed in this instance so that you could join the post team."
4238
4239  "Goddard? Why Goddard?" For a moment, as he sat there in the living room, staring at the newspaper headline absently-- NEW BERLIN CRISIS FFARED-- he thought that the colonel meant Lewis Goddard, chief of the codes section of Vandenberg. Then he realized he meant Goddard Spaceflight Center, outside Washington. Among other things, Goddard acted as collating center for certain special projects that fell between the province of Houston and the governmental agencies in Washington.
4240
4241  "Sir," Colonel Burns said, "the Phantom drifted off its flight plan forty minutes out of San Francisco and passed through Area WF." 
4242
4243  Manchek felt himself slowing down. A kind of sleepiness came over him. "Area WF?"
4244
4245  "That is correct, Sir.
4246
4247  "When?"
4248
4249  "Twenty minutes before the crash."
4250
4251  "At what altitude?"
4252
4253  "Twenty-three thousand feet, Sir."
4254
4255  "When does the post team leave?"
4256
4257  "Half an hour, Sir, from the base."
4258
4259  "All right," Manchek said. "I'll be there."
4260
4261  He hung up and stared at the phone lazily. He felt tired; he wished he could go to bed. Area WF was the designation for the cordoned-off radius around Piedmont, Arizona.
4262
4263  They should have dropped the bomb, he thought. They should have dropped it two days ago.
4264
4265  At the time of the decision to delay Directive 7-12, Manchek had been uneasy. But officially he could not express an opinion, and he had waited in vain for the Wildfire team, now located in the underground laboratory, to complain to Washington. He knew Wildfire had been notified; he had seen the cable that went to all security units; it was quite explicit.
4266
4267  Yet for some reason Wildfire had not complained. Indeed, they had paid no attention to it whatever.
4268
4269  Very odd.
4270
4271  And now there was a crash. He lit his pipe and sucked on it, considering the possibilities. Overwhelming was the likelihood that some green trainee had daydreamed, gone off his flight plan, panicked, and lost control of the plane. It had happened before, hundreds of times. The post team, a group of specialists who went out to the site of the wreckage to investigate all crashes, usually returned a verdict of "Agnogenic Systems Failure." It was military doubletalk for crash of unknown cause; it did not distinguish between mechanical failure and pilot failure, but it was known that most systems failures were pilot failures. A man could not afford to daydream when he was running a complex machine at two thousand miles an hour. The proof lay in the statistics: though only 9 per cent of flights occurred after the pilot had taken a leave or weekend pass, these flights accounted for 27 per cent of casualties.
4272
4273  Manchek's pipe went out. He stood, dropping the newspaper, and went into the kitchen to tell his wife he was leaving.
4274
4275  ***
4276
4277  "This is movie country," somebody said, looking at the sandstone cliffs, the brilliant reddish hues, against the deepening blue of the sky. And it was true, many movies had been filmed in this area of Utah. But Manchek could not think of movies now. As he sat in the back of the limousine moving away from the Utah airport, he considered what he had been told.
4278
4279  During the flight from Vandenberg to southern Utah, the post team had heard transcripts of the flight transmission between the Phantom and Topeka Central. For the most part it was dull, except for the final moments before the pilot crashed.
4280
4281  The pilot had said: "Something is wrong."
4282
4283  And then, a moment later, "My rubber air hose is dissolving. It must be the vibration. It's just disintegrating to dust." 
4284
4285  Perhaps ten seconds after that, a weak, fading voice said, "Everything made of rubber in the cockpit is dissolving."
4286
4287  There were no further transmissions.
4288
4289  Manchek kept hearing that brief communication, in his mind, over and over.  Each time, it sounded more bizarre and terrifying.
4290
4291  He looked out the window at the cliffs. The sun was setting now, and only the tops of the cliffs were lighted by fading reddish sunlight; the valleys lay in darkness. He looked ahead at the other limousine, raising a small dust cloud as it carried the rest of the team to the crash site.
4292
4293  "I used to love westerns," somebody said. "They were all shot out here. Beautiful country."
4294
4295  Manchek frowned. It was astonishing to him how people could spend so much time on irrelevancies. Or perhaps it was just denial, the unwillingness to face reality.
4296
4297  The reality was cold enough: the Phantom had strayed into Area WF, going quite deep for a matter of six minutes before the pilot realized the error and pulled north again. However, once in WF, the plane had begun to lose stability. And it had finally crashed.
4298
4299  He said, "Has Wildfire been informed?"
4300
4301  A member of the group, a psychiatrist with a crew cut-- all post teams had at least one psychiatrist-- said, "You mean the germ people?"
4302
4303  "Yes."
4304
4305  "They've been told," somebody else said. "It went out on the scrambler an hour ago." 
4306
4307  Then, thought Manchek, there would certainly be a reaction from Wildfire. They could not afford to ignore this.
4308
4309  Unless they weren't reading their cables. It had never occurred to him before, but perhaps it was possible-- they weren't reading the cables. They were so absorbed in their work, they just weren't bothering.
4310
4311  "There's the wreck," somebody said. "Up ahead."
4312
4313  ***
4314
4315  Each time Manchek saw a wreck, he was astonished. Somehow, one never got used to the idea of the sprawl, the mess, the destructive force of a large metal object striking the earth at thousands of miles an hour. He always expected a neat, tight little clump of metal, but it was never that way.
4316
4317  The wreckage of the Phantom was scattered over two square miles of desert. Standing next to the charred remnants of the left wing, he could barely see the others, on the horizon, near the right wing. Everywhere he looked, there were bits of twisted metal, blackened, paint peeling. He saw one with a small portion of a sign still intact, the stenciled letters clear: DO NOT. The rest was gone.
4318
4319  It was impossible to make anything of the remnants. The fuselage, the cockpit, the canopy were all shattered into a million fragments, and the fires had disfigured everything.
4320
4321  As the sun faded, he found himself standing near the remains of the tail section, where the metal still radiated heat from the smoldering fire. Half-buried in the sand he saw a bit of bone; he picked it up and realized with horror that it was human. Long, and broken, and charred at one end, it had obviously come from an arm or a leg. But it was oddly clean-- there was no flesh remaining, only smooth bone.
4322
4323  Darkness descended, and the post team took out their flashlights, the half-dozen men moving among, smoking metal, flashing their yellow beams of light about.
4324
4325  It was late in the evening when a biochemist whose name he did not know came up to talk with him.
4326
4327  "You know," the biochemist said, "it's funny. That transcript about the rubber in the cockpit dissolving."
4328
4329  "How do you mean?"
4330
4331  "Well, no rubber was used in this airplane. It was all a synthetic plastic compound. Newly developed by Ancro; they're quite proud of it. It's a polymer that has some of the same characteristics as human tissue. Very flexible, lots of applications. " 
4332
4333  Manchek said, "Do you think vibrations could have caused the disintegration."
4334
4335  "No," the man said. "There are thousands of Phantoms flying around the world. They all have this plastic. None of them has ever had this trouble."
4336
4337  "Meaning?"
4338
4339  "Meaning that I don't know what the hell is going on," the biochemist said.
4340
4341  
4342
4343  
4344
4345  20. Routine
4346
4347  
4348  SLOWLY, THE WILDFIRE INSTALLATION SETTLED into a routine, a rhythm of work in the underground chambers of a laboratory where there was no night or day, morning or afternoon. The men slept when they were tired, awoke when they were refreshed, and carried on their work in a number of different areas.
4349
4350  Most of this work was to lead nowhere. They knew that, and accepted it in advance. As Stone was fond of saying, scientific research was much like prospecting: you went out and you hunted, armed with your maps and your instruments, but in the end your preparations did not matter, or even your intuition. You needed your luck, and whatever benefits accrued to the diligent, through sheer, grinding hard work.
4351
4352  Burton stood in the room that housed the spectrometer along with several other pieces of equipment for radioactivity assays, ratio-density photometry, thermocoupling analysis, and preparation for X-ray crystallography.
4353
4354  The spectrometer employed in Level V was the standard Whittington model K-5. Essentially it consisted of a vaporizer, a prism, and a recording screen. The material to be tested was set in the vaporizer and burned. The light from its burning then passed through the prism, where it was broken down to a spectrum that was projected onto a recording screen. Since different elements gave off different wavelengths of light as they burned, it was possible to analyze the chemical makeup of a substance by analyzing the spectrum of light produced.
4355
4356  In theory it was simple, but in practice the reading of spectrometrograms was complex and difficult. No one in this Wildfire laboratory was trained to do it well. Thus results were fed directly into a computer, which performed the analysis. Because of the sensitivity of the computer, rough percentage compositions could also be determined.
4357
4358  Burton placed the first chip, from the black rock, onto the vaporizer and pressed the button. There was a single bright burst of intensely hot light; he turned away, avoiding the brightness, and then put the second chip onto the lamp. Already, he knew, the computer was analyzing the light from the first chip.
4359
4360  He repeated the process with the green fleck, and then checked the time. The computer was now scanning the self-developing photographic plates, which were ready for viewing in seconds. But the scan itself would take two hours-- die electric eye was very slow.
4361
4362  Once the scan was completed, the computer would analyze results and print the data within five seconds.
4363
4364  The wall clock told him it was now 1500 hours-- three in the afternoon. He suddenly realized he was tired. He punched in instructions to the computer to wake him when analysis was finished. Then he went off to bed.
4365
4366  ***
4367
4368  In another room, Leavitt was carefully feeding similar chips into a different machine, an amino-acid analyzer. As he did so, he smiled slightly to himself, for he could remember how it had been in the old days, before AA analysis was automatic.
4369
4370  In the early fifties, the analysis of amino acids in a protein might take weeks, or even months. Sometimes it took years. Now it took hours-- or at the very most, a day-- and it was fully automatic.
4371
4372  Amino acids were the building blocks of proteins. There were twenty-four known amino acids, each composed of a half-dozen molecules of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. Proteins were made by stringing these amino acids together in a line, like a freight train. The order of stringing determined the nature of the protein-- whether it was insulin, hemoglobin, or growth hormone. All proteins were composed of the same freight cars, the same units. Some proteins had more of one kind of car than another, or in a different order. But that was the only difference. The same amino acids, the same freight cars, existed in human proteins and flea proteins.
4373
4374  That fact had taken approximately twenty years to discover.
4375
4376  But what controlled the order of amino acids in the protein? The answer turned out to be DNA, the genetic-coding substance, which acted like a switching manager in a freightyard.
4377
4378  That particular fact had taken another twenty years to discover.
4379
4380  But then once the amino acids were strung together, they began to twist and coil upon themselves; the analogy became closer to a snake than a train. The manner of coiling was determined by the order of acids, and was quite specific: a protein had to be coiled in a certain way, and no other, or it failed to function.
4381
4382  Another ten years.
4383
4384  Rather odd, Leavitt thought. Hundreds of laboratories, thousands of workers throughout the world, all bent on discovering such essentially simple facts. It had all taken years and years, decades of patient effort.
4385
4386  And now there was this machine. The machine would not, of course, give the precise order of amino acids. But it would give a rough percentage composition: so much valine, so much arginine, so much cystine and proline and leucine. And that, in turn, would give a great deal of information.
4387
4388  Yet it was a shot in the dark, this machine. Because they had no reason to believe that either the rock or the green organism was composed even partially of proteins. True, every living thing on earth had at least some proteins-- but that didn't mean life elsewhere had to have it.
4389
4390  For a moment, he tried to imagine life without proteins. It was almost impossible: on earth, proteins were part of the cell wall, and comprised all the enzymes known to man. And life without enzymes? Was that possible?
4391
4392  He recalled the remark of George Thompson, the British biochemist, who had called enzymes "the matchmakers of life." It was true; enzymes acted as catalysts for all chemical reactions, by providing a surface for two molecules to come together and react upon. There were hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of enzymes, each existing solely to aid a single chemical reaction. Without enzymes, there could be no chemical reactions.
4393
4394  Without chemical reactions, there could be no life.
4395
4396  Or could there?
4397
4398  It was a long-standing problem. Early in planning Wildfire, the question had been posed: How do you study a form of life totally unlike any you know? How would you even know it was alive?
4399
4400  This was not an academic matter. Biology, as George Wald had said, was a unique science because it could not define its subject matter. Nobody had a definition for life. Nobody knew what it was, really. The old definitions-- an organism that showed ingestion, excretion, metabolism, reproduction, and so on-- were worthless. One could always find exceptions.
4401
4402  The group had finally concluded that energy conversion was the hallmark of life. All living organisms in some way took in energy-- as food, or sunlight-- and converted it to another form of energy, and put it to use. (Viruses were the exception to this rule, but the group was prepared to define viruses as nonliving.)
4403
4404  For the next meeting, Leavitt was asked to prepare a rebuttal to the definition. He pondered it for a week, and returned with three objects: a swatch of black cloth, a watch, and a piece of granite. He set them down before the group and said, "Gentleman, I give you three living things."
4405
4406  He then challenged the team to prove that they were not living. He placed the black cloth in the sunlight; it became warm. This, he announced, was an example of energy conversion-radiant energy to heat.
4407
4408  It was objected that this was merely passive energy absorption, not conversion. It was also objected that the conversion, if it could be called that, was not purposeful. It served no function.
4409
4410  "How do you know it is not purposeful?" Leavitt had demanded.
4411
4412  They then turned to the watch. Leavitt pointed to the radium dial, which glowed in the dark. Decay was taking place, and light was being produced.
4413
4414  The men argued that this was merely release of potential energy held in unstable electron levels. But there was growing confusion; Leavitt was making his point.
4415
4416  Finally, they came to the granite. "This is alive," Leavitt said. "It is living, breathing, walking, and talking. Only we cannot see it, because it is happening too slowly. Rock has a lifespan of three billion years. We have a lifespan of sixty or seventy years. We cannot see what is happening to this rock for the same reason that we cannot make out the tune on a record being played at the rate of one revolution every century. And the rock, for its part, is not even aware of our existence because we are alive for only a brief instant of its lifespan. To it, we are like flashes in the dark."
4417
4418  He held up his watch.
4419
4420  His point was clear enough, and they revised their thinking in one important respect. They conceded that it was possible that they might not be able to analyze certain life forms. It was possible that they might not be able to make the slightest headway, the least beginning, in such an analysis.
4421
4422  But Leavitt's concerns extended beyond this, to the general problem of action in uncertainty. He recalled reading Talbert Gregson's "Planning the Unplanned" with close attention, poring over the complex mathematical models the author had devised to analyze the problem. It was Gregson's conviction that:
4423
4424  All decisions involving uncertainty fall within two distinct categories-- those with contingencies, and those without. The latter are distinctly more difficult to deal with.
4425
4426  Most decisions, and nearly all human interaction, can be incorporated into a contingencies model. For example, a President may start a war, a man may sell his business, or divorce his wife. Such an action will produce a reaction; the number of reactions is infinite but the number of probable reactions is manageably small. Before making a decision, an individual can predict various reactions, and he can assess his original, or primary-mode, decision more effectively.
4427
4428  But there is also a category which cannot be analyzed by contingencies. This category involves events and situations which are absolutely unpredictable, not merely disasters of all sorts, but those also including rare moments Of discovery and insight, such as those which produced the laser, or penicillin. Because these moments are unpredictable, they cannot be planned for in any logical manner. The mathematics are wholly unsatisfactory.
4429
4430  We may only take comfort in the fact that such situations, for ill or for good, are exceedingly rare.
4431
4432  ***
4433
4434  Jeremy Stone, working with infinite patience, took a flake of the green material and dropped it into molten plastic. The plastic was the size and shape of a medicine capsule. He waited until the flake was firmly imbedded, and poured more plastic over it. He then transferred the plastic pill to the curing room.
4435
4436  Stone envied the others their mechanized routines. The preparation of samples for electron microscopy was still a delicate task requiring skilled human hands; the preparation of a good sample was as demanding a, craft as that ever practiced by an artisan-- and took almost as long to learn. Stone had worked for five years before he became proficient at it.
4437
4438  The plastic was cured in a special high-speed processing unit, but it would still take five hours to harden to proper consistency. The curing room would maintain a constant temperature of 61 deg C. with a relative humidity of 10 per cent.
4439
4440  Once the plastic was hardened, he would scrape it away, and then flake off a small bit of green with a microtome. This would go into the electron microscope. The flake would have to be of the right thickness and size, a small round shaving 1,500 angstroms in depth, no more. 
4441
4442  Only then could he look at the green stuff, whatever it was, at sixty thousand diameters magnification.
4443
4444  That, he thought, would be interesting.
4445
4446  In general, Stone believed the work was going well. They were making fine progress, moving forward in several promising lines of inquiry. But most important, they had time. There was no rush, no panic, no need to fear.
4447
4448  The bomb had been dropped on Piedmont. That would destroy airborne organisms, and neutralize the source of infection. Wildfire was the only place that any further infection could spread from, and Wildfire was specifically designed to prevent that. Should isolation be broken in the lab, the areas that were contaminated would automatically seal off. Within a half-second, sliding airtight doors would close, producing a new configuration for the lab.
4449
4450  This was necessary because past experience in other laboratories working in so-called axenic, or germ-free, atmospheres indicated that contamination occurred in 15 per cent of cases. The reasons were usually structural-- a seal burst, a glove tore, a seam split-- but the contamination occurred, nonetheless.
4451
4452  At Wildfire, they were prepared for that eventuality. But if it did not happen, and the odds were it would not, then they could work safely here for an indefinite period. They could spend a month, even a year, working on the organism. There was no problem, no problem at all.
4453
4454  ***
4455
4456  Hall walked through the corridor, looking at the atomic-detonator substations. He was trying to memorize their positions. There were five on the floor, positioned at intervals along the central corridor. Each was the same: small silver boxes no larger than a cigarette packet. Each had a lock for the key, a green light that was burning, and a dark-red light.
4457
4458  Burton had explained the mechanism earlier. "There are sensors in all the duct systems and in all the labs. They monitor the air in the rooms by a variety of chemical, electronic, and straight bioassay devices. The bioassay is just a mouse whose heartbeat is being monitored. If anything goes wrong with the sensors, the lab automatically seals off. If the whole floor is contaminated, it will seal off, and the atomic device will cut in. When that happens, the green light will go out, and the red light will begin to blink. That signals the start of the three-minute interval. Unless you lock in your key, the bomb will go off at the end of three minutes."
4459
4460  "And I have to do it myself?"
4461
4462  Burton nodded. "The key is steel. It is conductive. The lock has a system which measures the capacitance of the person holding the key. It responds to general body size, particularly weight, and also the salt content of sweat. It's quite specific, actually, for you."
4463
4464  "So I'm really the only one?"
4465
4466  "You really are. And you only have one key. But there's a complicating problem. The blueprints weren't followed exactly; we only discovered the error after the lab was finished and the device was installed. But there is an error: we are short three detonator substations. There are only five, instead of eight."
4467
4468  "Meaning?"
4469
4470  "Meaning that if the floor starts to contaminate, you must rush to locate yourself at a substation. Otherwise there is a chance you could be sealed off in a sector without a substation. And then, in the event of a malfunction of the bacteriologic sensors, a false positive malfunction, the laboratory could be destroyed needlessly." 
4471
4472  "That seems a rather serious error in planning."
4473
4474  "It turns out," Burton said, "that three new substations were going to be added next month. But that won't help us now. Just keep the problem in mind, and everything'll be all right." 
4475
4476  ***
4477
4478  Leavitt awoke quickly, rolling out of bed and starting to dress. He was excited: he had just had an idea. A fascinating thing, wild, crazy, but fascinating as hell.
4479
4480  It had come from his dream.
4481
4482  He had been dreaming of a house, and then of a city-- a huge, complex, interconnecting city around the house. A man lived in the house, with his family; the man lived and worked and commuted within the city, moving about, acting, reacting.
4483
4484  And then, in the dream, the city was suddenly eliminated, leaving only the house. How different things were then! A single house, standing alone, without the things it needed-- water, plumbing, electricity, streets. And a family, cut off from the supermarkets, schools, drugstores. And the husband, whose work was in the city, interrelated to others in the city, suddenly stranded.
4485
4486  The house became a different organism altogether. And from that to the Wildfire organism was but a single step, a single leap of the imagination...
4487
4488  He would have to discuss it with Stone. Stone would laugh, as usual-- Stone always laughed-- but he would also pay attention. Leavitt knew that, in a sense, he operated as the idea man for the team. The man who would always provide the most improbable, mind-stretching theories.
4489
4490  Well, Stone would at least be interested.
4491
4492  He glanced at the clock. 2200 hours. Getting on toward midnight. He hurried to dress.
4493
4494  He took out a new paper suit and slipped his feet in. The paper was cool against his bare flesh.
4495
4496  And then suddenly it was warm. A strange sensation. He finished dressing, stood, and zipped up the one-piece suit. As he left, he looked once again at the clock.
4497
4498  2210.
4499
4500  Oh, geez, he thought.
4501
4502  It had happened again. And this time, for ten minutes. What had gone on? He couldn't remember. But it was ten minutes gone, disappeared, while he had dressed-- an action that shouldn't have taken more than thirty seconds.
4503
4504  He sat down again on the bed, trying to remember, but he could not.
4505
4506  Ten minutes gone.
4507
4508  It was terrifying. Because it was happening again, though he had hoped it would not. It hadn't happened for months, but now, with the excitement, the odd hours, the break in his normal hospital schedule, it was starting once more.
4509
4510  For a moment, he considered telling the others, then shook his head. He'd be all right. It wouldn't happen again. He was going to be just fine.
4511
4512  He stood. He had been on his way to see Stone, to talk to Stone about something. Something important and exciting.
4513
4514  He paused.
4515
4516  He couldn't remember.
4517
4518  The idea, the image, the excitement was gone. Vanished, erased from his mind.
4519
4520  He knew then that he should tell Stone, admit the whole thing. But he knew what Stone would say and do if he found out. And he knew what it would mean to his future, to the rest of his life, once the Wildfire Project was finished. Everything would change, if people knew. He couldn't ever be normal again-- he would have to quit his job, do other things, make endless adjustments. He couldn't even drive a car.
4521
4522  No, he thought. He would not say anything. And he would be all right: as long as he didn't look at blinking lights.
4523
4524  ***
4525
4526  Jeremy Stone was tired, but knew he was not ready for sleep. He paced up and down the corridors of the laboratory, thinking about the birds at Piedmont. He ran over everything they had done: how they had seen the birds, how they had gassed them with chlorazine, and how the birds had died. He went over it in his mind, again and again.
4527
4528  Because he was missing something. And that something was bothering him.
4529
4530  At the time, while he had been inside Piedmont itself, it had bothered him. Then he had forgotten, but his nagging doubts had been revived at the noon conference, while Hall was discussing the patients.
4531
4532  Something Hall had said, some fact he had mentioned, was related, in some off way, to the birds. But what was it? What was the exact thought, the precise words, that had triggered the association?
4533
4534  Stone shook his head. He simply couldn't dig it out. The clues, the connection, the keys were all there, but he couldn't bring them to the surface.
4535
4536  He pressed his hands to his head, squeezing against the bones, and he damned his brain for being so stubborn.
4537
4538  Like many intelligent men, Stone took a rather suspicious attitude toward his own brain, which he saw as a precise and skilled but temperamental machine. He was never surprised when the machine failed to perform, though he feared those moments, and hated them. In his blackest hours, Stone doubted the utility of all thought, and all intelligence. There were times when he envied the laboratory rats he worked with; their brains were so simple. Certainly they did not have the intelligence to destroy themselves; that was a peculiar invention of man.
4539
4540  He often argued that human intelligence was more trouble than it was worth. It was more destructive than creative, more confusing than revealing, more discouraging than satisfying, more spiteful than charitable.
4541
4542  There were times when he saw man, with his giant brain, as equivalent to the dinosaurs. Every schoolboy knew that dinosaurs had outgrown themselves, had become too large and ponderous to be viable. No one ever thought to consider whether the human brain, the most complex structure in the known universe, making fantastic demands on the human body in terms of nourishment and blood, was not analogous. Perhaps the human brain had become a kind of dinosaur for man and perhaps, in the end, would prove his downfall.
4543
4544  Already, the brain consumed one quarter of the body's blood supply. A fourth of all blood pumped from the heart went to the brain, an organ accounting for only a small percentage of body mass. If brains grew larger, and better, then perhaps they would consume more-- perhaps so much that, like an infection, they would overrun their hosts and kill the bodies that transported them.
4545
4546  Or perhaps, in their infinite cleverness, they would find a way to destroy themselves and each other. There were times when, as he sat at State Department or Defense Department meetings, and looked around the table, he saw nothing more than a dozen gray, convoluted brains sitting on the table. No flesh and blood, no hands, no eyes, no fingers. No mouths, no sex organs-- all these were superfluous.
4547
4548  Just brains. Sitting around, trying to decide how to outwit other brains, at other conference tables.
4549
4550  Idiotic.
4551
4552  He shook his head, thinking that he was becoming like Leavitt, conjuring up wild and improbable schemes.
4553
4554  Yet, there was a sort of logical consequence to Stone's ideas. If you really feared and hated your brain, you would attempt to destroy it. Destroy your own, and destroy others.
4555
4556  "I'm tired," he said aloud, and looked at the wall clock. It was 2340 hours-- almost time for the midnight conference.
4557
4558  
4559
4560  
4561
4562  
4563
4564  21. The Midnight Conference
4565
4566  THEY MET AGAIN, IN THE SAME ROOM, IN THE SAME way. Stone glanced at the others and saw they were tired; no one, including himself, was getting enough sleep.
4567
4568  "We're going at this too hard," he said. "We don't need to work around the clock, and we shouldn't do so. Tired men will make mistakes, mistakes in thinking and mistakes in action. We'll start to drop things, to screw things up, to work sloppily. And we'll make wrong assumptions, draw incorrect inferences. That mustn't happen."
4569
4570  The team agreed to get at least six hours sleep in h c
4571
4572  twenty-four-hour period. That seemed reasonable, Since there was no problem on the surface; the infection at Piedmont had been halted by the atomic bomb.
4573
4574  Their belief might never have been altered had not Leavitt suggested that they file for a code name. Leavitt stated that they had an organism and that it required a code. The others agreed.
4575
4576  In a corner of the room stood the scrambler typewriter. It had been clattering all day long, typing out material sent in from the outside. It was a two-way machine; material transmitted had to be typed in lowercase letters, while received material was printed out in capitals.
4577
4578  No one had really bothered to look at the input since their arrival on Level V. They were all too busy; besides, most of the input had been routine military dispatches that were sent to Wildfire but did not concern it. This was because Wildfire was one of the Cooler Circuit substations, known facetiously as the Top Twenty. These substations were linked to the basement of the White House and were the twenty most important strategic locations in the country. Other substations included Vandenberg, Kennedy, NORAD, Patterson, Detrick, and Virginia Key. 
4579
4580  
4581  Stone went to the typewriter and printed out his message. The message was directed by computer to Central Codes, a station that handled the coding of all projects subsumed under the system of Cooler. 
4582
4583  
4584  The transmission was as follows:
4585
4586  open line to transmit 
4587
4588  UNDERSTAND TRANSMIT STATE ORIGIN
4589
4590  stone project wildfire
4591
4592  STATE DESTINATION
4593
4594  central codes
4595
4596  UNDERSTAND CENTRAL CODES
4597
4598  message follows
4599
4600  SEND
4601
4602  have isolated extraterrestrial organism secondary to return of scoop seven wish coding for organism end message
4603
4604  TRANSMITTED
4605
4606  There followed a long pause. The scrambler teleprinter hummed and clicked, but printed nothing. Then the typewriter began to spit out a message on a long roll of paper.
4607
4608  MESSAGE FROM CENTRAL CODES FOLLOWS
4609
4610  UNDERSTAND ISOLATION OF NEW ORGANISM PLEASE CHARACTERIZE
4611
4612  END MESSAGE
4613
4614  Stone frowned. "But we don't know enough." However, the teleprinter was impatient:
4615
4616  TRANSMIT REPLY TO CENTRAL CODES
4617
4618  After a moment, Stone typed back:
4619
4620  message to central codes follows
4621
4622  cannot characterize at this time but suggest tentative classification as bacterial strain
4623
4624  end message
4625
4626  MESSAGE FROM CENTRAL CODES FOLLOWS
4627
4628  UNDERSTAND REQUEST FOR BACTERIAL CLASSIFICATION
4629
4630  OPENING NEW CATEGORY CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO ICDA STANDARD REFERENCE CODE FOR YOUR ORGANISM WILL BE ANDROMEDA CODE WILL READ OUT ANDROMEDA
4631
4632  FILED UNDER ICDA LISTINGS AS 053.9 [UNSPECIFIED ORGANISM]
4633
4634  FURTHER FILING AS E866 [AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT] THIS FILING REPRESENTS CLOSEST FIT TO ESTABLISHED CATEGORIES
4635
4636  Stone smiled. "It seems we don't fit the established categories."
4637
4638  He typed back:
4639
4640  understand coding as andromeda strain
4641
4642  accepted
4643
4644  end message
4645
4646  TRANSMITTED
4647
4648  "Well," Stone said, "that's that."
4649
4650  Burton had been looking over the sheaves of paper behind the teleprinter. The teleprinter-wrote its messages out on a
4651
4652  long roll of paper, which fell into a box. There were dozens of yards of paper that no one had looked at.
4653
4654  Silently, he read a single message, tore it from the rest of the strip, and handed it to Stone.
4655
4656  1134/443/KK/Y-U/9 
4657
4658  INFORMATION STATUS
4659
4660  TRANSMIT TO ALL STATIONS
4661
4662  CLASSIFICATION TOP SECRET
4663
4664  REQUEST FOR DIRECTIVE 7-12 RECEIVED TODAY BY EXEC AND NBC-COBRA
4665
4666  ORIGIN VANDENBERG/WILDFIRE CORROBORATION NASA/AMC
4667
4668  AUTHORITY PRIMARY MANCHEK, ARTHUR, MAJOR USA
4669
4670  IN CLOSED SESSION THIS DIRECTIVE HAS NOT BEEN ACTED UPON FINAL DECISION HAS BEEN POSTPONED TWENTY FOUR TO FORTY EIGHT HOURS RECONSIDERATION AT THAT TIME ALTERNATIVE TROOP DEPLOYMENT ACCORDING TO DIRECTIVE 7-11 NOW IN EFFECT 
4671
4672  NO NOTIFICATION
4673
4674  END MESSAGE
4675
4676  TRANSMIT ALL STATIONS 
4677
4678  CLASSIFICATION TOP SECRET
4679
4680  END TRANSMISSION
4681
4682  The team stared at the message in disbelief. No one said anything for a long time. Finally, Stone ran his fingers along the upper corner of the sheet and said in a low voice, "This was a 443. That makes it an MCN transmission. It should have rung the bell down here." 
4683
4684  "There's no bell on this teleprinter," Leavitt said. "Only on Level I, at sector five. But they're supposed to notify us whenever--"
4685
4686  "Get sector five on the intercom," Stone said.
4687
4688  ***
4689
4690  Ten minutes later, the horrified Captain Mortis had connected Stone to Robertson, the head of the President's Science Advisory Committee, who was in Houston.
4691
4692  Stone spoke for several minutes with Robertson, pressed initial surprise that he hadn't heard from earlier. There then followed a heated discussion of the President's decision not to call a Directive 7-12.
4693
4694  "The President doesn't trust scientists," Roberts( "He doesn't feel comfortable with them."
4695
4696  "It's your job to make him comfortable," Stone said, "and you haven't been doing it."
4697
4698  "Jeremy--"
4699
4700  "There are only two sources of contamination," Stone said. "Piedmont, and this installation. We're adequately protected here, but Piedmont--"
4701
4702  "Jeremy, I agree the bomb should have been dropped."
4703
4704  "Then work on him. Stay on his back. Get him 7-12 as soon as possible. It may already be too late."
4705
4706  Robertson said he would, and would call back. Before he hung up, he said, "By the way, any thoughts about the Phantom?"
4707
4708  "The what?"
4709
4710  "The Phantom that crashed in Utah."
4711
4712  There was a moment of confusion before the Wildfire group understood that they had missed still another important teleprinter message.
4713
4714  "Routine training mission. The jet strayed over the closed zone, though. That's the puzzle."
4715
4716  "Any other information?"
4717
4718  "The pilot said something about his air hose dissolving. Vibration, or something. His last communication was bizarre." 
4719
4720  "Like he was crazy?" Stone asked.
4721
4722  "Like that," Robertson said.
4723
4724  "Is there a team at the wreck site now?"
4725
4726  "Yes, we're waiting for information from them. It could come at any time."
4727
4728  "Pass it along," Stone said. And then he stopped. "If a 7-11 was ordered, instead of a 7-12," he said, "then you have troops in the area around Piedmont."
4729
4730  "National Guard, yes."
4731
4732  "That's pretty damned stupid," Stone said.
4733
4734  "Look, Jeremy, I agree--"
4735
4736  "When the first one dies," Stone said, "I want to know when, and how. And most especially, where. The wind there is from the east predominantly. If you start losing men west of Piedmont--"
4737
4738  "I'll call, Jeremy," Robertson said.
4739
4740  The conversation ended, and the team shuffled out of the conference room. Hall remained behind a moment, going through some of the rolls in the box, noting the messages. The majority were unintelligible to him, a weird set of nonsense messages and codes. After a time he gave up; he did so before he came upon the reprinted news item concerning the peculiar death of Officer Martin Willis, of the Arizona highway patrol.
4741
4742  
4743
4744  
4745
4746  
4747
4748  DAY 4
4749
4750  Spread
4751
4752  
4753
4754  
4755
4756  
4757
4758  
4759
4760  22. The Analysis
4761
4762  WITH THE NEW PRESSURES OF TIME, THE RESULTS of spectrometry and amino-acid analysis, previously of peripheral interest, suddenly became matters of major concern. It was hoped that these analyses would tell, in a rough way, how foreign the Andromeda organism was to earth life forms.
4763
4764  It was thus with interest that Leavitt and Burton looked over the computer printout, a column of figures written on green paper:
4765
4766  MASS SPECTROMETRY DATA OUTPUT PRINT
4767
4768  PERCENTAGE OUTPUT SAMPLE 1 - BLACK OBJECT UNIDENTIFIED ORIGIN
4769
4770  [Diagram of chemistry of the rock from H to Br]
4771
4772  ALL HEAVIER METALS SHOW ZERO CONTENT
4773
4774  SAMPLE 2 - GREEN OBJECT UNIDENTIFIED ORIGIN
4775
4776  [Diagram of chemistry of green object]
4777  
4778  ALL HEAVIER METALS SHOW ZERO CONTENT
4779
4780  END PRINT
4781
4782  END PROGRAM
4783
4784  -STOP-
4785
4786  What all this meant was simple enough. The black rock contained hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen, with significant amounts of sulfur, silicon, and selenium, and with trace quantities of several other elements.
4787
4788  The green spot, on the other hand, contained hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. Nothing else at all. The two men found it peculiar that the rock and the green spot should be so similar in chemical makeup. And it was peculiar that the green spot should contain nitrogen, while the rock contained none at all. 
4789
4790  The conclusion was obvious: the "black rock" was not rock at all, but some kind of material similar to earthly organic life. It was something akin to plastic. 
4791
4792  And the green spot, presumably alive, was composed of elements in roughly the same proportion as earth life On earth, these same four elements-- hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen-- accounted for 99 per cent of all the elements in life organisms. 
4793
4794  The men were encouraged by these results, which suggested similarity between the green spot and life on earth. Their hopes were, however, short-lived as they turned to the amino-acid analysis:  
4795
4796  AMINO ACID ANALYSIS 
4797
4798  [graphic of amino acid analysis-- all zeroes]
4799
4800  TOTAL AMINO ACID CONTENT
4801
4802  00.00 00.00
4803
4804  END PRINT 
4805
4806  END PROGRAM
4807
4808  - STOP -
4809
4810  "Damn," Leavitt said, staring at the printed sheet. "Will you look at that."
4811
4812  "No amino acids," Burton said. "No proteins."
4813
4814  "Life without proteins," Leavitt said. He shook his head; it seemed as if his worst fears were realized.
4815
4816  On earth, organisms had evolved by learning to carry out biochemical reactions in a small space, with the help of protein enzymes. Biochemists were now learning to duplicate these reactions, but only by isolating a single reaction from all others.
4817
4818  Living cells were different. There, within a small area, reactions were carried out that provided energy, growth, and movement. There was no separation, and man could not duplicate this any more than a man could prepare a complete dinner from appetizers to dessert by mixing together the ingredients for everything into a single large dish, cooking it, and hoping to separate the apple pie from the cheese dip later on.
4819
4820  Cells could keep the hundreds of separate reactions straight, using enzymes. Each enzyme was like a single worker in a kitchen, doing just one thing. Thus a baker could not make a steak, any more than a steak griller could use his equipment to prepare appetizers.
4821
4822  But enzymes had a further use. They made possible chemical reactions that otherwise would not occur. A biochemist could duplicate the reactions by using great heat, or great pressure, or strong acids. But the human body, or the individual cell, could not tolerate such extremes of environment. Enzymes, the matchmakers of life, helped chemical reactions to go forward at body temperature and atmospheric pressure.
4823
4824  Enzymes were essential to life on earth. But if another form of life had learned to do without them, it must have evolved in a wholly different way.
4825
4826  Therefore, they were dealing with an entirely alien organism.
4827
4828  And this in turn meant that analysis and neutralization would take much, much longer.
4829
4830  ***
4831
4832  In the room marked MORPHOLOGY, Jeremy Stone removed the small plastic capsule in which the green fleck had been imbedded. He set the now-hard capsule into a vise, fixing it firmly, and then took a dental drill to it, shaving away the plastic until he exposed bare green material.
4833
4834  This was a delicate process, requiring many minutes of concentrated work. At the end of that time, he had shaved the plastic in such a way that he had a pyramid of plastic, with the green fleck at the peak of the pyramid.
4835
4836  He unscrewed the vise and lifted the plastic out. He took it to the microtome, a knife with a revolving blade that cut very thin slices of plastic and imbedded green tissue. These slices were round; they fell from the plastic block into a dish of water. The thickness of the slice could be measured by looking the light as it reflected off the slices-- if the light was faint silver, the slice was too thick. If, on the other hand, it was a rainbow of colors, then it was the right thickness, just a few molecules in depth.
4837
4838  That was how thick they wanted a slice of tissue to be for the electron microscope.
4839
4840  When Stone had a suitable piece of tissue, he lifted it carefully with forceps and set it onto a small round copper grid. This in turn was inserted into a metal button. Finally, the button was set into the electron microscope, and the microscope sealed shut.
4841
4842  The electron microscope used by Wildfire was the BVJ model JJ-42. It was a high-intensity model with an image resolution attachment. In principle, the electron microscope was simple enough: it worked exactly like a light microscope, but instead of focusing light rays, it focused an electron beam. Light is focused by lenses of curved glass. Electrons are focused by magnetic fields.
4843
4844  In many respects, the EM was not a great deal different from television, and in fact, the image was displayed on a television screen, a coated surface that glowed when electrons struck it. The great advantage of the electron microscope was that it could magnify objects far more than the light microscope. The reason for this had to do with quantum mechanics and the waveform theory of radiation. The best simple explanation had come from the electron microscopist Sidney Polton, also a racing enthusiast.
4845
4846  "Assume," Polton said, "that you have a road, with a sharp corner. Now assume that you have two automobiles, a sports car and a large truck. When the truck tries to go around the corner, it slips off the road; but the sports car manages it easily. Why? The sports car is lighter, and smaller, and faster; it is better suited to tight, sharp curves. On large, gentle curves, the automobiles will perform equally well, but on sharp curves, the sports car will do better.
4847
4848  "In the same way, an electron microscope will 'hold the road' better than a light microscope. All objects are made of corners, and edges. The electron wavelength is smaller than the quantum of light. It cuts the corners closer, follows the road better, and outlines it more precisely. With a light microscope-- like a truck-- you can follow only a large road. In microscopic terms this means only a large object, with large edges and gentle curves: cells, and nuclei. But an electron microscope can follow all the minor routes, the byroads, and can outline very small structures within the cell-- mitochondria, ribosomes, membranes, reticula."
4849
4850  In actual practice there were several drawbacks to the electron microscope, which counterbalanced its great powers of magnification. For one thing, because it used electrons instead of light, the inside of the microscope had to be a vacuum. This meant it was impossible to examine living creatures.
4851
4852  But the most serious drawback had to do with the sections of specimen. These were extremely thin, making it difficult to get a good three-dimensional concept of the object under study.
4853
4854  Again, Polton had a simple analogy. "Let us say you cut an automobile in half down the middle. In that case, you could guess the complete, 'whole' structure. But if you cut a very thin slice from the automobile, and if you cut it on a strange angle, it could be more difficult. In your slice, you might have only a bit of bumper, and rubber tire, and glass. From such a slice, it would be hard to guess the shape and function of the full structure."
4855
4856  Stone was aware of all the drawbacks as he fitted the metal button into the EM, sealed it shut, and started the vacuum pump. He knew the drawbacks and he ignored them, because he had no choice. Limited as it was, the electron microscope was their only available high-power tool.
4857
4858  He turned down the room lights and clicked on the beam. He adjusted several dials to focus the beam. In a moment, the image came into focus, green and black on the screen.
4859
4860  It was incredible.
4861
4862  Jeremy Stone found himself staring at a single unit of the organism. It was a perfect, six-sided hexagon, and it interlocked with other hexagons on each side. The interior of the hexagon was divided into wedges, each meeting at the precise center of the structure. The overall appearance was accurate, with a kind of mathematical precision he did not associate with life on earth.
4863
4864  It looked like a crystal.
4865
4866  He smiled: Leavitt would be pleased. Leavitt liked spectacular, mind-stretching things. Leavitt had also frequently considered the possibility that life might be based upon crystals of some kind, that it might be ordered in some regular pattern.
4867
4868  He decided to call Leavitt in.
4869
4870  ***
4871
4872  [graphic of EM crystal pattern] Caption: (Early sketch by Jeremy Stone of hexagonal Andromeda configuration. Photo courtesy Project Wildfire.)
4873
4874  As soon as he arrived, Leavitt said, "Well, there's our answer."
4875
4876  "Answer to what?"
4877
4878  "To how this organism functions. I've seen the results of spectrometry and amino-acid analysis."
4879
4880  "And?"
4881
4882  "The organism is made of hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen. But it has no amino acids at all. None. Which means that it has no proteins as we know them, and no enzymes. I was wondering how it could survive without protein-based organization. Now I know."
4883
4884  "The crystalline structure."
4885
4886  "Looks like it," Leavitt said, peering at the screen. "In three dimensions, it's probably a hexagonal slab, like a piece of tile. Eight-sided, with each face a hexagon. And on the inside, those wedge-shaped compartments leading to the center."
4887
4888  "They would serve to separate biochemical functions quite well." 
4889
4890  "Yes," Leavitt said. He frowned.
4891
4892  "Something the matter?"
4893
4894  Leavitt was thinking, remembering something he had forgotten. A dream, about a house and a city. He thought for a moment and it began to come back to him. A house and a city. The way the house worked alone, and the way it worked in a city.
4895
4896  It all came back.
4897
4898  "You know," he said, "it's interesting, the way this one unit interlocks with the others around it."
4899
4900  "You're wondering if we're seeing part of a higher organism?"
4901
4902  "Exactly. Is this unit self-sufficient, like a bacterium, or is it just a block from a larger organ, or a larger organism? After all, if you saw a single liver cell, could you guess what kind of an organ it came from? No. And what good would one brain cell be without the rest of the brain?"
4903
4904  Stone stared at the screen for a long time. "A rather unusual pair of analogies. Because the liver can regenerate, can grow back, but the brain cannot." 
4905
4906  Leavitt smiled. "The Messenger Theory."
4907
4908  "One wonders," Stone said.
4909
4910  The Messenger Theory had come from John R. Samuels, a communications engineer. Speaking before the Fifth Annual Conference on Astronautics and Communication, he had reviewed some theories about the way in which an alien culture might choose to contact other cultures. He argued that the most advanced concepts in communications in earth technology were inadequate, and that advanced cultures would find better methods.
4911
4912  "Let us say a culture wishes to scan the universe," he said. "Let us say they wish to have a sort of 'coming-out party' on a galactic scale-- to formally announce their existence. They wish to spew out information, clues to their existence, in every direction. What is the best way to do this? Radio? Hardly-- radio is too slow, too expensive, and it decays too rapidly. Strong signals weaken within a few billion miles. TV is even worse. Light rays are fantastically expensive to generate. Even if one learned a way to detonate whole stars, to explode a sun as a kind of signal, it would be costly.
4913
4914  "Besides expense, all these methods suffer the traditional drawback to any radiation, namely decreasing strength with distance. A light bulb may be unbearably bright at ten feet; it may be powerful at a thousand feet; it may be visible at ten miles. But at a million miles, it is completely obscure, because radiant energy decreases according to the fourth power of the radius. A simple, unbeatable law of physics.
4915
4916  "So you do not use physics to carry your signal. You use biology. You create a communications system that does not diminish with distance, but rather remains as powerful a million miles away as it was at the source.
4917
4918  "In short, you devise an organism to carry your message. The organism would be self-replicating, cheap, and could be produced in fantastic numbers. For a few dollars, you could produce trillions of them, and send them off in all directions into space. They would be tough, hardy bugs, able to withstand the rigors of space, and they would grow and duplicate and divide. Within a few years, there would be countless numbers of these in the galaxy, speeding in all directions, waiting to contact life.
4919
4920  "And when they did? Each single organism would carry the potential to develop into a full organ, or a full organism.
4921
4922  "They would, upon contacting life, begin to grow into a complete communicating mechanism. It is like spewing out a billion brain cells, each capable of regrowing a complete brain under the proper circumstances. The newly grown brain would then speak to the new culture' informing it of the presence of the other, and announcing ways in which contact might be made."
4923
4924  Samuels's theory of the Messenger Bug was considered amusing by practical scientists, but it could not be discounted now.
4925
4926  "Do you suppose," Stone said, "that it is already developing into some kind of organ of communication?"
4927
4928  "Perhaps the cultures will tell us more," Leavitt said.
4929
4930  "Or X-ray crystallography," Stone said. "I'll order it now." 
4931
4932  ***
4933
4934  Level V had facilities for X-ray crystallography, though there had been much heated discussion during Wildfire planning as to whether such facilities were necessary. X-ray crystallography represented the most advanced, complex, and expensive method of structural analysis in modern biology. It was a little like electron microscopy, but one step further along the line. It was more sensitive, and could probe deeper-- but only at great cost in terms of time, equipment, and personnel.
4935
4936  The biologist R. A. Janek has said that increasing vision is "increasingly expensive." He meant by this that any machine to enable men to see finer or fainter details increased in cost faster than it increased in resolving power. This hard fact of research was discovered first by the astronomers, who learned painfully that construction of a two-hundred-inch telescope mirror was far more difficult and expensive than construction of a one-hundred-inch mirror.
4937
4938  In biology this was equally true. A light microscope, for example, was a small device easily carried by a technician in one hand. It could outline a cell, and for this ability a scientist paid about $1,000.
4939
4940  An electron microscope could outline small structures within the cell. The EM was a large console and cost up to $100,000.
4941
4942  In contrast, X-ray crystallography could outline individual molecules. It came as close to photographing atoms as science could manage. But the device was the size of a large automobile, filled an entire room, required specially trained operators, and demanded a computer for interpretation of results.
4943
4944  This was because X-ray crystallography did not produce a direct visual picture of the object being studied.. It was not, in this sense, a microscope, and it operated differently from either the light or electron microscope.
4945
4946  It produced a diffraction pattern instead of an image. This appeared as a pattern of geometric dots, in itself rather mysterious, on a photographic plate. By using a computer, the pattern of dots could be analyzed and the structure deduced.
4947
4948  It was a relatively new science, retaining an old-fashioned name. Crystals were seldom used any more; the term "X ray crystallography" dated from the days when crystals were chosen as test objects. Crystals had regular structures and thus the pattern of dots resulting from a beam of X rays shot at a crystal were easier to analyze. But in recent years the X rays had been shot at irregular objects of varying sorts. The X rays were bounced off at different angles. A computer could "read" the photographic plate and measure the angles, and from this work back to the shape of the object that had caused such a reflection.
4949
4950  The computer at Wildfire performed the endless and tedious calculations. All this, if done by manual human calculation, would take years, perhaps centuries. But the computer could do it in seconds.
4951
4952  ***
4953
4954  "How are you feeling, Mr. Jackson?" Hall asked.
4955
4956  The old man blinked his eyes and looked at Hall, in his plastic suit.
4957
4958  "All right. Not the best, but all right."
4959
4960  He gave a wry grin.
4961
4962  "Up to talking a little?"
4963
4964  "About what?
4965
4966  "Piedmont." 
4967
4968  "What about it?"
4969
4970  "That night," Hall said. "The night it all happened."
4971
4972  "Well, I tell you. I've lived in Piedmont all my life. Traveled a bit-- been to LA, and even up to Frisco. Went as far east as St. Louis, which was far enough for me. But Piedmont, that's where I've lived. And I have to tell you--"
4973
4974  "The night it all happened," Hall repeated.
4975
4976  He stopped, and turned his head away. "I don't want to think about it," he said.
4977
4978  "You have to think about it."
4979
4980  "No." 
4981
4982  He continued to look away for a moment, and then turned back to Hall. "They all died, did they?"
4983
4984  "Not all. One other survived. " He nodded to the crib next to Jackson.
4985
4986  Jackson peered over at the bundle of blankets. "Who's that? "
4987
4988  "A baby."
4989
4990  "Baby? Must be the Ritter child. Jamie Ritter. Real young, is it?"
4991
4992  "About two months."
4993
4994  "Yep. That's him. A real little heller. Just like the old man. Old Ritter likes to kick up a storm, and his kid's the same way. Squalling morning, noon, and night. Family couldn't keep the windas open, on account of the squalling.
4995
4996  "Is there anything else unusual about Jamie?"
4997
4998  "Nope. Healthy as a water buffalo, except he squalls. I remember he was squalling like the dickens that night.
4999
5000  Hall said, "What night?"
5001
5002  "The night Charley Thomas brought the damned thing in. We all seen it, of course. It came down like one of them shooting stars, all glowing, and landed just to the north. Everybody was excited, and Charley Thomas went off to get it. Came back about twenty minutes later with the thing in the back of his Ford station wagon. Brand-new wagon. He's real proud of it." 
5003
5004  "Then what happened?"
5005
5006  "Well, we all gathered around, looking at it. Reckoned it must be one of those space things. Annie figured it was from Mars, but you know how Annie is. Lets her mind carry her off, at times. The rest of us, we didn't feel it was no Martian thing, we just figured it was something sent up from Cape Canaveral. You know, that place in Florida where they shoot the rockets?"
5007
5008  "Yes. Go on."
5009
5010  "So, once we figured that out good and proper, we didn't know what to do. Nothing like that ever happened in Piedmont, you know. I mean, once we had that tourist with the gun, shot up the Comanche Chief motel, but that was back in '48 and besides, he was just a GI had a little too much to drink, and there were exterminating circumstances. His gal run out on him while he was in Germany or some damn place. Nobody gave him a bad time; we understood how it was. But nothing happened since, really. Quiet town. That's why we like it, I reckon."
5011
5012  "What did you do with the capsule?"
5013
5014  "Well, we didn't know what to do with it. Al, he said open 'er up, but we didn't figure that was right, especially since it might have some scientific stuff inside, so we thought awhile. And then Charley, who got it in the first place, Charley says, let's give it to Doc. That's Doc Benedict. He's the town doctor. Actually, he takes care of everybody around, even the Indians. But he's a good fella anyhow, and he's been to lots of schools. Got these degrees on the walls? Well, we figured Doc Benedict would know what to do with the thing. So we brought it to him.
5015
5016  "And then?"
5017
5018  "Old Doc Benedict, he's not so old actually, he looks 'er over real careful, like it was his patient, and then he allows as how it might be a thing from space, and it might be one of ours, or it might be one of theirs. And he says he'll take care of it, and maybe make a few phone calls, and let everybody know in a few hours. See, Doc always played poker Monday nights with Charley and Al and Herb Johnstone, over at Herb's place, and we figured that he'd spread the word around then. Besides, it was getting on suppertime and most of us were a bit hungry, so we all kind of left it with Doc."
5019
5020  "When was that?"
5021
5022  "Bout seven-thirty or so."
5023
5024  "What did Benedict do with the satellite?"
5025
5026  "Took it inside his house. None of us saw it again. It was about eight, eight-thirty that it all started up, you see. I was over at the gas station, having a chat with Al, who was working the pump that night. Chilly night, but I wanted a chat to take my mind off the pain. And to get some soda from the machine, to wash down the aspirin with. Also, I was thirsty, squeeze makes you right thirsty, you know."
5027
5028  "You'd been drinking Sterno that day?"
5029
5030  "Bout six o'clock I had some, yes."
5031
5032  "How did you feel?"
5033
5034  "Well, when I was with Al, I felt good. Little dizzy, and my stomach was paining me, but I felt good. And Al and me were sitting inside the office, you know, talking, and suddenly he shouts, 'Oh God, my head!' He ups and runs outside, and falls down. Right there in the street, not a word from him.
5035
5036  "Well, I didn't know what to make of it. I figured he had a heart attack or a shock, but he was pretty young for that, so I went after him. Only he was dead. Then ... they all started coming out. I believe Mrs. Langdon, the Widow Langdon, was next. After that, I don't recall, there was so many of them. Just pouring outside, it seemed like. And they just grab their chests and fall, like they slipped. Only they wouldn't get up afterward. And never a word from any of them." 
5037
5038  "What did you think?"
5039
5040  "I didn't know what to think, it was so damned peculiar. I was scared, I don't mind telling you, but I tried to stay calm. I couldn't, naturally. My old heart was thumping, and I was wheezin' and gaspin'. I was scared. I thought everybody was dead. Then I heard the baby crying, so I knew not everybody could be dead. And then I saw the General." 
5041
5042  "The General?"
5043
5044  "Oh, we just called him that. He wasn't no general, just been in the war, and liked to be remembered. Older'n me, he is. Nice fella, Peter Arnold. Steady as a rock all his life and he's standing by the porch, all got up in his military clothes. It's dark, but there's a moon, and he sees me in the street and he says, 'That you, Peter?' We both got the same name, see. And I says, 'Yes it is.' And he says, 'What the hell's happening? Japs coming in? And I think that's a mighty peculiar thing, for him to be saying. And he says, 'I think it must be the Japs, come to kill us all.' And I say, 'Peter, you gone loco?' And he says he don't feel too good and he goes inside. Course, he must have gone loco, 'cause he shot himself. But others went loco, too. It was the disease."
5045
5046  "How do you know?"
5047
5048  "People don't burn themselves, or drown themselves, if they got sense, do they? All them in that town were good, normal folks until that night. Then they just seemed to go crazy."
5049
5050  "What did you do?"
5051
5052  "I thought to myself, Peter, you're dreaming. You had too much to drink. So I went home and got into bed, and figured I'd be better in the morning. Only about ten o'clock, I hear a noise, and it's a car, so I go outside to see who it is. It's some kind of car, you know, one of those vans. Two fellers inside. I go up to them, and damn but they don't fall over dead. Scariest thing you ever saw. But it's funny."
5053
5054  "What's funny?"
5055
5056  "That was the only other car to come through all night. Normally, there's lots of cars."
5057
5058  "There was another car?"
5059
5060  "Yep. Willis, the highway patrol. He came through about fifteen, thirty seconds before it all started. Didn't stop, though; sometimes he doesn't. Depends if he's late on his schedule; he's got a regular patrol, you know, he has to stick to."
5061
5062  Jackson sighed and let his head fall back against the pillow. "Now," he said, "if you don't mind, I'm going to get me some sleep. I'm all talked out."
5063
5064  He closed his eyes. Hall crawled back down the tunnel, out of the unit, and sat in the room looking through the glass at Jackson, and the baby in the crib alongside. He stayed there, just looking, for a long time.
5065
5066  
5067
5068  
5069
5070  
5071  23. Topeka
5072
5073  THE ROOM WAS HUGE, THE SIZE OF A FOOTBALL field. It was furnished sparsely, just a few tables scattered about. Inside the room, voices echoed as the technicians called to each other, positioning the pieces of wreckage. The post team was reconstructing the wreck in this room, placing the clumps of twisted metal from the Phantom in the same positions as they had been found on the sand.
5074
5075  Only then would the intensive examination begin.
5076
5077  Major Manchek, tired, bleary-eyed, clutching his coffee cup, stood in a corner and watched. To him, there was something surrealistic about the scene: a dozen men in a long, white-washed room in Topeka, rebuilding a crash.
5078
5079  One of the biophysicists came up to him, holding a clear plastic bag. He waved the contents under Manchek's nose.
5080
5081  "Just got it back from the lab," he said.
5082
5083  "What is it?"
5084
5085  "You'll never guess." The man's eyes gleamed in excitement.
5086
5087  All right, Manchek thought irritably, I'll never guess. "What is it?"
5088
5089  "A depolymerized polymer," the biochemist said, smacking his lips with satisfaction. "Just back from the lab."
5090
5091  "What kind of polymer?"
5092
5093  A polymer was a repeating molecule, built up from thousands of the same units, like a stack of dominos. Most plastics, nylon, rayon, plant cellulose, and even glycogen in the human body were polymers.
5094
5095  "A polymer of the plastic used on the air hose of the Phantom jet. The face mask to the pilot. We thought as much."
5096
5097  Manchek frowned. He looked slowly at the crumbly black powder in the bag. "Plastic?"
5098
5099  "Yes. A polymer, depolymerized. It was broken down. Now that's no vibration effect. It's a biochemical effect, purely organic."
5100
5101  Slowly, Manchek began to understand. "You mean something tore the plastic apart?"
5102
5103  "Yes, you could say that," the biochemist replied. "It's a simplification, of course, but--"
5104
5105  "What tore it apart?"
5106
5107  The biochemist shrugged. "Chemical reaction of some sort. Acid could do it, or intense heat, or..."
5108
5109  "Or?"
5110
5111  "A microorganism, I suppose. If one existed that could eat plastic. If you know what I mean."
5112
5113  "I think," Manchek said, "that I know what you mean."
5114
5115  He left the room and went to the cable transmitter, located in another part of the building. He wrote out his message to the Wildfire group, and gave it to the technician to transmit. While he waited, he said, "Has there been any reply yet?"
5116
5117  "Reply, Sir?" the technician asked.
5118
5119  "From Wildfire," Manchek said. It was incredible to him that no one had acted upon the news of the Phantom crash. It was so obviously linked...
5120
5121  "Wildfire, Sir?" the technician asked.
5122
5123  Manchek rubbed his eyes. He was tired: he would have to remember to keep his big mouth shut.
5124
5125  "Forget it," he said.
5126
5127  ***
5128
5129  After his conversation with Peter Jackson, Hall went to see Burton. Burton was in the autopsy room, going over his slides from the day before.
5130
5131  Hall said, "Find anything?"
5132
5133  Burton stepped away from the microscope and sighed. "No. Nothing."
5134
5135  "I keep wondering," Hall said, "about the insanity. Talking with Jackson reminded me of it. A large number of people in that town went insane-- or at least became bizarre and suicidal-- during the evening. Many of those people were old." 
5136
5137  Burton frowned. "So?"
5138
5139  "Old people," Hall said, "are like Jackson. They have lots wrong with them. Their bodies are breaking down in a variety of ways. The lungs are bad. The hearts are bad. The livers are shot. The vessels are sclerotic." 
5140
5141  "And this alters the disease process?"
5142
5143  "Perhaps. I keep wondering. What makes a person become rapidly insane?"
5144
5145  Burton shook his head.
5146
5147  "And there's something else," Hall said. "Jackson recalls hearing one victim say, just before he died, 'Oh, God, my head.' "
5148
5149  Burton stared away into space. "Just before death?"
5150
5151  "Just before."
5152
5153  "You're thinking of hemorrhage?"
5154
5155  Hall nodded. "It makes sense," he said. "At least to check." 
5156
5157  If the Andromeda Strain produced hemorrhage inside the brain for any reason, then it might produce rapid, unusual mental aberrations.
5158
5159  "But we already know the organism acts by clotting."
5160
5161  "Yes," Hall said, "in most people. Not all. Some survive, and some go mad."
5162
5163  Burton nodded. He suddenly became excited. Suppose that the organism acted by causing damage to blood vessels. This damage would initiate clotting. Anytime the wall of a blood vessel was torn, or cut, or burned, then the clotting sequence would begin. First platelets would clump around the injury, protecting it, preventing blood loss. Then red cells would accumulate. Then a fibrin mesh would bind all the elements together. And finally, the clot would become hard and firm.
5164
5165  That was the normal sequence.
5166
5167  But if the damage was extensive, if it began at the lungs and worked its way...
5168
5169  "I'm wondering," Hall said, "if our organism attacks vessel walls. If so, it would initiate clotting. But if clotting were prevented in certain persons, then the organism might eat away and cause hemorrhage in those persons." 
5170
5171  "And insanity," Burton said, hunting through his slides. He found three of the brain, and checked them.
5172
5173  No question.
5174
5175  The pathology was striking. Within the internal layer of cerebral vessels were small deposits of green. Burton had no doubt that, under higher magnification, they would turn out to be hexagonal in shape.
5176
5177  Quickly, he checked the other slides, for vessels in lung, liver, and spleen. In several instances he found green spots in the vessel walls, but never in the profusion he found for cerebral vessels.
5178
5179  Obviously the Andromeda Strain showed a predilection for cerebral vasculature. It was impossible to say why, but it was known that the cerebral vessels are peculiar in several respects. For instance, under circumstances in which normal body vessels dilate or contract-- such as extreme cold, or exercise-- the brain vasculature does not change, but maintains a steady, constant blood supply to the brain.
5180
5181  In exercise, the blood supply to muscle might increase five to twenty times. But the brain always has a steady flow: whether its owner is taking an exam or a nap, chopping wood or watching TV. The brain receives the same amount of blood every minute, hour, day.
5182
5183  The scientists did not know why this should be, or how, precisely, the cerebral vessels regulate themselves. But the phenomenon is known to exist, and cerebral vessels are regarded as a special case among the body's arteries and veins. Clearly, something is different about them.
5184
5185  And now there was an example of an organism that destroyed them preferentially.
5186
5187  But as Burton thought about it, the action of Andromeda did not seem so unusual. For example, syphilis causes an inflammation of the aorta, a very specific, peculiar reaction. Schistosomiasis, a parasitic infection, shows a preference for bladder, intestine, or colonic vessels-- depending on the species. So such specificity was not impossible.
5188
5189  "But there's another problem," he said. "In most people, the organism begins clotting at the lungs. We know that. Presumably vessel destruction begins there as well. What is different about--"
5190
5191  He stopped.
5192
5193  He remembered the rats he had anticoagulated. The ones who had died anyway, but had had no autopsies.
5194
5195  "My God," he said.
5196
5197  He drew out one of the rats from cold storage and cut it open. It bled. Quickly he incised the head, exposing the brain. There he found a large hemorrhage over the gray surface of the brain.
5198
5199  "You've got it," Hall said.
5200
5201  "If the animal is normal, it dies from coagulation, beginning at the lungs. But if coagulation is prevented, then the organism erodes through the vessels of the brain, and hemorrhage occurs."
5202
5203  "And insanity."
5204
5205  "Yes." Burton was now very excited. "And coagulation could be prevented by any blood disorder. Or too little vitamin K. Malabsorption syndrome. Poor liver function. Impaired protein synthesis. Any of a dozen things." 
5206
5207  "All more likely to be found in an old person," Hall said.
5208
5209  "Did Jackson have any of those things?"
5210
5211  Hall took a long time to answer, then finally said, "No. He has liver disease, but not significantly." 
5212
5213  Burton sighed. "Then we're back where we started.
5214
5215  "Not quite. Because Jackson and the baby both survived. They didn't hemorrhage-- as far as we know-- they survived untouched. Completely untouched."
5216
5217  "Meaning?"
5218
5219  "Meaning that they somehow prevented the primary process, which is invasion of the organism into the vessel walls of the body. The Andromeda organism didn't get to the lungs, or the brain. It didn't get anywhere."
5220
5221  "But why?"
5222
5223  "We'11 know that," Hall said, "when we know why a sixty-nine-year-old Sterno drinker with an ulcer is like a two-month-old baby." 
5224
5225  "They seem pretty much opposites," Burton said.
5226
5227  "They do, don't they?" Hall said. It would be hours before, he realized Burton had given him the answer to the puzzle-- but an answer that was worthless.
5228
5229  
5230
5231  
5232
5233  
5234
5235  24. Evaluation
5236
5237  SIR WINSTON CHURCHILL ONCE SAID THAT TRUE genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information." Yet it is a peculiarity of the Wildfire team that, despite the individual brilliance of team members, the group grossly misjudged their information at several points.
5238
5239  One is reminded of Montaigne's acerbic comment: "Men under stress are fools, and fool themselves." Certainly the Wildfire team was under severe stress, but they were also prepared to make mistakes. They had even predicted that this would occur.
5240
5241  What they did not anticipate was the magnitude, the staggering dimensions of their error. They did not expect that their ultimate error would be a compound of a dozen small clues that were missed, a handful of crucial facts that were dismissed.
5242
5243  The team had a blind spot, which Stone later expressed this way: "We were problem-oriented. Everything we did and thought was directed toward finding a solution, a cure to Andromeda. And, of course, we were fixed on the events that had occurred at Piedmont. We felt that if we did not find a solution, no solution would be forthcoming, and the whole world would ultimately wind up like Piedmont. We were very slow to think otherwise." 
5244
5245  The error began to take on major proportions with the cultures.
5246
5247  Stone and Leavitt had taken thousands of cultures from the original capsule. These had been incubated in a wide variety of atmospheric, temperature, and pressure conditions. The results of this could only be analyzed by computer.
5248
5249  Using the GROWTH/TRANSMATRIX program, the computer did not print out results from all possible growth combinations. Instead, it printed out only significant positive and negative results. It did this after first weighing each petri dish, and examining any growth with its photoelectric eye.
5250
5251  When Stone and Leavitt went to examine the results, they found several striking trends. Their first conclusion was that growth media did not matter at all-- the organism grew equally well on sugar, blood, chocolate, plain agar, or sheer glass.
5252
5253  However, the gases in which the plates were incubated were crucial, as was the light.
5254
5255  Ultraviolet light stimulated growth under all circumstances. Total darkness, and to a lesser extent infrared light, inhibited growth.
5256
5257  Oxygen inhibited growth in all circumstances, but carbon dioxide stimulated growth. Nitrogen had no effect.
5258
5259  Thus, best growth was achieved in 100-per cent carbon dioxide, lighted by ultraviolet radiation. Poorest growth occurred in pure oxygen, incubated in total darkness.
5260
5261  "What do you make of it?" Stone said. ,
5262
5263  "It looks like a pure conversion system," Leavitt said.
5264
5265  "I wonder," Stone said.
5266
5267  He punched through the coordinates of a closed-growth system. Closed-growth systems studied bacterial metabolism by measuring intake of gases and nutrients, and output of waste products. They were completely sealed and self-contained. A plant in such a system, for example, would consume carbon dioxide and give off water and oxygen.
5268
5269  
5270  [GRAPHIC:  An example of a scanner printout from the photoelectric eye that examined all growth media. Within the circular petri dish the computer has noted the presence of two separate colonies. The colonies are "read" in two-millimeter-square segments, and graded by density on a scale from one to nine.]
5271
5272  But when they looked at the Andromeda Strain, they found something remarkable. The organism had no excretions. If incubated with carbon dioxide and ultraviolet light, it grew steadily until all carbon dioxide had been consumed. Then growth stopped. There was no excretion of any kind of gas or waste product at all.
5273
5274  No waste.
5275
5276  "Clearly efficient," Stone said.
5277
5278  "You'd expect that," Leavitt said.
5279
5280  This was an organism highly suited to its environment. It consumed everything, wasted nothing. It was perfect for the barren existence of space.
5281
5282  He thought about this for a moment, and then it hit him. It hit Leavitt at the same time.
5283
5284  "Oh my hell."
5285
5286  Leavitt was already reaching for the phone. "Get Robertson," he said. "Get him immediately."
5287
5288  "Incredible," Stone said softly. "No waste. It doesn't require growth media. It can grow in the presence of carbon, oxygen, and sunlight. Period." 
5289
5290  "I hope we're not too late," Leavitt said, watching the computer console screen impatiently.
5291
5292  Stone nodded. "If this organism is really converting matter to energy, and energy to matter-- directly-- then it's functioning like a little reactor." 
5293
5294  "And an atomic detonation."
5295
5296  "Incredible," Stone said. "Just incredible."
5297
5298  The screen came to life; they saw Robertson, looking tired, smoking a cigarette.
5299
5300  "Jeremy, you've got to give me time. I haven't been able to  get through to--"
5301
5302  Listen," Stone said, "I want you to make sure Directive 7-12 is not carried out. It is imperative: no atomic device must be detonated around the organisms. That's the last thing in the world, literally, that we want to do." 
5303
5304  He explained. briefly what he had found.
5305
5306  Robertson whistled. "We'd just provide a fantastically rich growth medium.
5307
5308  "That's right," Stone said.
5309
5310  The problem of a rich growth medium was a peculiarly distressing one to the Wildfire team. It was known, for example, that checks and balances exist in the normal environment. These manage to dampen the exuberant growth of bacteria.
5311
5312  The mathematics of uncontrolled growth are frightening. A single cell of the bacterium E. coli would, under ideal circumstances, divide every twenty minutes. That is not particularly disturbing until you think about it, but the fact is that bacteria multiply geometrically: one becomes two, two become four, four become eight, and so on. In this way, it can be shown that in a single day, one cell of E. coli could
5313
5314  produce a super-colony equal in size and weight to the entire planet earth.
5315
5316  This never happens, for a perfectly simple reason: growth cannot continue indefinitely under "ideal circumstances." Food runs out. Oxygen runs out. Local conditions within the colony change, and check the growth of organisms.
5317
5318  On the other hand, if you had an organism that was capable of directly converting energy to matter, and if you provided it with a huge rich source of energy, like an atomic blast...
5319
5320  "I'll pass along your recommendation to the President," Robertson said. "He'll be pleased to know he made the right decision on the 7-12."
5321
5322  "You can congratulate him on his scientific insight, " Stone said, "for me."
5323
5324  Robertson was scratching his head. "I've got some more data on the Phantom crash. It was over the area west of Piedmont at twenty-three thousand feet. The post team has found evidence of the disintegration the pilot spoke of, but the material that was destroyed was a plastic of some kind. It was depolymerized." 
5325
5326  "What does the post team make of that?"
5327
5328  "They don't know what the hell to make of it," Robertson admitted. "And there's something else. They found a few pieces of bone that have been identified as human. A bit of humerus and tibia. Notable because they are clean-- almost polished." 
5329
5330  "Flesh burned away?"
5331
5332  "Doesn't look that way, " Robertson said.
5333
5334  Stone frowned at Leavitt.
5335
5336  "What does it look like?"
5337
5338  "It looks like clean, polished bone," Robertson said. "They say it's weird as hell. And there's something else. We checked into the National Guard around Piedmont. The 112th is stationed in a hundred-mile radius, and it turns out they've been running patrols into the area for a distance of fifty miles. They've had as many as one hundred men west of Piedmont. No deaths." 
5339
5340  "None? You're quite sure?"
5341
5342  "Absolutely."
5343
5344  "Were there men on the ground in the area the Phantom flew over?"
5345
5346  "Yes. Twelve men. They reported the plane to the base, in fact."
5347
5348  Leavitt said, "Sounds like the plane crash is a fluke."
5349
5350  Stone nodded. To Robertson: "I'm inclined to agree with Peter. In the absence of fatalities on the ground..."
5351
5352  "Maybe it's only in the upper air."
5353
5354  "Maybe. But we know at least this much: we know how Andromeda kills. It does so by coagulation. Not disintegration, or bone-cleaning, or any other damned thing. By coagulation." 
5355
5356  "All right," Robertson said, "let's forget the plane for the time being."
5357
5358  It was on that note that the meeting ended.
5359
5360  ***
5361
5362  Stone said, "I think we'd better check our cultured organisms for biologic potency." 
5363
5364  "Run some of them against a rat?"
5365
5366  Stone nodded. "Make sure it's still virulent. Still the same." 
5367
5368  Leavitt agreed. They had to be careful the organism didn't mutate, didn't change to something radically different in its effects.
5369
5370  As they were about to start, the Level V monitor clicked on and said, "Dr. Leavitt. Dr. Leavitt."
5371
5372  Leavitt answered. On the computer screen was a pleasant young man in a white lab coat.
5373
5374  "Yes?"
5375
5376  "Dr. Leavitt, we have gotten our electroencephalograms back from the computer center. I'm sure it's all a mistake, but..." 
5377
5378  His voice trailed off.
5379
5380  "Yes?" Leavitt said. "Is something wrong?"
5381
5382  "Well, sir, yours were read as grade four, atypical, probably benign. But we would like to run another set."
5383
5384  Stone said, "It must be a mistake."
5385
5386  "Yes," Leavitt said. "It must be."
5387
5388  "Undoubtedly, Sir," the man said. "But we would like another set of waves to be certain." 
5389
5390  "I'm rather busy now," Leavitt said.
5391
5392  Stone broke in, talking directly to the technician. "Dr. Leavitt will get a repeat EEG when he has the chance."
5393
5394  "Very good, Sir," the technician said.
5395
5396  When the screen was blank, Stone said, "There are times when this damned routine gets on anybody's nerves."
5397
5398  Leavitt said, "Yes."
5399
5400  They were about to begin biologic testing of the various culture media when the computer flashed that preliminary reports from X-ray crystallography were prepared. Stone and Leavitt left the room to check the results, delaying the biologic tests of media. This was a most unfortunate decision, for had they examined the media, they would have seen that their thinking had already gone astray, and that they were on the wrong track.
5401
5402  
5403
5404  
5405
5406  
5407
5408  
5409
5410  25. Willis
5411
5412  X-RAY CRYSTALLOGRAPHY ANALYSIS SHOWED THAT the Andromeda organism was not composed of component parts, as a normal cell was composed of nucleus, mitochondria, and ribosomes. Andromeda had no subunits, no smaller particules. Instead, a single substance seemed to form the walls and interior. This substance produced a characteristic precession photograph, or scatter pattern of X rays.
5413
5414  Looking at the results, Stone said, "A series of six-sided rings." 
5415
5416  "And nothing else," Leavitt said. "How the hell does it operate? "
5417
5418  The two men were at a loss to explain how so simple an organism could utilize energy for growth.
5419
5420  "A rather common ring structure," Leavitt said. "A phenolic group, nothing more. It should be reasonably inert."
5421
5422  "Yet it can convert energy to matter."
5423
5424  Leavitt scratched his head. He thought back to the city analogy, and the brain-cell analogy. The molecule was simple in its building blocks. It possessed no remarkable powers, taken as single units. Yet collectively, it had great powers.
5425
5426  "Perhaps there is a critical level," he suggested. "A structural complexity that makes possible what is not possible in a similar but simple structure." 
5427
5428  "The old chimp-brain argument," Stone said.
5429
5430  [GRAPHIC] (Caption: Electron-density mapping of Andromeda structure as derived from micrographic studies. It was this mapping which disclosed activity variations within an otherwise uniform structure. Photo courtesy Project Wildfire)
5431  
5432  Leavitt nodded. As nearly as anyone could determine, the chimp brain was as complex as the human brain. There were minor differences in structure, but the major difference was size-- the human brain was larger, with more cells, more interconnections.
5433
5434  And that, in some subtle way, made the human brain different. (Thomas Waldren, the neurophysiologist, once jokingly noted that the major difference between the chimp and human brain was that "we can use the chimp as an experimental animal, and not the reverse.")
5435
5436  Stone and Leavitt puzzled over the problem for several minutes until they came to the Fourier electron-density scans. Here, the probability of finding electrons was mapped for the structure on a chart that resembled a topological map.
5437
5438  They noticed something odd. The structure was present but the Fourier mapping was inconstant.
5439
5440  "It almost looks," Stone said, "as if part of the structure is switched off in some way." 
5441
5442  "It's not uniform after all," Leavitt said.
5443
5444  Stone sighed, looking at the map. "I wish to hell," he said, "that we'd brought a physical chemist along on the team." 
5445
5446  Unspoken was the added comment, "instead of Hall."
5447
5448  ***
5449
5450  Tired, Hall rubbed his eyes and sipped the coffee, wishing he could have sugar. He was alone in the cafeteria, which was silent except for the muted ticking of the teleprinter in the corner.
5451
5452  After a time he got up and went over to the teleprinter, examining the rolls of paper that had come from it. Most of the information was meaningless to him.
5453
5454  But then he saw one item which had come from the DEATHMATCH Program. DEATHMATCH was a news-scanning computer program that recorded all significant deaths according to whatever criterion the computer was fed. In this case, the computer was alerted to pick up all deaths in the Arizona-Nevada-California area, and to print them back.
5455
5456  The item he read might have gone unnoticed, were it not for Hall's conversation with Jackson. At the time, it had seemed like a pointless conversation to Hall, productive of little and consuming a great deal of time.
5457
5458  But now, he wondered.
5459
5460  PRINT PROGRAM 
5461
5462  DEATHWATCH DEATHMATCH/998
5463
5464  SCALE 7,Y,O. X,4,0 PRINT AS
5465
5466  ITEM FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS VERBATIM 778778
5467
5468  BRUSH RIDGE, ARIZ.-- An Arizona highway patrol officer was allegedly involved in the death today of five persons in a highway diner. Miss Sally Conover, waitress at the Dine-eze diner on Route 15, ten miles south of Flagstaff, was the sole survivor of the incident.
5469
5470  Miss Conover told investigators that at 2:40 a.m., Officer Martin Willis entered the diner and ordered coffee and donut. Officer Willis had frequently visited the diner in the past. After eating, he stated that he had a severe headache and that "his ulcer was acting up." Miss Conover gave him two aspirin and a tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda. According to her statement, Officer Willis then looked suspiciously at the other people in the diner and whispered, "They're after me."
5471
5472  Before the waitress could reply, Willis took out his revolver and shot the other customers in the diner, moving methodically from one to the next, shooting each in the forehead. Then, he allegedly turned to Miss Conover and, smiling, said "I love you, Shirley Temple," placed the barrel in his mouth, and fired the last bullet.
5473
5474  Miss Conover was released by police after questioning. The names of the deceased customers are not known at this time.
5475
5476  END ITEM VERBATIM END PRINT END PROGRAM
5477
5478  TERMINATE
5479
5480  Hall remembered that Officer Willis had gone through Piedmont earlier in the evening-- just a few minutes before the disease broke out. He had gone through without stopping.
5481
5482  And had gone mad later on.
5483
5484  Connection?
5485
5486  He wondered. There might be. Certainly, he could see many similarities: Willis had an ulcer, had taken aspirin, and had, eventually, committed suicide.
5487
5488  That didn't prove anything, of course. It might be a wholly unrelated series of events. But it was certainly worth checking.
5489
5490  He punched a button on the computer console. The TV screen lighted and a girl at a switchboard, with a headset pressing down her hair, smiled at him.
5491
5492  "I want the chief medical officer for the Arizona highway patrol. The western sector, if there is one."
5493
5494  "Yes, sir," she said briskly.
5495
5496  A few moments later, the screen came back on. It was the operator. "We have a Dr. Smithson who is the medical officer for the Arizona highway patrol west of Flagstaff. He has no television monitor but you can speak to him on audio."
5497
5498  "Fine," Hall said.
5499
5500  There was a crackling, and a mechanical hum. Hall watched the screen, but the girl had shut down her own audio and was busy answering another call from elsewhere in the Wildfire station. While he watched her, he heard a deep, drawling voice ask tentatively, "Anyone there?"
5501
5502  "Hello, Doctor," Hall said. "This is Dr. Mark Hall, in...Phoenix. I'm calling for some information about one of your patrolmen, Officer Willis." 
5503
5504  "The girl said it was some government thing," Smithson drawled. "That right?"
5505
5506  "That is correct. We require--"
5507
5508  "Dr. Hall," Smithson said, still drawling, "perhaps you'd identify yourself and your agency." 
5509
5510  It occurred to Hall that there was probably a legal problem involved in Officer Willis' death. Smithson might be worried about that.
5511
5512  Hall said, "I am not at liberty to tell you exactly what it is--"
5513
5514  "Well, look here, Doctor. I don't give out information over the phone, and especially I don't when the feller at the other end won't tell me what it's all about." 
5515
5516  Hall took a deep breath. "Dr. Smithson, I must ask you--"
5517
5518  "Ask all you want. I'm sorry, I simply won't--"
5519
5520  At that moment, a bell sounded on the line, and a flat mechanical voice said:
5521
5522  "Attention please. This is a recording. Computer monitors have analyzed cable properties of this communication and have determined that the communication is being recorded by the outside party. All parties should be informed that the penalty for outside recording of a classified government communication is a minimum of five years' prison sentence. If the recording is continued this connection will automatically be broken. This is a recording. Thank you." 
5523
5524  There was a long silence. Hall could imagine the surprise Smithson was feeling; he felt it himself.
5525
5526  "What the hell kind of a place are you calling from, anyhow?" Smithson said finally.
5527
5528  "Turn it off," Hall said.
5529
5530  There was a pause, a click, then: "All right. It's off."
5531
5532  "I am calling from a classified government installation," Hall said.
5533
5534  "Well, look here, mister--"
5535
5536  "Let me be perfectly plain," Hall said. "This is a matter of considerable importance and it concerns Officer Willis. No doubt there's a court inquiry pending on him, and no doubt You'll be involved. We may be able to demonstrate that Officer Willis was not responsible for his actions, that he was suffering from a purely medical problem. But we can't do that unless you tell us what you know about his medical status. And if you don't tell us, Dr. Smithson, and tell us damned fast, we can have you locked away for twelve years for obstructing an official, government inquiry. I don't care whether you believe that or not. I'm telling you, and you'd better believe it."
5537
5538  There was a very long pause, and finally the drawl: "No need to get excited, Doctor. Naturally, now that I understand the situation."
5539
5540  "Did Willis have an ulcer?"
5541
5542  "Ulcer? No. That was just what he said, or was reported to have said. He never had an ulcer that I know of."
5543
5544  "Did he have any medical problem?"
5545
5546  "Diabetes," Smithson said.
5547
5548  "Diabetes? "
5549
5550  "Yeah. And he was pretty casual about it. We diagnosed him five, six years ago, at the age of thirty. Had a pretty severe case. We put him on insulin, fifty units a day, but he was casual, like I said. Showed up in the hospital once or twice in coma, because he wouldn't take his insulin. Said he hated the needles. We almost put him off the force, because we were afraid to let him drive a car-- thought he'd go into acidosis at the wheel and conk out. We scared him plenty and he promised to go straight. That was three years ago, and as far as I know, he took his insulin regularly from then on."
5551
5552  "You're sure of that?"
5553
5554  "Well, I think so. But the waitress at that restaurant, Sally Conover, told one of our investigators that she figured Willis had been drinking, because she could smell liquor on his breath. And I know for a fact that Willis never touched a drop in his life. He was one of these real religious fellows. Never smoked and never drank. Always led a clean life. That was why his diabetes bothered him so: he felt he didn't deserve it."
5555
5556  Hall relaxed in his chair. He was getting near now, coming closer. The answer was within reach; the final answer, the key to it all.
5557
5558  "One last question," Hall said. "Did Willis go through Piedmont on the night of his death?"
5559
5560  "Yes. He radioed in. He was a little behind schedule, but he passed through. Why? Is it something about the government tests being held there?"
5561
5562  "No," Hall said, but he was sure Smithson didn't believe him.
5563
5564  "Well, listen, we're stuck here with a bad case, and if you have any information which would--"
5565
5566  "We will be in touch," Hall promised him, and clicked off.
5567
5568  The girl at the switchboard came back on.
5569
5570  "Is your call completed, Dr. Hall?"
5571
5572  "Yes. But I need information."
5573
5574  "What kind of information?"
5575
5576  "I want to know if I have the authority to arrest someone."
5577
5578  "I will check, Sir. What is the charge?"
5579
5580  "No charge. Just to hold someone."
5581
5582  There was a moment while she looked over at her computer console.
5583
5584  "Dr. Hall, you may authorize an official Army interview with anyone involved in project business. This interview may last up to forty-eight hours."
5585
5586  "All right, " Hall said. "Arrange it."
5587
5588  "Yes sir. Who is the person?"
5589
5590  "Dr. Smithson," Hall said.
5591
5592  The girl nodded and the screen went blank. Hall felt sorry for Smithson, but not very sorry; the man would have a few hours of sweating, but nothing more serious than that. And it was essential to halt rumors about Piedmont.
5593
5594  He sat back in his chair and thought about what he had learned. He was excited, and felt on the verge of an important discovery.
5595
5596  Three people:
5597
5598  A diabetic in acidosis, from failure to take insulin.
5599
5600  An old man who drank Sterno and took aspirin, also in acidosis.
5601
5602  A young infant.
5603
5604  One had survived for hours, the other two had survived longer, apparently permanently. One had gone mad, the other two had not. Somehow they were all interrelated.
5605
5606  In a very simple way.
5607
5608  Acidosis. Rapid breathing. Carbon-dioxide content. Oxygen saturation. Dizziness. Fatigue. Somehow they were all logically coordinated. And they held the key to beating Andromeda.
5609
5610  At that moment, the emergency bell sounded, ringing in a high pitched, urgent way as the bright-yellow light began to flash.
5611
5612  He jumped up and left the room.
5613
5614  
5615
5616  
5617
5618  
5619  26. The Seal
5620
5621  IN THE CORRIDOR, HE SAW THE FLASHING SIGN that indicated the source of the trouble: AUTOPSY. Hall could guess the problem-- somehow the seals had been broken, and contamination had occurred. That would sound the alarm.
5622
5623  As he ran down the corridor, a quiet, soothing voice on the loudspeakers said, "Seal has been broken in Autopsy. Seal has been broken in Autopsy. This is an emergency."
5624
5625  His lab technician came out of the lab and saw him. "What is it9"
5626
5627  "Burton, I think. Infection spread."
5628
5629  "Is he all right?"
5630
5631  "Doubt it," Hall said, running. She ran with him.
5632
5633  Leavitt came out of the MORPHOLOGY room and joined them, sprinting down the corridor, around the gentle curves. Hall thought to himself that Leavitt was moving quite well, for an older man, when suddenly Leavitt stopped.
5634
5635  He stood riveted to the ground. And stared straight forward at the flashing sign, and the light above it, blinking on and off.
5636
5637  Hall looked back. "Come on," he said.
5638
5639  Then the technician: "Dr. Hall, he's in trouble."
5640
5641  Leavitt was not moving. He stood, eyes open, but otherwise he might have been asleep. His arms hung loosely at his sides.
5642
5643  "Dr. Hall."
5644
5645  Hall stopped, and went back.
5646
5647  "Peter, boy, come on, we need your--"
5648
5649  He said nothing more, for Leavitt was not listening. He was staring straight forward at the blinking light. When Hall passed his hand in front of his face, he did not react. And then Hall remembered the other blinking lights, the lights Leavitt had turned away from, had joked off with stories.
5650
5651  "The son of a bitch," Hall said. "Now, of all times."
5652
5653  "What is it?" the technician said.
5654
5655  A small dribble of spittle was coming from the corner of Leavitt's mouth. Hall quickly stepped behind him and said to the technician, "Get in front of him and cover his eyes. Don't let him look at the blinking light."
5656
5657  "Why?"
5658
5659  "Because it's blinking three times a second," Hall said.
5660
5661  "You mean--"
5662
5663  "He'll go any minute now."
5664
5665  Leavitt went.
5666
5667  With frightening speed, his knees gave way and he collapsed to the floor. He lay on his back and his whole body began to vibrate. It began with his hands and feet, then involved his entire arms and legs, and finally his whole body. He clenched his teeth and gave a gasping, loud cry. His head hammered against the floor; Hall slipped his foot beneath the back of Leavitt's head and let him bang against his toes. It was better than having him hit the hard floor.
5668
5669  "Don't try to open his mouth," Hall said. "You can't do it. He's clenched tight." 
5670
5671  As they watched, a yellow stain began to spread at Leavitt's waist.
5672
5673  "He may go into status," Hall said. "Go to the pharmacy and get me a hundred milligrams of phenobarb. Now. In a syringe. We'll get him onto Dilantin later, if we have to."
5674
5675  Leavitt was crying, through his clenched teeth, like an animal. His body tapped like a tense rod against the floor.
5676
5677  A few moments later, the technician came back with the syringe. Hall waited until Leavitt relaxed, until his body stopped its seizures, and then he injected the barbiturate.
5678
5679  "Stay with him," he said to the girl. "If he has another seizure, just do what I did-- put your foot under his head. I think he'll be all right. Don't try to move him."
5680
5681  And Hall ran down to the autopsy lab.
5682
5683  For several seconds, he tried to open the door to the lab, and then he realized it had been sealed off. The lab was contaminated. He went on to main control, and found Stone looking at Burton through the closed-circuit TV monitors.
5684
5685  Burton was terrified. His face was white and he was breathing in rapid, shallow gasps, and he could not speak. He looked exactly like what he was: a man waiting for death to strike him.
5686
5687  Stone was trying to reassure him. "Just take it easy, boy. Take it easy. You'll be okay. Just take it easy."
5688
5689  "I'm scared," Burton said. "Damn, I'm scared."
5690
5691  "Just take it easy," Stone said in a soft voice. "We know that Andromeda doesn't do well in oxygen. We're pumping pure oxygen through your lab now. For the moment, that should hold you." 
5692
5693  Stone turned to Hall. "You took your time getting here. Where's Leavitt?"
5694
5695  "He fitted," Hall said.
5696
5697  "What?"
5698
5699  "Your lights flash at three per second, and he had a seizure."
5700
5701  "What?"
5702
5703  "Petit mal. It went on to a grand-mal attack; tonic clonic seizure, urinary incontinence, the whole bit. I got him onto phenobarb and came as soon as I could."
5704
5705  "Leavitt has epilepsy?"
5706
5707  "That's right."
5708
5709  Stone said, "He must not have known. He must not have realized." 
5710
5711  And then Stone remembered the request for a repeat electroencephalogram.
5712
5713  "Oh," Hall said, "he knew, all right. He was avoiding flashing lights, which will bring on an attack. I'm sure he knew. I'm sure he has attacks where he suddenly doesn't know what happened to him, where he just loses a few minutes from his life and can't remember what went on."
5714
5715  "Is he all right?"
5716
5717  "We'll keep him sedated."
5718
5719  Stone said, "We've got pure oxygen running into Burton. That should help him, until we know something more. " Stone flicked off the microphone button connecting voice transmission to Burton. "Actually, it will take several minutes to hook in, but I've told him we've already started. He's sealed off in there, so the infection is stopped at that point. The rest of the base is okay, at least." 
5720
5721  Hall said, "How did it happen? The contamination."
5722
5723  "Seal must have broken," Stone said. In a lower voice, he added, "We knew it would, sooner or later. All isolation units break down after a certain time."
5724
5725  Hall said, "You think it was just a random event?"
5726
5727  "Yes," Stone said. "Just an accident. So many seals, so much rubber, of such-and-such a thickness. They'd all break, given time. Burton happened to be there when one went." 
5728
5729  Hall didn't see it so simply. He looked in at Burton, who was breathing rapidly, his chest heaving in terror.
5730
5731  Hall said, "How long has it been?"
5732
5733  Stone looked up at the stop-clocks. The stop-clocks were special timing clocks that automatically cut in during emergencies. The stop-clocks were now timing the period since the seal broke.
5734
5735  "Four minutes."
5736
5737  Hall said, "Burton's still alive."
5738
5739  "Yes, thank God." And then Stone frowned. He realized the point.
5740
5741  "Why, " Hall said, "is he still alive?"
5742
5743  "The oxygen..."
5744
5745  "You said yourself the oxygen isn't running yet. What's protecting Burton?"
5746
5747  At that moment, Burton said over the intercom, "Listen. I want you to try something for me." 
5748
5749  Stone flicked on the microphone. "What?"
5750
5751  "Kalocin," Burton said.
5752
5753  "No." Stone's reaction was immediate. 
5754
5755  "Dammit, it's my life." 
5756
5757  "No," Stone said. 
5758
5759  Hall said, "Maybe we should try--" 
5760
5761  "Absolutely not. We don't dare. Not even once."
5762
5763  ***
5764
5765  Kalocin was perhaps the best-kept American secret of the last decade. Kalocin was a drug developed by Jensen Pharmaceuticals in the spring of 1965, an experimental chemical designated UJ44759W, or K-9 in the short abbreviation. It had been found as a result of routine screening tests employed by Jensen for all new compounds.
5766
5767  Like most pharmaceutical companies, Jensen tested all new drugs with a scatter approach, running the compounds through a standard battery of tests designed to pick up any significant biologic activity. These tests were run on laboratory animals-- rats, dogs, and monkeys. There were twenty-four tests in all.
5768
5769  Jensen found something rather peculiar about K-9. It inhibited growth. An infant animal given the drug never attained full adult size.
5770
5771  This discovery prompted further tests, which produced even more intriguing results. The drug, Jensen learned, inhibited metaplasia, the shift of normal body cells to a new and bizarre form, a precursor to cancer. Jensen became excited, and put the drug through intensive programs of study.
5772
5773  By September 1965, there could be no doubt: Kalocin stopped cancer. Through an unknown mechanism, it inhibited the reproduction of the virus responsible for myelogenous leukemia. Animals taking the drug did not develop the disease, and animals already demonstrating the disease showed a marked regression as a result of the drug.
5774
5775  The excitement at Jensen could not be contained. It was soon recognized that the drug was a broad-spectrum antiviral agent. It killed the virus of polio, rabies, leukemia, and the common wart. And, oddly enough, Kalocin also killed bacteria.
5776
5777  And fungi.
5778
5779  And parasites.
5780
5781  Somehow, the drug acted to destroy all organisms, built on a unicellular structure, or less. It had no effect on organ systems-- groups of cells organized into larger units. The drug was perfectly selective in this respect.
5782
5783  In fact, Kalocin was the universal antibiotic. It killed everything, even the minor germs that caused the common cold. Naturally, there were side effects-- the normal bacteria in the intestines were destroyed, so that all users of the drug experienced massive diarrhea-- but that seemed a small price to pay for a cancer cure.
5784
5785  In December 1965, knowledge of the drug was privately circulated among government agencies and important health officials. And then for the first time, opposition to the drug arose. Many men, including Jeremy Stone, argued that the drug should be suppressed.
5786
5787  But the arguments for suppression seemed theoretical, and Jensen, sensing billions of dollars at hand, fought hard for a clinical test. Eventually the government, the HEW, the FDA, and others agreed with Jensen and sanctioned further clinical testing over the protests of Stone and others.
5788
5789  In February 1966, a pilot clinical trial was undertaken. It involved twenty patients with incurable cancer, and twenty normal volunteers from the Alabama state penitentiary. All forty subjects took the drug daily for one month. Results were as expected: normal subjects experienced unpleasant side effects, but nothing serious. Cancer patients showed striking remission of symptoms consistent with cure.
5790
5791  On March 1, 1966, the forty men were taken off the drug. Within six hours, they were all dead.
5792
5793  It was what Stone had predicted from the start. He had pointed out that mankind had, over centuries of exposure, developed a carefully regulated immunity to most organisms. On his skin, in the air, in his lungs, gut, and even bloodstream were hundreds of different viruses and bacteria. They were potentially deadly, but man had adapted to them over the years, and only a few could still cause disease.
5794
5795  All this represented a carefully balanced state of affairs. If you introduced a new drug that killed all bacteria, you upset the balance and undid the evolutionary work of centuries. And you opened the way to superinfection, the problem of new organisms, bearing new diseases.
5796
5797  Stone was right: the forty volunteers each had died of obscure and horrible diseases no one had ever seen before. One man experienced swelling of his body, from head to foot, a hot, bloated swelling until he suffocated from pulmonary edema. Another man fell prey to an organism that ate away his stomach in a matter of hours. A third was hit by a virus that dissolved his brain to a jelly.
5798
5799  And so it went.
5800
5801  Jensen reluctantly took the drug out of further study. The government, sensing that Stone had somehow understood what was happening, agreed to his earlier proposals, and viciously suppressed all knowledge and experimentation with the drug Kalocin.
5802
5803  And that was where the matter had rested for two years.
5804
5805  Now Burton wanted to be given the drug.
5806
5807  "No," Stone said. "Not a chance. It might cure you for a while, but you'd never survive later, when you were taken off."
5808
5809  "That's easy for you to say, from where you are."
5810
5811  "It's not easy for me to say. Believe me, it's not. He put his hand over the microphone again. To Hall: "We know that oxygen inhibits growth of the Andromeda Strain. That's what we'll give Burton. It will be good for him-- make him a little giddy, a little relaxed, and slow his breathing down. Poor fellow is scared to death." 
5812
5813  Hall nodded. Somehow, Stone's phrase stuck in his mind: scared to death. He thought about it, and then began to see that Stone had hit upon something important. That phrase was a clue. It was the answer.
5814
5815  He started to walk away.
5816
5817  "Where are you going?"
5818
5819  "I've got some thinking to do."
5820
5821  "About what?"
5822
5823  "About being scared to death."
5824
5825  
5826
5827  
5828
5829  
5830  27. Scared to Death
5831
5832  HALL WALKED BACK TO HIS LAB AND STARED through the glass at the old man and the infant. He looked at the two of them and tried to think, but his brain was running in frantic circles. He found it difficult to think logically, and his earlier sensation of being on the verge of a discovery was lost.
5833
5834  For several minutes, he stared at the old man while brief images passed before him: Burton dying, his hand clutched to his chest. Los Angeles in panic, bodies everywhere, cars going haywire, out of control...
5835
5836  It was then that he realized that he, too, was Scared. Scared to death. The words came back to him.
5837
5838  Scared to death.
5839
5840  Somehow, that was the answer.
5841
5842  Slowly, forcing his brain to be methodical, he went over it again.
5843
5844  A cop with diabetes. A cop who didn't take his insulin and had a habit of going into ketoacidosis.
5845
5846  An old man who drank Sterno, which gave him methanolism, and acidosis.
5847
5848  A baby, who did ... what? What gave him acidosis?
5849
5850  Hall shook his head. Always, he came back to the baby, who was normal, not acidotic. He sighed.
5851
5852  Take it from the beginning, he told himself. Be logical. If a man has metabolic acidosis-- any kind of acidosis-- what does he do?
5853
5854  He has too much acid in his body. He can die from too much acid, just as if he had injected hydrochloric acid into his veins.
5855
5856  Too much acid meant death.
5857
5858  But the body could compensate. By breathing rapidly. Because in that manner, the lungs blew off carbon dioxide, and the body's supply of carbonic acid, which was what carbon dioxide formed in the blood, decreased.
5859
5860  A way to get rid of acid.
5861
5862  Rapid breathing.
5863
5864  And Andromeda? What happened to the organism, when you were acidotic and breathing fast?
5865
5866  Perhaps fast breathing kept the organism from getting into your lungs long enough to penetrate to blood vessels. Maybe that was the answer. But as soon as he thought of it, he shook his head. No: something else. Some simple, direct fact. Something they had always known, but somehow never recognized.
5867
5868  The organism attacked through the lungs.
5869
5870  It entered the bloodstream.
5871
5872  It localized in the walls of arteries and veins, particularly of the brain.
5873
5874  It produced damage.
5875
5876  This led to coagulation. Which was dispersed throughout the body, or else led to bleeding, insanity, and death.
5877
5878  But in order to produce such rapid, severe damage, it would take many organisms. Millions upon millions, collecting in the arteries and veins. Probably you did not breathe in so many.
5879
5880  So they must multiply in the bloodstream.
5881
5882  At a great rate. A fantastic rate.
5883
5884  And if you were acidotic? Did that halt multiplication?
5885
5886  Perhaps.
5887
5888  Again, he shook his head. Because a person with acidosis like Willis or Jackson was one thing. But what about the baby?
5889
5890  The baby was normal. If it breathed rapidly, it would become alkalotic-basic, too little acid-- not acidotic. The baby would go to the opposite extreme.
5891
5892  Hall looked through the glass, and as he did, the baby awoke. Almost immediately it began to scream, its face turning purple, the little eyes wrinkling, the mouth, toothless and smooth-gummed, shrieking.
5893
5894  Scared to death.
5895
5896  And then the birds, with the fast metabolic rate, the fast heart rates, the fast breathing rates. The birds, who did everything fast. They, too, survived.
5897
5898  Breathing fast?
5899
5900  Was it as simple as that?
5901
5902  He shook his head. It couldn't be.
5903
5904  He sat down and rubbed his eyes. He had a headache, and he felt tired. He kept thinking of Burton, who might die at any minute. Burton, sitting there in the sealed room.
5905
5906  Hall felt the tension was unbearable. He suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to escape it, to get away from everything.
5907
5908  The TV screen clicked on. His technician appeared and said, "Dr. Hall, we have Dr. Leavitt in the infirmary."
5909
5910  And Hall found himself saying, "I'll be right there."
5911
5912  ***
5913
5914  He knew he was acting strangely. There was no reason to see Leavitt. Leavitt was all right, perfectly fine, in no danger. In going to see him, Hall knew that he was trying to forget the other, more immediate problems. As he entered the infirmary, he felt guilty.
5915
5916  His technician said, "He's sleeping."
5917
5918  "Post-ictal," Hall said. Persons after a seizure usually slept.
5919
5920  "Shall we start Dilantin?"
5921
5922  "No. Wait and see. Perhaps we can hold him on phenobarb." 
5923
5924  He began a slow and meticulous examination of Leavitt. His technician watched him and said, "You're tired."
5925
5926  "Yes," said Hall. "It's past my bedtime."
5927
5928  On a normal day, he would now be driving home on the expressway. So would Leavitt: going home to his family in Pacific Palisades. The Santa Monica Expressway.
5929
5930  He saw it vividly for a moment, the long lines of cars creeping slowly forward.
5931
5932  And the signs by the side of the road. Speed limit 65 maximum, 40 minimum. They always seemed like a cruel joke at rush hour.
5933
5934  Maximum and minimum.
5935
5936  Cars that drove slowly were a menace. You had to keep traffic moving at a fairly constant rate, little difference between the fastest and the slowest, and you had to...
5937
5938  He stopped.
5939
5940  "I've been an idiot," he said.
5941
5942  And he turned to the computer.
5943
5944  ***
5945
5946  In later weeks, Hall referred to it as his "highway diagnosis. " The principle of it was so simple, so clear and obvious, he was surprised none of them had thought of it before.
5947
5948  He was excited as he punched in instructions for the GROWTH program into the computer; he had to punch in the directions three times; his fingers kept making mistakes.
5949
5950  At last the program was set. On the display screen, he saw what he wanted: growth of Andromeda as a function of pH, of acidity-alkalinity.
5951
5952  The results were quite clear:
5953
5954  [GRAPHIC: colony growth versus pH, bell shaped curve centered at pH 7.41 and dying at 7.39/7.43]
5955
5956  The Andromeda Strain grew within a narrow range. If the medium for growth was too acid, the organism would not multiply. If it was too basic, it would not multiply. Only within the range of pH 7.39 to 7.43 would it grow well.
5957
5958  He stared at the graph for a moment, then ran for the door. On his way out he grinned at his assistant and said, "It's all over. Our troubles are finished."
5959
5960  He could not have been more wrong.
5961
5962  
5963
5964  
5965
5966  
5967
5968  28. The Test
5969
5970  IN THE MAIN CONTROL ROOM, STONE WAS WATCHING the television screen that showed Burton in the sealed lab.
5971
5972  "The oxygen's going in," Stone said.
5973
5974  "Stop it," Hall said.
5975
5976  "What?"
5977
5978  "Stop it now. Put him on room air."
5979
5980  Hall was looking at Burton. On the screen, it was clear that the oxygen was beginning to affect him. He was no longer breathing so rapidly; his chest moved slowly.
5981
5982  He picked up the microphone.
5983
5984  "Burton," he said, "this is Hall. I've got the answer. The Andromeda Strain grows within a narrow range of pH. Do you understand? A very narrow range. If you're either acidotic or alkalotic, you'll be all right. I want you to go into respiratory alkalosis. I want you to breathe as fast as you can."
5985
5986  Burton said, "But this is pure oxygen. I'll hyperventilate and pass out. I'm a little dizzy now."
5987
5988  "No. We're switching back to air. Now start breathing as fast as you can." 
5989
5990  Hall turned back to Stone. "Give him a higher carbon dioxide atmosphere."
5991
5992  "But the organism flourishes in carbon dioxide!"
5993
5994  "I know, but not at an unfavorable pH of the blood. You see, that's the problem: air doesn't matter, but blood does. We have to establish an unfavorable acid balance for Burton's blood." 
5995
5996  Stone suddenly understood. "The child," he said. "It screamed.
5997
5998  "Yes."
5999
6000  "And the old fellow with the aspirin hyperventilated."
6001
6002  "Yes. And drank Sterno besides."
6003
6004  "And both of them shot their acid-base balance to hell," Stone said.
6005
6006  "Yes," Hall said. "My trouble was, I was hung up on the acidosis. I didn't understand how the baby could become acidotic. The answer, of course, was that it didn't. It became basic-- too little acid. But that was all right-- you could go either way, too much acid or too little-- as long as you got out of the growth range of Andromeda." 
6007
6008  He turned back to Burton. "All right now," he said. "Keep breathing rapidly. Don't stop. Keep your lungs going and blow off your carbon dioxide. How do you feel?"
6009
6010  "Okay," Burton panted. "Scared...but...okay."
6011
6012  "Good." 
6013
6014  "Listen," Stone said, "we can't keep Burton that way forever. Sooner or later..."
6015
6016  "Yes," Hall said. "We'll alkalinize his blood."
6017
6018  To Burton: "Look around the lab. Do you see anything we could use to raise your blood pH?
6019
6020  Burton looked. "No, not really."
6021
6022  "Bicarbonate of soda? Ascorbic acid? Vinegar?"
6023
6024  Burton searched frantically among the bottles and reagents on the lab shelf, and finally shook his head. "Nothing here that will work."
6025
6026  Hall hardly heard him. He had been counting Burton's respirations; they were up to thirty-five a minute, deep and full. That would hold him for a time, but sooner or later he would become exhausted-- breathing was hard work-- or pass out.
6027
6028  He looked around the lab from his vantage point. And it was while doing this that he noticed the rat. A black Norway, sitting calmly in its cage in a corner of the room, watching Burton.
6029
6030  He stopped.
6031
6032  "That rat..." 
6033
6034  It was breathing slowly and easily. Stone saw the rat and said, "What the hell..." 
6035
6036  And then, as they watched, the lights began to flash again, and the computer console blinked on:
6037
6038  EARLY DEGENERATIVE CHANGE IN GASKET V-1 12-6886
6039
6040  "Damn," Stone said.
6041
6042  "Where does that gasket lead?"
6043
6044  "It's one of the core gaskets; it connects all the labs. The main seal is--"
6045
6046  The computer came back on.
6047
6048  DEGENERATIVE CHANGE IN GASKETS
6049
6050  A-009-5478
6051
6052  V-430-0030
6053
6054  N-966-6656
6055
6056  They looked at the screen in astonishment. "Something is wrong," Stone said. "Very wrong."
6057
6058  In rapid succession the computer flashed the number of nine more gaskets that were breaking down.
6059
6060  "I don't understand..." 
6061
6062  And then Hall said, "The child. Of course!" 
6063
6064  "The child?"
6065
6066  "And that damned airplane. It all fits."
6067
6068  "What are you talking about?" Stone said.
6069
6070  "The child was normal," Hall said. "It could cry, and disrupt it's acid-base balance. Well and good. That would prevent the Andromeda Strain from getting into its bloodstream, and multiplying, and killing it."
6071
6072  "Yes, yes," Stone said. "You've told me all that."
6073
6074  "But what happens when the child stops crying?
6075
6076  Stone stared at him. He said nothing.
6077
6078  "I mean," Hall said, "that sooner or later, that kid had to stop crying. It couldn't cry forever. Sooner or later, it would stop, and its acid-base balance would return to normal. Then it would be vulnerable to Andromeda."
6079
6080  "True."
6081
6082  "But it didn't die."
6083
6084  "Perhaps some rapid form of immunity."
6085
6086  "No. Impossible. There are only two explanations. When the child stopped crying, either the organism was no longer there-had been blown away, cleared from the air-or else the organism-"
6087
6088  "Changed," Stone said. "Mutated."
6089
6090  "Yes. Mutated to a noninfectious form. And perhaps it is still mutating. Now it is no longer directly harmful to man, but it eats rubber gaskets."
6091
6092  "The airplane."
6093
6094  Hall nodded. "National guardsmen could be on the ground, and not be harmed. But the pilot had his aircraft destroyed because the plastic was dissolved before his eyes." 
6095
6096  "So Burton is now exposed to a harmless organism. That's why the rat is alive." 
6097
6098  "That's why Burton is alive," Hall said. "The rapid breathing isn't necessary. He's only alive because Andromeda changed."
6099
6100  "It may change again," Stone said. "And if most mutations occur at times of multiplication, when the organism is growing most rapidly..."
6101
6102  The sirens went off, and the computer flashed a message in red.
6103
6104  GASKET INTEGRITY ZERO. LEVEL V CONTAMINATED AND SEALED.
6105
6106  Stone turned to Hall. "Quick," he said, "get out of here. There's no substation in this lab. You have to go to the next sector."
6107
6108  For a moment, Hall did not understand. He continued to sit in his seat, and then, when the realization hit him, he scrambled for the door and hurried outside to the corridor. As he did so he heard a hissing sound, and a thump as a massive steel plate slid out from a wall and closed off the corridor.
6109
6110  Stone saw it and swore. "That does it," he said. "We're trapped here. And if that bomb goes off, it'll spread the organism all over the surface. There will be a thousand mutations, each killing in a different way. We'll never be rid of it." 
6111
6112  Over the loudspeaker, a flat mechanical voice was saying, "The level is closed. The level is closed. This is an emergency. The level is closed." 
6113
6114  There was a moment of silence, and then a scratching sound as a new recording came on, and Miss Gladys Stevens of Omaha, Nebraska, said quietly, "There are now three minutes to atomic self-destruct."
6115
6116  
6117
6118  
6119
6120  
6121
6122  
6123  29. Three Minutes
6124
6125  A NEW RISING AND FALLING SIREN CAME ON, AND all the clocks snapped their hands back to 1200 hours, and the second hands began to sweep out the time. The stop-clocks all glowed red, with a green line on the dial to indicate when detonation would occur.
6126
6127  And the mechanical voice repeated calmly, "There are now three minutes to self-destruct." 
6128
6129  "Automatic," Stone said quietly. "The system cuts in when the level is contaminated. We can't let it happen."
6130
6131  Hall was holding the key in his hand. "There's no way to get to a substation?"
6132
6133  "Not on this level. Each sector is sealed from every other.
6134
6135  "But there are substations, on the other levels?"
6136
6137  "Yes..."
6138
6139  "How do I get up?"
6140
6141  "You can't. All the conventional routes are sealed.
6142
6143  "What about the central core?" The central core communicated with all levels.
6144
6145  Stone shrugged. "The safeguards .
6146
6147  Hall remembered talking to Burton earlier about the central-core safeguards. In theory, once inside the central core you could go straight to the top. But in practice, them were ligamine sensors located around the core to prevent this. Originally intended to prevent escape of lab animals that might break free into the core, the sensors released ligamine, a curare derivative that was water-soluble, in the form of a gas. There were also automatic guns that fired ligamine darts.
6148
6149  The mechanical voice said, "There are now two minutes forty-five seconds to self-destruct."
6150
6151  Hall was already moving back into the lab and staring through the glass into the inner work area; beyond that was the central core.
6152
6153  Hall said, "What are my chances?"
6154
6155  "They don't exist," Stone explained.
6156
6157  Hall bent over and crawled through a tunnel into a plastic suit. He waited until it had sealed behind him, and then he picked up a knife and cut away the tunnel, like a tail. He breathed in the air of the lab, which was cool and fresh, and laced with Andromeda organisms.
6158
6159  Nothing happened.
6160
6161  Back in the lab, Stone watched him through the glass. Hall saw his lips move, but heard nothing; then a moment later the speakers cut in and he heard Stone say, "-- best that we could devise."
6162
6163  "What was?"
6164
6165  "The defense system."
6166
6167  "Thanks very much," Hall said, moving toward the rubber gasket. It was circular and rather small, leading into the central core.
6168
6169  "There's only one chance," Stone. said. "The doses are low. They're calculated for a ten-kilogram animal, like a large monkey, and you weigh seventy kilograms or so. You can stand a fairly heavy dose before--"
6170
6171  "Before I stop breathing," Hall said. The victims of curare suffocate to death, their chest muscles and diaphragms paralyzed. Hall was certain it was an unpleasant way to die.
6172
6173  "Wish me luck," he said.
6174
6175  "There are now two minutes thirty seconds to self-destruct," Gladys Stevens said.
6176
6177  Hall slammed the gasket with his fist, and it crumbled in a dusty cloud. He moved out into the central core.
6178
6179  ***
6180
6181  It was silent. He was away from the sirens and flashing lights of the level, and into a cold, metallic, echoing space. The central core was perhaps thirty feet wide, painted a utilitarian gray; the core itself, a cylindrical shaft of cables and machinery, lay before him. On the walls he could see the rungs of a ladder leading upward to Level IV.
6182
6183  "I have you on the TV monitor, " Stone's voice said. "Start up the ladder. The gas will begin any moment."
6184
6185  A new recorded voice broke in. "The central core has been contaminated," it said. "Authorized maintenance personnel are advised to clear the area immediately."
6186
6187  "Go!" Stone said.
6188
6189  Hall climbed. As he went up the circular wall, he looked back and saw pale clouds of white smoke blanketing the floor.
6190
6191  "That's the gas," Stone said. "Keep going."
6192
6193  Hall climbed quickly, hand over hand, moving up the rungs. He was breathing hard, partly from the exertion, partly from emotion.
6194
6195  "The sensors have you," Stone said. His voice was dull.
6196
6197  Stone was sitting in the Level V laboratory, watching on the consoles as the computer electric eyes picked up Hall and outlined his body moving up the wall. To Stone he seemed painfully vulnerable. Stone glanced over at a third screen, which showed the ligamine ejectors pivoting on their wall brackets, the slim barrels coming around to take aim.
6198
6199  "Go!"
6200
6201  On the screen, Hall's body was outlined in red on a vivid green background. As Stone watched, a crosshair was superimposed over the body, centering on the neck. The computer was programmed to choose a region of high blood flow; for most animals, the neck was better than the back.
6202
6203  Hall, climbing up the core wall, was aware only of the distance and his fatigue. He felt strangely and totally exhausted, as if he had been climbing for hours. Then he realized that the gas was beginning to affect him.
6204
6205  "The sensors have picked you up," Stone said. "But you have only ten more yards."
6206
6207  Hall glanced back and saw one of the sensor units. It was aimed directly at him. As he watched, it fired, a small puff of bluish smoke spurting from the barrel. There was a whistling sound, and then something struck the wall next to him, and fell to the ground.
6208
6209  "Missed that time. Keep going."
6210
6211  Another dart slammed into the wall near his neck. He tried to hurry, tried to move faster. Above, he could see the door with the plain white markings LEVEL IV. Stone was right; less than ten yards to go.
6212
6213  A third dart, and then a fourth. He still was untouched. For an ironic moment he felt irritation: the damned computers weren't worth anything, they couldn't even hit a simple target...
6214
6215  The next dart caught him in the shoulder, stinging as it entered his flesh, and then there was a second wave of burning pain as the liquid was injected. Hall swore.
6216
6217  Stone watched it all on the monitor. The screen blandly recorded STRIKE and then proceeded to rerun a tape of the sequence, showing the dart moving through the air, and hitting Hall's shoulder. It showed it three times in succession.
6218
6219  The voice said, "There are now two minutes to self-destruct.
6220
6221  "It's a low dose," Stone said to Hall. "Keep going."
6222
6223  Hall continued to climb. He felt sluggish, like a four-hundred pound man, but he continued to climb. He reached the next door just as a dart slammed into the wall near his cheekbone.
6224
6225  "Nasty."
6226
6227  "Go! Go!"
6228
6229  The door had a seal and handle. He tugged at the handle while still another dart struck the wall.
6230
6231  "That's it, that's it, you're going to make it," Stone said.
6232
6233  "There are now ninety seconds to self-destruct," the voice said.
6234
6235  The handle spun. With a hiss of air the door came open. He moved into an inner chamber just as a dart struck his leg with a brief, searing wave of heat. And suddenly, instantly, he was a thousand pounds heavier. He moved in slow motion as he reached for the door and pulled it shut behind him.
6236
6237  "You're in an airlock," Stone said. "Turn the next door handle."
6238
6239  Hall moved toward the inner door. It was several miles away, an infinite trip, a distance beyond hope. His feet were encased in lead; his legs were granite. He felt sleepy and achingly tired as he took one step, and then another, and another.
6240
6241  "There are now sixty seconds to self-destruct." 
6242
6243  Time was passing swiftly. He could not understand it; everything was so fast, and he was so slow.
6244
6245  The handle. He closed his fingers around it, as if in a dream. He turned the handle.
6246
6247  "Fight the drug. You can do it," Stone said.
6248
6249  What happened next was difficult to recall. He saw the handle turn, and the door open; he was dimly aware of a girl, a technician, standing in the hallway as he staggered through.
6250
6251  She watched him with frightened eyes as he took a single clumsy step forward.
6252
6253  "Help me," he said.
6254
6255  She hesitated; her eyes got wider, and then she ran down the corridor away from him.
6256
6257  He watched her stupidly, and fell to the ground. The substation was only a few feet away, a glittering, polished metal plate on the wall.
6258
6259  "Forty-five seconds to self-destruct," the voice said, and then he was angry because the voice was female, and seductive, and recorded, because someone had planned it this way, had written out a series of inexorable statements, like a script, which was now being followed by the computers, together with all the polished, perfect machinery of the laboratory. It was as if this was his fate, planned from the beginning.
6260
6261  And he was angry.
6262
6263  Later, Hall could not remember how he managed to crawl the final distance; nor could he remember how he was able to get to his knees and reach up with the key. He did remember twisting it in the lock, and watching as the green light came on again.
6264
6265  "Self-destruct has been canceled," the voice announced, as if it were quite normal.
6266
6267  Hall slid to the floor, heavy, exhausted, and watched as blackness closed in around him.
6268
6269  
6270
6271  
6272
6273  
6274
6275  
6276  DAY 5
6277
6278  Resolution
6279
6280  
6281
6282  
6283
6284  
6285
6286  
6287
6288  
6289
6290  
6291
6292  
6293  30. The Last Day
6294
6295  AVOICE FROM VERY FAR AWAY SAID, "He's fighting it."
6296
6297  "Is he?"
6298
6299  "Yes. Look."
6300
6301  And then, a moment later, Hall coughed as something was pulled from his throat, and he coughed again, gasped for air, and opened his eyes.
6302
6303  A concerned female face looked down at him. "You okay? It wears off quickly." 
6304
6305  Hall tried to answer her but could not. He lay very still on his back, and felt himself breathe. It was a little stiff at first, but soon became much easier, his ribs going in and out without effort. He turned his head and said, "How long?"
6306
6307  "About forty seconds," the girl said, "as nearly as we can figure. Forty seconds without breathing. You were a little blue when we found you, but we got you intubated right away and onto a respirator."
6308
6309  "When was that?"
6310
6311  "Twelve, fifteen minutes ago. Ligamine is short-acting, but even so, we were worried about you... How are you feeling?"
6312
6313  "Okay."
6314
6315  He looked around the room. He was in the infirmary on Level IV. On the far wall was a television monitor, which showed Stone's face.
6316
6317  "Hello," Hall said.
6318
6319  Stone grinned. "Congratulations."
6320
6321  "I take it the bomb didn't?"
6322
6323  "The bomb didn't," Stone said.
6324
6325  "That's good," Hall said, and closed his eyes. He slept for more than an hour, and when he awoke the television screen was blank. A nurse told him that Dr. Stone was talking to Vandenburg.
6326
6327  "What's happening?"
6328
6329  "According to predictions, the organism is over Los Angeles now." 
6330
6331  "And?"
6332
6333  The nurse shrugged. "Nothing. It seems to have no effect at all."
6334
6335  
6336  ***
6337
6338  "None whatsoever," Stone said, much later. "It has apparently mutated to a benign form. We're still waiting for a bizarre report of death or disease, but it's been six hours now, and it gets less likely with every minute. We suspect that ultimately it will migrate back out of the atmosphere, since there's too much oxygen down here. But of course if the bomb had gone off in Wildfire..." 
6339
6340  Hall said, "How much time was left?"
6341
6342  "When you turned the key? About thirty-four seconds."
6343
6344  Hall smiled. "Plenty of time. Hardly even exciting."
6345
6346  "Perhaps from where you were," Stone said. "But down on Level V, it was very exciting indeed. I neglected to tell you that in order to improve the subterranean detonation characteristics of the atomic device, all air is evacuated from Level V, beginning thirty seconds before explosion."
6347
6348  "Oh," Hall said.
6349
6350  "But things are now under control," Stone said. "We have the organism, and can continue to study it. We've already begun to characterize a variety of mutant forms. It's a rather astonishing organism in its versatility. " He smiled. "I think we can be fairly confident that the organism will move into the upper atmosphere without causing further difficulty on the surface, so there's no problem there. And as for us down here, we understand what's happening now, in terms of the mutations. That's the important thing. That we understand." 
6351
6352  "Understand," Hall repeated.
6353
6354  "Yes," Stone said. "We have to understand."
6355
6356  
6357
6358  
6359
6360  ***
6361
6362  EPILOGUE
6363
6364  OFFICIALLY, THE LOSS OF ANDROS V, THE MANNED spacecraft that burned up as it reentered the atmosphere, was explained on the basis of mechanical failure. The tungsten-and-plastic-laminate heat shield was said to have eroded away under the thermal stress of returning to the atmosphere, and an investigation was ordered by NASA into production methods for the heat shield.
6365
6366  In Congress, and in the press, there was clamor for safer spacecraft. As a result of governmental and public pressure, NASA elected to postpone future manned flights for an indefinite period. This decision was announced by Jack Marriott, "the voice of Andros," in a press conference at the Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston. A partial transcript of the conference follows:
6367
6368  Q: Jack, when does this postponement go into effect?
6369
6370  A: Immediately. Right as I talk to you, we are shutting down. Q: How long do you anticipate this delay will last?
6371
6372  A: I'm afraid that's impossible to say. Q: Could it be a matter of months? A: It could. Q: Jack, could it be as long as a year9
6373
6374  A: It's just impossible for me to say. We must wait for the findings of the investigative committee.
6375
6376  Q: Does this postponement have anything to do with the Russian decision to curtail their space program after the crash of Zond 19?
6377
6378  A: You'd have to ask the Russians about that.
6379
6380  Q: I see that Jeremy Stone is on the list of the investigative committee. How did you happen to include a bacteriologist?
6381
6382  A: Professor Stone has served on many scientific advisory councils in the past. We value his opinion on a broad range of subjects.
6383
6384  Q: What will this delay do to the Mars-landing target date?
6385
6386  A: It will certainly set the scheduling back.
6387
6388  Q: Jack, how far?
6389
6390  A: I'll tell you frankly, it's something that all of us here would like to know. We regard the failure of Andros V as a scientific error, a breakdown in systems technology, and not as a specifically human error. The scientists are going over the problem now, and we'll have to wait for their findings. The decision is really out of our hands.
6391
6392  Q: Jack, would you repeat that?
6393
6394  A: The decision is out of our hands.