Cities of the Red Night

'I would say that is a more or less accurate paraphrase of what I have just said.'

'Not precisely. The mutated virus strains were produced by radiation and the test animals, having been exposed to radiation, were of course radioactive to a point but not dangerously so....The viruses were produced by radiation, but it does not necessarily follow that the viruses were themselves radioactive. Is not your use of the term radioactive virus and your uh evocation of billions of radioactive corpses uh misleading?'

Doctor Pierson found it difficult to conceal his annoyance. 'I have pointed out that, owing to the grave dangers inherent in large-scale experimentation which could among other things severely damage our public image, our data is incomplete....'

'Ah yes, to be sure. And now if you will bear with me, Doctor, I have some additional questions.... You have said that Virus B-23 resulted from radiation?' asked Peterson.

'I did.'

'In what way does it differ from the strains developed by Doctor Steinplatz?'

'I thought I made that point quite clear: the form of radiation emanating from the red light is unknown at the present time.'

'You are then ignorant of the nature of this wondrous radiation, or as to how it could be produced in the laboratory?'

'Yes.'

'Has it occurred to you that it might be similar to Reich's DOR, or Deadly Orgone Radiation, which is produced by placing radioactive material in an organic container lined with iron?'

'Preposterous! Reich was a charlatan! A lunatic!'

'Perhaps ... but such a simple and inexpensive experiment ... we could start with herpes simplex.'

'I fail to see that any useful purpose ...' Pierson glanced around the table. Stony faces looked back at him. He was concealing something and they knew it.

Doctor Pierson looked at his watch. 'I'm afraid I must cut this short. I have a plane to catch.'

Peterson held up his hand. 'I'm not quite finished, Doctor....I am sure that a slight delay in takeoff could be arranged for a person of your importance.... Now, the virus strains developed by Doctor Steinplatz were, to be sure, more contagious and more virulent than the mother strains from which they were derived, but still quite recognizable. For example, for example, the good doctor's airborne rabies would still be clinically recognizable as rabies. Even if the viruses were mixed into a cocktail, the individual ingredients would still be comparatively easy to identify. You would agree, Doctor Pierson?'

'In theory, yes. However, we do not know, in the absence of large-scale exposure, whether the virus might not undergo further mutations that rend identification difficult.'

'To be sure. The point I am making is simply that Doctor Steinplatz started his experiments with certain known viruses.... Doctor Pierson, you have stated that Virus B-23 resulted from unknown radiation. Do you imply that this virus was so produced out of thin air? Let me put it this way: What virus or viruses known to unknown mutated as a result of this radiation?

'At the risk of repeating myself, I will say again that both the radiation and the virus or viruses are unknown at this time,' said Pierson archly.

'The symptoms of a virus are the attempts of the body to deal with a virus attack By their symptoms you shall know them, and even a totally unknown virus would yield considerable data by its symptoms. On the other hand, if a virus produces no symptoms, then we have no way of knowing that it exists ... no way of knowing that it is a virus.'

'So?'

'So the virus in question may have been latent or it may have been living in benign symbiosis with the host.'