This Green Hell

as—’

She cut off as, on screen, the black invaders overwhelmed the white blood cells’ defences. The familiar internal storm began within some of the NKs’ own walls, then a round of soundless micro explosions tore the infected white blood cells into a cloud of dirty liquid. After another few seconds, the inky blackness spread further across the screen. Of Aimee’s blood cells, nothing remained other than some cell fragments floating freely in the dark, cloudy fluid. The small one-sided war was over as fast as it had started.

‘Ahh, shit.’ Aimee’s smile had vanished. She leaned back and exhaled.

‘So much for our shepherds … and last line of defence,’ said Maria. ‘I’m afraid it’s what I was expecting, and I’m surprised you weren’t as well, Dr Weir. Why do you think that no one has recovered once infected? Eventually the body’s defences are overwhelmed by an ever-growing invading force — there could only ever be one result.’ She gave Aimee the kind of look a college professor gives a student who shouts out a dumb answer in class.

Aimee crossed her arms. ‘I don’t agree. In fact, the immune response was good considering the advanced state of infection from a totally unique bacterium. It just wasn’t quick or powerful enough, that’s all. If we could boost it somehow, or maybe catch the infection earlier …’

‘If, somehow and maybe are not words we use often at the CDC, Dr Weir. Our fields of science … and expertise are obviously vastly different.’

As Maria Vargis turned away, Franks nudged Aimee’s arm and motioned to the pistol in her belt. Aimee rolled her eyes and mouthed back a silent curse.

Michael glanced at Aimee then turned to his mother with a look of indecision on his face. ‘Maria, Dr Weir is right — to a degree, that is. I agree it looks bad, but not all bad. It is good news that our body recognises the Hades Bug as a foreign body. And I agree that one line of investigation could be to somehow give our immune system a little help to marshal its troops faster and in greater numbers. Perhaps—’

Maria leaned towards him. ‘That may be possible given enough time and appropriate facilities — neither of which we have here. So that’s bad. But what’s very bad is that this thing delivers total cellular destruction in a matter of hours, not days. By the time overt symptoms are manifesting, it has already destroyed a significant amount of the organic matrix. If it got to a vital organ or the brain in the first few hours, the immune response would be too late. The last time I saw something this lethal and infectious was in a military bio-hazard laboratory. From my reading of the data, once infected the patient is as good as dead.’

‘Yes … once infected…’ Michael let the words hang in the air.

Maria narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips together, obviously thinking. After a moment she raised her eyebrows and began to slowly nod at her son. Michael smiled, as if some form of communication had just passed between them.

‘Okay, okay, I see where you’re going. You’re thinking we might be able to mount an immune response before it takes hold — create some sort of vaccination shield against it?’

Michael sat forward. ‘Why not? It’s big and aggressive, but our body recognises it as being foreign. The problem is, by the time we’re ready for it, the bugs have already scaled the walls and blown up our armoury. If we can create an immune system memory, then as soon as it enters the system, we’ll be already taking aim.’

‘Of course, you’re right,’ Maria said. ‘I’ve been so caught up in the lethality and uniqueness of the microbe, I’d forgotten that it’s just another bug. After all, we’ve done it successfully for cholera, bubonic plague, polio, hepatitis A and numerous others. Yes, it’s just another bug, Michael.’ She patted him on the leg, as though rewarding a puppy for good behaviour.

Aimee noticed there was no apology coming her way, even though it had been her idea. Oh, well, she thought. She was way too tired to really care.

Michael flexed his fingers, as though itching to start but not really knowing where. ‘Okay, it’s going to have to be a primary prophylaxis — a vaccine that prevents the development of the disease. Once it’s established into the system, any secondary measures would be too late. We need our NK cells to be ready and waiting.’

Michael half-turned to his mother as if seeking approval of his method. Maria just nodded.

‘An attenuated vaccine would be best,’ he continued, ‘but we just don’t have the facilities or the time to engineer a less virulent microorganism. Given the constraints, there’s only one option: generate Hades relics — pieces of the dead bacterium.’

Maria mouthed yes, as if happy with her pupil.

Aimee knew a little about vaccine creation through her biology research. She also knew Michael was right about their options. Vaccines could be created in a dozen ways these days, from bioengineering to synthesising artificial dumb-bugs to trigger the desired human immunological response without any of the detrimental consequences. Nearly all required significant lab space, equipment and time — and even then, most only produced a minuscule amount of useful vaccine. Still in this situation, any amount would do, Aimee thought.

‘How are you going to terminate the bacterium? Do you have the necessary equipment?’ she asked.

‘Standard techniques are heat and chemistry. I thought I’d try heat first as we’re not exactly sure what to use on the chemical side just yet.’ Michael was scribbling notes as he spoke.

‘Don’t worry, Dr Weir, we know what we’re doing,’ Maria said.

Aimee found her air of superiority both unwarranted and annoying given how little they really knew about the bacterium. Even though Aimee knew Michael was using the correct logic and procedure, she couldn’t resist needling the older woman a little.

‘Heat? I’m not so sure. This thing came up from over a mile below the surface and actually needs heat to trigger its own micro metabolism to degrade and digest the trace hydrocarbons from the rock. Exposing it to more heat could, in fact, cause some sort of aggressive metabolic acceleration.’

Michael looked from Aimee to Maria, who rolled her eyes. ‘Given the time and facility constraints, there are no other options. Proceed, Michael, using heat as the first choice attenuation trigger.’ She folded her arms and looked squarely at Aimee, daring her to object.

Michael gave Aimee a look that could have been a plea not to get in a fight with his mother. ‘Umm, Dr Weir, I don’t think even the hardiest extremophile could withstand prolonged exposure to a naked flame. Then again, I don’t want them incinerated, just dead, so I can use their shells.’ He compressed his lips into a tight, nervous smile and tilted his head, obviously hoping she would agree with his logic.

Aimee couldn’t bring herself to give up just yet, even though, deep down, she knew the two disease experts would make the better decisions. ‘Look, I acknowledge you two know much more about this than I do, but at this point none of us know what this bug is capable of doing or withstanding. You brought some nuclear material for the X-rays — why not try it first? In fact, I’ve read about research work undertaken by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases that proved radiation attenuation worked far more effectively in the trials on an aggressive strain of Listeria. Basically, the irradiated bacteria was found to retain the properties needed to evoke a broad immune response — and it proved vastly superior to other methods of killing infectious pathogens.’

Maria’s eyes slid to the silver suitcase in the corner of the room, then narrowed as they returned to Aimee. She spoke in a soft voice that carried a hint of steel. ‘Dr Weir, not only have I seen the research, it was one of my teams that was responsible for it. And just what do you suggest we use as shielding while we work with the radioactive material?’ She looked Aimee up and down. ‘Dirty linen and sunglasses?’

Aimee felt her face going red-hot, and not from embarrassment. She glared at Maria, her mind working furiously. Perhaps she was overly sensitive because she was tired, or perhaps she was envious of the woman’s calm professionalism and authority while all she felt was panic — the infection, the men dying horribly, the heat, the quarantine … the list seemed endless. Whatever it was, something made her want to stand and fight.

Maria pressed the back of her hand to her forehead. ‘I’m sorry, Dr Weir … Aimee. We’re all tired and on edge. We’ll see to the attenuation process — it’s our job — that’s why we’re here. It’ll take us a while to set up, so …’ She made a shooing motion with her hands.

Aimee looked at Michael, who made a small placatory gesture behind his mother’s back. Deciding that her anger wouldn’t help the situation, Aimee shrugged and turned to leave.

‘Wait,’ Maria said, ‘before you go, is there anything else you can tell us about the bacterium — its behaviour, where it came from, its condition when you uncovered it? Anything and everything is vital now.’