Patterson had reunited with Chandna and Fuller upon their return from the derelict mission. Fuller got tasked with keeping Zhu sedated as well as performing periodic blood and lymph work on him. Chandna and her then began a detailed examination and experimentation program. She had already obtained the first CT imaging of Zhu by the time they had arrived, and which showed not one parasitic creature inside of Zhu’s abdominal cavity but six in a tight cluster.
She had sealed Zhu’s wound with a stem cell impregnated collagen-elastin gel after getting him out of his spacesuit. And she established a periodic blood transfusion. The initial one gave them plenty of contaminated blood for medical trials. They couldn’t fight the parasites and microscopic infections inside Zhu without understanding them. They now had a means to gain that understanding and it was only a question of if there was enough time.
She sent Chandna to Green Gate to gather candidates for a testing program. And when he returned they placed them individually within separate biohazard certified glovestations. She then went through them one at a time, injecting them with Zhu’s infected blood (after forcing his blood cells to undergo apoptosis) as well as a small amount of tissue gathered from their first biopsy of the parasites. A single quick injection which they hardly felt changed their lives forever.
She suppressed her emotions while looking over the six subjects for the observation program – two each of frogs, chickens, and grasscutters. Medical research tolerated a certain amount of animal abuse out of necessity. Programs were planned to prevent excessive suffering but a certain amount of discomfort and decreased life expectancy was unavoidable. She had been a part of many such studies at LookingGlass to find ways to better human lives.
But this was different. They knew nothing about these newly discovered organisms. And they needed to see how the alien organisms infested their host organisms without interference. Judging from Zhu’s behavior while he was awake, it would likely be a painful process, and she was certain it would be fatal. And the hoped-for benefits didn’t always manifest – in which case the animals’ suffering would be pointless. But she had to try to save Zhu.
Chandna had watched over her shoulder while she administered the injection and then he verified the restraints on the chickens and rats (to keep them from tearing the working gloves) and he sealed the gloveboxes. “That’s it then,” he said. “Cameras will provide constant surveillance, but I recommend a blood drop sample every couple hours.” He glanced over at Fuller and he nodded in understanding.
“Are we really expecting to learn from this fast enough to save him?” Fuller asked.
“It’s not guaranteed but keep a positive mind,” Chandna said.
Fuller seemed to agree to that suggestion. They were silent for a moment and then Patterson spoke again. “Zhu is stable for now. Once we adapt the medibots to target the alien cells we should be able to keep his blood fairly clean. Hopefully, that will be sufficient to stabilize him for a long while.”
“And the parasites?” he asked.
“Parasites typically take a long while to kill their host. I do want to remove them once I know how to safely do so. Keep the cloning vat running. I want enough blood to support surgery. But disease is probably our main worry right now.”
Both Chandna and TURING concurred with that prediction.
“Alright, how do you want me to care for the animals?” Fuller asked.
“Keep them watered and fed. That’s all. The rats and chickens stay restrained.” She looked in his eyes.
He slowly nodded. “Aye ma’am.”
She left the lab for Microscopy down the hall, and Chandna followed. The animal test subjects would give her knowledge about the diseases’ progression. She also needed to understand the microbiology of the alien organisms and how they interacted with human tissue. The alien metabolic process was similar, as evident from the fact that it was thriving in a human host, and that gave a good place to start.
She worked quietly with Chandna. They prepared slides from Zhu’s blood and searched for alien cells using their microscopes. And then they utilized their microrobotic separators for isolating them in petri dishes. They varied the growth medium in these. Each had subtle differences from human blood in the concentration of peptides, triglycerides, polysaccharides, vitamins, and minerals as well as pH and temperature. It was slow, tedious work that took them hours. And she checked on Zhu every hour.
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Patterson and Chandna soon isolated over a dozen different microorganisms. Most of these greatly resembled bacteria and so they put Zhu on antibiotics. They also used the isolated samples to investigate ways to assist Zhu’s own immune system in destroying the invaders, and to optimize the medibots for destroying them. Their first experiments showed some promise and they administered a dose of the medibots to Zhu.
They now watched one of the capsule shaped medibots flail its flagellum to propel itself within a recently taken blood sample. It squeezed in between human blood cells and alien cells, which it failed to recognize, while searching for an invader to destroy. Several times it turned its front toward the alien cells to align its chemical sensors with the proteins and polysaccharides in the cell membrane, and it looked like it was about to attack. But then it backed away and began to search again. This process went on and on for several minutes. Finally, it pressed its front against a cell and positively identified it as an intruder. It inserted a microscopic needle through the cell membrane. Panels on the medibot opened and allowed plasma fluid to flow into the cell, which then burst.
The medibot retracted the needle and flailed its flagellum to back away from the dead cell remains. And then it resumed its search routine. Again, it simply passed by most of the alien cells. It often started to sniff but lost the trail.
Microscopic constructions like the medibots were relatively stupid machines. They lacked the complexity for any thought and were in truth just chemical engines. The right molecular compounds, in the correct proportions, oriented the receptor molecules on the medibot’s face, and that in turn drove the mechanism for inserting the needle and opening the panels.
Their first selection of receptor molecules had failed spectacularly.
Chandna looked at her. “Do you think we should adjust for different proportions?”
She sighed while thinking about their other programs, which also failed to achieve appreciable success. “I think we’re missing something.” The fact that their first efforts didn’t meet success wouldn’t have bothered her if not for the fact that she didn’t know how long Zhu had.
She got up from the microscope station and walked across the lab to review test data (which was designed to strengthen his own immune response) which did not show their current strategy to be promising. Fuller was at her side, looking apprehensively. None of their programs revealed a way to harm or hinder the invasive alien cells. Abnormal growths were springing up all throughout Zhu’s body, consuming his tissue. And Zhu’s immune response continued to do more harm than good. He was sedated now, which took care of the pain and delirium. But such symptomatic treatments wouldn’t save him.
“What do you think we should try next?”, Fuller asked.
She didn’t answer. Some of her experiments should have worked – at least well enough to point out a direction for further research. The alien cells were, in many respects, not all that different from human ones. They were primarily composed of water, and they maintained their integrity by using phospholipid-based membranes. They had similar metabolic requirements – which fueled their invasiveness when inside a human being. Those facts also indicated that she had well understood methods of destroying the cells. But they had survival mechanisms that she didn’t yet understand.
She had years ago read a book called the Stand where mankind was nearly annihilated by a continuously shifting antigen virus. Such a thing wasn’t naturally possible of course. Antigens were simply molecules. They were constituents of proteins and carbohydrates on the exterior of cells and virus particles that served a necessary purpose for metabolism, protection, or reproduction. Random molecular substitutions could interfere with those vital functions and cause extinction. The odds of harmful substitutions were as great as helpful ones.
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In that book a malevolent and intelligent supernatural being was behind the mutation of Captain Trips. The virus never lost its ability to reproduce or invade target cells, and every alteration of the unique proteins and carbohydrates encompassing its capsule only defeated the immune system’s process of identification and attack. Something – seemingly intelligent – was behind Zhu’s infection too. There was no other possibility.
Terrifying questions worked through her mind. A single cell organism couldn’t possess sufficient intelligence. Were the parasitic growths, the microorganisms, and the unidentified nano particles each part of a distributed, collective intelligence? And, if so, would it gain in intelligence as the alien growths multiplied? How would she be able to stop or slow that without physically removing the growths within him? She needed time and didn’t know how to get more of it.
Chandna approached and she turned towards him with a frustrated scowl.
“I take it our other testing programs have failed to reveal a solution then,” he said. His eyes showed he expected the outcome.
She shook her head. It’s a very interesting organism. And a very desperate situation for Zhu. “I named the case file Pazuzu. It’s a potent demon.” The newly discovered organisms were more alien than anything found in human history. In any other situation she would be happy to spend the next decade studying them. But Zhu didn’t have that time.
“Well,” he shrugged. “We must keep experimenting and identify the weak points. Find out where the complement system breaks down and innovate ways to bolster it. He’s deteriorating, but at a slow rate. I don’t believe there’s reason to panic or lose hope.”
He was right, of course. He was just missing the other thing they had to do. The parasites needed to be removed. She hadn’t discovered anything that made their removal seem dangerous, but there was still so much they didn’t know.
“TURING and I will do that. You go to Trauma and prep Zhu for surgery.”
He looked at her silently for a moment. “Are you sure about that? We’ll have to suspend our testing to support such an operation.”
“I’m sure.” In truth, she had simply become suspicious of the parasitic growths. They had to be the source of the adaptability. And then she thought about the animals. They had been infected before Sci-Med had undertaken any experimentation.
“Shouldn’t we try your idea on modifying bacteriophage first?” Fuller asked.
“We don’t have the time to run the necessary trials. The invading parasitic tissue is now also a problem. We need to remove it now before it spreads further into his vitals.” She thought about the animals locked up in their glovestations. They had been injected with tissue from the parasitic growths, but there was much less of the alien tissue. Less intelligence.
“I have an idea. The Medibots work adequately in the samples cultured in the petri dishes. We administered them to Zhu but our follow on sample shows they don’t work. Are the animals sick?”
“Body temperatures are elevated,” Fuller said. “I don’t know how sick they are though. I’m not a vet.”
She nodded in understanding. They would follow up on a symptoms check later. She looked at Chandna. “Get the Trauma center ready.” He nodded and went off. She then instructed Fuller. “Come with me and let’s inject our medibots into one of the rats. I suspect they will prove considerably more effective.”
“We adapted them for humans.”
“True, but they should work decently in any mammal. They are tuned to hunt down the Pazuzu organisms.”
They went to the lab and Fuller gave a hefty grasscutter a dose of the medibots while Patterson reviewed their latest blood and lymph work. They were all definitely sick at this point. After a thirty-minute wait Patterson took a sample of blood and went to Microscopy to review it.
She watched the tiny machines push themselves through the plasma with their flagellum. Only this time they readily got a whiff of the alien cells and oriented themselves toward them to inspect them closely. The receptor molecules weren’t yet optimal, and they often slipped away from one another before the medibot could confirm that the cell was an intruder and deploy its needle. But they were killing a good number of alien cells too. It wasn’t yet a viable cure for Pazuzu infection but it was a menace to it.
Gotcha. You’re intelligent. The parasites were a biological computer.
“Please tell me you know why it’s working so much better?” Fuller asked.
She gave him an affirmative nod. “TURING, record this information as our first successful test on a live host. Include it in our next update package to the probe.”
“I am bundling this information in the package,” TURING said.
She looked at Fuller. “Please brief the Captain on performing surgery and get his concurrence?”
He got up from his seat without speaking and headed for Reception. For the first time in hours he had a lively step.
This was Zhu’s best hope. She sealed the glovestation and went to join Chandna.
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Holly and the team that had remained on the Nineveh were already gathered in the Reception lounge of Sci-Med when Stocky and Garvey streamed in single file. The two of them had now completed their practical exercises on basic contamination controls, and they were all together again. They watched the wall displays that had been set up for their use. A few doodled on their tablets. But nobody disturbed the silence for a long time.
She had never seen the crew so on edge. But then she didn’t think anyone had ever died under De Silva. She didn’t know for certain since she hadn’t been part of the crew for long. But nobody talked like they did. She knew that the Nineveh had managed some dangerous situations before she came aboard. The crew always stressed how blessed they had been during those events.
“How is he?” Samoylova asked softly, as if afraid to speak.
“He’s stable,” De Silva said. “They gave him a sedative and IV. He’s not in pain anymore. Sci-Med has had some success eliminating the alien infection on test slides. Not much yet for doing so in a live patient, but they’ll get there.”
“What’s it doing to him?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “It will probably be a couple of hours before we hear new updates.”
Holly agreed. And that was probably better. Patterson would talk more if she wasn’t making progress. One of the displays showed a recording of Patterson working on a strategy for killing the alien cells within Zhu, and walking them through it. She seemed confident and methodical in describing her process, and that was reassuring. But she didn’t understand anything said. She could perceive that even De Silva didn’t.
She was grateful that TURING helped them by providing a visual computer simulation. They saw the C9 molecule being driven into the alien cell membrane, and then another and another until they formed an open ring structure called the Membrane Attack Complex (MAC). And then critical nutrients leaked out of the cell and excessive fluid flowed in. Patterson wanted to punch holes through the alien cells’ membranes to cause them to die. Lysis, she called it.
She prayed that Patterson would learn how to do it in time. Zhu’s horrific screams from earlier were fresh in her mind. The fact that the camera on Zhu would not zoom in also made her uncomfortable. It was as if Sci-Med didn’t want them to see his condition. She couldn’t recall a time when she had seen Patterson appear nervous. Until now.
The attempt to tweak the immune system to kill the cells wasn’t a sure thing. Patterson had already admitted so. She had already attempted to achieve the same result with another protein – perforin – and it failed to induce lysis. Patterson was now trying to induce the formation of the proper pore structure by supplementing C9 with nanotechnology, but the proteins forming the MAC had a tendency of being disassembled early. Patterson had TURING mapping the alien cell’s metabolome and proteome to identify the cause.
Fuller walked in the lounge and everyone immediately perked up.
“How’s it going?” Moussa asked.
“He’s resting now,” Fuller said. He looked at De Silva. “Patterson wanted me to come out here and brief you on our plan going forward. Can we step in an office?”
“No, just say it here,” he said. “We all should know about his condition. Especially if it may change for the worse.”
Fuller nodded with a silent pause but was clearly uneasy speaking in front of them. He cleared his throat. “The alien organism has split into over thirty clusters of tissue. We don’t know why. They’re not endangering any of his vital organs yet. But they’re highly inflammatory and multiplying quickly. Patterson and Chandna don’t think they can finish their scheme for killing them soon enough.”
“What are you saying?” Soliman asked.
“He’s going to make it, right?” Moussa asked.
“His chances are looking better now that we’ve had a breakthrough with the medibots,” Fuller said. “We’re just pressed to buy ourselves more time. Patterson sent me down here to inform you that we will need to perform surgery on Zhu to remove as much of the alien tissue as we can. That will keep the infectious lesions from overwhelming his system. And we’ll eradicate the infection once our testing and verification is complete.”
“Why didn’t she come down and brief me?” De Silva asked.
“They’re prepping him for surgery now. We’re going to cut away parts of his stomach, liver, pancreas, intestines, both lungs, spleen, and left kidney, and cut in near vicinity to his spinal cord. We need to make incisions near major arteries in both legs too. We have to get all the parasitic tissue and that means we really have to take some of the healthy tissue around it, unfortunately.
We need to do this before his vital organs are in further danger. Also, we’ve learned that the macroscopic parasites seem to have a synergistic relationship with the microscopic infectants. We want to break that relationship immediately. Patterson is requesting your concurrence as a courtesy.”
De Silva crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. Holly wasn’t sure whether it was one of anger or fear. Perhaps both. A creeping fear and guilt gnawed at her without respite, and she suspected that he felt much the same as he thought for several seconds.
I should have went instead.
“TURING,” De Silva said, “please log that I concur with the course of action chosen by Sci-Med.”
Although Holly suspected that he was every bit as nervous as herself, he made it sound perfectly calm and reasoned.
“Log entry made, Captain,” TURING said.
“I suppose you need to get going,” De Silva said to Fuller.
“Yeah, I’m sorry,” Fuller said. “We’ll give him our best.” He then turned and walked quickly through the door to the back rooms and the elevator.”
“I think we should have a prayer service for Zhu,” Moussa said.
“I’ll go with you,” Holly said.
“Let’s all go,” De Silva said. “It would be good. We can’t do anything here. And the slingshot is hours away. Let’s talk about that in case there is anything we still need to do.”
“I told you that what that creature did to him did not look good,” Soliman said.
“How does a serpent break up into thirty pieces?” Everyone looked perplexed.
“I don’t know,” De Silva said. “It’s alien. Maybe it was never one creature to begin with…a colony organism or something.”