Invasion

"That's if the Surgeon General isn't already infected by the time we get the information," Cassy said.

"That's a sobering thought," Nancy said.

"Well, we have no choice," Sheila said. "Eugene is right in the sense that if we start calling around now without something more than hearsay and conjecture, no one is going to believe us."

"I'll start the isolation in the morning," Nancy said.

"Is there any chance I could help?" Pitt asked. "I'm a chem major, but I've taken microbiology and worked in the hospital lab."

"Sure," Nancy said. "I've noticed people acting strange at Serotec. I won't know whom to trust."

"I'd like to offer to help figure what these black discs are," Jesse said. "But I wouldn't know where to start."

"I'll take them into my lab," Eugene offered. "Even if it's just to prove to you alarmists that they are not from Andromeda, it will be worth my time."

"Don't touch the edge," Jesse warned.

"No need to worry," Eugene said. "We have the capability of manipulating them from a distance as if they were radioactive."

"It's too bad we just can't talk to one of these infected people directly," Jonathan said. "Heck, we could just ask them what's happening. Maybe they know."

"That would be dangerous," Sheila said. "There's reason to believe they are actively recruiting. They want the rest of us infected. They may even come to view us as an enemy."

"They're recruiting all right," Jesse said. "I think the police chief is actively searching out people on the squad who've yet to get the illness."

"It might be dangerous, but it might also be revealing," Cassy said. She stared off for the moment with unseeing eyes while her mind churned.

"Cassy!" Pitt said. "What are you thinking? I don't like that look on your face."

13

6:30 A.M.

"These people are with me," Nancy Sellers said.

Nancy, Sheila, and Pitt were standing in front of the Serotec Pharmaceutical night security desk. The guard was fingering her ID. Nancy had already shown it at the gate before driving onto the parking area.

"You people have any picture IDs?" the security man asked Sheila and Pitt. Both produced driver's licenses which satisfied the man. The trio trooped to the elevator.

"Security is still on edge after the suicide," Nancy said.

The reason Nancy had them get there so early was to avoid the other workers. And it worked. As yet no one else had arrived, and the entire fourth floor was empty. The fourth floor was reserved entirely for biological research. There was even a small menagerie of experimental animals at one end.

Nancy unlocked her private lab, and they all entered. She locked the door behind them. She did not want any interruptions or questions.

"Okay!" Nancy said. "We are going to wear containment suits and everything will be done under a level three hood. Any questions?"

Neither Sheila nor Pitt had any.

Nancy led them into a side room which had changing cubicles. She gave them appropriate-sized gear and let them change. She changed as well.

Meeting back in the main room Nancy said: "Now, let's have the samples."

Sheila produced the coffee-creamer jar containing the snippet of desk blotter. She also produced multiple blood samples from people who'd acquired the flu. The samples had been drawn at various stages of their illness.

"All right," Nancy said, rubbing her gloved hands together in anticipation. "First I'm going to show you how to inoculate a tissue culture."

"Where the hell did you get this thing?" Carl Maben asked his boss, Eugene Sellers. Carl was a Ph.D. candidate who also worked for the physics department.

With raised eyebrows Eugene glanced over at Jesse Kemper, whom he'd invited to watch the analysis of one of the black discs. Jesse told them that it had been taken from an individual who'd been arrested for lewd behavior.

Both Eugene and Carl expressed interest.

"I don't know the details," Jesse admitted.

Eugene's and Carl's faces fell.

"Well, I do know that the man had been arrested for making love in the park,'' Jesse said.

"My God! It's amazing the risks people take," Carl said. "It's dangerous just to walk in the park at night, much less make love."

"This wasn't at night," Jesse said. "It was at lunch-time."

"They must have been embarrassed," Eugene said.

"Quite the contrary," Jesse said. "They were irritated at being disturbed. They said that the police should be more concerned about the rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the resultant greenhouse effect."

Both Eugene and Carl laughed.

As soon as Jesse told the story it reminded him of the conversation the previous evening about the infected people's concerns about environmental issues. The possibility that the noontime lovers were infected people had never occurred to him.