Invasion

Dr. Wilton Marchand leaned back in his high-backed desk chair and folded his hands over his expansive abdomen. He'd never followed any of his own organization's recommendations concerning diet and exercise. He looked more like a successful brewery proprietor of the late nineteenth century than the director of the Centers for Disease Control.

Dr. Marchand had hastily called together some of his department heads for an impromptu meeting. Attending were Dr. Isabel Sanchez, head of the Influenza branch; Dr. Delbert Black, head of Special Pathogens; Dr. Patrick Delbanco, head of virology; and Dr. Hamar Eggans, head of epidemiology. Dr. Marchand would have liked to have included others, but they were either out of town or tied up with other commitments.

"Thank you," Dr. Marchand said to Sheila who'd just finished an impassioned presentation of the entire problem. Dr. Marchand gazed at his branch heads who were looking over each other's shoulders, busily reading the single copy of the report that Sheila had handed them prior to her presentation.

Sheila glanced at Eugene and Nancy who were sitting to her immediate right. The room had gone silent. Nancy nodded to Sheila to convey that she thought Sheila had done an excellent job. Eugene shrugged and raised his eyebrows in response to the silence. He was silently asking the question of how this collection of CDC brass could be taking this information with such apparent composure.

"Excuse me," Eugene said a minute or so later, unable to bear the prolonged silence. "As a physicist, I have to emphasize to you people that these black discs are made of a material that could not have been made on Earth."

Dr. Marchand picked up the Tupperware container on his desk and with lidded eyes gazed in at the two objects.

"And they are definitely manufactured," Eugene continued. "They are not natural. In other words, it would have to be from an advanced culture ... an alien culture!" It was the first time the trio had used the word "alien." They had implied as much but had avoided being so explicit.

Dr. Marchand smiled to indicate that he understood Eugene's point. He extended the Tupperware container out toward Dr. Black who took it and peered within.

"Quite heavy," Dr. Black commented before handing the container on to Dr. Delbanco.

"And you say that there are many such objects in your city," Dr. Marchand said.

Sheila threw up her hands in exasperation and got to her feet. She couldn't sit a moment longer. "There could be thousands," she said. "But that's not the point. The point that we are making is that we are in the beginning of an epidemic stemming from a provirus in our genomes. In fact, it's in every higher animal's genome that we've tested, suggesting it's been there for maybe a billion years. And the scariest part is that it has to be extraterrestrial in origin."

''Every element, every atom, and every particle of our bodies are 'extraterrestrial,' " Dr. Black said sternly. "Our entire makeup has been forged in the supernova of dying stars."

"That may be," Eugene said. "But we are talking about a life form. Not mere atoms."

"Exactly," Sheila said. "A viruslike organism that has been lying dormant in the genomes of Earth creatures, including human beings."

"Which you purport was transported to Earth in these miniature spaceships in the Tupperware container," Dr. Marchand said wearily.

Sheila rubbed her face to get herself under control. She knew she was exhausted and emotionally drained. Like Nancy and Eugene she'd not slept a wink all night. "I know it sounds implausible," she said, deliberately speaking slowly. "But it is happening. These black discs have the capability of injecting a fluid into living organisms. We were lucky to obtain a drop of the fluid from which we have isolated a protein that we believe functions like a prion."

"A prion only carries one of the spongiform encepha-lopathies," Dr. Delbanco said with a broad smile. "I doubt your protein is a prion."

"I said, 'Like a prion!' " Sheila added venomously. "I didn't say it was a prion."

"The protein reacts with the particular segment of DNA that was previously considered noncoding," Nancy said. She could see that Sheila was getting angry. ' 'Perhaps it is better to say it's functioning more like a promoter."

"Perhaps we could take a short break," Sheila said. "I know I could use a little coffee."

"Of course," Dr. Marchand said. "How thoughtless of me."

Beau gave King an exuberant scratching behind his ears as he gazed out over the lawns in front of the institute. From the wrought-iron balcony off the library, he and King could see a long stretch of the driveway before it disappeared into the trees. It was clogged with new converts patiently making their way to the chateau. A few waved up to Beau, and he waved back.

Letting his eyes roam the rest of the grounds, Beau could see his canine friends were reliably on duty. Beau was pleased. He did not want interruptions.