The Jupiter Plague

Professor Chabel tapped with the gavel and standing groups broke up and found seats around the long table. He sat and stared at the papers before him, squaring them into a neat stack, before he spoke in a voice heavy with the weariness they all felt.

“Firstly, I wish you all to know that this is a World Health meeting. I asked Dr. Perkins, who is seconding for Dr. McKay at the moment, to call you all together to give me an up-to-the-moment briefing. I have been receiving your reports and I must thank you all for keeping me so well informed and up to date. At World Health we have been occupied mostly with controlling the disease vectors and establishing a quarantine area and have left treatment up to local hospital authorities aided by some Army teams. But we’re reaching the point where we have some major policy decisions to make, and before we do that we want to know exactly where we stand, what you are doing and what you hope to do to control this disease, everything.”

When he finished speaking the entire room was silent. Finally Eddie Perkins cleared his throat and looked around. “Perhaps it might be best if I sum up the present state of our knowledge. Untreated, Rand’s disease brings on death after infection in a period of roughly ten to twelve hours, in one hundred percent of the cases. To our knowledge no exceptions have been uncovered so far. However with supportive treatment we can extend that period to almost forty-eight hours. This is hopeful…”

“It is not hopeful, it is nothing.” Dr. Hattyar’s angry rumble interrupted. “It is no cure or treatment, just stretching out the time of dying.”

Perkins controlled his temper with an effort. “That may be true, Dr. Hattyar, but I am just summing up roughly. Perhaps this might be a good time for you to inform us about the progress of your immunology team.”

“Results zero.”

“That doesn’t tell us very much.”

“There is nothing much to tell. Until I can isolate an antibody I can do nothing. Rand’s disease is very simple, alpha, beta, gamma, all of them simple in the reactions. The organism either is infected or not. If it is infected it dies. There are no mild forms of the disease and apparently none of the organisms affected is capable of doing anything to combat the antigens. They just die.”

“Could you tell me, Doctor,” Chabel asked, “what you think your chances are, or rather what your prospects are of finding the antibody you need?”

“Zero. Unless a wholly new factor is introduced there is nothing that can be done.”

This time the silence was even more prolonged, and a general request for further reports brought no response; Perkins had to call on the team heads by name. Many of them were not as frank as Hattyar — or could not bring themselves to be so— but their words added up to the same conclusion.

“If I may be allowed to sum up,” Professor Chabel said, and there was a thin quaver to his voice that was caused by more than fatigue now, “we are not in a very good position. We know where Rand’s disease came from, we know how it is spread. We know the first symptoms and we know the final result — which we can only postpone by a few hours at most. We know that none of the infected organisms can generate antibodies to combat it, antibiotics do not stop it, interferon has only a limited effect, and we have no chemical agents capable of destroying it during the course of the disease without fatally injuring the host as well. We also know, and this fact is the most unusual of all, that Rand’s disease can infect certain animals, which in turn can infect their own species or reinfect humans. This is a terrible list of factors, a damning indictment, and about the only thing in our favor is that we can’t infect one another.”

“We can’t — yet…” Nita said, then raised her hand toward her mouth as though regretting that she had spoken aloud. Her words were clearly audible in the quiet room and chairs squeaked as everyone turned to look toward her.

“Would you explain that, Dr. Mendel?” Chabel asked frowning.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt — and I have no way of proving it. Call it an unjustified assumption if you want to, but it occurred to me when I had passed Rand-beta through seven hosts and found out that it then became Rand-gamma and could infect canines—”

“Pardon me,” Professor Chabel said, leafing quickly through the papers before him, “but I find no record of these experiments.”

“They were not official experiments, Professor, not part of any of the planned research; I undertook them on my own and am writing up my notes now.”

“Unofficial or not — you should have reported this at once, when you obtained your results!”

“I did want to—” she looked up, then glanced away quickly from Eddie Perkins, who was leaning forward, his face white and set, “—but it was just last night. When I went to see Dr. McKay he had just been stricken and there was a great deal of confusion. Soon after this the infected dog was discovered in Connecticut and the danger known.”