|
46.
Linsey had a call from Louise Trost's executive secretary that Louise had called an important meeting for one p.m. that afternoon. "Nolan has set up a special isolation ward at UCSD Medical Center. They've got at least fifty people with Yellow Fungus Inhalation Syndrome, or YFIS, and they're opening satellite wards in the South Bay, East County, North County Inland, and North County Coastal because they're expecting hundreds more victims. This is a growing plague."
Linsey called Louise privately before then. "Louise, I have something important to ask. You know we've joked about this, but my husband is a topnotch writer and journalist. He's had two books published, one about baseball and the other about history, and I think it would be good if we had a historian on board to record all that's going on. I'm asking you to authorize me to bring Jack along and have him start documenting."
Louise could be heard sighing thoughtfully. "Let me think about it. You're right, we do need a historian on the project. Usually the Government provides someone. It's also a bit early to do this, but it's never too early to think about it. It's a slot I think is open, but I'm not thinking of hiring anyone fulltime."
"He's getting paid by the newspaper. That's legit. They'll be happy to have a scoop at the end of this, and we'll have an objective observer."
Louise laughed gently. "Honey, there are no objective observers. If I give the go-ahead, I want to do it legit. I'll put him on a part-time retainer, and you can have him work whatever hours he wants. I don't care. I'll pay him for fifteen hours a week, enough to make it official, but not enough to have him on the radar screen for now."
"Thanks." Jack would be so happy. And why not? Why let someone else scoop him?
"One other thing," Louise said. "When you come to the meeting, be in your field fatigue uniform, ready for a raid."
"Raid?"
"We're hitting Volcan Mountain."
So it was that Linsey and Jack appeared at the meeting that afternoon. Present were Louise, Linsey, Jack, Professor Nolan, and a dozen representatives from local law enforcement, the Mayor's office. Louise introduced a senior National Guard officer with Medical Corps insignia on his lapel as Colonel James Meyer, an assistant commander of a local hospital unit and medical doctor practicing at the Department of Veterans' Affairs hospital in the La Jolla section of the City of San Diego.
Louise sat at the head of the table, peeling an orange into a plastic grocery store bag as she spoke. She wore a pink sweater and seemed uncomfortable under the air conditioning pouring cold air in from overhead. "It's becoming clear that we have a disaster going on." She sucked carefully at an orange slice. "Doctor Nolan, can you update us on your research?"
"Sure, Louise." Nolan rose and introduced himself, then reported. "Our lab tests confirm that the deceased roofer, Mr. Milton, died from systemic shock and pneumonia following a direct inhalant exposure to the fungus that you see on the streets all over San Diego. Actually, the fungus has died down suddenly and significantly. Its population has suddenly collapsed, leading me to wonder if it has accomplished its purpose and we've moved on to the next phase. Yes, you all know the story of the mysterious crop dusting planes by now." He paused, looking at Linsey, while a stire went through the room. "Lieutenant Simon has now located those planes for us." There was another stir. He continued: "Meanwhile, I have to sadly tell you that there have been at least ten more deaths similar to Mr. Milton's around the county. I believe these are not the intended result of the so-called crop dusting." Another stir swept the room. "I think we may be facing something larger and more sinister." He turned on the overhead projector while someone darkened the room. "Let me show you a few slides."
"Here is a slide of the yellow fungus, greatly enlarged. I could bore you with a whole lot of botanical, taxonomical terminology, but the bottom line is that it's a hitherto unknown subspecies. I have no evidence that it has been genetically engineered. Because of the wide variety and adaptability of fungi in general—there are about 60,000 species worldwide—my guess is that whoever did this found a suitable species, probably in one of the world's rainforests. The next slide will show you what I mean by 'did this.'"
Louise spoke up as a slide appeared, showing what looked like crosses on a white path amid rectangular structures. "This is an aerial photograph of the Anaconda Chemicals plant at Volcan Mountain. Lieutenant Linsey Simon of my staff has managed to locate the so-called crop duster planes that allegedly were crisscrossing Mission Valley, and clearly depositing the spores that led to the yellow fungus infestation. I'll say more on this a little later. Next slide."
A slide appeared, showing several large mushrooms clustered together on a grassy corner at a street intersection. Nolan took over, saying, "this is an ordinary cluster of poisonous gymnopilus1, or penetrating agaric, growing on the remains of a tree trunk the city cut down a year ago. They are a classic cap mushroom, with a whitish cap-shaped fruiting body on top and a tall, yellowish stem connecting it to its base. Under the cap are a series of fine dark-red what we call gills, which have nothing to do with breathing underwater, but are the membranes on which spores gather before they are released to drift away. The mushroom does not have eggs, like humans and other animals do, whether inside or outside the body. The mushroom reproduces by means of spores. What I want to call your attention to is the size of this cluster. Gymnopilus normally grows from about three to four inches high, but these exemplars are ten inches tall, or twice the normal maximum. Next slide."
The next slide showed a slightly different mushroom. There were a dozen or so of these light brownish, almost almond-colored umbrellas with curving stems, unlike the straight gymnopilus. On this one, the stem also became wider toward the bottom. "This is another example of hyperplasia, or excessive growth due to an increase in the number of cells. This is another poisonous mushroom, actually a relative of the first one you saw. This is the fiery agaric, which normally grows up to 8 inches, but these specimens average over a foot tall. That brings me to one of my main points for today. Next."
The next slide showed some cells dividing under a high microscopic enlargement. "These are cells of the penetrating agaric, caught in the middle of dividing. What I found was that the stems and caps of these mushrooms are saturated with a protein secreted by those yellow fungi, which has led me to suspect that the yellow mushroom introduces an Excitor enzyme that makes other fungi grow abnormally large, abnormally fast. In other words, someone wants to speed up the process of whatever they are engineering for us—and we don't know yet what that is. We only have one piece of evidence to date. Next."
The next slide showed one of the elongated bracket fungi. "This is a cluster of so-called bracket fungi that one often sees in humid rain forest environments, be it temperate forests like those on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State, or jungle forests like in Central or South America. It is a type of fungus that feeds on rotting vegetation. This specimen, of which we have recovered a number of exemplars from the Lima Voyager and from a house in Coronado, seems to be an adaptation never before seen. The individual mushrooms, which form round shelf-like sconces, join at the edges to form a single mass. Their spongy tissue is inset with some algae, so this is technically a lichen—but there are bacteria and viruses involved. It's a complicated process I do't yet understand.
"Next—" The next slide showed a cross section of such a bracket fungus, with various inclusions of interest highlighted. "—is that this fungal body appears to have somehow gathered bits and pieces of human bones, hair, eyeballs, you name it. We have found stem cells as well as highly specific cells for skin, fingernails, mucosa. In effect, if you could unscramble the mess inside there, you could almost put a human being together. What's most interesting is that the human tissue has not decayed, but seems to be kept alive through the general nutrient and humidifactant properties of the host. One more thing: the DNA in the tissues seems to indicate that each of the bracket colonies contains the unique genetic material of a different person. What this all means, ladies and gentlemen, I don't know yet."
The lights went on and the slide show was over. Louise said: "I do know that we are missing several dozen people, including the crew and captain of the Lima Voyager, and I hope they are not inside these bracket things."
The Mayor's office spoke up. "Are you recommending one way or the other that we call in outside resources?"
"Absolutely," Louise said. "We cannot afford to sit on our hands and take chances. I'd rather be wrong than have a catastrophe we could have avoided."
Linsey saw Jack furiously scribbling notes. Louise was covering her behind, it was clear.
The National Guard colonel spoke up. "Dr. Nolan, can I safely assume that the State of California has sufficient resources to offer you at UCSD Medical Center?"
"For now, yes," Nolan said. "I can draw upon my department on the UCSD campus, which has an excellent Biology Department. You will remember, Colonel, that this city is a world leader in biotechnology."
The colonel nodded. "That gives me a small ounce of comfort, maybe." Weak laughter rippled around the table. "I assume you have no problem with my reporting upstream to, say, the Army Chemical Corps?" Those were the people who engineered counter-biological weapons, Linsey knew, and she assumed they had to cultivate biological bombs to develop counter-measures against them.
"So far," Louise said, "this is still not a classified matter. We're operating on an open principle, but trying not to cause panic among the civilian population." She pointed to Jack. "I have authorized a member of the civilian press to freely take notes and record comments, on the condition that he doesn't publish his stories yet. It's a fine line between Freedom of Speech and yelling Fire in a crowded theater. Mr. Simon is acting as our official historian for now, rather than as a newspaper reporter."
Someone asked: "Isn't it preferential and possibly biased to have one guy hog the news coverage?"
"Not at all if it's done right," Louise said. "It's common custom, or at least one approach, to have a single organization lead up the press pool. In that case, Mr. Simon is a senior writer for the city's metropolitan daily, The San Diego Times. When the story breaks, as we all know it will, Mr. Simon will release the initial story to all the media simultaneously. For now, as I said, he is acting as a Federal employee and as our official historian." She rose. "Thanks for coming. We all have work to do, and I appreciate your participation. I ask you all to keep a tight lip about this for a day or two. I'll convene this group again shortly."
As people left, Louise approached Linsey. "You ready to fly? You're going to be part of a raiding party at Anaconda Chemicals' Volcan Mountain complex."
|
