[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

"Nucleic acids are the molecules upon which the coding is written. They
direct the manufacture of proteins and hold the keys to heredity. Like
proteins, nucleic acids are heavy polymers."
"I hear it rumored that you're finding fault with something called 'the zipper
theory,'" Stonar said.
Wycombe-Finch shot a hard glance at Stonar. So the man did have his spies in
the Huddersfield Establishment! Or on the telephone.
"DNA is a double molecule with one chain twined around the other in helical
form," Beckett said. "It is a flexed compound that turns and twists upon
itself in a peculiar fashion. We think these flexings are extremely
significant."
"How is that?"
"Things that lock together do so according to their intrinsic shape. The
twistings are a clue to that shape."
"Clever," Stonar said.
"We think the thing may lock together more like your winter waterproof,"
Beckett said. "First one set of connections and then a second, overlapping
set."
"What kills this plague?" Stonar asked. "Besides fire, that is."
"Intense concentrations of ozone seem to inhibit it. But the growth is
explosive in both men and women. To say it is biologically active is to
understate the case."
Stonar pulled at his lower lip. "What necessary thing does it lock up?"
"We think it blocks vasopressin, among other things."
"Essential to life, eh?"
Beckett nodded.
"Is it true the plague kills hermaphrodites?" Stonar said "hermaphrodite" as
though it were a particularly foul thing.
"True hermaphrodites, yes," Beckett said. "That's very suggestive, isn't it."
"I was thinking that the resultant society could be very male and very female,
the hermaphrodites mostly weeded out." He cleared his throat. "This is all
very interesting, but I hear nothing new really, nothing indicating a dramatic
insight."
"We're still gathering data," Beckett said. "For instance, we're running a
parallel line of inquiry into some plague symptoms that are similar to those
in neutropenia."
"Neutro . . . what?" Stonar asked.
Wycombe-Finch stared at Beckett. This was new!
"Neutropenia," Beckett said, noting how Stonar's eyelids lowered in a
speculative squint. "Neutrophils are granular leukocytes having a nucleus of
three to five lobes connected by chromatin and a cytoplasm containing very
fine granules. They're part of the body's first line of defense against
bacterial invasion. It's a disease that can have a genetic origin."
He's being too technical for Stoney, Wycombe-Finch thought, but the revelation
was fascinating. He said: "You got that from the Foss autopsy?"
Beckett was silent for a moment, looking down at the papers in front of him
but not seeing them, then: "Ariane provided us with quite a number of clues
before she died."
"This was Doctor Ariane Foss, who worked with Bill and the others before the
plague killed her," Wycombe-Finch explained to Stonar.
Stonar nodded, noting the pain in Beckett's expression.
"Before she died, she gave us her own internal view of her symptoms," Beckett
said. "This plague kills with central nervous system breakdown and enzyme
Page 146
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
blockage. There is general degradation of functions and a final lapse into
unconsciousness with death following quickly."
"I've seen plague victims die," Stonar said. His tone was brittle.
"The disease process does not extend long enough," Beckett said, "for many
symptoms to manifest. We're forced to interpret from only the beginning
traumata, but Ariane gave us a finely tuned assessment of those."
Stonar spoke nervously. "Very interesting."
Wycombe-Finch took a deep puff on his pipe and pointed the stem at Stonar.
"Let's not forget, Stoney, that the plague was tailored for a specific effect
-- to kill only women and to kill them quickly despite medical efforts to the
contrary."
Stonar's tone was dry: "I'm aware of the selectivity." "Remarkable
achievement," Wycombe-Finch said.
"If we can leave this meeting of the Madman Admiration Society for a moment,"
Stonar said, "I must say my ignorance has not been removed."
"We're dealing with a remarkable code," Beckett said. "Equivalent to a highly
complex combination on an extremely sophisticated safe. O'Neill solved it, so
we know it can be done."
"It seems you've taken all this time to tell me you're faced with an extremely
difficult project," Stonar said. "Nobody questions that. What we're asking
is: How close are you to a solution?"
"Perhaps closer than many suspect," Beckett said.
Wycombe-Finch sat up sharply.
Beckett glanced out into the lounge where Hupp sat placidly behind his thick
glasses, his chair slightly ahead of those occupied by Danzas and Lepikov.
All three were watching Beckett carefully and, with this last utterance,
attention of the entire staff was centered on Beckett.
That wild call from Browder to Hupp, Beckett thought. He could imagine the
young man in the isolation chamber with his pregnant lady -- then the idea!
How had he come by it? Both accurate and inaccurate -- but the insight it
ignited!
Wycombe-Finch favored Beckett with a reserved stare.
Stonar leaned forward: "Closer than we suspect?"
"O'Neill demonstrated several things," Beckett said. "The cell is not
inviolate. He has shown that the cell's chemical fragments can be refitted,
reshaped to carry out extraordinary processes. The living organization in the
cell, that system which mediates the cell's operations, has been solved! We
no longer can doubt whether this is achievable. The important thing, though,
is that we also know now that genetically directed alterations in cell
function need not stop with maturity. The neutropenia clue assures us that we
can contract a new genetic disease as adults."
Stonar blinked.
Wycombe-Finch continued to stare silently at Beckett. Was this what the
Americans called a "snow job"?
"If some of the thousands upon thousands of chemical processes taking place
continuously in each of our living cells are blocked, slowed or otherwise
removed, development of the organism is specifically altered," Beckett said.
"O'Neill has demonstrated that this is just as true after the development of
complex, higher organisms as it is of the simpler forms. Massive alterations
can be achieved. And he has shown that the system is subject to fine tuning."
"My word!" someone out in the lounge said.
Wycombe-Finch took his pipe out of his mouth, suddenly aware of what Beckett
was implying. It was a two-way process! It was obvious, once stated. Did
Stonar have the slightest idea of what he had just heard?
"I was briefed by a Home Office M.D.," Stonar said. He sounded irritated and
the chill had returned to his eyes. "It's like a paper chase where not one
scrap may be overlooked."
Stonar did not understand the implications, Wycombe-Finch realized. It had
Page 147
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
gone over his head.
"You've implied that you're close to the end of the chase," Stonar said. "Is
that what I tell the prime minister? He will ask me: 'How close are we?'"
"We cannot tell yet," Beckett said. "But we see the trail more clearly now.
What O'Neill developed was a viral strain that carried a donor DNA message to
the living human cell via an infected bacterial agent."
"This spirochete thing the Canadians say they've detected," Stonar said. "Is
that the disease?"
"My guess is that it's not. We think they're seeing a remnant, a breakdown
product of O'Neill's plague. A mutation, perhaps."
"Locked in the cell," Stonar muttered.
"Like the overlappings of a Maypole," Beckett said. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]