Gabatrix: The First Peace

Chapter 6: The Second Day of Negotiations

"Well, the good news is that the virus is not going to harm us," Aline said as she stood before her computer screen. Her left hand was at her right hand. She was busy pressing a couple of keys on her projection screen.

It was now morning as Kane stood in the medical lab. He could feel the weightless environment as before. The night had passed as he remembered what he saw in the email sent to him. It weighed heavily on his mind. Instead, he had his hand to his chin as he contemplated things and listened to the doctor.

"I went and analyzed the virus thoroughly," Aline told him. "It's very unique. I had a chance to study both the physiology of Ifra and the virus she carries."

"She called it 'Zilik's Disease,'" he explained to her. "I heard it's also called 'Zilik's Syndrome.' Apparently, some doctor or scientist decided that it was best to wipe out the male population in hopes of stopping the clan wars within the Itreans themselves. She apparently managed to succeed in wiping out the males, but it didn't stop the war."

"Well....she is right. This disease is unusual," Aline said as she changed the overhead projection by the medical bed. It began to display an image of the virus itself. Then, the projection was altered to show a graphical depiction of the DNA coding inside the virus. The DNA started to rotate on the display.

"This," the doctor explained. "This is what the virus is. You are looking at its blueprint. It is a virus designed to kill a specific type of Itrean."

"According to Ifra, there are three races of the Itreans as a whole. The Yutilians, the Aksren, and the Shal'rein were all hit equally by this virus. It succeeded in wiping out all the males within two weeks."

"I can tell you more, just from looking at it," Aline replied. "This virus is designed to lay dormant in the bloodstream. It's invisible to most scanners. In fact, only a deep tunneling scan could even highlight the thing. It was why this thing couldn't be picked up by the scanners in the passageway. The virus will not attack unless several weeks go by. I can also tell that there is some sort of activation signal in the DNA block itself."

"Are you sure we're not in any danger?"

"No. I have had blood cells placed in front of it. Even though they have been long-activated, the virus simply ignores human blood. I even tried male and female blood, and the results were the same. We are not Itreans, so it won't hurt us."

"It's just crazy," he commented. "To see a virus like this and how it operates."

"A virus is the most simple form of life. To use it as a weapon is not much different than what we did so long ago. What is interesting is that the DNA blocks in this virus are designed to ignore the X chromosome completely. It's why she is alive right now. If this virus saw an Itrean with a Y chromosome, it would seek out and destroy the body. Only something human-made, err.....Itrean made could do this. This thing would even kill male babies if it wanted to. If the Itreans have no males, then there is a clear reason as to why."

"Unfortunately, I only know so much information," Kane commented. "Do we have the ability to make something like this?"

"I only know so much. The engineering to construct a virus like this is insane. We might have the ability, but it's very specific in how it functions."

"Ifra told me that the virus was created by an expert scientist. Apparently, they used biological warfare on each other, just like other weapons."

"If they have a lot of experience in this, then it would explain it. I can't imagine what it must have been like for them. One day, you wake up, and the other men start to die. You bring them to the hospital just to watch others die or get sick. Quarantine is issued, but it does little to nothing to stop it. From the way this thing works, you have to tell it to activate it. If I were this Zilik, I would have had it designed so it would wait for a while till everyone had it and then activate it. In less than a year or two, every male Itrean would have the disease, and then.....pop! You activate the virus and watch the male population die off. Horrible.....just horrible."