Demon Seed

Chapter 46

Beware!! Scientific mumbo jumbo awaits you!!  haha  Enjoy!! Let me know what you think.  peace!!

Chapter 46

Universidad de LaSalle, Chihuahua

Dr. Ricardo Rodriguez looked up from his microscope again and still couldn’t believe his eyes.  “How did I do that Sandra?”  His graduate student from the Science Department looked at the projection screen where the image he was looking at was shown and exclaimed, “I don’t know sir, but if this is happening again then we may have a way to stop this creature.

Sandra Mendez was from Mexico City.  She was studying various methods of stopping viruses that plague this part of Mexico and South America.  She was a microbiologist and, in Ricardo’s opinion, one of the most proficient developers of immunities for these viruses.  She had worked on a vaccine for a very virulent strain of Influenza that had practically taken out a small village in lower Mexico and was first on the scene when the saliva and blood from Miguel was brought in.

Sandra had worked four straight weeks studying the samples and had found a virus that was particularly virulent in the creature’s blood.  It has been deemed the “immortality virus” because when injected into any animal, the scientists found that it could not be killed easily.  Sandra had isolated the particular virus responsible for the immortality and had been able to kill it and then produced a vaccine from horse blood to again inject into the mice.

When the mice were then injected with the virulent virus, they had no effect.  Or so it seemed.  Two hours later, the mice cells would explode and the mice would basically melt in place.  After 22 trials and similar results, Sandra became frustrated and contacted Ricardo for help.

“I think the reason for the cells disintegrating like they are is because the amino acids in the vaccine are degenerating the cell walls and causing them to puncture and release their contents.  I changed the sequence of amino acids in the vaccine in two places and injected them into new mice.  These mice have been good for over six hours now”, Ricardo explained.

“Then all that is needed is for us to develop enough of this modified vaccine to inject into the mice and see if the cells die again?”  Sandra asked.

“That is my thinking, but we can only see.  This is tricky because we must know whether it is the vaccine doing it or some other toxin possibly from the process itself.  However, if we can develop a way to use this as a poison, we can protect others but kill the creature as well.”  Ricardo took a long breath and then began again, “Also, if we can develop this into some kind of spray that can be taken into its nasal passages and absorbed into the lungs, then we can kill the creature without any armaments needed.”

“You have thought about this a little haven’t you Doc??”  Sandra jokingly said.

“Dear, this is all I have thought about since the day Miguel brought this to me.  My village and my friends and family rely on me.  If I fail, more will die and I will be responsible.  Now, let’s inject these mice and see what happens.  Maybe it’ll be good news.”

Sandra watched the professor prepare the mice for injection and could see that he had the weight of many on his shoulders.  She just hoped that what they were doing would be the salvation he seeks and not a means by which many more may die.  Hard decisions for everyone involved.

“Sandra…hello, are you here now?  You must have been having a great daydream my dear.  I called your name three times before your eyes focused.”  Ricardo jokingly told her.

“I’m so sorry.  I was just thinking about how you feel about your friends and why we must perfect this soon.  I was zoned out imaging your sorrow.  Forgive me.  Shall we begin?”  Sandra said with an apologetic tone.

“No worries.  Let’s do this then.”  Ricardo grabbed a syringe and Sandra grabbed one of the injected mice and held it while he administered the injection.  The mouse squealed in shock and bit Sandra on the finger before she could release it back in its cage.

“That kinda hurt a bit!” Sandra exclaimed.  “I need to learn to hold those better next time.  Ouchie!”

Ricardo could only laugh and get the next injection ready.  After the five other mice were injected, with no more bites, they started the timer for the observation part of the study.  Sandra sat at her desk and wrote about the experience in her journal while Ricardo went down the hallway into his office.

Ricardo picked up his phone and called Miguel.  “Good afternoon Mio, how does the world find my good friend?”

“We have had a couple more deaths and Hector has been attacked and hospitalized by the creature.  The town is scared and most are locked inside their homes.  We have several units of men out searching for the creature including Jagoe’s men and the earthquake teams.  How the hell do you think my world is?”  Miguel answered sarcastically.

“Oh my friend, I understand your concerns and have called you with possible good news.  My grad student and I have isolated a virus that we think, if used as a toxin, can possibly kill the creature without any use of firepower.  I hope that is a better answer for you my friend.”

“What do you mean you have isolated a virus.  Is this creature dangerous to my people as an epidemic as well as a killer?”  Miguel yelled into the phone.  “Do I not only have to worry about people being killed by being ripped apart, but also by some fucking virus the creature carries?  Shit, I am at a loss now for dealing with this!”

“Mio, calm down.  We are running tests to see what we can do to vaccinate anyone and possibly use the vaccine as a possible toxin for the creature, Ricardo began to explain.  “We have a method for causing the cells in mice to die and fall apart.  If we can disperse the vaccine as a spray, then the creature will breathe it in and it will cause its lungs to disintegrate and kill the creature away from any humans.  That is all.”

“Well Mio, get it done and brought to me.  This needs doing quick before it has a chance to either kill more or to possibly produce another child that survives.  I am scared friend, but I’m no fool.  Let me know.  Peace.”  Miguel hung up and Ricardo slowly put down his phone.  He now realized that his end of this needed to finish quickly.

“Doctor, come quick!”  Sandra was shouting down the hallway.  “You won’t believe this!”

Ricardo ran the length of the hall and into the lab in time to see the six mice all moving around the cages and eating normally.  It had only been close to an hour but the mice were starting to become more active.  Ricardo grabbed a pair of gloves and picked up a mouse and placed it into the euthanizing chamber.  Sandra released the chlorine gas and they watched the mouse begin to gasp for air and die immediately.

“Well, we now know that the “immortality” part of the virus is gone.  Can we possibly use it now as a toxin to kill any mice containing the virus?” Ricardo reasoned.

Sandra grabbed a glove and caught another injected mouse and placed it into an airtight glass cage.  Ricardo then sprayed a mist of vaccine into the chamber and waited.  The mouse began to gasp for air, fell over and twitched and died.  Sandra and Ricardo began to cheer only to be stopped in their tracks when the mouse had not only died, but began to also disintegrate immediately into a puddle of mouse mush.

“Oh my God in heaven!  We have not only developed a vaccine, but we have also developed a toxin.  We have solved our problem!”  Sandra shouted as Ricardo looked at the mouse remains.

“Don’t get too excited dear.  Let’s redo this on the remaining mice and a few of the injected mice.  Let’s be clear that this works every time.”  Ricardo calmly spoke.  Inside Ricardo was cheering as hard as Sandra but was afraid to get too excited in case this didn’t work.

 “Shall we begin then?  Bring on the mice!”