THE PANGEA CHRONICLES . BOOK 1.. 107.9°

104.9°

Birmingham, Alabama

27 June, 2019

845 am

Alexis Melissani was in awe.

The freckled graduate student had seen all sorts of nasty pathogens flash across the view of her S/TEM microscope, but this one was truly amazing.

"Dr. Rashid," she called out excitedly, waving her hand for good measure. "You guys really need to see this!"

Dr. Samir Rashid smiled at the excitement his researcher was showing. If he had an office full of Post-Graduates as eager for knowledge as the energetic miss Melissani, there would be no disease they couldn't handle. Not to mention, that behind the glasses and professional demeanor, he found her freckled quirkiness greatly attractive.

"If your excitement is any indication of what you've discovered, then we are all greatly intrigued. Please, Miss Melissani, show everyone what you've found," Dr. Rashid lightheartedly smirked, while positioning himself close behind her. His proximity made her increasingly uncomfortable. Between his bad breath and creepy advances, she had come to detest her her mentor, a man she once greatly admired.

But this was important. Two of the CDCs top investigators were here, scrutinizing everything, pulling apart anything having to do with this lethal new flu.

"These samples; the influenza strain we're looking at." Alexis moved her chair over, just enough to ease the anxiety brought on by his closeness. "I've done the DNA and RNA panels, and all five cases are the same strain."

Dr. Rashid smiled patiently. "We've known this, Alexis, or at least we were at a high degree of certainty."

"That's not why I called you over, Dr." Her voice was sharp, aggravation brought on by his premature interruption. "Our problem is twofold."

Alexis took a deep breath, walking over to the whiteboard with smug determination.Picking up the green dry-erase marker, she drew a ball, covered in spikes. Though only a crude representation of the awe inspiring new strain, it was easily identifiable.

From the virus, she drew 3 lines down, labelling them SK, HM, and VM.

"Now, CDC reported these cases as related, with all 3 showing symptoms ranging from mild for the first week, to complete organism infection and subsequent organ sepsis at approximately 14 days incubation."

Taking another breath, she continued, illustrating when it warranted a visual cue. "I sequenced the protein makeup, and was able to get a basic determination of H5N3(x), a novel Avian Influenza Strain. However," she drew a large X in black ink, accentuating its importance, "This protein is unidentified, or was two hours ago when I ran the report.. It doesn't exist in our nomenclature."

"Panspermia." The new voice startled both Alexis, and the group of men gathered around her, though Dr. Rashid knew its owner. As friends that came to the States and received their doctorates together, they frequently shared new ideas. But when he'd heard his friend give a speech last night on the need for funding on his research into space borne microorganisms, Dr. Rashid asked his friend to take a look at this case.

The over caffeinated looking gentleman unfolded his arms and walked into the office extending a hand in Alexis's direction. "Dr. Ismir Khalid, Astrobiologist. Samir asked for me to come take a look at your 'bug'. We've run a few amino acid tests on the original hospital samples. Your 'X' is the result of panspermia."

"Wait," Alexis stammered, shaking his hand. Her bright eyes began looking like a balloon that had lost its lifting air. "You're saying this is something from space? Forgive me Doctor, but this is a Novel Flu Variant, something very terrestrial."