Chapter 22 Chapter 22 Parasites

Martin Brubeck is no more.On Wednesday, three days after he was shot, all that was left was a black, pitted skeleton, with all the leg bones below the knees chopped off by himself.The body is covered with mottled spider web-like mold, and the whole BSL-4 laboratory tent is also scattered everywhere.The bones of Martin Brubeck's hand finally stretched out, scattered on the table, and the finger bones shattered into a messy pile.Cameras in the tent provided moving and still pictures, allowing Margaret to observe the final state of decomposition of the body. She hadn't felt this intense sense of foreboding since she was a child, not even when the arms race between the United States and the former Soviet Union was in full swing.The U.S.-Soviet "mutually assured destruction" strategy meant that any conflict could quickly escalate into a full-scale nuclear war.After a bang, everything will disappear.

She was just a little girl, but she was smart enough to smell the imminent death of a nuclear arms race.It's really funny, because at the time her parents thought she was gifted at understanding all of this, as if only gifted children could understand the threat of nuclear war.But, past, present, and future, adults have always mistook children's innocence for ignorance. Why do people think the end of the world is such a difficult concept for young children?Perhaps most of childhood is shrouded in inexplicable fears, such as creeping ghosts, lurking monsters and some events that beckon endless, ominous, and painful deaths.And Nuke is just another demon threatening to take them all.The difference is that this demon will scare her parents and grown-ups alike too, and little ones are as quick to adjust to the threat of nuclear war as they are to the cartoon Bugs Bunny.

You can run from monsters, you can hide from demons, but you can't hide from the outbreak of nuclear war.It could happen in the next second.It could be when she takes a break on the playground, it could be when she sits down to dinner, or it could be after she goes to bed. Now I'm lying in bed, praying to God to bless my soul, and if I die in my sleep, please take my soul with me. This is not a prayer to be dealt with casually on weekdays.Nuclear war can be as real as the sunrise and sunset.She still remembers those years when she lived in constant fear of the unknown.Every day she and her friends play, go to school, laugh and frolic as usual, but the threat is always there, lurking there silently.

What's more, this war game will eventually come to an end, whether she wins or loses, she has no power to change. She tried her best to tell herself that this was different.This time she sprinted to the forefront of the fight against the disaster, after all, she was the vanguard of the defense.Things were still under her control, indeed - quite literally - firmly in her hands.Somehow, however, not even adult reason can dispel the little girl's fear of the game's ending being powerless. She wondered why Amos didn't have this fear.He hummed the theme song of "The Honolulu Policeman" over and over again, but Margaret was too tired to complain.She quietly sipped her coffee.She had already drank a pot, hoping that the caffeine would give her a little boost, but it didn't seem to work, and she couldn't get excited.It feels good to be able to breathe normally and not have to suffer from the filtered air of the protective suit.She wanted to get some sleep, or at least stretch and relax, but she didn't have the time.They had to finish the rest, burn the decomposed remains of the bones, and get the damn thing out of the hospital.

The media is still waiting.They were prowling around the hospital like vultures, hoping to catch some news about the deteriorating situation.Unfortunately, very few people knew that this was not an atypical pneumonia outbreak, and only two people in the entire hospital—she and Amos—knew what was really going on. She and Amos had gradually unraveled the mystery, but she wasn't satisfied with what they found.As the truth was gradually revealed, she felt more and more helpless. Amos turned to look at her.His hair was a little disheveled, his clothes were wrinkled, but his eyes sparkled with excitement.

"It's quite astonishing, Margaret," he said. "Consider the complexity of this man-made parasite. What's more, the creature fits perfectly with its human host." Margaret stared at the wall, her voice so small that it was barely audible. "I hate to use any more flowery words, but it's unassailable." "what do you mean?" "As you said, this creature is extremely adaptable to the host's body, like a glove that fits the hand. But think about it, Amos, with the current level of technology-it is absolutely impossible to create such a creature This is like when the Wright Brothers were still trying to fly the 'Kitty Hawk' and Russia successfully landed on the moon overnight, it is simply absurd."

"Yes, it's astonishing. But the truth is right in front of our eyes, and we can't ignore it. Now we don't have to hold on to our sensitive egos and dream of a 'Great America', let's admit there are some There are genius technologies that are far beyond us and even unheard of by us." "What if the genius you're talking about doesn't exist?" Margaret asked, her voice still thin. "What? Impossible, otherwise how did this thing appear?" She turned to look at him, her face was ashen, and her fatigue was like a big net covering her firmly. "If it's not artificial, what if it's natural?"

"Oh Margaret, wake up! I know you're tired, but you're wrong. If it's natural, why haven't we seen it before? Also, a parasite of this size and deadly worms, there has never been a case record of it? It doesn't make sense at all. Such a thing that is so well suited to the human host probably took millions of years of continuous evolution to reach its current state, and we have never seen it in any mammal. I've never seen anything like it before, let alone primates and humans." "But there are indeed many creatures in this world that we haven't seen," Margaret said. "I just can't accept that this thing is man-made. It's too complicated and advanced. First of all, let's put aside the hype of the media for now." Regardless of hype, the science and technology of the United States is the top in the world. But who is more advanced? China? Japan? Singapore? Maybe some countries are beginning to catch up with us in some fields, but they have achieved a slight advantage and completely surpassed us. The world's top technological powers are two different things. If even we can't create similar creatures, it's hard for me to believe that others can. That's not an ego, it's a fact."

Her stubbornness seemed to annoy Amos a little. "It is absolutely impossible that a patient has undergone such cruel torture without being recorded. It cannot be denied that there are still many undiscovered species. On this point, I agree with you. But not found There is absolutely no comparison between the microbial species and this growth. It is incomparable to any living thing. I can't even find any clues in those tribal myths or folklore. If this creature is natural, then Where the hell did it come from?" Margaret shrugged, "You stumped me. Maybe it just went through a period of dormancy. This thing may have appeared in prehistoric times, and then gradually became extinct. But it didn't die out completely, maybe thousands of times. It remains dormant for years until some force awakens it again. Just as the seeds of some orchids can go dormant for as long as 2,500 years."

"Your theory sounds as far-fetched as the legend of the Loch Ness monster," Amos said. "What about the coelacanth? It was thought to be extinct for at least 70 million years, until a fisherman caught one in 1938. Not seeing it doesn't mean it doesn't exist, Amos." "Really?" said Amos. "The creature just happened to be dormant in a densely populated area for thousands of years? It would make sense if it was found in the Congo jungle, but happened to be found in Detroit? Forgive my innocence." Li, your theory is too far-fetched." Margaret nodded numbly.Amos is right.The idea of ​​a dormant human parasite doesn't hold water.Even a discovery in the Congo jungle sounds far-fetched.This thing is not a virus that can hide in the barren and uncivilized African jungle for a long time.Like AIDS, until it began to spread on a large scale in Western society, it was always an "unknown" virus to people, and this parasite was completely different from the outbreak of AIDS at that time.Now is the information age - almost no such growth can remain unknown for so long in the 21st century, and paper cannot contain fire after all.Whatever they are, they must be new creatures.

Amos changed the subject. "Did Murray's men find some connection between these victims?" "Nothing. They traced all the victims and looked up everyone who came into contact with the victims. No connection. Most of the victims hadn't been anywhere. The only one with a connection was Detroit Two cases, Judy Washington and Gary Ryland. Both cases happened in the same week, and both happened to be in the same nursing home. They scouted the place carefully, and no one showed any infection. Signs. They also did experiments with water, food, air - nothing out of the ordinary. While we're not sure what to look for right now, we can't rule anything out. "The cases in Toledo didn't happen in the same week, but they were very close together, just a few blocks apart. It seems that there is some proximity effect. The vector of transmission is still unknown, but Murray still believes that terrorists spread the virus deliberately. to people." "That's consistent with what we've concluded so far," Amos said. "I'm increasingly convinced that Brubaker — and the other victims — may have been infected by some kind of deadly virus, but not by contact. Contagion. We found no eggs, embryos, or anything that might give rise to new parasites in him. Apart from that, Du did not show any symptoms of contagion, nor did those who came into contact with Brubeck. .” Margaret rubbed her eyes.God!She needs a nap.Hell, all she wanted was a week off in Bora Bora, a clever little dark-skinned waiter named Marco would serve her tea, and that was all.But now she's not in Bora Bora, she's in Toledo, Ohio.And she didn't have a little waiter named Marco either—she only had a green hairy mold-covered mummy called Martin Brubeck.