CHAPTER IX
"There are twelve bays to this station," Jordan said. "Under our presentsetup two are used for breeding and the other ten for maturation. Werotate the youngsters around the bay--a different bay each year untilthey're age eleven. Then they're sorted according to type and sent outfor a year of further specialized training after which they go onto thefarms, or to inhouse or export.
"Now here's the peculiar part. There's no trouble in Bays One throughNine, but Bay Ten has had all our losses except two that have occurredat the training stations."
"That's good news," Kennon said. "Our parasite can't have had time tomigrate too far. We have him pinpointed unless--say how many trainingcenters are there?"
"Three," Jordan said.
"Quarantine them," Kennon replied. "Right now. Nothing goes in or outuntil we've checked them and completed prophylaxis."
Jordan looked at Blalok inquiringly.
"He's the boss," Blalok said. "Do as you're told. This is his problem."
"Why the quarantine?" Jordan asked.
"I want to get any carriers. We can check them with antigen, and thengive Trematox."
"All that concentration in Bay Ten," Jordan said. "Does it meansomething?"
"Blalok said that there was a Santosian in your division."
"Yeah--Joe Kryla--and come to think of it, he ran Bay Ten!"
"That's a help--now let's see what makes that bay different from theothers."
"Why?"
"I'll tell you--but you may not understand," Kennon said.
"I'll take a chance."
Kennon grinned. "All right, you asked for it. The parasite that's doingthe damage is a flatworm, a trematode called Hepatodirus hominis. AsI've told Blalok, it's a tricky thing. Like all trematodes it has athree-stage life cycle, but unlike every other fluke, its life cycle isnot fixed to definite intermediate hosts. Depending upon where it is,the fluke adapts. It still must pass through its life cycle, but itsintermediate host need not be one species of snail, fish, or copepod.Any cold-blooded host will do. What you have here is a Kardonian variantwhich has adapted to some particular intermediate host on this world.Until now, its final host was either man or Varl. Now we have a third,the Lani. And apparently they are the most susceptible of the three.It never kills Varl. And humans, while they're more susceptible, onlyoccasionally succumb, but the Lani appear to be the most susceptible ofall. I've never seen an infestation like those Lani had. Their liverswere literally crawling with flukes." Kennon paused and looked atJordan. "You following me?" he asked.
"Slowly and poorly," Jordan said. "You're assuming too much knowledge onmy part."
Kennon chuckled. "You can't say I didn't warn you."
"Well--I'm really interested in only one thing--how do you break theparasite up in business?"
"There's only one sure way--and that's to break the life cycle. Thetechnique is thousands of years old, but it's just as good today as itwas then."
"Good--then let's do it."
"To make a varrit stew," Kennon said, "one must first catch the varrit."
"Huh?"
"We have to learn the beastie's life cycle before we can break it,and like I said, it adapts. Its intermediate host can be any one of ahundred cold-blooded animals."
"Is there no place else where it can be attacked?"
"Sure, in the body of the final host, or on its final encysting place.But that won't eliminate the bug."
"Why not?"
"It'll still survive in its infective form and enough Lani will getsubacute dosage to propagate it until the time is right for anotherepizootic. We have to kill its intermediate host--or hosts if it hasmore than one. That will keep it from growing and will ultimatelyeradicate it."
Judson scratched his head. "It sounds complicated."
"It is. It's so complicated that once the fluke becomes well establishedit's virtually impossible to eradicate."
"And you think it can be done here?"
"We can give it the old college try. But it's going to take somedetective work."
"Where do we start?"
"With Bay Ten. We look it over real well. Then we check the diet andhabits of the Lani. Then we check each individual Lani. Then we checkthe life cycle of the parasite. Somewhere along the line if we're luckywe'll find a weak point that can be attacked."
"That's a big order," Blalok said.
"It can't be helped. That's the way it is. Of course, we're lucky thatwe're on an isolated land mass. That gives us an advantage. We should beable to clean this up."
"How long do you think it will take?"
"It depends on how well the fluke is established. Six months at theminimum--and I wouldn't care to guess at the maximum. However, I hopethe minimum will be time enough."
"So do I," Blalok said.
"Well," Kennon said, "let's get on with it."
"I hope it won't interrupt our program," Jordan said.
"Of course it will interrupt it," Kennon replied. "It can't help it. Getthe idea in your head that you're facing something here that can crippleyou--maybe abort your whole operation. You have a choice--interrupt nowor abort later. And half measures won't work. To eradicate this pestrequires an all-out effort."
"But I can't see why we can't merely bypass Bay Ten--" Jordan said.
"Take my word for it," Kennon said. "You can't. There's no accurate wayof telling how far this spreads until the death losses occur. Our testsfor fluke infestation aren't that good. We have to work thoroughly andcarefully. We can't be butting heads over this--either we all co-operateor this whole operation will blow up in our faces.
"Look at the record. Six months ago you ended a year with no deaths fromdisease. Five months ago Old Doc and two Lani were ill. Four months agoone of the two Lani was dead and Old Doc was too ill to be effective.Three months ago Old Doc and the other Lani were dead, and before theend of the month two more followed them. Two months ago six died, lastmonth eight, and so far this month you've lost four and you have overtwo weeks to go. Up to now they've all been from here, but two thismonth were at other stations. In six months if nothing is done, we'llbe having losses there unless we're lucky. And the losses will keepon increasing. Apparently you don't know what it is to live withparasites--so let me tell you. It isn't pleasant!"
Blalok shrugged. "You needn't get hot about it," he said. "After all,you're the Doc--and we'll co-operate."
Jordan nodded. "We will," he said. "All the way."