"The Doctor will call you."
The most impressive thing about Jennifer was she never looked away from her computer screen. As he left the lab Drenon muttered under his breath, "I guess I won't name the new species Slavin... apparently there is already a worm with that name."
~ Chapter IV ~
Just after midnight Drenon's phone rang. He was exhausted after spending the evening in the lab and was just walking in the door to his small apartment.
"Hello," he said.
Slavin's accent was even harsher than it had been earlier. The man sounded tired. "The toxicology report is incorrect. It is impossible any living creature could contain the acidity reported here. You must have made a mistake Drenon."
"It is possible there was a mistake. I brought the report to you as soon as I received it, but the toxicology lab ran the tests. I did not even understand the results.”
"I will run my own tests. I need you here first thing in the morning to answer some questions. Bring a lizard with you."
"A lizard?" Drenon asked.
"Do you have a lizard in your lab? Or a big spider?"
"Yes, I have both. I was just caught off guard." He did not technically have a spider at the lab, but he did have a pet tarantula named Thing after the hand on the Addams Family. With a job where he was gone many weeks at a time he did not need to worry about it being cared for. Plus, it was fascinating to bring Thing out and let her crawl up his arm when he had friends over to see their reactions.
"Do you have more of the worms?"
"Yes," Drenon replied.
"Bring a few more as well. Good night." Slavin hung up the phone without waiting for a reply. He brushed off the rude treatment and prepared himself for bed.
Drenon was always able to get to sleep easily and rarely did he awake in the night. Even dreams of worms crawling under his skin did not wake him up on this night, but they did make him restless. He typically needed an alarm clock to wake up, and usually a few cycles with the snooze button, but on this morning he was anxious to get moving even before the clock buzzed. It had been a fitful night.
Drenon walked up to the thick wooden door of Slavin's lab at 8:00 AM. He had a large blue and black duffle bag under his arm containing everything he had been asked to bring. The door was locked and the lights inside were off. "Wonderful," he muttered.
He did not usually eat breakfast, but the cafeteria was close so he walked over. There was a coffee machine in his building and he was used to the cheap stuff the university provided there for free. Here they charged a dollar for the same weak swill. He decided to order a latte instead to escape the injustice of it all, even if it did cost three times as much.
As Drenon stood in line he noticed Jennifer from Slavin's lab was standing in front of him. He was not thrilled with talking to her, but at the same time he needed an idea of when Slavin would be in. She looked to be in a much better mood this morning than she had been in the previous day.
"Hi Jennifer," he said. "Remember me?"
She turned around and squinted at him. "Nope," she said, turning back around. "What class of yours was I in?"
"I was in Slavin's office yesterday filling out some paperwork pertaining to some worms. You handed me the papers."
She turned back around and squinted again at him. "I don't remember, but I get a lot of paperwork. Dr. S forces me to work for him twelve hours a day in order to keep from failing his class. I hate being there. He's a jerk."
"He is... abrupt," Drenon replied. "I noticed he is not in his lab yet. What time does he get in?"
"He get there sometime between 8:30 and 9:30. He expects me to be there waiting when he arrives." She looked down at a watch where Mickey Mouse’s arms pointed in uncomfortable angles. "I have to get going."
Drenon noticed she just ordered coffee and pulled out his wallet. "I am heading there myself, let me pay for that." He pulled out five dollars and paid the lady at the end of the counter for their drinks.
Jennifer shrugged and waited silently for his latte to arrive. Together they left the cafeteria for the short walk to the next building, but apparently she did not have anything else to say and walked one step ahead of him.
"Uh oh," Jennifer groaned. There may have been another more offense word following as well, but Drenon did not catch it. It was 8:21 and the door to Slavin’s lab was wide open. The lights were on.
Drenon walked in first and Jennifer snuck in just behind him. Slavin was at the first counter staring down at a microscope in front of him.
"Jennifer, it's about time you showed up. The papers from yesterday's tests are on your desk. I need them graded before noon. Here is my professor's lounge pass, I need you to go get me some coffee. Black," Slavin barked without taking his eye from the scope. “Try to be on time from now on.”
After fifteen seconds, Slavin finally looked up. "Ah, there you are Doctor, did you bring the lizard?"
Drenon looked over at Jennifer. The scowl from yesterday had returned as she slunk back to her desk to start her day.
"Yes, I brought everything." Drenon set down the duffle bag on a chair just inside the door.
"Come here,” Slavin said. “You have to see this."
~ Chapter V ~
Drenon stared into the same microscope he had been so rudely pulled away from the previous day. He could see strings snaking through a yellow background. "What is it," he asked?
“Take a look at the picture on the counter next to you."
Drenon looked up and held up the picture. There he saw what he recognized as cells. He could count a few dozen pink ones. They looked like misshapen oval birthday balloons. Scattered randomly were five cloudy black uneven dots which looked like miniature explosions with thin lines of debris scattered in every direction.
"The black clouds you see in the picture are dead brain cells from an experiment I ran here last year. I used a black dye to more clearly show what happened to the cells when they died. The experiment used cells from fruit flies, which are similar in most flying insects and their larvae. Now look back under the microscope."
Drenon looked again and still was unable to make out anything specific.
Slavin said, "What you don't see there is the brain taken from one of your larvae. There are no live cells. There are no dead cells. It is a yellow liquid devoid of any cells. Snaking thin lines of some unknown consistency are dispersed throughout the area where the brain cells should be. I have never seen anything like it in a living creature."
"How...?"
Slavin interrupted the question. "Take a look at this." Drenon was handed a piece of paper. The numbers there were defined as fractions and some molecular symbols were written in the margins with question marks following each. A few hand written pictures of partial honeycomb-like diagrams were scribbled at the bottom.
"From your blank stare I can tell you need more of an explanation. I ran my own acidity tests on some of the tissues from your larvae," Slavin said. "I don't have the equipment to accurately define the molecular structure, but to simplify for you, the tissue makeup in your larvae is not found in any other living thing. If I had to guess, I would say it is mostly acetic acid, which is found in every living thing in trace quantities, but never at this concentration."
"So what are you saying?" Drenon asked. "What do we have here?"
"Your larva is closer in structure to a bottle of vinegar than to any living organism," Slavin replied. He turned away and walked to another counter. “Bring your bag over here.”
Drenon sat momentarily stunned as he tried to process the information. It did not make sense.
“The lizard. Let’s go.”
Drenon snapped out of it. He walked over to pick up the large duffle bag and brought it over to the counter where Slavin waited. He unzipped the bag made of mesh netting and pulled out two clear plastic cubes. The first was large and had a small iguana just over a foot and a half long from it
s nose to the end of its tail. The second container was smaller and contained five additional worms.
Last, he pulled out the small glass aquarium Thing lived in and set it on the counter. Thing was a large female arboreal tarantula spider. She was docile, rarely moving and never biting. Drenon knew from researching different tarantula species that she was capable of running incredibly fast, but even when he brought her out of her glass home she had always moved sedately.
Drenon filled two small plastic cups from a nearby sink and placed them in the containers.
Slavin picked up the container with the worms and stared with what looked like admiration. "Fascinating. They live, yet they have no brain we can discern. Have you seen one molt?"
"You mean shed its skin?"
"Yes, shed its skin," Slavin said with a huff. "All larvae do this as they grow."
"No, I have not seen it happen," Drenon replied.
"How about a cocoon or pupae? Have you seen any?"
"No, but they will not eat anything we have given them and they do not appear to be growing. I did some research, worms don't eat much."
"These are not worms. These are larvae. They eat voraciously. I have never heard of larvae which would not eat just about anything put in front of them. Are you sure you are a scientist? Have you tried feeding them vegetables?"
“I am a botanist. Yes, I provided everything I could think of, but they ignore it all. In the wild they are only found inside the huge cotton trees in Central America. The trees are dying and I was sent to figure out why. Apparently, these worms… sorry, larvae, devour the trees there, but we are having difficulty getting customs to let us bring any of the wood here."
"Just as well, they would be much more difficult to control if they change into their non-larvae form. Have you seen the adult insect?"
"No, I have never found a trace of them around any of the dead trees I have investigated."
~ Chapter VI ~
Slavin pulled on a pair of thick green gloves and reached in to pull out one of the squirming larvae. He then placed it into the container with the iguana.
“I hope you’re not attached. There is no telling what will happen to Mr. Lizard here after he eats the larvae.”
Drenon replied, “no, the lizard is not a pet. The tarantula is though.”
“Well, up to you. I am curious to see what happens.”
“Me too. Go ahead and put one in with her also. I fed her a few days ago, but she might be hungry again soon.”
Slavin put a larva in with the spider and the two men watched the two cages. Neither the lizard nor the spider moved a muscle. Just the larvae moved, squirming around, attempting to climb the walls and never getting anywhere.
“Now we wait,” Slavin said softly before turning around and walking back to his microscopes.
Drenon followed Slavin and leaned up against a counter while he shuffled papers importantly.
"I am having trouble understanding something significant here Slavin."
"Please, call me Doctor, or Doctor Slavin."
"Okay, so... if these bugs have no brain, why are they moving around?" Drenon asked.
"Ah, the question that kept me up half the night. I think I have the simple answer. They just don't need a brain to function. Did you know a fruit fly can live for days after it is decapitated?"
"What... how... no, really?"
"Sure. Look it up. The lack of a brain is not the real mystery. The entire creature seems to be functioning as a virus... or more specifically, viruses are functioning as living cells within the creature. Viruses are the most abundant biological entity on Earth, but a virus will attack the cell of another living creature or plant and use it to multiply. There are no living cells as we know them left in the larvae. They have all been destroyed."
Drenon considered this. "In short, you are not saying this is just a new species. The larvae are a new life form unlike anything on the planet?"
"Yes, that is an accurate statement. So far, according to you, they are confined to consuming the living wood of one specific tree. What I want to find out from our bug eating friends is if the virus can easily be transferred to another living creature, and if so, what are the consequences?”
"We need to show someone this. We need to contact the CDC in Atlanta. We need to get these larvae into a more secure lab." Drenon was losing his composure.
Slavin said, "Be patient. You are right, but at the moment nothing is escaping and if the virus was harmful to humans and able to transfer through the air we would both already be infected. Why don't you go contact the Center for Disease Control if you feel the need to and I will sit here and monitor our caged friends."
Drenon looked over and as far as he could tell, the lizard and spider had not even twitched since he walked away.
“I will take everything back and put it in our secure lab,” he said as started walking towards the duffle bag and plastic containers.
“No,” Slavin said forcefully, “Leave them here. More travel will just disturb the animals again. They are fine.”
Drenon knew he should secure the larvae as quickly as possible, but he also knew there were important things to be done immediately. Slavin would know if there was something they needed to be nervous about, and he did not seem nervous at all. Drenon did not know if he was doing the right thing, but he left at a brisk walk heading back to his lab.
~ Chapter VII ~
Drenon called Jaws on the way back to his lab.
"Hey Jaws, are you in yet?"
"Yes, I just got back from the administration office. We received a long, heavy package. Guess what is in it?"
"No clue."
Jaws held him in suspense for a moment while he took at drink of his tea. "Whoever received our request for a cotton tree branch went a little overboard. They sent a small tree about ten feet tall. The entire tree. It took three of us to carry it here. They sent a note and apparently there is a tree farm where they raise cotton trees so they were able to locate one quickly. It is not much to look at but should work for what we want it for."
"Perfect!" Drenon exclaimed as he picked up his pace. "Have you unpacked it?"
"Mostly, it even has the roots. I am guessing you want it in the secure room, but we need approval first."
"Don't worry about approval," Drenon said into his phone as he walked through the lab door. He hung up and finished the sentence face to face with Jaws. "I will call Kershaw now and get it taken care of."
Kershaw was the head of the science department and approved all decisions related to the secure labs and the university’s research. Drenon respected his authority, but Kershaw made decisions based on what was best for the university, not what was best for Drenon’s research. The two were often at odds, but Drenon knew better than to push any issue too far.
Drenon picked up the portable phone from his office desk and dialed Kershaw’s extension. A click, then a deep voice on the other end said, "This is Kershaw."
"Hello sir. This is Drenon."
"Hi Drenon. What can I do for you?"
"If you remember our conversation from yesterday when we were discussing the worms, I told you I had a piece of wood they feed on heading our way. It arrived earlier than expected and I need to move it and the worms into the secure lab. I found out this morning these worms are potentially dangerous and need to be handled more carefully. Is there any way I can get a quick approval for this transfer?"
"How dangerous are they Drenon?"
"We don't know sir, but with your approval my next call after this one will be to the CDC in Atlanta. The worms are not poisonous, but they do carry an unknown virus, and we do not know if the virus is dangerous or how it spreads."
There was a pause on the other end of the line. "I will push through the approval to move everything to the secured lab. Go ahead and do that as soon as possible." There was a second pause. "I do not want the CDC involved... yet. They will lock dow
n the entire university. It will be like E.T. around here. I will be asked a lot of questions, and I need the answers before the questions are asked."
"But sir..."
Kershaw interrupted, "Sorry Drenon, hold on a minute." Drenon heard Kershaw's hand cover the phone, but he could still hear a muffled yell, "Jane, what does my scheduled look like this morning?"
A moment later he was back, "As soon as you have everything moved into the lab I need to discuss this with you. How soon can you be here?"
"Jaws is here with me. He can move everything. I will head your way now."
"Sounds good, see you in a few."
"Bye," Drenon said and hung up the phone. "Jaws, I got the approval, but Kershaw wants to talk. Can you move everything into the secure lab?"
Jaws asked, "What was that about viruses and the CDC?"
"We need to be more careful around them from now on. Slavin is not worried about any infection spreading, but I don't trust his judgment on this. Just be safe."
"Will do, I will have them all moved by the time you get back. Do you want me to put the worms in with the tree, or keep them apart?"
Drenon thought for a minute as he gathered some paperwork to take with him, "Let's keep them apart until I get back. I want to think about it. I am not so sure we want them eating."
"Okay, have fun with the boss."
~ Chapter VIII ~
Drenon walked slowly back into the lab an hour later deep in thought. Looking up, he was unable to locate Jaws, but looking down the hall he did notice the green light was on outside the door of the secure lab. The green light indicated the lab was in use. Looking through the window near the top of the door he could tell nobody was in the pressurized decontamination area.
Drenon walked down and pressed the button next to the door. The light changed to red and the door clicked. He then pushed opened the door and unbuttoned his coat as he walked into and through the first room. At the other side of the small room was a second unlocked door. He pushed down the silver metal handle and entered the second room.
This room was where the process of dressing in the protective yellow suits took place. Drenon removed his shoes and jacket, and then placed them in one of the three available lockers. Jaws' shoes were sitting on the floor next to one of them. Drenon carefully put on his personal suit after checking to verify there were no obvious tears. When he was done, he stepped through the next door.