I have requested that some of the survivors be sent here for examination.
—They’re here. They arrived an hour ago.
—Have they been examined?
—No, but they’ve all given blood samples on the plane. We should have those results in an hour. I talked to four of them already. I’ll interview the rest when they come back. I sent them all to get something to eat.
—How did they manage to stay clear of the deadly gas?
—They didn’t. From what they told me, there was no way to escape it. They tried to seal themselves inside a room, block every orifice with whatever was at hand, but the fog—that’s what they called it—found its way in as if nothing was there to stop it. They say it came in through the walls. I know many of them didn’t even make it inside. Some were part of the group gathered around the alien robot. They were exposed to the gas, breathing it, for over an hour before it dissipated.
—How did they survive? Were their symptoms any less severe?
—What symptoms? They had none. They’re all perfectly healthy. That’s not true; one of them has a pretty nasty case of the flu, but I doubt it has anything to do with it. He says he’s been sick for days. Whatever this “fog” does, they’re completely immune to it.
—Do you have any idea why?
—No. They’re all physically very different. They come from different parts of the world. I’ll try to get as much information about them as I can, see if they share eating habits, some activity. It could be something they’re in contact with at work, or at home, the kind of soap they use, their shampoo. The ones I talked to aren’t on any medication. I’ll keep asking. It’s possible something will come up when I talk to the others but, in all honesty, I doubt I’ll find anything. There’s a six-year-old girl in that group and an eighty-year-old man. How much of their daily lives could they have in common? I’m not the one who should be doing this.
—You should stop doubting yourself, Dr. Franklin. I have every confidence in your ability to solve this puzzle.
—You keep talking about me like I’m some sort of savant. I’m not. I’m good at what I do, but this isn’t it. There is one thing, though. The person you want me to meet, the one who helped bring me forward in time, could he be a descendant of the aliens who left Themis here on Earth?
—What if he were?
—It’s just a thought, but if these people, the survivors, were descendants of the people who built Themis—they’re obviously not full-blown aliens but say they were only part human—it would make sense for the attackers to spare them.
—I was thinking the very same thing. I find it extremely difficult to view the survival of the people that were brought here as coincidental. If, as my contact suggested, people of alien descent have been walking among us throughout history, they might have some form of immunity to the gaseous agent used in the attack. Can you think of a way to confirm this hypothesis?
—Like I said, this isn’t my thing. I don’t have the knowledge or training to deal with any of this. What you need now is a geneticist.
—I may know someone who can help.
FILE NO. 1570
INTERVIEW WITH DR. ALYSSA PAPANTONIOU
Location: EDC Headquarters, New York, NY
—Are the handcuffs really necessary?
—They are not. This is a secure facility, and the odds of a successful escape are infinitesimal. However, given your history with the members of this team, I believe the restraints will help keep everyone at ease.
—It’s really hard to work with my hands t…tied together.
—The chain is fourteen inches long. I have requested it to allow you some freedom of movement. If any of the tasks you must perform require that your hands be farther apart, I have provided you with an assistant whose freedom of movement is unimpeded.
—We’re on the sssame side. You realize that, don’t you?
—You have made a habit of changing sides whenever it suited you.
—Four million dead. What I meant was that there are no sides anymore. It’s us and them. I don’t think they would t…take me on their team even if I wan…even if I wanted to.
—Sixty million people died during the Second World War. There are still sides.
—How many dead will it take for you t…to trust me?
—Rest assured, Ms. Papantoniou, I personally do not fear you. The restraints are not for me. That said, I believe that Mr. Couture would like you to keep them on even if you were the only two people left alive. That would make the answer to your question approximately 7,125,000,000.
—Why is Vincent still here? Haven’t you sent Th…Themis?
—What we have and have not done does not concern you. You were brought here for a very specific purpose.
—I was just mmm…making conversation.
—Then converse about the people who died in London. The medical examiner said they all died of sepsis.
—Close enough.
—Are you saying they did not die of sepsis?
—Not exactly. They died of a systemic inflam…matory response, but sepsis implies there is an infection present. There’s no harmful pathogen in the gas, no virus, no b…no bacteria, at least that’s what I think.
—What you think? Did you not analyze the gas samples they sent you?
—There was nothing to analyze. The ca…canisters were empty when I received them. But, based on the cell samples I looked at, I believe the gas contains a really, really smart molecule, one that binds to long DNA chains and causes the gene to cr…create a different protein, one that the body doesn’t recognize. The body thinks every cell is infected and starts attacking itself. The reaction is extremely severe, and almost ins…tantaneous.
—Is there anything out of the ordinary about the genetic makeup of the victims?
—I didn’t check, but no.
—I brought you here because of your expertise in genetics. I cannot understand why you would not see it fit to perform even the most basic genetic profiling on the victims.
—I didn’t count the bodies in London m…myself, but the report you gave me says that about four million people were exposed to the gas, and that around two…two thousand people survived.
—Exactly 1,988, by the latest count.
—That’s about five out of ten thousand, 5 percent of 1 p…percent. That means 99.95 percent of the people exposed to the gaseous agent died. I don’t need to do a lot of t…testing to tell you that there’s nothing really unique about 99.95 percent of the population. The living, all 1,988 of them, are a lot more…interesting.