Brian O'Grady - Hybrid

“That would account for the various presentations,” Phil said into the phone.

Sabritas had spread out his computer sheets across Martha’s desk and kept stabbing parts of them with a thick, stubby finger, saying, “Look at this,” over and over again. “I’m sorry, what did you say, Dr. Rucker?”

“I said that an incomplete purine receptor gene would explain the various presentations. In most people, the virus acts in typical fashion. It invades the cell, inserts its DNA into the host’s DNA, creates millions of new copies of itself, and then destroys the cell. The immune system does the rest. As other cells become infected, they begin to display bits of the virus on their MHC proteins, and the cells are destroyed by immune cells. That’s what causes all the destructive changes and the inflammation. The psychiatric presentation makes sense as well, because the cells most vulnerable to these viruses are located primarily in the limbic system.”

Martin had pushed aside Sabritas’s chart and turned the speakerphone on. “I’ve put you on speaker phone. I want some of my staff to hear this,” he said while sitting in Martha’s chair.

“The limbic system?” A Ph.D. candidate had overheard part of the conversation and had drifted closer to the phone and Adam Sabritas.

“Emotional centers of the brain,” Sabritas answered automatically.

“I know that—” the student answered defensively, but Martin’s glare cut off the rest of his thought.

A crowd had gathered around the speaker. “Go on, Dr. Rucker,” he said.

“I’m guessing that in a few cells the purine receptor gene is repaired and activated. Instead of producing viable viral particles, the cell produces the actual receptors.”

“This sounds a little like Borna Disease,” the graduate student said much too loudly. Every head turned towards him. Even Phil hadn’t heard of Borna Disease. The student’s face flushed with the sudden attention. “It’s a viral infection in sheep and cattle. It causes unusual behaviors in the animals.” He stammered a little. “Years ago people thought that it might cause depression in humans.” A dozen faces stared at him, waiting for the relevance of his interruption. “It’s an RNA virus that replicates in the cell nucleus, but it doesn’t destroy the cell. It causes unusual proteins to be elaborated across the cell membrane.”

Satisfied, people started looking at one another.

“Interesting. .” Martin said stammering over the grad student’s name.“Yes, it is,” Phil added. “Most of the purine receptors are associated with apoptosis of neuronal cells, but some, instead of initiating programmed cell death, cause the normally inert neurons to either grow or to differentiate. It stands to reason that with the additional receptors, the cells become hypersensitive to their ligands. That’s what causes the reformation of a germinal matrix, and it is this unrestrained and rapid growth at the base of the brain that kills people.”

Everyone was silent for a moment, digesting Phil’s theory. “I have to tell you, I’ve barely heard of purine receptors.” Martin looked around the crowded office. “So now we know how it kills, what do we do about it? Fighting the encephalitic process with the usual anti-inflammatory agents isn’t going to help. How do we stop these cells from dividing?”

“I don’t think we can,” Phil said.

Most of Martin’s staff nodded their heads.

Phil continued, “The key is to start treatment before the combination of inflammation and growth are fully developed.”

“Two people have survived this infection untreated. For the moment, let’s leave them out of this. How did you survive?” Martin asked Phil.

“Discounting the possibility that I shared the same resistance to these viruses Amanda and Reisch had, my survival was based on standard medical management. I was also given the antiviral agent Acyclovir, but that was only after the onset of an altered mental state.”

“So do you think it was the antivirals?” Martin asked.

“Yes, I do. The core of these viruses is still the plain herpes simplex virus. The Ebola component seems to allow the virus to survive within the cell nucleus, away from the usual cellular defenses, and improves its overall transmissibility.

“Once a cell has been infected, it will do one of three things: die, in which case it will release more of the virus; differentiate into a harmless form; or begin to divide. I’m guessing that before any cell is induced into growth, there has to be a minimal concentration of viral particles in the brain. This is where the antivirals can be effective. There’s nothing we can do once a cell starts dividing, but if we keep their numbers low, the immune system should be able to deal with them effectively, and should be able to control the overall infection. The key is that the antivirals have to be given as early as possible, otherwise too many of these stem cells will have been induced into growth.”

“I’m not sure there are enough antivirals to go around,” Martin said.

“Then a lot of people are about to die,” Phil answered.

* * *

Lisa was leading the way and Amanda followed. “Is there something wrong, dear?”

“No, nothing wrong, but I have to do something before we leave.” She turned back down the hall and headed for the emergency room. She walked through the double doors as if she belonged. Lisa, not knowing what else to do, followed.

Amanda found Phil almost immediately. His powerful mind filled the cavernous space and Amanda smiled. Phil was much further along than Oliver. She approached the glass and Phil turned towards her.

“Come in,” he said while placing the phone back into the airlock. He reached over and unlocked the door.

A nurse watched as Amanda went through the anteroom and opened the isolation door; she started to scream at Amanda to stop. Lisa turned and faced the woman and reassured her that everything was under control.

“I saw you upstairs,” she started. “You missed quite a show. I will bet that you have some questions about what’s happening to you.” Her skin tingled in response to their close proximity, and she slid the only chair in the room away from Phil. She sat down waiting for him to formulate a question.

“Too many to be answered now.“

Amanda could see that he was struggling to blot out the collective mental energies of two dozen people. “It won’t hurt you, so don’t try and fight it. Organize it and learn to control your mind.”

“I’ve been trying to do that my entire life, with little success. Shouldn’t you, we be out there trying to stop him, them? You did see what I saw in his mind?”

“That and more, Phil. Do you think you’re ready?”

“No, but I don’t think we have any other options.” He stared at her with a steady gaze, and she could feel the fear in his mind, but also that he controlled it extraordinarily well. He was a master in managing fear; almost his entire life had been an exercise in controlling it.

“I can see how you survived. Fear and terror are his favorite weapons, but they are old hat to you.”

“I’m not comfortable having my personal thoughts out on display,” he admonished her.

“You better get used to it, and not just your thoughts, but your memories, your wants and needs, all of it is now open to anyone who can read. In time, you will be able to shield some of it, but from here on out, your life is going to be very different, Phil.”

“I won’t know how to survive,” he said. The blueprint to his survival had just been thrown out the window.

“Do you know what I need you to do?”

“The same thing you sent the priest to do. Only I can’t leave here; I’ll infect everyone I come in contact with.”