"Nicola Griffith - Ammonite" - читать интересную книгу автора (Griffith Nicola)

the virus got loose out there!тАЭ
That one was easy. тАЬDeath, everywhere. For everyone. Eventually.тАЭ
тАЬNot necessarily. The women down there seem to have found a way.тАЭ She
frowned and drained her glass. тАЬBut nobody knows how.тАЭ
тАЬSo what happens to those people who get taken off here, for the long-term
quarantine?тАЭ
тАЬI donтАЩt know. I donтАЩt want to know.тАЭ
Marghe was tired. тАЬWell, everything will be all right if the vaccine works.тАЭ She
wished her head would stop hurting.
тАЬAll right for whom?тАЭ
тАЬI donтАЩtтАФтАЭ
тАЬA vaccine is a counter-weapon. ItтАЩs control. Imagine: mass vaccination of the
women down there. If they need the virus to reproduce, then theyтАЩll die.тАЭ
тАЬYou donтАЩt know that they do.тАЭ Not even Company would deal in genocide,
would they? Hiam was paranoid, crazy. тАЬYouтАЩre drunk.тАЭ
тАЬYes, IтАЩm drunk. But not stupid. Look me in the face and tell me SEC would
stand up to Company on this.тАЭ
Marghe imagined her father, and what his opinion would be. Probably he would
say nothingтАФjust get up, search his bookshelves, pull down an old volume on the
Trail of Tears and other, more systematic attempts at genocide, and hand it to her
without comment.
Hiam was nodding. тАЬYou see now.. None of us are safe. Estrade is probably
wired for destruct. And the gigs. All because no one out there really knows who or
whatтАЩs safe and whatтАЩs contaminated. One whiff of this thing getting out of control
and phht, weтАЩre all reduced to our component atoms. ThatтАЩs why we have no
contact with the Kurst: stops the crew from getting to know us, sympathizing. ItтАЩs
harder to murder people you know.тАЭ Hiam stared at nothing. тАЬEvery time I wake up,
I wonder: Is this going to be my last day?тАЭ
Marghe did not know what to do with this information. She did not want to think
about it. Her head hurt. She felt as though someone had been beating her with a thick
stick.
тАЬWhy do I ache so much?тАЭ she whispered to herself.
Hiam heard. тАЬFirst-stage immune response,тАЭ she said cheerfully. She seemed glad
to change the subject. тАЬThe activation of your T cells is starting a process which
ends up with your hypothalamus turning up the thermostat.тАЭ She nodded at
MargheтАЩs shaking hands. тАЬThe shivering is just one way to generate heat. DonтАЩt
worry, the painkiller you took includes an antipyretic. Your fever will ease along with
the ache.тАЭ
Marghe frowned. This did not fit something Hiam had said before. Something
about low-level response. She tried to ignore the thumping of her head and sort out
her information. SEC rules meant that Hiam was not allowed to culture the virus, or
bioengineer it, so the vaccine was not made of killed virus. What she had done
instead was identify the short string of amino acids, peptides, that folded up to form
the actual antigen of the viral protein, map out the amino acid sequence, and then
bio-facture a combination of different peptides, matching different regions of the
viral protein, in the hope that one or more of the synthetic peptides would fold up to
mimic an antigenic site present on the viral protein. She had linked those to inert
carrier proteins to help stimulate the immune system. But Hiam had not been able to
fine-tune the peptides, and the immune response was supposed to be low-level.
тАЬYou said that it would be a low-level response. ThatтАЩs why I have to take it so