[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
."This morning I was doing what I hoped was the last work on the Lodestonehunter-killer," Clancy said.A model of the Lodestone virus appeared over hershoulder as she spoke, a nasty little bundle of sugar-protein that could liedormant for years in the parenchyma of the pancreas before emerging tointerfere disastrously with secretion of amylase, a process that, by fatalcoincidence, produced a waste product that was itself a vicious nerve toxin.The patient could die either from nerve shutdown or wild swings in blood-sugarlevels.Usually a doctor wouldn't look for both.The disease itself was so rare that the vector was completely unknown.Probably Lodestone was a slow-motion mataglap, a bit of mutated nano that hadsomehow escaped into the human environment."The easiest way to attack the Lodestone is when it's shed its protein sheathand invaded the parenchymal cells," Clancy said."Before that stage, no onelooks for it anyway."A strand of the Lodestone uncoiled and enlarged so that Gabriel could seeindividual molecules arranged in their long strands.The ends stretched outinto infinity.Another long molecule appeared, an array of lithium atomsarranged along its length like fangs."I've devised a hunter-killer that will steal the hydrogen bonds from thetarget DNA," Clancy said."It's smaller than the virus, a kind of pseudo-RNA,and it should be nonpolar until it actually encounters the Lodestone."The hydrogen-hungry lithium fangs quietly absorbed the hydrogen atoms holdingthe target's nitrogenous bases together; bits of the Lodestone strand began tofly apart."In order that the fragments won't recombine into something equallydeadly, I've added little functional groups that will attract fragments of theLodestone DNA." The Lodestone fragments bounced through the simulation, thendiscovered the sections of the hunter-killer meant to attract them.Thehunter-killer's functional groups slotted into the Lodestone's nitrogenous bases likekeys sliding into tumbler locks."Very nice," Gabriel said."What happens to the hunter-killer then?""The simulation says it should be passed with pancreatic fluid into thedigestive tract, and thence from the body.At that stage it should becompletely inert.But of course that's only what the simulation says.Furthertesting is needed." 1 Gabriel ran the simulation back and forth severaltimes.Dimly he was aware of Spring Plum's approval of both Sher- Bahadur's adagio movement and Falling Water's interpretation of it.Thehunter-killer performed as advertised."I'm impressed, Blushing Rose," he said."This is admi-- rable.Do you wish to submit it formally?"244WALTER JON WILLIAMSPage 138 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html245There was a hesitation in her reply."I think so.Give me a little more time.""As you like.But what does this have to do with the Kam Wing system?""As part of my double-check routine I combed the Hyperlogos to find whetherthis particular cut-file:///F|/rah/Walter%20Jon%20Williams/Williams,%20Walter%20Jon%20-%20Aristoi%20UC.txt (145 of 272) [7/17/03 11:26:40 PM]file:///F|/rah/Walter%20Jon%20Williams/Williams,%20Walter%20Jon%20-%20Aristoi%20UC.txt and-lock system had been used before.It hadn't not quite but what Ifound out was that the target, the Lodestone virus, had qualities similar toBrilliant Emerald-type mataglap.""Indeed?""Perhaps one is a mutation of the other.I checked, and with a smalladaptation the hunter-killer could be turned into an anti-Brilliant Emeraldartiphage.""There already are Brilliant Emerald artiphages.Romance1 and its descendant,Romance2.""Yes, and Romance2 was used by the Aristos Knight as the centerpiece of hiscontainer system." Aglowing model of Kam Wing's container, red and green and gold, appeared inplace of the first simulation.Clancy demonstrated how the Romance seriesworked by subverting the target like a virus does a target cell, an obviouslyattractive feature.But, because Romance2 degraded under high temperature, KamWing Had to include a heavy insulating layer in his containers to keep theRomance artiphage from being destroyed by the heat-producing Devouring Webmataglap."That's not a problem with my design," Clancy said.Simulations blossomed overher shoulder.Her ghost voice turned rapid."I started by modifying theLodestone hunter-killer into a BrilliantEmerald artiphage.The result " She smiled."I've had the temerity to call itBlushing Rose1."Blushing Rose1 was less efficient than the Romance series its destruction ofthe target was less elegant but it was stable at higher temperatures anddidn't require heat shielding.She could therefore sandwich it between aresinous polymer that would react well with the Summer Surprise artiphage, anda doped Carbon^ fullerene of sufficient slick-ness so that the Big Kissartiphage couldn't get a grip.Between the three artiphages, seventy-ninepercent of the known mata-glaps were covered.Gabriel absorbed the displays, had Horus and Cyrus run simulations, receivedtheir reports."It's nothing short of brilliant," he said finally."You've gone back to firstprinciples and produced a marvel.""The Aristos Knight didn't have the advantage of knowing about the SummerSurprise artiphage.It would have simplified his work.""Still, this is staggering.How long has this taken you?""Since a little after dawn.""Dawn." Gabriel repeated.His skiagenos held out his cupped hands, palmsup.A glow began there, a shining rose-hearted gold radiance.The glow liftedfrom Gabriel's nesting hands, crossed the room, settled onto Clancy's head
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]