Jessica drew blood from the crew, starting with Jim. She had the computer analyze each sample. When Jim realized Ted wasn’t there, he called down to the lab, informing Ted it wasn’t optional to report to the sickbay.
They sat in silence around the sickbay waiting for the computer to finish its report when Ted walked in and sat, pulling up his sleeve. He quietly informed whoever was listening that he was fine.
“How long you need, Jess?” asked the skipper.
“Yours is done already. Levels are a hair over normal. Honestly, it’s so borderline that you may or may not have any issues. I’d like you to assemble a puzzle and check you again for coordination in a couple of days if we stay at this pressure. Tony, I’d like to check your time against the baseline reading as well.”
Tony considered a wiseass answer but opted for an “okay” instead.
After reviewing everyone’s levels, including her own, Jessica advised the commander that while the crew was showing signs of increased nitrogen in their blood, it wasn’t remotely dangerous.
Jim asked Tony to follow him to the bridge to run some tests with the MC and excused everyone else to work as they saw fit. He also suggested that they not use the camera that pointed at the vent for another day or so, until perhaps Ian’s body was carried away by the current.
As the crew broke up and left the sickbay, Tony managed a quick second alone with Jessica. “How ya feeling?” he whispered.
“Are you asking me out of grave concern or because you’re trying to get lucky?”
“I am asking out of grave concern that I won’t get lucky,” he whispered with a smile.
She smiled and patted his broad shoulder. “I’m fine. Might even give you a kiss later if I still feel okay. And I do need to time you with the puzzle when you have time later. Now scoot.”
He started to walk out, then rushed back in, kissed her full on the mouth, and ran out as she tried to smack him. “I’ll take my chances!” he said with a laugh as he ran. She smiled, happy to have met such a nice guy at such a bad time.
Belowdecks in the lab, Mike continued his work on the anglerfish “pair” while Theresa sat down next to Ted, who was comparing bacteria samples under the microscope. He was looking at those that had been taken from the bluefish bait versus bacteria from the gut of the actual tube worm. It was identical. He pulled another petri dish and prepared another slide.
“Where’s that one from?” asked Theresa.
Ted pretended not to hear her. She repeated her question.
“It’s a control sample I had.” He focused under the scope and was concentrating so hard he didn’t even notice that Theresa had turned on the camera so she could see what he was looking at on the large plasma television screen.
“It looks totally different, Ted,” she said. He was so engrossed that this time he really didn’t hear her.
“It mutated? Or is it a strain from a different animal?”
Ted realized she could see what he was looking at and looked up from the microscope. If he was angry about her butting into his work, he didn’t show it.
“Both, actually,” he said quietly.
“What animal?” asked Theresa suspiciously.
“It’s just a sample I had,” he said dismissively. He was using a pinpoint-sized pipette to extract DNA from one of the cells.
“She asked you a question,” said Mike, his tone sounding like a Jersey guy in a bar looking for a fight.
“I said it’s a sample. Now let me work.”
“Is it from Ian?” snapped Mike.
Ted looked back up from the scope and decided he didn’t have the time to waste fighting with Mike. “No. It’s a sample I brought from previous work at NASA. Now if you’ll leave me alone, I can concentrate . . .”
Theresa patted Mike’s shoulder and motioned with her head for him to back off, which he did. Mike walked back to his workstation and sat by his work. Theresa turned back to Ted.
“Ted, I’m trying to understand. I really am. Explain the significance of the bacteria as it relates to space exploration. This bacterium, which you yourself said acted more as an organism than a bacteria, just killed one of us. How is this good for space exploration or anything else? Please tell me this isn’t some secret Department of Defense germ warfare agent or something.”
Ted sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. “This is not a germ warfare experiment, Theresa. I work for NASA, not the DOD. This bacteria isn’t a harmful germ agent; it’s the hardiest living thing on the planet—and maybe the universe. Who knows? What I do know is, if we can use the powers of this bacterium, if we can harness its power, then maybe we can withstand extreme temperatures, radiation, poisonous atmospheres—you name it. It will change the way we think about everything.”
Mike couldn’t remain silent, as hard as he tried. “It killed one our crew, Ted, and you’re telling us it’s not a harmful germ agent? Semantics. So it’s a harmful bacterial agent instead.”
Ted waved him off dismissively. “You mock what you don’t understand.”
“I’m trying to understand, Ted,” said Theresa.
“And if I attempt to explain anything, Mr. Ammiano over there is going to jump down my throat.”
Theresa looked at Mike and made a face. “He won’t say a word. Now tell me what it is I don’t understand.”
Ted exhaled and looked to the ceiling to summon patience in dealing with less intelligent humans. “Very well. The first time I am interrupted, I give up. Ian MacMullen is floating in water that should have quite literally cooked his flesh and disintegrated him by now.” He eyed Mike, who got up and left the lab, knowing he wouldn’t be able to contain himself.
“Instead of his tissue being destroyed, it’s perfectly intact. In fact, it may be completely viable.”
Theresa’s face fell. “Viable? Ian’s dead. What are you saying exactly?”
“Dr. Clark found no pulse or respiration; therefore, Ian was pronounced dead. I suppose that given current medical parameters, she was correct. Ian, your friend, was no longer alive as you knew him. However, his body was literally teeming with life. And this life wasn’t just some infectious disease that killed him and then would simply die itself. This life was morphing its host to create a new animal altogether. Ian the human was dead, yes—but had we been given more time to study him as scientists, we may have witnessed something so profound it would have changed science. Instead, your emotional friends made sure they protected a corpse and destroyed evidence of a new life-form.”
Theresa tried to remain unemotional and absorbed what he was saying. “So you believe that Ian’s body was literally changing to accommodate this bacterium, and he wouldn’t have actually died and begun to decay like a regular corpse?”
“That is more or less correct. I believe, given enough time, Ian may have surprised all of us. In fact, he still may.”
Theresa felt the hairs on her arms stand up. “Is he alive out there, Ted?’ she asked very quietly.
“I think we should see for ourselves.”
Theresa’s face fell. “It’s impossible. No air, the pressure . . .”
“And yet the deep sea is full of creatures, isn’t it.”
“Jim thought he saw something . . .” said Theresa quietly. “Did you see anything?”
Ted shrugged. “We need a closer look. We need to examine him.”
Theresa made a face and sat back in her chair. “How? What are you saying?”
“I’m saying he shouldn’t have been jettisoned. And now that he is, we need to bring him back aboard.”
“Even if the skipper would allow it, how would we do it? It’s impossible, Ted.”
“I’m not so sure. In any event, you’re right. Our sentimental commander wouldn’t allow it anyway. It’s irrelevant. We’ll have to settle for studying tissue samples.”
“That last sample—it’s from Ian, isn’t it?”
“What if it is? Going to run and tell Mike? He’s an ichthyologist with no concept of what I’m working on. This is way over his head. You eat a yogurt and the bacteria lives nicely in your gut helping you digest. This bacterium is ingested and it changes the host’s entire anatomical makeup, perhaps for the better. The tissue samples I am studying show combined DNA strands, Theresa. The bacterium wasn’t just living inside Ian; it was becoming something else with Ian. It isn’t recombinant DNA manufactured in a lab—it occurred naturally. It’s a major breakthrough.”
Theresa stared at the image on the screen and wondered what to think. Ian had been a colleague and a friend, but he was gone. Studying his tissue might lead to astonishing scientific breakthroughs. She owed it to him to make something good out of the tragedy. “Okay, Ted. I’ll help you however I can. We’ll keep this between us.”