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Danielle needed a break from the commando atmosphere of the third floor. The day had passed uneventfully. World War Three had not erupted in the hallways of the Archer building. She’d exhausted herself searching the ICARUS files for any scrap of information about the elusive Witch Doctor. He had scrubbed the system clean.
She opened her office door slowly, “I’m coming out, boys. Don’t shoot!”
She entered the hallway as two Jericho commandos aimed their assault rifles at her. They slowly lowered their guns as she walked by on her way to the elevators.
“I’ll be back,” she said, in her best Terminator voice.
She entered the elevator and punched the button for B3, the lowest floor where Spider toiled in the Archer lab.
“So, here we are alone again,”
Danielle gave Spider a playful jab in the ribs, walking up behind him as he leaned over his workstation.
“Look, my torment has come for a visit. How nice.” Spider winced.
“Okay, stop it. Think of it as a hallucination. Maybe it never happened.”
“Don’t say that. It happened.”
“I’m sorry, Spider. Let’s concentrate on the work, okay?”
They sat in silence for a minute, as the computer churned away, processing more data from the electron microscope into pictures.
“Oh, you’ve got such lovely pictures,” said Danielle.
“Yeah, now I’m trying to make sense of them.”
Spider explained the three-dimensional models rendered based on the three samples: the leprosy bacterium from the coffee cup, the skin cell from Novak’s body, and the chemical extract he made from the flesh of the Belize mushrooms.
“I’m looking for the glue that links them all together,” he said to Danielle.
“Do you see anything, Spider?”
“Not really. Look, here’s the leprosy bacterium from the coffee. It is standard issue, nothing out of the ordinary, except for this little add-on here.” Spider circled the spot on the screen with his pen. “If I match that against the standard leprosy bacterium on file...”
Spider punched a few keys. The screen changed to show two nearly identical models. “Look, there’s the difference. Right there.” Spider pointed at one edge of the bacterium, an extra chain tacked onto one end.
“I’ve isolated it.” Spider used the mouse to highlight the area, asking for a comparison with the library version of the bacterium. The computer worked for a few seconds and came back with the difference between the two.
“Eureka! You’ve found it!” said Danielle, pleased.
“Maybe. This is the simple part. I do not understand how it works. Somehow this little toxin attaches itself to another host, in this case the leprosy,” said Spider.
“Like a leech?”
“It doesn’t really attach itself; it bonds with the host to create a unique version of the host. A new organism,” said Spider.
“That’s what I meant to say. It creates a new strain, subtly different but the same,” laughed Danielle, wrinkling her nose at him.
“So if it attaches itself to the bacteria, maybe you can detach it. Right at the beginning,” said Spider. “God, you are so beautiful,” he blurted out, staring at her.
“Stop that. Concentrate on your work!”
“Then leave me alone.”
“I like it here better than steroid central up on the third floor. Those guys are itching to shoot someone. Can’t I hang out here for a while longer? I’ll promise to look as ugly as I can,” she said, pleading.
“Impossible,” laughed Spider. “Just like this job I’m trying to do.”
“Come on. You can do it.”
“Maybe. We know the heavy dose of tranquilizer Kip gave us slowed down our exposure to the toxin. I was just thinking if I can slow it down enough to introduce a separation agent to alter the bacterium back to normal, maybe...”
Spider’s voice drifted off as he contemplated the process he would need to fight the deadly toxin once exposed to it.
Danielle reached over and gave Spider a quick hug and a peck on his cheek.
“Get to work, bright boy,” she said, in a whisper.
Spider felt queasy at her touch. He didn’t dare look at her, but just having her so close was overwhelming. He stared at the screen, made notes on his pad, trying to solve the puzzle before him. Deep down, he felt a solution was close, but all he could think of was how much he loved the woman sitting next to him. He wanted to toss everything away and hold her forever.
From the corner of his eye, he could see Danielle’s right leg, crossed over her left, swinging into his view as she sat next to him. It was hypnotic, her leg aimlessly moving back and forth, as she waited for his brilliant idea to take shape and save them all. He should tell her to leave. He arched an eyebrow to fake his efforts to solving the medical puzzle on his screen, but all he could think of was the rhythm of her body next to him, beating just for him.