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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] and other expected guests, were scores of military men. They were all in their best dress uniforms, of all ages, of ranks spanning the range from general to private, admiral to midshipman. Rick even saw more than a dozen Belt uniforms, but somehow there was no such thing as System Patrol and BDF here. I should have known , Rick thought. I see you did have family, Pops. "Let me tell you about my friend," Rick began, and then he saw Sammi stand up and walk out. file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Nieuwe%20map/KOOISTR...FFREY%20-%20DYKSTRA'S%20WAR/0 671319582__16.htm (11 of 15)29-12-2006 18:58:37 Page 173 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html - Chapter 16 * * * How long has it been since I last gave a seminar? Sammi thought to herself as she stood at the front of the theater giving her opening remarks. The Phinon in the cage behind her was simply standing, seemingly looking right out at the crowd even though it couldn't see anything but "wall" in that direction. Dykstra was there, as was Knoedler and Hague. Rick was not, but then, he hadn't been invited. This demonstration did not fall within his need-to-know according to the rules. Of course, it didn't fall within Hague's either, but now everyone knew that he could understand Phinon "talk," so he had been included. The crowd was rounded out by Andy Fine, some additional workers in the biology section, and the usual interested brass. "My original genano symbiotic organism had been designed to separate iron oxide molecules into their constituent elements. Since the Phinons have steel skeletons, it was Dr. Dykstra who thought my expertise might be applicable to the Phinon problem. It was fairly easy to redesign the genanites to promote rust instead of undoing it. After all, that's pretty much what iron and steel want to do when in the presence of oxygen." Oh how that paragraph glossed over what really happened, Sammi knew. But she had been asked to be brief, and she'd wanted exactly that herself. "Working with dead Phinon tissue, I was able to tailor a genano organism that could do away with the bacteriological component and live within the Phinon itself. However, living wasn't enough it also had to be able to manufacture its tools and meet our established mission criteria. This was accomplished even before the arrival of the living specimens. However, recent work with live tissue allowed me to fully quadruple the effectiveness of my previous best attempt." In truth, the phenomenal Phinon regenerative capabilities would have rendered her original bug nearly useless. Andy noticed it before she did. Fortunately, she was well on her way to making modifications to take advantage of the regenerative systems before they discovered that fact, and thus saved herself from a bout of depression and feeling like a failure. If Bob and Rick hadn't come back with live Phinons, we'd be dead for sure. "This genanite is tailored to settle initially in the Phinon `lungs' and begin rapid reproduction. It will then enter the circulatory system or be exhaled into the environment. With the amount of genanites we expect to inject into the Phinon ships, the infections will be massive, adequate even without reproduction to kill the Phinons on board." Sammi continued for a few minutes more. She went into the details of how her one organism would "split" into two types, so that on average only half of the Phinons infected would show prompt symptoms while the others would hopefully last long enough to infect others back at their home comets. But apart from Dykstra, Andy (now), and a few of the biology Ph.D.s, she knew she was speaking over their heads. "And now, there is nothing left to do but begin the demonstration," Sammi concluded. She was looking file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Nieuwe%20map/KOOISTR...FFREY%20-%20DYKSTRA'S%20WAR/0 671319582__16.htm (12 of 15)29-12-2006 18:58:37 - Chapter 16 right at Dykstra when she said it. He looked proud of her and gave her a discreet thumbs-up with the hand he had resting on his cane. Hague was looking intently at the Phinon. Once Knoedler had found out what Arie had been doing, he'd had the savant listening to every piece of possible Phinon ship-to-ship Page 174 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html chatter that the Patrol had been able to gather. Knoedler himself looked positively grim. The crowd heard a brief hiss as the genano agent was introduced into the cage. "Effects should be noticeable within minutes," Sammi said, taking her seat. More like seconds. Immediately the Phinon let loose with a series of sharp chuffing and whuffing sounds, their equivalent of coughing and sneezing, from the breathing hole in its chest. Chuff. Chuff. Chuff-chuff-chuff. Whuff, whuff. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |