Stardust - 3. You Are Going to Need Another Specialist

Center for Disease Control

Atlanta, GA

0150EST

The National Guard DART (Disaster Assessment Recovery Team) Blackhawk did a touch and go on the pad atop the hot lab. It was just long enough for Rials to jump off with his sample case.

He walked toward the receiving dock and stopped in the designated red square on the concrete. Two men in haz-mat suits with tanks on their backs came out and hosed him down with a chemical broth strong enough that it was guaranteed to kill any known and, hopefully, any unknown microbes.

The room was a short hall with a large and a small door. The small door was labeled samples so he opened it and put the case inside and closed it.

The second door was labeled Decontamination. He sighed and entered without much enthusiasm. As soon as the door closed, the men with the decontamination broth sprayed down the receiving area and then used a hose to wash it out.

Once inside Specialist Rials was hit by another round of steam and chemicals on his suit. The process took about thirty seconds and then inner door popped open to a locker room.

He took off his MOPPs gear, left it in a container marked "decon" in big red letters and walked into the locker room. There was a set of scrubs laid out for his use and he changed into them. He noticed that a guest badge was also waiting there.

Once he was dressed, he went to the door marked exit and pressed the buzzer.

It opened with a buzz and a snap as the seals were broken into an office.

A man in scrubs looked up from the desk and said, "Specialist Robert Rials- Dr. McDonald said to get some coffee in you and send you downstairs in the hot lab."

Rials raised an eyebrow and asked, "You mean McDonald wants me on his team?"

The man grinned and said, "You're a postdoc in microbiology at Alabama. Maybe you can get a dissertation out of it. Welcome to the hot lab Crimson Tide."

Glennwood Regional Medical Center

Monroe, LA 0315

Dr. Green stood over the scrub sink and rubbed his sore hands together under the warm water. There was glass everywhere from the explosion near the city and a great many people with serious cuts. He had never done so many stitches and there were many more to do.

Gwen Summers, one of the ER nurses approached him and said, "Dr. Green, we've got a weird one coming in."

"Weird one?"

"Yeah- our favorite paramedic Sam called me. They're bringing in a couple of teenagers who were pretty much at ground zero. They were Ok when they were picked up except they were deafened by the blast. Maybe a concussion. Very light sensitive. Their vitals are OK but they're unconscious."

Green said, "What's weird about it?"

"See for yourself they are in Exam six."

Green followed the nurse down the corridor to the exam rooms and walked into the darkened room. Two high school aged boys were on the exam tables and another nurse was taking their vitals. Both of them were either asleep or unconscious.

He approached the nearest boy and noticed that he was covered in a fine dust. It was all over him: on his clothes, in his hair and on his skin.

The Doctor reached out and touched his neck and found a nice, strong and regular carotid pulse.

He asked, "Do we know what this dust is?"

Nurse Summers said, "The EMTs though it might be some kind of pesticide. This time of year there is a lot of aerial spraying but they weren't near any farms or fields."

Green said, "Get a sample of this dust and send it to the lab. Let's get the patients out of those clothes and cleaned up. This might be some kind of toxic or allergic shock reaction but their vital signs are too strong for that."

He reached down and gently raised the boys eyelid and saw something astonishing. There was an inner eyelid and the sclera of the eye was an amber color. The pupil was a vertical black slit."

Green said, "I take it this is the weird part?"

Nurse Summers nodded.

"Who is the optomologist on call?"

"Dr. Singh. He's in the ER already."

"Call him over if you would."

Center for Disease Control

Atlanta, GA

0150EST

Doctor McGregor was waiting in the scrub room of the hot lab when Robert Rials arrived.

He stood with a smile and said, "Welcome Bobby. Glad you could drop in for this."

Rials took his hand and said, "I was a little surprised you asked for me but I'm glad you did. Comet dust with an organic component? I'd trade a kidney for a look at that."

"Well, we aren't in need of organs this week. Brad's still recovering from that car crash he had in the loop a few weeks ago so we just need a good microbiologist. KNow where we can find one?"

Rials grinned and said, "Sure coach. Where do you need me?"

McGregor said, "What we will be looking at is completely alien to our biosphere. I doubt what we'll be seeing has any terrestrial analogs. Everybody on the team is a specialist and I need a good generalist. What we're looking for is whether or not this could be a hazard to human health or agriculture. This stuff landed all over the South and I don't have to tell you how important agriculture is to this region."

McGregor was interrupted by the buzz of the intercom. "Dr. McGregor- the first batch of images of the material is on the network."

"Shall we have a look?"

Glennwood Regional Medical Center

Monroe, LA 0335