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Pandora Virus

“Beautiful”, she said looking at the image in front of her.

“And deadly”, he replied. “An untreated morbidity rate of 100% within 36 hours. And even with treatment that only diminishes to 80%. Multiple pathogenic pathways. Airborne, contact, water and food contamination. And once infected the host becomes a carrier. This would make Lasa Fever or Ebola look like …” His voice trailed off.

The structure was simple in its design. Molecularly an octahedron, it contained a single strand of RNA. Once it penetrated a cellular wall the ravages would start. The RNA would reprogram the cell to make tens of thousands of copies of itself and then burst the cell to release new seeds of the virus. Twenty minutes from infection to cell destruction. Infect, replicate, destroy, repeat.

“Yes”, she said. “You’re right. It kills too quickly. It would be better for our purposes if the host lasted longer. More chance of passing on the infection.”

“Still,” she said looking at the electron micrograph, “a beautiful thing.”

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