Anatomy of an Invasion Ch. 06

"We have both benefited immeasurably from her discovery, but I still have no idea where she came from, or how she funded the development of the vaccine in the first place.

"I've always assumed that she comes from old money in Boston, but everything she does is directed at getting the cured women released, and on saving her sister.

"She's using that money to promote her pet projects, which you and Julie know about of course.

"She has also been instrumental in getting Johns Hopkins to fund the cancer clinic here. I was very lucky to be chosen to direct it. The new treatment is actually extremely effective. You cannot imagine how gratifying it is to for an oncologist to be able to helpallof her patients."

Cassie hesitated, but then made a decision.

After Eve's outburst, she wasn't hopeful, but she was still angry enough to be direct with Doctor Kelly.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained ...

"Doctor Kelly, Julie and I have been looking at the Taubett data from Baltimore, the scans of infected women. But Julie says that the data must have come from the machine in this hospital, and we've seen images showing clear evidence of live worm infections.

"We believe that you must have infected women here. What are black thread-worms doing in Australia? I have to say, it sounds highly dangerous, and it's probably a criminal offence, right? What's going on here?"

Doctor Kelly beamed at Cassie, not a reaction she had expected.

"You and Julie are pretty special, did you know that? You are both very perceptive. Eve does choose her colleagues well.

"Yes, Cassie, we do have worms here, of course we do.

"They cure cancer, Cassie. The worms cure cancer.

"The worms are very effective in looking after their hosts, and are able to manipulate DNA to remove mutations and damage. They cure cancer, they kill bacterial infections, they fix congenital problems, they heal damage. Dozens of women are alive today who would otherwise be dead because of the worms, these women are healthier than they've ever been before. The worms are lifesavers, Cassie, and my job is to save lives. This is the most important advance in medicine since the introduction of antibiotics!"

Cassie was impressed, but she still felt a sense of disquiet. The idea was so crazy that she couldn't resist being a little flippant.

"Doctor Kelly, the worms are an alien race that wants to enslave humanity. Don't you think that your new treatment might not be a little risky?"

Doctor Kelly smiled, but humoured her.

"Yes, Cassie, of course. It's true, the worms did come here in an attempt to invade and conquer our planet, and our species.

"You know, they came pretty close to achieving their goal.

"But we have analysed all of the risks, and have managed these risks, and they are negligible. We have impenetrable security at all entrances to the hospital, with every person entering and leaving the hospital being automatically examined by a backscatter X-ray machine.

"We've mastered the worms now.

"We've come to a kind of truce.

"Any intelligent being knows that it's better to live in servitude than to die in a ditch. The worms accept their role as humanity's helpers, and, if they behave, there will be many more clinics like this one, and a comfortable life for them. If they don't behave, they know that they will not be allowed to survive.

"We have made an arrangement with the Australian government to run this one small clinic to cure inoperable cancer cases. Your security services have made arrangements to keep us all safe, and we are in complete agreement with their methods."

Cassie thought that everything sounded somewhat dubious, but she nodded her head. After all, she didn't have anything personal against the worms. Indeed, she couldn't help reminding herself, she rather liked them and what they could do, but that was all in fantasy, right? She wouldn't really want Earth taken over by an alien species, would she?

"I can see that Eve has got under your skin." Doctor Kelly said. "She can be abrasive, but that's because she is so single-minded. This clinic wouldn't be here without her. Please, give her a chance.

"I know you've had a tough time dealing with the women in the FEMA camps. They're not in the best of circumstances, and they're desperately trying to appear normal, to get out of that place.

"Your work would be a lot easier if you could work face to face, with Australians, with people like the people you know. I can arrange interviews with women in the clinic so you can work on your methods.

"If you can find any trace of the worms left behind, Eve will want to know about it.

"Now, Cassie, so you know what you're getting into, would you like to come into the inner sanctum, to see the infected women? We could organise a regular time for you to interview any of the women here. We'll introduce you to the hosts as well. I'm sure you will find the work here far more pleasurable than you expected."

Cassie surprised herself by being ecstatic at this prospect. With the prospect of meeting the worms, her foul mood had lifted immediately. She had been given permission to meet representatives of an alien race, and the women who were held in thrall by them. She wanted to know how they felt about that, for sure, and what they were feeling.

"Of course, Doctor," Cassie said. "I've done all the preparation I need. I'm ready to start work straight away."

"That's great. Now, Cassie, I must impress upon you the need for absolute secrecy. Nobody must talk about our worms outside this building. You cannot even talk to Julie about this, although you are welcome to bring her here to see for herself what we are doing.

"Have I made myself clear?"

Cassie nodded.

That part was going to be hard.

"I'll just call Gabby to get you started on a tour."

Doctor Kelly made a quick phone call.

Gabby.

Cassie wasn't looking forward to seeing Gabby. Cassie had always been quite open about her sexuality, and everyone at Uni knew about it. Likewise, Gabby had made no secret of how uncomfortable Cassie's sexuality made her feel, and had told Cassie so, to her face.

But Gabby still kept making overtures of friendship toJulie, as if Cassie simply did not exist, and, all this time, Gabby had been firm friends with Joan Pellman.

Joan dealt in drugs, and was as much of a Lesbian as Cassie, more so if you were counting conquests. Joan had spent most of second year trying to get into Gabby's pants, but Gabby simply had not noticed. Joan was friends with Cassie, too, and kept her supplied with dope, but Joan had somehow managed to keep her friendships with Gabby and Cassie completely separate.

Although Gabby was well on the path to becoming a brilliant scientist, Cassie thought her clueless and insensitive, even malicious.

Gabby soon appeared, and her signature woollen coat was nowhere to be seen.

She was looking very well. Extremely well, in fact. Her limp had disappeared, her skin had cleared up, and she was standing straighter than ever before.

The star piercing in her nose finally suited her. Gabby no longer looked like a nerd wanting to look cool; in fact, she seemed extremely attractive.

"Hi, Cassie," Gabby said, cheerily. "Come with me, and I'll load you up with everything you need, then I'll show you around."

Gabby took Cassie by the hand, and gave it a squeeze.

Cassie was surprised at this small show of affection, but smiled, and squeezed back.

Why was Gabby being so friendly? Actually, why was she being super-friendly?

"Cassie, you're welcome to spend as much time as you like at the hospital," Gabby said. "You can spend nights here while you're doing interviews, if you like. There are spare beds in every ward here, the hospital is not yet at full capacity.

"We've all been introduced to the infected women. You will just need to make some preparations before your first visit. The infected women are lovely, of course, but you can't go in there without protection."

They had taken a lift to the first floor, where the administrative offices were, and walked to the end of a long corridor. Gabby opened the door, and motioned Cassie in.

"Pens, paper. You'll need these too."

***

Cassie now had a bag full of stationery, a desk on the first floor, and a computer. A laminated strip with her name on it had already been created to put on her desk. She had a view across the lake to the university, and there was a microwave link on the roof which connected her to the Uni network, so she'd be able to do her work here, just as if she were sitting at her desk at Uni.

The next stop on Cassie's tour was Gabby's lab, and Gabby led Cassie to it, still holding her by the hand.

It was brightly lit, and there were about ten meters of bench space, several sinks, glass-fronted cupboards full of brightly coloured chemicals, and two fume-hoods.

Two nurses were busy preparing something using some kind of mixing machine.

It was a very nice lab for one biologist,Cassie thought.

"Hey, Gabby, this is a beautiful lab. Do you have anyone else working with you, or is this all yours?"

Gabby looked pleased at Cassie's compliment.

"Johns Hopkins is really throwing the money around. It's a wonderful place to work. They keep me pretty busy around here.

"Doctor Kelly comes in to use the lab every now and again, but I think she just wants to chat.

"There's also Anjolie Lalitha. She's a doctor from India who's been developing an antibody test for worm infections. She's very pretty, Cassie, and I think she's just your type, all bookish and serious, and she always dresses in suits.

"Too bad for you though. She's got a husband back in India, so she's taken.

"I'll have to show you my results."

"Sounds great!" Cassie replied, quite curious to see what Gabby had been doing, but also doing her best to ignore Gabby's unwelcome insinuations.

"I'd like to show Julie, too! Is she coming in?" Gabby asked.

Cassie shook her head.

"I don't think Julie actually likes this kind of stuff, Gabby, it's too messy. She doesn't really want to get involved with people, or the worms, or cancer. Actually, I don't think she wants to get involved with anything to do with the real world. I'm sure she prefers looking at the world through her computer screen."

Gabby looked disappointed.

"That's a shame. Still, first things first ..."

Cassie grabbed a glass jar from some kind of dispenser, which held a huge stack of them. The jar was tiny, about as big as those single-serve jams you get in posh hotels.

Gabby was very proud of it, whatever it was.

She opened it to show to Julie.

It contained an inky grey paste.

"This is processed worm venom," Gabby said. "It acts as a worm repellent. If you rub it on your back, the worms simply leave you alone. We don't really know how it works, but it's something to do with the fact that a worm won't attack an already-infected female.

"I've deactivated the venom part, but I've left the scent component behind, and added it to a sorbolene base.

"You could use it as skin cream if you wanted, Cassie, but I think your skin is already very beautiful. It's cleared my spots right up. Doctor Kelly's going to start selling it as a moisturiser, and we hope to begin production soon in India. I doubt we'll need to advertise the stuff, it works so well that we'll sell everything we can produce.

"I imagine that it will make a lot of money for the joint venture."

Gabby faced Cassie, gave her a winning smile, and slowly trailed her fingertips up Cassie's neck, to her chin, and then, softly, held Cassie's cheek in her hand, stroking her face with her thumb.

For just a moment, she held Cassie's eyes, and she looked hungry.

Cassie tried to ignore her, but Gabby's hand did feel very nice.

Gabby was looking maddeningly attractive all of a sudden.

Cassie couldn't understand how she had changed so much in only a few weeks.

But no.

Gabby was not the one she wanted.

Gabby let her hand down, slightly disappointed at Cassie's lack of reaction.

"It's a little bit poisonous, Cassie. Be sure to wash your hands after you use it.

"Here, let me put some on you, then we can go look at the main attraction."

Cassie turned around, and lifted up her shirt to give Gabby access to her back.

Gabby rubbed her hands together to warm them up, pulled out a little ointment with her finger, and then began to apply it. Cassie felt a slight warming sensation, like liniment, and it felt moist, and smooth. Gabby gave Cassie a bit of a rub, longer and harder than Cassie thought was necessary, and pushed her fingers down to the top of Cassie's pants, just at the base of her spine, to rub it into the whole area.

When she was finished, she gave Cassie's bum a little smack.

"All done now."

Cassie was a little offended at Gabby's presumption.

When had Gabby become so confident?

Gabby washed her hands and motioned Cassie out of the lab, leading her over to Gabby's desk, which was in a corner. As with all the desks here, it had a bright, sunny, view over the lake.

She unlocked the drawer under her desk, revealing dozens more of the tiny little bottles.

She pulled two out, and then carefully re-locked the drawer.

The contents of these jars were black, not grey.

"Here's something to try at home," Gabby whispered conspiratorially, and handed them to Cassie, one for each hand.

"This one is for you, Cassie, and this one's for Julie."

Gabby continued to talk, quietly.

"If you have ever wondered what it feels like to be stung by a worm, the answer is in that jar. That's one hundred percent natural worm stinger. It's just like the grey stuff, but I haven't removed the venom."

"It's brilliant, Cassie. If you try that on Julie, she'll thank you, she'll love you forever. It's good stuff. It's strong, very strong, but harmless. The worms don't want to risk hurting their hosts, so their venom is actually harmless to humans."

She also picked up a handful of latex gloves from a box on her desk.

"Stick these in your pocket, too, Cassie."

She took hold of Cassie's hand, and turned it over so the palm was up.

"You'll want to be wearing gloves when you apply this ..."

Gabby softly walked two fingers over Cassie's hand, and Cassie felt Goosebumps.

Gabby whispered then,

" ... otherwise your fingers will be paralysed. It still feels good, though ..."

Cassie was curious, and pocketed the two little jars.

Julie would be impressed!

"Now, Cassie, before we visit the hosts, I have to give you a bit of a reality check. We won't need to talk about this again, but there is something that you must see.

"We have to move into the secure area first.

"Every floor has a secure area, which is only accessible by a key-card, in which worms might be present. You must always ensure that you are wearing protection before entering, or you will risk infection."

Gabby passed Cassie a key-card, and said "This card you can keep. It provides access to all areas, at any time. There is a separate bank of lifts and stairs which only serve the secure area, and we will use these to do the next part of the tour."

Gabby had Cassie try her own card to get through the security doors, and they both took the stairs up to the next floor, where there was a waiting area, a nurse's station, and a few doors.

"This floor is almost empty, and there's nobody here right now. The treatment is currently in progress, but this room will get busy in a week, when the treatment cycle comes to an end."

Opening one of the surgery doors, Cassie saw a bed, with some stirrups beside it on the floor.

Gabby looked at the room in distaste.

"This is where we kill the worms," Gabby said. "After the end of treatment, after a woman has been cured of her disease, as the last step, we have to kill the worm which cured her."

Gabby opened another door leading into a bare room containing refrigerators.

Gabby opened one, and pulled out a bucket.

It was full of dead worms.

Gabby pulled on some more gloves, and pulled one out.

Cassie was surprised at the size of it. It did look a similar to a garden slug, with its black and grey stripes, but was much, much larger. Cassie thought about having one inside herself, and her heart raced, in terror, but also, arousal.

It was a magnificent specimen.

Gabby took out a beaker, used a clamp to hold on to the end of the worm, and, using her thumb and forefinger, squeezed the worm from its tail towards its mouth.

A stream of fine black threads oozed out, along with a single, thicker one, and they all curled up in the beaker. The refrigerated mucus and threads looked viscous and lumpy.

It had a strong odour. It was musky, and strong.

It smelled like sex..

"These are the worm's stingers, Cassie, and the communication tendril. This is what we process to make the ointment."

Cassie's knees went weak then, and she had to hold the bench to keep herself from falling. She felt a hot flush, and began to sweat copiously, and to feel nauseous.

For a moment Cassie thought she was going to be sick.

Gabby smiled at her in understanding, and wrapped an arm around Cassie's shoulders.

"That's the ointment, Cassie. When it's first applied, your body's immune system reacts to the deactivated venom, and your sweat protects you from the worms. Johns Hopkins discovered the effect with women who were stung but never implanted.

"Don't worry, it will pass quickly. It only happens the first time the ointment is applied."

Gabby filled a beaker with water and passed it to Cassie.

"Drink this, it will make you feel better."

"Thanks, Gabby," Cassie said, smiling wanly.

She was still feeling nauseous, but the feeling was passing quickly.

Gabby left the beaker full of black tendrils on the bench, and threw the dead worm into a hatch in the wall, followed by her gloves. She had a sour expression on her face.

"Straight into the incinerator. A sad end for such a magnificent creature.

"The worms are intelligent, Cassie. Curing these women means killing a sentient creature.

"Sometimes I feel like a murderer. We all do. These worms are invaders, wanting to possess women's bodies, wanting to possess men, wanting to colonise the world. But they are intelligent beings, with complex motivations and alien emotions.

"The worms accept death, Cassie. They have to. If they were more like humans, they would fight. But, for the worms, physical death is not the end of their consciousness.

"They are a hive-mind, Cassie, and the death of one individual is not a tragedy to them.

"Before we cure a woman, we let her spend a night with the hosts. We let her worm communicate with its fellows before we remove it. This lets them learn from their hosts, and pass memories and ideas amongst the other worms.

"But most importantly, Cassie, we let her worm say goodbye.

"Despite the fact that their end is certain, the worms have adapted well to life in the clinic. We no longer feel like enemies, Cassie, although we never drop our guard, either.

"Many of the women begin to cry after their worm is removed, but we never have to use the stirrups any more. The worms accept it. They know what is ahead of them, but they are not bitter. They're even friendly to the nurses, even though they know that these nurses will have to kill them one day.

"Frankly, Cassie, despite the fact that these things are alien invaders, it's too sad to contemplate for long.

"Now, come along to meet the patients."

Cassie and Gabby took the lift up to the fifth floor.

The ward here was full, and Gabby said that it contained twenty-four women, half-way through their two-week course of treatment.

It was a beautiful room, open-plan, with brand-new furnishings, colourful art on the walls, and those huge picture windows showing a grand view of the lake.