Dreams in the Tower Part 2 Read Online Free PDF

victims are contagious only through direct exchange of bodily fluids, a lot like HIV. Those infected from the initial victims, however, carry a slower and much more contagious strain that can lay dormant for a week or two with no symptoms, all the while potentially spreading the virus through the air. This second stage of infection and rapid spread has come on much faster than I anticipated considering how relatively difficult it was for the virus to spread in the initial stage.” She paused to collect herself: the thought of this fact still worried her deeply.
    Through the silence, Izza said, “I think that’s good enough for now. Next question: what is the purpose of the virus? Is it specifically to get rid of protesters?”
    Thinking for a moment, Dellia began slowly, “I don’t know. I’ve thought about it a lot. Why would they use a method with so much collateral effect? I guess that’s why the mortality rate of Silvan’s virus is practically zero, which is really just an extraordinary achievement when you think about it. They wanted something that would make their enemies docile without killing too many people who posed no threat to them; hence the decade of research on how to engineer a virus.” They had to have a grander reason than that, she was sure, but just now there was not nearly enough time to be obsessing over Silvan’s reasons for wanting to take over the world.
    “And you have a cure?” He sounded so hopeful that she felt bad for what she was about to say.
    “No,” she told him. “But I do have something almost as good: a vaccine. It took me a whole year to get it right since I had to work secretly. It’s an inactivated vaccine based largely on the flu shot. It essentially gives your body a head start so you can fight it off before it makes it to your brain. Nothing fancy; this is not really my area. But it’ll be fast and easy to produce with my knowledge .” She stressed the last part: she needed to put a specific value on her life and safety.
    “And it works?”
    “Well…” Dellia looked sternly through the mask holes at his dark brown eyes. “I haven’t gotten sick yet.” She left off the “unless I have the second stage strain.” He was listening too closely not to fill that in himself.
    For a long time Izza stared at her, and she held his gaze until she became uncomfortable and looked down at her knees. Finally, he said, “Do you have the vaccine?”
    “With me? No, of course not.”
    At that, his beard stretched upward in a smile and Dellia was alarmed at the creepy effect this had combined with his hood and lacy purple mask. “Yeah,” he said. “I would expect as much. Let’s just hope wherever you chose to hide it was good enough—for all our sakes.”
    She nodded. “So I gave you information,” she said confidently, hoping to not sound as an xious as she felt. “Now how are you going to help me?”
    “We want the same thing you do.” He leaned back in his chair and perched his hands on his protruding belly. “But we’re not sure if you’re up to doing this job.”
    For a few moments, Dellia sat there, seething. After all she had gone through in the last week this guy had the gall to question her ability to see it out. Or was this some garbage about her being a helpless female? Surely not in this age.  Regardless, they weren’t going to part her from her work—because that’s what it was, and it was all she had left to show for her life as a scientist.
    “I need to get the vaccine to the CDC,” she said evenly. “But I have to make sure it gets to the right people. You can help me with this or I can go on by myself, but I a ssure you I will not put this in someone else’s hands.”
    Staring absently at the tablet, Izza sighed and said, “About five minutes after I leave here, a white van will back in. Get inside through the back. You’ll have everything you need in there for a long trip. Tell the driver through the peephole exactly where to go to