Chapter 26

Sitting at the far corner of a huge rectangular table with two bulky books opened Sir Henry was rummaging through the pages and seeking something meaningful under a desk lamp that illuminated the spot where he was engrossed in his passionate searches.

He fixed the glasses on his eyes intermittently to avoid any possible slippage of words from his sight.

It was his routine to sit in the library till dusk if he had no other lectures to give.

He either preferred library to satisfy his voracious desire for new addition to his existing baggage of knowledge or he sneaked into lab for understanding the practical implications of the latest information.

Either way he never failed in his quests. But this time it was different.

It wasn't just the clouds of fear hovering above their heads rather the darkness of dreadful reality gradually permeating into their peaceful lives.

He was a pioneer of many remedies for neuro-degenerative disorders all because of his time, passion and efforts.

But Alto virus was different.

He had never been scared of death. But the kind of death that awaited them was beyond imagination.

"What am I supposed to do," he whispered to himself. "This one is going out of my hands." He was not someone who would give up easily. And giving up was not an option for him.

The world was changing rapidly. People were terrified and all they could do was to find safe haven for themselves and their families. Although they knew that they were eventually going to be affected. Sir Henry knew that if he failed to do something nothing would be left. So giving up was unnecessary.

The contant stress and tons of explanations for the ongoing situation had been giving him severe headaches. He was not sure how to continue with his experiments. Just as he reluctantly closed the book and put his glasses aside his eyes met the group of students standing at his table. He glanced at each one of them. " What are you doing here?" He asked visibly surprised by their sudden show up. " Sir, we have got something to tell you... rather show you." David said with a pause as he moved the paper towards him. He placed the paper on the table in front of him. Henry put his glasses back on his eyes and puckered his eyebrows to see what was written in the paper. "It shows the blood and urine results?" He asked David seemingly unimpressed. "Sir! It is not the results of a patient with hepatitis A and E virus." He bit his lips while continuing with the fact that unfolded itself in the past few hours. "What do you mean?"he asked incredulously. "Sir, this sample is taken from a rat that we were keeping under observation. But.." he paused for a second and then continued with anxious voice. " what is it about rat?" He pressed. "It died." Amelia announced immediately breaking the news to him. "It died?" Henry asked with a knitted eyebrows. "With A and E?" He asked seeking confirmation for his doubts. "Sir!" said Peter. "We are afraid to tell you that it's not the A and E viruses alone."

"The rat showed the same symptoms as the patients with Alto virus."

"How do you say that?"

"We know what it looks like?" Olivia blurted shrugging her shoulders.

"You mean that the test shows the presence of A and E, a perfectly treatable viruses and nothing else. But the symptoms are aggressive? Due to Alto?" He asked putting his glasses on the paper. "Yesss maybe." They looked at each other uncertain.

"You mean Alto is camouflaging itself with A and E?" Henry asked looking at the paper

"Or maybe the protein in Alto virus is mimicking the proteins of A and E virus in presentation but in action its different," David said. "Or maybe Alto is a combination of A, E and something else," Amelia said rubbing her forehead anxiously. "Hmm.." Henry went into deep thoughts listening to them. "You mean a type of prions?" He asked suddenly as if willing to be approved by their agreement. "Sir, we are waiting for your guidance," Olivia said politely.

"Look I was sure that something like prions were causing the zombie like symptoms," Henry said, " but having seen the presence of A and E viruses are making it dubious."

"It seems like these viruses are distractions from the true nature of Alto virus." His words were full of apprehensions. "So how do we confirm what it actually is?" David asked hesitantly knowing that it was a question they had been running after.

"I have been studying prions for a long time and the kind of neuro degenarative diseases they can cause are very dangerous and almost untreatable."

Henry divulged with concern.

" but we need to check the brains of patients with Alto virus to confirm our doubts." He said with belief.

"The blood tests could have been sufficient for detection but coupled with A and E are making them worthless."

He declared as he got up from his chair.

"It's time to check their brain tissue without any delay"

"I am still not sure about the presence of prion but looking at the situation it seems like a plausible explanation."

He said while walking with them out of the library.

"However..."

he stopped for a second and tried to reminisce something,

"the question is, why is this disease spreading so rapidly."

"I mean that is not how prions spread."

He steadied his glasses and walked hastily. "There are a lot of questions that need to be answered and we don't have enough time."

"I think.. And I am sure that the prion or whatever is the thing is hiding beneath A and E viruses. It's attached to them and is using them as a camouflage." Amelia said reassuringly.

"And so it is detected as that but it's affects are wild and aggressive."

"It is a very intelligent virus which is silently killing people without really showing itself." David nodded his head in agreement.

"Yes, but we need to confirm our doubts by ruling out other possibilities." Peter said as they followed Henry.