Now here's some information you're probably going to need to understand this chapter. First, is luck and concentration. I did my best to explain the mechanics of the nanite contagion, but it is absolutely filled with biological technobabble. If you get lost and confused, just e-mail me with your questions and I'll do my best to clear things up. If a whole lot of people get confused, I'll rewrite this chapter.
Since we're dealing with nanotechnology, I thought everyone should be aware of the scale we're working in. A micron (also called micrometer) is one millionth of a meter (1x10 -6). To give you an idea of how small this is, a human hair is 80-100 micrometers in diameter, and viruses are viruses are about 0.02-0.25 micrometers in size. Now the finished machines in nanotechnology may be measured in microns, but their component pieces can potentially be measurable in nanometers. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter (1x10 -9). I don't know of anything even close to that size, so I can't give you a reference.
And an oblate sphere is a sort of squished ball. It's what you get when you spin an oval on its longest axix.
Also, everything I say about the work of Dr. Robert Freitas, Jr. in this article is true. He is currently a researcher for Zyvex Corp of Texas, and published an article in a technical journal about detailing his designs for nano-cells in the late nineties. Very fascinating stuff.
Enough explaining though. On with the story!
If Sam was to have any chance of finding a way to fight Olokun's virus she would have to understand how it worked first. The scans the Goa'uld had of the nanites showed an incredibly complex machine whose original purpose was beyond her. Supposedly the Tollans used these nanites medicinally but none of the information the Goa'uld computer terminal provided described how.
Her own background in nanotechnology was scattered, and focused more on the design of advanced circuits and computer chips than medical devices. She had however read a journal article earlier that year on the medical nanotechnology work of Dr. Robert Freitas. Although modern technology did not have the ability to build any of his nano-cells, his designs were cutting edge and potentially revolutionary in the field of medicine. He had designed a mechanical red blood cell that was 236 times more effective than natural red blood cells when it came to delivering oxygen to tissue and removing waste gasses. The difference was that his "respirocyte" could withstand 1000 times of the earth's atmospheric pressure, allowing it to compress and transport quantities of gas that would blow a normal red cell apart. Dr. Freitas' mechanical platelets could allegedly stop bleeding in less than a second making them ten-thousand times more effective than natural platelets, and his artificial white blood cells would clear up in between 10 and 120 minutes a body-wide infection that would take antibiotics weeks.
All three of these human-designed cells were fueled by simple "glucose engines," taking advantage of the same energy providing nutrients as the body's own cells. Internal sensors would regulate activities and programming would be controlled by externally applied acoustic signals—a.k.a radio signals of specific frequency.
If Earth's researchers were already imagining such complex tiny machines, what would she be up against in trying to understand something similar created by the Tollan?
The rest of the team had just finished choking down the horrid oatmeal-like concoction the Goa'uld were trying to disguise as food when a group of Jaffa guards returned. Sam had been gone for almost three hours at that point so they each hoped she was being returned. The guards appeared empty handed though, so it could only be assumed they were returning for dishes. The group piled the bowls near the door and backed themselves to the wall in the most defensible positions they could manage.
A crouched and dirty human slave entered quickly and swiped up the bowls, returning through the door without ever acknowledging the prisoners or their Jaffa guards. The Jaffa paid him no more attention than he had them, and entered the room with their zats raised.
"Is there something we can do for you?" the Colonel asked with mock courtesy.
"The woman will come with us," the largest of the three Jaffa declared, to Janet's dismay.
"I'm afraid there isn't much I can help you with," she said from her place against the far wall. The fear she couldn't help but feel was well hidden from the Jaffa that towered over her. Jack and Daniel's fingers itched to do something, anything, to prevent another from being taken as Carter had. But the two Jaffa remaining just inside the doorway had them covered with zats, and didn't look at all hesitant to use them. And Jacob had remained mostly unconscious, preserving his energy to help Selmak fight the nanites damage. With half the group incapacitated and Sam's whereabouts still unknown, there was nothing Jack or Daniel could do until the Jaffa slipped up in their attentiveness.
With a zat trained on her by the imposing Jaffa above her Janet ran through their options as well. Before she could come to any conclusions the Jaffa grabbed her by the arm and pulled her forcefully to her feet. While she was anything but large, his ability to lift her so easily one-handed still surprised her in the split second before her thoughts were forced elsewhere by the pain in her leg. Regrettably, she mused, staff blast wounds were just as painful as they looked. Only the adrenaline flooding her system in preparation for what she might have to face in the coming moments kept her on her feet as she was dragged from the cell and through the halls.
Adrenaline only lasts so long, so Janet was depending heavily on the strength of the Jaffa who led her with his hand painfully clutching her arm by the time they reached their destination. When the door they paused outside opened and she was released and thrust inside, her landing left something to be desired. She took a moment to gather her wits about her as she lay sprawled on the floor before pulling herself up.
The arms that assisted her in sitting up—she had no intention of standing—startled a gasp out of her, followed by a relieved sigh and embrace.
"I'm sorry Janet," Sam exclaimed quietly as she embraced her friend, wary of the two guards still watching from the doorway. "But I need your help with this. It may be a contagion of technical origin, but I need to understand the implications of its biological effects before I can begin to understand how it works."
"Where have you been?" Janet asked impatiently, now recovered from the shock and relief of finding Sam looking relatively unharmed.
"In here, mostly," Sam answered, helping Janet up. She acted as a crutch for Janet, bringing them both to sit on crates near the computer terminal. "I have to find a cure for this thing Janet," she said quickly, "and I don't even understand what it does!" There wasn't any panic in her voice, as Major Samantha Carter never panicked, but there was definitely haste. The clock was ticking. "Olorun wants me to find a cure, and in return he'll free us."
"You can't possibly believe a Goa'uld will keep his word!" Jane admonished.
"Of course not, but what choice do I have?!" Janet nodded. The objections dully noted, Sam proceeded with business. "You must be familiar with Dr. Freitas' most recent work in mechanical blood cells, right?" Sam asked, receiving a nod.
"Of course. But whatever the Tollan, a people you say consider quantum physics archaic, have developed must be incredibly more advanced than that!"
"Very true," Sam admitted. The scans showed something she didn't even know how to begin understanding without some guidance. "Despite the complexity of the nanites themselves, the processes they perform can't be much different than the processes of natural cells, right?"
"I suppose so," the Doc conceded, beginning to see what Sam was getting at. "Most likely Olokun only modified programming, not mechanical design. So whatever these nanites are doing is something they're mechanically designed to do. They're just doing it too much or to the wrong cells, which makes them harmful. It's analogous to a tumor. In a tumor the cells themselves aren't harmful. It is the gross overabundance of them that causes damage."
"Exactly!" Sam exclaimed triumphantly. "If I can figure out 'what' they're doing, that may lead to 'why.' That would guide me in the 'how,' which is what I need to reverse or at least stop. But I don't remember enough anatomy and physiology from college to understand what these nanites are doing. And field medic training certainly didn't cover this."
"What are the symptoms displayed by the ill Jaffa?" Janet asked, turning to the computer terminal in front of them.
Sam scrolled through the information which was fortunately written in English. If it hadn't been, then she would have needed Daniel in there too. "The very old Jaffa succumb the most easily," Sam began, "and those with the youngest symbiotes."
"That makes sense," Janet explained. "The Jaffa themselves have no independent immune systems, and depend entirely on the healing abilities of the symbiotes within them. Therefore the youngest—and consequently weakest—symbiotes will have the hardest time fighting the nanites."
"But what about the older Jaffa? Why are they weaker than others even with strong symbiotes?"
Janet pondered this for a moment. "Teal'c and I have discussed his people's physiology before, but at the moment I wish I knew more. I do know that as a Jaffa gets older his connection to the symbiote weakens. Most likely this is because of the ageing of the symbiote pouch itself. That would weaken the symbiotes ability to heal the Jaffa, making both more susceptible to illness."
"All of this makes perfect sense," Sam agreed, "but the causes of death from numerous Jaffa afflicted by the nanites contagion are all diverse. Some seem to suffocate, showing evidence of bleeding in the lungs, while others die of common bacterial infections that simply take over. Some succumb to skin cancers or pneumonia. Finally others die from heart arrhythmias! Tell me you see a pattern here Janet." Sam's minimal biology background wasn't helping her see what all of these deaths had in common, if anything. And there had to be something in common, right? They were all killed by the same programmed nanites, so her logic followed that they should all die similar deaths. There was a reason she went into astrophysics and not biology. Biology had too many uncontrolled and misunderstood variables to ever make any reliable predictions. Physics was precise and predictable, with rules and clear signs of cause and effect: just perfect for a control freak.
Janet didn't answer immediately, or even in the next several minutes. She skimmed the medical reports on the screen in front of her, scrolling through in search of similarities. She had a theory, but needed more support before she would voice it. The parallels between cases were subtle, but present in an important way.
"There is most certainly a pattern," Janet remarked, more to herself than Sam. Noting Sam's expectant glance, Janet explained her train of thought. "The post-mortem scans of each victim showed a minimal presence of the nanites. Unlike a virus or bacterial infection, which uses thousands or millions of organisms to overwhelm the afflicted host, these nanites are efficient enough to kill with anywhere from a couple dozen nanites to almost a hundred."
"How can so few be so damaging?" The idea that so small a group of such miniscule machines could kill a Jaffa in a week or so was horrifying. The smallest capillaries in the human or Jaffa body are about four microns (micrometers) in diameter. These nanites were oblate spheres , about three microns in diameter in one direction and two in the other. At three millionths of a meter maximum length, even a hundred of these things would be a small force against the healing abilities of the Goa'uld. Wouldn't it?
"Don't underestimate them Sam," Janet cautioned, sharing a similar line of thought. "These things are probably incredibly good at what they do. Don't forget that a Dr. Freitas' 'microbivores' could theoretically clear up a terminal systemic infection of the bloodstream in two hours."
"If we are to assume that these are incredibly more advanced—which I think is a very safe assumption—then why do they take so long to kill, and do it so differently?"
"It's subtle, but these diverse causes of death all have something in common. Look for the sites of greatest internal bleeding."
"The worst bleeding was in the lungs, liver and spleen," Sam said with a question in her voice. Where was Janet going with this?
"I think I understand," Janet said hesitantly, staring at the scan of the nanites. "The purpose of these nanites, which appear to be built for easy passage through the bloodstream, are presumably similar to Dr. Freitas.' Their capabilities when it comes to containment and transportation of oxygen or waste gasses, and probably the dual ability to digest and excrete harmful pathogens are much more sophisticated than Freitas.' But I believe the intent of the nanites is controlled by the small range of duties the body's own blood cells perform."
"If I'm understanding you correctly," Sam started, "then Olokun modified the programming that governs one of those processes to harm the body."
"Exactly. A Jaffa's immune system may be suppressed and controlled by his symbiote, but the mechanics of the immune system still exist. It is just that the symbiote is boosting and directing the immune system's responses. The symbiote tells the white blood cells and other components of the immune system what to attack, and they do. But these nanites don't take directions from the symbiote, and the directions they have been given are destructive. They have been programmed to suddenly see the body's own immune system cells as the enemy, and to destroy them. That is why they go for the lungs, liver and spleen first. Each of those organs contain fixed reticulo-endothelial phagocytes." Sam, usually a pro at large terminology, balked at that term. "It's just a fancy term for bacteria and pathogen destroying cells that stay in one place as the blood is filtered through the organs. Unlike the white blood cells that circulate in the blood seeking out pathogens."
"I see," Sam said without victory. She understood now what she was up against and it wasn't pretty. Especially considering she was infected. "The nanites attack the body's own immune system, causing internal bleeding and a sudden AIDS-like immune system deficiency. The immune deficiency leaves the body open to opportunistic infections and cancers. Internal bleeding lowers the blood pressure drastically, creating heart arrhythmias which lead to heart failure. And the damage to the lungs itself can be enough to cause oxygen deprivation." It was a grim diagnosis.
"Precisely," Janet confirmed. "And most likely all Olokun did was change the nanites' definition of a what to destroy, leaving all other functions intact. They would kill much more quickly, if the nanites weren't still delivering oxygen and removing waste gasses from the cells. The nanites work to save and support some cells, while simultaneously destroying others. The symbiote fights the damage, but is overwhelmed."
"So now I have to figure out how to reprogram them," Sam said with determination. Now it was her turn to get to work. If Olokun's minions could do it, so could she, right?
A/N: You made it! Congratulations! It wasn't overwhelmingly long, but it was intense. And now that i've established our enemy (in the form of the contagion) I can get back to our characters. Don't forget that Sam is infected, Janet has a gaping wound, and Jacob is unconscious. There is much more to come! (Expecially of the Sam/Jack variety. Are you excited? I am!)
And please review! Feedback has an incredible impact on my motivation to write! More feedback= more story