Working with Alwyn was an extreme test of patience, Sarah Chambers thought. He knew a lot more than she did, and half the time he either forgot it or then just didn't want to elaborate. Add to that the fact that he was just as anxious and worried as she was, and did not even try to hide it, but kept snapping at her about things and pacing around nervously. Nevertheless they were working fast and making progress.

In just ten minutes or so, they had done a thorough scan of the "monster", as Alwyn had named it. Chambers used the name as well, because, after all, it wasn't actually a virus. It was small enough to be a very large virus, smaller than normal bacteria or other micro-organisms. But unlike a true virus, which was nothing on its own and had to use host cells to reproduce, this nano-thing was autonomous. And it was certainly artificial, because of what it looked like, how it was built, and how it acted.

The next test was an important one. The computer screen showed an extremely magnified view of an organelle, looking huge next to a single monster particle. They were separated by a microscopically thin membrane, which at this magnification looked like a thick wall. The monster was already on the prey, pushing against the wall, eager to attack.

"Well, go on, it's all set," Alwyn hurried her.

Chambers gave the command that dissolved the wall, and in the blink of an eye, there were only two unmoving things in the picture, slowly floating away from each other.

"The organelle's dead," Alwyn noted. "And the monster is inactive, but it would wake up if we gave it something else to attack."

"Yes, my readings say that too. Now, let's see what actually happened," she said, and made the computer play the attack back at a much slower rate.

It looked simple. The killer approached the organelle, then made contact, touched it. And that was all there was to it.

"I'm afraid that doesn't tell us much," Chambers said, slightly disappointed.

"Oh, no, no, you are quite wrong, once again. Haven't you been listening to what I've said? This confirms what I thought all along. The basic principle must be something like that of the Shadow device, but instead of sending one signal and commanding all the tech collectively to shut down, it contacts each singe tech cell and tells them to stop. One would think it's not the most effective way to do it, but maybe it is. It looks like it's more permanent than the general signal, since the tech stays shut even when there's no more contact with the monster, and there's no communication between them. Though, I certainly wouldn't even want to know what's the best way to shut down someone's tech."

Once again, he succeeded both in annoying and losing her. She had no idea what Shadow device he was talking about. He had certainly not mentioned it before. He did make the basic idea clear, though. Once the monster had entered its techno-mage victim, it went for all the tech it could find and turned it off, through some mechanism that she probably wouldn't understand, but which nevertheless required a moment's direct contact with the tech. Apparently it didn't touch anything else, only touching the normal, completely biological cells because it needed to move around.

"All right. Now we know for certain how it works, but I still don't know how to fight it. I had hoped this would give me an idea, an inspiration. No such luck," Alwyn said, taking Chambers by surprise. She had really expected he had something in mind. Instead, he looked desperate.

Gideon had been watching Chambers and Alwyn over their shoulders for a while already, and now, when Alwyn didn't seem to have anything helpful to say, he decided to make his entrance. "Look, I've been wondering, Doc, Alwyn... I might not understand as much about this stuff as you, but still, shouldn't a normal person's immune system destroy all kinds of foreign things that get in? Or at least try to fight them? If those nano-viruses, or whatever they are, go to sleep when they've got nothing left to kill, why don't Galen's normal human defenses just take them out?"

Alwyn looked up again, a thoughtful frown erasing some of the worry from his face. "Yes, that's a good question, with an easy enough answer: for the same reason that his 'normal human defenses' leave the tech alone, even though it's, at the moment, basically dead, foreign tissue. There are many things in his system that might be called foreign in some context, but they have been built to adapt to his system and become a natural part of him. The monster is very similar to the tech, and probably capable of the same thing. So, his immune system probably thinks the inert monster is just another piece of tech that's been shut down, but might still come around, so it's better left untouched, waiting for the moment when it can come around again."

Gideon raised his eyebrows at the mention of how similar the tech and the monster were. "So, who do you think built this thing, anyway? If it's so similar to the tech, could it have been a techno-mage?"

"I refuse to believe that," Alwyn replied angrily. "There may be other reasons it appears similar... Other similarities in origin. It's not important."

There was something about the tech's origin that Alwyn did not want to tell. Something important. Right now, Gideon wasn't going to try and get it out of him. They had even more important things to worry about. "So, how are we going to get it out of him?" he asked.

"What if... No, could it possibly be that simple?" Chambers thought aloud. "If we could find a way to mark the monster somehow, some way of pointing out to his system that it's not supposed to be there and it's not a part of the tech - could it work?"

"It's such a logical idea that it just might. Probably the best idea I've heard ever since we began. And thanks to you, captain Gideon," Alwyn said, looking much happier and more hopeful than just a minute ago. He actually managed to smile at Gideon.

"So, what should we use? What do you think, Alwyn? Could we just go through the database and pick a protein that would make it look like some minor disease? And how do we attach a marker to the killer, and spread it all around his system? Besides, it'll still be a big gamble, putting all that extra strain on his already messed up body and expecting it to overcome that thing on its own. Could we, perhaps, once we have marked it, follow that with something that would help take it out, an antibody that would home in on the marker?" Chambers was asking things at an almost dizzying speed.

"Right. I guess you've got something to work on again, so I'll just silently sneak away and try not to disturb you. I know you'll figure it out in no time. Just let me know when you're done," Gideon said, and headed out of the MedLab.

"Actually, the solution's almost ridiculous. Even simpler than we thought," Chambers explained to Gideon - she had, naturally, called him back as soon as they had made the breakthrough.

"Why do I have the feeling that I'm not going to understand a word of this?"

"You needn't have. You gave us the initial idea. But to tell the truth, what we had in mind then is not what we're going to do. You see, when we checked and tried things that we might use in one way or the other, we accidentally found out that the monster has a major weakness, and a very surprising one at that. We can use a simple antibiotic to get rid of it."

"Antibiotic? Isn't that, what, twentieth, twenty-first century medicine?"

Chambers nodded. "It's not widely used anymore, because in time, most bacteria developed a resistance, and after that, we've taken to using other means. Luckily, we carry all sorts of odd samples with us, in case some of them might somehow provide help against the Drakh virus. So, we came across this antibiotic that actually breaks apart the monster's outer shell. And the monster can't adapt to the antibiotic and resist it, which was a problem with most other things we tried."

"And this antibiotic will not harm his implants in any way?"

"Well, here comes the big 'but' in our simple solution. And it's not the only setback there is," Chambers replied, crossing her arms and looking uneasy. "As far as Alwyn, and our computer simulations, can tell, it doesn't harm the implants. However, if you listened to our earlier talk and learned about these organelles, the little healing bits of tech, well, their surface is quite similar to that of the monster. They are more versatile, and would be able to adapt and resist, but now that Galen's organelles are already shut down, they will be seriously harmed. Most will be destroyed. Now, Alwyn tells that the tech will create new organelles, but it takes some time. Alwyn can give some of his own to act as a replacement - but they won't be as effective as those that are a natural part of Galen's tech, unless Alwyn uses some techno-mage thing to guide them and tell them what to do, which he can't do all the time. So Galen won't heal as fast as he would if they were all there and unharmed, which certainly isn't good, considering his present condition."

"Doesn't sound good."

"And it doesn't get any better, either. First of all, the antibiotic isn't likely to work all that fast. It might be too slow altogether. It's also slightly toxic, so we'll need to be very careful. But I guess it's a risk we'll just have to take."

"If it's the only thing there is that can heal him, then, well, it's certainly a risk worth taking."

"It's hardly the only possible thing. There might be dozens of other solutions, if we just had the time to figure them out. But time's something we really don't have. We've got to do this as soon as we can."

"And when would that be?"

"As soon as we have synthesized enough of the antibiotic."

"Which would be right now," Alwyn declared victoriously, emerging from an adjacent room, carrying a vial. "It's ready. Let's do it."

Alwyn did not say it aloud, but Chambers knew that they were both thinking the same thing - hoping that it was not too late already.