Scene 13
"She won't kill you, Taggart," said Zoe. She was watching Jo and the wolf Zane through the glass window.
"I don't think that makes me feel better," Taggart replied.
"Yeah, maybe it shouldn't. But it means you have to let go of feeling guilty about this and figure out how to save him instead." Zoe finally turned her eyes away from the glass in order to pinion Taggart with her gaze.
Alison, Fargo, and Henry were clustered around a computer terminal, arguing fervently as they tried to figure out how to modify the virus to save Zane and Kevin. Carter and Andy were standing nearby, looking almost as helpless as they felt. Dr. Glenn was sitting motionless in front of another terminal, looking completely lost in thought. And Taggart and Zoe were standing in front of the glass, watching Jo and Zane.
"I wish I had any ideas," Taggart groaned.
"Are you letting that," Zoe's tone made it clear that she was referring to the relationship, whatever it was, between Jo and Zane, "block you?"
"I love her," Taggart said honestly. "Which means I want her to be happy. And—much as I hate to admit it—he could make her happy."
"Why?" asked Zoe. "I mean I think so, too. You see them together and it's so obvious, like nobody could have missed it. But we all did. So, why is he going to make her happy?"
Taggart gazed at Jo, who was talking earnestly to the black wolf, as if it understood every word. "She's obeyed orders from the day she went to West Point. Maybe even before. He's probably never obeyed an order in his life. I think…well, I would have liked to have helped her to be freer, and I couldn't do it. I think maybe he can." He closed his eyes and a look of unutterable pain crossed his face. "Or he could have if he wasn't going to die tonight."
"Okay, so think, Taggart," The words were an order. "How can you save him?"
"This is really quite ingenious," murmured Dr. Glenn, turning away from her computer and towards Taggart, interrupting Zoe. "How did you handle the spread, though? I mean a virus doesn't usually attack all the cells of the body at once."
Taggart turned to Dr. Glenn with relief. He dropped into techno-babble that was so far above Zoe's pre-med level that she was lucky if she understood one word in three.
In the background, Alison's voice raised, "We have to take the chance."
"Alison, it won't work," Henry's voice was raised in turn. "We'll take any chance we have to, but there's no point in trying something that's doomed to failure."
"What about the cryogenics lab?" Fargo suggested. "I know there are risks, but it could buy us some time."
"No, that's a death sentence," Alison was adamant.
"Are you okay?" Carter's voice was quiet, his hand on Zoe's shoulder warm.
"Not so much, Dad." She looked through the glass, at Kevin, alone and still asleep in his enclosure and at Jo and Zane in the other. "I mean it's really weird to think that that's Kevin in there. I've been wondering if he might wind up being my stepbrother, and now I've got to think that maybe he's going to die instead."
Carter put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. "We're going to figure it out, Zoe. We are."
"But what if we don't?" Zoe looked up at her father's face. "What if?"
"We're going to figure it out, Zoe. We are. We always do."
"That won't work." It was Alison's turn to yell.
"What if we…" Henry shook his head. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but we might have as much as 20 hours left for Kevin. If we gave up on Zane, would we have time to re-engineer the virus for Kevin?"
"No," Zoe stepped forward. "You can't. That's…no."
Carter shook his head. "No, no, no. The only reason that Kevin is alive right now is because Zane saved his life this morning. We can't just ignore that."
Alison bit her lip and for the first time through this entire ordeal a tear overflowed her eye and ran down her face. She turned away from all of them.
"No," said Fargo firmly. "And I'll make that an order from the director of GD if I have to. We're saving both of them. Let's focus on how."
"But what medium did you use?" Dr. Glenn appeared to have ignored the entire conversation—she was entirely focused on Taggart, her pale cheeks flushed with pink, her eyes alight with the glow of discovery. He started showing her something on the computer, borrowing her keypad to call up some information on the screen.
"What about the polymer activation synthesis project?" asked Fargo. "Could we use that to create some kind of immune reaction?"
"Not fast enough," Henry shook his head. "It might work in three weeks or so, but…"
"What about some other kind of antiviral? Can we create a virus that would attack this virus?" Alison suggested.
"In the time we have? Only if there's some obvious weakness in this virus." Henry shook his head. "Taggart might know."
"Taggart? Taggart?" Alison demanded. Taggart and Dr. Glenn were talking animatedly. Dr. Glenn's hands were gesturing fluidly and her face was animated, even excited. The calm, soft-spoken, gentle vet was gone, leaving a passionate scientist in her place. "We need your help," Alison said, when she'd finally gotten Taggart's attention. "We don't have much time, so please pay attention."
"I'm sorry," Taggart was immediately apologetic.
"But I need him," said Dr. Glenn. "This is important."
"Nothing is more important than my son's life," Alison snapped.
"Right," Dr. Glenn narrowed her gaze. "Which is why I need to know how Dr. Taggart solved the distribution problem. So back off."
Alison looked as shocked as if a turtle had just slapped her.
"Show me," said Dr. Glenn to Taggart. He clicked through a few screens on her computer display, and explained the details.
"Okay," she nodded. "Okay." She closed her eyes and immediately became lost in thought.
"Wow," whispered Fargo. "Even the mildest-mannered scientists at GD can go crazy."
Alison shook her head and glared at the oblivious Dr. Glenn. "Maybe we can create a virus that will slow down the progress of the other virus," she suggested.
"That's just as bad as cryogenics," said Henry. "We don't want to kill them while trying to save them."
The trio continued to argue about approaches for the next several minutes, while Taggart looked miserable, Carter and Andy listened helplessly, and Zoe watched Dr. Glenn.
At last, Dr. Glenn opened her eyes. "Thank you so much," she said to Taggart, her voice effusive with delight.
"Um, for what?" he asked, but it was too late, she was already leaving the lab. Zoe frowned. She wasn't sure whether to follow Dr. Glenn or to wait. GD scientists could be touchy but…decision made, Zoe dashed out of the lab and chased after Dr. Glenn.
"Hey," Zoe said, catching up to Dr. Glenn in the elevator. "Did you figure it out?"
Dr. Glenn nodded, glowing with excitement. "I'm headed down to my lab to create my first gizmo solution. Dr. Taggart's distribution method will work for gizmo, too."
"Ah, gizmo?" Zoe asked, curiously. She hadn't heard the term before.
"Gamma interferon zoological molecular optimization," Dr. Glenn said obediently, and then she laughed. "Ignore the name. It's an immune system booster. If I understand Dr. Taggart's virus correctly, gizmo should have no problem killing off the virus before it has a chance to revert the DNA. And because it's actually killing the virus, all the symptoms should be resolved." She looked at Zoe to see if she understood, and then added kindly, "Being a wolf is a symptom. Once the virus is killed, both Zane and Kevin should be back to themselves."
"Just like that?" asked Zoe, impressed.
"I hope so," Dr. Glenn bounced a little. "Dr. Taggart's achievement is amazing, really. But this piece of it—well, it's the problem I've been working on for months. I can't tell you how exciting this is. I've been stuck on this part of my research for so long…and suddenly not only do I have a solution, I get to test it right away."
Zoe grinned. She was totally in favor of people who were excited about saving the lives of her friends. "Can I help you make it?"
"Oh, sure. It won't even be that hard." Dr. Glenn looked at her watch. "With any luck, we'll have saved their lives before the cafeteria closes for lunch." She looked suddenly shy, "Do you think Dr. Taggart might like to go out to dinner?"