OL58709W Page-progression lr Page_number_confidence 94.86 Pages 294 Ppi 643 Related-external-id urn:isbn:055326981X Long ago they learned how to make their hosts drip and wheeze and sneeze, so victims spread the misery in all directions.Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 19:34:56 Bookplateleaf 0002 Boxid IA116316 Boxid_2 CH106401 Camera Canon EOS 5D Mark II City Toronto Curatenote shipped Donor They’re profligate, and they mutate rapidly. Oh, old HIV had its tricks, but compared with you? An amateur! But compared with you, HIV is just a crude butcher, isn’t it? A maniac with a chainsaw, a blunderer that kills its hosts and relies for transmission on habits humans can, with some effort, get under control. I remember long ago when HIV, the AIDS virus, had everyone so impressed with its subtlety and effectiveness of design. What was it Leslie Adgeson called you? The perfect master? The paragon of viruses? And what need had you of any other? You thought you’d evolved the perfect technique, didn’t you? Unlike TARP, you can’t bear exposure to air or heat or cold or acid or alkali. So you just stay the hell away from me, ALAS. Not with the blood supply in the state it’s in.Īnd anyway, I’ve got antibodies. All these tricks ought to slow you down when the time comes, as it’s sure to, sometime soon.Įven if it makes the difference between living and dying, there’s just no way I’ll let anyone stick a transfusion needle into my arm.

Another one states that I’m a practicing, devout Christian Scientist.

That’s why there’s a forged card in my wallet saying my blood group is AB Negative, and a MedicAlert tag warning that I’m allergic to penicillin, aspirin, and phenylalanine. You think you’re going to get me, don’t you? Well, you’ve got another think coming, ‘cause I’m ready for you.

The practice effect by david brin