“Look,” Kindan said, gesturing. “I made up a slide. There are thousands of them!”
Lorana and Salina both took long looks through the microscope.
“I made out about ten different bacteria before I gave up,” Kindan said. He gestured to a pad beside the microscope. “I did my best to draw them.”
Lorana looked at them and nodded. “Yes, very good, Kindan,” she said. She flipped to a clean page and grabbed the pencil, leaning back over the microscope. In moments she had drawn three more shapes. Then she, too, stopped and relinquished the microscope.
“Those little things are killing our dragons?” B’nik asked, both amazed and angered at the size of the dragons’ attackers.
“There are many such small things,” Lorana said. “Most of them are beneficial-they help to protect the dragons. We have similar bacteria ourselves.”
“But these bacteria have turned nasty,” Kindan added. “Or they always were, and the dragons’ natural defenses have been overcome.”
“They caught this from the fire-lizards,” B’nik said, looking at the others for confirmation.
“We’re pretty certain of it,” Kindan agreed.
“Although it could be something that the dragons gave to the fire-lizards,” Lorana added. “They’re so closely related it could go either way.”
“It’s a pity the dragons are so much like the fire-lizards,” B’nik remarked, his lips tight. “They seem so big, I would have thought that difference alone would have protected them.”
“If anything, their size works against them,” Lorana said, shaking her head. “Their lungs are so much bigger than the fire-lizards’ that there’s that much greater a chance of an infection taking hold.”
“And this,” B’nik gestured around the room. “With this you’ll be able to find a cure?”
“We’ll try,” Kindan promised.
Lorana caught the nub of B’nik’s question. She met the Weyrleader’s gaze squarely. “Weyrleader, I’ll do all in my power to make sure that not another dragon of Pern dies from this illness.”
B’nik returned her gaze. He nodded gratefully, then smiled ruefully. “Just make sure you get enough sleep,” he ordered, wagging a finger at her.
“I can sleep when we’ve got a cure,” Lorana protested.
“I think we could all do with a night’s sleep, given the day’s events,” Salina said. She quelled Lorana’s rebellion with an admonishing look. “We’ll start again first thing in the morning.”
The next morning Salina was not surprised to find Lorana already in the Learning Rooms, engrossed in her studies. Salina placed the tray she’d brought with her on the countertop far from the microscope and Lorana’s work, carefully poured a mug of klah, and deftly interposed it in Lorana’s hand when the younger woman absently searched for a pencil.
Lorana gave a squeak of surprise and looked up from the microscope to smile sheepishly at Salina.
“Where’s Kindan?” Salina asked, taking the sketchbook from Lorana and looking it over.
“He was asleep when I left him,” Lorana replied.
Salina noticed that there was another, smaller piece of equipment on the table, beside the miscroscope.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“This is a sequencer,” Lorana said. “I’ve managed to confirm the presence of several likely bacteria.” She made a face. “I think, in the old days, they would have used something else instead of the sequencer to identify bacteria.”
“Perhaps that’s all they had left,” Salina suggested, eyeing the small device carefully. It looked sturdy enough, just small-a bit smaller than her jewelry case.
“That’s what I thought, too,” Lorana agreed. Her frown deepened. Salina gave her a questioning look. In answer, Lorana said, “It’s just that if this is all they had left, will it be sufficient?”
The little unit chimed softly and Salina noticed that a yellow light had gone out, to be replaced by a green light.
Lorana peered down at the top of the unit and grinned. “The sequencer has located a common gene among the bacteria it’s sampled.”
“What’s that mean?” Salina asked.
“In this case, I programmed the sequencer to look for a common gene sequence that we could use to prevent the bacterial infection,” Lorana replied. She held up a textbook, gestured to the middle cabinet, which was now open and stocked full of books, and then said, “This book here showed me how to do it.”
“So we have a cure?” B’nik asked. Lorana turned to see the Weyrleader standing in the doorway.
Lorana hesitated before replying. “I can’t say for certain,” she told him. “It looks promising, but I haven’t tried to work out how to build the defense into the dragons.”
B’nik gave her a puzzled look. Before Lorana could draw breath to explain, M’tal, Kindan, and Ketan arrived.
“Did we miss something?” M’tal asked.
“Lorana’s found a cure,” B’nik said, barely restraining his excitement.
“Perhaps we should all get comfortable and let Lorana tell this once,” Kindan suggested as he brushed by Ketan to find a seat and turn it toward Lorana and the workbench.
So Lorana began her explanation again. She told them what she’d seen in the microscope, how she’d learned to get the sequencer to search for matching gene sequences that could be used to block the bacteria, and how she’d found one.
“How does what you’re doing connect with that?” Ketan asked, gesturing to the diagrams on the walls. Lorana followed his gaze and her face fell.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. She walked around the bench and over to the wall to peer at the diagrams. “These are diagrams of the dragons’ genes for lungs, breathing, and lung protection,” she said after peering at them for a while.
“Was it meant as a clue?” B’nik asked, rising from his chair to study the diagrams himself.
“Could be,” Ketan agreed, standing beside B’nik and peering at the gene maps in turn. He looked to the right. “But what’s this?” he asked, pointing to the second map. “It almost looks the same.”
Lorana peered at it for a moment. “It’s the map for the same areas on the fire-lizards.”
“Perhaps we were to construct a cure for them, too,” Kindan murmured.
“They’re almost identical,” B’nik remarked. He peered closely at the two maps. “No! Here’s something different.”
Lorana looked back and forth between the two maps. “I think that codes for size,” she said after a long silence.
“So there’s really not all that much difference between the two,” M’tal said. “I can’t understand why they’d bother to draw both maps.”
“Perhaps we do have to find a cure for the fire-lizards,” Ketan mused. “After all, it seems like what affects them, affects the dragons, too.”
“So if the fire-lizards ever get sick again, the dragons will get sick, too?” B’nik asked. “But why hasn’t this happened before?”
“Because it takes time for bacteria to mutate,” Lorana replied distractedly. She was looking vaguely at the diagrams without really seeing them. “After a while, the parasites that kill will have to mutate into symbiotes.”
“Symbiotes?” B’nik repeated blankly.
“Germs that live in harmony with their host,” M’tal explained. “Like the bacteria that flourish in our gut.”
“Or on our skin,” Ketan added. “We have bacteria that help protect us from infection.”
“But it seems like people are always getting sick,” B’nik said. “Well, not so much the dragonriders, as holders and such.”
“It comes in cycles,” Lorana said in agreement. She thought of all she’d learned about mutations and genetic codes. She sighed and looked at Salina.