Down South

[jammi]

[font=Agency FB]19/07/816, 23:54

The Endymion was once again flying alongside its parent ship, with all six ships of the convoy hanging in geostationary orbit over a small peninsular on a large continent. The small freighter had been set upon by the Carteret's technical crew as soon as it had re-moored. The pulse emitter was stripped out and stored, and construction materials replaced it. There had already been a reading taken on the proposed drop zone, making the bulky mapping equipment redundant on the second trip.

The peninsular had been chosen as an initial drop site because of the worrying discovery that the grass (christened Triodia basedowii by the Lovewell's resident botanist) that completely covered the plains, cultivated a potentially lethal bacterium labeled Staphylococcus effingo. The similarity it bore to the GRSA superbug was puzzling though. Already the grasslands had been nicknamed the 'Plague Plains', with the initial landing crew expressing great relief that theyd followed protocol and disembarked wearing hazard suits. The peninsula was located to the plains' immediate south, isolated from the dangerous grasses by a range of mountains that quite cut it off from the mainland.

***

Jake Howlette was busy in one of the Lovewell's minor laboratories, dissecting the carcass of the dead bovine. The head had been separated from the body and the skull cracked so the brain could be examined. From a biological standpoint there was no indication whatsoever of any sign of intelligence. What fascinated him however, was a paired set of glands found just under the tongue.

The creatures had been found browsing the Plague Grass, with seemingly no ill effect. The reason that was possible was now evident. He prodded one of the glands with a scalpel, watching as stinking mucus-like saliva was released. He'd already tested it, dropping a small quantity of the fluid into a Petri dish full of a culture of Staphylococcus effingo. He'd been able to watch the bacteria denature and perish. It seemed the bovine creatures had evolved a biological compound with amazing antibacterial properties. If the properties of the saliva could be pin-pointed to a single enzyme or substance, which could in turn be applied to other disease strains or indeed the GRSA bug itself, huge advances in medicine could be made.

He smiled to himself. It looked like just about everyone involved in this expedition could enjoy a hefty paycheck. The explorers, the biologists, the astronomers, the geologists, the pilots, the guards, the engine crews - everyone.

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