The Virus

[Studlover (imported)]

The Virus

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The Centre for Disease Control looked more like a tumor

on the landscape than the architectural and scientific marvel it

really was. The vast complex had spread unchecked over the years to

the point where it threatened to devour its neighbors.

Inside, white-robed scientific types squinted into

microscopes, sat hunched over rectangles of stained glass the size of

a Tahitian postage stamp and squirted colored liquids into test tubes.

They were searching for a mysterious virus which had

appeared just weeks before and was responsible for an outbreak of

tiny, running sores that had broken out on the lips of everybody who

had eaten at Norway Knute's Diner on the evening of June 5th. At

first, it was thought to be a form of food poisoning, but closer

examination revealed that an unidentified virus was responsible for

those sore lips.

For his part, Knute was extremely upset that his well-

respected establishment would be associated with this type of thing.

It was not the kind of advertising he had in mind.

After some preliminary investigation, it was determined

that the virus appeared to be a mutated form of the dreaded

Disgusticus Lipposaurus B virus which had been responsible for wiping

out an entire Japanese village in 1983. They were working around the

clock to try to check the spread of this highly contagious mutant.

Six weeks after the initial outbreak, one of the

researchers just happened to notice that the mutations of the HLB, or

'Diner' Virus as they called it, were slowing down and a definite

pattern was emerging. From there, it became a relatively easy task to

predict what form the virus would take next and therefore, to halt

its progress. In short, they found a cure. The HLB Virus would be no

more.

In recognition of her discovery, the young researcher was

presented with a number of awards and prizes, was written up in all

the better scientific journals and spent the better part of a year on

the talk show circuit describing her role in the extinction of the

Diner Sores.