"Be glad to, Tom," Hallam agreed. "I believe this is a man made epidemic, as I said before. The timing is too orderly, too sudden, to be natural. I suspect, because of its unusual structure, especially the resemblance to previous experimental viruses, that this is a synthetic virus, made up either from relatively simple chemical compounds or perhaps from particles of natural viruses recombined in a different pattern. As you all know, it has been possible for years now to take a virus apart, so that it will not reproduce, and then put these parts together again, not from the same culture, but just as if you took parts of a motor from the stock bins and assembled an engine. When it is reassembled with parts similar to the ones it was originally made up of, it will reproduce again just like the natural virus. We have also been able to crystallize many viruses and then start them growing again by putting the crystals in the proper nutrient solutions. Recently it has been possible to combine amino acids and other chemicals into simple forms that act much like viruses but are not quite the same. But there is one obstacle that we have not yet overcome. Whether we have recombined different parts of various viruses or whether we have made up amino acid combinations, it has not been possible to have this synthetic virus transmit all its characteristics from generation to generation. It breaks up; it is not stable." * * * * * "But you all know this." He stopped to light a cigarette, gathering his thoughts as he watched the end glow. He exhaled little gusts of smoke as he spoke again. "As far as I can tell now, this virus is unchanged through each passage in the egg, which might put it out of the synthetic class. Mutations have been induced artificially by using chemicals such as the sulfonamides to interfere with the life cycle. This has turned some disease viruses into harmless types, but, unless the Americans in their Biological Warfare Center have done it, and they aren't talking of course, the reverse is not true. Certainly I know of nobody in the democratic world who has made such a virus." There was no mistaking his emphasis. Again Smith spoke up. "Are you implying that the Communists may have produced such a virus?" The answer came slowly. Hallam was frighteningly serious now. "Yes, I believe it is possible. In the last few years there has been a tremendous amount of research on viruses and nucleoproteins in Russia. Kaganovich and his associates have published some very advanced work on the synthesis of proteins and Magidoff is an outstanding virologist by any standards." "Ay, that's true." Ian Gordon, the little sandy haired biochemist burst out in his broad Scots brogue. "And I wouldna think they've been puttin' out all they know either, if I'm to judge from what they said at the last International Conference in Stockholm."