Free The Virus by Steven Spellman

spores, bacteria, etc., that live on your skin…as well as
in your body.”
    “Potentially dangerous?”
asked Geoffrey with a noticeable tone of alarm.
    The doctor quickly
answered, “No, nothing that we did: Nature, Son. You see, you
already have literally hundreds of millions—maybe more—living
microorganisms that call your body home. Your mouth, your skin,
your eyebrows, even that full head of hair you young people are
usually unworthily blessed with, is all saturated with hordes of
bacteria, and yeast. Now, most of these microorganisms are good for
you, but some aren’t. As far as we can tell, the vast majority of
them are fatal to alien life forms that haven’t had millions of
years’ experience in the hostile environment of our planet to build
up an immunity.”
    “Are you
saying that you have…real life aliens … here ?” Geoffrey asked, astounded. He
hadn’t used the phrase ‘real life’ for anything since he was a kid,
but now he felt sort of like a kid: A confused, helpless
kid.
    The doctor looked at the
lieutenant general before he went on. Lieutenant Dan just answered
his look with a gruff grunt. “Hey, Doc, you’re the one thinks he
has a right to know.” Was all he said.
    The doctor turned back
toward Geoffrey, “Yes, Son, we do, but not alien s . We have only a single foreign
entity housed at this particular facility at the moment, and we’re
not sure yet that it’s from the life forms that sent the fragment.”
With that, Geoffrey’s assumptions were confirmed. He knew, he just
knew, that that meteorite fragment was much more than it appeared.
Up until this point, there was no way for him to know for certain
that all of this wasn’t because of his alleged assault of Mr.
Reynolds. If that were so, he’d be in big trouble, but with this
new information, there arose a new, more vibrant fear. Was Earth
under attack by alien life forms that could hurl incapacitating
glowing rocks into our atmosphere whenever they wanted? If they
were—which seemed to be where things stood at the moment—then he
was, in fact, still in huge trouble…and so was the rest of the
world.
    The doctor’s voice, as he
continued his harrowing narrative, was the only thing that helped
usher Geoffrey back to reality. “We’ve had others at less
technologically advanced facilities, but it would seem that their
housings, their bodies if you will, cannot bear to be in close,
unguarded proximity with the microorganisms that I spoke of
earlier, that are associated with virtually all human beings. A few
days in any human’s presence, no matter what we did to prevent it,
and they all eventually ceased to function.”
    “They died?” asked
Geoffrey.
    “Yes, and turned to dust
like nothing we’ve ever seen…radioactive dust. Those lights in the
entranceway corridor that you and Lieutenant Dan traveled through
to get here, effectively killed or vaporized at least 85% of the
harmful microorganisms residing on or beneath your skin, and
especially a flora of microorganisms residing within your
respiratory system.” The doctor’s tone took on an introspective
air, as he continued, “My team and I were already making great
strides in the practice of bloodless, laser-aided surgeries, but it
wasn’t until we were fortunate enough to have some of this alien
technology fall into our hands that we discovered how to unlock
more of light’s, how shall I say, greater potentials. We still have
some ways to go, but with time, I’m sure we can do even more
unimaginable things with what we’re discovering.”
    “So, those lights can kill
germs and things… inside my body, from the outside ?”
    “Precisely.” The doctor
nearly shouted, jabbing a finger into the air.
    “And you developed
them?”
    “Yes.” The doctor answered,
then as something of a side note, “Well, I had some help, but yes,
I developed them.”
    It would seem that the
purpose of most of this oration was to draw attention to the fact
that it was the