Vixen 03 (Dirk Pitt 5)

"I see by your expression you are shocked," said Bass.

" 'Doomsday organism,' " Pitt repeated quietly. "It has a terrifying ring of finality about it."

"An apt description, I assure you," said Bass. "Technically speaking, it possessed an impressive-sounding biochemical name that was thirty letters long and quite unpronounceable. The military designation, though, was short and sweet. We simply called it 'QD,'

short for 'quick death.' "

"You refer to this 'QD' in the past tense."

The admiral made a helpless gesture. "Force of habit. Until your discovery of Vixen 03, I thought none still existed."

"What exactly was it?"

"QD was the ultimate in sophisticated military weaponry. Thirty-five years ago a microbiologist by the name of Dr. John Vetterly chemically created an artificial form of life that in turn was capable of producing a disease strain that was and still is quite unknown. As simply as I can put it, a nondetectable, unidentifiable bacteriological agent able to inca-pacitate a living human or animal within seconds of exposure and disrupt the vital body functions, causing death three to five minutes later."

"Won't nerve gas accomplish the same thing?"

"Under ideal conditions, yes. But meteorological disturbances such as wind or storm or extreme temperatures can dilute the lethal dosage of a nerve or toxic agent when it's released over a wide area. An outbreak of QD, on the other hand, can ignore the weather and produce a localized plague that is extremely tenacious."

"But this is the twentieth century. Surely epidemics can be controlled?"

"If the microorganisms can be detected and identified, then it's possible. Decontamination procedures, inoculations with serums and antibi-otics , will in most cases slow down or halt a raging epidemic. But nothing on this earth could stop QD once it grabbed a toehold on a city."

"Then how did QD come to be loaded in an aircraft in the middle of the United States?" Pitt demanded.

"Elementary. The Rocky Mountain Arsenal outside of Denver was the nation's primary manufacturer of chemical and biological weapons for over twenty years."

Pitt remained silent and let the old man go on.

Bass looked out at the panorama below, but his eyes were unfocused. "March of fifty-four," he said, as long-buried events began unfolding in his mind. "The H-bomb was set to burst over Bikini. I was placed in command of the QD tests because Dr. Vetterly was funded by the Navy and I was an expert on naval ordnance. I thought it logical at the time to conduct experiments cloaked under the excitement of the nuclear explosion. While the world was concentrating on the main event, we conducted our tests on Rongelo Island, four hundred miles to the northeast, totally unnoticed."

"Rongelo," Pitt said slowly. "The destination of Vixen 03."

Bass nodded. "A raw, bleached knob of coral poking through the sea in the middle of nowhere. Even the birds shy away from it."

Bass paused to shift his position on the bench. "I scheduled two series of tests. The first was an aerosol device that scattered a small amount of QD over the atoll. The second included the battleship Wisconsin. She was to lie back twenty miles and lob a warhead with QD from her main batteries. That test never took place."

"Major Vylander failed to deliver the goods," Pitt surmised.

"The contents of the canisters," Bass acknowledged. "Naval shells armed with QD."

"You could have ordered up another supply."

"I could," Bass agreed. "But the real reason I halted the test series was because of what we learned after the aerosol drop. The results were godawful and filled all who shared in the secret with a feeling of horror."

"You talk as though the island was devastated."

"Visually, nothing had changed," said Bass, his voice barely audible. "The white sand of the beach, the few palms, all was as it had been. The test animals we had placed on the island were all dead, of course. I insisted on a waiting period of two weeks to give any residual effects a chance to dissipate before permitting the scientists to examine the results firsthand. Dr. Vetterly and three of his assistants landed on the beach wearing full protective clothing and breathing apparatus. Seventeen minutes later, all were dead."

Pitt fought to preserve his balance. "How was it possible?"

"Dr. Vetterly had vastly underestimated his discovery. The potency of other lethal agents wears off after a time. Conversely, QD

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gains in strength. By what method it penetrated the scientists' protective gear we were never able to determine."

"Did you retrieve the bodies?"