are the real problem, because they may attack the baby's--"
"So what you're saying," McCarthy interrupted, "is that this drug can
destroy the snakes in a Papist's bloodstream?"
"I told you, there are no snakes! Trisulphozymase temporarily
eliminates the extra clotting enzyme that comes from SA-positive blood."
"It's only temporary?"
"That's all that's needed. One injection shortly before the moment of
birth--"
"But what about repeated doses?" McCarthy interrupted. "Or a massive
dose? Could you permanently wipe out the SA factor in a person's blood?"
"You don't administer trisulphozymase to an SA-positive person," Julia
said. "It's given to an SA-negative mother to prevent--"
"But suppose you did give it to a Papist. A big dose. Lots of doses.
Could it destroy the SA factor forever?" He leaned forward eagerly. "Could
it make them like us?"
And now Julia saw it: what this hearing was all about. Because the
Committee couldn't really suppress the treatment, could they? Her results
were known in the research community. Even if the drug were banned here,
other countries would use it; and there would eventually be enough public
pressure to force re-evaluation. This wasn't about the lives of babies and
mothers; this was about clipping the devil's horns.
Keeping her voice steady, she said, "It would be unconscionable to
administer this drug or any other to a person whose health did not require
it. Large doses or long-term use of trisulphozymase would have side effects
I could not venture to guess." The faces in front of her showed no
expression. "Gentlemen," she tried again, "in an SA-positive person, the
enzyme is natural. A natural component of blood. To interfere with a body's
natural functioning when there is no medical justification..." she threw up
her hands. "Do no harm, gentlemen. The heart of the Hippocratic Oath. At the
very least, doctors must done harm."
"Does that mean," McCarthy asked, "that you would refuse to head a
research project into this matter?"
"Me?"
"You're the top expert in your field," McCarthy shrugged. "If anybody
can get rid of the snakes once and for all, it's you."
"Senator," Julia said, "have you no shame? Have you no shame at all?
You want to endanger lives over this... triviality? A meaningless difference
you can only detect with a microscope--"
"Which means they can walk among us, doctor! Papists can walk among us.
Them with their special blood, their snakes, their damned inbreeding --
they're the ones who care about what you call a triviality! They're the ones
who flaunt it in our faces. They say they're God's Chosen. With God's Mark
of Blessing. Well, I intend to erase that mark, with or without your help."
"Without," Julia told him. "Definitely without."
McCarthy's gaze was on her. He did not look like a man who had just
received an absolute no. With an expression far too smug, he said, "Let me
tell you a secret, doctor. From our agents in the enemy camp. Even as we
speak, the Papists are planning to contaminate our water supply with their
damned SA enzyme. Poison us or make us like them... one way or the other. We
need your drug to fight that pollution; to remove the enzyme from our blood
before it can destroy us! What about that, Dr. Grant? Will your precious
medical ethic? let you work on a treatment to keep us safe from their damned
Papist toxins?"
Julia grimaced. "You know nothing about the human metabolism. People
couldn't 'catch' the SA factor from drinking water; the enzyme would just
break down in your stomach acid. I suppose it might be possible to produce a
methylated version that would eventually work its way into the
bloodstream..." She stopped herself. "Anyway, I can't believe the Papists
would be so insane as to--"
"Right now," McCarthy interrupted, "sitting in a committee room of some
Papist hideaway, there are a group of men who are just as crazy as we are.
Believe that, doctor. Whatever we are willing to do to them, they are
willing to do to us; the only question is, who'll do it first." McCarthy
settled back and cradled his hands on his stomach. "Snakes all 'round, Dr.
Grant. You can make a difference in who gets bitten."
It was, perhaps, the only true flung McCarthy had said since the
hearing had begun. Julia tried to doubt it, but couldn't. SA-positive or
negative, you could still be a ruthless bastard. She said nothing.
McCarthy stared at her a few moments more, then glanced at the men on
both sides of him. "Let's consider this hearing adjourned, all right? Give
Dr. Grant a little time to think this over." He turned to look straight at
her. "A little time. We'll contact you in a few days... find out who scares
you more, us or them."
He had the nerve to wink before he turned away. The other senators
filed from the room, almost bumping into each other in the hurry to leave.
Complicitous men... weak men, for all their power. Julia remained in the
uncomfortable "Witness Chair," giving them ample time to scurry away; she
didn't want to lay eyes on them again when she finally went out into the
corridor.
Using trisulphozymase on an SA-positive person... what would be the
effect? Predictions were almost worthless in biochemistry -- medical science
was a vast ocean of ignorance dotted with researchers trying to stay afloat
in makeshift canoes. The only prediction you could safely make was that a
large enough dose of any drug would kill the patient.
On the other hand, better to inject trisulphozymase into SA-positive
people than SA-negative. The chemical reactions that broke down the SA
enzyme also broke down the trisulphozymase -- mutual assured destruction. If
you didn't have the SA enzyme in your blood, the trisulphozymase would build
up to lethal levels much faster, simply because there was nothing to stop
it. SA-positive people could certainly tolerate dosages that would kill a...
Julia felt a chill wash through her. She had created a drug that would
poison SA-negatives but not SA-positives... that could selectively massacre
the Redeemed while leaving the Papists standing. And her research was a
matter of public record. How long would it take before someone on the Papist
side made the connection? One of those men McCarthy had talked about, just
as ruthless and crazy as the senator himself.
How long would it take before they used her drug to slaughter half the
world?
There was only one way out: put all the snakes to sleep. If Julia could
somehow wave her hands and make every SA-positive person SA-negative, then
the playing field would be level again. No, not the playing field -- the
killing field.
Insanity... but what choice did she have? Sign up with McCarthy; get
rid of the snakes before they began to bite; pray the side effects could be
treated. Perhaps, if saner minds prevailed, the process would never be
deployed. Perhaps the threat would be enough to force some kind of bilateral
enzyme disarmament.
Feeling twenty years older, Dr. Julia Grant left the hearing room. The
corridor was empty; through the great glass entryway at the front of the
building, she could see late afternoon sunlight slanting across the marble
steps. A single protester stood on the sidewalk, mutely holding a sign aloft
-- no doubt what McCarthy would call a Papist sympathizer, traitorously
opposing a duly appointed congressional committee.
The protester's sign read, "Why do you concern yourself with the
sleeping creature before you, when you are blind to the serpents in your own
heart?"
Julia turned away, hoping the building had a back door.