fragments.
‘But that’s crazy,’ protested Le Grice. ‘If we can’t try out the upstream region we can’t find out what’s wrong with our system. It’s going to put a complete stop to our research.’
‘Well, shit happens and it’s been that kind of a month really,’ sighed Malloy, sounding both tired and world-weary.’
‘But why?’ persisted Le Grice. ‘Why are they doing this?’
Malloy shrugged his shoulders. ‘Hutton hasn’t been told but you know how careful the powers that be are about smallpox. There must have been some kind of scare somewhere.’
‘Probably some kid got a bad dose of chickenpox in Outer Mongolia and the WHO got diarrhoea. Don’t these people realise what they’re doing when they suddenly come out with crazy bans like this?’ retorted Le Grice angrily.
‘Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and suppose that they do in this case and that they might have good reasons for introducing the ban,’ said Malloy.
‘Look, if we can’t get the fragments we need from the official sources any more why don’t I phone around. Maybe the Beatson in Glasgow has them or the guys in Manchester.’
Malloy shook his head. ‘The ban is on all fragment movement, not just from official sources.’
‘Sure but if they don’t know …’
Malloy’s look was enough to make Le Grice change his mind about what he was going to say.
‘I know it’s tough on all of us but we’re going to play by the rules on this one. Apart from anything else there are certain factions within this institute that would not be adverse to seeing us get into really deep shit and deliberately flouting a WHO/UN ruling is as deep as it comes.
‘Any idea how long the ban is going to last?’ asked Sandra Macandrew.
‘None.’
‘This could screw up our PhD work,’ said Sandra looking at Peter.
‘You don’t have to achieve success to get your degrees. You just have to show that you’ve carried out your research programme in a controlled and methodical scientific manner. Demonstrate that you thought things through and acted accordingly. The work you did on the first vaccine will probably be enough.’
‘But it’s not the same, is it?’
‘No. A successful vaccine would be have been nicer,’ conceded Malloy.
Le Grice gave a snort at the understatement.
‘So what do we do in the meantime?’
‘We get the smallpox DNA sequence out from the database again and study it. See if we can figure out what’s going on in the region we’re interested in without actually working with it.’
‘Not for the first time,’ said Le Grice.
‘I know we’ve done it before,’ said Malloy, coldness creeping into his voice as his patience wore thin. ‘But we’re going to do it again. All right’
‘Sure.’
‘In the meantime, George, we have to submit an audit of what smallpox fragments we hold at the moment. Maybe you could run a check on that?
‘Will do.’
‘There’s one other thing. Ali’s parents want to set up some kind of memorial thing for him. They’re thinking of endowing a studentship.’
‘That’s nice,’ said Sandra. The others smiled and nodded, unsure of what to say.
‘It’s nice to know they don’t blame us,’ said Malloy quietly.
‘It’s about time you stopped blaming yourself,’ said Sandra. ‘All of us are to blame and none of us are to blame. We’ll probably never know why he did it because he didn’t tell us what was wrong and it wasn’t for the want of asking. We all liked him. We all cared about him. He just wouldn’t open up to us.’
‘Not even after a couple of pints,’ said Peter.
‘Ali drank beer?’ asked Malloy.
‘George introduced him to McEwans 80 shilling ale.’
‘He was a willing student,’ said Ferguson. ‘He enjoyed it. Ali was a bright bloke. He figured out that Allah probably wouldn’t hold it against him.’
‘How often did you two go drinking?’ asked Malloy.
‘Don’t read too much into it,’ laughed Ferguson. ‘Ali
‘But that’s crazy,’ protested Le Grice. ‘If we can’t try out the upstream region we can’t find out what’s wrong with our system. It’s going to put a complete stop to our research.’
‘Well, shit happens and it’s been that kind of a month really,’ sighed Malloy, sounding both tired and world-weary.’
‘But why?’ persisted Le Grice. ‘Why are they doing this?’
Malloy shrugged his shoulders. ‘Hutton hasn’t been told but you know how careful the powers that be are about smallpox. There must have been some kind of scare somewhere.’
‘Probably some kid got a bad dose of chickenpox in Outer Mongolia and the WHO got diarrhoea. Don’t these people realise what they’re doing when they suddenly come out with crazy bans like this?’ retorted Le Grice angrily.
‘Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and suppose that they do in this case and that they might have good reasons for introducing the ban,’ said Malloy.
‘Look, if we can’t get the fragments we need from the official sources any more why don’t I phone around. Maybe the Beatson in Glasgow has them or the guys in Manchester.’
Malloy shook his head. ‘The ban is on all fragment movement, not just from official sources.’
‘Sure but if they don’t know …’
Malloy’s look was enough to make Le Grice change his mind about what he was going to say.
‘I know it’s tough on all of us but we’re going to play by the rules on this one. Apart from anything else there are certain factions within this institute that would not be adverse to seeing us get into really deep shit and deliberately flouting a WHO/UN ruling is as deep as it comes.
‘Any idea how long the ban is going to last?’ asked Sandra Macandrew.
‘None.’
‘This could screw up our PhD work,’ said Sandra looking at Peter.
‘You don’t have to achieve success to get your degrees. You just have to show that you’ve carried out your research programme in a controlled and methodical scientific manner. Demonstrate that you thought things through and acted accordingly. The work you did on the first vaccine will probably be enough.’
‘But it’s not the same, is it?’
‘No. A successful vaccine would be have been nicer,’ conceded Malloy.
Le Grice gave a snort at the understatement.
‘So what do we do in the meantime?’
‘We get the smallpox DNA sequence out from the database again and study it. See if we can figure out what’s going on in the region we’re interested in without actually working with it.’
‘Not for the first time,’ said Le Grice.
‘I know we’ve done it before,’ said Malloy, coldness creeping into his voice as his patience wore thin. ‘But we’re going to do it again. All right’
‘Sure.’
‘In the meantime, George, we have to submit an audit of what smallpox fragments we hold at the moment. Maybe you could run a check on that?
‘Will do.’
‘There’s one other thing. Ali’s parents want to set up some kind of memorial thing for him. They’re thinking of endowing a studentship.’
‘That’s nice,’ said Sandra. The others smiled and nodded, unsure of what to say.
‘It’s nice to know they don’t blame us,’ said Malloy quietly.
‘It’s about time you stopped blaming yourself,’ said Sandra. ‘All of us are to blame and none of us are to blame. We’ll probably never know why he did it because he didn’t tell us what was wrong and it wasn’t for the want of asking. We all liked him. We all cared about him. He just wouldn’t open up to us.’
‘Not even after a couple of pints,’ said Peter.
‘Ali drank beer?’ asked Malloy.
‘George introduced him to McEwans 80 shilling ale.’
‘He was a willing student,’ said Ferguson. ‘He enjoyed it. Ali was a bright bloke. He figured out that Allah probably wouldn’t hold it against him.’
‘How often did you two go drinking?’ asked Malloy.
‘Don’t read too much into it,’ laughed Ferguson. ‘Ali
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