Fantastic Voyage - By Isaac Asimov Page 0,60

is brought about, we still don't know."

"Good Lord," cried Duval. "Look at that."

One of the bacteria was now solidly encased in antibodies which had followed its every irregularity, so that it seemed to be exactly as before, but with a fuzzy, thickened boundary.

Cora said, "It fits perfectly."

"No, not that. Don't you see that the intermolecular bindings of the antibody molecules produce a kind of pressure on the bacterium. This was never clear even in electron microscopy which only shows us dead objects."

A silence fell upon the crew of the Proteus, which was now moving slowly past the bacterium. The antibody coating seemed to stiffen and tighten and the bacterium within writhed. The coating stiffened and tightened again, then again, and suddenly the bacterium seemed to crumple and give way. The antibodies drew together and what had been it rod became a featureless ovoid.

"They killed the bacterium. They literally squeezed it to death," said Cora, with revulsion.

"Remarkable," muttered Duval. "What a weapon for research we have in the Proteus."

Grant said, "Are you sure we're safe from the antibodies?"

Michaels 'said, "It seems so. We're not the sort of thing for which antibodies are designed."

"Are you sure? I have a feeling they can be designed for any shape, if properly stimulated."

"You're right, I suppose. Still, we're obviously not stimulating them."

Owens called out, "More fibers ahead, Dr. Michaels. We're pretty well coated with the stuff. It's cutting down our speed."

Michaels said, "We're almost out of the node, Owens."

Occasionally, a writhing bacterium slammed against the ship, which shuddered in response, but the fight was thinning out now, the bacteria clearly the losers. The Proteus was humping and nudging its way through fibers again.

"Right ahead," said Michaels, "One more left turn and we're at the efferent lymphatic."

Owens said, "We're trailing the fibers. The Proteus looks like a shaggy dog."

Grant said, "How many more lymph nodes on the course to the brain?"

"Three more. One may be avoidable. I'm not quite sure."

"We can't do that. We lose too much time. We won't make it through three more like this. Are there any-any short cuts?"

Michaels shook his head. "None that won't create problems worse than those we now face. -Sure, we'll make it through the nodes. The fibers will wash off, and if we don't stop to look at bacterial warfare, we can go faster."

"And next time," said Grant, frowning, "we'll meet a fight involving white cells."

Duval stepped over to Michaels' charts and said, "Where Are we now, Michaels?"

"Right here," said Michaels, watching the surgeon narrowly.

Duval thought a moment and said, "Let me get my bearings. We're in the neck now, aren't we?"

"Yes."

Grant thought: In the neck? Right where they had started. He looked at the Time Recorder. It said 28. More than half the time gone and they were back where they had started.

Duval said; "Can't we avoid all nodes, and actually take a short cut, too, if we turn off somewhere around here and make straight for the inner ear. From that to the clot is no distance at all."

Michaels wrinkled his forehead into a washboard and sighed. "On the map that looks fine. You make a quick mark on the chart and you're home safe. But have you thought what passing through the inner ear means?"

Duval said, "No. What?"

"The ear, my dear doctor, as I' needn't tell you, is a device for concentrating and amplifying sound waves. The slightest sound, the slightest sound outside, will set up intense vibrations in the inner ear. On our miniaturized scale those vibrations will be deadly."

Duval looked thoughtful. "Yes, I see."

Grant said, "Is the inner ear always vibrating?"

"Unless there is silence, with no sound above the hearing threshold. Even then, on our scale, we'll probably detect some gentle motions."

"Worse than Brownian motion?"

"Perhaps not."

Grant said, "The sound has to come from outside, doesn't it? If we pass through the inner ear, the throbbing of the ship's engine or the sound of our voices won't affect it, will it?"

"No, I'm sure it won't. The inner ear isn't designed for our miniaturized vibrations."

"Well, then, if the people out there in the hospital room maintain complete silence ..."

"How will we get them to do so?" demanded Michaels. Then, almost brutally, "You demolished the wireless so we can't get in touch with them."

"But they can track us. They'll find us heading for the inner ear. They'll understand the need for silence."

"Will they?"

"Won't they?" said Grant, impatiently. "Most of them there are medical men. They have an understanding of such matters."

"Do you want to take that