Cory strode over to her. "The analyses will take an hour to do. Let's go and have coffee while we're waiting."
Ren followed him to his office and let him fuss over her. She drank the coffee he handed her without tasting it. While they waited for the computer to process the samples she checked his husbandry records. None of the other cats had been ill and the mother's pregnancy had been normal. There was absolutely no reason for a whole litter of cubs to die.
Cory got up and went to the lab, returning with the news that the sample analyses were done. He sent the files to the console in front of her. Ren propped her head on a hand while she read the DNA sequences. They had the right number of genes, but she'd have to compare them with the Core World's Conservation Authority's reference genomes later to be sure. It was always possible a mutation had occurred, but highly unlikely the same mutation would have been passed on to all three cubs. Instinctively she felt the answer to this puzzle didn't lie in that data.
"Want the blood analyses?" Cory asked.
"Yes, please."
He brought up the new file and said "I'm wondering if they've fallen prey to Nereva."
Nereva was the new, frighteningly virulent, strain of cat 'flu. "It's possible," she said "but wouldn't the other cats be showing signs of it too?"
"Good point. Yes they would. And they're not, thank the Gods."
Panthera : Death Spiral is available as an ebook and paperback from Amszon.
No comments:
Post a Comment