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"Enough," said Dr Banks, with sudden vagueness "I’ that our test meant we had a treat these people, we can’t put forth a viable course of antiparasitics, and we don’t want to risk a mass panic"
"Why not? Are you afraid that it would hurt your stock prices?"
"No, Sally, we’re afraid that it would hurt everyone who trusts our brand enough to have one of our iuard was created to iene hypothesis It allowed us to undo, in a single step, literally decades of excessive sterilization and reduced microbial diversity Since then, the i fro issues with hu natural birth control They represent ical costs annually That doesn’t even take into account the savings they naturally cause in the areas of preventative ed the face of medicine"
"And?" I asked
"And if you take all that away, even assule host was able to survive the course of antibiotics necessary to flush both the implant and the unknown protozoa fro to be there to step up and take care of all these people’sby with the pills no one is in the habit of taking anyive theions where birth control is unfairly restricted, but have been getting around that by buying their implants out of state? Suddenly they’re back in the bad old position of needing to find a way to convince their doctors they’re not immoral whores just because they want to be allowed to control their own reproduction Take away the implants, and the e new light in Dr Banks’s eyes He sounded appropriately sole about his expression was allobal phenomenon What do you say to the people who are finally able to control their own medical destinies? How do you convince theht, potentially, come into contact with another type of parasite so it betweenthe test with the authorities? I , just the way you told me, and then show them how to check for the bad parasites, and they’d be able to… I don’t know, quarantine people when they started getting sick Maybe then, no one would get hurt just because they got too close to soht of Devi, who’d only wanted to be sure that her as okay Would putting Katherine under quarantine as soon as she tested positive have made any difference? Probably not But ould never knoould we?
"We could also trigger a panic, leading toon antiparasitics as they becoenesis is so to see resource hoarding in some areas where the sleepwalkers have been especially active" Dr Banks shook his head "We set out to become the first name in parasites Well, we achieved it Noe have to be careful, or the sins of an entire biological genus will be heaped upon our heads"
"You mean your head," I said
Dr Banks blinked Apparently, declarative state than bewildered questions "What do you mean?"
"I , so any bla to fall on you Is that why you look so tired?" I tried to sound sy
For his part, Dr Banks looked even more surprised than he had before "I wasn’t aware you knew so much about SymboGen’s history"
"Everyone knows about SymboGen’s history," I said It was true: he’d et it I just knew a little more than I was meant to "I didn’t read the books, but they’re available in audio I listened to them while I was at work There was a lot I wanted to understand"
"Ah, yes, work," said Dr Banks, suddenly looking like he was back on faround "Will tells me that you haven’t been to the shelter in ot me the job at the shelter Of course Dr Banks would be on a first-name basis with ht in an outbreak in Lafayette"
"Oh, yes, I heard about that," said Dr Banks "Whatever were you doing out there?"
Fortunately, I had a believable, if utterly frivolous excuse for ould have been doing out in Lafayette: "There’s this ice cream company called Jeni’s? They’re from Ohio? Anyway, the only place in the Bay Area that carries most of their flavors is Diablo Foods in Lafayette I wanted ice creauess" I bit one to Ghirardelli Square"
"Maybe you should have," Dr Banks agreed "Sally, I am so, so sorry you had to see that"
There was one question I hadn’t asked yet I sniffled again, doingsickness is because of a proto-whatsit, not the i up everyone’s behavior? I et into the brain, but don’t those have to be bigger? Not so tiny that they can get through water filters?"