1969
Friday, Nov. 7, 1600 hours
Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C.
Charlie Wineman looked through the afternoon stack of lab test requests in his secured in-box with surprise. The response time between lab results being submitted and any follow-up requests from NASA were usually measured in weeks, if not months. But apparently Tuesday’s results had gotten someone’s attention — he was to test nine more tissue samples, and the request was for the same test as Tuesday’s: a DNA assay.
Wineman was no genetic expert, but he’d paid enough attention in medical school at Ohio State to know that DNA was particularly susceptible to damage from radiation exposure. And he’d kept up enough to know that a few years earlier, researchers had found that mitochondria — tiny cells within our cells — had their own DNA, distinct from the regular human DNA contained in each cell’s nucleus. The mitochondria resided in each cell’s cytoplasm, kept separate from the cell’s ongoing chemical activity by their own membrane.
On a hunch, he’d tested a blood sample from the same subject as the positive liver result on Tuesday evening. The results had come back negative — which made Charlie fairly certain that the odd, unrecognizable DNA patterns from Tuesday’s tests were from the mitochondria. Liver cells are absolutely loaded with mitochondria, but red blood cells don’t have any.
While NASA medical records were heavily classified already, today’s test orders were stamped “Secret” rather than the normal “Confidential.”
Well, he could keep a secret — but he was also curious as all get out what today’s tests would reveal.
Tuesday, Nov. 11, 1347 hours
Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C.
Maj. Stone was very slightly nodding his head left to right as he quickly scanned the test results on his desk.
He looked up at Charlie Wineman, who was standing calmly in front of him.
“Nothing?” Stone asked.
“Absolutely negative — the DNA, and the mitochondrial DNA, from the last nine samples are normal. Only the two from last Tuesday have those genetic markers. And only their mitochondrial DNA. I’m sure of it.”
“Well, send the results on over to NASA. Hopefully they can make sense of it.” Stone frowned for a second. “Do we still have any tissue samples from the Mercury and Gemini missions?” Wineman didn’t answer immediately, so Stone continued. “Look into that — if we do, run that assay on them, too. Let’s try to get ahead of wherever this is going. And Charlie? Let’s make sure we’re not leaving any loose notes or anything else laying around the lab on this one, okay? Extra careful.”
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