Din Eidyn Corpus (Book 2): dEaDINBURGH (Alliances) Read Online Free Page B

allowed the Yersinia pestis to influence its vector’s behaviour. The vector, a flea in the case of Yersinia , was compelled to seek out rat and human hosts, thereby spreading the bacteria to favourable conditions and allowing the spread of a variety of plague symptoms, depending on where in the body the infection took hold.”
    Ramsay strolled across to a computer opposite from where Fraser sat and, swirling his fingers around, commanded images and data to illustrate his narrative.
    “When the plague victims were sealed in Mary King’s Close in 1645, many of them were also host to the Toxoplasma gondii parasite. Not that uncommon in those days, and, in fact, in some cities almost seventy percent of the population are unknowingly hosts to the parasite today.”
    An image of the Toxoplasma gondii parasite rotated in the air across from Donnelly.
    “ Toxoplasma gondii had and has the ability to alter the brain chemistry, personality and behaviour of its hosts. Rodent hosts of the parasite lose all fear of cats and walk willingly into their predator’s clutches, their brains reprogrammed by the parasite to spread the organism to its preferred host. Indeed, a similar effect has been verified in humans for years. Not only have human hosts become attracted to the odour of cat urine, thereby bringing host and parasite together, but in many recorded cases those humans infested with the Toxoplasma gondii parasite have been quantifiably more reckless in their behaviour, even aggressive. In most cases, whether rodent or human, the hosts show demonstrably slower reaction times and decreased sensitivity towards danger. Some scientists also recorded a decrease in empathy in human hosts.”
    Ramsay spun his finger around, initiating video footage.
    “We know that in the darkness of the underground crypts, these organisms’ abilities were merged, mutated and amplified to adapt to the selective pressures of life in the environment they now inhabited.
    “Human physiology became something different. Decomposition, senses, cellular aging and regeneration, all were drastically altered in the formerly-human specimens that emerged from the crypts in 2015. The parasite and the bacteria were no longer separate organisms, but had formed a hybrid, spread in the bite of the human host, rather than by the tick the Yersinia pestis once controlled. The new hybrid, which we named Yersinia edinburgis , so radically alters and controls the brain and nervous system of the host, we believe that no signs of the human personality remain once infection is complete. The host dies, for all intents and purposes, then reanimates. The Zombie’s tissue is technically dead, but only rots to a certain point, even without the ingestion of protein. The scent of living flesh attracts the reanimate in the way that the hosts of Yersinia pestis were once drawn to cat urine. We cannot explain these effects fully.
    “What we have been able to do, as requested, is decrease the time needed for the Yersinia edinburgis hybrid to reproduce. At present, the organism, like most bacteria, takes around twenty minutes for cell division to occur, meaning that infection takes around a day to kill anyone bitten and a few hours more for the physiology to adapt, the nervous system to fire up and re-animation to occur.”
    Ramsay allowed a smug smile to spread across his face.
    “We have increased the rate of division to what we believe is the maximum we can achieve. If bitten, the host will now reanimate inside fifteen minutes.”
    Fraser allowed a smile to form.
    “The new strain. It still responds to Gentamicin?”
    “Yes. Actually we manipulated the gene responsible for antibiotic sensitivity or resistance. The Beta-Strain of Yersinia edinburgis is actually thirty percent more sensitive to the antibiotic than before. The original Yersinia edinburgis hybrid could, as always, be wiped out in days with Gentamicin. This is now also true of the new strain.”
    “Excellent, work,