Andromena Strain?

Question

What information did the scientists gather in the Andromeda Strain initially to begin their studies and understanding of the problem?

Answer 1

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Answer 2

A military satellite returns to Earth, and a military recovery team, in an anonymous van, are dispatched to retrieve it; while on live radio communication with their base, those in the recovery team die. Aerial surveillance later shows everyone in Piedmont, Arizona, the town near the satellite's landing site, has died. The base commander suspects the satellite returned with an extraterrestrial organism, and recommends the Wildfire team be activated.

The government-sponsored Wildfire team counters extraterrestrial biological infestation, its five members are (i) Dr. Jeremy Stone, molecular biology specialist; (ii) Dr. Peter Leavitt, disease pathology; (iii) Dr. Charles Burton, infection vectors specialist; and (iv) Dr. Mark Hall, M.D., Surgeon, biochemistry and pH specialist. The fifth member scientist, Dr. Christian Kirke, electrolytes specialist, was unavailable for duty because of appendicitis.

The scientists think the satellite, designed to capture upper-atmosphere microorganisms for bio-weapon exploitation, returned with a microorganism that kills by disseminated intra-vascular coagulation. On investigating the town, the team discover residents either die in mid-stride or go "quietly nuts" and commit bizarre suicide. Piedmont's survivors, the sick, Sterno-addicted, geriatric Peter Jackson, and the crying infant, Jamie Ritter, are biologic opposites who survived Andromeda.

The man, infant, and satellite are taken to the secret Wildfire laboratory, in Flatrock, Nevada, sixty miles from Las Vegas. More investigation determines that the bizarre deaths were caused by a sulfur-based, crystal-structured, extraterrestrial microbe on a meteor that crashed with the satellite, then knocked it from orbit. The microbe is composed of the chemical elements of terrestrial life, but not of DNA, RNA, proteins, and amino acids, yet it directly transforms matter to energy and vice versa.

The microbe, named Andromeda, mutates with each growth cycle, changing its biologic properties. The scientists discover that Andromeda grows only in a narrow pH range; in a too-acid or too-basic growth medium, it will not multiply — Andromeda's pH range is 7.39–7.43, like that of human blood. Thus, why Jackson and Ritter survived, both had abnormal blood pH; however, by the time the scientists notice that, Andromeda's current mutation degrades polymer plastic. Meanwhile, trapped in an Andromeda-contaminated laboratory, Dr Burton demands of Stone an injection of Kalocin ("the universal antibiotic"); Stone demurs, arguing it would render him too-vulnerable to infection.

The mutated Andromeda attacks the neoprene door and hatch seals in the Wildfire complex, automatically arming the self-destruction atomic bomb, and triggering its detonation countdown to incinerating all exo-biological diseases. Ironically, given its ability to generate matter directly from energy, Andromeda would feed from an atomic explosion.

To prevent the atomic explosion, Dr. Hall must insert his special key to an emergency substation anywhere in Wildfire. Unfortunately, he is trapped in an unfinished section with no substation. He must run Wildfire's obstacle course of automatic defenses to reach a working substation on another level of the laboratory. He prevents the explosion.

The novel's epilogue reveals that a manned spacecraft, Andros V, was incinerated in atmospheric re-entry, because its polymer heat shield failed. Space flights are discontinued until further notice.