Last Flight of the Ark by D.L. Jackson

what it would change and repair—and when.
    He peeked into the scope again. “I can’t believe I’m seeing this.”
    “Seeing what?” Melissa strode through the door of his lab.
    Kaleb jerked his head up.
    “I know this is bad timing, but something’s wrong. Really wrong.”
    Before she even spoke, he’d known what she would say. He set the vial in the centrifuge. “You have a heightened sense of smell and hearing? Your libido has gone haywire and all you want to do is fuck?”
    “How did you…?” She stopped and sniffed. “Stupid question. What are we going to do about it?”
    “It doesn’t seem to adversely affect our health and there’s nothing to say it can’t be reversed. I have to run some tests first, but what good is being a geneticist if you don’t use the knowledge?”
    “What if it isn’t reversible?”
    “Then we evolve. We won’t be the first or last species to do it.” He held her gaze. “I’m sorry this happened. If I could do it all over again, I wouldn’t have bitten you. I—it was like someone else had control. I needed….” He reached up, lacing his fingers into his hair. How could he tell her he’d—wanted, no— needed to mark her, to change her? That primitive programming had kicked in and demanded it.
    “I understand better than you know,” she said.
    He eyed her and inhaled again, picking up Jessica’s scent. His cock snapped to attention, growing hard enough to punch rivets into metal. He needed to focus on something else. Lives were at stake. He stared across the room at the security lights, doing his best not to look at her. She was so hot right now. Ready. Wet. Her scent called to him.
    Focus .
    “I hate to say this, but it might be a solution to our problem,” he said. “I started looking for a cure and realized maybe it isn’t a cure we need, but a means to spread it. Did you see the reaction the imposters had to my wolf mutation?” Ever since he’d noticed the reaction the encroachers had to his canine DNA, a plan had begun to stir in his subconscious brain. No longer able to ignore the thoughts, he acted on them. Rather impulsively, but he lived by his gut and it told him not to wait.
    “Is that what’s in the vial?” Melissa kept her gaze on his hand, avoiding eye contact. “Some kind of disease to infect the aliens?”
    “Not just the aliens. Shit, I don’t know. All I know is that this alteration might be the only weapon we’ve got against them. I’m exploring a weakness.” He set the specimen down and picked up another, placing the glass tube next to the first. “I’ve found a way to infect the crew of the other ship through the air. I collected a sample of the flu virus from Lieutenant Jeffers and if I engineered everything correctly, the flu will serve as a catalyst for this wolf-human mutation. Once the flu subsides, the mutation will no longer be airborne. The strain is aggressive—hitting hard and fast, and should run full course in under twelve hours. I figured if it could be transferred through our blood and saliva, then there was a possibility the exchange could also occur through an airborne means. Well, if someone played with the DNA a bit. Funny thing, I didn’t have to tinker much.”
    “You’re engineering a superbug? Do you really think that’s wise? That isn’t something you can control and the infection can spread to anyone who comes into contact with it. Your virus might kill everyone. Is that a chance you’re willing to take with two thousand lives?”
    “To be honest, no, I don’t want to, but I can’t disregard what’s going on. I don’t believe this mutation will kill the crew. Actually, from what I’ve seen, it could cure them of any diseases they might carry. The hijackers might be another story. If they can’t handle being around us due to their evident canine allergy, there’s a good chance the mutation will kill them if the strain is directly introduced into their systems.”
    “You need to think