Paradeisia: Origin of Paradise by B.C.CHASE

is an RNA virus.  Because it replicates, and therefore mutates, so quickly, it has transferred to different species very quickly.
    “Now, to get to the point, you all know a mysterious virus killed a woman in Towson, Maryland, and we received samples for analysis.  In fact, we now have the whole cadaver.”
    Karen interrupted him, “And everyone needs to understand that, so far, the people in Maryland have refused to take this thing seriously.  Unless the President adds this virus to a list for which we can quarantine, we are entirely at the mercy of the states for containment.  Maryland has not reacted with the urgency they should, and that is why I've gone to the White House—to get quarantine authority in advance.  Clear?”
    Everyone nodded.
    She said, “Go ahead, Phil.”
    “Now this virus that we're dealing with here, it's an RNA virus, so the first thing we know is that it has the capacity to mutate very quickly.  This means that the way she received it might not be the way it is transferred next time, if there is a next time—God forbid.  As it mutates, it might attack other types of tissue.
    “We tested the samples and couldn't find a match for any known virus.  So we sent samples to some respected labs overseas.
    “One of those labs happens to have compared the virus to a database of all known genes.  And I mean all known genes from living and non-living creatures.  If anyone found a snippet of DNA anywhere, in a bacterium, in a bone, in an insect...anything at all, this database has it.”
    “Yes, it's called 'A.R.K.'.  Any lab can freely access it online,” Karen said, impatient.
    “Yes, that's right.  Well, the lab that ran the test just called me.”  Doctor Compton paused because he knew what he was about to say was going to raise questions.  And doubts.
    “Well what were their results, Phil?” Karen said.
    “This virus is very old.”
    “Okay???”
    “I mean very , very old.”
    “How old, Phil.”
    “Ancient.”
    “So is influenza...” she said.  “Hippocrates wrote about it.  What's the big deal?
    “No, I mean before that...  Many of the genes from this virus are only common with...”
    Everyone was staring at him in expectation.  He couldn't believe that all his study, all his hard work, all the companies he had worked for, his appointment to the CDC...everything had culminated in this: he had to say something preposterous.  He finally let it out:
    “Sauropods.  This virus has genes matching sauropod DNA.”
    A guy chewing gum and wearing a baseball cap said, “Sauropods?  You mean stomp stomp 'Welcome to Jurassic Park' sauropods?”
    “Sauropods, yes; dinosaurs.”
    Karen immediately interjected, “But a virus can only be transmitted between living things.”
    “That is correct—well, HIV could survive for weeks in a corpse, and, given the ideal conditions, some viruses could even survive for months outside a body...  But, yes.”
    “So whatever gave the virus to the woman must have been alive today.”
    “Correct.”
    Karen leaned forward, “What I'm trying to get at is, she couldn't have walked by a rock that a dinosaur happened to have touched eons ago and picked up a virus from that.”
    “That is correct.    A virus doesn't sit around for thousands...or millions of years waiting to infect someone.  It needs a host.  She probably had to have touched or been in close proximity to the original carrier of the virus.”
    Karen looked at him with one brow raised.  “Phil, really?  Are you saying she touched a dinosaur?”
    “What I mean is she would have had to touch something that was alive today and was carrying the virus.  Not a dinosaur.”
    Karen sat back.  “Regardless, this sounds impossible.”
    Doctor Compton nodded.  “It certainly seems like it would be.”  Suddenly, Doctor Compton's phone rang.  He looked at the screen and recognized the number.  He apologized, “I have to take this; it's St. Joseph's.”
    He answered,