The Viral Epiphany by Richard McSheehy

trying nonetheless.
                “Elation, yes.   But more than that. Very satisfied.   Proud too.   You too should be proud, you know.”  
    Shaylin smiled in agreement, her perfect teeth sparkling in the flickering candlelight. She knew that whatever was said tonight might well be forgotten tomorrow; however, she had set her goal and was determined to achieve it nonetheless.   She had worn her best dress: red silk, ankle length, and tight fitting; it seductively displayed every one of her beautiful curves. Tonight she wore her black, straight hair very long, far past her shoulders.   She knew she was more than fifteen years younger than Stephen, and she looked even younger than that, but that didn’t concern her.   Many desirable men were his age, or even older.   It was something else, something she sensed but couldn’t quite put into words, that caused her to pause a moment and think about being more cautious. Then she thought, No, not this time. You can’t always listen to your inner voices. Sometimes you just have to be bold.
                “It is a great achievement Stephen, I agree.   But all the credit goes to you…” Stephen’s cell phone rang.   He looked at the caller ID.   It was from the zoo.
                “Excuse me a moment, Shaylin, I think it’s the mammal section manager from the Zoo.   Probably worried about tomorrow.   I’ve invited the newspapers and television reporters to come over in the afternoon. Didn’t tell them what it was about, just that it would be earthshaking.   Now, I’ll bet the zoo management is worried something will go wrong and the zoo will have some liability issue or something like that.”
                “Hello, Tadao, how are you?”
                “Dr. Itagaki, you must come to the zoo quickly. Something is very wrong.”
                “What do you mean?”
                “The mammoth.   It’s just lying on its side.   All of a sudden!   It’s barely breathing.   I don’t know what’s wrong.   Hurry!”
                Deep within the mammoth, inside the tissues and blood vessels, in its muscles and organs two competing life forces that had been frozen in time for 10,000 years had renewed their struggle to survive.   DNA within the cell nuclei that carried the instructions for all the processes of life in the mammoth and the animal’s organs was now completely functioning.   Cell division, a process needed for every organ to continue life had begun and as the cells divided each new cell carried a duplicate set of DNA in its nucleus.   However, in many of these nucleic strands of DNA there was an ancient intruder, an imposter that looked like the mammal’s DNA but wasn’t.   Like a living Trojan horse; it was a retrovirus.   Really nothing more than a short strand of DNA material, the retrovirus had inserted itself into the DNA of the baby’s long dead ancestor and had multiplied and prospered ten thousand years ago, but in the end it’s success had killed its host. Then the virus had lain in a cold, deep, and perfectly preserved sleep until it had reawakened on that first day the baby mammoth had viewed the new dawn.
                Cell by cell, moment by moment, the retrovirus duplicated itself and the duplicated viruses duplicated until the cells were full to bursting with viral matter, and finally the cell walls had exploded. The virus raced through the bloodstream of the baby and soon had permeated every organ and tissue via the life giving blood itself and then the process of viral duplication continued again and then again and then again.
                Stephen’s mind raced as he drove towards the zoo.   What can be wrong so soon? he said to himself.   Lost in thought as he drove, he was oblivious to Shaylin as she sat beside him and Shaylin kept silent, knowing better than to say anything now.
                While