Binary - Michael Crichton [34]
Nordmann was a tall and ungainly man with a sour expression. Graves wondered if it was permanent, or special for the occasion. Nordmann shook hands and said with some distate, 'Are you in State Intelligence too?'
'Yes,' Graves said. 'But we're not all the same.'
Phelps gave him a sharp look. 'Well, I'm not very clear on the reason for this briefing,' Nordmann said. 'But I brought the film.'
'Good,' Phelps said. 'There's a projector in the bedroom.' As they went into the bedroom, they passed the TV.
Graves paused to watch: it was a demonstration in the Convention hall - a 'spontaneous' demonstration for the President, who stood on the podium smiling, waving his arms, giving the V sign with both hands.
'There's very little time,' Phelps said. Graves went into the bedroom.
Drapes and shades had been drawn and it was quite dark. Graves sat on the bed. Phelps took a chair. Nordmann stood in front of the small projection screen, which was mounted above the bedroom dresser. He said to Phelps, 'Where should I begin?'
'Just give us necessary background for the film.'
Nordman nodded, looking sourer than ever. Distantly in the background they could hear the chanting of the delegates on the living-room TV: 'We want the President; we want the President. . .'
'You will be seeing,' Nordmann said, 'the final product of more than half a century of research in chemical warfare. The official date for the start of chemical war is April 22nd, 1915, when the Germans launched an attack with chlorine gas. It was a primitive business - you sat in your trench, opened a canister of gas, and hoped the wind would blow it towards the enemy. If it didn't you were in trouble.
'A lot of improvements - if that's the word - came in the course of the First World War. Gas bombs, and better agents. Mustard gas, nitrogen mustard, and lewisite. All oily liquids that burn and blister your skin. They could kill you, too, but not very efficiently.'
Nordmann paused. 'Second World War: a new advance, again from the Germans. Remember, the Germans were the best chemists in the world for most of the twentieth century. In 1936 they synthesized a complex organophosphorous ester called tabun. It was a nerve gas. It would kill anybody who breathed enough of it. All later developments - sarin, soman, GB, VX, and ZV - are just refinements within this basic class of chemical compounds.
'It's called nerve gas,' Nordmann said, 'because it kills by interfering with transmission of nerve impulses. Nerves work electrically, but the impulses jump from nerve cell to nerve cell - across gaps called synapses - by chemical means. Nerve gases such as tabun, sarin, and ZV interfere with that jumping process. The result is difficulty in breathing, respiratory paralysis, and death. Now let's talk about potency.'
Graves lit a cigarette and glanced at Phelps. Phelps was smiling, nodding his head as Nordmann talked. Faintly from the TV they heard: 'He's our man, he's our man, he's our man. . .' And loud cheers.
'Tabun and sarin,' Nordmann said, 'or the American gas GB, must be inhaled to kill. Therefore gas masks provide an adequate defence. These gases are also relatively weak. They're not produced any more. But there is another family of gases, like VX, which can kill by absorption through the skin as well as by inhalation. The smallest fraction of an ounce is lethal. Am I clear?'
'You're clear,' Graves said.
'VX is terribly powerful,' Nordmann said. 'The lethal dose is estimated to be between two and ten milligrammes, or a few thousandths of an ounce. But powerful as that is, it's nothing compared to ZV. ZV, like VX, is an oil. It's sticky, it clings to things, it hangs around the environment. But a tenth of a milligramme is a lethal dose. In other words, it's about a hundred times as powerful as VX. We're now talking about extraordinary potency.'
Phelps was still smiling, still nodding.