Heiser-The-Facade - Sparkling Eyes

"Well, a virus is able to perpetuate its kind by infecting the DNA of livingorganisms and converting their cells to virtual `virus factories.' It's hardly conceivablethat a virus could have remained viable without living material with which to perpetuateitself. It simply couldn't survive without living cellular material within which to replicateitself. I'd say if you have a truly extraterrestrial virus, there has to be life out theresomewhere.""How do we know it's actually extraterrestrial?" asked Father Benedict."NASA discovered the same virus in microbes in meteorites," Neil replied."You're not talking about ALH84001 are you?" asked Dr. Garvey. "If you are,then you have no proof at all.""What's ALH8 . . . whatever?" Melissa queried."The so-called Martian meteorite that NASA paraded be-fore the mainstreammedia a couple years ago," answered Kevin."The one that supposedly had microbial life within it; you know, it looked like aninsect larvae under the electron microscope," Malcolm chimed in. "A sulfide study bysome scientists from Arizona State and Cal Tech on that meteor pretty much proved therewas no bacterial life in it.""No," the Colonel responded, "I'm not talking about ALH84001. Surely you don'tbelieve that's the only candidate for extraterrestrial life in NASA's arsenal.""I guess we only know what you guys allow to be made public," answeredMalcolm."True, and for good reason. NASA and the U.S. Military have been workingtogether to slowly acclimate the public to the idea of life in space, so the policy has beento dangle a few of the question-able carrots under the nose of the news media beforegetting to the proof-positive specimens.""So what makes a specimen proof-positive?" asked Father Benedict."We have roughly a dozen meteorite samples that contain gaseous compoundsthat do not occur in combination on earth," explained the Colonel. "Of those samples,three contain the virus.""Give me an example of such a compound," Dr. Garvey asked politely."You know Kevin, if I didn't know better, I'd say you're treating this discussionlike I'm a Ph.D. candidate in my final oral exam," the Colonel said in an annoyed tone."Silane, arsine, and phosphine are good examples Sil14, AsH3, and PH3 respectively.How did I do?""Just fine," he answered, looking over at Mark Chadwick, who said nothing,leaning back in his chair once again, unconsciously fingering the curls in his hair. "Ifthose compounds are in the specimen, I can vouch that he's right. Those don't occurnaturally on earth anywhere.""If our scientists don't grasp the reasoning behind keeping this information fromimmediate public consumption, as opposed to a gradual conditioning process, I'm sureour humanities scholars do," the Colonel added, turning in the direction of Brian andFather Benedict. "More than anyone else here, Dr. Scott, you should appreciate thedelicate nature of the issue.""I do," Brian responded. "Many religious people, especially the moreconservative expressions, just wouldn't be able to handle the idea that life existedelsewhere in the universe, even at a microbial level."56