Chapter 7: Venom

Cassie returned to her office at Biological Sciences on Friday afternoon, looking happier than Julie had seen her for years.

She was clutching a portable hard drive.

"I've got more survey data back, Jules. This data is not from Americans this time."

Julie looked at Cassie with open curiosity, but Cassie carried on regardless.

"Don't ask from where, I can't tell you.

"We've re-done the survey questions, and do you know what? The cured women have passed every test, and are indistinguishable from the normal women.

"That a great result for Eve and her sister, but I'd like to run your watermark test over the results. If Eve passed on the answer statistics from the normal women, and if that's what they're using to pass the tests, then we should be able to detect the cheating.

"I've got your new scan data too. They've got full-body scans now, with all tissue types."

Cassie continued chatting while the data was transferred from her drive, telling Julie about the twins, and the get-together, and they both agreed to go and visit the new uni bar the next evening.

Julie still thought it perverse that carrying a disk drive over the landscape was quicker than copying data over the Internet, but those image files were huge. Even compressed, each image was tens of gigabytes.

"I've actually had a really nice time interviewing those cancer patients," said Cassie, "and I'm going to enjoy working at the hospital."

Julie looked directly at her.

"So this data is from Australia, is it?"

Cassie looked at Julie, steadily, and cocked one eyebrow.

"Jules.

"Read my lips.

"Eve. Says. They. Do. Not. Have. Worms. At. The. Hospital."

Cassie smiled, and bent down to whisper in Julie's ear.

"But I think you should come and meet my cancer patients. They are the coolest women I've ever met."

Julie caught Cassie's drift.

After the data was transferred from the portable drive to the workstation, Julie copied the new survey results onto her memory stick.

She'd kept everything on her memory stick, as she didn't want her little cheating detector being visible to anyone on the University network

The watermark test didn't take long to run, as there were only a few hundred numbers to process for every woman.

The results were very clear, and Cassie and Julie both felt appalled.

The cured women had cheated.

Eve Hunter must have passed on Cassie's statistics to the women before the test, and, somehow, they had learned to answer the questions correctly, and to match the statistics in Cassie's spreadsheet.

Eve Hunter was starting to seem like a bit of a slippery character.

It was nice having Cassie back in the apartment, and on a Friday evening they could start to relax.

They made a rich, calorific, lasagne, drank a good bottle of wine between them, and waddled from the table to the couch to relax. As they had been doing for many years, they pressed the bare soles of their feet against each other as they sat and watched TV. This was perhaps the most sensual contact that Cassie had ever received from Julie.

Cassie thought the time felt right for the next step.

Turning off the TV, Cassie turned turned to Julie.

"Julie..."

Julie turned to look at her, and Cassie hesitated.

"Julie ... Gabby gave me something when I was at the hospital.

"Something I think you might be very interested in."

Cassie brought out one of the tiny glass jars Gabby had given her.

Julie's eyebrows rose.

"So what's this?" Julie asked.

Cassie retrieved a latex glove from her pocket, pulled it on, opened the jar, and dipped in her index finger.

As she pulled out some of the contents with her covered fingertip, the stuff was thick, like honey, and long, black threads were visible within.

"That looks like a worm stinger..." Julie said.

"Yes, that's exactly what it is." Cassie said. "Gabby has been busy at the lab in the hospital, experimenting with worm venom.

"She's been transforming the venom into a worm repellent.

"She's been making an ointment out of this stuff with the the stingers removed, and, if you put it on yourself, you're protected, the worms don't attempt to infect you

"Gabby gave me this unprocessed venom so that we could try the real thing."

"So this is just straight worm venom?" Julie asked.

Cassie nodded.

"It must hurt like crazy, Cassie." Julie said. "Isn't it a paralytic?"

"I think you should try it," Cassie said, "You'll be surprised."

"Cassie, I hope you haven't tried this stuff? It's venom, it's bound to be dangerous!"

Cassie blushed a little.

"Actually, Jules, I've tried some already. The worms could have been designed for us, they're a perfect fit for our biology. They modify our DNA, and produce substances to manipulate us. That's why the immune system doesn't reject the worms, they actually produce their nerve threads using a woman's own proteins, with only a little extra alien biology thrown in.

"When a woman is infected, she gets injected with venom. It lowers her resistance to being taken. It's a euphoric agent, and it does cause temporary paralysis.

"It has never caused any adverse reactions."

"Except," Julie said, "that the end result for these women is that they fall under the control of an alien intelligence."

"It's actually been rather well tested," Cassie continued. "If you want to understand the worms, Julie, you should try some. I won't use much, you won't be paralysed, don't worry."

Julie was surprised, but could see Cassie's side of the argument, and was very curious. The worms were very effective parasites, and, aside from the mind control aspects, they appeared to look after their hosts quite conscientiously.

"Ok," said Julie, "tell me about it. How will I take it?"

Cassie explained.

"This is unprocessed worm stinger in a neutral sorbolene base. When I spread some on your back, you'll get to feel what a women experiences before a worm attaches itself to her.

"Believe me, Jules, it's a great high. You won't regret it.

"Come on, turn around and I'll put some on your back. I'll hold you, the drug takes a minute or so to kick in, and it gives you a hell of a head-spin.