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accept the leftovers from my last party."
May rolled her eyes. "Let me. The real data dump is the results from the specimens I collected
from the lab people this morning. Julie and I couldn't get them all done today, but so far we're finding that
about fifteen percent of the original genomes have had at least some, and in lots of cases all, of the HI
genes added since the baseline samples were obtained. Now what this means; and here I'm judging
strictly on the basis of how well I remember when my, um, orientation began to change, starting with
dreams and progressing to...well, never mind. Suffice to say that as nearly as I can remember I must have
picked up the virus carrying the insertion instructions about two months ago, or maybe earlier. What's
more, and still going on the almost certain assumption that a genetically altered virus is responsible, it must
take quite some time after infection before the body's immune system is aroused."
"Why do you say that?" Dee asked.
"Simple. The extra genes are showing up in cheek swabs. But that's not where expression of the
genes originates."
"I don't quite understand."
"Okay, let me give you a quicky explanation. You have white skin, but only the genes in the skin
are being actively expressed. Yet every cell in your body carries the exact same gene. Now, in our case,
the HI genes we're seeing in the cells from the cheek swabs aren't being expressed there, which means
the virus must linger in the body, gradually infecting more and more organs, until ultimately it gets to the
germ cells and become a permanent mutation. Or the virus may get stopped by the immune system
somewhere along the way, yet become permanent in the sense that it will continue to be expressed during
the person's lifetime if it gets into enough cells and organs of the body. In other cases, it may become
inactive for years in some cases, then pop back up again. We just don't know enough to say exactly how
it works& other than it is definitely effective."
"What she's also saying is that you may still be carriers." Jantz frowned.
"Right," Mary said, "but that's really sort of immaterial."
"Why so?" Julie asked.
"Don't you see? There haven't been any reports of a new virus from any health organization, up
to and including the CDC. That means that the infection must be asymptomatic, or very nearly so. It
could be spreading all over the world and no one would pay attention unless a scientist spots it
inadvertently, goes to the trouble of mapping out its complete genome, and then believes the results. No,
let me amend that. Sooner or later, if it is spreading at any kind of exponential rate, someone will put two
and two together and start digging into the reasons for the increase in homosexuality. In fact, I'll bet other
groups like ours are already working on it."
Dee's hand stole into Jantz's and squeezed it, seeking comfort. "Do you mean that the whole
world is going to turn into a population of gays and lesbians? I can't even imagine what that would mean."
Jantz's face was grim. "I can imagine what it would mean while the changes were taking place:
utter chaos."
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"Wait a minute," Mary said. "All we've established so far is that fifteen percent of a very small
group has changed. And many times, or I should say most times, as viruses infect and re-infect they tend
to attenuate, become less virulent, then finally die down until the next one with a bit of a change in the
protein coating that immune systems won't recognize comes along and starts the cycle over again. That
may be the case here. Of course, it may not be, either."
Jantz got up and mixed himself a strong Bacardi and Coke after the others indicated they would
stick with the Zinfandel. He opened another bottle of that and put it in the cooler then sat back down. He
waited until Mary had finished explaining one of the finer points of genetic expression, then offered up
more facts to buttress Mary's contention that even given a rapid spread the situation wasn't quite so
distressing as Dee had suggested.
"Mary's right. What she suggests might happen& or already has happened for that matter& isn't
the end of the world. Even if a large portion of the population becomes infected it doesn't mean all of
them will become flaming gays or lesbians. The HI genes are simply that; genes for aninclination toward
homosexual orientation. It doesn't mean a person will be gay or lesbian if they have them. There's lots of
other factors intertwined with them that matter just as much like environment, upbringing, experience,
intelligence, whether suppressor genes are present or not, and in the case of induced genes carried by a
virus, a person's immune system can play a big role in rejecting them in whole or part. Then there's the
fact that there is a cluster of the HI genes, and other genes influence those in turn. Also, a person may
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