![]() ![]() Michael Crichton’s novel “The Andromeda Strain,” published in May 1969, was about a government mission to send unmanned satellites into orbit to collect extraterrestrial microorganisms that might be lurking out there - this with the noble aim of finding one useful as a biological weapon. Wilson (Harper, 384 pp., $29.99)įifty summers ago, as men were landing on the moon, the story of another space project-one which had gone disastrously awry-had already touched down on the nation’s bestseller list. ![]() At 989,000x, the computer goes into a 601 shutdown and ends the program.THE ANDROMEDA EVOLUTION by Daniel H. "What do we do?" In the final scene, a view under the electron microscope at a magnification of 310,138x shows a green crystal beginning to grow and mutate. ![]() The senator asks what they would do should they encounter another such biological organism. Stone assures Senator McKenzie that Andromeda is under control and that they will continue to study it at Wildfire. To be sure it causes no more trouble, they're seeding the clouds with silver iodide to make it rain the rain will carry Andromeda into the ocean where the alkaline seawater will kill it. The Andromeda cloud is heading out over the Pacific and appears to have mutated into a nonlethal form. He reaches the substation and turns it off with just eight seconds to spare. Trapped on level 5 with no access to a substation, Hall is forced to crawl up the central core to level 3, dodging gas and laser beams designed to kill escaped animals. Stone fears that the bomb going off will serve only to feed Andromeda with the energy it uses to grow and mutate. Due to the broken gasket, which feeds contaminated air into the central core, Wildfire senses the containment breach and goes into self-destruct mode. They suddenly notice that a rat is still alive and conclude that Andromeda has mutated to a noninfectious form. He then tells Dutton to breathe hard so as to raise blood pH and not allow Andromeda to get into his blood stream. Hall realizes that fast breathing brings on blood alkalosis, similar to the crying baby, and orders that the oxygen be stopped. Knowing that Andromeda grows poorly in oxygen, Stone pumps oxygen into the autopsy lab. The red blinking lights cause Leavitt to collapse in an epileptic seizure, but Hall recognizes it and gives her phenobarbitol. Emergency contamination procedures go into effect. In essence, the Andromeda strain is deemed the perfect organism for living in outer space.Īn alarm suddenly goes off due to a broken seal in the autopsy room, sealing Dutton inside. Anything more acidic or alkaline does not support its growth. Inspection under the electron microscope reveals that it is a crystalline entity, and it can only survive in an environment with a very narrow pH, that of 7.39 to 7.43, the same as human blood. It grows best when incubated under X-rays, which leads the scientists to conclude that it functions like an atomic reactor, absorbing energy and turning it into matter. Yet it grows anywhere, albeit poorly in oxygen. It's composed of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, all the elements of life, but it has no amino acids, which comprise the proteins, enzymes, and nucleic acids needed to sustain life. It's two microns in size larger than a typical virus. ![]() In their battery of tests shown on screen, the scientists learn that it is airborne when inhaled, it rapidly spreads through the blood stream, causing blood to clot and turn to powder within just a few seconds. The movie makes it clear that Andromeda is like no micro-organism known on planet Earth. ![]()
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