Read Online The SONG of SHIVA by Michael Caulfield - Free Book Online

take another two months to identify them all, unless we get really lucky.
    “We’ve also made progress with our analysis of survivor serum antigen levels ― which suggest that at the peak of the epidemic, the virus was mutating dozens of times a day.”
    It was well known that many RNA viruses mutated as often as once a replication, which explained their extreme pathogenicity. The CDC had devoted weeks to its live virus work and never discovered anything like this.
    “And you’re certain this analysis is a hundred percent certain?” Nora asked.  
    “Nearly,” Tardieu hedged. “But don’t misunderstand: HM isn’t a possibility engine ― based solely on chance. It relies on pure mathematics. All biological processes, including viral mutation, obey strict laws of biochemistry that mathematically determine their outcomes. Hypothecated Modeling begins by identifying the mechanically analyzed avian and human host metrics and then integrates them with the virus’s own genetics. All potential interactive outcomes are then compared algorithmically with the original host metrics again to determine the efficacy and impact on the host’s cellular dynamics in every possible mutational variation. Performing this calculation repeatedly with each succeeding outcome results in a continuously expanding cascade of all theoretically possible mutations.
    “All these potentialities are then filtered through the prism of the Innovac HM algorithm to arrive at the actual route the pathogen must take over the course of its entire mutating evolutionary future to survive.
    “It’s even more complex than my feeble attempt at explanation. To be perfectly honest, I don’t entirely understand every nuance myself. In all the world maybe only one person does: Atma Pandavas.”
    Nora had listened politely, and though she respected Tardieu, she wasn’t entirely convinced that what he was suggesting was even theoretically possible.
    “But how does anybody go about identifying every potential parameter? Isn’t that a little like counting every grain of sand on the beach?”
    “We back-tested the TAI model and found that last year’s avian virus strain was already poised on the brink of an antigenic shift. All it required was an appropriately large population of close-quartered domesticated fowl to guarantee the species-jumping mutation that resulted. Of course, running these integrative calculations requires an enormous amount of computing power. There must be literally quadrillions or quintillions of potential variables...”
    “What army of mathematicians could conceivably input the data?” Nora asked. The devil inside her kept insisting the idea was ridiculous.
    It was as if Tardieu had been waiting for the question. “The created algorithms themselves identify and input the data by normal genetic sequencing. But the exponential programming work that went into the algorithms ― can you imagine? Generating every possible interacting equation at the molecular level ― billions of them at a minimum ― to arrive at those quintillions of potential outcomes. Well, that demanded truly inspirational genius. It’s a trade secret of course, but Innovac somehow succeeded in pulling it off. The proof is in the results.”
    If nothing else, Tardieu was convincing. He could take that enthusiasm on the road and become a successful sales rep , Nora thought. He was that passionate. And the passion was contagious. Nora saw at once the tremendous potential of such powerful technology.
    Before the afternoon arrived, she had been converted, forced to admit that the WHO’s research effort made the CDC look like freshman bio students poking around in the dark. Just one of many revelations she encountered that day. The resources being devoted to the effort were also prodigious: half of this facility filled with massive super-cooled server banks continually monitoring and integrating input from dozens of scientists investigating independently. As she