human
Morning, Phillip said weakly.
gpt
Nice day. Looks like the sun might come through.
human
Yeah, said Jake.
gpt
Nice day. You--uh--feel all right this morning?
human
Fine, fine. Phillip tossed his hat in the closet, opened the incubator on his culture tubes, trying to look busy. He slammed the door after one whiff and gripped the edge of the work table with whitening knuckles.
gpt
Why?
human
Oh, nothing. Thought you looked a little peaked, was all.
gpt
Coffin come in yet?
human
He's in there. He's got the door locked.
gpt
I think he's going to have to open it,
human
Stay right where you are, Coffin squeaked.
gpt
Don't come a step closer. I can't see you now. I'm--I'm busy, I've got work that has to be done--
human
You're telling _me_, growled Phillip. He motioned Jake into the office and locked the door carefully. Then he turned to Coffin.
gpt
When did it start for you?
human
Right after supper last night. I thought I was going to suffocate. Got up and walked the streets all night. My God, what a stench!
gpt
Jake?
human
Sometime this morning, I don't know when. I woke up with it.
gpt
That's when it hit me,
human
But I don't understand, Coffin howled.
gpt
Nobody else seems to notice anything--
human
Yet, said Phillip,
gpt
I think, said Phillip,
human
The most important thing right now is secrecy. We mustn't let a word get out, not until we're absolutely certain.
gpt
But what's _happened_? Coffin cried.
human
These foul smells, everywhere. You, Phillip, you had a cigarette this morning. I can smell it clear over here, and it's bringing tears to my eyes. And if I didn't know better I'd swear neither of you had had a bath in a week. Every odor in town has suddenly turned foul--
gpt
said Jake.
human
Perfume still smells sweet--there's just too much of it. The same with cinnamon; I tried it. Cried for half an hour, but it still smelled like cinnamon. No, I don't think the _smells_ have changed any.
gpt
But what, then?
human
Our noses have changed, obviously. Jake paced the floor in excitement.
gpt
Look at our dogs! They've never had colds--and they practically live by their noses. Other animals--all dependent on their senses of smell for survival--and none of them ever have anything even vaguely reminiscent of a common cold. The multicentric virus hits primates only--_and it reaches its fullest parasitic powers in man alone_!
human
But why this horrible stench all of a sudden? I haven't had a cold in weeks--
gpt
Of course not! That's just what I'm trying to say, Jake cried.
human
Look, why do we have any sense of smell at all? Because we have tiny olfactory nerve endings buried in the mucous membrane of our noses and throats. But we have always had the virus living there, too, colds or no colds, throughout our entire lifetime. It's _always_ been there, anchored in the same cells, parasitizing the same sensitive tissues that carry our olfactory nerve endings, numbing them and crippling them, making them practically useless as sensory organs. No wonder we never smelled anything before! Those poor little nerve endings never had a chance!
gpt
Until we came along in our shining armor and destroyed the virus,
human
Oh, we didn't destroy it. We merely stripped it of a very slippery protective mechanism against normal body defences. Jake perched on the edge of the desk, his dark face intense.
gpt
These two months since we had our shots have witnessed a battle to the death between our bodies and the virus. With the help of the vaccine, our bodies have won, that's all--stripped away the last vestiges of an invader that has been almost a part of our normal physiology since the beginning of time. And now for the first time those crippled little nerve endings are just beginning to function.
human
God help us, Coffin groaned.
gpt
You think it'll get worse?
human
And worse. And still worse,
gpt
I wonder, said Phillip slowly,
human
What do you mean?
gpt
Maybe it was just a single mutation somewhere back there. Just a tiny change of cell structure or metabolism that left one line of primates vulnerable to an invader no other would harbor. Why else should man have begun to flower and blossom intellectually--grow to depend so much on his brains instead of his brawn that he could rise above all others? What better reason than because somewhere along the line in the world of fang and claw _he suddenly lost his sense of smell_?
human
Well, he's got it back again now, Coffin wailed,
gpt
No, he surely isn't, Jake agreed.
human
He's going to start looking very quickly for someone to blame, I think.
gpt
Now don't be ridiculous, boys, said Coffin, turning white.
human
We're in this together. Phillip, it was your idea in the first place--you said so yourself! You can't leave me now--
gpt
Dr. Coffin? There was a student on the line just a moment ago. He--he said he was coming up to see you. Now, he said, not later.
human
I'm busy, Coffin sputtered.
gpt
I can't see anyone. And I can't take any calls.
human
But he's already on his way up, the girl burst out.
gpt
He was saying something about tearing you apart with his bare hands.
human
They'll crucify me! he sobbed.
gpt
Jake--Phillip--you've got to help me.
human
Send a girl down to the freezer and have her bring up all the live cold virus she can find. Get us some inoculated monkeys and a few dozen dogs. He turned to Coffin.
gpt
And stop sniveling. You're the big publicity man around here; you're going to handle the screaming masses, whether you like it or not.
human
But what are you going to do?
gpt
I haven't the faintest idea, said Phillip,