However, by the time the scientists realize this, Andromeda has mutated into a form that degrades the lab's plastic seals and escapes containment. Jackson and Ritter survived because both had abnormal blood pH (Jackson acidotic from consumption of Sterno and aspirin, Ritter alkalotic from hyperventilation). Andromeda's ideal pH range is 7.39–7.43, within the range found in normal human blood. The scientists learn that the current form of Andromeda grows only in a narrow pH range in a too acidic or too alkaline growth medium, it will not multiply. The microbe, code-named "Andromeda", mutates with each growth cycle, changing its biological properties. The microbe contains chemical elements required for terrestrial life ( hydrogen and carbon) and appears to have a crystalline structure, but lacks the DNA, RNA, proteins, and amino acids present in all forms of terrestrial life, and directly transforms energy to matter with no discernible byproducts. Dr. Hall is the only scientist authorized to disarm the automatic self-destruct mechanism he is an unmarried male and thus presumed to make the most dispassionate decisions during crisis.įurther investigation determines that the deaths were caused by an extraterrestrial microbe transported by a meteor that crashed into the satellite, knocking it from orbit. Wildfire is hidden in a remote area near Flatrock, Nevada, sixty miles from Las Vegas, concealed in the sub-basements of a legitimate Department of Agriculture research station. Jackson, Ritter, and the satellite are taken to the secret underground Wildfire laboratory, a secure facility equipped with every known capacity for protection against microorganisms escaping into the environment. Two survivors-the sick, Sterno-addicted, geriatric Peter Jackson and the constantly bawling infant Jamie Ritter-are biological opposites who somehow survived the organism. Upon investigating Piedmont, the team discovers the townspeople either died in mid-stride or went "quietly nuts" and committed bizarre suicides. Jeremy Stone, believes that the satellite-intentionally designed to capture upper-atmosphere microorganisms for bio-weapon exploitation-returned with a deadly microorganism that kills through nearly instantaneous blood clotting. The duty officer of the base tasked with retrieving the satellite suspects it returned with an extraterrestrial contaminant and recommends activating "Wildfire", a protocol for a government-sponsored team of scientists intended to contain threats of this nature. Aerial surveillance reveals that everyone in Piedmont, Arizona, the town closest to where the satellite landed, is apparently dead. A team from an Air Force base is deployed to recover a military satellite that has returned to Earth, but contact is lost abruptly.
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