Jim said:

> > If, as you've
> > indicated, the sample return involves astronauts (you'd gain maximum
> > kudos for having a realistic mission architecture here - ask Adrian)
> > then as far as I can see an infection is still very unlikely.
> 
> It'll be hard in that case to have an infection that doesn't just Kill 
> Them Dead on the months-long trip home.

But this wouldn't matter.  As long as the virus has made enough copies of
itself (as it would if it had undergone maximum amplification in even one
good-sized host, like a person, which will be required, just because I like
saying "Maximum Amplification") before the host dies, it can just hang
around and do nothing, safely ensconced in the ship, until it is picked up
by another suitable host organism.  Like people back on Earth.

> Something AIDS-like maybe, that they might not notice until they're 
> back?  Maybe something that by means of <sci-babble> actually manages to 
> amplify infections?

This could work too.  I've get to flesh it out, I'm just thinking about it.

> OR take a clue from Bear's _Darwin's Radio_ and _Blood Music_ and have 
> the virus being zapped be a human endogenous virus, or have the mutated 
> virus be something that triggers one of them, that then reveals that all 
> that junk DNA is REALLY....

Heeeeey...now this I like...except it's been done.

> OR if you include some sort of bacteria for the virii to live in, maybe 
> they start metabolizing iron, which would do Very Bad Things to human 
> blood in ways that might just be photogenic.

oooooooooo.....

Thanks guys!

Amanda
VFP Viral Warlord