Archer's results were ready two days later. His analysis identified the testosterone promoter, and tentatively identified the other gene as a human homeobox gene of unknown function. The vector was unfamiliar, but he was able to find the sequence in the public databases: it turned out to be a proprietary transfer vector, patented by a local biotech company.
Finally over the cold symptoms, Carson returned to the clinic, but told his staff to clear all his appointments unless they called reporting "serpentitis" symptoms. He then contacted the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, and reported the outbreak. They were understandably skeptical, but after he faxed them Archer's report and his patient files (with their pictures and self-reported measurements), they were obligated to investigate. In parting, Carson mentioned that they would
not
want to report this particular outbreak to the media: "Can you imagine what traffic into Boston would be like? Half the men in the country would be hijacking planes."
A CDC team had come and investigated, talked to the biotech company, and had traced all the infected men they could find. As a urology expert, Carson had been roped into the investigation, and had been involved until the CDC determined that there were no new cases. He had met both the president and the vice president, who had come to Boston for a fund raiser, and then came down with severe colds a week later.
The day after the CDC closed the case on serpentitis, Carson was presenting his business plan to venture capitalists. He sold his interest in the clinic, raised $12 million in venture capital, and incorporated Python Biotechnology. Research was going well, and they'd developed a strictly non-contagious form of the vector (can't have people getting the treatment for free!). A technically illegal informal clinical trial had produced no unwanted effects, and although quite a few women came down with the cold symptoms after direct administration, none had experienced any adverse reactions. The "trial subjects", many of them company employees, had been kept in isolation their significant others throughout the duration of their participation.
Still, Boston was developing a reputation as a city of particularly virile men, probably due in part to the original infection. He had heard that a number of men had taken to wearing small snake pins on their jacket or shirt, and that men wearing such things in the bars downtown were, let's just say, unusually popular.
The only real obstacle had been licensing rights from the original biotech company, Delta. Delta hadn't patented the virus, but had asserted that it was a trade secret when they heard rumors of Python's activities. Carson's lawyers had advised him that Delta's case was not a slam dunk, but was sufficient to tie them up for quite a while. Ultimately, Python's directors agreed that it was more expedient to pay a small royalty to Delta for use of the trade secret, and authorized negotiations. The remaining time since then had been consumed by Delta's dithering: they couldn't decide whether they wanted a public connection with Python, and more to the point, whether there was liability involved in licensing the technology to Python. If they dragged their feet any more, Python's second product would end up on the market first.
Enough reverie. At this point, they were nearly ready to file with the FDA.
Product number one was called the "pythonizer" within the company. Marketing was still working on a suitable generic name and trademark for the actual release. Product number two was officially titled "mammary enhancement virus" (MEV), but was called variously "melonitis", "Wassermelon's disease" (said with a German accent), and "titty-titty-boing-boing" ("TTBB" for short) by the staff. The first successful version, MEV1, had resulted in a number of female rats with mammary glands so over-developed that their legs wouldn't reach the floors of their cages. Unfortunately, it turned out that using the estrogen promoter had not been a good idea: males also have estrogen receptors, and small quantities of estrogen in circulation. Male rats had also developed large mammary glands. Later versions used a different promoter, derived from a gene expressed only in females. The current version was MEV4, and seemed to have all the bugs worked out. The MEV team were now working on calibrated versions capable of producing carefully defined results: the unofficial names for these versions were MEV5-c, MEV5-d, MEV5-dd, MEV5-f, and "MEV5-OMyGod". Of course, those designations were based on an assumed A or B cup starting size: a woman starting off with a more ample bust would increase a proportionately greater amount.
