Immunity (3)

Andrew was annoyed. Pissed, you might call it, but say it too loudly and the whole node gets jittery, thinking that Waste management department in the Urinary sector is under attack. Piss! It's called urine! Argh. Why couldn’t they have better names for things around here? Just like their transportation system - he thought subway, or train network would sound more pleasant, but no, they had to call it blood and lymph vessels. It didn’t even sound right.

He now turned his attention to his communication-link. Comm-links were very useful devices, he mused. All you had to do was take it out, wave it around, and it could receive incoming messages by detecting chemicals in the fluid around you. Messages came from different frequencies or channels - the chemokines, lymphokines and cytokines to name a few. The link would list out details about the message, such as it’s origin and what it meant, in an organized and concise manner. That’s what you call technology.

Not the ludicrous new standard issue blaster they issue to macrophages - the NO-2000, that ridiculous piece of junk CAN'T be technology. This latest appendage to leukocyte fashion has an ‘exciting’ function that allows it to induce miniature portals in the walls of the capillary transport network, thus allowing armies of cells to arrive at the war zone more swiftly. Upper management had been boasting about it for weeks but they didn’t bother to tell the macrophages they issued it to! Anyhow, he was confident it was going to end up a disaster.

At present, it’s the source of irritation for him. Two T-cell officers who were traveling in the blood a while ago noticed some of those portals in the vessel wall, and thinking it might be another invasion, decided to return to the node to inform him about it.

‘Yeah, either an invasion, or a dumbass macrophage who misfired his gun,’ Andrew muttered in chargrin.

Being captain of the node, he had to investigate it. If it really was the beginning of an invasion, he needed to know early, so he could plan his attacks and send out code-red alerts on the IL and IFN-G channels, to mobilize the nearby units into action. Andrew was proud of his position as captain, having ascended there after so many battles. He could still recall his lymphoblastic days, when he was still training to become a full-fledged lymphocyte. After basic training in the marrow centres, he chose to enroll himself in the Thymus Advanced Training Course to become a T-cell officer.

Blasts could also choose to become weapon specialists, the B-cell specialists, and learn to operate and fire Antibody Cannons. Those cannons were one heck of an engineering feat, being able to fire so many different kinds of ammunition, like the IgG missile or IgM torpedo. Working with such complex weaponry was fascinating, but commanding appealed more to Andrew. He enjoyed viewing the progression of the battle from a distance, devising new tactics to outsmart the enemy, and watching them bring his troops to victory.

That really pleased him. Having passed out from the Thymus Officer School as a T-H1 officer, he was in charge of macrophages and Tcx cells, giving them orders and making sure they follow them.

Tcx cells passed out from the Thymus Officer School as well, but they were combat officers, unlike him, a commanding officer. They were trained in explosives and other eruptive, fiery weapons such as the Perforin fragmentation grenade which was packed full of granzyme shrapnel, highly toxic and devestating. They had this intriguing device called the FasL detonator, that could blow up virus-infected cells. 'Apoptosis!' they would yell, as they activated their detonators. No one knew how it worked, and no one cared. As long as it worked.

Thus, they were renowned for their swift and decisive capabilities in battle. Officially called T-CytotoXic, but nicknamed themselves ‘T-CommandoX’, a name he wasn’t particularly fond. They were arrogant, believed themselves to be a notch above the rest, and were not exceptionally compliant with orders, oftening opting to take matters into their own hands, blatantly ignoring his commands. If they weren’t so useful at killing those pesky little viruses, he would have had them expelled from his node.

The beeping on his comm-link brought him back to the present. It's time to go have a look at what's happening with that macrophage, he thought. Picking up his comm-link, he called some nearby T-cells on channel IL-2 on his comm-link, and asked them to accompany him on his investigation.

(to be continued..)