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Wait a minute—doesn't this scenario begin to sound familiar, aren't we again in the presence of a motion picture theme? Not "Recall" this time—but easy enough to recall the image of Alien when contemplating the specific features of our protein—package from hell... What, after all, is a virus? It's a simple pod of concentric capsids (i.e. protein coats) and, as in the case of HIV—human immunodeficiency virus—an enclosing viral envelope, containing a core of nucleic acids; it attaches itself by surface—landingpods to the host cell, injects itself into the "belly" of the cell where the capsids dissolve and the genetic material is released. The viral genomes commandeer the materials of the cell's insides, synthesizing necessary enzymes for replication or appropriating the host's chromosomal complement at the expense of the parasitized cell. The viral genetic material duplicates itself with the seized substances, each copy manufacturing a capsid of its own so that new, mace-like orbs or obelisks are interiorly generated and erupt from the tissues of the host cell at the appropriate time—damaging or destroying the host. Voila! ALIEN. Does it not become persuasively apparent, once a good comparative look is taken, that the writers who brought us Alien were presenting us with a macroscopic version of the viral modus operandi—and indeed, the specific mode of a retrovirus such as HIV since the stowaway creature exhibited the same, protean adaptability and shapeshifting elusiveness as the microscopic counterpart on which it was obviously modeled; in fact the analogy is even more precise than 51 all that. The identifying peculiarity of the AIDS virus is that it diabolically converts the point of greatest conventional disadvantage, to its greatest advantage, i.e. it transforms what is potentially its greatest enemy into its greatest ally by specifically pirating the T-tymphocytes, thereby undermining any immunological effectiveness in ordering them to manufacture more virus in their own place. Similarly, when the protagonists in Alien attempt to terminate the creature by the most natural resort, they discover to their utter dismay that its blood is corrosive acid; any blow that may be dealt it is instantly turned around against the assailant! A conventional defensive weapon, in other words, serves to multiply its own destructive effectiveness—a sort of microbial jujitsu of quite problematic character. There is something else of significance to note in passing; it may be a happy coincidence, a fortuitous bit of invention on the part of the writers (considering how little conventional science understands about the underlying mechanics) but the fact remains that the screenplay specifies the creature's blood is corrosive acid. This points up a little recognized but significant condition for the maintenance and spawning of the HI V as well as myriad other viruses and bacterial forms: i.e. internal environments of the "host organism" (whether the individual cell or body as a whole) are most accommodating to microbial marauders when an implicit ratio of oxygen to carbon dioxide is sustained in the bloodstream beneath a certain minimum threshold. Such a ratio is a real variable in the system, and the levels to which such a ratio tends to stabilize in the statistical average of this world—at the present time and under the prevailing environmental and psychic conditions—fall far below the minimum vital threshold. 108 T-Bird_Vs_The_Flying_saucers.htm Breathtaking, Isn't It? Thus a chronic excess of carbon dioxide—to—oxygen is produced through routine processes of inefficient