The Greatest Lie Part 17

"That's no doubt a sign that you are feeling better. But for now, you must rest. When you're well, we can get to know one another better. That'll be your reward for being a good patient." Lizette's eyes sparkled above her oxygen mask.

"I can't wait to see you without your mask, so I can see how pretty you really are," she said.

"'Moi aussi,'" I said.

When we landed at Lucerne we got the same perfunctory immigration check as we had in Bangkok. The policeman's innate curiosity was much diminished when the object of his scrutiny was potentially a SARS carrier.

Wordless, fearful ICF personnel met us and whisked us into a negative pressure room, a room kept at lower atmospheric pressure than the surrounding building: the way the air flowed pulled the pathogens we exhaled away from the world, and into an exhaust gas sterilizer.

Nancee, Lizette and I were alone again.

"Nancee, it is good that we are such good friends."

"I agree, Alexandra, but why do you say that?"

"Because now, we will languish here as prisoners for ten days, until SARS has had had its chance to kill us or leave us alone. We will be on constant display for the curious doctors and staff of ICF, who will do their utmost to avoid contact with us."

Nancee smile disappeared into a pout. "We escape Thailand, only to become prisoners here? Why?"

"We are here so we can be isolated from the Swiss, who dread foreigners as a matter of instinct. And we are here to be studied by my father. He heads a team of SARS researchers. He hopes to duplicate his triumph over AIDS with of our presumed SARS cases>"

Nancee looked at me with astonishment. "Your father had AIDS?"

"No, he discovered what caused it, and feels others stole his credit. Now, he wants to be the first to identify the SARS virus."

"I thought we were here to be treated."

"Are you kidding? He is probably hoping that we get it."