“– size,” continues Dutton. “Could be a gas, or some kind of a virus. We’ll use a hundred angstrom filter to begin.”
“About the size of a small virus,” says Toby, reaching for the waldo controller. He plugs the air tube from the dead rat cage into a Ferris wheel-styled Plexiglas apparatus, with a live mouse in a cage on the other side of the wheel.
“All systems go, sir,” says Toby. Dutton presses a button marked “100A.” The wheel spins to a filter with the same label. Dutton presses the “AIRFLOW 2” button. Air flows through the system. The mouse is unaffected.
“Whatever it is,” says Dutton, “it’s larger than a virus. We’ll try a one micron filter.”
“Hang in there, baby,” says Toby, smiling.
The wheel moves to a label marked “1M.” Air continues to flow, but there’s no reaction from the mouse.