The Conspiratorial

Raymond looked up, rubbing his eyes. “Sandra, I really can’t believe this. This is a stretch of anyone’s imagination. I couldn’t write fiction better than this. They are posturing as they have to, I guess, in order to make it look like this virus was in fact produced in nature. Look at all the money spent on this lie! The Mexican government’s chief epidemiologist said the virus may have originated in Asia, jumped to California and travelled south with migrant workers returning home to the village for Easter holidays. Not to mention that this virus is a combination of human, avian and pig flu viruses. The odds that this virus was produced by nature are astronomical.”

“Come here, let me show you something.” Raymond got up and gestured for Sandra to take over the stool. He was bleary eyed from looking at these images. Here’s an actual swine flu strain, here’s avian flu, here’s human flu. What do you see?”

Sandra picked up the image printouts and took a quick study. “Raymond, they all look alike. I guess I’m no scientist.”

“Well, with that observation, you are more scientific than you think. There really isn’t that much difference in any of these. Flu virus, because of their similarities, can combine with each other to form new strains. Its kind of like two different pedigree dogs mating to produce a hybrid. So, I’m not denying that the virus exists. I’m denying it’s origin which I still can’t fathom. One other thing. The images are all of dead viruses.

“So?” questions Sandra. She wanted to say “duh!” but held her tongue.

Raymond grabbed the prints, stuffed them in his folder and turned back to Sandra. “I want to show you something, but you can’t tell anyone.”

Sandra looked kind of puzzled but being the adventurous sort there was no way whe was going to say no. “Ok, go!”.

Raymond led Sandra down the hall into what most people thought was nothing more than storage for old, antiquated, useless equipment that no longer served any purpose. In the back of the room there was a light on and clearly Raymond had been up to something. On the desk was one of the oddest looking microscopes she’d ever seen. “You playing with your toys again?”

Raymond responded with a smile. “Put this on”, he said as he handed her a set of latex gloves and a mask.

“What are you cooking up Raymond?” Sandra was now a bit more nervous but excited too. “I’m not sure I want to be a part of this.”

“Don’t worry,” Raymond responded. “The worst that will happen is you could come down with the flu if you mishandle this stuff!”

That was enough for Sandra. She put the mask and the gloves on the table and without saying a word, turned around and started for the door. Raymond grabbed her by the sweater…”Wait, you’ve GOT to see this. C’mon, I promise you that this is a pretty harmless experiment. In fact, I honestly believe the chances of you walking out of here with the flu is exactly ZERO. “Begrudgingly, Sandra complied.

Raymond produced a vial from his shirt pocket. Sandra gasped. “Raymond! That is totally against protocol. You could get fired for that.” Raymond was holding a live virus sample he’d smuggled from the lab. “I’m not going to ask how you got that but I’m starting to feel pretty vulnerable here Raymond.”

“That’s OK,” Raymond said. “This will be TOTALLY worth it. Trust me.”

Raymond began preparing the sample. When he was finished, he slipped it the view space of the funny looking microscope on the desk.

Sandra looked in disbelief as she watched Raymond handle what looked like a really bad plumbing experiment. “What is this thing Raymond?”

“This, my dear, is a Rife Microscope”. It was built in 1932 and is one of six working models in existence. I’ll go into details later, I just want you to see this. He dialed in the sample and gestured for Sandra to look through the scope lenses. “Now”, he said, “you have to totally relax and tune in with the equipment. The only way I can explain what I mean is that it’s like looking at those stereogram books. Once you relax and focus at the same time, you’ll see what you’re suppose to see.”

“I don’t see much of anything, really,” Sandra said.

“Just relax. You can adjust here if it helps.”

It took Sandra 20 minutes of frustration before she came to realize that there actually was something there. “Raymond, is what I’m looking at supposed to be moving?”

“YES! Sandra! you are one of the few people in this world who has ever witnessed a LIVE virus! Wow, I didn’t think you were going to be able to see it. It’s very difficult to tune this equipment, but once you get it, you get it! Keep looking.”

Raymond was busy working on another piece of equipment that looked like an old radio with a few dials on it. As he turned on the switch, the lights in the room went noticibly dimmer. But another light was getting brighter. Attached to this radio looking thing was the oddest looking light bulb and it was glowing.

Sandra looked up to see exactly what Raymond was doing. Raymond responded, “No, no…keep looking!” On the dial that Raymond was turning was a tick mark that he had made. A corresponding tick mark on the surface of the equipment had been created so Raymond knew exactly how far to turn the knob. As he did so, the intesity of the plasma tube, that funny light bulb, was changing. The net effect of what Raymond was doing was to change the frequency that was emitted by the plasma tube. Raymond slowed his movement to precisely dial in the frequency that he had marked on the dial. “Please tell me what you see”, Raymond prompted.

“Well, I can see about 10 of these things. It kind of reminds me of the first time I saw Paramecium under my little microscope at home. The outlines appear to be lit…almost like they are phosphorescent.”

“Excellent observation.” Think of it this way. You can’t actually see a star, but you can see the light emitted from a star. This microscope uses special quarts crystals to help light up the specimen. That’s how you can see them. Now keep watching.” Raymond was fine tuning the other piece of equipement. “Almost there…almost there…THERE! What do you see!”

Sandra was looking intently through the scope. “I’m not sure. They’re still there…but they’re not moving. Wait…Oh my God! They’re exploding?” She said this in the form of a question.

Sandra looked up at Raymond as if she’d seen a ghost. “I’m not sure I get it.” One minute I’m looking at a live virus and the next minute, they explode. And I’m presuming that it has something to do with that radio looking thing. You’ve got some explaining to do mister!”

“In due time”, Raymond said. Here’s the rest of the virus if you want it. Raymond tossed her the vial. Sandra made a panicked grab for it. “I can assure you that there is no longer a live virus in that container. They suffered the exact same fate that you witnessed under that microscope. In fact, if you had the virus ‘in you’, it is dead also.”

Sandra quite literally was speechless. Here head was reeling. “So, what you’re saying is that without drugs, without vaccinations, by my just sitting here while you turn the dials on that machine, I’m flu-less!? You’re either a genius or an idiot. I can’t figure out which.”

“I’m neither, Sandra.” My great grandfather was a physicist. His name was Raymond Royal Rife and he invented this microscope. I found this one in the basement of our house which is the same house my great grandfather lived in. I also found this thing you call a radio. It is a radio of sorts. It’s designed to emit a certain frequency determined by that dial I was turning. The light comes from a plasma tube that emits a very narrow band of frequencies which again are determined by the dial indicator. I ran this experiment last week after I got the plazma tube. My apologies for bringing you in here, but I had to make sure that what I was doing could be replicated by another person. I’m glad to say that you passed with flying colors. It took me months to discover and see what you just did!”