“There’s only one sure way—and that’s to break the life cycle. The technique is thousands of years old, but it’s just as good today as it was then.”
“Good—then let’s do it.”
“To make a varrit stew,” Kennon said, “one must first catch the varrit.”
“Huh?”
“We have to learn the beastie’s life cycle before we can break it, and like I said, it adapts. Its intermediate host can be any one of a hundred cold-blooded animals.”
“Is there no place else where it can be attacked?”
“Sure, in the body of the final host, or on its final encysting place. But that won’t eliminate the bug.”
“Why not?”
“It’ll still survive in its infective form and enough Lani will get subacute dosage to propagate it until the time is right for another epizootic. We have to kill its intermediate host—or hosts if it has more than one. That will keep it from growing and will ultimately eradicate it.”
Judson scratched his head. “It sounds complicated.”