The Andromeda Strain

            The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton is a science fiction book about.
             the fictional 'first crisis' in the biological field. The book starts out by.
             pointing out that technology is growing so rapidly, there is bound to be.
             crises, like Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, and how the biological field of.
             science has never had a major crisis. He also points out that biology is the.
             youngest of all the fields, and a crisis has been long overdue.
             It begins with what is known as Project Scoop, a scientific mission to.
             find life in the extreme outer limits of the atmosphere. Many satellites are.
             put into orbit, and most are lost or come back with nothing. Then, with the.
             seventh satellite, the get something. There is just one problem. The.
             satellite lands in a very small town in northeast Arizona called Piedmont.
             Tracking crews are sent out to find the satellite and find it, and head into.
             the town, but they find most of the inhabitants of Piedmont lying dead,.
             clutching their chest, in the middle of the main street. When the get out of.
             the vehicle to investigate, they die too, while being monitored by radio.
             The person in charge is back at base, listening to them. When, after.
             the two find all the dead bodies in the town, everything goes silent, he.
             knows something has gone very wrong, and calls in the problem. The systems.
             that have been set up to take over in the event that something that like this.
             happened start to take over, and certain people are contacted. Years before,.
             a group of biologists proposed to the President that, in case of a unknown.
             biological agent getting out into the country, an underground secret base.
             should be set up to study the organism, and possibly try to find a cure. It.
             would be five levels, each successive level more sterile than the other,.
             from level 1 being non-sterile, to level 5 being as sterile as possible. The.
             base also would have an automatic nuclear device placed at the bottom of it to.
             prevent the spread of the organism if it were to break the seals of any of the.