The Andromeda Strain

FIRST VINTAGE EBOOKS EDITION, MAY 2012

Copyright ©1969 by Centesis

Copyright © 1988 by Michael Crichton

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. Originally published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, New York, in 1969, and simultaneously in Great Britain by Jonathan Cape Limited, London. Subsequently published in Great Britain by Arrow, a division of Random House Limited, London, in 1993.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Vintage eISBN: 978-0-307-81641-2

www.vintagebooks.com

v3.1_r1

for
A.C.D., M.D
.
who first proposed
the problem

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Epigraph

Acknowledgments

Day 1 - Contact

1 - The Country of Lost Borders

2 - Vandenberg

3 - Crisis

4 - Alert

Day 2 - Piedmont

5 - The Early Hours

6 - Piedmont

7 - “An Unusual Process”

8 - Directive 7–12

9 - Flatrock

10 - Stage I

11 - Decontamination

Day 3 - Wildfire

12 - The Conference

13 - Level V

14 - Miscellaneous

15 - Main Control

16 - Autopsy

17 - Recovery

18 - The Noon Conference

19 - Crash

20 - Routine

21 - The Midnight Conference

Day 4 - Spread

22 - The Analysis

23 - Topeka

24 - Evaluation

25 - Willis

26 - The Seal

27 - Scared to Death

28 - The Test

29 - Three Minutes

Day 5 - Resolution

30 - The Last Day

Epilogue

References

About the Author

Books by Michael Crichton

The survival value of human intelligence has never been satisfactorily demonstrated.

JEREMY STONE

Increasing vision is increasingly expensive.

R. A. JANEK

ANDROMEDA STRAIN

ANDROMEDA STRAIN

THIS FILE IS CLASSIFIED TOP SECRET

Examination by unauthorized persons is a criminal offense punishable by fines and imprisonment up to 20 years and $20,000.