Boris Bethelheim, the wily Deputy Director of our defense research agency, was interested in the perfect biological weapon. One that could destroy an enemy's infrastructure, but in the end could be brought under control. He realized that his former intern, George Brachmann-a doctoral student-had uncovered the answer; slugs with their ability to destroy the soil they lived in. George's Frankenslugs could be that weapon. Boris was a crotchety, wheel-chair bound bureaucrat who wore a white lab coat to remind people to address him as Doctor Bethelheim, just as it was embroidered over his coat's...