Washington, D.C., Department of the Army.
In the office of Major General William Hammond, Surgeon General. On his desk lay a document that had just been transmitted via encrypted telegram from the office of the Chairman of the Senate Military Committee.
The document's header bore the emblem of New York Presbyterian Hospital.
The signatory was Dr. John Dalton—a name that represented absolute authority in the entire American medical community.
This was a clinical application observation report.
Major General Hammond had read it three times, but each time he finished, an irrepressible shock would appear on his composed face, accustomed to life and death.
At the beginning of the report, Dr. Dalton wrote with his usual rigorous style:
