Eureka-Class G.D.Columbus

Origin
Created by Henry Deacon and Kim Anderson of Global Dynamics in 1989, the G.D.Columbus was intended to be an unmanned space probe designed to collect data from distant celestial bodies. At some point contact with the ship was lost and the project was abandoned. In August of 2009, an unidentified signal began to affect the youth of Eureka, causeing them to begin dismantling machines from around town to construct a large device that was revealed to be a landing beacon for the craft.

Upon landing, the Columbus opened to reveal a cloned Kim, which the onboard organic computer had synthesized from a cell of her skin when it encountered an error. This error was determined to be a virus that had developed at some point during the 20 year journey, possibly created due to exposure to deep space radio signals.

This story was shown in the Eureka episodes "If You Build It..." and "Ship Happens".

Effects
The virus, due to being born in an organic computer system, could be transmitted to humans. This was done via electricution. All of the components of the landing beacon became carriers of the virus, as did anyone who made contact with them. Symptoms of the virus were fever-like, and caused unusal neurological activity.

It was discovered that the Columbus created the new Kim as a failsafe, and coded her with an anitbody to the virus. Using this, in conjunction with a town-encompassing radio wave, the virus was purged from the victims.

Collection
After all useful information was retrieved from the Columbus, it was shipped to the Warehouse. It was determind that the on-board system may pose too great a risk in Eureka, with the number of other biotech systems avaliable to become infected again should the virus evolve. It is stored in a wing of the Eureka Vault far away from the rest of the technology, covered in a large canvas.