The Cepheus Protocol Novelization, written by Christopher Lee Buckner, is a gripping insight into the events before and during the game. After a mysterious meteorite is discovered in Antarctica in the late 1990s, an alien virus is harvested and developed into a horrific weapon of war. When a sample is taken after a daring Navy SEAL raid on a Chinese military facility, the Pangu Virus is accidentally released on the cargo ship Voyager Dawn where Chelsey Trader is exposed, becoming patient zero. Chelsey begins to spread the virus among the population of Treasure Island, San Francisco, which are mutated into murderous creatures with one goal, spread the Pangu Virus to all life. The only group capable of stopping the spread of the virus is the men and women of the CERC, an elite government force created to combat a global rise in viral and biological warfare. However, what they encounter goes beyond anything the CERC has trained for.
