April 6: And What Goes Around (12 page)

* * *

April hadn't been
to Jon's office in a couple years. You'd think something would have changed,
but it looked identical right down to the same ugly coffee mug on his desk.
Gunny hesitated at the door like he might get stuck. It wasn't that bad. He
could even turn around if he sidled back outside before turning. April went
straight to the seat in the corner. That blocked Jon in behind his desk. Gunny
brought a chair from one of the vacant desks and managed to pull it behind him
inside the door. He could even sit down if he leaned over the desk. An elbow on
the desk kept him from holding a strained pose.

"Margaret!
Could you get our guests some coffee?" Jon bellowed. He had a com.
Apparently he didn't like using it.

Gunny never
considered himself claustrophobic. He was a big guy and had crammed in some
really small spaces from time to time. The restrooms in some transport aircraft
came easily to mind. He shifted trying to get comfortable and wondered if you
could develop that phobia late in life?

"The place is
freshly scanned like you asked. I'm almost afraid to hear what you'd worry
about having overheard. You do business sitting in the cafeteria half the time,"
Jon said.

"Gunny here
saw some interesting Earthie news this morning and told me about it before
going off to a business meeting. It was about airport closures and turning
planes away originating from Rome. As the morning progressed it became apparent
that there was a flu epidemic started very early in the season centered around
Rome.

"Now I'm
limited what I know about medical things, but this particular flu seems to be
of a special danger to Home. To the point I'm going to ask that some of our
associates who investigate things for us to shift resources to this problem.
I've never requested this sort of broad action from them before. I'm suggesting
you also use your assets to find out more about it quickly. We may have to quarantine
ourselves to survive," April proposed.

Jon's eyebrows
shot up in surprise."That isn't something to speak of lightly. We depend
on outside supplies to
eat
. The move from LEO to L2 has made everything
just a little more expensive. People would resist any such action for good
reason. It might ruin some of them economically. It would require an extraordinary
level of proof and danger to warrant such an extreme response. I'd be fired by
the Assembly if I did such a thing and it turned out to be a false alarm. And
rightly so."

April was nodding
agreeing with everything. "That's why I want your help and quickly. If
this disease gets here before we can determine the risk it will be too late.
You know the Earthies cover up and deny serious problems until way past the
point everybody on the street knows the cover up is all a lie. But then it's
too late. In this case it may hit us much harder than the general public down
below."

"OK, be
specific. What is the nature of this special danger. Tell me the details,"
Jon demanded.

Margaret passed a
carafe and cups in over Gunny's shoulder.

April recounted
the news stories and how this epidemic seemed to hit the rich while Jon poured.

"I'm with you
so far. We're relatively high income people, because it's so expensive to live
here. But correlation does not prove causation. Perhaps the high income
Earthies are susceptible to it for a reason that high income people on Home
don't share," Jon suggested.

"That's
entirely possible," April said. She made a restraining motion at Gunny,
who seemed ready to jump in. "But Gunny here pointed out another common
factor between the two populations. And it's bad because it will give them
incentive to keep the real nature of the epidemic secret longer. Increasing the
chances of it spreading everywhere including here. Go ahead," she invited
Gunny who seemed ready to burst.

"The rich are
the only ones on Earth who can afford life extension therapy, but it has to be
kept secret so many places. Even places that allow other medical gene mods.
China is the only place you can have it openly with no legal restrictions and
no back-lash from religious leaders," Gunny said.

 "And China
is still in turmoil. We can't get any dependable news from there," Jon
said.

"Exactly.
Everywhere else it will be denied as long as possible. Also flu doesn't usually
spread in this pattern. It's always in the old and the young first. In schools
and crowded military barracks and retirement or nursing homes. I knew that
without reading April's book," Gunny said. "Consider, if it started
differently, among the rich, it may have been started among them on purpose.
I'd submit this has all the markers for a deliberately propagated bio warfare
attack instead of a natural seasonal outbreak."

Jon sat silently
digesting all that.

"The next
shuttle from ISSII docks at 1400. Backtracking, could a sick person from Europe
have made a connection through ISSII in the last, say three days?" April
asked.

All three of them
considered the problem, checking public data. Jon finished and spoke first.

"No. Not
without extreme difficulty. There was an Indian shuttle to ISSII forty seven
hours ago. But it would have required a flight in a very limited time frame
from Europe. That's a great deal of trouble rather than taking a European
shuttle. I'm developing a passenger list from those flights to compare to the
shuttle manifest.

 "There is a
Larson Line freight shuttle due in two hours. The new dedicated route vessel
Larson recently added to consolidate freight in LEO and transfer it to Home. It
carries no passengers and two crew. The crew are both Home citizens. They could
have been exposed to travelers from the French habitat in theory, if not
likely. The French had a vessel dock from the Canaries fifty hours ago. I can't
get a passenger list for it though." Jon said.

"We each need
to call our people and get them to filter news and start calling up contacts
and asking questions," April suggested. "We could easily know what to
do with them in two hours. If not, I will ask Jeff to call Ted Larkin and ask
him to keep his pilots out of the general population. I think he has enough
influence to do that."

"It will take
time to explain it all to Jeff too," Jon said.

"I have to
outline
it to Jeff  because I want him to direct... his people, to drop everything and
pursue this. I think they'd do it for me, but I
know
he will. He'll do
so on my word without the full details."

"OK, let's do
that," Jon agreed, turning to his com and issuing orders. He hated to wake
people up off their shift, but he roused a couple.

April called Jeff
alone, and suggested Chen and Eddie, but left it up to Jeff to decide what resources
he needed to marshal.

Gunny felt good to
be able to contribute. His associates in security work had an interest in this.
Anyone who lived on Home did after all. And they had talents and contacts
useful to the problem. He called Otis Duggan, Eric Brockman, Isaac Friedman,
Chris Mackay and Dan Holt. He knew April would be calling Chen. That was
typical for Home. There was a lot of overlap in professions. So he called to
implore them to investigate as Jon and April were.

"I'll have
security in bio-gear at the north dock to meet the freight shuttle. They'll put
one suited agent in the lock and test them for flu virus before they are
allowed on station," Jon said.

"How long
does the test take?" Gunny asked Jon.

"They take a
swab and wipe in on a screen. It gets laser scanned and reports if flu is
present and types it if it's a known variety in a couple seconds. You close the
top like a pad and another laser heats a film on the screen and vaporizes any
organic residue, then it's ready to use again."

"And if they
test positive?" April asked.

"That would
be a problem... I better call Dr. Lee and see if he can improvise an isolation
suite if we need one. I hadn't thought of it yet, but we should consult him
anyway," Jon said. If either tests positive they will be asked to wear a
bio-isolation suit to their quarters or stay on ship."

"You might
ask Dr. Ames to consult too," April suggested. She knew Ames, AKA Jelly,
intended to build an isolation suite for his patients. She didn't know if he
had yet, but she wasn't going to ask or say anything to Jon about that. If he
wanted to speak up that would be his to decide.

"Ames? He's
not with the clinic. Is there a doctor here in private practice?" Jon
asked.

"Gerald Ames.
He isn't an MD. He has a limited practice but it's offering Life Extension
Therapy and other gene mods. I know him because I'm a customer. He might have
knowledge specific to this problem. He might even have been unintentionally
involved with provoking it." April immediately regretted saying anything
seeing Jon's expression.

"I think you
need to expand on that," Jon said.

"A couple of
Dr. Ames patients returned home to Spain and may have accidentally broken their
quarantine for a therapeutic infection. He uses a viral carrier for some of the
easier parts of Life Extension Therapy. It was politically destabilizing. It
was the sort of thing that might have pushed somebody opposing LET over the
edge to retaliate," April said.

"These
patients... I assume if they could afford to come up here for treatment they
are well to do and of the upper class like the other people getting infected on
Earth?" Jon asked.

"Yeah,"
April agreed, volunteering nothing further.

"Might you...
might we ask them if they or their friends and associates in Spain have been
hit with this new strain of flu, and shine some light on how valid our
speculations are?"

"No, because
all of them who I know have been on Home before any of this started down
below."

"I just run
security," Jon said. "It's not like I actually have any idea what's
happening on Home."

"It not like
that. If they were a problem you needed to know about don't you think I'd say
something? Just like I'm am now?"

"They're good
people," Gunny chimed in.

"All of them.
That means more than just a couple," Jon belatedly figured out.

"What
interest do you have?" Gunny asked. He seemed to be getting irritated.
"They are refugees from the Mud Ball like so many. Like
me
. I'm
hearing security risk. I don't see that."

"Not,
security risk," Jon held up a placating hand. "I used to know almost
everybody on Home. If I didn't know them on sight I knew where they worked or
with who they worked. There are too many people new now and I can't do that. It
bothers me."

"I'm glad you
don't collect face pix and keep files on people," April said.

"I'd
love
to. But once you create such a thing somebody is going to misuse it. It never
fails. I'll finish getting Dr. Lee and my security set up for the shuttle. I'll
drop a message on both of you if they test positive. You both might do some
more data searching if you have time. But I think we should go to bed and get
some sleep. I suspect we'll have much more to consider tomorrow and be glad of
the rest. Did your guys have any immediate feedback?" Jon asked Gunny.

"No, but they
are calling contacts on Earth and other habs. I also expect they'll have much
more for us by morning," Gunny said of his people. April nodded too.

"OK, I'll be
up by 0600. Why don't we get back together?" Jon said.

"Why not at
my place?" April suggested. "It's bigger and we can split up my big
wall screen to see what each of us is getting in a mosaic."

"OK," Jon agreed. He didn't like his cramped office any better
than they did.

* * *

April woke up in
the night and had to resist the urge to get up and check for news. She'd never
get back to bed and she knew it. After turning her pillow and throwing the
covers off she adjusted the bed harder and softer, raised first the head and
then her knees, put it back flat and tried the temperature up a couple degrees
and then back. Somewhere along the way she stopped fidgeting and fell asleep
again without any memory of it, but she still woke up before her alarm.

She ground fresh
coffee, using the best beans straight. Put it to brew and another load of beans
on to grind for later before showering. It might be a long day so she put on
loose stretchy pants and a long sleeved T. A very small squirt of honey was
probably sacrilege given what the Kona beans cost, but Gunny wasn't up to
harass her about it. Finally she allowed herself to check her overnight messages,
mug in hand. Breakfast could wait for that and until she had some company.

There were forty
two messages queued up. She disposed of twelve of them in less than a minute.
There was a tap * tap * tap that distracted her, and then she realized it was
someone knocking at the door instead of using com or  the buzzer. She'd had a
horrible obnoxious door alarm when she moved in and changed that quickly. There
wasn't a camera on the door, something she needed to correct. She walked back
to her bedroom and got her Singh pistol and returned. From the side and well
back she ordered the door to unlock. "It's open," she called.

Seeing the pistol
Jon quickly lifted both hands even though it was pointed at the deck.. It lost
some of its dramatic effect with a thermo-pack in one hand from the cafeteria.
He looked amused which just irritated April. "Come in, there's coffee
made," she said.

"I got a
variety pack of breakfast sandwiches and a few cold ones for later too,"
Jon told her. "I thought you might be up."

April looked at
the com screen. It was 0534. She expected Jon at 0600 but it wasn't any big
deal. He had to have been up really early to clean up, go to the cafeteria and
wait for a special order already . If anything he was more anxious to continue
investigating than her. "Make yourself at home," she said, giving an
encompassing wave. "The kitchen is right there, help yourself to
coffee."