Panspermia Deorum (18 page)

“Who the hell
do you think you are? Giving orders to people you have never met,
in a place of compassion. I had heard you were a difficult man, I
can now see that for myself. I am going back to sit with
Elise.”

Julien grabbed
him by the lapels of his jacket and pulled him close, whispering
into his face.

“Listen, you
stupid bastard, this is about Elise’s welfare, not you sitting
holding her hand. I have access to the best medical care on the
planet. You have a hand for her to cling to, nothing more. I
assumed we both want the best for her, so knock off the boyfriend
attitude and get to grips with the seriousness of the situation.
You know fine well that virtually all public services have
collapsed and the only exception is health centres, as they are now
called. They only survived because they went private. You can only
get treatment if you have a plastic debit card with guaranteed
funds, and you pay before treatment is authorised. How much have
you paid for Elise so far? Nothing? I thought so. How much will you
pay from now? Nothing? I thought so. Elise has paid for her own
treatment with funds I transferred to her.”

Denis tried to
interrupt.

“Let go of me,
I will report…”

“I’m not
finished explaining what is going to happen, do what you like after
that. Now, I spoke with our son, who, like myself, has contacts
with the top people in the medical world. He, his sister,
Geraldine, and myself, need to be checked as suitable kidney donors
for Elise. Can I put you on that list?”

“Well…well of
course I am probably…uh… too old, but yes, I suppose.”

“Fine, I think
I got that. Now, hospitals such as this have lost their leverage on
organ donation. It’s a sad fact, but I’m afraid it is what it is.
People needing transplants are in an auction from day one. She
could wait for months to even get on the list for a random kidney
to be available if she stays here. I am going to tell Elise that my
son has spoken to a prominent surgeon in Boston about her
condition, and her medical notes have been sent to this woman. We
even have to pay to be tested in our new society, so you’ll excuse
me if I think you haven’t totally convinced me of your intentions
to give Elise the best chance of recovery. I’ve got a private jet
waiting to take her to Boston. There is room for you if you’re
serious about being a donor. Now, let’s cut the crap and speak with
Elise from the same page. If you can’t do that, just get the hell
out of my face while I get things moving.”

Denis became
furtive and excused himself to use the men’s room. Julien rushed
back to Elise’s room and explained the situation to both women.
Elise’s voice was very weak but she offered no resistance as the
tears began to flow. Julien had made the hospital staff aware of
the plan before he had boarded the flight from Guiana, but asked
them not to worry his wife with the decision until he arrived to
tell her in person. Geraldine stood up and hugged him tightly, not
wanting to relent until she stopped shaking. Julien made the call
to Eugene, telling him that everything was sorted, and asked if he
could inform the surgeon in Boston. He would communicate directly
with her just before they were airborne.

T
he whole family met up in Boston after a tiring
journey for Elise. They were introduced to Dr Marion Westley and
she explained the order of events. Elise was admitted to a private
room and the others followed the surgeon to her office.

“I’ve studied
Elise’s records from Lyon, and I agree that she needs a kidney
transplant. The efficiency of her left-side renal processing is
very low, and that’s a serious problem. Although it can be
alleviated by dialysis, that treatment is required more frequently
than I’d like it to be. Her right kidney is not too bad right now
but shows signs of the same symptoms. If we can replace the left
one satisfactorily I can review how this will affect her overall
dependency on dialysis in the short and longer term. So, I’ve
arranged for all of you to be screened as potential donors. I’m
afraid there aren’t any matches on our database at present. Julien,
I think you should be checked last, not being a blood relative.
Geraldine, perhaps you should wait until Eugene and Sophie have
been checked as your age and DNA lineage may have the same
potential weakness as your sister. Eugene, you and Sophie can get
ready to be assessed, as we need to know if either of you are
suitable donors. There is no time to lose; it seems your mother has
been suffering deterioration in kidney function for some time now,
and I’m surprised that this was not picked up at least a couple of
years ago. Let’s get started then, and if we find either of you can
help your mother, I’ll go through all of the stuff you need to know
about how kidney donation might affect your own life. Julien, you
and Geraldine can either wait with Elise while we get her settled,
or get some sleep while we get on with the tests.”

As exhausted as
they were, Geraldine said she wouldn’t be able to sleep and
preferred to have more caffeine until they could be told how the
tests on the kids had gone.

*

Julien was
becoming fidgety. Geraldine kept insisting that Bernard Denis was a
leech, and was worried about his intentions toward her sister,
especially if he kept on pushing Elise to marry him.

“You know,
Julien, she already approached you about a divorce, but that was
him, she didn’t feel right about it.”

“I hear you,
but that’s all for another time. I can’t concentrate on anything
other than getting Elise a new kidney at the moment. I just hope
either Eugene or Sophie can help her. She could have one of mine
tomorrow, if it was approved by Dr Westley.”

Geraldine
echoed his sentiment just as Julien saw people gathering around the
coffee shop TV. He pushed through to the front and couldn’t believe
what he was seeing. Waves of Soyuz missiles headed skywards. The
commentary was in Russian, and into focus came Ivan Kolorov. The
penny dropped immediately. Soyuz had only acknowledged the need for
a scoop because they could never have launched such a cluster of
warheads without them being picked up by multiple observers. They
couldn’t allow speculation that it was a strike against the west,
hence the detailed explanation of where and when this expeditionary
arsenal would take out the asteroid. It was being marketed
ruthlessly; as Soyuz simply not being prepared to rely upon good
fortune any longer in dealing with the threat. Kolorov referred to
the VB Aerospace project as ‘gambling by pretending they had proven
it was essential to wait to play pinball deeper within the solar
system’.

“Their strategy
could have many undesirable effects, including destabilising the
orbits of other solar bodies which could negate the primary
objective. We have taken a bold step and invested considerable
resource to eliminate the threat as soon as we could assemble the
means to do so. More details will be forthcoming in the next few
days.”

Julien knew
that he would be hounded by the media to answer Kolorov’s claims.
He had enjoyed unwavering support from the populous, but this was a
direct attack on him, aimed at eroding that trust. He didn’t want
to be stampeded into a premature riposte, preferring to wait until
Kolorov honoured his promise of more details being released in the
coming days.

*

Dr Westley had
good news and bad news. The tests had shown both Eugene and Sophie
were acceptable donors.

“I’ve studied
the test data thoroughly and I have only one major concern.
Although both profiles would certainly extend Elise’s life and get
her off dialysis relatively quickly, Sophie would be the better
choice. I’m afraid Eugene has markers which indicate he may suffer
from his mother’s condition later in life. That is by no means
certain, but it seems like an unnecessary risk, if he did end up
with such a problem while he was relying on a single kidney.”

Eugene and
Sophie excused themselves from the rest of the gathering to mull
over the situation.

“Sophie, I
didn’t want to say the wrong thing in there, but what about your
addiction?”

“That’s in the
past, Gene. I’m clean, you know that.”

“Of course, but
if you fall off the wagon with one kidney it could be you who ends
up in a box. History tells us that many people can’t kick the habit
permanently. It’s the same with alcohol.”

“So why would
Westley say I was the better choice? She knows my history.”

“Well, that’s
another thing, maybe the results got mixed up, it does happen.”

“What the hell
has got into you, brother? Hello! She wouldn’t have said you might
have problems in years ahead without checking. Anyway, none of us
might have years ahead…oh, now I get it. That’s why you’re spouting
the bullshit. You think none of this will matter by 2039, we’ll all
be grains of dust. Listen, I know how hard you’re working to find a
way to help me with your ‘gene farm’ stuff, but for once in our
lives, let me be the one who gets the plaudits for being unselfish.
Your shiny halo can stand just one tiny hit. I’m not going to move
on this, Gene-genie, so let’s tell the Doc we’re good to go.”

“I still
think…”

“No you don’t,
we’re done here.”

*

Julien was
still reeling from the Soyuz launch of their battery of nuclear
warheads, when a second news item caught his eye. The headline said
it all for him.

‘
Carnage as Russian Oligarchs are assassinated in remote
location in the Ural Mountains.’

It was followed
by a photoshoot of an oligarch whose life had been saved by his
train being late arriving at its destination. He spoke unsteadily,
despite his good fortune, and condemned the perpetrators who had
planted the explosive devices. The hotel had been levelled to the
ground, killing forty-eight staff and guests, in addition to the
oligarchs. Julien recognised the man who was consoling the
surviving oligarch. It was Ivan Kolorov.

*

Sophie didn’t
want her father or brother to be with her when she was being
prepped for losing her kidney. She had a tearful conversation with
her mother before going under general anaesthetic. Her focus was on
catching up on the family house, now that Elise would need to
recuperate before deciding her future, if she had a future. Having
convinced herself of this, Sophie couldn’t help thinking about the
illogicality of having an operation to make oneself less healthy
than before the procedure. When she recovered consciousness, a
surreal world beckoned. One in which she had ‘hallucinatory’
images, all of which she wanted to paint. She was uncomfortable,
even with the morphine drip, and found it difficult to concentrate
on the post-op reassurances of its success, and what would happen
next. She was barely aware of Julien and Eugene at her bedside,
despite their relief that she’d suffered no complications. She
waved her acknowledgement of whatever they said, and gradually
drifted back to sleep, seeing only vivid colours and unique
shapes.

*

Far away from
the maelstrom playing out in the brain of Julien Delacroix, the
Martians had hit a setback, but one which was not entirely
unexpected. The happenchance euphoric discovery of water ice and
liquid carbon dioxide was more than a little offset by the
disappointing analysis of over one hundred ‘soil’ samples. Above
ground, underground, split rocks, black dust, red dust, dust
containing sparklers, and dust apparently emitting static
electricity - no evidence could be found that any of it could
support plant life. It was simply spent geologic matter. This
prompted the decision for Laika to request an earlier return. The
surface crew were all in good health and they requested urgent
acquisition of advanced hydroponic units from Earth. They needed to
establish an experimental bridgehead of flora propagation with as
many consumable species as possible, in the shortest realistic
timeframe. Kolorov had a dilemma. He’d gambled on indigenous
Martian ‘greenhouse’ facility being up and running before the
nuclear strike force confronted its target. Remote analytical data
had been misleading at best. He asked the surface team to be
absolutely precise about the area from which their entire
collection of samples had been taken.

His real
concern was exactly how to deliver the news to the orbiting Laika
crew. They hadn’t been told about the launch of the nuclear strike
force. He now had to reveal the real reason for the complex
monitoring equipment on board the vessel. The crew had been told it
was simply charting technology, a kind of space cartography,
already set up for extremely high definition observation. Kolorov
was now answerable to one shareholder only, Malenkov. The oligarch
had issued instructions to track the nuclear fleet as close as
possible to the planned strike coordinates with the asteroid. Those
coordinates were yet to be disclosed, and the fuel capability of
Laika factored in to the equation. Kolorov had been told by
Malenkov that the lives of billions of people on Earth outweighed a
few people on Mars, and the same number in a space vessel.

“Ivan, we have
to prioritise. If Laika can report success with the strike,
everything changes here on Earth. If the warheads fail we have to
revise our plans once more. Laika has sufficient thrust capability
to get back to Mars, and we then launch another supply vessel to
get on with the job of creating a bridgehead to colonisation. You
know it makes sense, there would be no point in Laika returning
home to a bankrupt Soyuz. If we don’t knockout the asteroid, we
won’t have the resource or time for a second shot, which means that
VB Aerospace will have the only realistic means of averting
disaster, even if they continue to procrastinate over their own
strike. If that happens, I want to go to Mars with my family before
they launch their diversion force, because that might be the last
train out of town. If we don’t push this damned asteroid off
course, why would I think they can? I need to know the outcome of
our nuclear fleet’s clash with the asteroid before any observatory
or anyone else on Earth. Just do it, Ivan.”