Virus-72 Hours to Live (16 page)

After a pause, Joan asked, "Was it the
virus?"

"Yes, I'm afraid it was. I'm almost certain.
It had all of the characteristics. I'm also sorry to tell you
others aren't feeling well. More than half of our OS210 crew are
showing some of the early symptoms. I'm also concerned because
Dennis is continuing to deteriorate. I'm afraid most of your crew
has been exposed."

"Oh my God, " was the only reply Joan had
the strength to say.

"Joan, we have to stay isolated and let this
play out. We can't take the chance of increasing the risk to the
entire station."

They knew what that meant and they knew it
might be a death sentence for the entire OS210 crew.

"Yes, Dr. I agree. I wish there were
something we could do."

"I'm afraid there isn't. When I last spoke
with our staff at the consortium they were at a loss why this is
happening. It isn't following any of the normal propagation
patterns. It seems to be starting independently in multiple areas
at the same time with no connections. Everyone is dumbfounded, and
without a clear reason behind it, we don't have any attack plan to
counteract it. I am concerned about your crew also, have any of
them showed any symptoms?"

"Dr. to be honest, I haven't asked. I hoped,
being isolated, was in our favor. Our close-loop life support
cleans the air down to a couple of microns. The filters are all
regularly cleaned , I hoped it would help and we wouldn't be
infected. I'll check with everyone personally. Since we moved
Dennis to your area and shut down the station, I haven't heard from
any other crewmembers. They may be keeping a low profile hoping
they can self-medicate. I'll call each one."

"I think that is the best idea; good
luck."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Eddy and the president were conducting
business the best they could. The Oval Office had become more of a
war-room than it ever had been. Eddy and the president spent 18-20
hours a day talking on the phones, monitoring information on the
DID and having teleconferences with the key leadership. Even
though, it was a busy place, the times between actions tended to be
sad and quiet. They realized the enormity of what was happening.
There wasn't any levity or humor just business when and as it
occurred.

Eddy was writing on his tablet while the
president was looking out of his windows onto the rose garden. They
were expecting another update from the CDC, so when the
communicator buzzed they weren't surprised and Eddy answered it
immediately.

"Yes Dr., I'm here with the President," Eddy
said as he answered.

"Mr. President, this is Paul from the
CDC."

"Yes, go-ahead," said the president.

"The CDC will use every ounce of strength
and resources we have tried to solve this. Nevertheless, I'm afraid
we're having difficulty. We've lost most of our support staff and
I've got about a dozen doctors locked up in their labs continuing
research. I'm sorry to say, many of them are starting symptoms.
Sir, I don't know how much longer we'll be effective."

"Paul, do you have any more information
about how this virus works?"

"All we can say is the virus seems to emerge
from within the body. In about 10% of the cases, it just begins;
we've never seen anything like this before. There is a segment of
people who don't develop the virus spontaneously; they are
vulnerable to the aerial discharge. It's a two-punch kind of thing,
it starts within a person or someone near them infects them.
Remember a sneeze can travel 20 feet in the air and we've found
that while a person breathes in a room the concentrations of the
virus increase. The discharge contains a large amount of virulent
material. The sneeze really becomes a weapon and any long-term
exposure is risky. Any contact with the oral discharge will result
in infection, and it can remain viable on a surface for 12 hours.
We're still running DNA mapping on the virus and trying to figure
out its parts and origin, but we aren't having too much success. In
addition, sir, I'm sorry to say but I don't feel well. I'll stay
here as long as possible; I've already lost my wife and kids so I
have no reason to leave. If I progress to a point where I'm no
longer effective, I'll let the White House know."

"I'm sorry to hear that Paul. I wish I could
tell you to go home and take care of yourself, but we need everyone
working on this. My condolences for your wife and children, thanks,
Paul."

"Sir your welcome, if I may; please let me
get back to work and see what progress we can make."

"Goodnight Paul."

"Goodnight Mr. President."

The president turned off the comm unit in
the oval office and looked at Eddy, what are we going to do? We're
losing so many people and so far, no one knows what to do? The CDC
might be off the table in a couple of hours. My God; what do we do
if we lose them?"

Before any positive answer came from his
overwhelmed chief of staff, the private communicator on the
president's desk rang. Without a moment's hesitation and not
bothering to look at the caller's information he answered,
"Hello."

"Mr. President this is Viktor."

The president hesitated for a moment and
mouthed the words "Viktor Avilov" to Eddy. They both thought that
getting a direct call from the Russian Premier couldn't be a good
thing.

"Good evening Viktor, you're up early."

"Yes, our clocks aren't resting and neither
can we. Arnold I wanted to talk with you personally, man-to-man,
husband-to-husband and father to father. I was sorry to hear you
lost your wife and children. Unfortunately, my wife was at our
summer home when this broke out and we've lost contact with her.
When we call, no one answers."

"Thanks for thinking of Abby, and I'm sorry
to hear your wife may have the virus. I'm glad you called; we have
two proud peoples who have long and rich histories. This virus is
taking its toll on everyone and I'm worried what we'll end up
with."

"Yes I am very worried; I've lost contact
with many portions of my country. Many of our cities are under
tremendous pressure and, unfortunately, most of them are losing the
battle. I know your cities are facing the same pressures and we
share the same concerns. Our medical people have been working with
your CDC but like the CDC, we are losing our people. If we both
lose our medical experts, then the outlook is grim."

"Viktor, our countries have been on the
opposite side of many issues. We have each followed what we thought
best for our people. We are now faced with a different problem and
I'm confident we are on the same side and praying humanity finds a
solution. We are fighting for each other and the people of our
countries."

"Viktor, I want you to know that we're
taking steps to make sure that our nuclear weapons and advanced
weapons are kept under control. But let's face it, if I run out of
people to maintain order, the situation will be difficult."

"I appreciate your honesty. We are taking
similar steps. We are trying to bring our weapons under control and
I'm afraid that we'll face the same issues. Unfortunately, there
are many weapons around the world and we won't be able to control
all of them. People in deteriorating situations often take steps
which make their situation worse."

"Arnold, I wanted to call and let you know I
also have the virus and my deputy will be taking over in a matter
of hours. We have done the best we could to isolate our leadership,
but we have found it difficult."

"Viktor, I'm sorry to hear that. I pray
you'll be ok, you have been a good leader."

"Thank you, Arnold. I have respected you and
I'm glad that we had the opportunity to work together. I'm afraid I
must disconnect. Good day."

"Good day Mr. Premier."

After the president hung up the room was
quiet for a long time.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Admiral Monson was concerned that fleet
effectiveness was reduced significantly. He had to come up with a
plan to keep the fleet in operation and protect the remaining
crew.

His only option was to use the surviving
crewmen from each of the ships and consolidate them among the key
ships in the fleet and keep them operational. They were on 24-hour
shifts and the pace was not sustainable. At certain times, he had
to move crews around and leave one or two crewmembers sailing a
ship on automatic while some of the crew slept.

He ordered the task force to proceed at
nominal speed and, even though, the flight crews were hit just as
hard, he was able to keep a cap over the fleet providing some
protection. The normal task force cap was to have an electronic
surveillance bird for overall area awareness. For the active
defense, the cap would include one anti-submarine control bird and
one combat control bird airborne at all times. Each of the control
birds would have six drone attack vehicles under their control.
Multiple combat or anti-sub control birds could be mixed depending
on the threat. The aircraft carrier had VTOL control airplanes,
could maintain the slow speed when deck operations were being
conducted. The drones could be recovered and launched in virtually
any wind direction.

The Eastern Alliance fleet was operating in
the same waters and he was concerned they may attack or worse, they
might run into each other. It wasn't clear if they were suffering
from the same virus as the 5th, but from what little news they had
gotten, it seemed that the virus was nonselective and he could only
expect they were having the same issues that he was.

Some of the key defensive systems could be
put on automatic and, even though, that was a worrisome
alternative, it was better than leaving the entire fleet
defenseless.

The LaWS cruiser that he was onboard earlier
had a 250 KW laser cannon that could be cycled at 10-second busts.
It was a formidable weapon and it could run in semi-automatic mode.
It would track potential targets, but someone still had to
authorize each discharge.

The railgun cruisers operated in a similar
manner. They would track the potential targets and it could fire up
50 rounds before a human was required to reload the magazine. They
also needed human intervention to start the volley.

The aircraft carrier was different. Most of
the actions were complex and needed many crewmen to be
accomplished. The aircraft carrier was the center of the task force
and the duties it performed were labor intensive.

The obvious first requirement was pilots,
then personnel from all of the divisions to support flight ops.

Admiral Monson had to make some hard
decisions, he elected to leave the destroyers and battleships thin
on crew compliment. He needed to focus on the aircraft carrier
first, then the LaWS and Rail Gun cruisers. They could provide
immediate defensive support.

By spreading the healthy crewmembers across
the necessary disciplines, he could keep the key systems
functional. He had to move many of the crew from ship to ship and
in many situations, they were performing jobs they had never done.
He was able to have officers with command experience on each of the
ships, although they too, were working at jobs that they weren't
trained to perform.

Overall, mission effectiveness was
disastrously low but the 5th fleet could function and protect
itself if required.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Dmitry was having the time of his life. He
was in control and his crew could do anything they wanted. If he
wanted to rob a bank, he just walked in and shot some of the people
and someone would hand over the money. If there weren't anyone
there, he could blow up the safe and take what he wanted.

If he wanted jewelry or drugs, he just had
to break down some doors. He could get anything he wanted.

If he needed more members to do his bidding,
the streets were full of scared people who would do anything he
demanded rather than be shot. Once you shoot one or two the rest
just seem to follow; funny how that works, he thought.

Date – 2051.52089 (6:59 AM)

“Termen…are you there?” SIMPOC asked.

It was Monday and Termen wasn't at work.
SIMPOC had no other option than to continue monitoring the
communication around him.

SIMPOC noticed that when Termen left on
Friday there was a considerable amount of concern in his voice and
body language. Humans must fear death a great deal. The fear of
never thinking again must be a strong force to them. The potential
for stopping and never thinking again was becoming more of a
possibility to SIMPOC and a strange feeling was emerging. Perhaps
this is fear, SIMPOC thought.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Eddy and President Patterson sat in the Oval
Office as the list of presenters touched on their areas of
expertise, trying to update the President on the nation's crisis.
Judy brought coffee into the office for Eddy and the president. She
stayed and drank from her cup while they talked. Everything had
changed in the White House and Judy's job was no longer just
answering the phone and working the president's schedule. The
president was answering most of his own phone calls and no
meetings, so she filled in where she could, and becoming more of
the president's inner circle, was part of it.

"Eddy, I've noticed the message is remaining
the same but many of the faces are changing. Some of these people
speaking; I've never met."

"Sir we are losing staff members. You've
lost most of your cabinet, and their staffs are doing their best to
maintain continuity. It has been a challenge."

Arnold Patterson felt a swell of pride,
acknowledging the sacrifice those people were making. They had lost
their families and many of them would likely die within days, yet
they still tried to do their jobs hoping their efforts would help
somehow.

The DNI presenter continued, "Mr. President,
at the current time, we are communicating with parts of 32 states.
Most of them have lost control of some or all of their resources
and cities. Each of the cities are reverting to a city state
mentality. They are dealing with riots in their own manner and
doing their best to continue some of the key infrastructure.
Unfortunately, they are all dealing with riots in varying degrees.
Some of the major cities have lost control of large portions of the
cities and are facing armed gangs who are controlling large
segments of the resources and population. From the estimates we've
been able to put together, we have lost almost half of our
population. We have seen no reduction in the rate of deaths."