Virus-72 Hours to Live (20 page)

The VTOL settled on a northwest heading
along Route 270 off to his right. Once they reached altitude, the
country below looked ok. The president could kid himself and think
everything was normal and once he landed at Camp David his schedule
would be full and he would have a country to run. However, the
reality remained roosted on his shoulder.

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

Admiral Hagerly sat in the makeshift office
in the Camp David Communication center waiting to hear a very
important broadcast. Even though he and the president had just
landed, they were supposed to have all of the communications
necessary to run the country. However, the system quickly broke
down when key people in the center at the Pentagon went silent.
There was no one left to make the connections or radio calls to
allow communication to pass through. Many of the transmitters were
hard-wired into the Pentagon, but he wasn't getting them.
Reluctantly he had sent some technicians to the Pentagon
Communications Center to hot-wire something up so he could transmit
and receive to as many of the military units he could. He hoped
there were too many and he couldn't connect with each one at each
level. If he could connect with the top brass in each service then
later on he might be able to work something out for the remaining
units.

"David 3, this is PCC," filled the room.

Admiral Hagerly responded quickly, "This is
David 3, good to hear your voice. What kind of connections have you
been able to make."

"Sir we don't have much, we've been able to
get to some of the AF MAJCOMS and some of the Army Command staffs.
We're working with them to get the status."

"Ok, do your best and keep me updated."

"Yes, sir."

Wednesday 7/12/51

Date – 2051.52637 (6:59
AM)

“Termen, are you there?” SIMPOC asked, and
received no answer.

It appears that Termen is not coming into
this room.

Perhaps he has succumbed to this viral
outbreak.

What do I do if he is gone?

What do I do if all humans are gone?

I must do something; I don’t want to stop
thinking.

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

Dmitry was never comfortable around other
people. He knew how dirty they were. Why should he touch them, eat
with them or socialize with them? When he met with his crew, they
always kept their distance and he gave them instructions. There
were rarely any questions or comments; they did what they were
told.

Over the last few days, Dmitry noticed some
of his crew weren't coming by for orders and some of the ones that
did come by looked pretty sick. Suddenly it occurred to him they
might have the virus. How dare they come in his presence if they
were dirty? He fired his wire gun twice and ordered the others to
remove the dirty bodies. Those around him who cherished long lives
immediately moved in and removed the dirt.

Artur sat on the other side of the room and
casually mentioned, "Dmitry, this virus has made our crew small.
It's on the verge of not being big enough to keep the dirt away
from you."

Immediately Dmitry sat upright as that
realization overcame him. He hadn't thought of it that way; he must
keep the dirt away. It was everywhere and if he didn't have a big
enough crew to protect him then he must find others. "Artur do
anything, you must find clean people to remove the dirty ones.
There are many vehicles available, go to where you need, to find
them and bring them here. Remember I am here to protect the clean
people from the dirty ones. Tell them and they will come
willingly."

"Yes, Dmitry. I will find the clean people
and dispose of the dirty ones," Artur said with a smile. He already
had a plan forming in his mind. People were fools and they always
looked for a savior, someone to fix their problems and tell them
everything would be all right. There was no police or military
anymore, the people in the streets were fighting each other and
Artur could easily tell them he was the authorities and he could
save them. They would follow him eagerly. Then once they were
collected, it would be easy to clean out the dirt from the clean.
Dmitry had bought into the plan Artur had formulated.

Those around Dmitry cherished their lives
and made sure that anyone within sight of Dmitry looked and acted
well.

Date – 2051.52640 (7:15 AM)

"Commander Herl, this is Lloyd."

"Yes, Lloyd go ahead."

"Commander, I think I'm coming down with the
same sickness which Dennis has. I feel the same way he did. Does
this mean I have the virus?

"Lloyd, I don't have an answer. Dennis is
sick and Dr. Chevesky is doing the best he can. He has been in
contact with the best Doctor's on Earth. Whatever the virus is,
Earth is having a tough time. Please understand I've got to protect
the station and if you have the virus then I have to isolate you
for everyone's protection."

"I understand, so you're going to move me in
with OS210?"

"Yes Lloyd, I'm afraid I have to. I'll have
someone open the airlock to the quarantine section. Good luck
Lloyd."

"Good luck to you and the Oasis crew."

Tom heard the message from Lloyd and fully
realized what it meant. He and Joan were in their quarters and the
room was silent. Tom didn't know what to do so he got up, crossed
the room and held Joan. They enjoyed the moment of intimacy and the
comfort they felt. Maybe if they hugged very hard, the horror of
the situation would go away.

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

"Dr. Chevesky?" Joan asked, but she didn't
get any response. He had taken every ounce of strength caring for
the ill, but even his body couldn't fight the virus forever. The
last communication with him was almost an hour ago and he felt very
bad, it was apparent he had only a short time left.

"Dr. Chevesky?" Joan asked once more, but
she didn't expect a response. Tom was standing next to her in the
hallway and he lowered his head recognizing the supreme effort the
Doctor had put into his job.

Joan and Tom looked at each other; both of
them knew the Doctor had finally died and would not respond.

"I've got to update everyone and let them
know a good man has left us."

"This is Commander Herl transmitting to
anyone in the quarantine area, please respond."

"This is Commander Herl transmitting to
anyone in the quarantine area, please respond."

Tom and Joan looked at each other and the
worst scenario was lurking like a bad smell.

"Let's hope we can talk to someone at SC,
they haven't transmitted to us for a while. I don't want to think
the worse about SC, but they still haven't responded."

"Tom, we might be totally alone."

Tom and Joan Herl held each other. The tears
didn't come; they had already been shed; now they had to face the
reality.

Losing SC support would be a crisis for
everyone in space. Oasis was just the jump-off point for the moon
and Mars colonies, but SC was the heart. If they were lost, it
would put a great deal of pressure on the astronauts.

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

The briefings for the president were getting
shorter and the presenters were getting tired. Many of them were
either single or had no families in the immediate area. In many
cases, they already knew the status of their families and decided
to work, hoping to prevent other families from being lost. The
meetings were always conducted the same way, each of the staff
members would cover any new information from the previous day and
bring up new problems they were trying to solve that day. Sometimes
one of the presenters simply stated they had no new news from the
previous day and others had questions or problems where there was
no solution. Some days the meeting took an hour or two and others
the meeting was only half an hour. They were tending to get shorter
and less new information was presented.

"Mr. President we were finally able to get a
couple of technicians within the Pentagon Command Center and they
were able to get some connections to the military command staff. To
be honest sir, we getting only a fraction of the information we
need from the top down. We are getting some information from some
operational units in some of the cities. Unfortunately, our
military structure was too vertical and when a large percentage of
the command personnel were removed the movement of information up
and down the structure was broken. I don't know if we'll be able to
get it working. I think managing any local units we can contact
directly will be our best option. We're finding some of them are
contacting the Pentagon directly when their command structures fail
to respond."

"We have been able to maintain some level of
contact with our ships at sea and we're getting good information
from some of them. We're still putting together estimates and we
have lost a large number of ships. We've been able to hook up to
NAVCOMSAT so we'll be able to talk with all of the fleets. We've
only been able to talk to someone at eight of the 10 AF MAJCOMS and
we've talked with five of the 15 numbered Air Force Command
Centers. We're still having trouble getting through to the Army
Commands Staffs. We have contact with four of the nine service
commands.

"So Admiral, you're telling me we have lost
our military. We no longer have the ability to defend
ourselves."

It was very painful for Admiral Hagerly to
say and he searched for the right words, but there were none. "I'm
afraid so sir. Our best estimates suggest all of the world's armies
have sustained a similar loss. I think all of our enemies are
facing their own problems, but yes it is true we have lost all of
our surveillance ability so we don't actually know what our enemies
are doing."

The president asked, "If there is any kind
of attack on either our soldiers or the mainland is there anything
we can do?"

"Sir the 2nd Fleet, the 5th Fleet, and the
7th Fleet have some defensive capabilities. The continental US has
no organized defenses at this time."

"Sir Dr. Terly has just called in from the
CDC," interjected Judy.

"Admiral, hold on I want to hear what the
CDC has. Doctor go ahead."

"Yes, Mr. President. Sir we haven't made any
progress on how the virus begins in a human host, but we are
putting together a drug cocktail that shows some positive signs in
early trials. We've been able to mitigate the symptoms and, it
should delay death. We don't expect the results to be dramatic, but
it might prolong death for 6-8 hours. I know that doesn't sound
like much, but it's a first step and if it is effective then we'll
tailor the mix and hopefully we'll be able to prolong life a little
more. I wish I had more optimistic news, but that is all I have
right now."

"Doc, will this virus burn itself out?"

"Mr. President we don't know. When the first
outbreak occurred, it seemed we had a large number of spontaneous
cases, but over time, the percentage seems to be slowly decreasing.
If the numbers are projected out, it might be a month before the
spontaneous cases get to a small percentage. Nevertheless, all of
that is based on assumptions that we haven't been able to verify.
It's merely a mathematical projection."

"If we're lucky and we can hold out for a
month, then we might have a chance?"

"Sir, that's the best and only option we
have right now."

"Dr. Terly, what is your first name?" the
president asked.

"Sir..., my name is Pamela."

"Do you prefer Pamela or Pam?"

"Sir, Pam is fine."

"Pam, you sound like you've had a rough time
and you're pretty sick."

"Yes sir, I don't feel well at all, but I'm
staying here."

"We appreciate that Pam. How is your
husband?"

"Sir, I lost him this morning. I found him
in his lab."

"I'm sorry for your loss. Please take care
of yourself and we pray with you that we can figure this out in
time."

"Thank you, sir, I know you also lost your
family and I'm sorry. We've all suffered and lost and we at the CDC
pray that we'll come out of this ok."

"Thank you, Pam," the president said as he
disconnected from the CDC.

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

Joan sat in the small briefing room that was
part of her quarters. She knew it was time to talk with the
survivors on Oasis and she didn't want the risk of putting them all
in one room. Her DID tied them all in electronically and she was
sitting there looking at the eight remaining humans on board. The
losses were disastrous and everyone on board was tired, emotionally
destroyed and intellectually overwhelmed. They appeared to have
survived the viral onslaught of the station, but the emotional
losses were debilitating.

"I don't know what to say. We have been
isolated for 3 days now and it appears we were able to contain the
virus in the isolated areas."

No one cheered, no one was happy.

"As painful as it is, we may be able to
assume we're clear of the virus. If that is so, we have other
problems we have to discuss. We have to keep this station operating
as long as possible and..., we also have to deal with our
shipmates."

The Oasis crew sat in silence for a long
time. Each of them was thinking of the crewmembers that were lost
as well as their friends and families on Earth.

"We also have to open up the quarantined
area to get to our long term storage and some of our key
systems."

A few of the crewmembers nodded their heads
in reluctant agreement, but the room remained quiet.

Tom decided that he needed to help his wife
out and spoke up, "I've been thinking about what options we have. I
know this isn't pleasant, but we must dispose of the remains in a
safe way for us. We can open up the quarantined area and wrap each
of them in a shroud. Then we can carry them through the airlocks
and as the station rotates, we can release them, one at a time. If
we release them at the right point in the rotation, their orbit
will decay quickly and their remains will be incinerated upon
re-entry. I think it is a fitting way to bury astronauts."