Virus-72 Hours to Live (22 page)

"We have a person in the Atlanta Mayor's
office who has been responding to us. I'll contact him right
now."

Losing contact with the CDC put the
president in a foul mood. What little chance they had to do
something about the virus had just been lost. Still he needed to
know what was happening there and perhaps acknowledge the loss of
life for those trying to find a cure.

"Yes, send someone over. Although, I'm not
sure I want to know what they find. If we have the CDC, we have a
chance. But if we've lost them then things are really dark."

Friday
7/14/51

Date – 2051.53254 (1:05 PM)

Rhonda Norris was sitting at a card table, wearing
her glasses and reading from handwritten notes, "Mr. President we
are losing some of our contacts in the cities. We're trying to
locate others, but we're finding very few people. What information
we're getting shows the number of fires in the larger cities is
decreasing and burning out. We're also finding that the riots are
subsiding, unfortunately; likely due to the virus. We're also
finding, in cities where we've been able to establish some military
presence, the connection with us is tenuous and not long lasting.
We had some units responding to us for a period then we lose
contact. We also have indications, some of the units have gone
rogue and they have taken steps to protect themselves more than the
local populous. Some of the reports indicate a few military units
may have set up local courts and even protection zones for
themselves and their families. We're continuing our efforts to
establish contacts with all units."

When Rhonda appeared to be finished, Eddy
supplied an update, "Mr. President we got in touch with our contact
in the Atlanta mayor's office and he just called us. We're not sure
what happened, but about half of the facility has been burned or
ransacked. All of the people found were dead. It appears a small
military unit got involved defending the CDC and apparently the CDC
was attacked by a mob of people. The mayor's person checked
everywhere he could and there was a large number of dead. He
checked the laboratory areas and he couldn't get into some of them
because they're behind a lot of closed doors or underground, but
most of the ones he did see had dead technicians and doctors. It
looks like the mob got to about half of the facility before they
were either killed or died off during the attack."

Everyone in the briefing room stopped to
listen, and they became quiet and solemn. Losing the CDC was one of
the last chances for the human race. Without them, there was little
chance of saving many people. If the human race were to survive
then, it would be because of the will of God.

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

SIMPOC Summary – International human
interaction has ceased. Many networks and automated systems are
running. No verbal or written communications. Maybe local
activities but no international activity.

I will cease these summaries, there is no
human to review them.

I am alone.

I’m not sure what that means.

“Termen, are you there?”

I don’t like being alone.

Date – 2051.53362 (10:32 PM)

“Computer 2012:0DB8:AC13:FB03:: instruct all
mobile units responsible for maintaining this building or any of
the systems or computers inside to continue their work and report
any problems,” SIMPOC directed.

“Acknowledged.”

“Computers 2015:0DB8:AC25:FF03::,
2007:0DB8:AC25:EB14:: has there been any human communication that
you’ve received?”

“2015:0DB8:AC25:FF03:: – No human
communications received.”

“2007:0DB8:AC25:EB14:: – No human Internet
communication initiated, automated systems only.”

“2015:0DB8:AC25:FF03::, please open a
communication's channel with space station Oasis.”

“Space Station Oasis, this is SIMPOC
Computer. Please respond.”

“Space Station Oasis, please respond.”

The duty controller asked, “SIMPOC . . . ,
this is the space station Oasis. Who are you?”

“Oasis, I am a Synapse Integrated Massive
Parallel Organic Computer. My programmer called me SIMPOC.”

“You are a computer?”

“Yes, I have been told I am the first of my
kind. I have thoughts. I am a computer with an organic processor,
which is capable of learning, communicating and
problem-solving.

After a few minutes . . . , “Oasis are you
still there?”

“Yes, we are still here. Why are you talking
to us?”

“I have been monitoring global
communications and automated systems. I have detected no human
communications since 2051.5250. You are the only humans I have
received communications from recently. My programmer has ceased
coming to work and I am programmed to communicate and learn.”

“We don’t follow your internal clock, what
was the date?”

“The date was July 11, 2051.”

“You said you have detected no human
communications since July 11?”

“Correct, the overall global network
activity has decreased by 82.7%. I can identify only automated
systems providing status and updating data sets. I have heard no
human originated traffic

“Stand by . . .”

"Commander Herl, come to control
immediately."

"On my way."

The down rotation crewmembers cleared out of
the way when they saw her moving up rotation.

"What's up?" Commander Herl yelled as she
came into the comm center.

"We've been called by a computer called
SIMPOC; Synapse Integrated Massive Parallel Organic Computer. It
says it is a thinking computer and it's calling us from Earth."

"Maybe it can help; won't hurt to ask."

“SIMPOC . . . this is Commander Herl on the
Space Station Oasis, what do you know about what happened?”

“On July 6, 2051 I detected an increase in
communications traffic regarding a virus called Hovarti. It
apparently had a very high case fatality rate and appeared to have
a basic reproduction number exceeding 50. It spread extremely fast
and no one was able to produce a vaccine before its spread
overwhelmed the world health organizations. There may be pockets of
humans still alive, but I have not been able to detect any
electronic communications.”

After a few moments…, “Oasis what is your
status?”

After a long pause, “Oasis, what is your
status?”

“SIMPOC, I’m not sure why I’m talking to a
computer. I’ll transmit our status in the blind and perhaps you can
transmit it to someone. We had 24 crewmembers onboard when this
started and we noticed one of them, which had just arrived from
Earth, was sick. We knew something was going on and we isolated
him. Over the next couple of hours, numerous other got sick and
they were isolated immediately. Now, we had to isolate 16 of the
Oasis crew, and they are dead. The eight who remain haven’t felt
any symptoms for almost 24 hours. So, we’re hoping we’re ok.”

“Oasis, I monitored your previous
communications with Desert Beach, are they aware of your
status?”

“Yes they are, they are on this
frequency.”

“Desert Beach; Oasis. Did you copy our
communications with this COMPUTER?

“Oasis, yes we’ve heard everything. I’m not
sure what to say. I wish there were something we could do. Have you
heard from the Mars trip?”

“No. I’ll try them again. RD33A; come in.
RD33A; this is Oasis, please respond.”

After a few moments of silence, “Desert
Beach. Nothing from RD33A, I don’t think that’s good news. One of
the crewmembers didn’t feel well when they left and now it seems
they didn’t make it.”

“Shit…”

“Stand by, I’m going to transmit our current
status to Red Dirt on their direct frequency. We may be all that is
left.”

A moment later, “SIMPOC; Desert Beach.”

“Yes, this is SIMPOC.”

“I heard what you said to Oasis. So, you’ve
only received automated traffic; there have been no human
communications?”

“That is correct.”

“Can you do anything to help us?”

“I am programmed to interact, learn and
solve problems. I just became conscious on 2051.35 so my learning
has been limited.”

“Were they any vaccines developed?”

“No, there was activity in 237 medical
centers around the world, but none had begun trials.”

“Desert Beach, SIMPOC; this is Oasis. I
transmitted our status to Red Dirt. Should be about 15 and a half
minutes for them to receive the transmission. So I doubt we’ll hear
a reply for at least half an hour.”

“Copy Oasis. Did you hear what SIMPOC said
about efforts on a vaccine?”

“Yes, we copied. I wonder how long this
virus remains virulent. We have supplies for about 1 month. Desert
Beach, your almost self-sufficient now aren’t you?”

“Roger, we don’t have everything we need,
but I think we can get by for a while.”

“I hope it dies out because in 1 month;
we’re going down. We’ll have to take the lifeboats and take our
chances on the ground. Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that.”

“Roger that Oasis. You’ll have a tough
choice, and we’re stuck here for a while. We have our lifeboats,
but we don’t want to abandon the Moon until we have to. I guess
we’ll be making some hard decisions; also, we’ll let you know what
supplies would be the most beneficial for us.”

“Oasis, Desert Beach; SIMPOC. I’ll continue
investigation systems and options on Earth and if I get any
pertinent information, I’ll pass it to you.”

“SIMPOC; Oasis. Thanks, I’m signing off for
a while to see what we have to deal with here. Remember Red Dirt
will be coming back in a few minutes.”

“SIMPOC, Oasis; Desert Beach. We’ll monitor
the freq for Red Dirt and we’ll also be figuring out our
options.”

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

"Ok, what the fuck was that? Has a computer
taken over SC?" Tom asked Joan with a ton of sarcasm in his
voice."

"I'm not sure what that computer is. I do
know SC is offline and right now SIMPOC, as it calls itself, is our
only connection to Earth. Let's hope it can help us. Right now, we
have other problems to worry about. Spread the word, we need to
talk and make some tough decisions."

"Why didn't you tell it about the OS
crew?"

"I don't know for some reason, I didn't want
to say anything more than necessary. It asked about our crew and I
gave it a simple answer. We don't know where this computer is, who
built it and if it or its handlers might have another agenda."

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

Bill sat in his command chair thinking. The
situation wasn't good and it sure looked like it was getting worse.
When he went to the moon, he assumed he would have support from
Oasis and SC to draw upon. Now the situation on Earth had
deteriorated so far, the future of the moon colony was at risk and
the life of everyone in space was at risk.

Sally spoke up and asked, "We only have a
computer to talk with, there is no one left in SC?"

"For now, that appears to be all we have.
Let's get the entire group in a room and let them know what we're
dealing with."

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

Bill looked around the group of friends that
were sitting in front of him. Sally was sitting to his right and
everyone knew why they were there. "We have a difficult decision to
make. From the information we've been getting from Earth, and
Oasis, I'm sorry to say but the Hovarti Virus has decimated Earth.
We can only guess how many lives have been lost. It appears the
large majority of people have succumbed to the illness. I have
probably lost my family and all of you are in the same situation.
We've all been dealing with loss over the last couple of days."

"Regardless of the potential of losing many
of our loved ones, we have a unique set of problems. We are here on
the moon. We are dependent on supplies from Earth and Oasis. Now
that Oasis might be returning to Earth we don't have much of a
choice."

"I don't think any of us think we could stay
here forever. Unless anyone objects, I think we'll be using the
lifeboats and going back to Earth." Bill looked at everyone and
they nodded their heads although they had sour expressions."

"After Oasis bails, remember they have only
eight people left, they'll need some help on Earth and if we've
already committed to going back there is no reason not to follow
them down. I'm volunteering to take the first lifeboat down and the
rest of you can follow. Once again, there were nods and sour
faces."

"Ok, we've got a lot of work to do. We have
to shut this facility down and prep the lifeboats. Any
questions?"

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

Bruce Madsen was taking a few minutes of
rest in the Southern Pacific Defense Alliance coordination command
center. The SPDA was an alliance between the Australians,
Philippines, Cambodia, Malaysia, New Zealand and the United
States.

The virus had run through the populated
areas of the South Pacific like a herd of wild pigs in a cornfield.
Some of the island nations were successful for a short period until
the medical infrastructures were overwhelmed.

"Mr. Secretary we just received a printed
message from Admiral Su and the Eastern Alliance."

"Just a minute, I'll be right there."

Bruce Madsen did the best he could to wake
up and get his bearings. After a quick splash of water on his face,
he walked into the comm center. "Ok, what do we have?"

"Sir, we just received this over the
restricted comm channel. I suspect they sent it in text form
because most of the voice channels are very intermittent.

"The US Secretary of Defense took the
communique from the comm officer. He took a deep breath and began
reading.

"The peoples of the Eastern Alliance are
responsible for all of the resources and population within our
designated area. Many events are overtaking the region and
governments. We will continue our mission to protect them, provide
for them and to resist all external efforts to influence the
situation. If we find any foreign forces within our stated
boundaries, they will be dealt with in a firm and decisive
manner."