“How do you know he’s in pain?” said Lucy, abruptly, her head pounding.
“We’ve seen from the footage the way this disease goes. The Major is at the early stages. Acting now will be a mercy,” said Adrian, taken aback at Lucy’s interruption.
“A mercy? God help the rest of us if we ever need your mercy, Senator,” said Lucy, meeting Adrian’s livid glare.
“Let’s keep this objective, shall we?” said the chair, intervening before Adrian could launch into a tirade that was brewing on his furious lips.
Lucy stared back at the table, doing her best not to scream. She could feel Adrian’s eyes boring into her skull. He sat down and drew his chair in sharply so that he was bolt upright, elbows on the table.
“The profile of this pathogen matches reports from cities further north. We cannot allow DC to suffer their fate. We are on the brink of losing our most critical societal knowledge and another outbreak will send us back to the Dark Ages. We will lose the last engineers, the last doctors, the last teachers. We’re mere months away from total regression into subsistence; our focus must be on defense and agriculture,” insisted Adrian.
Harvey leaned back in his chair and mused for a moment, stroking his fluffy white sideburns, which fed into the fulsome white beard adorning his chin.
“While I admire your intentions, Adrian, I must respectfully disagree with your conclusions,” said Harvey, gently.
He took off his round glasses and rubbed them with a cloth from his pocket, while the rest of the room watched expectantly. He placed the glasses back on with both hands, then folded the cloth in four and stowed it neatly in his grubby pocket.
“In my humble opinion, the fact that there are similar reports from other cities suggests to me that we have a duty to research this new pathogen,” said Harvey.
“I second that,” said the Army R&D rep.
“What about the risk of further contagion?” said the Agriculture rep.
“Our lab is secure,” said Harvey.
“No lab is foolproof, Director, especially given the level of staff churn. You’re proposing to study a highly dangerous new disease in the same complex as our Emergency department,” said the Hospital rep.
“Rest assured, I will be overseeing the research myself. I propose we study Patient One and attempt to halt the progression of the disease using existing medicines. We’ve already taken blood and tissue samples, and should have our initial results within the next few hours, to get us started,” said Harvey.
“You’re proposing to waste drugs on a dead man, when they wouldn’t even give my wife morphine at your damned hospital when they took her leg! No way. No freakin’ way,” said the Agriculture rep, shaking his head vehemently.
“Again, let’s avoid getting personal here,” said the chair.
“He’s not a dead man, he’s a living human being! Will anybody here recognize that?” said Lucy, looking around the room imploringly.
“Quite. Patient One may yet recover, or respond to treatments, and that’s knowledge we should have,” said Harvey, opening his palms to the room, with an earnest twinkle in his eye.
“Adrian, anything to add before we vote?” said the chair.
“Don’t let one individual’s plight distract you. Sinking time and labor into a fringe case will undermine our core mission. Our duty and focus should be to the vulnerable men and women living within these walls, who are dying at the hands of D4 creatures every day, and who will starve if we don’t fix the food problem,” said Adrian, eyeballing the attendees.
“All in favor of the senator’s proposal to euthanize Patient One, raise your hand,” said the chair.
Three hands went up from Agriculture, Public Health, and Adrian’s own.
“And those in favor of keeping Patient One contained and studying the pathogen?” said the chair.
Lucy’s hand shot up, closely followed by hands from Harvey, the Military Police, Army R&D, and, less enthusiastically, from the Hospital reps.
“You don’t have voting rights here, Ms Young, please lower your hand,” said the chair curtly.
Lucy lowered her hand, blushing furiously. Adrian looked around the room in disbelief and shook his head.
“Motion passed by a clear majority: Patient One will receive treatment in isolation. Thank you all,” said the chair, bringing the meeting to a swift close.
Adrian stood sharply and made a beeline for the Public Health and Agriculture reps, who quickly delved into a conversation of fast pace and hushed tones, huddled in a corner with their backs to the rest of the room.
The Director of Pathology gave the chair a gracious nod and left the room. Lucy rushed after him.
“Excuse me – sir?” she said, catching him a little into the corridor.
“I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure?” said Harvey, warmly.
“Lucy Young, I work for Health Intelligence,” she said, breathlessly.
“Adrian’s new protégé – I’ve heard you’re quite the detective?” said Harvey.
“I want to work on the Patient One case,” said Lucy, clipping the end of his sentence.
He peered at her for a moment, his eyes amplified by the thick round lenses sitting on his button nose.
“Oh?” said Harvey, sliding his hands into the grubby pockets of his baggy lab coat.
“I’ve studied D4 in other forms, and I’ve got lab experience,” said Lucy.
“Have you cleared it with Adrian?” said Harvey.
“Is he senior to you?” said Lucy.
“We’re equals, in as much as any two people can be,” said Harvey.
“The council just passed a motion requiring human resource. I’m qualified and I’m volunteering. Take me on your team,” said Lucy, assertively.
Harvey’s eyes twinkled. The door swung open and the other council members bustled by.
“I accept your proposal, Ms Young,” said Harvey, leaving her to join the group.
“Lucy, a word,” said Adrian, summoning her back to the room.
She braced herself and reentered. Adrian had moved to the window and was staring out at the park beyond, with his hands folded behind his back.
“You mind telling me what that was?” he said, turning his head, his eyes narrow with anger.
“I offered my opinion,” said Lucy, shifting uncomfortably.
“I don’t remember asking for it,” said Adrian, fuming.
“Why invite me then?” said Lucy, locking eyes with him.
“To learn. I trusted you and instead you publicly undermined me,” fumed Adrian, turning from the window to face her fully.
“You wanted to get an innocent man killed,” protested Lucy.
“To save countless more. I made my reasons very clear. I don’t ‘want’ any of this,” said Adrian, glaring at her.
“I had to follow my conscience,” said Lucy, her eyes darting to the floor.
“The insinuation you’re making is both misplaced and deeply offensive,” said Adrian, over-articulating his words.
“Maybe you’re not used to being challenged,” said Lucy, obfuscating.
“I don’t know what’s going on with you, but whatever it is, I strongly advise you to take a step back and check yourself. If you’re going to help this city, you need to put knee-jerk reactions to the side and look at the big picture,” said Adrian, drawing a deep breath to control the quivering rage in his voice.
“By writing off an innocent soldier to protect your department’s workload?” said Lucy, her anger fueled by the thought of Lopez being strapped down for a lethal injection.
“You seem awfully attached to this one patient, and totally unconcerned about the eighty thousand other people in this city who’ll be next if we allow what he has to spread!” snapped Adrian.
Lucy felt her cheeks burning. She clamped the hems of her jacket down against her wrists and marched to the far side of the room, where she stared from the window, imitating Adrian’s former stance and stalling for time.
<
br /> “The chair was right; to serve this city properly you need to depersonalize your arguments,” said Adrian.
“This all explains so much. I finally know where Dan got his insane emotional detachment from,” said Lucy.
She regretted the words as soon as they tumbled from her lips. Adrian’s face twisted with anger and disbelief.
“You’re bringing my son into this? I pulled every last string I had to get the pair of you onto that evacuation train. You have no idea what it cost me, and here you stand, using his name to win an argument – after you let him die alone in the wreckage,” quaked Adrian.
He threw over a chair and stormed from the room. Lucy slumped against the wall and broke down in tears. After a moment the soldier guarding the door interrupted, tentatively.
“Sorry miss – I gotta close this room up,” he said, awkwardly.
“Right, of course,” said Lucy, rising to her feet and wiping the tears from her eyes.
“For what it’s worth, I appreciate you sticking up for us,” said the soldier.
Lucy gave him a fleeting watery smile and hurried from the room. Memories of the debts she owed Lopez clawed at her mind. She had to help him; she had to get inside that lab. She hurried out into the lobby, sniffing, and stepped out into the bright daylight. Harvey was bidding goodbye to two remaining council members.
“Ah, if it isn’t my newest recruit,” he said, spotting her, and gesturing to his vehicle. “Let’s get to work.”
SEVEN
Cure
__________________
The elevator doors chimed open and they stepped into a new level of the Pathology Department, two stories above Adrian’s Health Intelligence unit. A security guard greeted them at the reception desk, affixed to which was a sign reading Infectious Diseases.
“Man, this place is clean,” said Lucy, marveling at the immaculate lobby floor and spotless walls.
“We don’t keep it this way because we enjoy cleaning,” chuckled Harvey, signing himself in on the clipboard, and passing it to Lucy.
The guard scanned each of their ID cards, then invited them to proceed.
“We’ve been through this, Alexi, none of this ‘sir’ business, call me Harvey,” said the Director, warmly, to the receptionist, as he led Lucy into the unit.
The facility was bigger than Lucy had expected. It consisted of two central corridors, which divided three rows of laboratories and technicians’ rooms.
“This is a magical place, Lucy; it’s DC’s most precious secret. You know what we keep here?” said Harvey, as he strode eagerly down the corridor. “Hope,” he continued, with a rosy smile. “This is where we will save and rebuild our great species.”
Lucy tried to peer into the rooms they were passing, but could only catch glimpses. She saw one scientist transferring dark liquid samples into vials, while another peered into petri dishes beneath a microscope. In the next room, two others discussed the results from an electron microscope on the screens before them.
“Are they studying D4 samples?” said Lucy, as they passed by.
“The work we do here is secret, Lucy, I must emphasize that. It’s important that the public only knows information that helps keep them safe. Facts placed in the wrong hands soon become rumors, and they spread panic, which cost lives. To protect the people, we must preserve their innocence until they’re ready for the truth,” said Harvey.
Lucy stopped outside a room and stared at the dissection taking place. Three scientists wearing face masks were huddled around a surgical table. She couldn’t see the subject, but one of the surgeons deposited what looked like a bloodied tail into a metal bowl.
“Don’t worry about what the rest of the lab is doing, Lucy, I want your focus to be on the Patient One case. Do you have any attachments?” said Harvey, beckoning her onwards.
“What?” said Lucy, taken aback.
“Husband? Boyfriend? Girlfriend, maybe?” said Harvey, striding forwards.
“Not anymore,” said Lucy, swallowing.
“Good. I mean, I’m sorry to hear that, but for the line of work we do, trust, me, it’s better. This job will consume you, if you let it. I made that mistake. Twice, in fact. Two marriages down the drain. You wanna know the worst part of the world ending?” said Harvey.
Lucy flicked through a few choice memories from her catalogue of recent trauma.
“Loss of control?” she said, remembering the abject misery of winter on the abandoned farm.
“Alimony. That bountiful money river’s dried up for good. My ex-wives were both extremely successful financiers, you see. Terrible people, of course, but their salaries were quite the good news story for a community college professor such as myself. Before the world ended, I had what you might call a ‘sweet gig’. If anything, control, vis-à-vis self-determination, is all I’ve got left. A sense of purpose – it’s everything,” said Harvey.
He stopped before a sturdy white and chrome door and held his card up to the sensor, which beeped once. A ring of yellow LEDs lit up around a camera, which Harvey stared into, prompting the lights to turn green.
“You’ll be conducting the outbreak investigation; tracing anyone Patient One’s had recent contact with. I’ll give you the sheet to work through while I set up. Have you done this sort of thing before, Lucy?” said Harvey, propping the security door open with a foot.
“I did lab work at college, and with the army,” said Lucy.
“I mean with human subjects,” said Harvey.
Lucy shook her head.
“You might want to brace yourself. It can be unsettling seeing a sick person in isolation, but you must remember, what we’re doing is for the greater good,” said Harvey.
“And the patient’s good, right?” said Lucy.
“That is always the aim,” said Harvey, stepping inside the darkened space.
The overhead lights flickered on, revealing a large room containing five adjoining glass chambers. Each was around nine cubic yards in size and contained a stainless steel toilet and a hospital bed. With the exception of the glass façade, all the walls were white. Lucy could see doorways outlined on the back walls of each cell, but there were no door handles. Touching the ground beside the doors were small one-way hatches about the size of a cat flap – or a meal tray.
All of the cubicles were empty, save for the middle cell. It contained a solitary male figure in a hospital gown, who climbed to his feet as they entered. Lopez’s eyes widened in astonishment as he saw Lucy beside Harvey. She fixed him with a desperate look, imploring him not to betray their connection.
“Is this my lawyer?” said Lopez, gesturing angrily to Lucy.
“You don’t need a lawyer, Major, you need treatment,” said Harvey.
“It’s my right to refuse treatment,” fumed Lopez.
“Not when you’re deemed a danger to the wider public, I’m afraid. You need to be held in quarantine until we know what we’re dealing with. We’ve been through this,” said Harvey, gently.
“Why was he in the dark?” said Lucy.
“Great fucking question!” chimed Lopez, his voice sounding double-tracked by the cubicle’s micro echo.
“Sleep supports the lymphatic system, by boosting white blood cell production. Darkness stimulates serotonin production, which facilitates sleep. We must preserve your energy whenever possible. You’re going to need it to fight the infection,” said Harvey.
“You have no right to do this!” protested Lopez.
“I apologize for the Major’s demeanor. He’s in the anger stage of his diagnosis,” said Harvey, to Lucy.
“Can I at least get a phone call?” said Lopez.
“Sure, who do you want to call?” said Harvey.
“My Colonel,” said Lopez.
“She already knows you’re here,” said Harvey.
“Then someone else who gives a crap,” said Lopez, slamming the glass and glaring at Lucy.
“I appreciate this is a lot to take in, son, but please bear in mi
nd we’re on your side,” said Harvey.
“That’s easy to say when you’re the one holding the keys,” said Lopez.
“In a minute, Lucy here is going to ask you a few questions, and we’d appreciate your cooperation, Major. Perhaps we can get you some water first, or are you ready to begin?” said Harvey, softly.
“Oh, I’m all kinds of ready,” said Lopez, clapping his hands with mock enthusiasm.
Harvey opened a cabinet on the far side of the room and withdrew a clipboard, which he handed to Lucy. He pulled a biro from his pocket and clicked it on.
“Over to you,” he said, passing her the pen with a wink.
Lucy gripped the clipboard and took a few nervous steps towards the glass pane. Lopez mirrored her, stepping closer on his side, pinning his proud shoulders back and glaring at her.
“Please confirm your name,” said Lucy, dropping her eyes and staring at the form.
“Major Eduardo Lopez,” said Lopez.
Lucy hesitated, ashamed that she’d never asked before.
“Everything OK?” said Harvey, noting her discomfort.
“Sorry, sir, like you said – just adjusting,” said Lucy, flustered.
“Scientifically, Lucy, there are considerable differences between us humans and the terrestrial animals or D4 creatures you’ve studied before. But the fact that such differences exist does not make them meaningful. Meaning is an invention we overlay simply because we crave it. It is surely our most delightful evolutionary quirk. Each time we encounter meaning, we mistake it for a discovery. In reality, we should be celebrating it for the remarkable act of creation that it is, then dispense with it. When you look into the isolation chamber holding our dear Major here, you must cease creating meaning, and focus purely on what is there. To do otherwise would be like piloting a plane blindfolded. Focus on what’s truly in front of you, Lucy. Animal, human, alien, whatever the subject, the course of action is the same: understand it, don’t invent it,” said Harvey.
He gave her an encouraging pat on the back and ambled back across the lab floor, to the workstation holding his laptop.
Convulsive Box Set Page 57
