Silence.
“Have you seen Dr. Konrad lately?” Dan asked.
“He has visited me many times recently – much more than he usually did.”
“Are you and he working together?”
“Me and whom? Forgive me if I forget things these days.”
“I forget almost everything, nowadays, Doctor. I was referring to you and your son Dr. Konrad Starkherz.”
“At this point in my life, I am not working on anything,” Dr. Klaus said, “except trying to stay alive. I’d like to reach the century mark. It’s not long away for me.”
“I’m sure, Doctor that you have read the journal article Dr. Konrad Starkherz wrote about the horrible H1N1 flu epidemic in 1918 and 1919 …”
“At the time of that epidemic, in the years you just named, I was alive and already living and going to school in the United States,” said Dr. Klaus. “That tells you how old I am.”
“The article by Dr. Konrad reminds us that after 1918, the epidemic went away, presumably because immune systems quickly modified themselves to be able to immunize the H1 and the N1. Dr. Konrad was suggesting in that article that the World War I kind of H1N1 could become broadly fatal again now, if it was spread by birds or the like, unless someone could develop a new strong immune system. I’m not a medical doctor, and I certainly am not an epidemiologist. Did what I just said convey the kind of thing Dr. Konrad was writing about?”
“Yes, close enough.”
Dan let silence work for a while.
“Well,” Dr. Klaus said (again with an initial V), “it wouldn’t be quite right to say that Dr. Konrad solus ipse came up with what was in the journal article. He did consult his father. That’s me. He came over to my apartment – I was still in New York City at that time – and he showed me a draft of his journal article. I told him he should not risk the possibility of a global pandemic that could kill many millions. He said his goal was to find some still functioning World War I H1N1 virus, or something very like it, and then to become a worldwide hero by developing a new immune system that could control the H1N1. I told him it wasn’t at all easy to develop a new immune system, and that if he didn’t come up with such a thing, and if World War I H1N1 somehow escaped into the public domain, half or more of the people in the world would likely be dead, before the immune systems managed to revise themselves in a way that would keep the H1N1 under control. I said the results would kill millions of people and destroy his reputation, and that of the whole Starkherz family, in the process. In addition, I said those results were likely to kill him and me, and perhaps other members of our family. I also told Konrad that the immune system changes that saved the world in 1918 and 1919 were not to be found anywhere anymore. So far as I know, they did not exist anymore.”
“And what did Dr. Konrad say in response?”
“He said he was looking right at someone who had just the right immune systems, because he had been around during the deadly 1918-1919 outbreak. ‘I’m talking about you, Dad,’ was what he said. ‘You were a vigorous kid in World War I. And, with your permission, I’m going to take a bit of your blood and test its immunizing capacity, against H1N1, with the usual precautions, before any H1N1 of the World War I sort is released. I will act very carefully. You’ll be a hero. I’ll be a hero. We’ll be big-time hits. Thanks to you, Mein Fader, I can immunize my son Kurt so he can resist that kind of H1N1. The name Starkherz will become known and respected and beloved globally.’ And I said to Konrad ‘My worry is that the Starkherz name will go viral in a very bad way, not global in a good way. I may be one of the few who had lived through the 1918-19 pandemic and who is still alive – but it’s more than 80 years since I had any exposure to World War I H1N1. If my immune system still exists – which I doubt greatly – it would be a system that is old and slow, and won’t be able to adapt to fight that kind of H1N1 for years, if ever. You’ll be killing multitudes, not helping them. That’s not going to make friends. And you’ll probably kill me, and I like living while I can, which probably won’t be much longer.’”
“Dr. Klaus, did Dr. Konrad actually draw some of your blood”?
“He did, at that meeting with me,” Dr. Klaus said. “And he also arranged that, while I was still in New York City, I would go to the hospital where he worked, and I would have physical examinations there twice a year. Like most physical exams, mine started with some blood sampling, but Dr. Konrad didn’t talk to me any more about his H1N1 project. I would not be surprised if blood from those physical exams found their way to efforts by Dr. Konrad to isolate my immunizing cells, and to test them. I should not say this about my own son, but he has a fearsome desire for greatness. And it may be, if I do say so, that Dr. Konrad is jealous of the achievements and the reputation of his own father – that’s me, again. I’m too old now for epidemiology – but I was well regarded, first in Germany, then in New York – for the many, many years I was an epidemiologist.”
More silence in Dr. Klaus’s room. Dr. Klaus’s head nodded on his chest. After ten or fifteen minutes, Dr. Klaus straightened his head and looked at Dan Floyd. “Who are you?” he said, in a surprised voice. “Why are you here? Do I know you?” He had already forgotten Dan’s arrival and the conversation he had just had with Dan. Dan recognized that Dr. Klaus Starkherz had accumulated forgetfulness that resembled but outdid Dan’s own growing forgetfulness.
“I am a friend of your family in Rockinam, Doctor,” Dan said. “I just came in to say hello, and to express my admiration of you and the other Starkherzes. The name Starkherz – meaning Strongheart, I believe – but I regret to say that I have very little German – is a name that suits you and your family of doctors admirably. I have appreciated the opportunity to meet you and talk to you. And now I must go back to my home in Rockinam.”
By that time it was close to 3 PM. After thanking Dr. Klaus for his time, Dan left the room and the retirement home, and climbed into his car. He reached into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out his pocket tape recorder. Having checked to make sure that it had recorded the conversation with Dr. Klaus, Dan turned the recorder off, before he started the long drive back to Rockinam.
The long drives and the talk with Dr. Klaus were exhausting, but as soon as Dan got home, he called Nat in the hospital in Santa Barbara.
“I’m busy,” Nat said. “It’s 4 PM where I am, working as a doctor. Patients are lined up to talk to me.”
“What I have to say is big,” Dan said. “It’s about a global pandemic threat, a pandemic that appears to be well under way, and hard to stop. It comes from my meeting with Dr. Klaus Starkherz, Dr. Konrad’s father. I’ll give it to you quick, and this evening I’ll send you notes on the conversation I had with Dr. Klaus, a conversation that I taped. The short of it is that Dr. Konrad has tried to become a hero by working with Dr. Klaus, who was old enough to have lived through the 1918-1919 pandemic. Dr. Konrad was planning to work with his father’s immune cells, hoping that he might be able to defeat a revival of the World War I H1N1. Dr. Klaus told me he thought he was too old for his body to be able to adapt to what that H1N1 could do, and that for decades he had not had an immune system that could work against H1N1. Nat, I think the new pandemic is already started, in a way that is not yet very large, as evidenced by the sick and the dead in Rockinam. And there may be nothing that can stop it. It’s time for you to call in the unnamed professor and the CDC, Nat. And please also call in the WHO – I like how the World Health Organization’s name has become abbreviated. It sounds like the call of an unhappy owl. WHOOO!”
“I have to see three more patients this afternoon, Dad. I’ll call you at 5:30. Thanks for the call.”
At 5:30 Rockinam time, Nat called his father. Dan had typed out a transcript of his conversation with Dr. Klaus. The typing had taken enough time that Dan had drunk only half a bottle of cabernet sauvignon by the time Nat called him.
; Father and son talked nonstop for three hours. Dan pointed out the highlights of what Dr. Klaus had said about and against Dr. Konrad, and noted that Dr. Klaus seemed not to know of, or to remember having heard about, the death of Kurt Starkherz. Nat said he would bring up to speed the unnamed professor and, from the CDC, two or three top Medical Officers and Epidemic Intelligence Service Officers. Together, Nat and Dan hammered out what their goals were:
– To find out what type of flu was killing the people of Rockinam;
– To find out whether Dr. Konrad had developed a functioning immune system that would block the flu;
– To find out whether Dr. Konrad had carried away from the CDC specimens of World War I H1N1; and
– To find out whether Dr. Konrad had been in touch with his son Kurt, before Kurt’s death.
* * *
The answers came quickly. The CDC knew the potential magnitude of the issues, and knew also how a failure to address and resolve the issues would damage or end their own careers. Within two days, two officers from the CDC were in Rockinam, and three CDC officers were in New York City, working with the two senior epidemiologist officers in the uptown hospital where Dr. Konrad worked. The efforts, in the following week, had the following results:
– Most of the families of those who recently died in Rockinam allowed CDC experts, wrapped in disease-resistant spacesuits, to examine the dead before the dead were buried or incinerated. The examinations demonstrated that the disease that did the Rockinam killings was the World War I kind of H1N1. The immune system in the dead who were examined did not display any ability to fight influenza. The close relatives of the dead said almost all of those stricken by the disease developed acute respiratory problems and quickly became dark blue-black in color, before they died, most of the time apparently for lack of breath.
– Dr. Konrad told the CDC officers (and his superior officers in the hospital he worked in, far uptown) that he was working on how to modify the immune system so that it would block the World War I kind of H1N1. He said he was confident that this would happen, as it had after World War I. Asked whether he had yet developed a system that would block the lethal H1N1virus, Dr. Konrad had said “Not yet, but it’s just a matter of time.” This was not an answer that pleased the CDC officers or Dr. Konrad’s superior officers.
– The senior epidemiologist officers at the hospital, and the three CDC officers, asked to see the H1N1 flu virus Dr. Konrad said he was working with. A microscopic study of the virus, by CDC experts wearing protective gear, showed the virus was identical with the kind of WWI virus CDC had kept for many decades in careful cold storage. Dr. Konrad said that when he left CDC, he was already working on that kind of virus, and that he took some with him, under appropriate precautions, to work on in New York. Asked whether he had obtained the approval of the CDC to remove any of the WWI virus from CDC, Dr. Konrad said he believed he had, but that he didn’t remember having any written record to that effect. The CDC officers said CDC had no record of permitting any removal of the virus by Dr. Konrad. Asked by the CDC officers if, in working on the virus, he had followed CDC requirements by always putting on CDC’s style of protective suits (the ones that looked like spacesuits), Dr. Konrad said those heavy suits would drive him crazy and kill him from heat and shortness of breath, but that he did wear face masks that guarded him sufficiently. The face masks he produced to show the CDC officers how he was guarding against danger from the H1N1 virus were, in the view of the CDC officers, Dr. Konrad’s superiors in the hospital, and Nat’s unnamed professor, grossly inadequate protection against that enormous danger.
– Dan told the CDC officers about the reaction of Kurt Starkherz’s widowed wife Georgia to his mention of Dr. Konrad – that Dr. Konrad was “a vain, murderous, untrustworthy son of a bitch.” The senior most of the CDC officers called up Georgia Starkherz and explained what CDC was and did, how distressed they were to hear of the death of Kurt and of others in Rockinam, and how they were working all-out to try to prevent other such deaths – that was the main objective of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The officer asked Georgia Starkherz if Dr. Konrad had visited his son Kurt before Kurt’s death. Mrs. Starkherz, who had been silent, told the officer: “Dr. Konrad, Kurt’s father, about a month ago came all the way from New York to Rockinam, and told Kurt that if they worked together, they could become heroes, by preventing a pandemic. That’s what Kurt told me. He was overflowing with excitement. The next thing I knew, Kurt was sick, fighting to draw breath, and turning purple-black. Then, after fighting for breath and not finding it, he was dead.” The CDC officer asked if by any chance Dr. Konrad put in writing anything about Kurt’s death. The widowed Georgia shuffled through a heap of condolence letters and dug out and read one she had been sent by Dr. Konrad. Among other things, the doctor had said how much he loved his son Kurt, how much he enjoyed working with him in Rockinam, and how sure he had been that Kurt had had a bright future ahead of him as a virologist. Georgia had trouble reading the letter, and breathed heavily. “Dr. Konrad Starkherz, trying to become Superman, killed his son – that was my husband, Kurt” she said. “Hell isn’t big enough to burn him nearly as much as he should be burned.” The CDC officer said he understood, and that he would work to prevent other deaths like Kurt’s. Georgia, at the officer’s request, e-mailed to the Officer Dr. Konrad’s condolence letter.
The senior doctors in Dr. Konrad’s hospital asked for and obtained Dr. Konrad’s immediate resignation from the hospital. Georgia Starkherz called Dr. Konrad at his New York apartment and said, as she later reported to the CDC officer who had called her, that Dr. Konrad had killed her husband by exposing him to lethal H1N1 virus, had helped to start a pandemic that resulted in many deaths in Rockinam, and as a result would spend what was left of his life and money trying to defend himself from what amounted to murder charges.
Dr. Konrad Starkherz’s apartment in New York City was far uptown, near the hospital he had just resigned from. Early in the morning of the second day from his mandatory resignation, Dr. Konrad walked in the cold of a mid-January morning up to Spuyten Duyvil Creek, at the north end of Manhattan. The tide was coming in full blast up the creek. The creek was worthy of the name the Dutch had given it in the seventeenth century –which in English would be Spouting Devil or Spewing Devil. Dr. Konrad had checked the newspaper for the water temperature – a brisk 34 degrees Fahrenheit. He took off all his clothes and put them in a pile by the water’s edge. On top of the clothes he left a note, in which he gave his own name and warned people not to touch any of the clothes, but instead to call a named doctor (one of the two senior epidemiologists from what had been Dr. Konrad’s hospital in New York City) to have them pick up the clothes promptly. A note tied around Dr. Konrad’s neck similarly warned against touching Dr. Konrad, and told the onlooker to call that same named doctor and to ask that doctor to pick up what would soon be Dr. Konrad’s dead body, but without touching the body. Dr. Konrad then walked naked into the dark water of Spuyten Duyvil Creek. He managed to swim towards the Hudson River for a few minutes before the brutally cold water killed him. Tide and waves pushed his naked body back from the creek and up onto a bank. The dead Dr. Konrad was amply visible. An early morning walker spotted him, read the note, backed away quickly, and called the named doctor, to tell him about the dead Dr. Konrad. “He’s cold as ice,” the walker said. “That’s what I discovered when I was stupid enough to disregard his advice and to touch his body. It looks as if his whole naked body is dark blue. I wouldn’t guess it to be the blue that you’d get from ordinary cold water. This dead man’s blue is a very dark blue. That’s something I’ve never seen.”
“For God’s sake, stay far away from the dead man,” the doctor replied to the walker. “I’ll be there soon to pick him up and remove him.” Within twenty-five minutes, the doctor called by the walker came to the bank of Spuyten Duyvil, accompanied by two assistants from the
hospital. The walker, who was still there, pointed out from considerable distance the location of the dead man. The summoned doctor and his assistants wore bulky protective suits, to guard against lethal virus. The doctor and his assistants put Dr. Konrad’s body into a large black plastic garbage bag. The full bag was placed inside two other large black garbage bags. The neck of the bags was then tied tightly closed.
One of the hospital epidemiologists called one of the CDC doctors who had been talking to Konrad Starkherz, and told the CDC doctor about Dr. Konrad’s death and his dark blue color. The epidemiologist and the CDC doctor agreed to work together in New York to analyze what was in Dr. Konrad’s body. The CDC doctor then called Dan Floyd, in Rockinam, to report Dr. Konrad’s death. “We all gotta die sometime,” Dan said – and added, a minute later: “Please forgive me. Strike what I said about ‘We all gotta die sometime.’ That sounded just plain cruddy. I don’t mean to be flip about dying, especially at my advanced age. That line just came into my head, because when I first met Dr. Konrad’s son Kurt in Rockinam, Kurt was wearing a black T-shirt that had on its back a bright white skull and cross-bones, and also big white letters in some kind of Gothic script, letters that spelled out ‘We All Gotta Die Sometime.’ I guess Kurt proved the truth of that declaration by his death, and now Kurt’s father Dr. Konrad has proved it, too. Good luck to you gentlemen in figuring out the virus and how to block it.”
Within three days the two hospital epidemiologists and two of the CDC doctors had concluded that Dr. Konrad’s body contained significant amounts of a World War I form of H1N1. None of the vaccines the doctors used on the H1N1 appeared to destroy the H1N1 or to render it harmless. The risk of a lethal pandemic was manifest.
Sometime- the Plague World Page 9
