A few minutes later Ben was sitting at this desk. The situation in China puzzled him, so he decided to search the internet to get more of the information behind the story. It seems that someone had accused the government of hiding the fact that they had a cure and the party leaders had dismissed the accusation as unfounded. Unfortunately, over the years the public had learned not to trust its leaders because of the rampant corruption and wrongdoing that had been exposed by the press and social action groups. The information went viral and when the government brought in the troops the people started to burn government buildings. Over 100 people had been killed.
SDX was starting to take its toll on the human psyche and people were starting to act out their fears.
After completing the internet search regarding the uprising in China, it occurred to Ben that he should also search the two cities in Siberia and see if there was anything in the news from about five years ago. He figured that was as good as anywhere to start. Something just might provide another hunch or two.
He started his search with Ust’Nera and found a great article about a motorcycle race in 2010. He doubted if this had anything to do with SDX. Then he searched Susuman for that year and again found the article about the same race. It must have passed through both cities he figured. Then he searched Sakha Republic and an interesting article from 2013 popped up. It was an article that talked about a baby mammoth that had been discovered in Sakha Republic in 2010 that was pretty much intact except for some of its internal organs. The researchers didn’t know what had happened to the internal organs, but they postulated the maybe that had been harvested by other humans who found the well-preserved baby mammoth. The article went on to say that the baby mammoth was on public display and it was the first time people in Japan had the opportunity to see a preserved baby mammoth. The article also mentioned that a “blood sample” had been obtained from the mammoth and that there was serious scientific consideration being given to cloning the animal, using possibly an Asian elephant as a surrogate mother.
Ben was formulating an idea. He couldn’t know if this finding had anything to do with SDX, but he would like to run tests on the creature’s blood to rule out any connection. He knew the blood sample taken from the frozen mammoth would be difficult to get, let alone analyze, but then he remembered a recent story about the life cycle of the Rana Sylvatica amphibian, a wood frog that lives above the arctic circle and freezes each year during its hibernation period. This frog is able to freeze and thaw each year without damage to its cells. Just maybe the blood sample they took from the mammoth would react in the same way, and a blood test could reveal the presence of SDX. It was a long shot, but at this stage, anything was worth a try.
Ben looked at his watch, and knowing that Moscow was eight hours ahead, realized that his counterpart in Russia wouldn’t be at work. Besides, it was Sunday anyway, he thought. He would have to call her sometime after midnight to discuss getting his hands on that blood sample.
Before he finished for the day Ben needed to check on the results from the Blood Bank and the submarine crew. Based on his emails, it looked like the blood bank tests were ahead of schedule. There was already data from the first one thousand samples. By the time Katie got in to work tomorrow he hoped there would be at least two thousand, maybe even three thousand test results.
Now, Ben really had a lot to think about. It had been a productive day thanks to Katie’s data. He was ready to take a break but before he headed home, he decided to stop by Sarah’s office to brief her on his latest plans.
“Hi Sarah. I have a couple of leads I wanted to brief you on before I take off.”
“Let’s hear it,” said Sarah, putting down a report she was reading.
“First, I am going to call my counterpart in Beijing later this evening to see if there is any truth to the news reports that they have developed a vaccine or antidote for SDX. I doubt it, but you never know. Second, I was telling you about where we think SDX originated. I did some searching on the internet and it looks like they found an intact baby mammoth in the Sakha Republic of Russia in 2010. The mammoth was about 39,000 years old and had been frozen in the permafrost. According to the article, the researchers were able to actually take a serum sample from the remains. I am going to call Dr. Natalya Gorky to see if she can get access to the sample and allow us to run some tests. It isn’t a certainty that this is in any way related to SDX, but I would like to rule out all possibilities. If you remember, last year some scientists in France were able to bring back to life a virus found in the permafrost that was over 15,000 years old and that had never been seen in the modern world. We could be looking at something like this, you never know,” explained Ben with renewed vigor.
“Fascinating, Ben. I like the way your brain keeps churning and churning. Keep looking for new avenues and do follow these interesting breadcrumbs that just might be leading us somewhere now,” Sarah said with a smile.
“Have you learned anything new?” asked Ben.
“Only that the White House is going to continue to withhold all information regarding what you and Katie are doing until we have some type of cure in sight…”
“…or some major uprising like we are seeing in other parts of the world,” lamented Ben.
“I think they will have to come clean sooner rather than later. The blood bank testing and the results from the submarine crew should seal the deal, I think. How much are you planning on telling Natalya about the blood sampling we are doing?” asked Sarah.
“I am going to have to give her a briefing on our hypotheses in order to get her to agree to help us get the blood sample. Frankly, I don’t think I have a choice. I don’t know if I can trust her to keep it between us, but I will ask,” said Ben.
“Well, do your best. Times now call for some risk taking, especially with the interesting leads you propose,” Sarah said. “Update me in the morning, if you would.”
CHAPTER 29
Katie and Rob arrived back at the house after their walk. They could now smell the aroma of fresh baked bread coming out of the oven.
“What a heavenly smell,” said Rob. He took a deep breath through his nose to take it all in.
“Yes it is. We don’t smell that too often unless we are at Panera Bread when they are baking,” said Katie with a smile.
The kids were all seated at the table. Katie’s mom had decided to add a plate of peanut butter and jam sandwiches to the menu to ensure the kids had something they liked, for vegetable soup was not always a favorite of the young, she remembered.
With everyone seated, Katie thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to get a picture with everyone, so she got out her smart phone and went to the end of the table.
“Now, everybody face me and say cheese.”
The entire table turned and there were smiles all around.
“Hold it a second, let me get just one more,” said Katie.
She sat back down and then everyone started to eat. The discussion was lively among the adults. Surprisingly, not once did the topic of SDX come up. The kids had their own mini-discussion going and one or the other of the grandparents would interject occasionally.
Lunch was finished and the kids asked if they could explore in the woods, and so off they went. Katie and Rob’s mom helped clear the table and Katie’s mom began to straighten up the kitchen. The three men sat in the living room talking about the chances of the Redskins and Ravens making it to the Super Bowl this year.
About a half-hour later the ladies all emerged from the kitchen with coffee and apple pie. Everyone looked so relaxed and comfortable in this idyllic American setting, like something out of a Saturday Evening Post cover.
Rob looked at Katie and nodded his head. It was time.
Katie started.
“I wanted to tell you all about the research I have been doing regarding SDX, which is the disease that has been going around. Would that be okay?” she asked.
They all nodded their heads.
“But there is one catch, my research is classified. So what I tell you, you cannot repeat, agreed?”
“Of course dear, go ahead, we’re all ears,” said Katie’s mom.
“Well, I have been looking at the data from the blood tests of the victims of this current epidemic. The work is not unlike the work I have been doing regarding aging. The difference now is that I am trying to find out if there are any commonalities in the blood that could be causing the deaths instead of causing people to live longer,” said Katie.
“And have you found anything interesting yet?” asked Rob’s dad.
“As a matter of fact, I have,” said Katie. “There are six different blood tests that are abnormal for all of the deceased. So, I analyzed samples from people who were alive and found that they too had abnormal results for the same six tests.”
“So, I guess you hit a roadblock then, because what you thought was abnormal must have been incorrect. Those tests were in fact normal, like the blood tests from the people who are alive.” said Katie’s dad.
“Not exactly, dad. We do know what is normal over time because we have blood samples from the aging studies of centenarians. I was able to establish that the normal ranges of four of the six blood tests were correct. So, what that means is the people whose blood we tested are also carriers of SDX.”
“Oh!” said Rob’s mom. “So what you are saying is that the healthy living people are also infected. Is that correct?”
“Yes, that is correct,” said Katie. “Now, we are going to do wider testing, but what I expect to find is that everyone we test will be positive for SDX.”
Rob looked around him and saw from the faces in the room that what Katie was saying was starting to sink in.
“Well,” said Katie’s mom. “This means we are probably all positive too. Is that what you think?”
“Yes mom, I think that is correct. I tested Rob and the kids and we all turned up positive, except Hope. We think there was a problem with her test and it is being redone now.”
“Gosh, what does this mean for all of us?” asked Rob’s dad. “Are you saying we all are going to die soon?”
“Not exactly,” said Katie. “We don’t know what it means yet, but it could mean that your lives will be shortened. Rob and I discussed this and we thought we needed to let you know, that you could have as little as one to three months left if a cure isn’t found soon.”
The four elders sat back and took in this new information with sad resignation.
After a long pause, Rob’s mom spoke.
“Does it hurt? Does the disease make you nauseous or full of pain?”
“Actually, we think that it makes your internal organs age at an increased pace. So, if based on your health you were going to live another twenty years, then maybe you will live another twenty weeks, or twenty days, we just don’t know. We believe it is somewhere between those two time frames,” said Katie. “And it seems people then succumb quite quickly, without a great deal of pain or suffering.”
“I vote for weeks,” said Katie’s dad with a laugh which lightened up the mood in the room a little with chuckles all around.
“Do the kids know?” asked Katie’s mom, continuing on.
“Not yet,” said Katie. “I don’t think I could count on them to keep it secret at their age. Hopefully there will be a cure that will alleviate all of the worry anyway, but that is probably still a way off.”
“Why haven’t we heard about this on the news? We hear all sorts of other crazy stuff out there.” said Rob’s dad.
“I don’t deal with policy. I know the President knows about what I told you because I briefed him personally yesterday afternoon,” said Katie.
There were now looks of surprise from all four parents.
“Dear, you never told us that you have meetings with the President,” said Katie’s dad with a tinge of pride.
“That’s because this was the first one I have ever had, and now you know. I want everyone to remember, you need to keep this information to yourselves. I will keep you updated about what I find out. Rob and I have decided to try and come up to visit every weekend to check on you and spend time with family. I hope that is okay with you all.”
Again Katie gave each one eye contact, soliciting four nods.
They all then discussed what Katie had relayed and the consensus was that they were too old to change anything. They were all very comfortable in their relationships and the only thing they wanted was to spend more time with their grandchildren, and thankfully, Rob and Katie had already decided to make that happen.
“Katie, thank you for telling us. I think that took a lot of courage from you and Rob,” said Katie’s dad. “But I don’t think it will change anything in our day-to-day life except maybe the fact that we know our days will be numbered. We have done what the good Lord put us on this earth for, so if it is time to go, so be it.”
Rob wished that he could get to that place, but his worry about the children, and especially Hope, made him doubt that he ever would.
Katie looked out the front window and saw that the boys were back on the dock fishing and Hope was under the tree again, swinging away. She wished her life could be so care free. For a brief moment, as she looked around her in this most familiar setting, she was at peace.
Rob walked over to Katie and put his arm around her shoulder. “What time did you want to head back home,” he asked.
“I think we should plan on pulling out in the next half hour. The kids have school and we have work. Next weekend let’s try to come on Saturday and spend the night.”
“Good idea,” said Rob.
After some final chit chat, Rob gathered up the kids and marched them into the house to say goodbye to their grandparents. There were now extra-long hugs from the grandparents and a couple of restrained tears. Katie could see the information she had given them had hit home.
“We will be back next weekend. I think the plan will be to go to your place next, mom and dad, if that is alright?” said Rob.
“We’ll be delighted, and Katie’s parents can spend the night too, if they like. We have plenty of room,” replied Rob’s mom.
“Sounds like a plan,” said Katie’s mom, registering her husband’s simultaneous nod.
Rob packed everyone into the Pacifica, backed out and then headed down the long, narrow, tree lined road to the main highway while good-bye waves were exchanged by everyone else.
“I wish we could have stayed longer,” said Hope. “They have the best swing ever.”
Brett and Sam laughed “And the ugliest gar fish too,” they said.
Now everyone in the car was laughing. A trip to the grandparents seemed to always bring out the best in the kids. In no time they were speeding down the highway and the kids all had their headphones on.
“So what does your day have in store for you tomorrow?” Rob asked Katie.
“I am going into my office at normal time. I should have the results of Hope’s blood test so I will be looking at that. I’m almost all packed, so I will put the boxes in my car and drive to my new office in the Headquarters building. I told Sarah I would be there about noon. I have a lot of analysis to do tomorrow on the live blood samples. I wonder if Ben was able to find out anything from the information I provided him yesterday?”
“Sounds very busy,” Rob said. “I expect you will be late, yes?
“I am going to try not to be. The research we are doing now is going to take a while, I’ll admit, but I don’t want to burn out and be useless. I think I should be home by seven at the latest, barring any late breaking developments or White House surprises.”
“That would be good. I like spending time with you in the evening. Thankfully, my day is much simpler than yours. I hope the progress on the new housing units will continue as planned. I want to get that finished before people start dropping like flies.”
“Don’t be crude, Rob,” scolded Katie.
“I am not trying to be crude. I am just a realist. If people
are going to start to die in large numbers, then it will present a problem for getting the project done,” said Rob.
“If that happens, you won’t need the project,” retorted Katie. “Anyway, you said it is supposed to be finished in six weeks. I expect you won’t have a problem, even if we are delayed in finding a cure by a couple of months.”
“Always the optimist,” said Rob.
Katie gave Rob a soft punch on his right shoulder. “I’m going to lean back and get a little shut eye now if you don’t mind.”
“Go right ahead. I was expecting that you would with the schedule you keep of late,” he said.
Katie reclined her chair just enough to allow her head to settle comfortably on the head rest and soon she fell fast asleep.
The traffic wasn’t too bad and they made great time, getting home about half past eight in the evening. The kids would have time to check any homework for tomorrow and Rob and Katie could catch the Sunday Night Football game.
The kids were all tucked away in their rooms by nine and Katie was in the bedroom taking a shower, so Rob settled in to watch the game on his favorite leather couch in the family room. About fifteen minutes later Katie came out in her short bathrobe to join Rob. She cuddled up next to Rob and gave him a long, sensuous kiss. Needless to say, the game didn’t last long.
CHAPTER 30
It was now Sunday evening on the east coast, so it would be Monday morning in Beijing. Ben picked up the phone and made a call.
“Hi, this is Dr. Ben Shah with the CDC calling from the United States for Dr. Linyi.”
The Perfect Pathogen Page 18
