“And that is why we want to take a look at where we suspect this all came from. We are getting some unusual test results and it would help a great deal if we had actual clear data.”
“And you think that the answer is at the bottom of that pit?” he ask.
“We can’t be sure but we can’t rule it out either. The possibility exists that it holds some of the answers,” Mark told him.
“Then we should get to work. Here is how I would like to go about it. First, I need to visit the site. Then do a little site sampling to know what I’m up against. Then we can design a way to get someone down to the bottom of the shaft and back up again. Getting them back up is going to be just as hard as getting them down there. Five miles is a lot of cable. Fortunately it already exists.”
“Then we can lower someone,” Mark said.
“Except for one small detail,” Buck replied.
“And that is?” Randy asked.
“Getting the cable here. It sure isn’t here in Kentucky. Honestly I don’t know where it is but someone does and we will have to track that person down. Then we have to find a way to get it here and with the restrictions, that won’t be an easy job,” Buck told them.
“I’ll take care of that. You just figure out what we need to build it,” Randy said.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
The entrance to the Bedford Delta Mine had been sealed. They had used dynamite to collapse the entrance in an effort to stop any further spreading of the Ebola virus. They spent days digging out the entrance big enough to drive a truck through it.
Buck had fought wearing a full biochemical suit until they showed him what the results of the infection caused. After that he readily agreed to wear one at all times.
“That must have been some machine,” he noted as they drove along the tunnel.
“They say it was the first of its kind. A remote controlled drilling machine. A prototype actually. It appeared to work but something caused it to go crazy and it would no longer respond.”
“Do they know why?”
“No one has really looked into it. It’s one of those things that sort of got lost with the outbreak of Ebola. I suppose someday someone may look into it. That is if anyone is still alive.”
“Boy, aren’t you just a ray of sunshine,” Buck said.
Randy stopped the truck at the side of the breach. They got out and walked over to the opening.
“The thing cuts a pretty clean swath doesn’t it,” Buck said admiringly.
“Yeah, and from what I’ve been told, it does all of this with only an operator and four guys outside the mine to hook up the conveyor belt sections.”
“Pretty impressive,” he said while studying the opening.
Buck was shining his light all around in the opening as leaning way too far in for Randal’s liking.
“Dammit Buck, don’t go and fall in there. It’s a long way to the bottom.”
“Pretty sudden stop too.”
When he had finished looking around he got back in the truck and headed out of the mine. Buck was unusually quiet.
“Something bothering you Buck?” Randal asked.
“You might say that,” he replied.
“Spit it out why don’t you.”
“Okay. You know that the shaft isn’t natural. It’s man made.”
It was Randal’s turn to keep quiet for quite a while.
“You suspected that didn’t you?” Buck finally said.
“Let’s just say it doesn’t surprise me much. Both Mark and I sort of came to the same conclusion.”
“You think you’re going to find some answers down there don’t you?” Buck said.
“Honestly? I don’t know what we are going to find,” Randal replied.
“Is there any chance of stopping this thing? I mean before it’s too late. Or is it already too late?” Buck asked as they got near the entrance.
“It may be possible if we can determine the exact nature of the virus.”
“I thought you couldn’t cure Ebola.”
“We probably won’t be able to control it but we may be able to find a way to stop it from spreading.”
“A vaccine isn’t possible is it? Everything I read indicates that it can’t be stopped. It just has to run out of steam.”
“That’s not entirely accurate. First you have to realize that not a lot of effort has been put into a vaccine. It’s not a high priority like HIV and cancer. This happens in third and fourth world countries. A few million of them die and it’s sad but it doesn’t change much. The rationale is that most of them were going to die of one thing or another, starvation, military actions, and what-not.”
“So you think it is possible?”
“Possible? Probably. The question is can we do it in time? This particular Ebola virus has been mutating. It has been absorbing other viruses. It is no longer just the Ebola virus.”
“How is that possible? I mean how could it do that on its own?”
“That is the real question we hope to answer when we find out what is in the bottom of that pit as you call it,” Randal said as they broke into the sunlight.”
“Then I guess I had better get on this right away. It’s a little more than just a challenge. You need answers and you need them fast,” Buck said.
* * *
Bud realized on the second day back from delivering Ed across the Mississippi River that he had become contaminated. His throat was sore, his muscles were painful and he had a fever. He had two other symptoms that only a few had reported or had been discovered so far.
He could hardly swallow and his vision was blurred. No matter how hard he tried he just couldn’t see well. His irritability seemed to be going through the roof.
He considered going into town to see a doctor for the first time in thirty years. He had never felt quite this bad. His breathing was becoming more difficult.
By the next day paralysis was beginning to set in. He could hardly get out of bed and when he did his vision blurred to such an extent that he bumped into things that he could normally navigate around in the darkest of nights.
Nothing he ate, which was very little, would stay down. Almost immediately he would regurgitate. At this point he knew he couldn’t get into town even if he wanted to. Never having a phone, there was no one to call.
Inside his body, Clostridium Botulinum, often referred to as C. Botulinum, were inhibiting his lungs from receiving a signal from the brain to breath. The nerves were dying and he was suffering from oxygen deprivation.
Bud thought about the choices he had made in his life. Like most people, some had been good and many bad. Nothing he could do or say would change either his past or his future.
His eyes were red and bloodshot and his breathing became even more ragged. Slowly he crawled to the front door of his cabin and tried to look out on the lush hills and trees on his property. It was no use. He could no longer see. He took one last breath and died lying on the front porch.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CTV NEWS — Last evening large groups went on a rampage in St. Louis, Missouri and in Cleveland, Ohio as the first cases of Ebola were reported there. The news that several hundred people had contacted the disease had been kept from the general public.
Police battled large numbers of citizens armed with everything from baseball bats and clubs to guns. Eight police officers were killed and forty-one injured during the night long rampage through the streets in St. Louis. Sixteen rioters were killed and over a hundred were injured. Police arrested eighty-six of the demonstrators.
Cleveland’s police fought a crowd estimated to be between two to three thousand. Police initially tried to control the crowds with tear gas and rubber bullets but soon found that they were not only outnumbered but facing demonstrators with weapons.
The Police Commissioner, Mike Cain, authorized the use of deadly force if an officer felt his life was directly in danger. With the downtown area lost, the police set up barricades to contain the rioters. A cordon
from 3rd Street starting at the river to Euclid and East to Interstate 90 was established. They erected barricades and brought in water cannons along with armored police vehicles.
By noon the following day they were able to close the ring and regain control of the downtown city area. The damage was estimated to be in the billions.
Twenty-seven police officers and fire-fighters were killed during the melee and over a hundred injured. One hundred and eighty-seven rioters were killed and at least three hundred injured. Two hundred and ten were arrested during the night long rampage.
In other news a family of four had their private airplane shot out of the sky by the Air Force. The family had a small private air strip on their farm and it is believed that they decided to head to one of the seven remaining states that have not recorded any cases of Ebola.
Air Force jets were scrambled and soon overtook the single engine Piper Cub. The pilot refused to communicate with the Air Force planes and the jets tried to force them to land but they refused. As they approached the border of South Dakota, one of the virus free states, the plane was shot down by a burst of machine gun fire.
Air Force base commander Level Horton said that permission was given when all other options were exhausted. It was something that was deeply regretted but necessary to maintain the quarantine of South Dakota.
When asked if he knew if they were infected with the Ebola virus he said, “That was not a part of the decision making process. The law as it stands now was being broken. Intent is never a factor.”
* * *
“It’s getting worse every day,” Mark said, looking up from the microscope.
He was hot and tired from stooping over for the last three hours. He was becoming discouraged.
“People are scared. They are waiting for some miracle to happen. I read where church attendance is up one hundred and fifty percent.”
“I don’t feel much like a miracle man,” Mark replied.
“Nor do I. We need to get to the bottom of that hole and see exactly what is down there. I feel like I am just going through the motions here. We are missing a piece of the puzzle and running around hopping we will stumble upon it. It isn’t exactly the scientific way to approach the subject,” Randal replied.
“It is better than doing nothing. Just sitting around doesn’t inspire much confidence either.”
“That reminds me, I need to give the President the daily update.”
Mark shook his head, “How does that remind you to call the President?”
“It doesn’t but it just popped in my head.”
“Okay, someone has been looking into the microscope way too long,” Mike said raising his eyebrows. It was a wasted gesture inside the biochemical suit.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Buck was less than happy. The floor of the tunnel was so soft that getting solid anchor points was almost impossible. He had tried several different systems but wasn’t satisfied with any of them. Just the weight of the cable alone was staggering.
At one point he thought he had found the answer but when they placed the cable over the turnbuckle the anchors pulled out of the floor.
Discouraged, he went back to the drawing board. It was about this time that Randal and Mike happened to be walking toward the mine entrance.
“Why the sour look?” Randal asked.
“Not sour, discouraged. I just ran a quick test and it's a no go. The floor is just too soft. I am going to have to devise a different method.”
“Well it is a coal mine so…”
“Yeah smart butt. I know it’s a coal mine. Says so right above the entrance. My point being that it is going to take longer than I had initially thought.”
“You said cable,” Mike interrupted.
“Yeah, that long thing that has to go five miles down. By the way, I’m going to need the exact depth. The last thing I want to do is leave someone hanging ten feet above the floor and extra cable is extra weight.”
“They have measured the depth. Some company came out with a Doppler and got an exact reading. That’s where the five mile figure came from,” Randal said.
“When I say exact, I mean to the inch or damn close to it. A few feet short won’t do us much good.”
“Okay, we’ll dig it up. Someone has to know where it is,” Randal said.
“Don’t forget, no one from the mining company is still alive,” Mark reminded him.
“Still, it has to be someplace in the office building. We can have someone look through there and see what they can find. If all else fails we can have another Doppler reading taken,” Randal said.
“Whatever it takes. I need to do some calculations and I would rather not have to guess, especially when someone’s life is at stake.”
“We’ll get it and have it sent to you just as quickly as possible. Is there anything else you need?”
“I’m sure there will be, I just don’t know what at this point. I’m going back to the drawing board,” Buck told them.
“Just let us know and we’ll do our best to get it for you,” Randal replied.
As they walked away Randal said, “Buck is a good man but he is overly cautious at times. On the last building he engineered the site forman said the damn thing was designed for five hundred years. Maybe a little exaggeration but still, I guess I would rather have him that way than too laid back.”
Mike didn’t say anything as they walked along, lost in thought.
“Something bothering you? I mean besides the obvious?” Randal asked after a long silence.
“Well, Buck is your friend so I didn’t know exactly what to say,” Mike replied.
“About?”
“About the cable thing.”
“I’m not following you. Are you talking about the weight of the cable?”
“Not the weight as much as why cable? I mean does he realize all we are doing is sending someone down to look around. If we have them bring anything up with them it will be a small sample,” Mark said.
“I don’t know. I guess we never really discussed it with him. Maybe he thinks we are going to want to haul the drilling machine up or something like that,” Randal said, trying to scratch the itch under the edge of his face mask with no success.
“I thought about bringing it up but when I said something about the cable he kind of blew me off. I thought maybe I had offended him somehow.”
“Nah, Buck has real thick skin. He has to in his line of work. Everyone thinks that engineers live in a dream world and don’t understand everyday situations. It’s sort of an occupational hazard.”
“Well, when we get the exact depth maybe we should sit down and go over exactly what we are trying to do,” Mark said, now trying to scratch his nose after seeing Randal trying so hard and failing.
“I agree. We get the depth to the foot if we can and then we will have a pow-wow with big Chief Engineer.”
“Yes Kemosabe, me see great wisdom in such a meeting,” Mark replied.
“Oh Lord, take me now Ebola. I’m ready to go,” Randal joked back.
* * *
Acting President Toll was facing her own crisis. Congress wanted definite proof that President Thornburg was not capable of handling the duties of his office. While she had met with both the Senate and House leaders a certain amount of suspicion still existed.
“I don’t know what you want exactly.”
“Well, we have heard about the last meeting he held but other than that, did he exhibit any behavior that indicated he was unstable?”
“Senator, it’s hard to define exactly what you are looking for here. He has been ‘different’ ever since the Ebola thing hit. His stalling to see the Director of the CDC and refusal to act on his recommendation caused a loss of four valuable days in stopping the spread of the virus. If he had acted on the CDC recommendation we could have possible contained the virus in Kentucky. Now look at where we are.”
“Yes, but that is all hindsight. As I understand it the Director made a recommendation me
aning that it should or should not be acted on as determined by the President. He had no real way of knowing how fast the virus would spread.”
She sat and looked at him for several seconds before speaking again.
“If I’m hearing you right Senator, you are saying in the exact same position, knowing the exact same facts presented to you by the very agency that has the responsibility for the nation's disease control, you would have acted the same. Is that what I am hearing from you Senator?”
“You are paraphrasing the statement Madam. I may or may not have come to the same conclusion. Timing is the relevant thing here. He felt he needed more facts before making a decision to ground all transportation. The economy is not something you can just shut down on a whim.”
“Do you think Ebola and several cases and some deaths are a whim? How many dead does it take before it is no longer considered a whim?” she asked glaring at the Senator who seemed not to notice.
“Madam, let me be blunt if I may. This is seen by some of my colleagues as an attempt to usurp the power of the President. Some even view this as an attempted coup to become the first African-American woman President,” he said.
Her face was burning and she wondered if smoke was actually coming out of her ears. What an arrogant ass. She wasn’t sure what angered her more. That she was an African-American or that she was a woman. It had to be the woman part she decided. The old boys didn’t like having a woman as leader of the nation.
“Then let me be just as blunt Senator. I have seen prejudiced people like you and your colleagues all my life. You want to safe face and put your buddy back in the President’s seat. You can do that, I doubt that I can stop you. Just keep in mind you cannot stop me from speaking out and telling the world about what really took place. The man is incapable of leading the nation at this point in time. You want to put him back in power, you go right ahead and do it. You want to play hardball. Senator you should know I didn’t get here not knowing how to play dirty just as well as you. You go on back to your colleagues and tell them if they want a bloody fight on their hands to bring it on,” she said, slapping her hand down for emphasis.
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