Alien Backlash

by Maxine Millar

  “The Dimarindoss hospital is still the best example. They report that first a trickle then a flood of critically ill people came in. As ordered, all incoming Keulfyd patients came through the Checkers which immediately picked up their Diagnosis via the finger-prick test. The sick were then channeled into the quarantine wards where they were met by medical staff of other Races who could care for them easily and safely.”

  Kumenoprix agreed, “We should use this hospital as a benchmark for those that do well and keep a check on their statistics. It is an example of best practice. Given that its population includes all age groups and health levels I expect that some will survive but most will not. A pity, because the survivors are the only real cure for those coming after.”

  But Sikleffidisk had discovered a problem: “Inexplicably, some survivors have very few antibodies and still survive.”

  “I noticed that too. I thought those cases were unusual. This I do not understand. The presence and numbers of antibodies normally indicates the process and extent of the body’s immune response. There is normally a direct correlation between numbers of antibodies and prognosis. Another puzzle is that the antibodies are only in the blood for an average of five days. Usually antibodies stay in the blood for much longer.”

  “Why not in this virus?” she asked.

  “I can’t explain these findings. They are atypical. And clean, uninfected blood has to be found and transfused back into the sick, some of whom can’t afford to lose any more blood.”

  “Could the poor antibody numbers and the short time they are in the blood be a form of weaponizing? Could this be deliberate?”

  “I don’t know,” sighed Kumenoprix. “This is new to me. I don’t know how it could be done. If this is weaponizing, it is very effective. It must somehow interfere with the immune response.”

  “That is alarming. So this virus is now airborne, more infectious, more virulent, and the immune response in antibody numbers and the time they are produced is limited.”

  “Which brings up a frightening question. Could whoever weaponized this process be looking for a way to turn the immune response off or reduce it? Permanently? We will need to keep a check on the survivors to see if their immune response has been permanently affected.”

  Sikleffidisk looked at Kumenoprix in horror. “I should have thought of that! A permanently incapacitated population? I had been calculating on full recovery, not a permanently weakened population. Now I’m really frightened. What do we tell Cukudeopul?”

  “First we find out for sure. And we publish our findings on the security net. This knowledge needs to be safely and discreetly circulated, compiled, checked and analyzed.”

  “So we need to ask doctors to check for a compromised immune response. We will add this to a post infection list of tests we will ask for.”

  “Yes. Tell doctors we want a full blood count, infection markers, reported fatigue, and a check for opportunistic infections.” Kumenoprix paused as an awful thought occurred to him. “We will need to check those who survived and those who were immunized and didn’t get it.”

  “You think this virus is intended to wipe out our Race?”

  “It is a possibility.”

  “Who would do this? Why?”

  Kumenoprix thought of what was common knowledge in his Race. For the first time he seriously considered the possibility that his own Race had done this. But he could say nothing. He would put himself under suspicion and risk blowing his cover.

  When next Sikleffidisk and Kumenoprix reported to Cukudeopul they both kept quiet about their suspicions. Kumenoprix told him, “For most survivors, their blood can be taken, an average of 500 ml of plasma spun off, and 5 ml will confer passive immunity to an adult. Ten ml will cure most of the sick in the early stages and 25 ml could cure some of those even in the last stages. Two mls will immunize a small child and a half ml will immunize a baby. This has been well publicized. Not so well publicized is that the medical staff and their families were treated first, then all those in essential services. It didn’t leave much for the rest of the population, but this approach is essential. It kept the staff at the hospitals alive, well and working. It keeps their families safe so they can concentrate on their jobs and means they won’t bring infection home. Next inoculated were all those in essential services and their families. Essential services includes the crematoriums, and morgue and body-delivery workers who are now operating around the clock. As you ordered, memorial services are all done via electronic means as are all public events. All learning institutions are now electronic home learning. Every non-essential industry where a lot of people are employed is closed. It’s lucky that many factories employ mostly robots or slaves of other Races. They can continue, as can all those industries with minimal people or minimal Keulfyd or those inoculated and safe.”

  What he didn’t say was that he feared the immunisation might be saving the population only to incapacitate them. But without immunisation, up to eighty percent would die. It was a terrible choice and Kumenoprix was glad it was not his Race and not his choice.

  “How is the Dimarindoss Hospital coping?” asked Cukudeopul.

  “It is struggling and has been at full capacity for some time.” Sikleffidisk paused to order her thoughts. She was so tired that even thinking was a strain. “Seeing the hospital at capacity and struggling, the medical committee made some painful decisions. Some patients have very complicated and/or time-consuming treatment which uses up a lot of resources for one person. Some of these to be treated were children. Their treatment was canceled. They will die. The only people now permitted to be admitted, except for those with the virus, are those with life-threatening acute illnesses, severe accident victims, and those whose treatment is short. Those with chronic illnesses were told to stay away. Children were safer not to be admitted. Expectant mothers are now having their babies at home. Routine tests and monitoring for a range of illnesses has been stopped.

  “These measures freed up a huge percentage of staff. But this was not enough. Some medical staff, mostly nurses, have started home visiting to treat the sick, especially when there are multiple people in one family with the virus. Makeshift hospitals have been set up in the empty learning institutions, warehouses, closed factories, large buildings of all kinds.”

  Cukudeopul looked at his list. “All medical personnel are ordered to streamline their jobs and stop all non-essential tasks. Have they done that?”

  Sikleffidisk smiled. “That decree was popular!” she said. “The medical and nursing staff have cheerfully stopped doing all the ‘bureaucratic bullshit’ and paperwork that had become so much a part of their job. They report it cut their job in half. As you know, many government departments demand all sorts of medical data. Now, the only paperwork is the relevant handover and also all the various unnecessary multiple assessments were axed.”

  Kumenoprix added, “We also decided that the fact that someone does not have the legal registration or is not currently certified to do something is ignored. If someone can do something they are now to do it regardless of whether or not they are trained or licensed. And there is no liability for them if they make mistakes as a consequence.”

  “Are the hospitals using euthanasia for those that reach the third stage?”

  Sikleffidisk and Kumenoprix looked at each other apprehensively.

  “Are they not following my orders?”

  “Not in all cases,” answered Sikleffidisk, being economical with the truth. “They are trying to save some, particularly the young or those of special significance.”

  “That’s no problem. I didn’t mean it as a blanket order. Is there anything else I can do?”

  “I can’t think of anything,” said Sikleffidisk. “Full pandemic emergency measures have been initiated. All Keulfyd who are designated non-essential personnel are ordered to stay home and told that supplies will be brought to them, as is happening with those who have been exposed or who are in the early stages. The people to do these deli
veries however, are becoming scarce.”

  “I have a suggestion,” Kumenoprix said. “On this planet we have a population of fifty-six billion Keulfyd and seven billion other Races. Of these other Races, several are servant class and almost sixty percent are slaves. Slaves are forbidden to nurse the sick in hospitals but may do so in private homes. They could be recruited and prioritized for that task.”

  “Already being done. What about the carrier and slow-onset states that were reported to me from Oberterk and possibly Torroxell?”

  “Kumenoprix and I wondered if that was how the quarantine kept failing but we have not seen either one,” said Sikleffidisk.

  Kumenoprix added, “Each new outbreak can be traced to someone breaking quarantine and the incubation period appears consistent at five days. I wonder if this is a different variant of the same virus. If so, the one developed on Torroxell could be the most recent and this may be an earlier variant that had been stockpiled.” There was silence as the three looked at each other, appalled at the implications if this was true.

  Sikleffidisk knew she had to be very careful here. “We are looking for all sorts of things which may have been added to the weaponizing of this virus and we need to get ahead of it. So I am asking for some extra tests which will be expensive but I believe they are necessary.”

  “You’ve spotted something.”

  Her heart sped up in panic. Cukudeopul was too alert today. “We have, but we hope we are wrong.”

  “What is it?”

  Every orifice tightened in her panic. If she got this wrong it could have devastating effects for her Race and for herself personally. So she simply said, “We are worried that some people could have permanent damage to their immune systems. If so, we need to work out now how to reduce or reverse the damage. Preferably stop it happening. We don’t want a damaged population with associated ongoing costs.”

  Cukudeopul grunted and changed the topic. With huge relief she realized he did not understand the significance of this.

  At this stage Kumenoprix was politely asked to leave. He assumed they wanted to talk about quarantine. Cukudeopul asked the doctors and medical advisors, “Will the Checkers not detect this virus and stop it getting onto ships and planets?”

  His Minister of Health answered, “The Checkers slow the boarding process too much so the range of tests are reduced and the administrators pass people before all the results are in. But worse, we can’t test for this virus as it has changed. The virus has to be exact for the computers to recognize it and it has mutated. First, we must get a sample, then we have to reprogram each Checker with each different mutation.”

  Cukudeopul sighed. That made sense. And of course it couldn’t be that easy. He shuddered with the implications. “So how can we prevent the spread of this virus without financial disaster? Which will be better? Gambling on medical science to find a cure fast and let commerce carry on, or order quarantines and prevent entry of ships which would result in a financial breakdown of massive proportions. Commerce in chaos, distribution halted, huge penalties, worlds that relied on imports running out of basic supplies such as food?”

  There was some murmuring between the doctors before the Minister said simply, “We have no solutions yet except the plasma and quarantine, and quarantine is failing. There will be shortages. People will die because production of some medical supplies has been stopped to prioritize resources needed to counter, prevent and treat this virus. The huge numbers of potential victims take precedence over the number needing treatment that takes too much time or money. I assume you agree with this policy?”

  “Yes, it makes sense and it is going to be relatively easy to get this accepted by the public. Ensure this is tactfully and regretfully made public.” Cukudeopul paused to think. “The financial consequences of all this will take decades to recover from. Our reputation for reliability and invincibility will suffer. The alpha Race, damaged for decades in multiple aspects by a virus.” And to be so damaged by a Race that should be near to extinction! Anger and bewilderment boiled inside him. He fought to control himself and make the right decisions. “I am ordering Stage One Quarantine. The army will now run this with a shoot-on-sight order. Kumenoprix is right and he has said what you doctors were too afraid to say. If I am to make the right decisions, you must give me the correct information.”

  Seething with fury, the Minister of Health left to confer with Sikleffidisk. “Give him the right advice, he says! He ignores our advice, he rubbishes our warnings, he considers himself the expert on everything. The pompous, arrogant, imbecilic idiot! We have to dilute the truth because he can’t take it! Even now, we have minimized our reports so he can cope. So he won’t explode in fury. And when he finds out it was worse than we said, he will blame us.”

  Sikleffidisk ignored him. As Chief Medical Officer her role was not political. She was less likely to be damaged by any fallout. He was right but his ranting was futile. It was pointless to rage: the advisers could never win. They were stupid to take the job. People at Cukudeopul’s level filtered information through their egos. The higher the position, the finer the filter — and the less information got through. The Minister should know that. And Cukudeopul was reasonable for a Supreme Commander. There had been worse. Far worse.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Kumenoprix was not looking at the whole picture now, only his small part of it in this city. He was fighting to do as Cukudeopul had told him, keeping all infected crucial staff alive. This included all those he considered his friends, which was many of the security staff and medical staff. He knew they would be needed in the months to come. He feared the Keulfyd would become a sick Race and there were far too many of them for the Okme to help.

  When they met with Cukudeopul the next day Sikleffidisk told him, “We are having significant problems with quarantine. As fast as we try to restrict movement and shut down all roads, airports, and public transport, we find that people have fled ahead and through the quarantine areas to spread illness in another area. They are fleeing on foot and via every form of transport they can find, on-road and off-road, despite the shoot-on-sight order. It’s a total mess. Some people are not obeying containment orders, quarantine, or bans on hospital or home visiting. We Keulfyd tend to be individualistic, arrogant, competitive, and hooked on our rights. As a Race we are not used to being co-operative, altruistic, obedient, thinking of others and especially not considering others before ourselves. The majority are obeying the orders because they can see the sense of them and because they are afraid of exposure. But it doesn’t take many people to cause total disaster and spread infection. The most likely to flee are those who fear they have been infected or knew they were infected and want to stay out of areas where the sickness is concentrated, like hospitals. Some have fled from the hospitals.”

  “Then we must increase the numbers of soldiers and stress the shoot-on-sight order for any thought to be fleeing quarantine. All the military on planet have been immunized so they are safe. Maximum publicity. What other major problems?”

  “Hospitals running out of vital equipment or supplies such as clean blood. We must step up imports as well as production. And Keulfyd staff numbers are dropping so much they are struggling to staff the wards even though they are now working double shifts or more. But the main problem is that we now have police, the army, all slaves, the retired, older schoolchildren, students, all of the population working in one sphere or another but it is not enough. Once the numbers of sick reached four percent ill at the same time, the hospitals were overwhelmed. Four percent sounds insignificant, but it is not. Most will reach the stage of bleeding and that will be enough to overwhelm the hospitals. Now the numbers of sick are fifteen percent in the best places, and sixty-seven percent is the worst. The sick are nursing the sick and this is all over the planet.” Sikleffidis was out of ideas and overwhelmed. She knew she should sleep and eat but wasn’t hungry, and every time she slept she woke to find the situation worse.

  Kumenoprix was
flat-out too but aware he had an opportunity now. He was a frequent presence in the security staffroom as he treated the staff and administered the inoculation, stimulants, and other treatments. He had his data and awaited his opportunity. It came when the sole security staff member on duty collapsed and was unconscious in the control room. A room Kumenoprix was not permitted in.

  He entered without waiting for an escort, checked the man, then looked up. The security system was open and working! He did not need passwords and security codes. He promptly transmitted the Niseyen data to Helkmid, careful to reroute it as usual. What he transmitted were his unique comparison programs, his gene maps and his partially finished fix for the female genes. The programs that would so shorten the time needed to reprogram the Healing Machines. The two programs he had spent centuries on.

  But he had a second card. This one contained a chromosome map of the virus, a description of the symptoms, all the treatments that had been tried, the effect they had, many other details from his own research, and data downloaded from the Ministry of Health doctors’ site. It did not indicate the incidence; he had deleted that. He was just in time! Another security guard came in and caught him. Kumenoprix promptly appeared to remove the card and handed it over saying, “I transmitted this to my Okme friend. It describes the virus and what effect it is having. He may be able to suggest something that could help. He is the expert on Keulfyd physiology that I often confer with.” He had carefully pocketed the actual card he had transmitted.

  “What else did you tell him?”

  “Nothing. I did not talk to him nor send a message. Just the data. I am not stupid. I would not tell him how serious this is. I trust him but I do not have the right to make this decision for others. I transmitted only data, as you can verify. Check it!”