“Wasn’t he right? After Japan, has there been another use of atomic weapons?”
“No. But a couple weeks ago you were arguing that assassinating enemy scientists was wrong.” I said.
“I didn’t say I had it all figured out. I don’t think there are real parallels anyway. This isn’t a weapon. It’s just goodness that this evil world won’t be able to cope with.”
“Like the Second Coming…”
“What?”
“Never mind, just something I thought of. But it won’t be just those who accept it that get…well, saved. If you make it contagious, it will be indiscriminate.”
“Good. The faster the better.”
“I think so too. But let me play devil’s advocate for a minute. Aren’t we making all that decision for people? Shouldn’t they decide for themselves? And what if five years down the line we all turn into aliens or zombies something? That it does something completely unexpected and wipes out the human race?”
“Come on, DJ,” she said with exasperation. “I thought you were the risk-taker and adventurer.”
“I’m also the one who took the Hippocratic Oath. First, do no harm. I’m not sure I’m not violating it.”
She shook her head. “If you do surgery, you have to cut. You have to harm to save. But…whatever you decide, I’m with you. I’m your life partner.”
“You’re my wife.”
“Okay mister old-fashioned, yes I’m your wife and you’re my husband. But if I disagree I’m going to let you know. So now you have my views. Let’s practice making the next generation of Markises. Less talk, more do.”
She reached for me, and we did more, talked less.
***
I called a council of war. I termed it ‘war’ not because we were going to make war on anyone, but because our actions would start one.
Against us.
I prepared to explain it all the best I could in our conference room, with computer-projected slides and everything. Military briefing habits die hard.
Larry was back, with a whole passel of his family members. I’m not sure what he had told them but there were about twenty of them, and they were not invited to the council. They were too new and I wasn’t going to risk some kind of schism or budding political dispute in our little community.
I’d made sure that Spooky and Skull got invited back as well. Nguyen came, but Denham didn’t. I couldn’t worry about that.
Spooky had brought several family members with him, the old, and the sick, a few of them kids. They were immediately injected with the Eden virus, and started getting better right away.
I was glad they weren’t among those southeast-Asians who didn’t believe in medical intervention. I remembered a big lawsuit in California some years back, with the doctors suing to force a Hmong family to allow their son, crippled from birth, to be operated on. The family won, and the boy stayed crippled. There were eerie parallels with the present situation.
So it was a small group that sat down to decide the fate of mankind: the three scientists, Larry, the Nguyens, Cassie and me.
“Good something-time, everyone. What, it’s afternoon? Hard to remember in here.” That got a courteous laugh. “I called you here to tell you about some plans I have.”
Everyone sat up a bit straighter, eyes fixed on me.
“I’ve sounded everyone here out so I think we’re all in agreement, but I want to be sure. We’ve got a couple of dozen new people and we need to keep friction to a minimum. That means we need to have a formal structure, for now.
“Spooky said a while back that I should be the new Colonel. But I don’t feel right about that. I propose this to start: we’re now the Sosthenes Bunker Council. One year from now – and you can tell people this – we can have elections to choose new Councilmen and Councilwomen. I will be the Chairman until then, unless anyone objects or wants to be it?” I looked everyone in the eye one after another. I wanted them all to be on board for this critical first period, because I had to be autocratic to get anything done.
“Okay then. If anyone asks, that’s my title. Chairman. Like a town council, not like Mao.” I laughed, then put on my most earnest expression. “But here’s a serious subject. Very serious. We’ve just been drifting from crisis to crisis, doing what has to be done, but ignoring the main issues. So here’s the first one, and the biggest.”
I swept the room with my eyes. “I think we need to spread the Plague. Come what may.”
A babble broke out, then calmed down after a minute. I held up my hand for quiet.
“Most of what I just heard was, ‘why now?’ I’ll tell you why. First, Jenkins isn’t going to forget I killed his son. He will hunt us down.”
“So why not just turn yourself in?” asked Roger.
I smiled at his brazen lack of couth, and waved back the glares directed his way. “It’s a fair question. The main answer is, that won’t stop them. Yes, he blames me personally, but he also can’t lose control of the power of the Eden Plague, so he will be do everything he can to find us, short of turning it over to his superiors and being cut out. So that’s the second thing. They will be researching. Jenkins will figure a way to pour resources into labs and scientists and within a year or two will probably be ahead of us. If he figures out how to inoculate against it, or how to get rid of the virtue effect, we lose all our leverage.”
“But then we won’t be a threat to him!”
“We’ll always be a threat. We’re an uncontrolled power bloc with the potential to destabilize the world. And that leads to the third thing. They will find this place eventually. Despite all we can do, unless we seal up completely and never leave, something will happen. They will locate us, and they will come and take us all away to Guantanamo or someplace worse. We have to move soon. We have to blow it open so wide it can’t be suppressed.”
“So why not just put it out to the media?”
“Without proof, that won’t mean a thing. It will just alert Jenkins to our plans. We will go to the media, but only after we have acted.”
“You are starting to sound like a terrorist, DJ.” This from Vinny, with a smile, but I could tell he was uneasy.
“Terrorists bring death and destruction as a way to get what they want. I am proposing we bring life to millions – billions – of people, with some unfortunate side effects. Call it insurgency, or a freedom fight. I don’t think there’s ever been anything quite like this before, but the closest I can think of is a war for independence. Spreading freedom and liberty, even though it upsets the established order.”
“So now we’re revolutionaries?”
I nodded, undeterred. “We have to be. I have thought long and hard about this and I am willing to accept that responsibility. I can’t let the fear I am making a horrible mistake deter me from doing what I think is right. ‘That Others May Live’ has been my code my whole adult life. I know there will be unintended consequences. This will save a lot more lives than it loses.”
Silence prevailed for a time as they ruminated.
“So how are we going to do it?”
I held up a hand. “First, we have to agree to do it at all. To impose a solution on the world. To spread the Eden Plague against their will. Sure, a lot of sick people will welcome it. But a lot of people will get it without a choice – from us spreading it deliberately. From birth, even, as soon as pregnant carriers start having babies.” I looked over at Elise and smiled. “So I’m going to leave this room right now. I’ll be at the nearest hatch, enjoying the breeze. I’ll come back in at sundown or when someone calls for me. But you all have to talk it out and reach a consensus, without me to impose it. Because it might be the most important decision ever made.”
I turned on my heel and left the conference room, hearing the voices rising as soon as the door shut. I walked with a measured, fatalistic tread toward the nearest tunnel to an opening on the mountainside.
I knew I should have just pushed it through. That’s what a military leader would have
done. But this wasn’t a quasi-military operation anymore. I was leading a bunch of civilians, mostly and they had to make their own decisions. Besides, I think there were enough in there that agreed with me to sway the rest. If not…I’d figure something out.
I jogged up flights of steps, just to burn off energy, and once I got there I opened the hatchway and sat down on a nearby log, within easy hearing distance of the landline in the box just inside. I stared out over the low hazy West Virginia mountains, smelling the pine in the air, hearing the rustle of leaves in the breeze, wondering about the future.
It was less than a half hour before the phone rang. I took that as a good sign.
The conference room was silent as I reentered. I sat down in the empty chair at the head of the table, and deliberately did not look at Elise. I didn’t want people thinking I was politicking with my wife.
Spooky cleared his throat. “Mister Chairman,” he said softly, “I believe we are of accord together. We are willing to bear responsibility with you. We will spread the Plague.”
I released the breath I’d been holding and smiled. Spontaneous applause broke out, a relaxation of their nervous tension I think. I took the breath back in, deeply. Now for the first test of their resolve and unity. “All right, that’s talking the talk. Can we all walk the walk?”
“Meaning what?” That was Vinny.
“Meaning…we have to infect everyone here to start.” I reached over to a side table where a small bag rested, unnoticed until now. I pulled out a cloth and unrolled it to reveal five small syringes.
I don’t think they expected me to throw it in their faces like that – to take concrete action after an abstract decision. But as it slowly sank in, I could see the acceptance form on every face, most especially those who were not yet infected: Spooky, Vinny, Cassie, Roger and Arthur.
Cassie spoke first. “I’m in. I’m fine with it. I’ve seen what it can do. Shoot me up, doc.” She rolled up her sleeve.
I took the first needle and walked over to her. I looked in her eyes for a moment, and seeing no uncertainty, I plunged it in. She smiled, a little strained, but determined.
The rest rolled up their sleeves as well, and I got it done as quickly as I could, before anyone got cold feet. Until I got to Vinny.
“Ah, no offense, boss, but I’m gonna pass for now. I’m young and healthy, we’re safe here, and I can always take it in an emergency. But who knows what it will do to my fine motor skills –” he wiggled all his fingers – “and you might want one guy here that can pull a trigger or something.”
I stared at him, running it over in my head. “Okay, fair enough, but you don’t talk about it. You don’t need to lie, just don’t mention to the others that you are not infected.”
He nodded.
I turned to the rest. “Everyone’s seen the effects. Be prepared for the appetite. We have no shortage of food. Just eat what you feel like. And keep an eye on each other, in case of anything strange. But now that that’s done, we have to give it to everyone else in the bunker.”
“What, against their will?”
I stared at Vinny, who had spoken. “We’re talking about doing it to the whole world. If we can’t do it to our own people, our own families, how can we justify doing it to everyone else in the world?”
There came another exchange of shocked glances. It was all becoming real to them, and fast. I had had days and days to think it over and settle it in my mind, but they were getting steamrolled in real time. I had to do it this way, though, or the consensus might collapse.
“So what I propose doing, and you will need to ratify, is this. We start putting it in the drinks at our meals, and keep doing it until everyone is in. Nobody gets to opt out.”
I could tell some were very uncomfortable with this idea. The values of individual liberty and self-determination ran deep in this country and culture. I stamped on my own misgivings and forced the issue. “So that’s my first formal motion. I move the Bunker Council approve infecting everyone here, without their express permission.”
There was a pause. Then, “Seconded,” from Spooky. He shot a look at Vinh.
“All right, motion is on the floor. All in favor say ‘aye.’”
Ayes rang out, some tentative, but clear.
“Opposed?” I waited for Vinny to object, but he didn’t. Perhaps he would stand up to me, but not to his uncle. There were no ‘nays.’
“All right, that’s settled. Now, here’s my first bureaucratic act as Chairman – watch this presentation.”
Turning on the computer screen, I laid it out for them then, in graphics and charts and pictures, how I proposed to plague the world. Coming to the conclusion, I looked around again, my hands clenched behind my back.
“So now you’ve seen my plan, in outline. Everyone will get a chance to weigh in on the methods, on the how. But for the basic goals, I need to hear all inputs now, and I need everyone behind me one hundred percent on this.”
We talked and wrangled well into the evening, breaking for a meal and coming back, until we had worked through all the misgivings and everyone raised his or her hand and said, “Aye” again.
After that it was just details.
-21-
The Council and I spent the next week keeping peace and soothing hurt feelings as the Eden Plague took hold. The virtue effect was fortunate, and I had counted on it. Better-balanced brains and kinder minds made it easier to accept the insult of their own destinies being hijacked for the greater good. Still, once everyone was confident they wouldn’t turn into zombies or pod people, our little community settled down remarkably well.
I looked in one afternoon on the scientists, who had turned their efforts away from research and toward simply breeding as much virus as they could, making doses. They had enlisted the whole community, and there was a group of people in a big room next to the lab chattering away like a knitting circle. Except in this case instead of needles and yarn, they had hundreds of containers and were filling them with virus solution. Plastic water and soda bottles dominated. A few filled syringes: large and heavy, with enormous needles, as if we were to inject horses. Part of the plan.
Elise came over when she spotted me. “It’s a good thing the virus is hardy. Not like HIV, for example, which dies after a few hours in the air. This stuff is more like influenza. I sure wish we had time make it airborne.” She looked accusingly at me.
“Sorry. We all agreed we couldn’t risk taking the time.”
“I know. We’re doing the best with what we have. At least it looks like simply ingesting it in non-alcoholic drinks is highly effective. Although you use less with an injection.” She ran her hands through her hair.
“Yes, all but two people acquired it the first time around in the drinks, and those two got it the next time.”
“With a higher dose. We’re going to have to accept the fact that it’s not one hundred percent.”
“Anything over fifty and I’ll be happy.” I kissed her, a little longer and harder than was usual, and moved on.
I checked up on Larry, Spooky and Vinny’s work on the Bunker. They and some of the other men were laboring away with the heavy equipment, digging a new tunnel, covering everything with rock dust. This was also part of the plan.
Then I tracked down Cassie. I found her working with her kids and a few of the Nguyen and Nightingale kids that had come in, an impromptu school. The room smelled like old-fashioned paste and new magic markers.
“Hey, Cassie.”
“You know you’re the only one who calls me that.”
“I like to be different. What do other people call you?”
“Cassandra, or Cass.”
“You wouldn’t look good in a mumu.”
“I’m not going to admit to being old enough to get that reference. Call me whatever you want.” She raised her voice. “Class, take a ten-minute recess.”
The kids bolted out the door.
“Okay, what is it?”
“I need yo
ur tradecraft. I want to go get my dad.”
She cocked her head. “Okay…you know they’ll be watching him. He’s your only living relative.”
I sighed. “I know. Vinny did as much recon as he could via the web; it looks like they haven’t picked him up or anything.”
“He’s bait.”
“Yup.”
“Probably got everything wired and tapped.”
“Yup.”
“And you want me to figure out how to bring him in.”
“Yup.”
“Okay…well, I’m a bit out of practice but I think I can do it.” She smiled, a white shiny thing in her cherry-cheeked face. “By the way, I hate you.”
My eyes widened. “What? Why?”
“That damn Eden virus. Larry’s uncle Leroy is starting to look good to me.”
I laughed. “Well, he is a good-looking man for sixty.”
“He’s a good looking man for forty-five, which is about how old he looks now. And he’s been looking at me too. Do you think it’s too soon…” She put a finger in her mouth to bite the nail, a most un-Cassie-like thing.
I reached out to hug her. “Only you can decide that. Nobody here will hold it against you. This thing is making a whole new world, a whole new human biology.” I patted her, then let go to hold her at arms’ length. “What would Zeke have wanted?”
“Oh, I know. He was always so damn cheerful and understanding. Not my idea of a Green Beret when we met.”
“I’m sure you weren’t his idea of an Agency spymaster. So you have my blessing, whatever you do. Just remember, nine months later…” I let go of her, miming a big belly.
“Oh, God, that’s right. Well…I have pills, that may delay things.”
“Or the Plague may just laugh and run roughshod over your pills.”
“Okay, you’ve freaked me out enough. What about your father?”
“I don’t know. You’re the spy. Do some spy stuff. Tell me what to do.” I pointed at little faces peeking in the door. “Your ten minutes is up. Come see me when you got something, hopefully in a day or two.”
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