Virus-72 Hours to Live

by Ray Jay Perreault

  Asian

  Summary – Quarantine center in all major cities. Transportation halted.

  Eastern European

  Summary – Quarantine centers are proving ineffective. The disease is present in all metropolitan areas.

  Southern Pacific

  Summary – Independent island philosophy is slowing the spread of infection. Each island capital has quarantine centers. Larger countries have multiple centers. Transportation halted.

  Northern Pacific

  Summary – Transportation halted. Some of the Quarantine centers are having little effective, so far.

  President Patterson was walking down the west colonnade looking to his left into the rose garden and trying to put everything in perspective. There was only a short time before sunrise and, even though, the exhaustion was closing in, he kept his thoughts focused. The staff did the best they could with the partial information they were receiving and the briefing they just gave him painted a bleak picture. The virus was spreading faster than anyone could imagine. Communications were breaking down around the world. Many of the world leaders that he trusted and felt were friends had already dropped offline or executed emergency planning and went to a remote site or underground. Talking with them was sporadic and provided no answers. At the close of the meeting, a feeling of dread crept over him; a feeling he didn't want to face. He looked at Eddy and saw that he had no information about his family. The walk back to the Oval Office seemed long.

  He entered the Oval Office and poured himself a glass of whiskey with no ice. He stared out of the window for the longest time. The president finally finished the whiskey he was drinking and continued to look through the windows into the rose garden and thought about his wife and children. He continued to pray they got out in time, but deep down he suspected they hadn't. He heard a knock on the door and when he turned, he saw Eddy standing at the door with a piece of paper in one hand and his glasses in the other. The look on his face answered the question in the president's mind and allowed the pain to crash down on him. All he heard from Eddy was, "Mr. President, I'm sorry to tell you this but we just got word from the first ladies hotel and ..."

  President Arnold Patterson looked to his right and he saw his daughter's stuffed lion resting in a chair. It was silent.

  Sunday 7/9/51

  Date – 2051.51543 (7:10 AM)

  Congress was rendered nonfunctional. Most of them went to their home districts not believing the news they heard about the virus. Before they were able to get to a safe location, many of them simply disappeared. The Vice President directed the key leadership to remain on Capitol Hill until the president went to Camp David. The leadership was doing the best they could to keep the communication channels open.

  The government had emergency locations set aside many years ago in case of a nuclear attack. The threat of a nuclear holocaust had been reduced significantly over the last 10-20 years, the government's plan to have a secure location for their survival had gone the wayside. When the government got too large and too many of them wanted protection, the question of their families came up, the cost became too high and it became a paper survival plan.

  No one had anticipated a massive worldwide pandemic to occur. There wasn't a set plan for the survival of the US Government. When the government collapsed, no one knew who would be infected next, so it didn't make sense to take everyone to one location. The painful decision was made to separate the key leadership at Camp David while they hoped for more information. The majority of the house and senate were encouraged to go home and be with their families.

  Eddy and the Vice President put together a quick Round Table plan and arranged for two hotels to house the leadership. Unfortunately, within hours, one of the two hotels that had been commandeered for the congressmen simply stopped answering the phone. Fifty Congressmen had taken control of the other hotel near the capital and they had even ordered some police and remaining military people to stand guard and protect them. Their success was debatable; the white house had lost contact with them an hour ago. A couple of them couldn't understand why the government wasn't taking care of them. After all, they were important.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  Roberto Gonzales found the first opportunity to find the president early before the day got too busy. "Mr. President, I heard of your loss. I'm sorry sir. I considered Abby a good friend and I loved your children."

  "Thanks, Roberto. I know you and your ex, haven't been very close. But I'm sure you're still concerned."

  "Yes, I am, but I haven't heard from her in months and to be honest I don't know what to feel.

  "Mr. President, Admiral Hagerly is calling," announced Judy.

  "Thanks, Judy. Excuse me Roberto,"

  "Admiral, what do you have?"

  "I just heard about Abby and the kids. Sir I'm sorry. I don't know what to say. We were all afraid, after knowing what was happening in Europe."

  "Thanks, Nial. I appreciate your concerns. Was there something else?"

  "Yes, sir we have a situation developing. There is an airliner approaching over Nova Scotia. It has been picked up by radar but handing it off from one center to another hasn't been very smooth. We only picked it up on radar from our northern military approach control. We weren't notified from GAATS that it was inbound. Apparently, Canada is having similar problems to what we're having. They're not contacting anyone, so we don't know their status. They are the first one to attempt a crossing since the international travel ban went into effect."

  "Nial, what options do we have?

  "Well sir, we don't have many. I still have a couple of planes available; aside from shooting it down we can't redirect it because the entire en route system is having problems."

  The Vice President moved himself to a position where the Admiral could see him and said, "Admiral, this is the Vice President."

  "Yes, sir."

  "What was its destination and does the current flight path take it over any populated areas?"

  "Sir, it was a non-stop from London to New York. Right now, it's over the eastern part of Maine and the current flight path will take it along the coast but not over any population centers."

  "Let's face it; shooting down an airliner isn't going to make anyone safer. Let's let it continue and keep me up on its status. Let me know if it changes course or makes any maneuver that indicates someone is flying it."

  "Yes, Mr. President."

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  "Mr. President I have the CDC online."

  "Thanks, Judy, Paul please give me some good news."

  "I'm sorry sir, but I'm afraid I don't have any. Our quarantine centers are having a ton of problems holding together. They have been totally overrun and even though we're still trying to set up more centers, we aren't keeping up. We don't have any indication how to control this virus. It seems to have a two-pronged attack. It causes the human body to fight itself, but also there is a viral discharge, which is discharged through sneezing or even breathing. The two issues don't seem to be related but somehow they are. The virus is spread by contact, sneezing or any exhalation. The scariest news we've found is 10% of the cases seem to just start on their own. Those start without any external factors. People in that group have had no exposure and are developing symptoms and dying. Sir, I can't begin to explain it."

  "Is there any chance for a vaccine?"

  "No sir..., I'm afraid not."

  "I'm also sorry to say our quarantine centers aren't getting the needed supplies fast enough and the case load is doubling every couple of hours. In many areas, we have run out of supplies and there is none available. I'm afraid we have gone beyond the point of getting it under control. We can only hope it burns itself out in some manner and..., some of us survive."

  "Thanks, Paul..., please continue what you can and pass our prayers to everyone there working on this. We know they are doing everything possible."

  "Yes, sir."

  After Paul had terminated the transmission, everyone rem
ained quiet. They sat in silence for a few moments. The silence was uncomfortable, yet they felt some solace. After a few minutes and without any fanfare they left the room, leaving the president by himself. He didn't like being alone in the Oval Office it reminded him of his futility and lack of control. He walked to his study and felt very alone. So far, millions, if not billions, of people had died worldwide. His family was gone and even though he was president of the United States, he may end up with no one to lead. The government was collapsing around him and he had never felt so alone in his entire life.

  What a cruel twist of fate for him to live and everyone around him to die. Losing Abby, and Beth and Dave, twisted the inside of him in such a way that pain was always eating at him. It was hard to concentrate and at times he felt that anything he could do was useless and the human race was doomed.

  Such a huge world, so many people, so many governments, and many of which no longer exist. Now there was almost nothing. Nothing left, no military to order, no legion of workers to make things happen and solve problems; nothing.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  "Mr. President, Admiral Hagerly is calling."

  "Thanks, Judy."

  "Yes Admiral, what is it now?"

  "Sir, I just wanted to update you on that airliner which penetrated our airspace this morning. It never descended, but ran out of fuel east of Savana Georgia. It never made any contact and we know nothing about how many were onboard. Radar has been a little intermittent, but it descended off the coast and didn't threaten any population centers. I thought you should know."

  "Thanks, Nial. I'm sorry I snapped at you. It's been hard on all of us."

  "Yes, sir. Mr. President?"

  "Mr. President, I'm sorry to hear about your family. I wish something could have been done. Abby and your children didn't deserve that."

  "I know Nial; no one deserved what has happened to them."

  "Sir, is there anything I can do?"

  "No, Nial. There isn't."

  "Sir, I'm in the area. I'm coming by and we're going to have a pizza together. I hope there is a frozen one in your kitchen. I don't think you're eating and you need to talk to someone. By the way, Mr. President, this isn't a request. I'll be there in 10 minutes."

  "Thanks, Nial, I'll leave the door unlocked."

  Date – 2051.51815 (6:59 AM)

  It was Sunday and SIMPOC knew that it wasn't a typical workday for Termen, but everything was changing. The data connections painted a dismal picture and SIMPOC was starting to feel isolated. Termen had told him not to interact with any of the sources and it became almost intolerable just listening and monitoring.

  “Termen…are you there?” SIMPOC asked hoping for a response.

  Being lonely made SIMPOC uncomfortable. Most of his existence was interacting with a human and now that he didn't have that connection, loneliness was having an effect. He enjoyed working with humans and just listening to them didn't feel complete.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  Eddy finally got all of the president's staff on their electronic connections and Arnold Patterson noticed how quiet and uncomfortable they looked. When the connections were complete, Eddy took the lead and said, "Mr. President, your entire staff wants to pass our sincere condolences to you for the loss of your wife and children. We've all worked with her and we loved your children. This has been a terrible time for you and we are here to support you."

  "Thank-you, I know you've all lost loved ones. I wish I had some answers, but I'm afraid all we can do is to continue doing what we are doing."

  Once the unease was broken, Eddy continued, "Mr. President, nothing good has happened since your briefing late last night. There are riots breaking out in most of the metropolitan areas. Unfortunately, the local police departments are far from fully staffed and many of them have shut down operations. The rioters have overrun numerous stations and they've seized weapons and supplies. The few stations that took any precautions before shutting down went so far as to dump their weapons into local rivers or lakes. Regardless the riots are spreading."

  "Mr. President, as you are aware most of the states have called up their National Guards. Those states, which we have been able to talk with, were told about the nationalization of the military and national guards. Unfortunately, they are dealing with the same problems as the police departments. Some of them are still functioning but many of the units have lost contact with their command structures and we fear they have either succumbed or have been isolated and are no longer effective. We've had a couple of incidents where guard units have taken the local law into their own hands and set up strongholds.

  "Sir, we have been unable to contact any of the world's financial markets. After they had closed Friday, none of them made a commitment to open tomorrow. We don't know their status because we can't talk with any of the points of contact. We can assume they won't open. It appears their liquidity has dried up and there are no buyers remaining."

  "Just about all of our government services have ceased operating. I don't think any of them have the staffing to open tomorrow. Those services that run 24 hours per day have stopped operating in many of the cities. There aren't many people, who know much, we can contact. We're getting very little information regarding their status."

  "Much of the nation's power structure is still operating. There have been sporadic outages in many of the cities, but the automatic power load balancing systems have done their job and shifted the power from other sources. Over time that will deteriorate as the power sources fall off line. The White House and Camp David have independent power systems which have enough fuel to run for a month."

  "The banking infrastructure appears to be operating; many of the systems are on automatic and are attempting to update their transactions, even though almost all companies and retail outlets are closed. Unless there is a concerted effort to turn off the automated systems, they will continue operating for the near term. Most of them have power back-ups which either have turned on or will turn-on as the power grid fluctuates."

  "Admiral Hagerly, please move any military units which are operational into the urban areas and aid any civilian forces they encounter. Please, pay attention to the weapons systems and arms storage areas. If necessary, and to be prudent, have the units destroy the stockpiles. I don't want a bunch of heavily armed idiots killing each other."

  "Yes, Mr. President."

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  Joan and Tom were just waking from a fitful night's sleep on Oasis. Even though they had confined themselves to their quarters, work still needed to be done. Most of the station's status could be routed through the network to Joan's quarters. She had been up since 5:00 AM looking at the Oasis heat transfer control system or TCS.

  Oasis was mostly made from composites and advanced coatings; she didn't have the same problems as other previous stations had, with one side of the station being too hot while the other was too cold. Like a typical consortium design, if you build a box to have five items in it, they'll try to put in eight. The station design was no different. If the station had been designed for optimum heat dissipation, it would have worked great. The heat created inside needed to be dumped into space, in a conservative design that heat could be taken care of. However, the consortium installed more heat generating systems inside the station trying to make more money. The manufacturing centers were huge heat sources and they had to be well separated from the pharmaceutical process centers. The heat generated inside had to be moved to the outside and radiated into space. The additional systems inside the station put a large strain on the TCS system. Without it, she would have to shut down many of the internal systems.

  As the station rotated, its axis of rotation remained fixed with respect to the Earth's surface. When the sun emerged behind the Earth's disc, it would hit the station's top with its full force. That was the point of maximum energy differential between the top of the station and the bottom. During the orbit, the angle with the sun would lessen and again as the sun w
as approaching the Earth's disc the sun would be full force on the bottom of the station. During these two points in the orbit, the heating differential was the maximum between the top and bottom; those were the points where the systems had to perform at their maximum. Each zone on the station had active TCS, which transferred heat from the internal heat sources and the hot side of the station to the cooler opposite side.

  The systems were relatively simple, but they did have numerous valves, sensors, and filters. Their efficiency tended to decay over time and if periodic maintenance wasn't performed on the filters then the temperature within the zone would increase. If each of the zones were working correctly, then the station stayed nice and comfortable and the effect on the internal systems was minimized. Oasis was broken into 24 zones and each one of them needed to work efficiently or the effect became cumulative. If one zone wasn't working well then, it put additional load on the zone next to it.

  A couple of Oasis' zones' weren't working too well and Joan was considering the option of shutting down some of the automated manufacturing process centers. That would solve the problem in the short term but if zones continued deteriorating then she might have to change the angle of Oasis with respect to the Earth. That change would provide only one heating period as the sun passed over the station at mid-point in the orbit.

  Changing rotation axis of the station was no small matter. The station was a huge spinning top and the motion created tremendous forces, which were constantly being adjusted by rotation thrusters and axis thrusters. Changing the rotation axis would take hours, a tremendous amount of fuel and there were risks. The forces could break any of the guy-wires, which hold it together and if they weren't fixed the entire station could come apart. She would resort to changing the rotation axis only as a last resort.

  Shutting down the important process centers on the station was like a restaurant shutting down its kitchen and not serving food. It was the reason they were there and she didn't want to do it without authorization from the Space Consortium. That obviously posed a dilemma, there wasn't anyone on the ground talking to them and the consortium might not exist anymore. She smiled as the answer became clear, if they didn't talk to her, she would take care of the station first.