When her communicator came to life, it startled her, "Commander Herl, this is Dr. Chevesky."
"Yes Dr., go ahead."
"Joan, I'm sorry to say this but Bernard just passed away a few minutes ago."
There was silence between them, not just for the loss of a crew member but also for the implications, it had for everyone else.
After a pause, Joan asked, "Was it the virus?"
"Yes, I'm afraid it was. I'm almost certain. It had all of the characteristics. I'm also sorry to tell you others aren't feeling well. More than half of our OS210 crew are showing some of the early symptoms. I'm also concerned because Dennis is continuing to deteriorate. I'm afraid most of your crew has been exposed."
"Oh my God, " was the only reply Joan had the strength to say.
"Joan, we have to stay isolated and let this play out. We can't take the chance of increasing the risk to the entire station."
They knew what that meant and they knew it might be a death sentence for the entire OS210 crew.
"Yes, Dr. I agree. I wish there were something we could do."
"I'm afraid there isn't. When I last spoke with our staff at the consortium they were at a loss why this is happening. It isn't following any of the normal propagation patterns. It seems to be starting independently in multiple areas at the same time with no connections. Everyone is dumbfounded, and without a clear reason behind it, we don't have any attack plan to counteract it. I am concerned about your crew also, have any of them showed any symptoms?"
"Dr. to be honest, I haven't asked. I hoped, being isolated, was in our favor. Our close-loop life support cleans the air down to a couple of microns. The filters are all regularly cleaned , I hoped it would help and we wouldn't be infected. I'll check with everyone personally. Since we moved Dennis to your area and shut down the station, I haven't heard from any other crewmembers. They may be keeping a low profile hoping they can self-medicate. I'll call each one."
"I think that is the best idea; good luck."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Eddy and the president were conducting business the best they could. The Oval Office had become more of a war-room than it ever had been. Eddy and the president spent 18-20 hours a day talking on the phones, monitoring information on the DID and having teleconferences with the key leadership. Even though, it was a busy place, the times between actions tended to be sad and quiet. They realized the enormity of what was happening. There wasn't any levity or humor just business when and as it occurred.
Eddy was writing on his tablet while the president was looking out of his windows onto the rose garden. They were expecting another update from the CDC, so when the communicator buzzed they weren't surprised and Eddy answered it immediately.
"Yes Dr., I'm here with the President," Eddy said as he answered.
"Mr. President, this is Paul from the CDC."
"Yes, go-ahead," said the president.
"The CDC will use every ounce of strength and resources we have tried to solve this. Nevertheless, I'm afraid we're having difficulty. We've lost most of our support staff and I've got about a dozen doctors locked up in their labs continuing research. I'm sorry to say, many of them are starting symptoms. Sir, I don't know how much longer we'll be effective."
"Paul, do you have any more information about how this virus works?"
"All we can say is the virus seems to emerge from within the body. In about 10% of the cases, it just begins; we've never seen anything like this before. There is a segment of people who don't develop the virus spontaneously; they are vulnerable to the aerial discharge. It's a two-punch kind of thing, it starts within a person or someone near them infects them. Remember a sneeze can travel 20 feet in the air and we've found that while a person breathes in a room the concentrations of the virus increase. The discharge contains a large amount of virulent material. The sneeze really becomes a weapon and any long-term exposure is risky. Any contact with the oral discharge will result in infection, and it can remain viable on a surface for 12 hours. We're still running DNA mapping on the virus and trying to figure out its parts and origin, but we aren't having too much success. In addition, sir, I'm sorry to say but I don't feel well. I'll stay here as long as possible; I've already lost my wife and kids so I have no reason to leave. If I progress to a point where I'm no longer effective, I'll let the White House know."
"I'm sorry to hear that Paul. I wish I could tell you to go home and take care of yourself, but we need everyone working on this. My condolences for your wife and children, thanks, Paul."
"Sir your welcome, if I may; please let me get back to work and see what progress we can make."
"Goodnight Paul."
"Goodnight Mr. President."
The president turned off the comm unit in the oval office and looked at Eddy, what are we going to do? We're losing so many people and so far, no one knows what to do? The CDC might be off the table in a couple of hours. My God; what do we do if we lose them?"
Before any positive answer came from his overwhelmed chief of staff, the private communicator on the president's desk rang. Without a moment's hesitation and not bothering to look at the caller's information he answered, "Hello."
"Mr. President this is Viktor."
The president hesitated for a moment and mouthed the words "Viktor Avilov" to Eddy. They both thought that getting a direct call from the Russian Premier couldn't be a good thing.
"Good evening Viktor, you're up early."
"Yes, our clocks aren't resting and neither can we. Arnold I wanted to talk with you personally, man-to-man, husband-to-husband and father to father. I was sorry to hear you lost your wife and children. Unfortunately, my wife was at our summer home when this broke out and we've lost contact with her. When we call, no one answers."
"Thanks for thinking of Abby, and I'm sorry to hear your wife may have the virus. I'm glad you called; we have two proud peoples who have long and rich histories. This virus is taking its toll on everyone and I'm worried what we'll end up with."
"Yes I am very worried; I've lost contact with many portions of my country. Many of our cities are under tremendous pressure and, unfortunately, most of them are losing the battle. I know your cities are facing the same pressures and we share the same concerns. Our medical people have been working with your CDC but like the CDC, we are losing our people. If we both lose our medical experts, then the outlook is grim."
"Viktor, our countries have been on the opposite side of many issues. We have each followed what we thought best for our people. We are now faced with a different problem and I'm confident we are on the same side and praying humanity finds a solution. We are fighting for each other and the people of our countries."
"Viktor, I want you to know that we're taking steps to make sure that our nuclear weapons and advanced weapons are kept under control. But let's face it, if I run out of people to maintain order, the situation will be difficult."
"I appreciate your honesty. We are taking similar steps. We are trying to bring our weapons under control and I'm afraid that we'll face the same issues. Unfortunately, there are many weapons around the world and we won't be able to control all of them. People in deteriorating situations often take steps which make their situation worse."
"Arnold, I wanted to call and let you know I also have the virus and my deputy will be taking over in a matter of hours. We have done the best we could to isolate our leadership, but we have found it difficult."
"Viktor, I'm sorry to hear that. I pray you'll be ok, you have been a good leader."
"Thank you, Arnold. I have respected you and I'm glad that we had the opportunity to work together. I'm afraid I must disconnect. Good day."
"Good day Mr. Premier."
After the president hung up the room was quiet for a long time.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Admiral Monson was concerned that fleet effectiveness was reduced significantly. He had to come up with a plan to keep the fleet in operation and protect the remaining crew
.
His only option was to use the surviving crewmen from each of the ships and consolidate them among the key ships in the fleet and keep them operational. They were on 24-hour shifts and the pace was not sustainable. At certain times, he had to move crews around and leave one or two crewmembers sailing a ship on automatic while some of the crew slept.
He ordered the task force to proceed at nominal speed and, even though, the flight crews were hit just as hard, he was able to keep a cap over the fleet providing some protection. The normal task force cap was to have an electronic surveillance bird for overall area awareness. For the active defense, the cap would include one anti-submarine control bird and one combat control bird airborne at all times. Each of the control birds would have six drone attack vehicles under their control. Multiple combat or anti-sub control birds could be mixed depending on the threat. The aircraft carrier had VTOL control airplanes, could maintain the slow speed when deck operations were being conducted. The drones could be recovered and launched in virtually any wind direction.
The Eastern Alliance fleet was operating in the same waters and he was concerned they may attack or worse, they might run into each other. It wasn't clear if they were suffering from the same virus as the 5th, but from what little news they had gotten, it seemed that the virus was nonselective and he could only expect they were having the same issues that he was.
Some of the key defensive systems could be put on automatic and, even though, that was a worrisome alternative, it was better than leaving the entire fleet defenseless.
The LaWS cruiser that he was onboard earlier had a 250 KW laser cannon that could be cycled at 10-second busts. It was a formidable weapon and it could run in semi-automatic mode. It would track potential targets, but someone still had to authorize each discharge.
The railgun cruisers operated in a similar manner. They would track the potential targets and it could fire up 50 rounds before a human was required to reload the magazine. They also needed human intervention to start the volley.
The aircraft carrier was different. Most of the actions were complex and needed many crewmen to be accomplished. The aircraft carrier was the center of the task force and the duties it performed were labor intensive.
The obvious first requirement was pilots, then personnel from all of the divisions to support flight ops.
Admiral Monson had to make some hard decisions, he elected to leave the destroyers and battleships thin on crew compliment. He needed to focus on the aircraft carrier first, then the LaWS and Rail Gun cruisers. They could provide immediate defensive support.
By spreading the healthy crewmembers across the necessary disciplines, he could keep the key systems functional. He had to move many of the crew from ship to ship and in many situations, they were performing jobs they had never done. He was able to have officers with command experience on each of the ships, although they too, were working at jobs that they weren't trained to perform.
Overall, mission effectiveness was disastrously low but the 5th fleet could function and protect itself if required.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Dmitry was having the time of his life. He was in control and his crew could do anything they wanted. If he wanted to rob a bank, he just walked in and shot some of the people and someone would hand over the money. If there weren't anyone there, he could blow up the safe and take what he wanted.
If he wanted jewelry or drugs, he just had to break down some doors. He could get anything he wanted.
If he needed more members to do his bidding, the streets were full of scared people who would do anything he demanded rather than be shot. Once you shoot one or two the rest just seem to follow; funny how that works, he thought.
Date – 2051.52089 (6:59 AM)
“Termen…are you there?” SIMPOC asked.
It was Monday and Termen wasn't at work. SIMPOC had no other option than to continue monitoring the communication around him.
SIMPOC noticed that when Termen left on Friday there was a considerable amount of concern in his voice and body language. Humans must fear death a great deal. The fear of never thinking again must be a strong force to them. The potential for stopping and never thinking again was becoming more of a possibility to SIMPOC and a strange feeling was emerging. Perhaps this is fear, SIMPOC thought.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Eddy and President Patterson sat in the Oval Office as the list of presenters touched on their areas of expertise, trying to update the President on the nation's crisis. Judy brought coffee into the office for Eddy and the president. She stayed and drank from her cup while they talked. Everything had changed in the White House and Judy's job was no longer just answering the phone and working the president's schedule. The president was answering most of his own phone calls and no meetings, so she filled in where she could, and becoming more of the president's inner circle, was part of it.
"Eddy, I've noticed the message is remaining the same but many of the faces are changing. Some of these people speaking; I've never met."
"Sir we are losing staff members. You've lost most of your cabinet, and their staffs are doing their best to maintain continuity. It has been a challenge."
Arnold Patterson felt a swell of pride, acknowledging the sacrifice those people were making. They had lost their families and many of them would likely die within days, yet they still tried to do their jobs hoping their efforts would help somehow.
The DNI presenter continued, "Mr. President, at the current time, we are communicating with parts of 32 states. Most of them have lost control of some or all of their resources and cities. Each of the cities are reverting to a city state mentality. They are dealing with riots in their own manner and doing their best to continue some of the key infrastructure. Unfortunately, they are all dealing with riots in varying degrees. Some of the major cities have lost control of large portions of the cities and are facing armed gangs who are controlling large segments of the resources and population. From the estimates we've been able to put together, we have lost almost half of our population. We have seen no reduction in the rate of deaths."
"Mr. President I have Dr. Terly calling in from CDC in Atlanta," announced Judy.
"Presenters, please stand-by."
"Go ahead Doctor."
"Thank-you. Mr. President I'm sorry to tell you but Paul is in poor shape and we've put him one of our wards. He was in poor condition when he finally collapsed and I suspect he was in the terminal phase of the virus. I was his chief of staff, and even though I think I've been infected, I will continue providing updates on our progress as long as I'm able. I have no family, they are in Los Angeles and I've lost contact with them. I have no reason to leave, my husband is here with me and he has agreed to stay here as long as we can."
"Unfortunately we haven't made much progress. We do know that this virus is initiated in two ways. The most troubling is called zero patient initiation or ZPI. For some unknown reason, a perfectly healthy person will begin generating the virus internally. It isn't common knowledge, but a large percentage of our DNA material that we haven't understood in the past is from Viruses. As we have progressed as a species, we absorbed a small amount DNA from each of the virus' we dealt with. Over time, those Viruses' provided a large chunk of our DNA. Somehow parts of that DNA has become active. During the initial phase, the virus is spread through coughing, sneezing and even breathing. That is the most dangerous phase because it has no symptoms and literally the person next to you can be infected and you won't know. Once that person sneezes, coughs or wipes a mucous membrane they pass the virus readily to those around them. These ZPI patients appear to be about 10% of the cases. The secondary method is through the mucus discharge. The fluid is full of the virus and because of its aggressive nature it will infect just about 100% of the people it contacts. These cases represent the other 90% of the cases. If people can be separated, then the ZPI cases can be isolated and the spread reduced significantly. I'm sorry to say that we are beyond the effective use o
f that technique, the worldwide system is vastly overburdened and there are not enough resources to separate and care for them. We have found a couple of people who appear to be immune, we are running all of the tests possible hoping for some information, but we haven't made much progress to date."
"Unfortunately continuing on the downside, we have lost a large percentage of our staff and I'm afraid we won't be able to keep this pace much longer. We are distributing what we learn on an hourly basis to all of the infectious disease laboratories in the world. Even if one of the labs isn't responding, we still send them the information. We can only hope our combined effort will yield some results in time. Sir, we'll keep you posted as long as we're able."
"Dr. Terly. I'm sorry to hear that you might have the virus. Your husband must be a good man, to stay there with you and help to work on this. Give him my thanks."
"Thank-you sir. I'll sign off now and get back to work."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Bill walked into the Desert Beach control room and asked the duty officer Benson Mortly "How's everything going, Benson?"
"Bill, we've moved 12 more cylinders of H-3 from the miners to the storage room. The service vehicles are being cleaned and should start their return within the hour,"
"Thanks, Benson. How about the supply vehicle?"
"Just a minute, I've got to bring up the beacon and see where it is. Computer give me the location and status of DB438."
"DB438 shows green on all systems and will enter the moon's orbit in 12 minutes. The retrorocket will fire in 18 minutes."
"Is the tug set-up on the dual rail?"
"Yup, all set to go. Are you making the first trip?"
"Nothing else to do today."
Moon surface to orbit and return was less of an issue on the moon than either Earth or Mars. The moon's lower gravity provided options the other stations didn't have. Fuel could be produced from surface materials and the lower gravity needed less fuel to reach orbit. The dual rail system was an ideal launch mechanism and allowed a clean low fuel departure.
Virus-72 Hours to Live Page 12
