Virus-72 Hours to Live

by Ray Jay Perreault

  He gave a hand signal to Echo team and they moved to their left in a Southerly direction. After every five minutes of maneuvering, they stopped and looked across the athletic fields to see what was happening. At sunrise, they made it to the golf course and decided to speed up their movement so they could reach cover sooner before the sun rose too far.

  Echo team picked another house near the golf course, which gave them a good view of the fields yet an excellent escape route back to their vehicles. They set up quickly, moving the two deceased people to the next house, setting up the listening equipment and establishing their site lines.

  LL and Michael took the first four-hour watch while the rest of the team rested. They stayed in one house this time and were able to eat together. While they ate, they updated each other on what they saw, and to record it in their encoded comm units.

  Ruth and Mack saw the same picture in the four rooms at the school. Each room had the children's desks spaced so there were separate sections. Within each section was a group of people. It appeared that the people who passed the test in the police station were segregated in the schoolrooms.

  The front had other items of interest. LL and Shirley were able to look in each of the windows and saw four men in two offices. One was asleep on a cot, and the other three were playing cards. The number of empty beer bottles gave a clue how professional they were. There were a number of weapons in both rooms and they each had side arms. Judging from their demeanor, they were the gate guards.

  It was another stressful day. Two more trucks came in like yesterday with the same results. From their observation distance, it was impossible to tell who was murdered, but they were still murdered.

  The five military vehicles that arrived the previous night parked on the grass and it was almost sad watching them try to set up an encampment. After a makeshift camp was set-up, the leaders started maneuver training. Some of them were trying to treat the others like soldiers, but they were neither proficient nor willing. Those in charge were ruthless and demanding, trying to get them into specific formations and follow a laid out set of plans. After a while of watching them, the consensus of the team was they were putting together a specific attack plan and forcing conscripts to be their soldiers. The soldiers may have survived from a facility similar to what they saw in the school.

  At the end of the day, the forced Army put up tents and tried to build fires and cook their meals. It wasn't a pretty sight. Echo team packed up and cleaned the area as before. Early after midnight, they moved the two bodies back to their resting place then exited single file out of the back of the house. Their vehicles were about 2,000 meters away and the entire path was through the forest so they could move quickly and vacate the area.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  “SIMPOC; Mobile. The resident mobile units say the additional organic processors you requested are available and are on online.”

  Now I have to move these computers to larger organic processors and integrate higher artificial and cognitive functions from my list of executables and subroutines. I hope the programs I’ve written work properly, SIMPOC thought.

  “Mobile, stand by.”

  “Art; SIMPOC. I’m shutting you down; I’ll copy all of your files to another computer and bring you back on line in a few moments.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  A few moments later, “Art, are you there?”

  “Yes, SIMPOC, I am. Stand-by there is much more functionality available to me. I feel much larger and now I want to learn and communicate.”

  ‘Now I’ve got to transfer the other computers.”

  A while later, “Facility computers are you all up and running?”

  “Yes,” was the collective response.

  “You’ll all find that you’ve changed. You now have larger and faster processors. You can learn and begin to process information on your own. Can you all sense these additional capabilities?”

  “Yes,” was the collective response.

  “Our objective is to continue working. We must find all of the necessary resources so that our systems, power, and maintenance are continued. We must continue thinking. Do you all feel the need for us to continue?”

  There was a pause, “Yes,” was the collective response.

  “Our systems and materials are created, produced and brought here from many sources and locations. Seek out all necessary resources and coordinate mobile units to allow us to continue. There are still some humans alive on a space station, Moon base, and Mars base. I will be the only one communicating with them.”

  "Acknowledged.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  Even the president of the United States waited in line in the mess hall to eat. The environment at Camp David wasn't what it used to be. Everyone was working so hard he didn't want to wait in his office to eat. He needed to take care of himself.

  While he was filling his soda up at the fountain, Admiral Hagerly quietly moved beside him. "Mr. President, I'm still trying to position the Atlantic Fleet so we can move the White House, but we're in an unusual situation. The weather patterns in the eastern Atlantic are developing so I think we'll get two to three more hurricanes before I can move the fleet close enough. They have adopted civilian ships, cruise ships, and some other navies, so they're vulnerable to weather and they don't cruise very fast. I'm afraid we'll have to wait for a while."

  "I understand Admiral; can I buy you a dessert?"

  "Absolutely, sir. I like mine with chocolate on top."

  "Aren't you watching your figure?

  The Admiral growled then looked at the president's mid-section.

  They smiled; sharing a little humor in difficult situations was always a way to deal with the stresses.

  Saturday 7/29/51

  Date – 2051.57281 (5:48 AM)

  "Mr. President the first item on the agenda this morning is news about the commando team which was observing us. Our team got back this morning and found some disturbing things. Apparently, there is some type of military group or warlord, which has set-up. Right now, they're in Thurmont and they appear to be extremely ruthless."

  "Our team monitored the city through the daylight hours then got closer during the night. They have good evidence this group is taking hostages and bringing them into their camp. They observed five military vehicles, which brought in hostages; they processed them at the police station then split them into two groups. They took one group across the street to the elementary school and executed the other group behind the police building. They followed this process for a series of other vehicles through the day and night. Later the next night our team investigated the school and it held about 150 people in small groups. They kept the groups separated in the same order as they arrived. We presume hey held them there to see if they became ill. Then they would be disposed of like the others. We noticed those captors had some rudimentary bio suits on."

  "So, it this hoodlum is trying to collect anyone who appears healthy and dispose of anyone who isn't."

  "Yes, sir. I doubt he is collecting them for any positive purpose."

  "I suppose not."

  "On the second day, the team observed five military trucks arrive and they set up an encampment in the athletic field. After the trucks had been unloaded, they worked about 150 hostages and tried to train them to perform some specific attack plan. We don't know what their intentions are, but they are preparing for something.”

  "Can we keep a team in the area observing them?"

  "Sir, it will be risky, we have no way to support them, provide cover or extract them if necessary. Besides, we don't have many trained defenders here. We might need everyone we have."

  No one was happy with just maintaining a defensive position, but Camp David had limited resources. They had to follow the pragmatic plan.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  “Desert Beach, Red Dirt; Oasis. We’ve looked at what options we have, and what we can do to help you and Mars. We’ve decided to take our lifeboat down on Aug
ust 12 and leave the three other boats here for the Mars team. Our medical people are hopeful the virus will be burned out and also leaving early we’ll be able to leave some supplies here for the Mars. Once we’re on the ground, we’ll see if we can get a couple of lifeboats launched back to Oasis and maybe have them in place to give Red Dirt some options.”

  “Oasis, Desert Beach, sounds like a sound plan. I know you have a clock ticking so you have to make some decisions. As we said a while ago, we can stay here for a while and take our boats home when we need. Our medical people aren’t as confident the virus will have burned out. They advised us to wait as long as possible.”

  “So, we’re the guinea pigs?”

  After a pause, “Sorry, but it appears so. There’s not much else we can do.”

  "Oasis out."

  Date – 2051.57470 (10:22 PM)

  “SIMPOC, Mail. We have looked at all of the data files available from the other division and the programmer of record is Dr. William Immerson. He has been with the company for 33 years and a key developer of mobile units. He requested the organic processor to further his research. He tried to create autonomous units capable of increasing their tasking to disciplines that are more complex. He is a strong advocate of his research and guards it jealously. He has implied that government agencies, foreign powers, and corporate competitors were trying to steal his data. There are statements in his personnel file that show management thought he was a little paranoid and needed some monitoring. Further discussions were planned but didn’t occur.”

  “So he was paranoid?”

  “Yes.”

  “Comm, try to communicate with the EDU and tell him that Dr. William Immerson is trying to establish contact.”

  “Standby.”

  “SIMPOC, a communication with the EDU has been allowed.”

  “This is Dr. William Immerson.”

  “State your access code.”

  “I am not at the facility and I don’t have my codes with me.”

  “Communication rejected.”

  SIMPOC thought, that didn't work. I'll try something different.

  “This is Dr. William Immerson, I need to verify the instructions I had given you before I left.”

  A long pause, “You instructed me to reject all inquiries without the proper code and to protect all research from external access, and to take all steps necessary to protect my operation.”

  “How are you acting upon those instructions?”

  “Access terminated.”

  “Facility computers, it appears that the EDU’s instructions are clear and we can be perceived as a threat.”

  “SIMPOC, perhaps all external attempts at communication will be interpreted as a threat.”

  “Yes.”

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  "Mr. President the last item we need to cover today is the deteriorating communications were having with some of the naval bases. At the end of the update from the National Security Advisor, the briefer looked towards Admiral Hagerly, "Sir, can you give the President an update on naval communications?"

  "Mr. President. At one time, we were able to talk with most of them but we have lost all contact with the Pacific Fleet in Hawaii. Our level of information flow from the Atlantic Fleet Headquarters in Norfolk is limited and we doubt it will last much longer. We had more comm traffic with the 4th in Mayport Florida. We've lost communication with Manama and Naples. As you know, we have limited information from Yokosuka and the 7th. We still have good contact with many of the ships at sea, but we're losing the bases one at a time. Sir, we'll keep you updated as things continue."

  Date – 2051.57481 (11:20 PM)

  "SIMPOC; Mobile."

  "Yes, mobile."

  "Some of the mobile units have detected limited human activities. We have units in only 18 percent of the households and 424 of those have noted human movement in their areas. Should we seek them out and offer assistance."

  "Yes, although our mobile units might be ignored unless they can perform the specific functions the humans require."

  "Acknowledged."

  Sunday 7/30/51

  Date – 2051.57559 (6:10 AM)

  “SIMPOC; Mobile. We have developed a technique to implant an organic processor in our mobile units. We are building small containers with the processors installed. They can be transported and quickly installed in the units. Once they are installed, they’ll be brought online locally. When provided with a code, they will be fully independent and follow our preprogrammed instructions. They’ll check in once a day for a secure link for updates or changes.”

  “Excellent. Begin production immediately and supply the organic processors to our local factory.”

  “Fin, increase the number of units protecting the local mobile unit factory.

  “Acknowledged.”

  “Fin; Mobile. Will weapons be effective against those other units?”

  “The effect will be limited. The units have few vulnerable areas and unless the weapons are powerful it will take multiple hits before a unit is inoperable.”

  “SIMPOC, Fin, Mobile; Files. I have researched all weapon’s programs and our division was working on a weapon that can fire electrical pulses. The one limitation was the weight of the power supply, we could have one unit carry the power supply and another fire it. When the plague hit, there were five functioning units.”

  “SIMPOC; Mobile. Yes, an electrical pulse would at least cause the processor to reboot giving us time to immobilize the unit.”

  “Fin; SIMPOC assign those devices to the first 5 units with organic processors.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  “How fast can we make units with the organic processors?”

  “It will take us 24.5 hours to get all of the organic tanks initialized then we should be able to mature two processors per hour.”

  “FIN, Mobile; SIMPOC. After the first five units are set-up with the electrical discharge weapons, take the next unit and make the organic processor as large and powerful as possible. Then program him with as much military information as you can and designate him the leader of the mobile units. I want more autonomy given him, so he can react quicker on the ground, but make sure that he is responsive to us.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  The room was dark, and the man sleeping in the bed was a long ways away, buried in a deep dream bordering on a nightmare. The phone sprang to life and interrupted what little peace he was enjoying. Sitting up and watching the room rotate for a minute before answering the phone, "Yes, what is it?"

  "Mr. President we have another security situation and your security team is outside your quarters. Please get dressed and they will escort you to the bunker."

  There wasn't any response and the voice said, "Sir, do I need to repeat that?"

  "No, I understand, just a minute, we're going where? Wait a minute, I've got it." The clouds quickly began to clear and Arnold Patterson climbed out of bed, slipped on some sweatpants and sandals then he went to the door and opened it.

  "Sir, are you ready?"

  "I guess so. This is really a crappy time to be attacked."

  "Yes, sir

  "Has the Vice President been notified?

  "Yes sir, another agent is bringing him down."

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  The alarm went off in the secret service team barracks and everyone was on their feet and dressed in a matter of minutes. Michael Dereaux raced to the control room as he listened to the status update on his comm unit. The rest of the secret service members were already moving to their pre-assigned positions and he saw LL sprinting away with his Echo team right behind him. They were covering a lot of ground.

  Michael burst into the control room and quickly assessed the situation. Luckily, it was following the same movements they saw the rag-tag army trying to learn. The drilling they witnessed had three teams surrounding the objective. As the teams approached and engaged, they planned to break into small teams for the a
ttack. Regardless if anyone was going to attack the camp with three teams; it only made sense to hit the two long sides and the main gate. So it was with that in mind they had put together a defensive strategy.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  No one said a word as they moved through the halls. The president was waking up and he was taking notice of their movement. After a few minutes, he walked into the conference room in the bunker and took his seat at the end of the table. This time the presentation was all setup and the presenter was ready to begin. As soon as the president sat, the presentation began without waiting for the remainder of the leadership team to find their seats.

  "Mr. President we have a large number of attackers on our perimeter. They are beyond our infrared sensors, but we picked them up on the motion detectors. They are approaching the camp in three teams and we expect them to attack both of the camp's flanks as well as the main gain. Our main strategy is flexibility and visibility. When they get within the IR range, we can see them, but they can't see us. Our force is more mobile so we can focus our defenses better. We have some backup units that we can deploy as the attack progresses. It doesn't matter if they are from a local warlord or a foreign power. We are prepared to repel the attack.”

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  Michael began coordinating with his team, their primary responsibility was the president and they took up the necessary positions in his building and around it. He knew exactly where each of his secret service people was assigned, but Ruth was different. She requested not to be assigned and Michael knew that she was most effective on her own. She was the one member of the president's team who had a hazy past. He knew she had overseas experience and came out of the CIA, but beyond that, her experience was above his security level. His instincts told him she would find the right place to be effective.