The White Death

by Rafferty, Daniel

  “Mr. President,” said Gail, still outside in the adjacent office. She always refused to retire for the evening until he did.

  “Yeah,” he said casually, finishing the last report. His coffee always tasted bitter at the bottom of the cup.

  “Urgent call from the Pentagon.”

  “Put it through.” He set down the report, concerning a planned underwater secret military installation in the East China Sea, and lifted the telephone.

  “Go ahead.”

  “Mr. President,” began Seth Desmond, Secretary of War, “we’ve detected a massive explosion on the Korean Peninsula.”

  “Specifically?” asked Thomas quickly, knowing that particular world problem could be the downfall of a president.

  “On the border between North and South, deep underground. The South is denying all responsibility, while the North is too busy blaming the United States. North Korea has begun marshaling troops onto the border, and in response South Korea is doing the same.”

  “Recommendations?”

  “Contact the leaders of both. Try and talk some sense into them,” advised Desmond. Luckily, they already had a carrier fleet down in the peninsula on a training exercise. If things really got out of hand, they could threaten immediate force.

  “Okay. Have our armed forces on full alert down there. If North Korea moves in, then we are to back South Korea up—is that understood?”

  “Yes, Mr. President,” said Desmond.

  Thomas sat back in his chair for a moment, contemplating how, as president, he was now dealing with his first international crisis. Already, cabinet secretaries would be rushing to the White House in secure chauffeured cars along with military, foreign, intelligence, and economic special advisors.

  “Gail, get me the…”

  “Mr. President, I have the President of China on the line.”

  “Right,” said Thomas, pressing the flashing red button on the telephone base. “Mr. President.”

  “President Morgan,” began the Chinese president with relative ease; he spoke excellent English. “I wish our first phone call could be under better circumstances; however, that is not in the nature of high office. You’ll discover this yourself in time. Now, I need to know. What happened on the peninsula? Was it America’s doing?”

  “Certainly not,” said Thomas, genuinely hoping it wasn’t. Truth be told, he didn’t know what happened, and clearly the Chinese president didn’t either. Advisors began flooding into the Oval Office. He raised his right hand sharply to silence them.

  “I have the North Korean president claiming America has blown a hole across the border. Our listening stations here detected a small tremor, followed by a large one. We believe two explosions went off. We’re experiencing level-seven earthquakes. I don’t want this going up in flames. North Korea shares a border with China. The last thing I need right now is a regional conflict, with millions of North Korean refugees coming across into my country.”

  The Chinese president sounded agitated.

  “That won’t happen if we work together. Try and reason with North Korea, I’ll do the same with the South, and I’ll contact you again in thirty minutes?”

  “Agreed,” replied the Chinese president, hanging up. Thomas looked around his office, now filled with the best advisors in the country.

  “Get me a line to North Korea.”

  “We’ve been trying, Mr. President, but so far no one is answering,” began Vanessa Kramer, his Secretary of State. “The North will see this as an attack. We must prepare for war.” With her hardened stony features and tight bun of graying hair, she looked like a political hawk who wouldn’t suffer fools.

  “I’m not prepared to throw America into another foreign war until we have exhausted every other option. Find options, people. Get to work,” he ordered, lifting the phone to order coffee and tea for everyone. This would be a long night. Phone calls with the leaders of South Korea, China, Japan, and the UN followed in swift succession. The Nimitz carrier group was ordered to the immediate vicinity, and American stealth bombers landed in South Korea, ready to reduce North Korea and its army to rubble if they dared cross the border.

  “Mr. President. I have the Director of the FBI on the line.”

  “Understood,” replied Thomas quickly, getting patched through to George Houston.

  “Are you alone?” asked George quickly.

  “No,” said Thomas curiously, glancing at his watch. Two A.M.

  “Clear that room.”

  Thomas put his hand over the receiver. “Everyone out, please. Now!” The good thing about being president was no one questioned anything when you shouted.

  “Right, George, what have you got?”

  “We’ve had two explosions along the border line,” said George.

  “I already know that.”

  “The first was caused by North Korea—an underground nuclear testing failure, it seems. The other … is more complicated. When the North’s bomb went off, it damaged a nearby alien research facility.”

  Thomas’s gut turned. “Go on,” he said, a part of him not wanting to know.

  “That’s when our problems started,” admitted George. “The resident aliens feared a virus could escape their lab, so they initiated the autodestruct sequence. That was the big explosion. The one the world detected.”

  “My God.” Thomas tried to process it.

  “At the moment, we want to totally confirm no harmful viral agents escaped the facility. There was one survivor, and we’re interviewing her now.”

  “Interview and not interrogate, George,” warned the president.

  “Of course, sir.”

  “What viral agents are we talking about?”

  George hesitated, unsure whether to go into such detail over the telephone. He decided against it.

  “I’m not totally up to date on it, but I’ll have more information soon. You need to stop North Korea starting a war.”

  “I’m trying,” snapped Thomas, sitting forward. “But I can’t really turn around and tell them a pack of aliens had a research base deep under the border and they felt the need to blow it up, can I?”

  “Obviously not,” said George respectfully.

  “Not only that, George, but the North Koreans were stupid enough to let a nuclear bomb blow up underground. Jesus Christ!”

  “Mr. President, we’re trying our best down here. No one here, including Freda, knew an alien research facility was even on Earth. We will get to the bottom of this. Give us some time.”

  “You have one hour.”

  Chapter 12

  The usual red light on Freda’s desk began flashing. She activated the large view screen embedded into the wall to the left of her. Captain Grace and Councilor Loretta were standing in the Council chambers looking solemn.

  “How goes the investigation, Captain?” asked Freda.

  “Unfortunately the investigation has been cut short,” replied Grace. She looked at Loretta, who remained silent and unreadable.

  “We’re analyzing the debris from the shuttle, but I hold no hope this avenue will provide any results,” began Loretta, before pressing a few buttons on a console. The view screen in Freda’s office began downloading a video stream. “This is a recording from the interview we conducted with the human female survivor half an hour ago. Watch carefully.”

  Freda, Christopher, Peter, Richards, and George walked toward the large screen. It was a simple white room with a desk and two chairs. The ship’s first officer sat facing the small girl.

  “Can you describe the previous two hours before the scientists evacuated the facility?”

  No response.

  “Did you think something dangerous was about to occur?”

  No response.

  “Were you release
d, or did you escape before the auto-destruct sequence was initiated?”

  No response. Freda stared intently, watching every expression on the girl’s face. After a few more simple questions, the girl jumped from her seat, grabbed the aluminum writing utensil off the first officer, and thrust it deep into his neck, bursting a primary artery. The high-definition recording spared no detail in the brutal attack as the first officer fell to the floor. The girl mercilessly continued to ram and twist the utensil further into his neck. An alarm rang, and security rushed in. They splattered more blood across the white floors and walls as they tried to save their fellow officer. The recording stopped.

  “My first officer did not survive the attack,” said Grace. She was clearly upset by the incident. Freda knew she had worked with him for many years. “I’ve had to quarantine eight officers.”

  “Where’s the girl now?”

  “The brig,” replied Loretta. “We have confirmed infection with Eugenics Virus. Freda, I plan to eradicate her.”

  “Absolutely not,” interrupted Richards. “That child is a citizen of Earth. She is to be returned to us immediately.”

  “Freda?” said Loretta.

  Normally, Freda would have laughed. Loretta looked affronted by the tone Richards had used with her. She was usually given much more respect. “Have we figured out what caused the evacuation of the research facility?”

  “We’ve detected nuclear particles in the area around and below the location of the research facility. Our sensors show a human bunker close by.”

  “North Korea,” growled Richards. “We’ve long suspected they had an underground nuclear laboratory in that area.” A map showing where the Council’s own research lab had been located was displayed for everyone.

  North Korea had armed itself with nuclear weapons in 2030, with the United States unable to do anything but apply diplomatic pressure.

  “Something obviously went wrong,” said Freda. “Their bomb went off underground, causing critical damage to the Council’s own lab in the area. The Bernay scientists must have feared becoming contaminated with their virus and fled the planet in a shuttle.”

  Loretta agreed. “This virus was designed to completely redesign the genetic structure of every human on the planet. We could never get it to work correctly. If it had escaped, we would be looking at a level-ten extinction event.”

  “Level ten?” asked Richards.

  “Complete extinction,” said Freda. “The virus changes humans at a genetic level, permanently. They have no self-awareness or control over themselves.”

  “Extermination would have been the only option,” said Loretta.

  “I beg your pardon?” shouted Richards.

  “Barbarism,” said Houston, much to Loretta’s annoyance.

  She frowned, raising an eyebrow.

  “Grace, our scans of the research facility. Was it completely secure when we transported down? If there is even the slightest chance of an outbreak, we would need to take action now to try and stop it spreading.”

  “We scanned the area,” Grace began, pulling up a topography screen showing their scans and movement in the area at the time of the mission. “We didn’t detect anything unusual. The facilities logs show they only had nine humans left for experimentation. Seven were put down a few days ago. The away team killed one. The other is in our brig. I’m not concerned in that regard.”

  “Put down?” said Richards. “How many were there in total?”

  “Seven hundred,” said Freda. She averted her eyes from Richards’s look of fury.

  “The facilities logs show full containment protocols were in effect and at 100 percent efficiency,” said Loretta.

  “Loretta, if that virus had escaped…” said Freda.

  “But it didn’t,” she replied. “Stop babbling.”

  “I’d like the one in your brig brought down here,” said Peter.

  “No,” said Loretta. “She is infected with a highly dangerous virus and must be exterminated. Immediately.”

  “Who the hell…” said Richards before Freda interrupted him.

  “I’m in favor of bringing her down here. If there’s any way we can provide help to her, then we have a duty of care to do so. We have the facilities here to contain her. Grace, as the captain, it’s your call.” Freda didn’t trust the Bernay to behave in the most humane way possible. They were known as brilliant but ruthless scientists.

  “I’ll have her transported down into your bio-containment lab.”

  Loretta and Grace stared each other down, both refusing to blink.

  “Loretta,” began Freda, “that explosion occurred along the most politically sensitive area on the planet. The prospect of Earth heading into a world war is very real. Until this situation is rectified, sterilization must be put on hold.”

  “Do not try and use this to your advantage, Freda.”

  “I’m simply stating facts. Let us get things normalized down here before you begin sending drones in. I don’t need another headache.”

  “The Reason is not due for six days,” said Loretta. “You have until then.” The view screen feed cut off.

  “General, your plane has arrived,” said Christopher, reading the instant message appearing on his pad.

  “Forget that. General,” said Freda, “I’ll have the Experian transport you directly to Seoul. Hold the line down there and keep anyone from doing anything irrational. George, get to Washington and advise the president directly. Peter, at the minute, sterilization is your main priority. I want to know every detail of how they plan to do it. I’ll get you the data. Christopher, you and I will analyze every millisecond of that video interview to see if we can glean anything from it that they may have missed up there.”

  “And the girl?” said Peter.

  “Make her as comfortable as possible. Let’s get to work.”

  Freda was now in full damage control mode, and while there would be time for blame and finger-pointing later, she was more concerned with avoiding world war.

  Chapter 13

  Claudia was cold and tired. Dirt, leaves, and all kinds of forest foliage clung to her body as she stumbled from tree to tree, boulder to boulder. She felt disoriented, her hands shaking with fear. No matter how hard she tried, her mind couldn’t focus on a single thought. Not one. Pain streaked across her eyes, and she felt almost like an animal. She couldn’t deny the urge to run on all fours. Every noise caught her attention as she slinked and slithered across a mountain range, no idea where she was.

  A frightening fireball in the distance was what she was running from. At first, her name came easily to her; now she couldn’t remember it. The environment was all that she was concerned with. Her safety. Wearing a long white medical gown, she tried her best to ignore the deep cuts and scrapes her legs were enduring. To make matters worse, her movement had attracted the attention of stray dogs, who now chased her, biting her ankles.

  “Captain,” said an American lookout on one of the few surviving watchtowers along the DMZ. The army captain took his binoculars and scanned the area. It was the dead of night, with searchlights and helicopters filling the dark sky, readying for an onslaught. He spotted the white-gowned woman running among the foliage.

  “What the hell?” said the captain, spotting a few dogs run alongside her. Moments later, a swarm of North Korean infantry surrounded Claudia and dragged her back into the trees as she screamed and fought against them. He waited with bated breath; the noise of military preparations seemed far off now as he caught brief glimpses of the young woman being grabbed in every direction. Gunshots violated the strange sense of calmness on both sides. He instinctively grabbed his handgun and pointed it toward the trees, the soldiers around him aiming much larger weapons in that direction.

  “This is Captain Rodgers to Central Command. We have a si
tuation.”

  Chapter 14

  “Files received,” said CIM.

  “CIM, load the sterilization data file and display.” Peter stood from his desk, his private office more untidy than usual. Multiple screens appeared in front of him, showing an array of genetic diagrams, charts, and advanced formulas that only a seasoned geneticist could understand. Finding exactly how the Council planned to sterilize the human race was baffling. To perform such an act at a genetic level was astounding.

  “CIM, specify genetic actions to be taken when sterilizing a human adult.” He wanted to see what specific changes would be made to the hosts to make them sterile. As with all Council material he received, it was presented to him with no instructions or notes. Peter often thought they went out of their way to be unhelpful.

  A zapping noise across the labs interrupted his train of thought. The young girl had arrived. Peter headed over to the bio-containment chamber, where Gabriel was already waiting.

  “What the hell?” said Gabriel.

  The girl hid in one of the corners of the square containment chamber. Looking terrified, she whimpered and sobbed loudly, catching the attention of the rest of the team. Peter was disturbed to see her flesh looked mottled, and her were eyes bloodied and red.

  “This is our new patient,” said Peter. “She is infected with the Eugenics Virus.”

  “And you brought her here? Are you out of your mind!?”

  “Freda wants us to try and cure her, to give her some kind of life.”

  “Peter … seriously…” said Gabriel. “She is beyond help.”

  “The virus entered her system and was designed to repair all her genetic defects. As you can see, it didn’t go according to plan.”