“I told you about the insurance companies. There were so many other things wrong in the world. Problems were not getting solved because big money interests found a way to abuse the system. They were intent on preserving their cash flow. Things changed only if a financial advantage was anticipated. And they always found a way to work the system.”
Groaning inwardly, Deo braced himself for what he now expected would be a lecture on economics. Lecti knew better.
“Strange things happened when half of the public lost all interest and gave up, and the other half polarized politically. There were heroes in the world, but they were increasingly ignored in favor of social butterflies and financial predators. It became normal to create idols based on popularity and greed. The Internet allowed people to acquire popularity by proxy. The number of people that you had never met, and yet still counted as friends on a website, mattered more than the real people you knew. People forgot that friends were not for counting, but for counting on.”
Eleon dropped his hands and straightened in his chair. His voice gathered strength.
“The news media increased coverage of Hollywood to the point that they became more advertising than news. Advertising became fifty, sixty, and then eighty percent of programming. Other things deteriorated. A disclaimer came with anything sold, yet lawyers flourished. Doctors started to practice anonymously. Warranties became nothing more than a sales tool and were never intended to be honored.”
“The world was ending. In every possible way, mankind was creating larger obstacles to survival. Not just for the human race, but for all the living beings that covered the earth. Large animals started to disappear in the wild, to be found only in captivity, and some not even there. Extinctions intensified but seemed commonplace.”
“The political leaders of the world were powerless. Most of them only held office by the grace of the almighty dollar. Men with no interest in anything other than a bottom line were in complete control. They raped the planet to build and produce and feed the people that provided the money that consolidated their power. They gradually found a way to accumulate all wealth, leaving nothing but debt to the under-classes.”
Eleon took a deep breath.
“They made up their own rules as it suited them, anything to put more money in their pockets. There was no sympathy for the starving populations of the world, the populations that increased every year, despite the shortages of every necessity of life. It was like these horses you see. We were overgrazing the planet, and the strongest fought to keep the weak from rising to compete with them.”
He shifted in his chair, looking up at the evening sky.
“Though population control was increasingly talked about, no one wanted to control their numbers. More constituents meant more power. More parishioners meant more tithing. More consumers meant more sales. So, politically, no one wanted to limit anyone’s ability to procreate. As medicine got involved, strange things that were not in the best interests of humanity were hailed as medical breakthroughs. The medical community kept people alive longer for monetary gain and excused it as doing the right thing. Churches that preached an afterlife, an eternity with the Lord, sided with the doctors preventing a natural death. The insurance companies got fat on rate hikes justified by artificially manipulated expense increases. Hospitals were involved in other atrocities as well. All in the name of doing no harm. People with genetic abnormalities that would have doomed them in the past were allowed to survive and add their DNA to the gene pool. Early on, genetic cures for many illnesses were shelved because of the potential for profit. Diabetes, a disease that only infected a fraction of the population at the turn of the twentieth century, became so common that it was more normal to have it than not. Genetic manipulations solved some issues, but only for those that could afford the treatments. Drug companies prospered and loved it. They reaped government funding to treat impoverished populations like there was nothing wrong with a system that allowed genetic abnormalities to spread through humanity. Multiple births became common and even fashionable. It was far easier and convenient to have one litter and get the process of birth over with. Surgical birth became normal even without multiples. But many people didn’t stop with one birth. The government encouraged multiples by providing assistance, the churches provided justification, and the businesses that fed off the government, well, they just went into a feeding frenzy over all the profits. There were so many things going wrong that the people were kept distracted. No one came together to recognize, much less repair, anything. People were intentionally divided. No one in power saw, or at least admitted, the ultimate dangers. Any leadership that tried to deal with real solutions was half-hearted and easily squashed.”
Eleon paused. Looking down at his hands, he sighed. The tears in his eyes had dried, and he seemed to be gathering his strength before he continued. He took a deep breath and sighed again.
“I was the son of a geneticist. My father knew a lot of political figures and offered his services as political expedience demanded.”
Interrupting, Deo said, “I don’t know what that means, political expedience.”
“It means that my father sold his knowledge to people that wanted to influence a situation one way or another. The information he provided was slanted one way or another in spite of the consequences to the truth. He sold his soul for political gain and in the end, for money.”
“Okay, now I get it,” Deo said. “He lied.”
Lecti started. She knew that the words hurt Eleon. She watched as his eyes flashed, and then saw them soften.
Eleon continued, “I followed my father into the profession. The family business. I became a geneticist, and I sold my soul for a pocket full of change and to be part of the elite.”
He stopped again. It was almost dark. Only a slight, fading light remained in the west. The stars were out again, peeking through the clouds.
“One day I was invited to a conference. I was always being invited to conferences, and because of my position in the scientific community, I used every excuse to socialize with my peers and the political powers that used these gatherings to lobby and garnish favors. This conference was no different from any other until a man I knew well pulled me aside. He invited me to…how did he put it? A meeting of the minds. He was inferring that I held a special intellectual capacity. He was cultivating my ego. It was easy for him. I was full of my own worth. Other people were so much less worthy than me.”
Again Eleon hesitated. Deo and Lecti waited.
“The meeting turned out to be a small group, only seven people. There were two other scientists, three in very high political offices, myself, and one other, a businessman, a man I recognized as one of the wealthiest men in the world. My ego swelled. I felt so privileged to be in this company. They stroked my ego with compliments for a time and eventually invited me to another meeting at a private island. Apparently I had passed some kind of test. I was informed in no uncertain terms that the meeting was to be kept a secret, and even my closest associates were to be left out of the loop. I had no problem with that. My wife and children were invited as well, but were to be kept in the dark right up to the moment we arrived. It would be a ‘surprise’ for them. A limousine picked us up a few weeks later and took us to a private airstrip.”
Eleon rose from his chair and started to pace slowly in front of Lecti and Deo. His voice became even more intent.
“My children and my wife played on a pristine beach in an island paradise. The residents consisted of servants and the occasional powerful personage who was in need of privacy. It seemed so innocent, even pure. The meeting that I went to on the island was anything but. There were more scientists, fewer political figures, and three men with enough money to buy anything. Literally anything. It turned out that they had a plan, an idea that was close to completion. They needed my help.”
Hanging his head in the gloom, Eleon continued.
“The wealthy men sat me down, surrounding me between themselves while every
one else milled about enjoying hors d’oeuvres and drinks. They were working on a project to reduce the population of the world. The time had almost come when artificial intelligence and robotics would make common people obsolete. That’s how they put it. Casually, with no more emotion than retiring an outdated vehicle or computer, they said people were soon to be obsolete. Labor in particular was going to be obsolete. What followed was logical from their point of view. Laborers were becoming unnecessary. Unnecessary. Like cattle that had ceased to breed or give milk. People were becoming a liability, and these men had decided to rid themselves of the unnecessary burden. What seems strange now is that I bought it. And yet, I still see the logic even now. I could see the world around me. Many of my discussions with friends and colleagues revolved around the problems associated with population. Even my dinner conversations with my parents, as far back as I can remember, included talk of population related problems. It always seemed inevitable that someone would take charge and implement some kinds of controls. A political solution. Now it was happening. But it wasn’t political. It was not because of any political benefit to humanity. It was because working humans, laborers, were soon to be obsolete. This was how they put it, but I knew that was only part of it. They didn’t want to share the world. They wanted a pristine world and knew they could have it. And the people that could afford the solution were to choose the survivors.”
Lecti felt her mind crawl into a small hole in her skull. It was trying to hide, but the fascination of Eleon’s tale drew her back out. God, how would this end? She knew. She knew, and she was afraid.
“A prototype of the replacement labor force was serving the appetizers. I had seen it, even interacted with it. It didn’t look much different than the house robots that were common in the homes of any well-paid elite. After I agreed to be part of the project, they took me to a building where they demonstrated the abilities of the machine. It was impressive. It was even self-replicating. The machine was fully capable of every facet of producing and assembling others of its own kind. It could take verbal instructions, it could make tools, it could anticipate, it could extrapolate. The idea began to seem possible. Always expressed that only certain countries or people with a lack of education or capability would be targeted, I listened. Clearly, no one close to me would be eliminated. The plan would have protected my family, and me, even without me on board. I was told that I could walk away and be safe. It might have been a lie, but it was a moot point. I agreed to help.
My part was to oversee the final delivery system. A man I had known well had met with an undefined accident. His subordinates could not fill his position adequately, so I was called in. I was seduced by my coconspirators, and without a second thought I dove right in.”
Deo shifted uncomfortably in his chair. By now he was hooked, but he had something that needed attention.
“Listen, I don’t mean to interrupt, but I have to pee.” He stood up and walked to the corner of the building. “Be right back.”
Eleon didn’t mind. It gave him time to think. He spied on Lecti out of the corner of his eye. She sat in her chair with her elbows on her knees, her face covered by her hands. Eleon didn’t know what to think, but it was too late now. Deo returned, sat without a sound, and he resumed.
“Some of the conversations we had, they were unbelievable. Not just how to deliver the plague that was already developed, but where and when and who to target and who should survive and, well, just about everything you might imagine. It took an additional three years. They were that close before they required me and my special abilities. They even had a backup plan in case something went wrong.’
“The Interstate 80 corridor through the middle of the country and several tributaries from Florida, Texas, the northwest, and several agricultural communities came down with a short term ‘illness.’ It stumped doctors and was gone before any serious investigation could be instituted. The affliction was actually a vaccine delivered through bottled water. It inoculated the residents with antibodies that prevented them from contracting our engineered disease. It’s amazing what money could do.’
“We made our first release in the Mediterranean. There were several European and Middle Eastern scientists and several of the wealthy elite from the targeted areas in our group. They protected their families, and some of the social elite that were not involved, and to hell with the rest.’
“The second release targeted Indonesia. The disease spread. It was engineered to be contagious for some weeks before it showed symptoms or became terminal. The island my family and I were on, and some other facilities, were equipped with airtight bunkers in case our engineered contagion mutated. As the epidemic spread, everyone was glad that we were inoculated and safe. As people started to die in numbers, the public started to panic.’
“Then something happened that was not foreseen. A second plague appeared. It wasn’t ours. We got samples from people that we had protected from our disease. They died. All of them. We never found out who released it, the new contagion. We just knew it wasn’t a mutated strain of our disease. The pathology was wrong. It might have been any number of countries or even a terrorist organization. It was all speculation.’
“Each pestilence created an epidemic of its own. They raged through the continents of Europe and Asia and decimated Africa in weeks. The airlines were shut down when the second plague was identified. The first epidemic was busy working its way through North America, and it seemed that the antibodies were working well. Of course someone fleeing the devastation overseas found a way to gain our shores. Probably several people. Protected people started to die. The roads were shut down within our own country. People found ways around the roadblocks. A third contagion appeared. This one was localized. The nucleus appeared to be Salt Lake City. The disease seemed to be just as selective as our own. Before it spread, within a few days of its discovery, the military tried to contain it with a nuclear device. It was either too late or the explosive scattered the virus.’
“We had retreated into the sealed bunkers early on, but our plan fell apart completely. Several people in our own bunker decided to leave. They panicked. A fight broke out within the armed security force, and an explosion penetrated the seal. We were on an island, but it was not long before we were infected. I personally examined each body as it was brought in. The security personnel that stayed behind showed such courage. They cared for everyone as well as they could, as they themselves were dying. My wife died from the second plague. I determined it myself. My daughter and my son died from the third. By the time I got my results, I was the only one alive on the island.”
Chapter 20
Eleon’s story was a lot to swallow. Deo didn’t know what to think. In his young life he only had the experiences of an empty world. Empty of human beings. Roseburg was the only place that he could really say was well populated, even though there were empty houses everywhere. Roseburg was his normal. Intellectually he knew there were many more people at one time, not so long ago. As they traveled, he and Lecti met people. They met Toshi. Over the summer of their wandering and the ensuing winter where they had holed up in a town called Placerville, they must have encountered thirty people, more or less. He did not realize that southern Oregon and northern California, the path they traveled, had before the plagues contained close to seventy million human beings. The remains he saw and avoided had meant nothing to him. Now, after listening to Eleon’s story, they became real.
Shoulders shaking with emotion, Lecti cried as silently as she could. She cried for the families that were no more, the children that never grew up. She cried for the world. She cried for Eleon. She cried for her father, her mother, her brother, and herself.
She cried for the child her mother never bore.
Well, Eleon thought, it’s done. The kids now knew his story. Not the whole story, they would never know the whole story. Hopefully as time went on, they would pass it on to their children, and it would become a legend of what kind of mistakes the past genera
tions had made. Would that help? Eleon doubted it. His experience made it difficult to believe that people could learn from the past. Any few individuals that would rise to the surface would also be engulfed by the stupidity and ignorance of the masses. Either that or fall prey to power and greed.
Eleon left Lecti weeping in her chair under the stars and Deo remembering all the bodies. Neither one spoke to him. He picked up his bag and removed himself to the back of the store. He knew better than to bed down too closely tonight. He was correct. The kids appreciated the distance, even if it was subconsciously.
The late evening and the grim narrative wore on the sleepers. As usual, Eleon slept little and was up early. As he left the carpet store in the morning, he stepped lightly, trying not to disturb the young people. He actually felt pretty good. It was strange that sharing a burden lightened his load so much, while he hoped only slightly weighing down his two listeners. He expected the weight would be temporary. Looking up the street, then down, he considered his options and went for a walk.
§
The wind picked up. Fine sand began to explore the cracks and crevices of the buildings and continued to fill the streets and alleys. As the gusts gathered strength the tumbleweeds started to roll. Some became stuck to others that were already glued together in doorways or against fences. The wind drove them everywhere.
A motorcycle with two riders made its way into town from south 95. As the blasts peppered them with grit, they moved slowly through the outskirts and unwaveringly targeted a storefront.
Zip was having a lousy day. Ever since they had left Carson, he and Cotton were having trouble in one way or another. Cotton had picked a fight with him over the bitch, Toshi. He had tried to stop Zip from beating her, in a halfhearted way. When Toshi continued berating and laughing at Zip, then started in on him, Cotton had left the room. Toshi was bored and horny and wanted some excitement. When Cotton returned, it appeared that Toshi had been bored to death. Cotton didn’t even bother to check.
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