As the last man left, a counter deep in the heart of the facility went to zero…
Chapter 14
Swerdlowsk – Ural region – Northern Alliance – 1st February 2036
Practically no one noticed when the light plane from Serof landed. The official at the customs noticed the beautiful redhead who disembarked from it when she entered the terminal.
He paid no attention to her or the brown leather attaché case she was carrying since his job was monitoring incoming or outgoing international travelers only.
He would be glad when the passengers from the Boeing 747 which had just landed from New York had finished disembarking.
Mechanically he checked the documents and tickets of each person, making sure he or she had a valid visa.
He caught the document handed to him by the pretty plumpish brunette from the corner of his eye. He stiffened – all she had given him was a plain white card.
He looked up, catching her eye. As he opened his mouth to ask her what she thought she was doing, he looked down at the documents in his hand.
What was wrong with him today? There was her passport and her ticket. It must be that new asthma medication the doctor had prescribed. He smiled as he stamped her Visa. She didn’t even look like a spy!
Marianne looked about her, searching for the redhead she had spotted earlier, who had caused her to lose concentration for a moment. Fortunately she had managed to pick up the illusion before anyone was seriously disturbed.
No one noticed that this flight disembarked three people more than boarded in New York.
She waited for Tina and Dianna to join her. Using the cover of an incoming flight to port in was a brilliant idea.
“But I suppose they have had centuries to adapt to new patterns of civilization, and find ways to circumvent discovery.”
“Did you see her?” she asked as the other two members of the team strolled up. She walked past as if she owned the place!”
“That is one of her problems.” Commented Tina.
“Actually they all think that way. But neither she nor her brother could ever face the fact that they were merely human, just like the short lived.
It is sad, because if they could get past that basically juvenile fixation, this whole struggle would never have existed.
If they could only realize that we are only too glad to see them leaving, they could have spared themselves the hassle of setting up a diversion.
We can afford to let them go – we know their colony is about a hundred light-years away, add to that three to five generations at minimum before they are sufficiently settled to start thinking about conquest again.
Let the sleeper contact us when they get there.”
“And we will be too busy to worry about them anyway.” Dianna added. “We need to repair the cultures that they ruined, and reintegrate them with the rest of humanity.”
“Unfortunately they don’t know about our disinterest.” Marianne brought them back to their current quest.
“And if your childhood playmate manages to release her payload, civilization as we know it may come to an abrupt end.”
“You’re right Marianne” Dianna concentrated for a couple of moments. “She seems to be in a fast moving vehicle headed towards the academic village. I suppose she hired or stole a car.”
“Well, we had better start doing the same before she gains too much of a lead.” Marianne led the way to the car rental.
“Have you got any Russian money?” enquired Dianna.
“No. But neither did I have a ticket.”
By this time they reached the car rental counter. As they reached the counter, the girl behind it leaned down and extracted a key.
“Good morning Ms. Van Renslaer. I’ve received the fax from your office. Your Landcruiser is ready for you in Bay 13 as usual.”
“Thank you Ludmilla, your service as always is excellent.”
“Thank you, I hope you enjoy your trip.”
Marianne looked at Tina admiringly as they walked to the indicated bay. “It sure is nice to have influence in high places.”
“You’re right.” Dianna interjected. “She is handy to have around. She sure has a way of getting things done.”
“It comes with experience girls, another twenty or so centuries and these things will come automatically to you too.”
“Yes Mother!” Dianna and Marianne said in an impromptu choir.
“Any more cheek out of you two and you’re not riding in my lovely new Landcruiser!”
“OK, we give up!” they answered again.
They moved out swiftly.
“She is headed towards the college building.” Dianna remarked. “That doesn’t make sense – I would have expected her to aim for the air force base.”
“She’s heading for the girls dormitories.” Marianne stated.
“That may be smarter than you’d think.” Tina commented. “There’s sure to be a great deal of security at the base, making it difficult to introduce the virus. But most of the pilots are young and single – and where do you think they all find girls to date?
In addition the students spend a lot of time in the malls and shops, which means they would be spreading the virus a lot wider than the pilots would.”
“Michael seems to believe that the virus has a very short incubation period. How quickly would it start disabling the victims?”
“We believe from the data Alpha recovered that the incubation period for the airborne vector is two to three days. It is contagious within seven hours.”
“Where do you think she is heading?”
“I think her target is the central air conditioner shaft. That is the surest method to reach the greatest number of victims.”
“You’re probably right Marianne. These people are smart; they’re a lot smarter that we like to think.
Unfortunately there is no way we can intercept her. She has just too much of a lead, and there’s no way we can go faster without attracting attention.
Fortunately she has been concentrating too hard in what she is doing to notice us following.” Tina sighed.
“The problem is that when she does notice us, she is going to fight, and although she is not a Mago, she is in her own way probably more powerful than many of us.
Her telekinetic power is almost incredible.”
“What can we do then?” Dianna queried. “I can track her wherever she goes, but if we can’t stop her, we might as well give up.”
“Not quite Dianna” Marianne disagreed. “We need to stop her getting away, and we need to find a way to spread the antiviral.”
“It really is a pity that it isn’t an airborne vector like the virus itself.” Dianna looked thoughtful. “How are the guys getting along with production of the antiviral?”
“Awaki tells me that they should have enough for a city this size in the next twenty four hours.” Tina confirmed.
“The problem is how to administer it to the number of people involved.”
“Well, we sure cannot go running about, injecting everyone we see.” Dianna considered the situation confronting them.
Suddenly she stopped. “She has reached the duct! She is getting ready to release the virus.”
“There’s nothing we can do now – we’re still too far away.” Tina said calmly. “Dianna, you and Marianne port in and try to stop her. Use the meld, but don’t expose yourself to such an extent that you get hurt.
I’m going to contact Awaki, and see if they’ve found a way to distribute the antiviral. We need to stop this before it gets out of hand.”
“Roger Mother!” “On our way Tina!” The two girls confirmed as they flung themselves over the intervening distance.
They were met by a blast which in Dianna’s words during debriefing “made my toes curl.
Immediately they went into the meld, and struck back. In vain – their opponent had disappeared
“She ported – she must be headed for the ship.” Marianne sent on the public b
and,
“Well, that’s that!” Dianna remarked. “Tina! She’s skipped out. I’m afraid that means she has completed the dirty deed.”
“I’m afraid you’re right Dianna.” Marianne remarked. “I can sense the canister in the ventilator, and it’s open.”
“I don’t suppose we are in time to contain the virus with a telekinetic shield?”
“No. She dumped it right in the main distribution duct. Dispersal was practically instantaneous. All we can hope for is prevention.” She went on in the public band: “Tina! I think code red is indicated.”
“You’re right Marianne.” Tina shifted to declamatory: “All medical emergency staff – Code RED! I repeat Code RED!”
“We’ve got it ‘Zashi!” Awaki, L’ki, Michael and David ported in on the parking area behind her.
“Where do you want the teams placed?” He continued aloud.
“How many active personnel do we have? And how much antiviral is available.”
“We have about six hundred powered immortals, plus about three hundred non-powered.
We also have about three thousand mortals who have volunteered to help – but we cannot allow them near the city until we have contained the plague.
As for your second question, we currently have about twenty four thousand doses prepared and distributed to the volunteers.”
“Hypodermics?”
“No. Slapshots. Hypodermics are too clumsy under these conditions. However these are only a stopgap to try and contain the initial infection. Bernardo is trying to adapt the antigen to a water base carrier. That is about the only way we can stop the virus permanently.”
“I think he’d better hurry – if this gets out we are in bad trouble. In the mean time we had better get moving.”
“Sure thing. Michael, David, can you two coordinate the indictment shields? L’ki and I will bring in the troops.”
“Are you girls going to be otherwise employed, or can we entice you into joining us in a foursome.”
“Why Michael! I thought you’d never ask!”
As the four young people moved off, they started issuing instructions to the forty eight enforcers who had been allocated to them.
Michael and Marianne supported those whose job it was to ensure that no traffic – airborne or earthbound left the city, While David and Dianna covered the containment shield to stop the virus from spreading by air movement.
Quickly the three friends set up the logistical model for the medical staff who were handling the inoculations, starting at the infected dormitory and spreading in multiple spiral waves inoculating people with slapshots, as far as they ran.
“Are you four ready?” Awaki queried.
“All our teams are in place, and ready to roll.” Michael replied. “Have we notified the authorities?”
“Yes. Harold is with the Mayor right now and Bernardo is with the president in Moscow. The notification should be going out any minute now.”
“They’re declaring martial law?” Marianne queried.
“Yes. The joke is they have been perfectly prepared for this kind of occurrence – by the very paranoia the enemy is so fond of spreading!
It actually took less time to implement a total isolation policy than to see if the canister was open.”
“Well, that’s one we owe them anyway. I never thought I’d be grateful for their devious ways.” Dianna quipped.
“Actually,” corrected L’ki, “that’s two we owe them. Once the authorities here realized what was happening and who was responsible, they lost all their truculence – we have informed them of the enemies’ plans, and the fact that they are abandoning this world.
Once they appreciated that fact they became most cooperative.”
“Actually, I could almost wish they do get away, and we never see them again.” Dianna remarked seriously.
“They have caused more pain and grief over the centuries, than you can believe. Let them have their globular cluster!”
“So do I my dear,” Marianne agreed. “But I’m afraid from what I’ve heard and seen of them, they are not the kind to leave us alone.
Once they have built their empire, they’ll be back, trying to conquer us.”
“If they don’t manage to destroy themselves first.” Michael added. “Ultimately their idea of civilization is not really feasible.”
David considered this. “You’re wrong Michael, I’m afraid.
They will probably lose time and some cultures and worlds due to the inherent flaws in their society, but mankind is nothing if not adaptable, their empire will smolder on growing worse and worse, unless we do something about it.”
“Well right now we need to prevent them from destroying earth. Our culture may not be perfect, but I believe mankind was meant for something better than extinction.”
No one had noticed Awaki walking up behind them, but they were all heartily in agreement with his sentiments.
“Attention all rescue personnel, operation inoculate is a go, ten seconds from mark.” Anzashi’s mental voice resounded in their heads, in the declamatory mode, just as the announcement of the Martial law rang over the radios and televisions throughout the city. “Mark!”
Exactly to the second the immortals started moving through the city, circling out from pre-agreed points to cover the maximum area in the shortest period of time.
“Awaki, Anzashi?” Bernardo’s mental voice broke in on their concentration as they monitored the progress.
As soon as he had their attention, he widened his focus to cover the other four Magos in the city. “We’ve found a way to spread the antiviral through the water supply. We have managed to culture enough to infect their reservoir totally, but we need you to introduce it into the actual water supply. Are you in a position to accomplish that?”
“Michael, David if the girls can take the load of the isolation can you get to the reservoir?”
“Of course, when will the antiviral be ready?”
“Right now! We’ll send as soon as you’re ready.”
“Give us ten minutes.” Michael asked. Then he opened his mind on the xeno channel.
“Alpha! Have you managed to locate one of our new systems suitable for one of you to take over in the city? Or should I bring one in?”
“Don’t worry Michael; the university had a couple of BT9000’s with the new biotech expansion. We have cloned a Beta into the one machine and created a totally new generation Theta 926 in the other. This is their pattern.” And he sent to Michael’s mind the unique patterns which identified the two new entities. “I will notify them of your interest, and let them contact you.”
The Ai’s intellect faded from Michael’s cognizance, to be replaced almost immediately by that of the two new entities. “How can we help Michael?” The AIs enquired.
“I want you two to coordinate with Marianne and Dianna, first to assist them in the shielding, and then to take over from all of us – this interdict is not going to be over in hours or minutes.”
As Gods Above Page 29
