by Blair Wylie
When they met for their meetings, the Cabinet members, including the prime minister, worked very hard to avoid eye contact with each other. They expected each other to keep their heads perfectly still, and their eyes fixed on the centre of the table. In fact, there was a small, red, flush-mounted, light-emitting-diode in the exact centre of the table to help them maintain their demonstration of proper etiquette.
In some of their meetings, the Cabinet would work towards making an important decision that the prime minister could then take forward for public referendum. Usually, however, a Cabinet meeting was simply for information sharing.
Normally the prime minister would start with some sort of welcoming statement, and a summary of Warrior Defence Force activities. Then each minister would speak in turn according to their position around the table, starting with the minister standing directly to the left of the prime minister. Positioning around the table was according to seniority. No government Ministry was ever favoured over another.
The six Speakers were free to say whatever they wanted when they had the floor. But they were all politically astute and ambitious Masters, and they all had their own agendas. To prevent bickering and grand-standing, the prime minister was the only Master allowed to interject at any time.
On this occasion, the prime minister started the Cabinet meeting in a very unusual way. It chirped harshly, “Speakers, the direct and indirect death toll from the mostly air-burst explosion over our primary defence base has probably peaked at three hundred and twenty-seven thousand, five hundred and twelve. The negative impact on our economy has been highly significant, but not totally crippling. Master life goes on mostly as before in most places. The climate has cooled a bit, but thankfully, not enough to lead to prolonged food shortages. We now expect to recover fully in seven years or so.
“We cannot dwell upon the bad things that have happened to us. But we will continue to fully investigate this calamity, to determine if there are ways we can better protect ourselves from a recurrence.
“As we discussed in our last meeting, we all have a role to play in refining and executing our modified space defence plan. We will not re-visit that program today, as we have just embarked upon it.
“However, Speaker Two, we have been hearing rumours that some sort of epidemic has started. Illuminate us all as to what is actually happening!”
Speaker Two was the Minister of Health and Nutrition. It was always highly prepared, and so it immediately and forcefully replied, “Cabinet members! We could be facing the emergence of yet another crisis, as if the one we just experienced was not bad enough!”
“Come, come, Speaker Two, it surely cannot be as bad as all that!” interjected the prime minister immediately with a series of sharp, admonishing chirps. “Calm yourself, and just relay the facts as you know them!”
Speaker Two deliberately paused for a moment, and then said slowly and carefully, “There are now six predominantly rural regions spread over three continents that are reporting outbreaks of diseases. The diseases have different and highly variable symptoms. But the diseases always seem to progress to death. And they are clearly highly infectious.
“We have performed numerous autopsies, of course. Analyses of tissue samples show the infections were most likely caused by microbes that we have never encountered before. They are extremely tiny, really just a protein shell that contains something resembling our core genetic material.
“No, that is not quite right. The stuff inside the protein shell is the antithesis of our genetic material! These barely living creatures use our cells for their sustenance and propagation, and they also seem to have the ability and propensity to unravel, so to speak, our controlling, six-component double-helix genetic molecule.
“And the propagation rate of this suite of probably related diseases is truly alarming! And the suspect microbes also seem to mutate at an alarmingly high rate.
“Therefore, we must immediately enforce quarantines to slow down the spread of these infections within our species, or better yet, completely contain the infections until they die-off on their own, or until we can eradicate them completely by some currently unknown means.”
The prime minister showed its discomfort by blinking rapidly a few times, but it somehow managed to maintain its rigid stare directly at the centre of the table.
But some of the Speakers just could not help flashing their eyes around to take quick peeks at both Speaker Two and the prime minister.
After a long pause, the prime minister asked, “Speaker Two, as a result of your emotional outburst, I have three rather obvious questions for you.
“Firstly, when did these disease outbreaks begin?”
“Prime Minister, first reports of these probably related diseases began about eighty-two days ago.”
“Okay, then secondly, have the Warrior and Royal castes been affected as well?”
“Prime Minister, not yet, possibly because those revered variants of our species do not visit rural or agricultural areas that are often adjacent to wilderness areas. But there is nothing to suggest that the Warriors or the Royals have some sort of differentiating natural immunity.”
“Okay, thirdly then, can your Ministry devise and manufacture vaccines to either cure infected subjects, or to prevent infection from occurring in the first place?”
“Prime Minister, we believe so, but that very difficult and highly technical work has only just begun. And of course, evolving mutations could possibly frustrate our efforts, no matter if the vaccine research and development program proceeds with our typical efficiency, dedication and intelligence.”
The prime minister paused for another long moment, then it ordered loudly, “Then accelerate the vaccine production effort, Speaker Two. We must try to out-race the speed that mutations occur.”
The prime minister then took a quick glance at both the Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, and the Minister of Resource Exploitation.
Then it ordered, “Speakers One and Three, give the Ministry of Health and Nutrition whatever it needs for this priority activity.
“And Speaker Six, resources of all kinds are now scarce, obviously. Assist this priority effort by continuing to suspend work on our exploration generation space vessel. Ah, and issue a public statement, that we are, ah, investigating an exciting new technology for improving the vessel’s design and functionality. But stress that we need to suspend the construction program for only a very brief period of time.
“And Speaker Five, how soon can your Ministry put in place total quarantines around the six infected regions? And can we do that without overly alarming the unaffected population?”
Speaker Five was the Minister of Security and Justice. It paused for an unusually long period of time before answering. Then it said, “Prime Minister, rumours are already rampant that there is an epidemic of some sort underway. I think the best we can do now is issue calming public statements, you know, to assure Masters that we are right on top of this epidemic. Furthermore, we should say that we are extremely confident solutions will soon be found, please stay calm everyone, do not interfere with our efforts, help us when we ask you for help, or for your patience, et cetera.
“That may not be enough of course. Enforcing curfews, and cordoning off very large areas will require far more resources than we normally have at our disposal.
“Unless, of course, we could enlist the services of some otherwise idle Warriors…” It trailed off, knowing it was taking a big political risk by crossing a jurisdictional demarcation line into the prime minister’s exclusive domain.
But it need not have worried about that possibility. The prime minister immediately chirped in harsh tones, “Consider that done, Speaker Five. Of course, we can put our Warriors to work to help with this critically important effort. After all, we may be working for our very survival as a species.
“The Warriors, of course, will not like being under your authority. So, ah, try to allow them as much independent command and control as possib
le. And tell them this request for their help with domestic security matters came directly from me.
“Use those words exactly, Speaker Five. Stress that this is a personal request from me, even though we know if they balk, in any way, it will immediately become a direct order.”
The prime minister then glanced briefly at Speaker Four. For the whole meeting, Speaker Four had impressively managed to maintain a fixed stare at the red dot in the centre of the table. The prime minister knew its character and wondered if it was holding something back. So, it abruptly barked, “Speaker Four, Speaker Two has just told us that nothing like this epidemic has ever occurred before. Is that a true statement?”
The Minister of Information and Knowledge hesitated briefly before answering. The prime minister risked taking another quick glance in its direction and noted that Speaker Four now looked very uncomfortable. Beads of sweat were popping up on its forehead!
Then the prime minister could not help turning its entire head to stare directly at Speaker Four. Then it barked again, “Speaker Four, answer the damn question! Right now!”
“Prime Minister, it is true that no epidemic like this has ever occurred on this planet,” Speaker Four began tentatively. Its agitation was now disturbingly obvious to all of the other Cabinet members. After a short pause, it added quietly, “However, there are records that suggest this sort of thing may have occurred on other Master-dominated planets.
“Some of those other, related calamities led to some theorization that our primordial galactic enemies, ah, the ‘Cowards’ as we call them, somehow created the diseases, and aimed them at us, so to speak.
“It seems we were the only animal species affected in all of these recorded instances, which may give credence to the remarkably consistent origin theories that arose on other affected planets.”
Then the Cabinet members all silently struggled for a while to assimilate and rationalize this rather shocking new information. They all had different paradigms, even though they outwardly looked to be identical creatures. This meant that they all took slightly different introspective routes towards personal understanding and acceptance.
After a very long pause, the prime minister said quietly, “All right, Speaker Four. Thank you. Keep exploring these theories for us.”
The prime minister paused again to think for another moment, then it added, “Our colony has never directly encountered the Cowards, of course. But our colonial ancestors did send our only Warrior Armada to investigate some ruins on a distant moon that they thought might once have been a base used by the Cowards.
“That same seven-battlecruiser Armada was then sent on to attack and destroy another and different suspected dangerous race of alien competitors. But for some reason, only one colonial battlecruiser has returned to us from an apparently successful combined expedition. And that battlecruiser somehow ended up destroying itself and thousands of Masters by colliding with our planet!
“I think we can all agree that the recent rash of calamities are probably too remarkable and too mysterious to be unrelated?
“So, Speaker Six, point forward and until I order otherwise, work very closely with Speaker Four. Assist the minister in any way that you can! Work together to answer the most pressing question.
“Here is that question. Is there a potential link between the return of the Flagship battlecruiser and the emergence of these diseases? And if so, what is that link?
“Bring the answer, or perhaps answers, to our next Cabinet meeting, that we will have in, ah, five days’ time.”
The prime minister then paused to take a long, slow, deep breath. Then it loudly chirped, “Right, Speakers, that is enough for today. Thank you for your preparation, and your close attention.
“Our meeting is now adjourned.”
36
The Warrior Commander knew it was a losing battle.
‘Battle’ was hardly the right word for this disgusting scene. It was really a brutal, small-scale, civil scrimmage, made worse by an invisible fifth column that killed from inside the bodies of the group of quarantined Masters.
The ‘soldiers’ of the fifth column were microbial foes that could not be seen, only felt. And when an unfortunate Master encountered the microbial enemy directly, the end would only be a few weeks away. And death by microbial infection was truly a horrible way to go.
The vaccines that had been issued to the general Master population seemed to be have been effective for a hundred days or so. But the situation was now degrading rapidly. And for some reason, infection seemed to spread quicker within the Warrior population than the hermaphrodite Worker population.
As for what was happening to the members of the Royal caste, well, who the hell knew? There were so few of them, and the spoiled bastards had always quarantined themselves, going back long before the first outbreak of infectious diseases.
But the commander had a job to do, no matter how risky that was on a personal level. Or, for that matter, how disgraceful it was on a professional level.
It walked over to the high, open window in the guard post again. It used binoculars to closely scan the nearby barbwire perimeter. There were still no signs of life on the other side of the wire. It had been this way for two days now. That was not necessarily a good thing.
There was nothing moving on the near side of the wire either. Warrior guards were either maintaining proper discipline by staying well hidden, or they were really sick, and maybe even giving up. The commander suspected it was now a mixture of the two possibilities.
And indeed, things were getting far worse.
Then the commander looked at its adjutant again, not with sympathy this time, but rather with disgust. The beastly, dirty, dishevelled creature had slumped down in a corner of the outpost, and fallen asleep!
“Number Two, wake up, you lazy bastard!” growled the commander in deep chirps.
The adjutant stirred a bit, and then leaped to its feet. It wobbled a bit, and croaked in raspy tweets, “Yes, Commander! Sorry, Commander, sir! I… I don’t know how that could have happened. I am truly sorry, Commander, Sir…” It trailed off with a look of both confusion and shame.
The commander glared angrily at its adjutant for a few long moments. Then it sighed, and shrugged, and said quietly, “I know how it happened, Number Two, and so do you. We both have not slept for over two days now. Our food is worse than lousy. Biting bugs are crawling all over us because we cannot clean ourselves properly. And our comrades are finally becoming fed up with this undignified guard duty, and they are getting sick, and some are dying.
“Now, I obviously need to vent a bit, Number Two. Your job is to carefully listen to me, and to offer alternatives for my consideration.
“Firstly, our morale is the shits!
“Our barbwire fence and our blasters have successfully kept the farm Workers inside the wire. That is just great. But we do not know how many of them are still alive in there. And that is totally unacceptable!
“But there cannot be many left, because we do not see them anymore. Now, I could send in a sortie of Warriors wearing germ suits and masks to investigate, but what is the damn point of that?
“It is obvious that the barbwire cannot contain the spread of the disease, or diseases. Our people have been getting sick for ten days now. And we cannot wear germ suits all the time. That is just not practical.
“And we cannot retreat either! Our orders are very clear on that point, and they have been reinforced to me three times over the last two days. Command treats us all like cowards. But we are not cowards. We must hold our station and guard the perimeter.
“Now, what are your suggestions for me, Number Two?”
The adjutant was a good officer, but it had obviously been highly stressed for a long period of time, and it was visibly fatigued by that ordeal. But after a long moment of thought, it seemed to relax a bit, and it said, “Right, Commander. Fully understood, sir.
“The fact is, sir, we clearly are all doomed, and there can no lo
nger be any doubt about that.
“So, I suggest we wait, ah, one more day. If we still only see animal life on the other side of the wire, then I suggest we should all cross through the wire, without wearing germ suits. Because there must be food over there, and clean water. If we are all going to die eventually, then we should die with dignity, with a full belly, lots of intoxicants, and a few final laughs with our comrades.
“That is my suggestion to you for what it is worth, sir. It is made with the utmost respect for you, and for our company of heroic Warriors.”
The commander initially looked angry at the response from its adjutant. But then it shrugged again, and smiled weakly. Then it said with a laugh, “Yes, that is actually a good, noble suggestion, Number Two. It honours and respects the finest traditions of our caste.
“So, I say… why the hell not!
“We are Warriors, damn it! So, we will all die like Warriors, and pretend we have won this stupid battle against an invisible, cowardly enemy.”
37
The prime minister entered the extensively renovated Royal Antechamber with two attending Warrior guards. The room had been significantly reduced in size to about six metres wide, six metres long and three metres high. The two guards were wearing full-body, biological protection suits. They were also carrying rather large, bulky bundles on their backs.
Security cameras silently observed as the guards methodically unpacked their bundles. Then the cameras captured the work of the two guards as they patiently and gently helped the prime minister into its own, form-fitting, full-body biological protection suit.
When a sealed helmet had been firmly locked and sealed in place over the prime minister’s head, the two Warriors sprayed the prime minister’s ‘germ suit’ from head to toe with disinfectant. Then they carefully and thoroughly vacuumed all of the liquid off the prime minister’s suit, and the deflected spray that had accumulated on their own suits, and on the white ceramic floors, walls and ceiling of the Antechamber.
