Extinction Level Event
Page 14
UCLA, California
Expecting a call from NBACC at any moment, Krishnan sits impatiently at his desk waiting for the phone to ring with the expected caller. Sure enough, he isn't pressed to wait long before his call is received. "Dr. Krishnan, CBEID." "Good Afternoon Dr. Krishnan. This is Jackson Medina. I am the Director of Research at NBACC. I've been instructed by the Secretary of Defense to act as liaison between your research team and mine. As such, any material that you have on this outbreak should be forwarded to me as soon as possible." "Jackson Medina? I know you. I used to be on the oversight board for NBACC for a while." "Yes, that's me. It has been a while, sir." "Yes it has. Hopefully you changed that project to fit closer with my recommendations. But that's beside the point. I'll make sure that all information we have compiled will be received by your people as soon as possible." "Sounds good. Let's say 14:00 hours?" "Agreed", answers Krishnan, "By the way, have you started taking samples on the East coast?" "Yes we have. We need controls specimens. You don't have any more." "Yes. Keep them, quarantine them. They may prove useful later on." "Sure." Medina hangs up the phone, leaving Krishnan to send over every single report, recommendation, and analysis that the scientists had compiled in the past several days.
Krishnan begins sending attached files via his e-mail to Jackson Medina's provided e-mail address. Reports such as Virus Designation EWK-1:Potential Rate of Spread by Krishnan and Miyazaki, Human Impact and Transmissibility by Carter and Wang, Agricultural Impact by Krishnan, Wang, and McCarthy, all are sent to Medina's email. Krishnan spends another half hour sending every single paper compiled to Medina, hoping that the scientists and counter-biowarfare specialists at NBACC could make some more sense of the data than has already been done. Perhaps I should go over there, but I'm in charge here. That wouldn't be helpful over here. Krishnan dismisses the though, realizing that video conferencing and electronic media will have to suffice for communication purposes.
Krishnan's thoughts are interrupted by knocking on the wall. Looking up, he immediately recognizes his friend Viktor. The ethnic Russian, who surprisingly spoke English with barely an accent, was Viktor Konovalov, one of the world's renowned geneticists, who had just flown in to give him a hand. It didn't hurt that the two men had known each other personally for almost twenty years.
"Ah, Viktor! I didn't see you there." "Yeah, right. Who were you so busy talking to that you couldn't sense my approach?" "That would be NBACC. The National Biodefense and Countermeasures Center. They need to know what we're doing, apparently. Frankly, I think its in our best interests that they're in on this one". "How did you manage to get NBACC's help?" "Spoke to Onassis. He probably realized it was a matter of national security, and that led to this." "Interesting", replied Konovalov, "You know, this whole thing is interesting though. Let's see- Virus running amok. Worms dying. Farmers complaining. I would expect to see this situation maybe in a bad science fiction movie if it weren't somehow happening for real".
"I know. But it's happening, and we have to deal with it." "Of course. I'm merely saying I'm surprised that the military would consider an environmental problem as a matter of national security? What a coincidence.", clarifies Konovalov. "That it is", agrees Krishnan, "a very highly unusual one. And one that seems to be having ever more profound effects on us".
"So. Back to business", continues Konovalov. "You mentioned that you wanted to see what I can do to save the worm population?" "Yes. One of my proposals that I outlined for Onassis is to use species that are resistant to the virus, and put their resistance-genes into the current worms. There are thousands of species of earthworm, surely some of them are immune." Konovalov ponders out loud, "True. Well, actually, even if none of the actual species are immune we're bound to find a mutation that encodes for immunity in some individuals. Have you collected plenty of samples?" "Most of the samples that we took are dead." "Are you sure? Make sure USDA checks them all again- if so much as one annelid is still moving in a pile of a hundred thousand we need it." "Fine. But what about-" "Also", interrupts Konovalov, "It has to be a worm from the areas already affected. No East Coast, Canada, Brazil, whatever. That will be just dealing uselessly in probabilities. Find me a worm that is still living in California, and I can find you a solution to this upcoming mess. An immune worm, to be precise."
"Very well, I can definitely arrange that", responds Krishnan. "In the meantime, why don't you see what our geneticists have been working on. An entire readout of the annelid genome- you're going to love it." "I should look at that." "Lab 204" "Got it. If I discover anything extraordinary come down immediately.", quips Konovalov. "Very well."
Konovalov marches out of the makeshift office and presumably heads directly towards laboratory room 204. Hehe, he will probably get immersed for hours, thinks Krishnan to himself. Getting up from his seat Krishnan decides he needs to get back to research in the labs, where the rest of the scientists are busy. As it is, the moment he reaches the doorframe on his way out, the phone rings. Swerving back, Krishnan grabs the device and presses it to his ear. The gravely sound of the voice immediately points out that it is LaJoy. "-Hey are you listening?", he continues as Krishnan listens silently. "We have confirmed cases in China. Shanghai, some other cities and the areas in between. You there-" "Yes. In China? How?", inquires Krishnan. "We're assuming the worms were by boat before all traffic was stopped out of San Francisco and LA", replies LaJoy, "Now its really out of hand. The Chinese are not going to want us butting in there telling them how to handle it."
"True", states Krishnan, " but even we don't have how to handle it, exactly, as of the moment." "This is simply a bigger mess than anyone may have expected. How is work going towards a cure?" "Nothing so far." "Keep me posted". LaJoy hangs up. In China? Krishnan simply stands there pondering the enormity of that statement. The epizootic just went from subcontinental to global in scope. And Krishnan had no way of fixing it.