Walking up onto the porch, Katie smiled, thanking God that the grandparents all got along and that they had long since overcome the urge to compete with each other for a grandkid’s attention. It kept the kids from getting too spoiled.
“Hi mom and dad,” said Katie as she gave both her parents a big hug. She loved to see her mother’s smile and the gentle kindness in the lines of her father’s face when the grandchildren were around.
“We were surprised to hear you were coming up for the weekend, I didn’t expect we would see you until Columbus Day weekend,” said Katie’s mom. “You traveled all this way for a day trip. Amazing. I don’t think I remember the last time you did that.”
“Sure, you do dear,” said Katie’s dad. “It was when Rob proposed to Katie 22 years ago. They had to rush up and let us know, and of course, receive our blessing. So what brings you up? Not that we are not delighted to see you!”
“Well to tell the truth,” said Katie, “I wanted to check on you guys and make sure you were all doing ok. With this disease going around, I thought it would be good to have the family together as much as possible. There has been so much loss for so many families lately and we wanted to let you all know how much we treasure you and the values you taught Rob and me growing up.”
“Well, that is very thoughtful of you,” said Rob’s dad joining in with the front entry greeting. “But you know you don’t have to worry about us. We are country people and we will be just fine.”
Rob and Katie’s parents were all between the ages of 68 and 72 and if Ben had been right, Katie figured they would all live for about three more months if no cure was found. Based on everything she had been hearing at work, she wasn’t sure if there would be a solution in time for them, or maybe even her and Rob.
“We know you will be alright, but it is always good to be with family when there are times of trouble,” said Rob. “Plus, the air just seems to be cleaner out here and the beauty of the countryside always lifts our spirits. This is good for what ails the soul. I think if we had less cities and more farms, the rate of depression in the country would plummet.”
“I think you are right about that, Rob,” said his mother. “I have worked hard every day of my life and I am fit as a fiddle and I take no medication. You can’t say that about most of the city folk over in Washington or Baltimore.”
The kids had already been in the house to say their quick hello’s and then had run back out to play and explore. The boys already had their poles in the pond and Hope was swinging away under her favorite tree. Sam looked at Brett and said: “I hope we don’t catch anything worth eating. I don’t really like fish, but I sure do like to catch ‘em. Did you smell what I smelled when we were inside?”
“If you are talking about grandma’s homemade cinnamon buns, I sure did,” said Brett. “I would bet they will be ready in the next half hour. I like them best when they first come out of the oven, piping hot.”
It never ceased to amaze the boys how grandma could make something that smelled and tasted so good. She didn’t even have to go to the supermarket, buy it from the refrigerated section already made, and just heat it up. Nothing compared to grandma’s cinnamon buns.
Both the boys were sitting on the dock with dreams of sweet buns melting in their mouths when Brett got a hit on his line. He jerked back quickly and starting reeling it in. Whatever he had was giving him a tussle. After about forty-five seconds he lifted his catch out of the water -- it was a two foot long gar.
“Ugly as can be and a little scary,” said Sam, “But wow!”
“Well Sam, you got your wish. We won’t be eating this,” laughed Brett as he removed the hook from the gar’s mouth and tossed it back into the pond. “Maybe we can come back out later and catch it again,” he said. “It was kind of fun reeling him in.”
A few minutes later the boys decided they should head in to see if the cinnamon buns were ready. The boys were hungry for a snack and it was almost noon anyway. As they approached the front door they could hear the adults laughing up a storm.
“Grandpa McMann must be telling one of his stories,” said Brett out loud. “I don’t understand why they think it is funny sometimes, but I do like to hear about the olden days on the farm when mom and dad were young. Let’s head to the kitchen, I don’t see grandma in the living room with the others.”
Just as they thought, grandma was pulling the buns out of the oven and the aroma was overwhelming.
“Perfect timing,” said Grandma. “I knew you boys wouldn’t be long when I walked into get these out of the oven. You youngsters must have a sixth sense.”
“And a hungry belly,” added Sam.
“Well, have a seat at the table boys and I will pull one out of the pan for each of you.”
The boys sat at the kitchen table with a large cinnamon bun in front of each of them. By the look of concentration on their faces you would have thought they were in a competition playing the latest video game. The both waited patiently for the five minutes grandma had required to give the buns a chance to cool off to the point where they would not burn their mouths. As the buzzer on the stove sounded, indicating the time was up, they both dug in.
Grandma just stood there and contentedly observed. She never grew tired of watching these boys eat her cooking. What a treat it was for her to see such devotion to her cooking.
When Katie’s mom walked back into the living room Katie said, “I better call the boys in for their treat. You know they’ll like them hot.”
“You’re behind the power curve dear,” said her mom. “They have already pretty much polished off their first bun and I told them they had to wait until after lunch for a second.”
They both laughed, commenting on the natural instincts the boys had developed for great food.
“When are you planning on eating?” said Katie.
“Oh, I imagine in about an hour. We are having homemade vegetable soup and sandwiches with homemade bread,” said Katie’s mom.
“Can I help you with anything?”
“No, just relax and enjoy the beautiful day,” she said.
“I think I will,” replied Katie. “I am going to see if Rob wants to go for short walk down to the river. I have been so busy at work all week that I haven’t had a chance to get any exercise.”
“That’s a great idea. The fresh air will do you good,” her mom agreeing.
Soon after, Rob and Katie headed out the back door and out past the barn to the fields beyond. They would follow the stream to the property’s edge by the river, about a mile out, and then circle back. This was a walk they had taken many times in their life together.
“Do you think we should tell them?” asked Katie as they walked along.
“Tell them what?” replied Rob.
“About the disease. About the fact that they are most likely infected. About the fact that they may have less than three months to live.”
“That is a hard question to answer,” Rob said. “We haven’t even discussed whether to tell the kids yet. What good would it do by telling our parents? It would just get them all worried, I think. From what I gathered, if people their age do die before there is a cure it will mean that about 40 million people will have died in the U.S. That is over 10 % of our population,” Rob said in astonishment.
“Instinct tells me that they just need to know. It wouldn’t be right to keep this from them,” said Katie.
“Maybe if you tell them in general terms that it looks like it will be a long while before we have a cure. Do you think it would be right to tell them that this disease is affecting everyone?” Rob asked. “They might connect the dots from there.”
“Well, it is. I think that the virus, or whatever it is, started affecting people about five years ago. Based on the research I have done over the last week, it looks like it has spread to the entire world population. We are at the point where they are going to test the blood from any source, even from umbilical cords to see if is affecting newborns.”
&
nbsp; “Oh my god, I didn’t think you were that far along down the doomsday path! Are you sure?” queried Rob.
“There is nothing sure in this,” said Katie. “It is all supposition based on symptoms, statistics, and some scientific analysis. I guess we could find out it doesn’t affect the human body until a person reaches a certain age, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on that. You lost a student already, remember?”
“Yes, I suppose you have a point,” said Rob. “I know we have talked about this every night for almost a week, but I just didn’t realize it was this bad. I should have listened closer or understood you better.”
“Well, does this change your mind about telling our parents?” said Katie.
“Yes, I guess it does. Why hasn’t the government talked about this openly? None of this has been in the press conferences I have been listening to.”
“That is problematic,” admitted Katie with a sigh. “The policy makers are convinced that the population can’t handle it. They think people will stop working and then the infrastructure will collapse. They want to continue to provide hope to the general public so that the country will still function as long as possible,” explained Katie.
“Well I guess they have a point. How do you suggest telling our parents without letting this out to everyone?” said Rob.
“We can make them promise not to repeat what we say and then hope for the best. What do you think?” said Katie.
“Ok, we’ll do it. How about the kids?” Rob asked.
“I think we should hold off telling the kids for a while. I don’t trust them to keep the secret. It has been made clear to me at work that this is not to be discussed with anyone, not even you,” said Katie.
“My lips are sealed,” said Rob with a smile. Inside, he felt a little bit of a relief knowing that they were going to share this with their parents. They had always been upfront about everything in their lives and he didn’t think now was a good time to change that dynamic, especially not now.
CHAPTER 28
Ben had decided to work a half-day on Sunday. He wanted to take a look at the data Katie had sent before they got together on Monday morning. He was interested in trying to figure out the answer to her question regarding why everyone started dying at the same time instead of in stages, based on the date the symptoms of SDX started showing up.
The first thing he decided to do was look at the data run from Katie’s aging algorithm. What he saw was unremarkable. He was trying to see if there were any other abnormal blood tests. At this point they had only been concentrating on the four key indicators that overlapped between the victim’s blood tests results and Katie’s longevity study data. He found that the other tests seemed to be completely normal. The best he could tell by the blood test results was that the people in Katie’s study were a pretty healthy group of folks. So what was killing them?
Having no new information, he decided to take a different tack. He would plot the blood test data for a representative group from each region over the last five years. He started by taking ten of Katie’s longevity project participants from each region. That would be one hundred people.
As he plotted the blood test data from the first region, Siberia, he saw a graph that rose slightly from left to right indicating a small positive slope.
He plotted each of the other nine regions, one by one, and he continued to see the slight positive slope in each of the graphs. He was still a little puzzled. He calculated the slope of each graph and they were almost identical. That made sense to him, and confirmed that the blood test levels were probably rising from the same cause.
It wasn’t until he overlaid all ten graphs on top of each other that he saw something he didn’t expect. He lined up each graph, using the date line that went across the bottom. Each of the ten graphs fell directly on top of each other. It showed interesting results, and though it wasn’t clear why, it looked like the blood test levels started at a higher level in those subjects that were infected at a later date than it did in the original carriers. This just didn’t make sense.
Ben had expected to see that the blood levels had all started out at the same lower level and then increased overtime as they were exposed to SDX. Instead, it didn’t seem to matter when exposure occurred. It was like boarding a train that was already at speed. You jumped on wherever it happened to pass and were just onboard at the higher level. Ben guessed that would explain why people were dying simultaneously all over the world, but it also meant that whatever was causing the symptoms was getting stronger over time on its own. It didn’t need a human body or a host to grow. It was growing or getting more virulent wherever it was. Ben had never seen or heard of anything like this. Thank God for Katie’s data, he thought.
He went on to look at the rest of the blood test data to confirm his results. Based on the graphs, he was able to confirm Katie’s conclusions that the infection started in the cities of Ust’Nera and Susuman in the Sakha Republic of Siberia and then spread to India before it showed up on China, western Russian and Japan. Looking at a map he would have expected it to have spread to Mongolia or China next, not India. Next, he looked at the expanded blood testing data from India and it all looked good. He thought maybe it was a testing problem in India, but he doubted that they would have the same problem at all of their labs in India. This just didn’t make sense.
Ben needed a break to think about all of this, so he went down to the cafeteria to get a cup of Joe in the hope that a shot of caffeine would stimulate his brain.
As he entered the cafeteria, he saw Sarah sitting in the corner by herself, eating a sandwich and drinking a Pepsi while burying her nose in her iPhone.
“Anything good in there?” asked Ben.
“Oh, Hi Ben. I am just taking a break and watching the latest episodes of the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. It is amazing how those two can make something as tragic as an epidemic seem funny. I guess that’s what helps us keep up our hope. One has to laugh in order not to cry. Of course I still want to cry because we, the government, are the butt of a lot of their jokes. They don’t seem to believe that the White House is giving them the straight skinny on what is happening.”
“That is because they have some pretty astute writers,” said Ben.
“Have you come across anything new today?” asked Sarah.
“As a matter of fact I have. I plotted out the data that Katie provided me last night and was able to confirm her conclusions. It appears the symptoms first showed up in the blood samples from people near two small cities in eastern Siberia. Then it spread to India, followed by western Russia, China and Japan as a group.”
“What do you make of that? That’s really weird. Why did it go to India before the other regions?” asked Sarah.
“I haven’t figured that out yet. But what the graphs also showed me is that whatever is infecting the people and causing their blood levels to increase, is also getting stronger without a host.”
“What do you mean by it is getting stronger?” asked Sarah.
“Well, normally, I would expect it to go like this: Something would cause an infection. We would measure the symptoms and they would progressively get worse. But everyone would start at the same level. Sort of like you’d see with the flu or Chicken Pox. In this case, those infected in Siberia and those infected in the United States didn’t show signs of SDX starting at the same lower blood levels. It is almost like whatever caused the infection continued to mature regardless of where it was. To put it a little clearer, if I measured the blood level from someone in Siberia and also someone from the U.S. at the same time two years ago, they would both have the same abnormal levels even though the person in the U.S. didn’t get infected until a little over a year after the person in Siberia,” said Ben.
“That explains why people are dying all over the world at the same time, and not in stages based on when they were infected. Good work Ben. This bolsters our work regarding yours and Katie’s hypotheses,” said Sarah.
“There is on
e other thing you should know,” Ben went on. “I took a close look at Hope’s blood test. Everything, down to the last detail, looked accurate. I think it was a good test and based on that test I don’t think Hope has SDX. If that is the case, I bet there are others out there that don’t have it either. The data from the blood bank testing should start to come in tomorrow morning. We will be looking at it closely to determine if there are others that are negative.”
“Does Katie know yet?” asked Sarah.
“I sent her an email, but I haven’t heard back from her. She is out of town today and I don’t want to disturb her with a call, as she really needs this break. I will talk to her as soon as she arrives at her new office tomorrow morning.”
“She will be going by her old office first to pack up some things,” said Sarah. “So, I don’t expect her in here until noon. Also, she will have Hope’s retest results when she arrives tomorrow morning so it is likely that she will be able to either confirm or deny your conclusions.”
“I am pretty confident on this one and to tell you the truth, Hope gives me some “hope” that we can find a cure. If we can locate a group of people without SDX, then that may help us define a strategy,” said Ben.
“Good sleuthing, Ben. I have to get back up to my office for a call. Keep me posted.”
“I will,” said Ben, already absorbed in thought about the next steps.
Ben went back up to his office after finishing his coffee and a donut. He was excited about what they might find in the blood bank testing, so he wanted to make sure it was on track. He had asked for 1,000 sample results twice a day, but he didn’t know whether that was feasible, but he was hoping so. He started to question himself as to whether that was a large enough sample. But in truth it just had to be.
As he was leaving the cafeteria, the television in the corner caught Ben’s eye. It looked like the downtown area of some city in China was on fire. There were people protesting and the news banner read at the bottom of the TV screen read “Central government keeping cure for disease from public.” As he got closer to the TV he could hear the commentary. The claim was that the Chinese leadership had a cure, but only enough for the party leaders. He doubted that but would make some calls when he got back to his office to be certain. Though he wished it were true that someone somewhere had a cure, he knew it wasn’t.
The Perfect Pathogen Page 17