by B. C. CHASE
“We have always attributed this feeling to peripheral vision or some such thing, but this is nonsense. Studies and tests of all sorts have shown that, indeed, people are frequently aware of when they are being looked at, even if they have no physical or natural way of knowing it.
“That is why, in the security industry, it is well known that if you stare at a suspicious person through closed circuit video, they are much less likely to attempt a theft. They know you are watching, intuitively. It is perhaps why, when someone is about to tap your shoulder from behind, the nerves have fired in your brain to turn your head before their finger has reached you. This is a verified, scientific fact.
“It is this intuition, 'the sense of being stared at' as I call it, that cannot be explained by science as we know it. Even animals have this sense. Try staring at your cat at home from behind, and it won't take long for him to peep back at you with suspicion, or to slink away in anxiety.”
“So what is this intuition? Where does this sixth sense come from?” The vast auditorium was silent; the thousands-strong audience were on the edge of their seats. Now feeling totally at ease, Doctor Martin leaned back in the squeaky chair as he continued, “You all should recall the devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean. It desolated the entire region, killed over a quarter of a million people, but left very few animals dead. Why did the animals survive?
“Well, when you look at the evidence, a theme begins to emerge. In Thailand, thirty minutes before the tsunami struck, a herd of buffalo looked out at the sea and stampeded up a hill. An hour before the tsunami, elephants at Yala National Park, Sri Lanka, were seen trumpeting and running from the beach. Bats flew inland, dogs refused to go to the beach, flamingos abandoned low-lying areas, and zoo animals rushed into shelters and wouldn't come out. These animals all had one thing in common: they knew the tsunami was coming.
“Extraordinary, you say. Not really. This is nothing new or remarkable.
“The ability of animals to anticipate disasters reaches far back into antiquity. The Greeks and Chinese have historically trusted their animals to warn them of impending earthquakes.
“It is a well-known fact that, during World War II, families relied upon their pets to alert them of air raids long before the sirens sounded. These animals knew that planes were coming when they were hundreds of miles distant, well in advance of their ability to hear them.
“Dogs in London are known to have warned of German V2 rockets, rockets that were faster than the speed of sound. It is a physical impossibility that the dogs heard the rockets. So how did they know?
“Well, it seems that these animals have an intuition, a sixth sense, if you will. And they are very well attuned to it. I have recorded 177 cases of dogs responding to the death or suffering of their absent owners and 5,000 cases of similar psychic phenomena in animals of all kinds.
“Among these phenomena, and one which myself and others have tested scientifically through experimentation, is what I call the 'intention effect.'
“We have, in video, documented that dogs at home alone know not only when their masters leave for the house, but when their masters decide to leave.
“How do we know this, you ask,” he chuckled. “Well quite simply, actually.
“Dogs frequently run to the door or window in anticipation of their owners' arrivals. By setting up situations in which masters depart by various means from various locations at abrupt and unexpected times, we can watch the dogs through video and document exactly when they ran to the door. The statistics show that, overwhelmingly, they run to the door at the moment their masters intend to leave for home.
“So, given this evidence, we come to the inevitable question: How do the dogs know?
“Well, it might be related to this other strange phenomena. Has anyone heard of Moon, the dog?”
No one raised a hand.
“Moon was driving cross country with his master when they stopped for a quick break. Something spooked Moon, and he disappeared in a flash. The master searched everywhere but was unable to turn up his faithful animal. Eventually, the master returned home in despair.
“Now, Moon disappeared seventy-seven miles from home. Between the dog and the house were all manner of obstacles: miles of desert, a rushing river, a mountain range; all of it unfamiliar terrain. Despite this, a week later, Moon appeared in his hometown. How did the canine have the slightest idea where to go?
“Well, perhaps the same way that Skittles, the cat did. Skittles was lost while enjoying a vacation 350 miles from home. When he returned 140 days later, he was skin and bones and his paws were raw. But he made it nonetheless.
“Of course that's nothing to the cat in Russia that traveled 1,300 miles across Siberian wilderness to get back to his family. That journey took three months.
“And what of Smokey the cat of Australia, who was picked up by scoundrels and shot thirteen times in the head and left for dead. He showed up on his family's doorstep a week later, having drug himself there despite his wounds. Medical care fully restored him to health.
“These are but a few of thousands of such stories, and not only stories about domestic animals, but wild ones. By watching wild wolves, for example, the researcher William Long noticed that the animals seemed to display behavior that was inexplicable by natural means. The animals had an intuition about the others' whereabouts, the sixth sense.
“I propose that we do, too. After all, we use it every day.” Responding to the looks of surprise on the representatives' faces, he smiled, “You want to know how. I'll tell you.”
Doctor Martin slowly turned his head and searched the audience. There wasn't a single movement, not a single cough. He looked back at the council members and continued, “So to explain the sixth sense, I go back to my original experience, the experience that sent me on the quest for understanding.
“When I had that jolting intuition, that sudden sense that I should take the long way back to Cambridge, was it just a chance whim that happened at that moment? Or was it because I somehow sensed the inevitable truth: that my sister was about to die?
“The one thing that all of these strange phenomena have in common is that, in some way or other, we are linked. All life is linked. We can sense when others are in danger, or have perished. We can sense when others are looking at us. We can sense where loved ones are, and reach them.
“The link between beings is stronger, the more intimate the relationship. That is why dogs can sense when their masters are in peril or returning home, but don’t foretell the arrival of a stranger. That is why I had a feeling of foreboding when my sister's life was about to be lost.
“It has often been said that we have souls, that we are not merely physical beings. Well, I propose, in a scientific sense, that this is true. Our existence is on both the physical plain, which we understand to a great degree, but it is also on another, invisible plain, which we do not understand at all.”
Suddenly, there was a noise from the council. One of the representatives was rising to his feet, the one from the United States. Doctor Martin knew him to be Abael Fiedler, chief of staff to the U.S. President.
The man stood from his wheelchair with some difficulty, and, even at his full height, bowed over with a grotesque hump protruding under his suit coat. From behind, a woman stepped up to assist him, but in annoyance, he waved her away. He leaned forward to the microphone, yanked it towards himself, and said, “Doctor Martin, if I may say something.”
Surprised, Doctor Martin said, “Of course.”
“When you began your testimony, you mentioned several different categories into which people fall in reference to psychic phenomena. Whether you are a believer or not, and so forth . . . .”
“Yes.”
“Well, I propose that there is a tenth group: those who believe in these phenomena, fully understand them, and use them, or channel them, to their own benefit and the benefit of others.”
“Well that would certainly be a hypothetical group, yes. But I fear n
o such group exists.”
Abael stared at him with beady black eyes, his head tilted oddly and slowly sinking towards his chest. Doctor Martin almost thought that the man had fallen asleep with his eyes open, but then he opened his mouth with a pop and said, “Why is that? Why would you believe no one knows and understands these phenomena?”
“Well because no has come forward with a credible claim. Those I have seen to date who avow to channel these abilities generally turns out to not have his head screwed on properly.”
Abael said, “So to make such a credible claim, a person would necessarily be required to explain what he knows and provide some empirical evidence that he has the power to channel these so-called psychic abilities?”
“Well certainly, yes.”
“So you assume that someone in possession of such power would necessarily be willing to share it?”
Doctor Martin took a deep breath, thinking. He thought he knew where this man was coming from. He said, “If you are suggesting that some government, for example, the United States government, understands and utilizes this power for the advancement of national interest, then you are right. I would not expect that they would be eager to disclose the fact.”
Sharply, Abael retorted, “No, that is not what I mean at all!”
Doctor Martin waited for him to explain what he did mean, but he made no indication that he intended to do so. Doctor Martin prodded, “What do you mean, sir?”
Slowly, Abael lowered himself back into his wheelchair. He straightened his tie. Then he looked up and said, “I am coming soon. You will see what I mean then.”
“Coming where, sir?”
“I am coming soon.”
CDC
Doctor Compton opened the meeting. “So you are all aware that we've had a total of five official cases of the virus. Four of those have resulted in sudden death. The last is in critical condition.”
Everyone in the room nodded, including Karen. This time the group comprised more than just those from the CDC. There were representatives from many other branches of government as well.
“Now Doctor Guy Giordano has been heading up the effort at the USAMRIID in Ft. Detrick where they have one of the only BSL-4 facilities in the nation. He has some information to share.” He motioned to Doctor Giordano.
Everyone turned to look at the jeans-wearing Italian. When Karen saw who it was, she muttered an expletive.
Doctor Giordano stood. “Thanks, guys,” he said, swaying from side to side awkwardly. He took his hat off. It just didn't seem right to speak about something that had killed four people while wearing a ball cap, no matter how much he loved the Phillies.
“What have you found?” Karen asked, rapping her fingers on the table. “Let's keep things moving here.”
“Well, some of this information came from other labs—Army Medical will mostly be involved in the effort to stop the virus medicinally. But the biggest thing everyone's noticed about the virus so far is that every victim has been female.”
Someone said, “How can that be? I've never heard of a virus that attacks a single sex. Males and females have the same genes, after all.”
“Well that's precisely what we thought. So in examining the first victim, we kept that in mind. The original pathologist noted that the body was still hot inside by the time he examined it. So he knew she had suffered a tremendous fever. He also noted something else. She had hepatitis. It wasn't severe yet, but it was present.”
“This is just hepatitis?” someone interjected. “All this over hepatitis?”
“No, hepatitis just means inflammation of the liver. Her liver was inflamed.
“Now, since the pathologist noted that she did not have a thyroid gland, we looked into it. When we ran her blood work, her thyroid levels were through the roof. So we thought perhaps the missing gland was congenital; maybe she was born that way and has been on pills ever since to compensate and this time she way overdosed. But, wrong. She had no history of problems at all. Was never on thyroid pills.
“So the conclusion is that the gland was removed before she reached the morgue. Now it was noted that the paramedics had tried to administer air directly to her lungs via her trachea. I’ve never heard of paramedics doing that before, but since they likely did not know what they were doing it's possible that something went wrong there and the gland was disposed of. We are going to hunt them down and talk with them about that.
“When we ran the other victims' hormone levels, though, we found highly elevated serum T3 and T4 (thyroid hormones), but suppressed TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone). So we have this single common factor in every victim: elevated thyroid levels, told us they had all died of the same thing. Thyroid storm.”
“What's that?” someone asked.
“It's when your thyroid starts producing so much hormone that your metabolism goes crazy, your heart rate goes nuts, blood pressure shoots through the roof, and you get a deadly high fever. Usually, you get jaundice, which is yellowing of the eyes and skin. Children or teenagers who have a thyroid storm episode often suffer from intense seizures.
“In this case, it's the storm of storms. Their temperature goes to extremes we may have never seen before. Their capillaries rupture from powerful blood pressure. This can cause blood in the eyes.
“It's apparently so rapid and so intense that the victim dies within minutes. After the thyroid storm set in, each of these victims died within an hour. So it appears that the virus is attacking cells in the thyroid gland, setting off this response.
“Now women are known to have an extremely strong immune response thanks to estrogen; that's why they suffer from thyroid disease more frequently than men. To be more specific, five times more often. So when the virus starts reproducing in the thyroid gland, these dames' immune systems start attacking the gland itself, which in turn causes it to produce incredible quantities of hormones.
“The only woman who has come down with symptoms but hasn't died is a lady over fifty. She's already reached menopause, so her immune system has slowed down because she doesn't have as much estrogen. We also suspect that girls under eight would be less vulnerable because they haven't started producing high levels of estrogen yet.”
“So what do we do to stop it?” Karen asked.
“Well, we know that none of these women we've investigated so far has had any thyroid problem before, so we think we can exclusively blame the virus for the thyroid storm. We also know that for every five women who get the symptoms, only one man will, so we could have a lot of male carriers out there who don't even know they have it.
“Also, there are no symptoms at all until the thyroid storm starts, so it is difficult to know who might be infected until it is too late. We don't have any treatment for the virus, specifically. If the body can't fight off the virus by itself, it might become necessary to kill the thyroid gland so that they can survive.
“Unfortunately, since it comes on so fast, it's not likely that we could treat anyone in time and even once their symptoms were being treated, there's of course nothing to do about the virus itself.”
Karen said, “So basically what you're telling us is that we know a lot more about it, but we're still screwed.”
Doctor Compton said, “Thanks to Doctor Giordano's team, we can test to see if someone is infected, but it is a long process and couldn't be done on a mass scale yet.” He paused, “Basically it comes down to this: a vaccine must be developed, and it must be developed soon.”
Doctor Giordano said, “There is another option, actually.”
Every head turned to him.
“What would that be?” Karen asked.
Everyone was staring at Doctor Giordano in expectation. He knew his idea was radical. Intuitively, he knew the virus was incredibly dangerous. The fact that it was an RNA virus and would mutate so quickly; the structure of its protective layer, or capsid; the evidence that it had been transferred through various pathways already . . . it was the perfect virus. So perfect, in fact, that he
wondered if it had been engineered that way.
So he proposed his idea, “The virus causes the immune system to attack the thyroid gland in most women and some men. Thyroid storm starts, and in less than an hour the person is dead. So why don't we treat the thyroid storm before it starts?”
“How?”
“Iodine.”
“Radioactive iodine?”
“Yes. We kill the thyroid gland even before the virus has a chance to attack it.”
“Why not just give out PTU[7] or Tapazole pills?”
“Because they can cause agranulocytosis[8]: the virus would run amok. At this point, killing the thyroid gland would present zero risk.”
“But we would have to know exactly whom the virus would strike next.”
“I think it's safe to say it will attack everyone next. Anyone in the Baltimore area should be treated.”
“You want to put two million people on hormones for the rest of their lives?” Karen exclaimed.
“Yes,” Doctor Giordano said. “I do.”
“I want to kill this virus,” she swore, “not wave the white flag of surrender!”
“But think of what this could become. If it gets away from us, which I think it might do, consider the stakes. How can we possibly work on containing it if we're busy digging mass graves? I just have a gut feeling that this will totally overwhelm us—and fast. Sure, we gotta find a cure, but right now we have the chance to save two million lives. We cannot blink at the chance.”
“Digging mass graves?” Karen repeated his words dubiously. “Guy, I think you must be getting a little less sleep than you're used to. We're nowhere near that point. Now I agree, proactively treating with iodine could be a solution if it gets out of control, but not now. We have to be rational.”
“We should tell the people what's happening and let them choose.”