“Emily and I can take you.”
They sipped their beer and enjoyed watching the animals that ran through the yard.
They both jumped when Emily called out, “Supper’s ready.”
The evening went rather well, but Austin felt an odd vibe coming from his two friends. It seemed as if they were both nervous around him. “Are you two upset with me?”
“Let’s take this back outside,” Emily said.
On her way through the kitchen Emily got them all a beer. They sat silently until Emily gave Daniel a gentle nudge with her elbow.
“Um, well, Austin… I do have something I need to tell you.” Austin sat looking intently at Daniel so he continued, “Um, well, how would you feel if you knew your experiment had worked in a test outside the lab?”
Austin thought for a moment. “In a perfect world that would be great Daniel, but now… I don’t know.”
“Well, it did!” divulged Daniel.
An uneasy feeling came over Austin. “What do you mean Daniel?”
“Look Austin, I took a vile of GFVT49 from the lab.”
Austin’s eyes widened and he started to stand. Daniel quickly continued. “I put it on a swab and swiped it on Sweetie’s nose.” Daniel fell silent waiting for Austin’s reaction.
“What?” Austin sank back into his chair. His shoulders slumped and he let out a deep sigh.
Quietly Emily added, “It turned Sweetie’s eyes blue.”
“Emily! You knew about this?”
Daniel sprang to Emily’s defense. “No Austin, it was just me. Emily didn’t find out until she came back from her trip. She said I had to tell you what I did.”
Austin just sat there; he wasn’t sure what to think at this moment. A dozen things ran through his mind. He was privy to information the others were not. Things seemed to be falling into place with this bit of knowledge from Daniel, but Austin did not like where it was falling. This disaster was gaining momentum that no one could fathom.
“Have you told anyone else?”
“No.” Daniel and Emily intoned almost mechanically.
Austin ran his hands through is hair thinking. He didn’t know how much he should tell these two but was afraid if he didn’t tell them, they might leak something to the wrong person.
“Let’s go back inside.” He stood up and strode through the door into the kitchen. The other two followed him holding hands. After they were seated inside, Austin looked at them. He could see fear in their eyes and they didn’t even know what they should be afraid of.
“Have you heard anything about strange things going on with people?”
“No.” They shook their heads in unison.
Austin ran his hand through his hair once again. He looked down and spoke softly. “You must not say a word to anyone, do you hear me?”
They both shook their heads to answer yes. Austin took a deep breath and continued, “A group of soldiers who had been abroad came back home. I got a call about them. There have been changes in the troops, all the way up to the Lieutenant Colonel.”
“What are you saying Austin?” Emily asked.
“Changes, Emily,” he whispered as gently as he could. “Changes in their hair color, eyes, ears… All sorts of changes.”
“What does this have to do with your virus?” Daniel felt a lump forming in his throat.
“Daniel, when did you give the virus to Sweetie?” Austin stared at him without blinking.
“Right before you came over for supper the last time.” He nodded toward Emily and added, “Before she left for her work trip.”
“And Emily, did you run into a group of soldiers when you were at the airport?”
She sat silently, not wanting to answer. She realized what Austin was saying. A fear was gripping her that she had never known before.
“Emily?” Austin said insistently.
She burst out crying. “Yes!”
Daniel put his arms around his wife. “What have I done Austin?”
“There’s a lot about genetics that we still don’t know Daniel, but I think we set it free, I think when Emily rubbed noses with Sweetie, she got the virus and passed it on.”
The three sat in a long silence as the full impact of what was happening dawned on them.
“There’s more.” Austin’s voice was strained.
“What? What do you mean?” Emily sobbed.
“Emily, unfortunately you are exposed to many people at work. The government has been looking at many cases trying to find a common denominator. They haven’t been able to find one. But I just did.”
“What will they do to us?” She was crying even harder.
“Nothing,” Austin said softly.
“Nothing?” Daniel asked in surprise.
“You are not going to tell a soul. Not one person but the three of us is ever going to know about this.” Austin finished his statement as an order. “Have either of you told anyone you got married?”
“I haven’t,” Daniel said.
“No, I didn’t want it to get back to my mom before I could tell her myself. Actually everyone thinks I’m single and looking,” Emily confessed.
“Good?”
“Why?” Emily blinked away tears.
“There’s no reason for anyone to connect you with Daniel. If people knew you two were together, they would make the connection that Daniel works at a genetics lab. That would be disastrous for you, Emily.”
“But —” Emily tried to say something, but Austin cut her short.
“No!” Austin looked at them with all the seriousness he could. “It won’t help.” His hand went through his hair once again. “Even now that I know, it doesn’t change a thing.”
“Won’t it help to find out how to stop it?” Daniel felt numb.
“Daniel, you don’t understand. It’s mutating,”
“Mutating?” Emily and Daniel said in unison.
“Yes, in the soldiers you met at the airport. The first change they noticed was their hair becoming black.” He looked at Emily, “That was your trait you passed on, but it went further than that. Now it seems whoever gets the virus passes on some genetic trait of their own.”
Austin paused to let this all sink in. “If they find out Emily was the first to have the virus, they’ll want to examine her! Daniel, if they find out you took the virus from the lab, they’ll throw you in prison! Neither outcome will do any good in finding a way to stop it. That is why you can’t ever tell anyone else, no matter what. Do you both understand?”
The two looked at each other, back at Austin, and nodded yes. Daniel stood up, paced the room, and turned to Austin, “I don’t know what to say to you Austin, I’m so sorry. I never thought such a thing could happen with our virus.”
“It will be okay. We just need this to stay between us to keep Emily safe.”
They sat in silence while each contemplated all the ramifications. Austin was not sure knowing the changes were caused by his experiment would help him find a way to stop it or not. Finally, Austin broke the silence. “This will be alright as long as you two keep silent. One word and all three of us will be in a great deal of trouble. Understand?”
“Austin, I’m so sorry,” Daniel said shakily.
“It’s okay Daniel, we just need to keep this between us.” Austin looked at his watch, “I need to get to the airport.”
“We’ll take you Austin.” Daniel volunteered.
“Thanks.”
The ride to the airport was subdued. When they were only a few minutes away Austin leaned over the front seat. “You two must not say anything to anyone.”
“We won’t.” Emily answered.
“I’ll call you tomorrow.” Austin looked towards Daniel, “You need to take care of Emily.”
“Austin, don’t worry about that, I will.”
Putting his hand on Daniel’s shoulder, he said, “Good.” To Emily he said, “We will get through this.”
“Oh, Austin.” Emily cried, putting her head down into her hands.
Austin touched Emily’s hair. “It will be okay.” He nodded to Daniel as he got out, “I’ll call. Be careful!”
“We will.” Daniel shut the door. Emily and Daniel sat for a moment watching Austin walk into the airport.
“Please Daniel, get me away from here!”
Daniel slowly pulled away. After they were home only a few minutes Daniel hugged her close to him. “Come on let’s go to bed, it’s been a very tough night.” The two lay in each other’s arms fearing the future for the first time in their lives.
The next day Daniel took Emily for a ride, it was silent at first until Emily spoke up, “Daniel, if I hadn’t put my nose to Sweetie’s this wouldn’t be happening.”
“Emily, if I hadn’t taken the virus none of this would be happening!” Silence once again filled the car.
The ride was quiet until Emily asked, “Do you think Austin will be able to fix it?”
“I don’t know. We’ve been working on the virus for many years but that was just the two of us. Now there will be others, I’m sure, trying to find a cure.”
There was no worse news Daniel could have given Austin. Austin didn’t know how to start trying to make things right. If the virus had not mutated from person to person, it would be easier to halt its process, but with each mutation, a different gene changed. He would have to, in effect, change just the part of each gene within each person that had been affected. That would be almost impossible and to devise a new virus that could do the job seemed equally unfeasible.
***
When the military realized something was going on, they immediately set up a tight security net around a new lab. They stocked it with anything they thought one would need like food, personal hygiene products, and lab equipment. They wanted to get the scientists there with no outside contact to minimize the chance of infection.
Upon arrival at the secured lab, Austin went to his room. It was bare except for a bed and chest of drawers. It was a suite, which he thought was nice, but other than that, there were no amenities. When he arrived, he barely took time to clean up from his trip before he went to the lab. It was early, but there were eight other scientists already at work. Austin had to be very careful how much information he gave out, he didn’t want anyone to suspect him of knowing more than the others. It was a fine line he was walking, but the safety of Emily depended on it.
Everyone stopped what they were doing as he entered the room and came over to greet him and introduce themselves. Austin knew two of them from conferences they had attended. They all seemed eager to share what information they had, but there wasn’t much information to be shared.
“We received more data on the military. Ruth had the doctor in New Mexico send some biopsies of those who started to grow beards also,” one of the scientists said pointing towards a middle-aged woman.
“Where do you want me to work?” Austin asked.
A rather young man, Austin thought, came up to him. “Hi, I’m Ronald,” he said as he held his hand out for him to shake. “I have a station set up for you next to mine. They said you were one of the best on gene manipulation, so I took the liberty of setting up everything I thought you might need to get started. If you need anything else, just let me know.”
“Thanks Ronald.” Austin followed Ronald to where he would be working and looked everything over. “Looks like you thought of everything and then some.”
“I try.” Ronald threw over his shoulder as he went back to his station.
Austin looked the room over. It seemed everyone knew how important it was to find a cure as quick as possible. He began to work on one of the ideas he had come up with on the flight. There were rules to ensure everyone had a balanced diet, was properly hydrated and well rested. They wanted everyone at peek working condition. This suited Austin fine, and he fell into place rather easily.
Chapter Five
Ground Zero
The tabloids were covering more and more of the changes. One headline read “Iceland Goes Black.” Iceland was a Celtic country of faired skinned people; it was rather odd to see so many with dark skin.
At the secured lab, Austin and his co-workers were working hard to find a cure. They needed to know how the changes first started. Austin showed support for this needed knowledge. Even though he knew it was of no value, he had to hide the fact that he knew much more than the others. In his first week at the lab, his supervisor, Irene, told her superiors they needed more data on those infected. They gathered together researchers and gave them their assignments.
“This is how we will proceed,” Irene started the meeting. “You’ll be divided into three teams. The first team will scour all the tabloids.” She quieted the room as a murmur passed through. “The tabloids were the first to pick up on the wild changes in small communities around the world so that is where we are going to start. I know it doesn’t seem like a scientific place, but there are a number of stories in them and we will look into them. The second team has the platoon and the third will look into the Iceland incident.”
She paused and motioned at the sergeant next to her and continued, “Sergeant Mack will call out names for each team, and the first name called is the team leader. He has a packet for each leader that explains your assignment in more detail. You must be thorough. If you need anything, make sure the sergeant knows and he will get it for you. Everyone is reminded this is a top secret assignment. Any leak of information will be severely dealt with.” She nodded her head to the sergeant and stepped back from the podium as Sergeant Mack stepped forward.
The teams went about their tasks. Everyone knew they had to find where patient zero was. Nothing could be overlooked. By now there were many headlines like, “Florence, Italy Goes Blonde” with a picture of many residents having blonde hair. The articles would never get into detail or have any reason why; just more and more kept showing up. The more outlandish they could be the better, as in “The Bearded Lady” with a picture of a woman boasting a few days growth.
What most didn’t realize was that the spread of the virus would take a very short time to be worldwide. With so much movement from country to country, and within a country, the changes would spread quickly. Exponentially speaking, if on the first day of an outbreak, patient zero infects four others, then the second day those five each infect five others by the fourteenth day the entire population of the world is infected.
Exponential Graph (after first day each infected person passes on the virus to five others)
1 first person infected infects 4 = 5 total infected first day
5 people infected x each infect 5 = 25 total infected second day
25 x each infect 5 = 125 total infected third day
125 x each infect 5 = 625 total infected fourth day
625 x each infect 5 = 3,125 total infected fifth day
3,125 x each infect 5 = 15,625 total infected sixth day
15,625 x each infect 5 = 78,125 total infected in one week
78,125 x each infect 5 = 390,625 total infected eighth day
390,625 x each infect 5 = 1,953,125 total infected ninth day
1,953,125 x each infect 5 = 9,765,625 total infected tenth day
9,765,625 x each infect 5 = 48,828,125 total infected eleventh day
48,828,125 x each infect 5 = 244,140,625 total infected twelfth day
244,140,625 x each infect 5 = 1,220,703,125 total infected thirteenth day
1,220,703,125 x each infect 5 = 6,103,515,625 total infected in two weeks
6,103,515,625 x each infect 5 = 30,517,578,125 total infected fifteenth day
2016 population approximately 7 billion
Two days into the investigation the leader for the Iceland team called Irene. “Hi Irene, this is Joe.”
“Hi Joe, do you have any news?”
“Yes. We have found that a man named Mark Ahrens spent a few weeks in Kopavogur Iceland, which is the epicenter of the changes. He went through the Bangor International Airport in Maine.”
“Has anyone from your
team reached him yet?”
“Yes, he is going to meet Doctor June Michaels at the hospital today at three thirty.”
“Okay, have Doctor Michaels send me all the data she collects.”
“I will.”
“Bye, Joe.”
“Bye.”
Irene was going through some papers when her phone rang again. “Hello.”
“Hello, this is Doctor Stevenson. My team is researching those infected in the military.”
“What can I do for you?”
“We feel we have found ground zero.”
“Where is it?”
“Bangor International Airport in Maine. The military passed through on their way back from deployment. We have also talked to the Iceland group and they have found a connection to the same airport.”
“Yes, I know. I just got off the phone with Joe.”
“Irene, we need someone to go to the airport and check things out, but we believe it is ground zero and that the infection started there.”
“Okay I will get on it. Thank you and let me know if you have any new data.”
“Alright, bye.”
“Bye.” Irene hung up the phone and sat back in her chair. This was going to be an uphill battle. The teams had only been looking for patient and ground zero for a few days but the changes were being made at an alarming rate. The news and internet were filled with people having changes. In Australia people were beginning to demand something be done, the picture was large and clear. The British/Irish ancestry Australians were looking more like the native aborigines. A news organization in Africa was getting hundreds of thousands of hits on their site with the headline “Even Seclusion Isn’t Safe” with a story of a Watusi tribe, a normally tall slender group of people that was becoming over weight at a fast pace. As she sat and thought about her next step there was a knock at her door.
“Yes.”
“Hi, Irene.”
“Austin.”
“Have they found anything out?”
“I just heard from the military and Icelandic group. They have placed ground zero at the Bangor International Airport. A man from the Bangor area and the military came through that airport the same day and time. They have passed on the same virus to a whole lot of people.”
Genetic Flux (Phase One Book 1) Page 4