Antiphon

by B. L. Roberts

  “Professor Wong says this is theoretically possible to engineer. The ultimate goal is to bring population growth under control, not wipe people out. It will probably take years of fine tuning to get it completely right, using the virus as a tool, if it works as we hope.

  “No government has been able to control its population. The Japanese have come close, where their economic conditions have resulted in the population bringing itself under control, but no-where else is this happening. Hopefully, once populations trend downwards, things will settle down, and the world will start to breath again. It may sound rather gruesome, and in some ways it is, but unless something is done, and done soon, this planet will descend into a hell hole no one will be able to live in.”

  Frederik decided it was time to get off his soap box. He had put his arguments for the virus to Peters before, and had received no negative feedback. Peters was convinced. The men parted.

  Back in his office, Peters composed the brief letter he would address to whoever was the new mafia godfather, in Sicily. It would probably be Domenico Balboni, he was one of the four top family heads Peters had been able to identify. He would address the letter personally to Balboni, which would alert him he had been identified, and no doubt the letter would do the rounds of the family members.

  The letter reached Balboni several days later, and it answered questions which had been plaguing him. What had happened to Matteo Bramboni, Niccolo Abello, and the others who had left with them, on their mission to Central America? No word had come back. The families of the men who had left with Matteo were worried, they had heard nothing. When he opened the large envelope, addressed to him personally, and slid out the photographs and the single sheet of paper, his first reaction was shock. He collapsed into a chair, and looked through the pictures, one by one. He knew them all, many were relatives, and they were all, now, dead!

  The note was cryptically short. “This is what happens to people who try to harm the Sorensens.” It was unsigned. Balboni screwed the page up tightly, and threw it into the bin. Several minutes later, he withdrew it, and re-read it.

  First, it had been Giovanni and his cousins. Now, it was Matteo and Niccolo, and all the men they had taken with them. They should have been invincible, they were some of the best fighters in the family, but now, they were all killed. They had badly underestimated the Swedish billionaire. Sorensen had been far too clever for them, and they had paid for it, paid very dearly. He was not only clever, the man was quite ruthless, he had killed all those who went after him. There had been no arrests, no trials, no gaol, he just killed them. He was obviously someone to be respected, who they should have left alone.

  Balboni had a job to do. He gathered up the pictures, and left to visit the families of the men whose faces looked at him. How he could explain what had gone wrong, he wasn’t sure, but they had to know their loved ones would not be coming home. Any thoughts of retribution against those who had done this, were put aside.

  Balboni smiled quietly to himself. They already had the one hundred million, and he could now keep a much bigger share of the money. He would share some with the families of the deceased, but not too much. Also, he was the only contender remaining, as godfather to the family, no one would challenge him. He would replace Matteo, move into his house, take over the business. No more men would be wasted pursuing Sorensen, that was finished, it had been unfruitful. It was also very dangerous. Enough was enough.

  50

  Professor Wong stared at the small flask he was holding. His hand shook. He held it over the top of the well, hesitated, then withdrew his hand, and stepped backwards, away from the well. For a moment or two he stood, staring at the opening, his lips moving silently, as he held a conversation with himself. Then he shook himself, squared his shoulders, again marched up to the well, and resolutely poured the contents of the flask down into the water below.

  “It is done. It is done.”

  His soft words were heard only by Frederik Sorensen. The two men had ensured there was no-one else in sight when they approached the well. Wong had released the virus, and the test was now under way.

  The virus, he knew, would start replicating itself immediately, as it had done in his laboratory. Within days, it would have spread throughout the well, thus into the drinking water of the village, and quite possibly, back up the stream that trickle-fed the well. Where else it might spread? Wong had no idea, which was one of the reasons they were conducting this test.

  “It had to be done, professor. There is no easy way to do what must be done, to save this unruly planet of ours. Now, we will wait and see, if what we have done together, is the answer we hoped for.”

  “You are, of course, correct, Frederik. I have agonised over this many times, and have always reached the same conclusion, as you have. There is no easy way. Whatever is done to curb the number of babies being born, has to be done. Better this way, stop them before they start, than have them born, only to die of starvation, or be killed in wars.”

  Frederik nodded. He would try to put behind him the sleepless nights he had spent, agonising over what he had started. He had had his nightmares, had woken up disturbed, but he had not changed his mind. It was for the greater good. He repeated this mantra to himself, to quieten his conscience. It was for the greater good.

  If the virus worked as anticipated, the world’s population would eventually stabilise to a sustainable level. It would take several generations, but it should happen. How society would adjust to the new norm, remained to be seen, and that would be interesting to observe. The main thing was, the world would survive. There were other species entitled to share the planet, besides humans, and now they might be given the chance. Frederik fervently hoped so.

  It was wait, and see what happened next. His staff at the new school would report to him on childbirths, without being aware they were at the centre of a critical test. In perhaps a years time, if all went according to their expectations, the virus could be released elsewhere, throughout the world, wherever populations were too dense. He would be playing God to many communities, determining whether they would continue as they were, breeding themselves into ultimate oblivion, or reshaping themselves down, to a smaller size. It did not make him feel good.

  Frederik would have preferred to involve representatives from the various nations who would be affected by the virus, to have input, for them to make the decision whether their respective communities would participate. His knowledge of how governments worked, the real politick, told him this was impossible. Once politics became involved, people’s self interests would block what was for the common good. If politicians were consulted, nothing would happen, he understood this.

  What he was doing had to be done, unilaterally, in secret, otherwise, it would not be done at all, and the burden of responsibility sat heavily on him. He shared it with Wong, but he would have liked to be able to share it with many others.

  Sorensen was acutely aware it was history happening, but he did not want it recorded. He decided no photos were to be taken, and nothing written down. The historians could write what they would later, but for now, he didn’t want to risk publicity.

  “There is nothing more we can achieve here. There is much to be done, but it will happen back in your laboratory. We have to get the vaccine right. Also, I have been thinking, it is a shame to have so many bright minds together in that laboratory and not put them to good use, don’t you agree? There are many health issues in the world, that need addressing. Why not turn them loose on solving some of them? Take motor neurone disease, as an example.”

  A friend of Frederik had recently been diagnosed with this terrible disease, and there did not appear to be much available to effectively treat it.

  “Perhaps one or two of your people could take that on as a challenge. There are plenty more. So much more needs to be done about cancer research. What do you think?”

  Wong was delighted to hear
these words. He had been worried, now that the prime goals of his laboratory had been achieved, that Frederik Sorensen would want the laboratory scaled back, and eventually closed. It was, after all, costing him a small fortune to keep it functioning. Wong thought he would soon be saying farewell to his beloved laboratory, and his excellent colleagues, and the thought of it continuing as a research laboratory, delving into exotic health problems, was the best news he could imagine.

  “We will shut down the island laboratory, and build a new one on the mainland. You can give that some thought, there may be some improvements you would want to make. Running things from the island has been inefficient, having to cart everything and everyone over, and it has been costing me a fortune. I know we needed to do it that way for security, but I think that problem has passed. It will be much better managed on the mainland, and I won’t have to be worried about helicopters, and all the other issues the island created.”

  Wong vigorously shook Frederik’s hand.

  “Frederik, that would be fantastic. I believe we could do so much.”

  “I think so too, and it would give us a good feeling, about the laboratory, that we both need to have. It is a bit ironic though, when you think about it. Since you started, the main goal of your work was to stop life happening. From now on, it could become, to extend life.”

  “Yes, but it is different. It is one thing to stop a life from happening. It is quite another, to improve a life that has happened. Quite different. Much more satisfying.”

  “Hmm. Yes, I suppose so. I think that would make us both happier. That is what we will do.”

  51

  “So, you are not working any more on that evil thing you were doing? Are you sure?”

  Georgio Scarletti looking quizzically at his wife.

  “Maria, it never was an evil thing. I have explained to you why what we were doing was necessary. I am tired of trying to get you to understand, you can be so dense at times, you let your religious faith cloud your reason. What we did was necessary, if the world is to be saved from itself. There are just too many people, and the world is being destroyed by the pressure they put it under.”

  Maria shook her head in disagreement. She would never agree. It was evil, it went against the church, against her God, but now, thank heavens, it was over, and she was relieved. She would tell father at the first opportunity.

  “Yes, I am sure. Professor Wong called us together to tell us. From now on, the laboratory is going to solely do research into diseases, human diseases, looking for cures. It will be wonderful. Our equipment is so good, and the people I am working with, so clever, I am sure we will discover many things that will help people with illnesses. Our salary will be the same, it is not being cut, and better still, a new building is to be built, to locate the laboratory on the mainland. We will all be leaving the island, when it is built, so I don’t have to live away through the week, I can be at home, with you, every night.”

  Georgio had been somewhat bewildered when he, and all the other staff on the island, had been bundled into the American air force helicopters, and flown to a city, hundreds of miles away, to be replaced by the soldiers the helicopters had brought. Nothing was explained to them, except that something was about to happen on the island that could be dangerous, and they had to be moved, to be kept safe. They had been billeted in two motels for a week, then reassembled, and flown back to the island. Again, nothing was explained to them.

  He did not notice any changes on his return, except for a small mound of earth at the edge of the helicopter landing area, which hadn’t been there before. No-one told them why the earth had been dumped there, and he quickly lost interest. His team had successfully brewed the small vat of the anti-birth virus which Professor Wong had called for, and he knew four of the other scientists were still doing work on ways to regulate or manipulate the virus, but he was no longer concerned with this.

  Professor Wong’s latest announcement, that they would all be kept on, doing medical research, this time into diseases, was wonderful news. He had thought he would have to start looking for another placement, but he loved working with his team, the laboratory was magic, and to be able to continue working there, on the same good salary, was excellent news. It had got better.

  Relocating the laboratory to the mainland, meant he would no longer have to leave Maria each Monday, and not be with her again until Friday, and that would be wonderful. Georgio had settled into the routine of living away from home for five days each week, and in some ways, being away from Maria, had helped his work, he found he concentrated better without having to explain to her what he had been doing each day. Maria was very smart, but at times he wondered why she just could not comprehend how important was the work he was doing, how it would prove to be important to the world. Maria could be stubbornly thick at times, and he found this frustrating.

  The next Sunday, Maria hurried to tell father the good news, and he too was happy. Father Oriordan had passed along the news of the devil’s work restarting on that accursed island, and he could tell by the reaction of Monseigneur, over the phone, the news had not been received well. Maria, now, was telling him it had finished.

  He was sure God had once again intervened to protect his church, and he was anxious to get to a phone. As soon as services were ended for the day, he telephoned Monseigneur to tell him the good news, and Monseigneur, too, was delighted. He informed Cardinal DelZoto immediately, and the Pope, soon after.

  DelZoto heaved a sigh of relief at the news. He had been wondering if it was at all possible to recover the money that had been paid over to his Sicilian contacts. They were not easy to deal with, but obviously they had now done their job properly, so they had earned their fee. The money would not be returned, which was unfortunate, it was an outrageous amount of money, which the church couldn’t really afford, but what was being concocted in that evil laboratory had to be stopped, so in the end, it had been worth it.

  The church had plenty of other problems it could now deal with.

  52

  Professor Wong looked blankly at his sponsor.

  “That is the position. Only two babies have been born in the village in the past twelve months, and there is no report of any pregnancies at present. There were half a dozen births since the virus was introduced fourteen months ago, but these were all from existing pregnancies, and happened in the months after the virus went in. It is still early days, but the signs are good, Frederik, it is working.”

  “Only two babies? Is that enough? Is the virus too effective?”

  “I think it is still too early to say. Maybe not. The fact that two babies were born after conception since the virus, proves, I think, our theory, that not everyone would be affected. Whether two will be enough, and whether more will eventuate, time will tell. There are other reasons for babies not being born.”

  “Yes, I suppose you’re right. We will have to keep a close watch on what develops. I don’t want to be responsible for extermination of a whole tribe.”

  “I am confident that will not happen. If it looks like there will be too big a downturn in pregnancies, we will have to start vaccinating, but it is too soon for that yet. Be patient, another year or so should tell us all we need to know.”

  Wong’s feelings about his virus were still mixed, but that it had accomplished what he had been assigned to do was proven, and he felt justifiably proud of that. One day, the world would come to terms with the virus. He would be hailed as the hero who, not only had changed the world, but had saved the world. Wong dreamed that day would come sooner, rather than later.

  “Yes Lee. It is working, and not just in the village, it looks like it has spread to the adjacent villages as well. My information is, there are fewer pregnancies there, too. I think we can safely assume, it is working as it was intended.”

  “Are you comfortable the vaccine is behaving how it is supposed to?”

  Pro
fessor Lee Miu Wong nodded slowly.

  “It is behaving exactly as it is supposed to.”

  “Then I think we now can safely proceed to the next phase. Do you agree?”

  Again, the professor nodded slowly.

  “We have come this far. Now we have to finish it. After Africa, what next?”

  EPILOGUE

  Saanvi Singh hurried the last few steps to the elevator, and arrived in time, just as the doors began to close. She was running a few minutes late for the meeting, and hated being late for anything, but this time she consoled herself with a mental reminder, executive board meetings were notorious for their late starts. She found she was sharing the lift with Abebe Samduko, an African colleague she had met at previous meetings.

  “Good morning Abebe. We are a little late.”

  “Good morning Saanvi. I am not letting that worry me, our meetings never start on schedule.”

  The small talk out of the way, Saanvi brought up the subject that was the reason for this special meeting of the executive board of the World Health Organisation, when all thirty four members were expected to be present.

  “Is there really the crisis our chairman thinks there is?”

  Abebe peered at her through his thick, black-rimmed spectacles.

  “I think it depends on what you call a crisis. It has been a long while coming to this, but the birth rate among our villages has dropped to such an extent over the past few years, we are beginning to suspect something is wrong, though we are not sure what it is.”

  “Yes, it is the same story back in Mumbai. It is as if almost every woman in the area has started taking contraceptives, and that has never happened before. There have only been thousands of babies born in Mumbai so far this year, instead of hundreds of thousands. Our paediatric hospitals are running out of work, which is extraordinary.”

  Saanvi ran a hand though her black hair, which had only received a perfunctory comb this morning. She should have set her alarm a half hour earlier.