Today We Die (The Killing Sands Book 1)

by Daniel Wilde

  “Pursuant to recent, but certainly out-dated reports, more than 9,500 out of the total 14,502 persons within the lunar colonies are infected with Anthrax E, 6,400 of which are now deceased as a result. The Mexican colony, housing over 2,900 persons, is reported to be illness-free.

  “Unfortunately, Earth has not been unaffected. Sources that have asked to remain unnamed indicate that Anthrax E was first ‘discovered’, accidentally, by one of Egypt’s most reputable engineers and his tour guide within the Qattara Depression west of Cairo, Egypt. The bacteria spread quickly through the city of El-Alamein; but, through the actions of local and international police forces, a quarantine and isolation process was established which has purportedly held Anthrax E at bay on Earth by burying everyone in El Alamein in hardening foam, possibly killing hundreds, if not thousands of people.

  “There have been, to date, no reported cases of Anthrax E outside of El-Alamein, Egypt and the moon. Although medical and bacterial investigators are confident that the outbreak has been contained, it appears that every person within El-Alamein is dead. According to sources, two persons were removed from the isolation zone prior to the application of rigid HMP Foam over the entire zone three days ago. It is presently unknown who these persons are, why they were removed or where they have gone. Two individuals, rumored to have been sent to El-Alamein to investigate Anthrax E, and who are believed to have been in contact with local governmental officers throughout the ordeal, were believed to have been alive just before the foam application. Those two individuals were not located for rescue and have not been accounted for.”

  In other words, they think we’re dead. Minister Chalthoum has not dispelled that belief. Soon enough, people will learn that we’re here, but for now, I’m comfortable with my status as a dead man.

  January 26, 2093—Shift

  Over the past two days, there have been dozens of apparently leaked reports just like the one John handed to us two days ago from Canada, although the Canadian one was the first. In every instance, the reports have been pulled off the Net, probably by IWO authorities, within minutes of their posting. So, even though at least some people seem to know what’s going on, at least on a basic level, the reality is that very few people have likely read any of the leaked reports and thus, very few people understand what is actually going on.

  Instead, what appear to be governmentally-prepared reports about illness on the moon and in El-Alamein are all over the news. Those reports minimize the spread of the illness and attribute it to a flu-like virus that has hospitalized a few people and that most people are recovering from. I suspect that even the people who have read the leaked reports probably suspect they are just the rantings of crazy conspiracy theorists.

  We only get the leaked reports in the bunker because someone here set up a continuously running search and download feature on our computers days ago, keyed on words like “Anthrax E”, “El Alamein”, “moon colony” and “disease”.

  January 26, 2093—Staff Meeting—Hidden Bunker near Boston

  “Good evening folks. Let’s get started. We have much to talk about.” The usual sparkle in Dr. Shevchuk’s eyes was missing.

  “The latest posting to the IIA database is from the IWO on Earth. It contains a request, to any person still alive on the moon, to provide a status update from the colonies. The only response to that plea was from the Mexican colony, apparently still alive and well. The Mexican colony reports that they observe no movement, and have received no communication from any other colony over the past 24 hours. The Burmo-Thailand shell is burning inside. Mexico believes there may be a breach in that shell within hours as a result. Mexico again requested authority to return home.”

  “Those poor people,” remarked the typically emotional Chrissy Houghton, with fresh tears in her eyes.

  “What did the IWO say to Mexico’s request this time?” Shift asked.

  “Well, interestingly, the IWO asked Mexico to attach all of its internal data links and medical record links to the database for inspection by IWO medical personnel. Apparently, due to the time that has elapsed since the outbreak, the IWO thinks the Mexican colony might be safe, but I’m not so sure, based upon our discussion and your presentation a couple of days ago.”

  “I agree,” John said. “I think it’s a very bad idea; but at the same time, don’t we, as humans, have a responsibility to them?”

  “I don’t think we do,” Anta replied, gravely. “The whole human race could be in danger. Can we risk that to save the lives of 3,000 people?”

  “Well,” Dr. Shevchuk replied, “the decision, thankfully, isn’t ours to make, although I have discussed the issue at length with my colleagues at the IWO.”

  “What’s their response?” John asked.

  “They agree with me on that. And I agree with Anta. But, again, the decision isn’t so simple. After the Mexican colony loaded their medical data, the IWO identified one potential infection and ordered the immediate quarantine and testing of that individual. Mexico complied and loaded the new test data to the database. The IWO checked it out and cleared the individual. The results showed a common cold.”

  “But that isn’t necessarily accurate, is it Doctor,” Shift responded. “I can see it in the way you look right now. You have doubts, don’t you? He could be our theoretical escapee.”

  “Yes. I have grave doubts, about the tests, about the diagnosis, about the rationality of any attempt to bring them home; and, I really hope your theory is incorrect. I have expressed those doubts, in depth, and with passion to my colleagues; and we’ve spoken at length about your theory. This time, they don’t agree. The IWO has cleared Mexico to return to Earth.”

  “That’s crazy!” Anta shouted, as commotion broke out among the remainder of the group. Dr. Shevchuk allowed everyone to rant for a few moments, until the commotion quieted down.

  Dr. Shevchuk continued, “It may, indeed, be crazy Anta. Our task now, is to continue to perform our analysis and testing and find a cure as quickly as possible. Or, even better, we need a vaccination. For now, however, while we continue our work, let us each pray, individually, to any Deity in which we may believe, that Mexico’s ship, Gortari II, and its passengers are free of Anthrax E.”

  January 26, 2093—Entry in the Anthrax E database by Dr. Yurgi Shevchuk

  Shift and Anta arrived here at our research facility five days ago. They brought with them the physical tissue samples from the deceased individuals in the Qattara desert.

  Additionally, we have arranged for two individuals (Mrs. Neirioui Safar and her daughter Suvan Safar) who were rescued from El-Alamein some days ago to be delivered to our location. It is my understanding that they have been held, and are continuing to be held in containment blocks to prevent accidental contamination. Those blocks will be delivered to our facility within 16 hours.

  Based upon significant research of the transfigured specimens from those two individuals, and based upon test results of the specimens brought by Shift and Anta, it appears that a vaccine may be possible, although testing of live tissue from the El-Alamein subjects will be necessary to confirm such possibilities.

  They may be immune.

  January 26, 2093—International Weather Service Headquarters, Miami Florida

  For the past two days—at the International Weather Service, North American headquarters in Miami, Florida—North AM Office Director Marcus Dorian and his team had been watching Hurricane Miguel with interest as it built and strengthened. On this day, Marcus watched Hurricane Miguel approach the Caribbean islands from the southeast with sustained winds of approximately 120 mph. Marcus was pleased that the storm, finally, had stopped growing and was now maintaining its current strength. In fact, the storm was unlikely to cause much damage or destruction on land. It was late in the hurricane season. Marcus was anxious to see this one come to an end so he could close the office and leave on his annual end-of-season vacation. This time, he was heading to Brazil at the request of friends.

  Marcus�
� staff frequently teased him about his solo travels. He had friends in various places around the world, they knew, but he never talked about them.

  Despite their good-natured ribbing, Marcus was proud of the team he had put together in the North AM office, especially the climatological section, which was his specialty. He didn’t think of himself as a people person; he was much better working with technology. But his team realized that he cared and they worked exceptionally well together. Marcus enjoyed watching them animatedly discussing their latest observations as they raced off together to grab a bite to eat before the next reporting deadline. They were a family, and he loved them like a family since he didn’t have one of his own.

  The climatological team liked Marcus too. He was funny, optimistic, and caring. He had way too much intelligence for any one person, but was deferential to the opinions and conclusions of his colleagues. But most of all, the team appreciated Marcus’ ability to market their office as the place to demonstrate the newest weather technology. Each of them considered Marcus an integral part of their hoped-for ability to rise within the ranks of the scientific community.

  Thanks to the “storm chasers” of the 1980’s and 90’s—and the weather scientists who converted the storm chasers’ raw data into theories about weather patterns—over the past several decades, scientists had begun to develop the ability to calm the ugly and destructive power of hurricanes and tsunamis. Some people thought science should be able to completely control the weather, but that had never happened—yet. Marcus truly believed that the day would come when mankind would be able to end both drought on one extreme and severe storms on the other. That day had not arrived, but science was clearly heading in that direction.

  Marcus had volunteered his climatological team to test a new process last year, based upon similar older and primarily ineffective models, called, simply, “wind dispersion and diffusion” or “WDD”. WDD amounted to dropping a sophisticated explosive into the eye of a storm and detonating it at a predetermined time and altitude. A successful detonation was predicted to reduce wind speeds by as much as 30-40 mph, which could conceivably lower a storm one full category or reduce a CAT 1 storm to a tropical storm. The physical effect of WDD was to break up the storm by dispersing and distributing its winds across a broader geography.

  Marcus’ peers outside the office thought his offer to test WDD was professional suicide. But Marcus, often a bit too optimistic, saw incredible upside, and his team supported his decision. Their first attempt to calm a storm was a year ago in December. It appeared to be a success. After dropping and detonating an explosive in the eye, the wind speed spiraled from 110 mph to 84 mph in a matter of minutes. Of course, the skeptics claimed that the hurricane was breaking up anyway. A second storm also broke up, with the same effect. Marcus and his team were convinced, and they were able to convince Congress, and the IWO, to fund the remainder of the season. Unfortunately, that was the last hurricane of the season.

  This season had been the real test and the team tried to establish some protocols regarding timing and effect. With each hurricane they varied the protocols, monitored the results, and reported back to the scientific community that kept them funded. Their success was now being monitored in Hawaii and Australia. It was really working! Now, the whole team agreed that if hurricane Miguel stayed at CAT 3, they should be able to drop it to a CAT 1, or better, just before it hit land.

  Within hours of the team’s decision to employ WDD on Hurricane Miguel, the storm chose its course, heading west toward the Florida Keys to enter the Gulf, with likely landfall somewhere in Mexico. Marcus and the Director of the Mexican Weather Service in Mexico City discussed options with the Meteorological arm of the IWO, including the possibility and appropriate timing to apply WDD. A plan was put into place and Marcus and his team began to assemble the members of the deployment team who would carry out deployment of WDD the next afternoon.

  Lin Zheng, Marcus’ chief of staff, approached Marcus following his announcement that WDD would be employed the following afternoon.

  “Marcus,” Lin began, “have you heard about that disease that’s killing everyone on the moon?”

  “I’ve heard rumors. Why?” Marcus asked casually.

  “Did you know that a ship from the Mexican colony is heading back to Earth tomorrow?”

  “No.” Marcus appeared confused. “Is there something significant about that event that I should be aware of Lin?”

  “Well,” she replied, “I’m not sure exactly. But I have some thoughts. I’ve made an assumption that the Mexican ship will be landing at the airbase in Verida, Mexico. Under that assumption, it might pass through Miguel on its approach across the Gulf of Mexico. If it approaches Mexico tomorrow afternoon, then our deployment of WDD may interfere with the ship’s landing procedures, or worse. I don’t have any concrete facts—just these thoughts.”

  “That’s interesting Lin,” Marcus said. “Will you please do some research and try to determine whether there could be any complications? Based upon all of the data, tomorrow afternoon is the time we need to deploy WDD, if we’re going to. Let’s see if there are any conflicts or complications with our strategy.”

  After Lin walked away, Marcus quickly com’d an acquaintance at the IWO’s South AM office in Brazil. When a voice answered on the other end of the line, Marcus asked, “Sir, did you know that Gortari II is headed straight through our hurricane? What happens if we deploy WDD at the same time? I’ve got someone working on that possible scenario now.”

  “Interesting,” the voice replied. “Keep your schedule in place. Let me know what you learn.”

  January 27, 2093—Entry in the Anthrax E database by Dr. Yurgi Shevchuk

  Investigation of live tissue samples from the two living subjects from El-Alamein confirms the probability that a vaccine may be manufactured from their tissue samples. The subjects are infected with the mutated form of Bacillus anthracis (Anthrax E), but have not developed symptoms. Based upon their location in El-Alamein, they were likely exposed to the bacteria some time between January 9th and January 21st. Thus, at the very least, the bacteria have been within their bodies for five to six days. In all reported and recorded cases to date, in which the infection date is fairly certain, only a few people have gone more than five days before showing symptoms. Additionally, most medical records indicate death within approximately 99 hours after first presenting with symptoms. There are some notable exceptions however.

  In addition to the live samples brought by Shift and Anta, as recovered from the deceased desert men and the vial, we have now extracted live Anthrax E from our subjects’ tissue for further testing.

  It can be assumed that our subjects are immune, but it cannot be ruled out that they may be an exception to the general rule. We will continue to test and monitor them.

  January 27, 2093—International Weather Service Headquarters, Miami, Florida

  “Good morning everyone!” Marcus said, loudly. Marcus Dorian’s team was used to his early morning excitement. But this morning, Lin’s questions had been circulating for a while and they were eager for some answers.

  Lin had spent the remainder of the afternoon researching whether Gortari II’s approach into Mexico and the deployment of WDD would coincide and if they did, what that might mean. She was eager for the spotlight. After initial thoughts, Marcus let a beaming Lin present her research.

  “Hi everyone,” Lin began. “As you know by now—since you’re all so nosy—Gortari II is scheduled to land in Verida, Mexico this afternoon around 4:20 PM Central Time. Our scheduled deployment of WDD is set for 4:00 PM Central today over the Gulf of Mexico. Gortari II’s approach will be right through the projected path of Hurricane Miguel.”

  “So what does that mean?” Marcus asked.

  “Well, I can’t really see anything wrong with it,” Lin replied. “But I’m a little nervous about it. My research tells me that, even if we didn’t deploy WDD, Gortari II has the ability to fly right through a CAT II storm
without any difficulty. And, as you know, Miguel’s wind speeds are under 110 mph. So, as long as we don’t deploy the WDD within the short time that Gortari is passing through the hurricane, we should be okay. But that possibility of mis-timing the detonation is a concern. We wouldn’t want to detonate too close to the time Gortari II passes through.”

  “And what is the estimated time that Gortari II will pass through the hurricane?” Marcus asked.

  “Gortari II should pass through the eye, or what’s left of it, about 4:15 PM. So, with our scheduled deployment at 4:00, the destructive blasts should be long over and the remaining winds should be, based upon our experience to date, no stronger than 80-90 mph. Assuming our timing is on, Gortari II should cruise right through that storm and land safely in Verida.”

  “Excellent Lin, thank you,” Marcus said.

  Marcus assigned Lin to continue to monitor the flight path of the ship and watch to confirm at what altitude and time it would pass within the storm’s affected zone. Marcus continued to monitor Miguel’s wind speeds and checked in periodically with Lin. During the next few hours, all of Lin’s observations and estimates stayed on track. The WDD would be deployed at 4:00 PM Central Time and Gortari II would easily pass through the remains of the storm 10-15 minutes later.

  “Sir,” Marcus said into his com, “it looks like the deployment of WDD will occur about 15 minutes before Gortari II enters the hurricane’s airspace. But I’m a little nervous about it. If our timing is off, we could end up detonating too close to the pass-through, and that could be very bad for the ship and the people on board. It would be easy to let this one go. We don’t anticipate much damage from the storm on land anyway.”

  “Thank you for your report Marcus,” the Brazilian replied. “The detonation will remain on schedule.”

  “I understand.”

  At 4:00 PM Central Time, Marcus gave the word to the team already in the air, and the airteam successfully deployed WDD over the gulf. The eye of the storm virtually stopped in its tracks. Over the next several minutes, the hurricane-force winds began to break up, and began their ultimate distribution over a wide geographical area, predicted to range from Central Mexico and Belize in the south to the Gulf states and beyond to the North.