Benny, hands in his pockets, whistled softly as he walked along the row of warehouses and then paused at the target one. He peeked at the door, then looked around casually as he turned in a circle and then stopped in front of the lock.
“Shit, what is that fool doing?” Books snarled as the kid picked the lock and opened the door. Benny looked back and waved with a smile and then entered the warehouse.
“Shit, come on, move your ass!” Books snarled, moving out fast.
His eyes darted around the street but no one was around. A ghost town it seemed. He got to the other side of the street and then trotted up to the door. He peeked inside, made sure the coast was clear and then waved Rory inside. He went in and closed the door behind him.
“Benny!” he hissed, looking for the young fool. He so wanted to cap the dumb ass right now. He couldn't but damn he so wanted to do so! He turned and spotted the kid near the package. The kid had already ripped the tarp off and was puzzling over the controls.
“Benny! Frack!” Books snarled as the kid punched a series of icons on the black screen. The kid swore, ignoring his nominal boss.
“Stay by the door,” Books ordered Rory. Rory was gaping at the kid and the pods. He slapped the kid on the stomach. “I said...”
“Yeah, stay by the door. Sure thing,” Rory said.
Books stormed over to the kid, fully aware of how stupid this was. You didn't just waltz into a target like this! What the hell was the little brat thinking? He thought, fuming.
He was fully wary of how far out on a limb he was. Benny was sawing it off behind him and there was damn little he could to do stop the stupid prick. He reached to slap the kid upside the head, maybe it'd knock some sense into his pea brain. Before he could get there though his new, young, and rather stupid helper opened the first pod and yanked the sleeper out into a fireman's carry.
“We can sell them back to the government or the highest bidder. Forget about the pods just grab a couple that look interesting and let's go!” Benny said, all smiles.
“Shit,” Books snarled. He turned to Rory. “Keep an eye out,” he said as he punched the other pod. A woman was inside.
“Here,” Benny said, turning to help. Books slapped him upside the head just as the kid got the pod open. Benny didn't say anything, just moved away. Books reached I and grabbed the body. He hefted the pale woman over his shoulder and then waved to Rory.
“We'll come back for the others in minute. Keep watch,” he ordered. Benny coughed, Books glared his way.
“Dust,” the kid choked out. Books grunted, feeling an itching at the back of his own throat. His nose was filling up. Damn it, stupid time for his allergies to act up!
Half way to their vehicle they started to cough and collapse. A passerby came to aid them and immediately collapsed as well.
Rory watched from the door in horror as the bodies of the sleepers dissolved. He turned to stare at the open pods and opened his mouth, feeling an itching. He looked down at his hands and legs and felt like ants were crawling over his body, biting. He screamed a hoarse scream, eyes rolling back as his body literally started to dissolve. He opened the door and then collapsed onto the dirt street, writhing as he was consumed.
The men and women coming back from their lunch break found the scene and some rushed to their aid. But it was already too late for those who had fallen and those who tried to help. One of them realized the threat and turned to run, clawing at his throat.
Onlookers a supposed safe distance away saw their fellows collapse and gaped. Then one murmured about an illness. When a woman collapsed they broke, running for their lives.
...*...*...*...*...
Chapter 11
Near sunset Helen got the call about something going wrong in the warehouse district in Rubicon town and swore. She was tired, she'd been on her feet since she'd come in early that morning and didn't need the complication. “What is it?” she demanded. The urgency of the call had made her take it at the reception desk in the front of the hospital in front of everyone. The crowd of onlookers looked at her as her sharp tone registered. Doctor Tormens wasn't known for playing pranks.
“Plague,” Doctor Tormens, said, coughing. “It's spreading like wildfire. I'm nowhere near what happened but it's spreading fast. Airborne definitely.”
“Are you infected?” Helen demanded, suddenly concerned, annoyance instantly forgotten. She looked around and turned in place and snapping her fingers to get the attention of others around her. They stopped to look at her.
“Yes. Everyone in town is. Most are dead,” the Veraxin said, coughing a racking cough again. He wheezed for a long moment before continuing. “It started just outside the warehouse where the pods where, I think that they have something to do with it,” he said and then she heard a bang and then sounds of something hitting the ground.
“Tormens? Tormens? Doctor Tormens? Anyone there?” she demanded. She rubbed her brow and turned to the expectantly waiting staff and patients around her. Slowly she hung the phone up and took a deep breath.
“Okay people, listen up, we've got a serious outbreak in Rubicon town. A contagious virus that is spreading like wildfire. Doctor Tormens is down, presumed...” she turned, eyes haunted. Some of her staff gasped as they got the clear message. One of her nurses had her hand to her mouth in horror. She nodded. “We need a plan and we need it now. Call everyone in. Someone get Salt to get the Daniels in here pronto! La Plaz and Ivanov too! I've got some calls to make. We need to quarantine Rubicon, Wex, and the surrounding area,” she said turning for her office. “Before it's too late,” she murmured.
...*...*...*...*...
On the outer northern edge of Rubicon town a wagon train moved out, just glad to finally be on the road. People were getting sick on the other side of town, someone said something about a new flu virus. Wagon boss Jerid didn't care, he just wanted to beat feet as far away as possible as quickly as possible. They had a schedule to keep. “Let's move people!” he said and then coughed softly. He took a pull of whiskey from the flask he kept in his breast pocket to cut the travel dust and then waved his people on up the road.
When word spread of the possible pandemic it finally got media attention. The media treated it with kid gloves until a source close to Dr. Richards confirmed she'd gotten a call from Rubicon. Then all hell broke loose as the anchors visibly broke into a sweat, losing all professional decorum.
Sprite had been watching the video news feed, she'd had Phoenix relay it to her when the plague was brought up.
She reported it to Irons as dispassionately as possible, she knew he would blame himself. He flinched as if he'd been struck. He hadn't thought of it, and now it was going to haunt him. Within the pods were a half dozen sick people, all contaminated with a bio engineered planet killing virus the AI surmised. They were carriers, an old trick the Xeno's had used, one he should have thought of. He kicked himself for it, he should have insisted on screening them! Why hadn't he! He'd let them bully him, push him away from a threat turned real!
He swore, pounding his left fist into his right hand and then against the wall. He stopped, aware that others were watching him as he closed his eyes. People were moving away from him as if he was nuts. He didn't care. His only thought was to the future. He could easily game out what was going to happen without asking the AI to do a sim.
With the present tech level the admiral immediately realized the bonds of civilization and then the population would collapse soon. Panic alone would drive the spread of the disease as people fled mindlessly to dubious safety. Others would begin hoarding and looting, some were itching for lawless times on this planet, it was ripe for such things with all the mobsters.
Irons felt his body moving on its own. He blinked, then traced the link. Defender was at the fore, overriding his own neural net in order to move him he knew not where. “Lieutenant explain,” he growled.
“You need to extract now Admiral.”
“I can't do that lieutenant,” Irons replied.<
br />
“Admiral, my orders are to protect you.”
“We're under a class six bio-hazard, possibly class seven. Both are planetary quarantine,” Sprite interjected.
“I know that,” Irons replied, wondering which side she was on.
“I do not detect enemy nanotech but I am not in sufficient range to detect them. Moving closer is advisable but use caution,” Proteus interjected.
The admiral's body paused. “That is circular logic. Our orders, my orders are to protect the admiral,” Defender replied.
“And how do you propose to do that?” Sprite asked as Irons reached mentally for the override. “The shuttle is near ground zero remember? There are no other shuttles on the planet. We checked,” Sprite said.
“That is a problem that can be overcome,” Defender responded.
“Do you honestly think that will work? Planetary quarantine applies to everyone including me!” Irons snarled. “I'm not going anywhere,” he ground out. “You're the one who's supposed to remind me about following the law remember?”
“You are immune admiral.”
The admiral's jaw set in annoyance. He really didn't have time for this nonsense now. “I am immune to the plague but not its effects. And if you think I'm going to sit in orbit and watch millions of people die AGAIN you have another recompile coming. Get it out of whatever you use for a mind now lieutenant! I am going nowhere and that's final!”
“If he attempted to leave his shuttle would carry the virus to Phoenix and to every planet we visited,” Sprite warned. “The virus is spreading like wild fire.”
“Lovely,” Irons commented. “We don't have time for games,” he said as Defender relinquished control of his body.
“So we make our stand here. Now we need allies,” Proteus said in a rare move.
Irons grimaced. He had to do something and fast. First thing though was to find the authorities and get into touch with them. “Sprite!”
Sprite had anticipated the need and had already started the ground work. “On it admiral,” Sprite replied. She grimaced on his HUD though. “No responses from the government. I expected as much. I'm getting a message that all lines are busy.”
“Can you break in?” he asked. She shook her head silently no. “Find someone else. Use the contacts. Everyone. Anyone. Business or other.”
“On it admiral,” Sprite replied, clearly subdued.
“Start with the medics closest to the contagion. Institute full bio-hazard protocols. Quarantine. Get them moving on that now, spoon feed the protocol to them if you have to but do that now. Bring me into it only if you get resistance. And have them get to Richards! Tell her we need to talk damn it!”
He turned and then grimly headed to his air car. “Where is she?” he demanded.
“Doctor Richards is in Landing City. It is her main office, she has an administrative complex which is an annex on the Landing City general hospital grounds.”
“I don't need a lecture, just a location. Thanks,” Irons replied gruffly, starting to trot. His instincts said not to run, he'd been trained not to run, it showed the people that there was something wrong, drawing attention to a leader who was worried and possibly out of his element. But he had to get moving and fast. Hang it, he sped up into a lopping run that a cheetah would have envied, then even faster into a blur.
...*...*...*...*...
As the admiral reached his air car Sprite cleared her virtual throat. “What is it Sprite?” he asked, keying the ignition start sequence. He had to be careful, if he pushed it too fast the cold pumps and turbines would stall out on him. He looked at her image on the HUD. “What?”
“Fox is online. He's plugged the mini-comp he kept for himself into a personal machine and he's now going over medical tech, specifically hazmat.”
“Send him an email with links to things he can manage right now. Start with equipment and above all respirators and suits,” Irons growled as he lifted off.
“Understood,” Sprite replied.
...*...*...*...*...
“Quarantine!” Richards snarled, using her shoulder to prop the phone up to her ear since her hands were busy flipping through texts on her desk. She had little to go on, she didn't know what the hell it was but the first order was clear. An outbreak of a potential epidemic was in progress and until they knew more they had to quarantine the area. She'd managed to find the epidemic protocols and had started the process. At least she had some idea on what to do, even if it was very little. She'd drilled her people on this once a year, obviously that hadn't been enough.
The steps in her dog eared journal were pathetic comfort now. Verify the diagnosis of an outbreak that was done. Identify the existence of the outbreak, why? If you already diagnosed it why do you need to identify the existence of it? Creating a case definition was out, they had little to go on at this point. Mapping the spread of the virus was again problematical, she had nothing to go on other than the epicenter which was Rubicon town, headed south by south east. Developing the hypothesis was easy, the pods. But proving it was a problem, they couldn't get into the town to find out. Refining her hypothesis was on a back burner as was developing a means to combat the outbreak. But she had gotten the word out to the communities. Right now they had more questions than she had answers. The only thing she could tell them was to quarantine the area until she could figure out what was going on.
The problem was getting others to go along with these simple instructions. They either didn't understand, didn't understand the threat, or didn't care. Those that did care were starting to panic, which wasn't good. Already several small towns in the area where ghost towns, no one answered the phone at all. She wasn't sure if that was a sign of panic or death.
Already panic was spreading across the globe. It was starting in Rubicon, but rapidly spreading into the surrounding towns and cities as the threat penetrated the population's consciousness. She had to get a handle on it, had to get ahead of it or it would become worse, far, far worse.
“No I said quarantine!” she snarled when the small town mayor babbled at her incoherently. “It means no one in or out! Lock down. Get your sheriff and deputy to explain it to you I don't have the time! No one in or out of your town! Do that now and I'll get back to you!” she said and then slammed the handset down onto the receiver. She turned as it rang again and sighed once more.
“Boss we don't know what to do!” Malcolm Innes said, leaning into her open doorway. “Is it a virus? Bacteria? What vector?” Malcolm asked, eyes wide in fright.
Helen looked up with a ferocious frown. “I don't know. Get a hold of yourself. Plan for air and the worst case. I'll get back to you,” she said picking the handset back up. “Helen Richards, Medical director...”
...*...*...*...*...
An hour after getting word, Irons landed his air car in the first clearing he could find as close to the hospital as he could. People were gathered outside the closed gates. He had a way around them though, he jumped the wall and then started towards the annex.
He was stopped by two nervous looking police officers, outside on the grounds. At first they thought he was a common intruder. However when he explained the situation their attitudes changed. Both men nervously held their pistols at their sides. They believed he was a part of the problem. He patiently tried to explain what was going on. “Sure, tell it to the judge,” a deputy snarled, glancing at his partner.
“Why do we have to involve him? Let's just burn him now,” a cop growled.
“Did he already contaminate us?”
“Oh spirit of space I didn't think of that!” the first cop said, shooting a hard angry look at the admiral.
The admiral ground his teeth together. “Look gentlemen, I'm not the problem I'm the closest thing you've got to a solution. You've got a level five, possibly a level six planetary bio-hazard threat here.”
The slightly more intelligent guard blinked and then narrowed his eyes. “What does that mean?”
The admiral's right arm lift
ed palm up. A holo of Sprite appeared. The cops’ eyes went round like saucers. “He means that nanites are the problem not just a regular run of the mill organic virus. So kindly get out of the way so the admiral can do something about it,” she said pointedly, crossing her arms and tapping her foot on his palm. The men and women around Irons stared, thunderstruck.
“As I was saying,” Irons said diplomatically. “You need to lock down all travel. All travel, full quarantine planet wide. Keep everyone indoors, strict curfew. Worry about food and water later. Right now get the planes and trains stopped.”
“Um...”
The police officer shook his head. “We, uh don't even begin to have that kind of authority...”
“Lock down the space port, no one leaves. You don't want this getting out. I need to talk to the doctors.”
“Um...”
“You want your planet to live? Get the hell out of the way!” Irons barked with command voice, tired of their indecision. Seconds literally counted now.
...*...*...*...*...
Helen was in a meeting with the puppet Governor who was fully panicked. Governor Oman was an overweight blowhard. He sounded good on the radio, but he knew not to be on the growing television network, it would affect his popularity. He'd tried to get her to go to his capital building but she'd refused to waste the time, they had precious to lose as it was. An attempt at a teleconference call had fallen through. Finally Governor Oman and his entourage had stormed to her annex.
She never liked the guy, he was good at speeches but he had sweaty grabby hands and a tendency to expect women to swoon over his every move and spoken word. His wife was vindictive with any who did take him up on his advances and she didn't need that headache. She had so far deflected his advances with various excuses. Now however was not the time to dwell on such things, they needed to work together as they had never worked before.
The world's so called leaders were rushing away from their areas of control abandoning their people. Many were the county commissioners, but all too many were law enforcement. They were the real power behind the thrones, the people who really called the shots and they were now utterly useless. She gritted her teeth and rubbed her brow. She ordered all aircraft grounded.
Plague Planet (The Wandering Engineer) Page 27