by C. Martens
What neither Ann nor Jim knew was that a file had already been ignored. The information sat unused within the computer files of a retired agent in the Kansas City office of the FBI. Printed out, the issue had been overlooked and sat in a small, grey-green cabinet in the basement, a thin folder containing much the same information that Jimmy and Ann were now considering. Except the story told in the slim folder was about an entirely different set of events that were unfolding within the United States. The folder was two years old, and now it was too late.
§
The cough that Jia was just getting over at the end of her first week away from home was aggravating. She was not in Paris to stay contained in a hotel room, so she forced herself to stifle the hacking as much as possible as they toured the city. Her husband appeared to be already over his illness, and she did not think that was fair.
The Louvre was magnificent. Even though Jia was not well educated, her mother had an interest in fine art, and she had grown up with illustrated books containing examples of wonders in various styles and periods. She begged her husband to spend an extra day instead of taking the scheduled tour, and they snuck out and spent hours brushing against numbers of tourists as they perused the incredible works. Others were drawn to the attractive couple because they were beautiful, outgoing, and because they were so obviously happy and full of life.
Jia and her husband were doing their intended job, if unintentionally. They were fully contagious from the moment the first symptoms appeared, and as the illness waned, they would stay contagious for about two months before they reacquired the symptoms again which would lead to their sudden deaths. It would be the same with anyone they infected.
§
The dates were fresh, having been picked within the hour, and Sheik Akil bin Salmud Al Saud savored them. He rolled one on his tongue as he separated the pit from the flesh and spat the seed into the sand. Knowing it was vulgar only made the spitting more attractive.
News had come that the black assassin had been killed. The body of his nephew had been found less than four hours after his blood drained from his body and soaked into the carpet. Some frantic information was passed to the Sheik soon after, and he offered the remaining security men a huge reward if they could bring the perpetrators to justice. After much hesitation and some discussion, they all refused, which was surprising but a testament to their sense of loyalty to their former security head. The Sheik found it difficult to comprehend that the man that took a bullet for his uncle was one of those involved. But no one murdered a Royal without consequences. In fact, after Bilal’s head of security was found and retribution made, the rest of the security team would meet unfortunate circumstances. They all had some culpability in Akil’s mind, especially after refusing to hunt the man responsible, and there was no room for mercy. As of the moment, they were enjoying a reprieve based only on any information they might provide. Perhaps his nephew’s reluctance to vaccinate security had been prophetic.
Now the Sheik was wondering if the whole operation was compromised. His nephew had been a fool. Akil worried about his competency all along, but he also knew that Bilal was easy to use and manipulate because he was ambitious to the point of excess. He saw this behavior often in his family, and he needed someone credible to foist any suspicion on if the plan were discovered. Bilal barely filled the requirements, but the deciding fact was that the Sheik detested him. If caught with a hand in the cookie jar, his nephew could be sacrificed with no regret. But now, even a reviled minor relative intended as a sacrificial lamb must be avenged as Royalty demanded.
If the murderers communicated to anyone what they had found by torturing their victim, the story might be believed. If believed, then it might be acted upon. If acted upon, then they might get to the point of collecting the travelers that were spreading their contagion. Everything hinged on how much they knew, how much they believed, and how long they took. The time element was critical. Any government agency took time to get their wheels turning. Circumstances were to Akil’s advantage.
Going over all the ramifications as he savored his dates, the Sheik could not help but think about the past. Memories of how it all started flooded back.
§
The party was winding down, and the few that remained conscious departed. The more serious drinkers were all passed out either on the floor or, if still capable of directing their steps, they may have made it to their rooms. Some even managed to slide into a bed. College parties were like that.
In the morning as people rose from their stupors, they gathered in front of the television. There was nothing on but news, and most of them ignored the usual ramblings. Being who they were, though, young students, they required noise. So they left it on low volume as they nursed their hangovers. Coffee, lots of coffee, filled mugs in the hand of every one of them. They appreciated the way the young Arab made it this morning. Usually they berated him for making it too strong.
The morning news was not good. The oceans were rising. After a short flattening out, the population was exploding again. The good news of threatened species being saved was overshadowed by even more news of imminent extinctions. The news was…normal.
Gradually, and mostly because they were too hung over to converse, the young men became mesmerized by the only thing in the room that held their attention. The television filled them with information, and every one of them understood that this is what their future contained. What was happening was now normal. What would follow in years to come would be worse and be considered normal as well. By the look of things, there were no solutions.
Each young man in the room was privileged. There was money here in a world that appreciated wealth, a world that separated people from each other by the amount of money they possessed. These men, not much more than boys, understood that they were favored by circumstance, and more than most prior generations, they felt entitled. It was a trend that had started in the ending years of the prior century, a feeling among the young that they deserved everything regardless of any merit or effort. Even the poor joined the trend. They, too, felt entitled. If not for money, then for jobs, or food stamps, or health care. Strangely, as their government-funded public education declined in quality, they never felt entitled to any change that bettered it.
The news wound down and devolved into scarcely disguised Hollywood advertising. The mind-numbing effect of the tragedies in the world started to lift. Then, in one of those twists of fate that hits once in a while, the lights went out and the television flickered and died. A transformer had imploded, and they would be without power for several hours.
The first one that managed to shake himself into conscious thought brought up the condition of the world. Each of the others joined in, and soon every one of them was lamenting the way they had to live in the dreck that their parents had left them. They railed against their parents’ irresponsibility and how they had wasted chances to amend the situation. Then one of them, the British son of a CEO controlling one of the largest oil companies in the world, made a connection.
“It’s really all about population, guys. The earth is self-cleaning. If there were fewer people most of the problems would be smaller. If there were a lot less people, there wouldn’t be any problem at all.”
The idea might have been laughed off and forgotten except for one of the more popular of the group took it up and expanded on it.
“Remember that lady that had eight kids just recently? I heard there was another one early in the century. My sister just got her surrogate to pop out three. And those religious families with all those kids? What was it, thirty-something? He’s right. And we’re breeding more. Even the third world countries are being fed by us, and what do you think happens when they get food? They fuck. Free food, make a baby. Hell, we’re doing the same thing here.”
One of the smart kids, son of a large GMO manufacturing corporate executive said, “I just read an article about how limited food makes more female babies.”
One of the other g
uys punched him lightly on the arm, mocking him as people feel entitled to make fun of intelligence. “It’s true, there’s a scientific study just published on it. And if you’re going to control population you have to control females.”
Everybody hooted at that. The popular guy, the son of big money in gambling and sports, looked thoughtful.
“What we really need to do is control the male population. If all the men but us died suddenly, what would all the women do? I like those odds.”
The football jock spoke for the first time.
“The hell with that. What we need to do is kill everybody but the cheerleaders in the world. Then we’d only be left with hot chicks.”
Everybody laughed, and he got a standing ovation from a crowd of hung over college kids.
The seed was planted.
§
The whole discussion might have been forgotten, except for the kid from Great Britain that started the conversation and the smart kid. They brought in the one other kid that seemed worthy, Akil. The Sheik remembered how he and the others had restarted the discussion in private, later. The young men fed off of each other, each with their own motivations. Soon they were talking as though a solution could be taken seriously.
Over several years they remained in contact. Discussion followed discussion, and nothing seemed to gel enough to be taken seriously. Then in a chance encounter the smart young man with GMO connections met a young woman involved with the Centers for Disease Control.
Many critical industries attract people with hidden agendas. Fire departments will be the first to admit they have had problems with employee arsonists, although the numbers are low. Police organizations are perhaps less able to identify the people that are hungry for power and those that promote danger rather than quell it. So, too, the CDC had people working within the organization that were fascinated by disease. Fascinated to the point of obsession.
When the GMO and CDC pair carefully approached each other about their sinister fantasies, often following a night of slightly kinky sex, they found they had some mutual ideas.
They continued to talk, and soon she joined the group. She brought materials and expertise that had been missing. One of her contributions was genetic material from the KPC virus family. She was also the one that pointed out that without labor, none of them would survive for long. The suggestion damped their enthusiasm until one brightened.
“We just got a robot to work in the house. It’s not terrible, just crude. It certainly wouldn’t replace a man. But with the right incentive I can see it happening soon. If we could fund A.I. until we have an artificial critter that can do everything to the point that it can replicate itself, then we still have a plan. Might be ten years, maybe even twenty, but how long will the rest take? I wouldn’t be surprised if the robot gets made before we’re ready with the rest.”
They were back on track.
Artificial intelligence was progressing, and with careful inquiry they found an already operational business on the cutting edge of robotics. The corporation was owned by a couple of people that liked A.I. better than human beings. They bought out the company and put the former owners on salary with performance bonuses.
Money was not an issue. Between the three original members of the group, they could have funded a space launch with pocket change.
Soon they had a lab set up in Kansas City, and they began working with genetic materials. Under cover of GMO research, they started to experiment with toxins and diseases. Personnel were carefully screened and loyalty and tight lips demanded. Compensation and perks flowed until it was highly improbable that anyone would leave. Good jobs were hard to come by. No one seemed to notice that the very few that did leave met with accidents. They were operating a closed system.
The conversations changed. They argued about what to use and how to spread it. Then they changed their minds and argued again. They made backup plans in case something went wrong. They made plans for stepped implementation. They circled areas of the globe with the idea of inoculating those inside. They worked on vaccines. They slept, they ate, they found and discarded lovers. They felt little or no guilt. They had made a leap. In their imaginations they were saving the world. Besides, all of their fantasies were of clear waters returning, clean skies, and unlimited resources for the survivors.
Akil made his own plans. Like many of the Elite, he had a disdain for anyone not Royal or Arab. And he expected power to come to him. In his case he expected great power, and with a nudge here and there, he expected much more power than anyone. He kept his plans secret from the group, of course. His family was kept out of the loop until he found a very few, most of which would only know small portions of the entire plan, that would participate in limited ways. The Royal Family did not lack for education, and he made full use of their intellect. He infiltrated the lab in Kansas with his own people at every level.
Soon he was working on his own ideas in a lab set up outside Khor Fakkan in the UAE, using materials acquired from the American lab.
As time passed and progress was made, he nursed his superiority until it swelled into a hatred for all men not of his line. He felt all others were unworthy to procreate. It was then that he remembered the original conversation about leaving women out of the equation.
The emphasis changed, and there was progress. Though a tough nut to crack, there were similarities in the genders, and there were differences. The geneticists found several that seemed interesting and finally one that seemed to work. Soon Akil began believing in unlimited virgins. He used the prospect of virgins as a good sales tool to recruit the few additional family members that were necessary. He did not want to trust anyone but family, the rest of mankind being unworthy.
In the meantime, progress in the original lab accelerated.
Some of the critical scientists in the lab were more brilliant than others or perhaps just more paranoid. They figured out some of what was going on and extrapolated. The original members were surprised when they were approached by a contingent with a proposal that to keep silent they would like to be survivors. The deal included immediate family. They were so close. They had to contain the leaks, and accidents took care of any that started to feel moral.
A date was set and a strategy approved, but the date passed without implementation. Another date passed. The delays were frustrating, but they all knew that setbacks would happen. The lab was finished except for the delivery system. An accident took out the lead scientist of that department, but the search was on, and a replacement would be found soon.
The big sticking point was the A.I. progress. They were twelve years in now. Using existing models for the mechanical structure, they concentrated on the brain that was necessary, a tougher problem than they originally thought. Without a real breakthrough they would need to have more people survive than the original plans called for. The population was growing, both within the group and in the world.
Two more years passed. The delivery system was refined and ready, and another date was set. If the robot was not ready, at least they could live in a world of plenty with a smaller society. They started to define a plan that included much of Europe surviving as well as a good portion of the United States. The Interstate-80 corridor from coast to coast would be saved, as well as some tributaries that concentrated on agriculture and industry. The vaccine, delivered through bottled water, was distributed. Then one of the scientists found out that Asia was being excluded and caused a rift that threatened the project with exposure. They feared their plans would be discovered at any moment.
The original group had a late night meeting. They decided to use one of the fail safes, and soon the engineered contagion was split, one vial being hidden away from the knowledge of the lab scientists.
By this time Akil had advanced within the Royal family to be a high ranking Sheik. His primary responsibility within the group was in overseeing the robotics development. There were difficulties, and there were successes. Two promising channels of research failed a
fter expectations were raised. It was difficult for him to take the verbal abuse and snide comments that the others used when tempers flared and his operations efficacy was questioned. Sharp words were exchanged, but everyone managed to keep to the program. Then the Sheik was notified that he should make time for a demonstration of what the head scientist called a “breakthrough success.” Akil notified his British friend and made arrangements.
§
Now, here they were. The plan had been implemented. Both plans. The Europeans and the Americans thought that the Middle East was going to go the way of Asia, Africa, South America, and Australia. They were to receive limited or no vaccine. It was one of the strategies Akil used to throw them off guard as he implemented his own agenda. After all the dust settled, the Middle East would be the survivors, and the leaders, in a cleansed world. It was as it should be.
Those in the Royal Family were master manipulators. Generations of businessmen and centuries of political intrigue had forged them into a formidable force in the world of power. They controlled so many things already. The visible portion was in matters involving money, but the real power was in invisible political connections. They had managed to keep their Middle East neighbors off balance for decades. Most people in the know considered the Arabs to be lucky to keep their own country from declining into the chaos of the rest of the region, but Akil knew better. The family was what made it impossible for those other countries to settle into a stable system. They used the others against each other by subtle and nefarious means and against Europe and America to their own ends. They had even been partnering with China, most recently in developing Africa, one of the reasons that Asia was being sacrificed. The Chinese were too smart… and ruthless. The Royal Family was afraid of them.