City-Ship Ascension

Central Park

A week later, Michael was having a lunch date with Elizabeth in the park.

There were so many people doing the same, that the place was getting crowded. They were discussing some plans about eventually moving to the new space station when Max abruptly used emergency overrides on their CEIs, which were set to ‘Do Not Disturb’ settings.

“Michael, Elizabeth, the proverbial shit has hit the fan. Alice wants everybody in the conference room ASAP.”

Not even asking what it was about, Elizabeth and he packed their half-eaten food and disposed of it in the nearby recycling garbage can. His experience told him that when Max used that brisk tone of voice, it was never something good.

Five minutes later, they joined the others in the conference room, and Alice started talking even before they were properly seated.

“Half an hour ago we got confirmation about a medical emergency that has been developing on Earth,” Alice said matter-of-factly. “A bioterrorism attack has been conducted in several countries around the world, and nobody really knew about it until this video went online an hour ago.”

She waved her hand towards the wall and the video started playing on a holo-screen. Five people were sitting behind a long desk, their faces concealed with black balaclava masks. Behind them was a banner of the same color with white Arabic writing on it. They were sitting in silence for a few seconds before the one in the center started speaking in heavily accented English.

“This is a message to our enemies. You dared to challenge the might of the Islamic State, killed our brothers in arms, and rejected the only true faith. In your arrogance, you dared to hunt us, dared to wage war against those in whose hearts the law of Sharia reigns supreme. Today your citizens are under our feet, we have released the plague that will show you our might, and your children will pay for your deeds.”

The speaker made a dramatic pause before he continued again.

“This plague is just the first of many if you do not fulfill our demands. We want those heretic bounty sites taken down, our captured brothers set free, and those who thought to escape our judgment, by fleeing to space, brought down to face our punishment.

If you do not fulfill those demands in a week’s time, we will release the plagues that will end it all. Your action angered people who love death the way that you love your life. We will continue to wage jihad, and invade your land to establish a caliphate, where we will rule by Sharia law.”

The video ended, and the whole room remained in horrified silence… all except Al.

“If he plans to end all life, how does he intend to invade the land? I mean, he would be dead too. I don't think he thought this through,” he said, breaking everybody out of their dark moods.

“Al, be serious. This is quite real.” Alice reprimanded him and continued, “The plague they talked about has already spread in several cities around the world, but before this announcement, everybody thought it was simply a new strain of the flu. We managed to find out some information about his group. They are a nasty blend of ISIL and old Al-Qaeda members that had banded together, just for this attack. The CDC and several other health organizations announced a warning of a possible pandemic. There are identified cases in Israel, the USA, France, Russia, and England. By their best estimate, it was spread almost a week ago, and the thing is airborne. Consequently, the numbers of infected are growing by the hour. All the victims were initially diagnosed with the outbreak of some exotic flu, but this thing apparently has a five-day incubation period, during which the infected are highly contagious. Then, five days later, a total system shutdown occurs. In a few days, people will start to die in large numbers.”

“Did the CDC manage to identify it?” Elizabeth asked.

“No, the Russians beat them to it, which is not surprising since they were the ones that created it. If truth be told, it is quite big of them to step forward so quickly, they could have kept quiet, which is their usual M.O. Nevertheless, this time they came clean immediately and even supplied detailed info on the virus. A month ago, there was a break-in at one of their bio-weapons storage facilities; presumably, several strains of weaponized diseases were stolen. The Soviets developed them during the 70s and 80s, labeling them кошмары, which translates into nightmares. Combined, they have the potential to kill hundreds of millions, far worse than any A-bomb could do. Unfortunately, the thieves set a fire that destroyed that part of the facility, and the Russians are not exactly sure which diseases were stolen, and which were destroyed. They gave all the information they had on this particular pathogen, but are still tight-lipped about all others.”

Alice looked at Michael. “That is all we know so far… now we must decide what we will do.”

Several other people around the table closed their eyes, knowing that the days ahead will be filled with much sorrow. This was the kind of scenario people have dreaded for decades, even started wars just to stop the possibility of it; and now it was… a reality.

Michael took a moment to decide on their response to this horror. One thing he knew in his bones, they could not ignore it.

“Okay people, we need to deal with a few problems. One, help those people that are already sick and find a way to deal with this disease. Two, we need to hunt down those maniacs and destroy any additional bio-weapons before they are released,” he announced into the quiet room.

“Max, can this plague affect us?” He addressed the AI’s hologram, sitting on the other side of the table.

“Everyone with medical nanites is quite safe, since they bolster the immune system, in addition to dealing with the virus directly. However, 10% of our population still do not have them and they are at risk. Some are against them on religious grounds, and some are still scared to try the ‘new’ tech.”

“All right, and how fast can you bring ISS2 from the space station to low Earth orbit?”

The AI’s eyebrows rose upward. “If I use the Excalibur as a tow truck, the station can be here in about ten hours. You are thinking about using it as a treatment center?”

“Yes. Send the Excalibur toward the station immediately, and transfer all portable AutoDocs that are in the space station to ISS2. The ones that are on the Ascension will be transferred to cargo transporters. I have a strong feeling that we are going to need every single one of them before this is over.” Michael said, and turned to his side.

“Elizabeth, I need you and Emma to talk to our doctors and anyone who wants to help. We will need volunteers that are protected by medical nanites—a lot of them. The plan is to collect the infected and transfer them to ISS2 for treatment. Those people will need help, from organizing their transports and helping them to move. Also, alert the medical researchers to start the process of discovering a vaccine. I don’t think the AutoDocs will be enough; we will get them the viral samples as soon as possible.”

Elizabeth nodded and closed her eyes; the movement beneath her eyelids was a good indicator that she was using her CEI and ocular implants to start her task.

“The ISS2 should be big enough to receive massive numbers of patients, and if we start lacking room, use cargo transporters as mobile hospitals. Max, make sure that volunteers have enough nano-patches to stabilize the patients until they can be brought for treatment. I don’t have to emphasize that they are on our list of dangerous techs. If someone managed to get the sample and reverse-engineer the nanites… they could potentially create things that would be far worse than this plague,” Michael said.

“Don’t worry; I will program them to self-destruct if they are not where they are supposed to be.” The AI responded. “The nanites will tear each other apart, making them impossible to analyze.”

“What about the Ascension? We have a big hospital here, so maybe we should transfer some patients to it.” Dr. Ross suggested.

Michael looked the older man directly in the eyes and said, “No.” In a very decisive voice. “The Ascension will be under quarantine, and if we break it, we will possibly be exposing all of our population to the disease. We cannot waste resources by dealing with an outbreak in such an enclosed space. 10% or not, I will not expose them to unnecessary risk. Besides, I promised to protect them all, so… the Ascension will be off-limits to all those that are involved in the rescue effort. All of us who travel to Earth should not expect to return anytime soon.”

The others accepted his decision without any disagreements.

“Max, prepare one level on the space station as a quarantine that could be used after all this is finished,” Michael commanded.

“So, any questions?” He asked, and waited for a few moments in a silent room. “Right then, Max, call the presidents of affected countries; we need their help and agreements to collect the infected, and we need that as soon as possible.”

He sighed heavily, closing his eyes for a moment and then opening them with a new determination.

“Tyron, Al, Pete, Alice… while the rescue effort is in progress, we will need to hunt down those responsible. We’ll break any rules, track any leads; this one needs to be done quick and dirty.”

After saying goodbye, Elizabeth and the others left the conference room. Leaving him with the members of his team, planning this next mission.

***

City-Ship Ascension

Michael’s Office

“We don’t have a vaccine, but we have medical treatments that will ensure the survival of infected individuals,” Michael said to the five leaders that were looking at him from the holo-screen. Their faces showed a great amount of a profound relief after he told them that there was something to be done, but since they were in the beginning stages of widespread panic, that was not too surprising. Michael now needed them to focus on what was coming, and he knew that some of them would not like it.

“We will do everything in our power to help, but there is still going to be a great loss of life,” he said. “I want you to explain to your medical workers and volunteers that they will be a priority if they get infected, so they have nothing to worry about. The problem will be those people who are unable or unwilling to ask for help. Old and feeble, those who live on the outskirts of societies, or even those who will want to refuse the treatments for one thing or another. Furthermore, there will even be people whose religious beliefs forbid them to be treated. You will need to do what is necessary to get them all aboard our transporters, or we are risking the emergence of additional hot-spots.” Michael tried to explain some of the things they were going to face, repeating many things the S.U. epidemiologists told him before this meeting.

“Leader Freeman, we will be breaking several of their basic human rights if we take them without their consent.” The President of France said, which caused more than one of the other heads of state to roll their eyes.

“I understand that,” Michael replied, knowing there was always one in any crowd. “This is a national emergency to all countries where the plague has spread. Declare martial law, and mobilize your National Guard, or military if it is needed. If we don’t get ahead of this epidemic, the loss of life will be staggering,” Michael said and was proud of his tact, when all he wanted to do was reach through the connection and hit the idiot on the head.

“The United States will do everything to make your people's efforts go more smoothly,” President Garner declared. “I will start giving orders immediately, Leader Freeman, and my nation thanks you for your assistance.”

Following him, each country agreed to his conditions. Some of them being that all transporters had the right to land unchallenged to emergency centers, where the infected would be collected. Moreover, Solarian Union personnel will not be interfered with, in any way. Additionally, each country agreed to send ten of their best virologists to the Ascension, where they would assist in the process of discovering a vaccine.

They would be given access to a whole lot of Solarian technology, including nano-assemblers, and supercomputer’s use, a.k.a. Max and Ares.

In any case, each one of them would have their credentials and backgrounds thoroughly checked. As Jack said, just because they were in the midst of a crisis, that didn’t mean that security agencies would miss such an opportunity.

Of course, he was right; every country had at least one of the candidates rejected on grounds that they were not what they claimed to be.

With everything set into motion, Michael and the team had to do the hardest thing of all; wait for any lead on the terrorists, so they could act. They passed the time by going over some possible tactical situations they could encounter on this mission.

Some people suggested that Michael, as the Leader of the Solarian Union, should sit this one out. He informed them that he would gladly resign if his title was an obstacle that would prevent him from going with his team. There was no way for him to sit behind the lines and watch those he considered his family, go into harm's way.

In any case, the succession in the event of his demise was already established; Max would be the one to hold the reins until the inner group chose someone from their ranks to take the hot seat.

***

Spaceship Excalibur

Destination: Earth

The ISS2 was moving at the speed that it could have never achieved on its own. The Excalibur had attached itself to the bottom side of the big metal baseplate and was looking like one of those small ants, carrying a weight many times larger than they were.

Its engines were redlined to their maximum capacity, and the AI flying it was glad that there were no people aboard, or on the ISS2. The small station didn’t have any inertial dampeners so a mere human wouldn’t survive the g-forces the spaceship was generating.

The flight plan was quite simple, and it has been a proven maneuver by several human probes; in fact, the big station left behind was using the same principle to come closer to Earth, just at much slower speeds.

For the first part of the flight, Max would accelerate the space station towards Earth, and at the halfway point, he would apply the thrust in the opposite direction for the braking maneuver. It was the fastest way to reach the planet and the most dangerous one.

The spaceship was not built for this kind of job, and only using a big part of his computational ability was Max even able to control the trajectory of an object that was so much bigger than the craft he resided in. The ISS2 was too big and too heavy; it was never meant to be a ship—there were no real engines on it. Small altitude corrections it needed in Low Earth’s orbit, would be done by using on-board chemical propellant; yet at these distances and speeds, those were practically useless. In space, controlling mass was the trickiest thing… the kinetic momentum ruled.

Guiding all that mass was made even more difficult by five hundred portable AutoDocs that were originally intended to be placed through the big space station. They were loaded all over the ISS2 and temporarily welded to the floor so they would not become flying missiles when the time came to hit the brakes.

Max was pushing the small spaceship to its maximum; giving everything the engines had to offer, for he knew that those AutoDocs were the only chance many people on Earth had left.