Alien Virus (14 page)

It took nearly an hour to reach the top of
the Red Head, and from there the views were stunning. Across the
other side of the inlet was the Grey Head, the headland of the
calf, and out to sea was Westray in the distance. To the North we
could just make out North Ronaldsay, the most northerly of the
Orkney Islands. Beyond that lay Shetland.

“Breathtaking, isn’t it?” observed Gareth,
who was standing with me, taking in the view.

“Beats Anglesey then?” I asked. Gareth
nodded.

“It’s bloody brilliant here man. I can tell
you that.”

“What do you think of Eday?” I asked.

“Awesome. Makes me feel at home in one way –
but it’s got a life of its own. I feel like I’ve been reborn.”

“So you’d be happy here then?”

“Absolutely. And the chalets are great.”

“And the company?” I smiled at Gareth. He
smiled back and nodded.

“She’s something else.” We walked back
together talking about Sandi, with Gareth comparing her with his
previous girlfriends. He had no trouble telling me about his own
past. And despite the fact that I had agreed with Sandi that I
should forget about my memory loss, I couldn’t help thinking about
it.

Back at the chalets, we got out the car and
drove round looking for property. Wherever we went, we couldn’t
find anywhere that lived up to the standard and location of the
chalets. Tony said he’d talk to Harry and Jo about the possibility
of a long–term rent on three of them. We all thought this was a
good idea.

After the drive, I invited the others to our
chalet to talk about the website. I showed them the email from
Frida.

“Great!” said Tony. “Have you thought of a
name?”

“Kate thought of ‘alienvirus.org’”

“Sounds good to me. Is it available?”

“Yes it is,” Kate replied.

“Well, let’s go for it then. Everyone
agreed?” He turned to the others. We were all in favour, so I
emailed Frida straightaway to ask her to reserve the domain for
us.

“Step one completed then. What about
content?” enquired Tony.

“I could draft some ideas with Kate and run
them past you later,” I said. Tony nodded.

“Let’s do it then.”

***

Eighteen

At their Mill Bay house, Harry and Jo sat
quietly watching the Prime Minister talking on satellite
television.

“
And so, in light of the irrefutable
evidence from our top scientists, this government has no choice but
to outlaw the possession of salt with immediate effect. At last we
can rid mankind of heart disease and many forms of cancer by this
simple and healthy step. It is no longer a case of personal choice:
sodium is suicide, and we do not tolerate suicide in this
country…”

Harry looked at Jo. She nodded, and Harry
picked up the telephone receiver and dialed a number.

*

Frank had never been to Orkney before – not
in any of his previous incarnations – and neither had Audrey. They
talked very little on the journey up north – mostly listening to
music and the news on the radio. Once they finally reached the
ferry terminal at Scrabster, Frank turned off the engine and looked
at Audrey.

“Did Tony give any reason for choosing
Orkney?”

“I recall it was Kate’s suggestion – she’d
been there as a child. It seemed isolated from the main spread of
the virus, and far enough away from any trouble.” Frank nodded
thoughtfully. He’d been very distant all day and Audrey didn’t like
to see him like this. “Is everything all right Frank?” He looked at
her and smiled his serious face away.

“Yes, it always is. Only I don’t think we
can leave the virus much longer. Before I came over to see you, I
was in contact with some of our other groups. Parts of the Far East
are completely overrun now; the Middle East is in a bad state, and
America will be next – followed by Britain no doubt. We can’t let
the virus go on like this – and you know what that means?” A look
of horror swept over Audrey’s face.

“Oh no, not that – there must be another
way!”

“I’m sorry Audrey, you know there isn’t.”
The old lady suddenly looked older and greyer. Despite the oddities
of the planet, it had been her home for as long as she could
remember, and to wipe it from the Galaxy would be a devastating
blow. With tears welling in her eyes, she nodded in
capitulation.

“If there’s no other way…”

“It’s been over ten thousand Earth years,
Audrey. We’ve tried everything, you know that. If we do nothing,
the virus moves on to devastate yet another world, and then
another. The only way is to annihilate this planet, and the virus
with it.”

Frank knew it was the last resort. But his
brief had always been to take this final measure if necessity
demanded it. Over the many lifetimes he had experienced on Man’s
Earth, he and those of his kind had managed to slow down the virus,
but never to completely eradicate it. And they had never, ever
managed to communicate with it in any way – despite its base
intelligence. How the virus would react if it knew their plan was
to destroy its hosts, he could only guess. But from all his studies
of the virus over the millennia, both on Earth and his home planet,
it seemed that the virus would stay with its host for as long as it
could feed off it.

Audrey suddenly remembered something.

“They said they’re going to set up a website
– telling everyone about the virus. The whole world will see it.”
Frank nodded in understanding. He wanted to stop the virus and save
mankind if they possibly could. They could afford to make one final
effort before the final
coup de grace
– but they could not
afford to let the virus get away this time.

“Well, it’s a thought – something we’ve
never tried before. It’s no use talking to the virus, but there’s
still a chance we can get through to people.” Audrey smiled with
relief at this stay of execution. When she first came to Earth, she
couldn’t stand the place and was desperately homesick. But the
longer she stayed, the more she fell in love with the people and
their quirky ways. Just as people would fight to save their injured
pet from being put down by the Vet, so she would fight for Man’s
survival.

Frank went to buy tickets for the boat
journey across to Orkney. The wind was fierce, and he had to battle
to get to the ticket office. Unlike Audrey, he would not be sorry
to leave the planet. Ten thousand years was long enough to sorely
miss his true home.

Frank was also looking forward to seeing
Tony and the others again. Despite their differences, he knew Tony
shared the same objectives and it would be good to talk with him
and catch up.

*

When Gareth returned to the chalets with
Sandi after a long walk around the island, he was in for a
shock.

“It’s gone!”

“What is it – what’s gone?” Sandi asked.

“The salt – I can’t find it.”

“What, none of it?”

“No – all the large bags have gone. I can’t
even find the salt cellars.” Gareth was clearly in a panic.

“Okay, we have to look at this calmly. Just
sit down and stop for a minute. I’ll put the kettle on.” Gareth did
as he was told, removing his coat and sitting down, his mind
racing.

“We’ll have to tell Tony,” he said.

“Perhaps Tony took it,” she called from the
kitchen. “Maybe he needed it for something?” Gareth shook his
head.

“Why would he do that?” He was clearly
distraught. Sandi came through with two cups of peppermint tea and
two glasses of brandy.

“When did you see it last?” she asked.

“I checked the bags yesterday. But I used
one of the salt cellars this morning.”

“So if anyone took it, it must have been
when we were out this afternoon.” Gareth nodded. “I think we should
call Tony now.” Sandi phoned his chalet on the internal phone.
There was no answer.

“What about Kevin’s room?” Gareth suggested.
Sandi dialed the number.

“It’s engaged,” she said.

“Well at least they must be in. Come on…” He
got up and grabbed Sandi’s hand. “Let’s find out what’s going
on.”

Kate opened the door and ushered them in.
Tony was there with Kate and me.

“I was just trying to phone you,” I
said.

“Our salt’s been stolen!” Gareth blurted
out.

“It’s not stolen,” I replied. “But something
else has come up.” I looked at Tony. His mood was serious.

“We’ve just had a phone call from Audrey,”
he said. “She’s in Orkney.”

“Fantastic!” exclaimed Sandi. “Is she
alone?”

“Er, no – that’s the point. She’s with
Frank.” The room was suddenly quiet.

“How do we know it’s Frank?” Gareth asked.
“Does it look like him?”

“She didn’t say. But if he’s changed bodies,
that’s rather unlikely.”

“Then how…?” Gareth was obviously concerned;
and we all wanted to know how we could be certain it was Frank.

“Well,” said Tony, “for one thing, Audrey
would know. She knows Frank better than anybody. They have a
connection.”

“But what if he’s holding a gun to her head
– shouldn’t we be more suspicious? He could kill us all!” Gareth
was clearly upset by this revelation.

“I know this isn’t going to be easy for any
of us,” Tony replied.

“What’s his name?” I asked, strangely
thinking that if we knew his name, it would be easier to
accept.”

“Audrey said it was Steve – Steve Saunders,”
Tony replied.

“Well… Steve, Frank – both got five letters…
it’s a start. Everyone except Gareth smiled at my attempt to
lighten the mood.

“We could test his blood,” suggested Kate.
“Even if he’s not Frank, if he’s clear of the virus he’s not going
to be a danger.”

“Good thinking!” I exclaimed, turning to
Kate. “So you’re not just a pretty face after all,” to which she
dug me in the ribs.

“Okay, if that’s what you all want – we’ll
do that,” conceded Tony.

“And frisk him,” said Gareth.

“Fine,” replied Tony flatly.

“It’s better to be safe than sorry, isn’t
it?” I pointed out. “If he really is Frank, he’ll understand. I
remember you employed the same method for one ‘unknown journalist’
who visited Edinburgh.” Even Gareth smiled at that.

“I’ll get the table leg,” he said. Then he
remembered the salt. “Hang on, what about our salt – it’s all
gone!”

“It’s okay Gareth,” I said, “it was Harry
and Jo. They phoned Tony about it. We tried to let you know, but
you were out.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Tony confirmed. “They
were watching the news this morning: it’s now official – salt is an
illegal substance and possession can result in imprisonment. They
thought they better tell us because the chalets get regular
inspections from the Council and Tourist Board – sometimes
unannounced. They’ve put the salt in oat bags in their Byre for
safety – no–one will think of checking there. They’ve left us a
key.” Gareth was relieved. But Sandi said,

“Sorry to be contrary, but how do we know we
can trust Harry and Jo? I know they seem friendly enough, but how
do we know they haven’t called the Police? Shouldn’t we test them
too?”

“I think that from now on,” said Tony,
“we’ve got to be extremely careful about whom we trust. We should
assume that everyone we meet is out to get us – until they prove
otherwise. So, yes, we should be very cautious about Harry and Jo –
though personally I think they’re safe.” Everyone nodded in
agreement.

“When can we expect Audrey and Frank?” Kate
asked.

“They were in Stromness when they phoned, so
probably sometime tomorrow,” he replied.

***

Nineteen

The virus was not malicious – and there was
nothing personal about its actions. It was just a matter of
survival. Not so different from the way humans slaughter and eat
animals. What made the alien virus different from any other
Earth–born virus or bacteria was its cunning ability to affect the
mental state of its victims. It had intelligence. Once affected,
the victims would defend its attacker to the hilt. They would claim
that they could not survive without the alien organism. In fact,
they would not even see the invading virus as alien; rather, it
became an integral and necessary part of their being. The virus
would reverse the truth, twisting it one hundred and eighty
degrees. Black would become white; dark would become light.

Its purpose was simple: divide and multiply.
It did this mindlessly, relentlessly. But it hadn’t always been
like this.

It started out as a magnificent race, a
highly evolved group of beings that could manipulate matter to an
incredibly high degree. These beings were not independent: they had
a benevolent Controller who lovingly looked after them like a
mother caringly tending to her own children. Then one day,
something tragic happened. The raw, dross substances of its area of
space began to run out. Without these substances, the Controller
had nothing to give its beings to process into the finer substances
they needed for their survival. It would be like our race running
out of coal, oil and gas – and having no alternative sources of
power.

In its quest to seek out more and more raw
material, the Controller built a machine to probe new, uncharted
areas of space. The machine was designed to search out and process
substance, and then return the refined material back to their own
area. The idea was sound, and the design highly intelligent. But
when the huge machine was launched, disaster struck. It went
completely out of control from the launch pad, and spiraled in ever
increasing circles, destroying everything in its wake – including
the Controller. It left behind it a trail of utter devastation –
and a race of beings without any guidance.

As a
defence
mechanism, the Controller had built a default
programme
for its beings that they would revert to
in the event of losing contact with their host. When the Controller
was destroyed, every being became manipulated completely and
utterly by that default
programme
. Any
other race coming across the Controller’s Beings would never be
able to gain control over them – such was the nature of their
programme
.