The Demon Plagues (24 page)

Markis’ blood ran cold.
As I feared so
long ago. Some kind of hidden mutation, some kind of time bomb
waiting inside the Plague’s genetic code
. Is everything I’ve
done for nothing? Have I become the biggest mass murderer in
history?

“Are there any reports of successful
treatment?”

“Nothing so far, sir. Intensive care with
fluids and drugs improves the survival rate but there are so few
hospitals in the Free Communities anymore that those still in
operation are completely overwhelmed.”

“I noticed there were no cases in Australia.
Anyone know why?”

Lieutenant Ilona glanced at Lt. Colonel
Muzik. He said, “Uh, sir, we have a theory. It’s pretty wild,
but…”

“Go on, spill it.”

“Okay, sir, but…well, here it is. Under each
of the footprints of the outbreaks there were sightings of
UFOs.”

“UFOs? Flying saucers?”

“No, sir, more like fast-flying craft. Some
people reported meteors, some thought it was more missiles or
bombers. But there were a lot of sightings. Roughly six hours later
the first reports of illness started coming in.”

“So you think someone did this.”

The two officers exchanged glances again.
They nodded in unison.

“The Australians?”

“Maybe,” Muzik replied. “Australia is the
only continent not hit. But the Japanese are as unaffected as well,
and the South Africans, Scandinavia…you can see the map for
yourself. Anyone not under a footprint could be the culprit.”

Lieutenant Ilona chewed the inside of her
cheek, looking back and forth between her two superiors.

“You have something to say, Silvia? It’s
Silvia, right?”

Ilona nodded. “Sophia, sir. I just…well, I
read all the reports from the research program. Everything I’m
cleared for, anyway. Just out of interest.” She rubbed the bridge
of her nose nervously. “Anyway, Mrs. Markis wrote in one of her
reports that she believed the original virus phage – the one they
called the Devil Plague – was extraterrestrial in origin.” She
stopped.

“So…you think this might be too? I know my
wife’s theories, and I know that some of the scientists agree. But
not all. Do we have any more hard evidence about these UFOs? Can we
look at radar tracks, air traffic control records, anything like
that?”

Muzik replied, “Uh, sir, even where the nukes
didn’t land, the EMP wrecked a lot of the infrastructure. The best
one we got was from the Royal Air Force. They have a track of
something coming in from high orbit over the pole, decelerating all
the way until it slowed down to subsonic speeds over London, where
it flies south for Paris.”

“High orbit. Refresh me, but ballistic
missiles never enter high orbit.”

Ilona replied, “No, sir. Whatever this was,
it came in high, it was under power, it maneuvered, and I believe
it released whatever is killing people now.”

Markis sat back, looking around the room at
his staff. “Are any animals dying?”

Muzik responded, “No, just people. Not even
primates.”

“Right,” Ilona said excitedly. “If it’s just
humans, it means this new disease was tailored for us!”

Markis nodded. “So maybe the aliens have come
back. If Elise is right, they tried to wipe us out a few millennia
ago, and they’re trying again now. Maybe we got their attention
with all the nuclear detonations. But does it really matter?
Whether it’s aliens or someone on Earth, the immediate problem’s
the same. Everyone needs to implement their pandemic protocols, get
the labs working on it, do what we can. In a way, this is good
news.”

A buzz of chatter started around the room.
“Hold it down,” Muzik’s voice boomed. “Sir, what do you mean, good
news?”

“At least they’re not arriving with mile-wide
spaceships and death rays. Or dropping asteroids on us to wipe us
out. The good news is, this attack seems to be limited in scope.
There are only three reasons to conduct a limited war that I know
of. One, some kind of moral compunction. Two, inability. Or three,
most likely, they want to limit damage to the prize. I’d put my
money on number three. They want the planet. They want the
ecosystem. They just don’t want us in the way.”

This time no one tried to suppress the buzz
around the room. Markis caught Muzik’s eye and they let it run its
course. Once it started to die out naturally, the Chairman
reasserted control. “All right, here’s what I want done. Captain
Ilona, you are now in charge of the analysis team. Yes, I said
‘Captain,’ you’ve earned it. Colonel Muzik, find General Ribera and
start drafting reports to the Free Community militaries. Millie, do
the same for the Council and the Neutral States. And something for
the press. Rick, get me a secure line to Shawna Nightingale and my
wife, preferably together. Once you’ve done that, get me a Council
meeting and include as many of the Neutral States and the former
Big Three as you can get. Twelve hours? Okay. Everyone else, talk
to your bosses, help out, do what you can. Get to it.”

To emphasize his point, Markis got up and
walked out.
Best if I just issue the orders and get the hell out
of the way. It’s how I always wanted my superiors to lead and I’ll
be damned if I start micromanaging now.

He knew from the last ten years that there
was no need to seek out crises; they would come looking for him.
The first one walked into his office ten minutes later: Rick
Johnstone.

“Sir, Mrs. Nightingale and Mrs. Markis will
be on from South Africa in about forty minutes, but I have a call
from Australia right now that I think you need to take on the
secure net.” He walked over to the terminal set to the side of
Markis’ desk. A few keystrokes and touches on the screen brought up
the ready icon. Rick picked up and extended the phone handset to
his boss. “Sir…it’s Spooky. It’s Colonel Nguyen.”

Markis seized the handset, throwing himself
into the seat in front of the screen and touching the icon for
two-way video. Immediately his friend’s well-known face sprang to
life in front of him, and he knew his image was being sent to the
other man.

“Spooky! Glad to see you, are you all right?
What’s been happening?”

Nguyen’s face was warm and friendly, but when
Markis heard his voice he thought he detected a slightly false
note. “Everything is well here, Daniel. I know you have a lot of
questions so let me answer them up front. I have been offered a
position in the Australian Army. I have decided to settle here with
a woman I met. It’s simple as that.”

“But why didn’t you contact me right
away?”

Spooky smiled, looking pained. “They had me
in isolation. Interrogation. They felt responsible for the missiles
that hit the Big Three, since it was their liaison officer that
went rogue, but they wanted to be fully satisfied so they held me
here. That’s not why I’m calling you. I’m just here as an
introduction, and to provide assurance of truth.”

“Truth of what?” Markis sat back, a skeptical
look on his face.

“I’d rather let the Prime Minister tell you.”
The video feed backed up to show another man sitting next to
Nguyen. Markis just had time to notice Spooky was wearing a
Brigadier’s uniform before Australian Prime Minister Hogan started
speaking.

“G'day to you, Chairman. I would have had
Councilwoman Grenstead here as well but she is out of town away
from a secure link. I hope your old comrade in arms here will help
assure you of the veracity of what I am about to tell you.”

“Why would I need anyone to assure me you are
telling me the truth, Prime Minister? You’re the duly elected
leader of a Free Community state.”

“Well, yes, thank you. Just wait until you
hear it and you’ll see. Besides, we owed it to you to let you know
what was happening with General Nguyen, since we held him
incommunicado for so long.” Hogan smiled affably, a politician’s
expression.

“All right, let’s hear it.”

“You may not know, but the old SETI program
had a lot of our facilities here on the payroll.”

“Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence?
Is this about the UFOs?” In spite of himself, Markis relaxed,
leaning forward.

“UFOs? No, not specifically. It’s about SETI.
You know how scientists are. Even when it wasn’t funded, they kept
the lookout going – you know, pattern recognition, that sort of
thing. Starting two days ago we began receiving this, in plain
text, repeated ten times each hour on the hour.”

The feed switched to show a slide with lines
of text on it. It read,
Greetings, people of Earth. My name is
Raphael. I am a nonhuman entity. Please arrange contact with
Chairman Daniel John Markis.

“A joke?” Markis decided to keep their UFO
connection theory out of it for now.

“We think not. The signal was very faint.
Only something like a radio telescope pointed in the right
direction would be likely to pick it up. And the signal is coming
from a point in space approximately twenty million miles
outward.”

“Is there any indication anyone on Earth
could have done this? Are there any unmanned probes out there?”

“Daniel,” Spooky broke in, “This is real.
We’ve asked all these questions already. There are some very bright
astrophysicists and astronomers that have looked at this. It’s
real. And it’s on its way here.”

Markis sat back, switching views back to the
video. “Okay. You’ve convinced me, but others won’t be, so we need
independent verification. Send a file with all the details so I can
have the big arrays in South America look at it too.”

“Mister Chairman,” the Prime Minister said,
“if you can accept this fact in principle, let’s discuss what you
will do.”

“I don’t know what I will do. I don’t know a
damn thing about what I am going to do. How soon will it get
here?”

Spooky responded, “Four weeks, more or less,
if it stays on course and speed. They tell us it’s on a
near-perfect orbital insertion trajectory with just a tiny
correction needed at the end.”

“Any idea what it is?”

The PM replied, “Well,
someone
blew
the orbital telescopes all to hell, didn’t they? The best we know
at this distance is it has a high albedo, very reflective. Our best
people say they think it’s a spacecraft.”

“Of course, what else would it be,” Markis
whispered. His eyes stared far into the distance, mind whirling.
“Do you know about the UFO reports?”

“You asked about that before – but no, what
are you talking about?” the PM replied.

“You must have heard about the new illness.
The one nobody in Australia has? There is hard evidence to go with
the reports that something came in from high orbit and dispersed a
biological weapon in six areas of the globe. It might be something
from here on Earth, something someone put up long ago as some kind
of doomsday device – and the only major power unaffected is
Australia.”

“Just what the bloody hell are you saying,
Markis?” The Australian’s naturally fair skin went blotchy red with
anger.

“I didn’t say I think it’s true, I’m just
pointing out what a lot of people are going to be saying pretty
soon if you don’t get ahead of it. That’s why I’m calling an open
meeting. We need to address as much of the world as we can. Maximum
transparency. That’s why you need to send me everything you have on
this now, because anything you conceal will indict you later. I’ll
check it through my own sources and then we will see. And Prime
Minister? I expect Australia will do its utmost to help. With
everything.” The PM couldn’t miss the steel in Markis’ voice.

“Of course. Wise course of action. We will
see you then.” The Prime Minister reached to cut off the video, but
General Nguyen held up his hand.

“One moment, please. DJ, consider the timing.
On one hand these aliens could be coming to take advantage of our
weakness. On the other hand, it could be the best time for them to
arrive; it pales in comparison to nuclear war and the pandemic, and
will not have the impact it otherwise would. Just something to
think about. Take care, my friend.”

“You too, Spooky. You still owe me a lot more
explanation but it will have to wait. Markis out.” He touched the
cutoff and turned to Millicent. “Get me Councilor Guzmann in
Argentina.”

***

Elise’s frustration was palpable even across
the link. “Damn it Daniel, you know I love you but I’m not liking
you much right now. This will make the second change of objective
in just a few days. The lab is in chaos, I don’t have enough
resources, people are beyond upset because of the nuclear war – my
God, I can’t believe I’m speaking those words like it was a normal
occurrence – and now we have alien plagues falling and an ET on his
way? People can only take so much!”

Markis nodded, sympathetic. “I understand,
but I hope you can communicate to your scientists how much hell
parts of the Earth are going through right now. The Eastern
Seaboard of the US is a broken wasteland barely controlled by the
National Guard; ditto the East Coast of China. Western Europe has
seen hundreds of thousands of Edens die and Africa and Brazil just
lost millions. So I’m going to ram a motion through the Council for
a Manhattan-project style effort against this Demon Plague. It’s as
good a name as any – a name to focus on and hate.”

“But right now it’s only killing Edens.
Why?”

“Elise, that’s what I need you to find out.
What’s it doing to people, with or without the Eden Plague? Why is
it not hurting normals? We’re blind without information, and South
Africa and is now the center for Free Community bio-research. That
means you. Pretty soon you’ll have more resources than you know
what to do with. Shawna will be your administrator and I’m sending
General Ribera to provide you with top cover and coordinate
everything. He’ll speak in my name. You let them know what you
need.”