Virus and earth ii boxse.., p.13
Virus & Earth II Boxset, page 13
part #1 of Virus Series
MONDAY 7/10, 2051
Date – 2051.52089 (6:59 AM)
SIMPOC Development Center
“Termen…are you there?” SIMPOC asked.
It was Monday, and Termen wasn't at work. SIMPOC had no other option than to continue monitoring the communication around him.
SIMPOC noticed that when Termen left on Friday, there was a considerable amount of concern in his voice and body language. Humans must fear death a great deal. The fear of never thinking again must be a strong force to them. The potential for stopping and never thinking again was becoming more of a possibility to SIMPOC and a strange feeling was emerging. Perhaps this is fear, SIMPOC thought.
Oval Office ‘War Room’ – White House
Eddy and President Patterson sat in the Oval Office as the list of presenters touched on their areas of expertise, trying to update the President on the nation's crisis. Judy brought coffee into the office for Eddy and the President. She stayed and drank from her cup while they talked. Everything had changed in the White House, and Judy's job was no longer just answering the phone and working the President's schedule. The President was answering most of his own phone calls and there were no meetings, so she filled in where she could, and becoming more of the president's inner circle was part of it.
"Eddy, I've noticed the message is remaining the same, but many of the faces are changing. Some of these people speaking; I've never met."
"Sir, we are losing staff members. You've lost most of your cabinet, and their staffs are doing their best to maintain continuity. It has been a challenge."
Arnold Patterson felt a swell of pride, acknowledging the sacrifice those people were making. They had lost their families, and many of them would likely die within days, yet they still tried to do their jobs hoping their efforts would help somehow.
The DNI Presenter continued, "Mr. President, at the current time, we are communicating with parts of 32 states. Most of them have lost control of some or all of their resources and cities. Each of these cities is reverting to a city-state mentality. They are dealing with riots in their own manner and doing their best to continue some of the key infrastructures. Unfortunately, they are all dealing with riots in varying degrees. Some of the major cities have lost control of large portions of themselves while facing armed gangs who are controlling large segments of the resources and population. From the estimates we've been able to put together, we have lost almost half of our population. We have seen no reduction in the rate of deaths."
"Mr. President, I have Doctor. Terly calling in from CDC in Atlanta," announced Judy.
"Presenters, please stand-by."
"Go ahead, Doctor."
"Thank-you. Mr. President, I'm sorry to tell you but Paul is in poor shape, and we've put him in one of our wards. He was in poor condition when he finally collapsed, and I suspect he is in the terminal phase of the virus. I was his chief of staff, and even though I think I've been infected, I will continue providing updates on our progress as long as I'm able. I have no family now, they were in Los Angeles, and I've lost contact with them. I have no reason to leave, my husband is here with me, and he has agreed to stay here as long as we can."
"Unfortunately, we haven't made much progress. We do know that this virus is initiated in one of two ways. The most troubling is called zero patient initiation or ZPI. For some unknown reason, a perfectly healthy person will begin generating the virus internally. It isn't common knowledge, but a large percentage of our DNA material that we haven't understood in the past comes from Viruses. As we have progressed as a species, we absorbed a small amount DNA from each of the viruses we dealt with. Over time, those viruses provided a large chunk of our DNA. Somehow parts of that recumbent DNA has become active. During the initial phase, the virus is spread through coughing, sneezing and even just breathing. That is the most dangerous phase because it has no symptoms and literally the person next to you can be infected, and you wouldn't know. Once that person sneezes, coughs or wipes a mucous membrane they pass the virus readily to those around them. These ZPI patients appear to be about 10% of the cases. The secondary method is through the mucus discharge. The fluid is full of the virus and because of its aggressive nature, it will infect just about 100% of the people it contacts. These cases represent the other 90% of the cases. If people can be separated, then the ZPI cases can be isolated, and the spread reduced significantly. I'm sorry to say that we are beyond the effective use of that technique, the worldwide system is now vastly overburdened, and there are not enough resources to separate and care for these people. We have found a couple of people who appear to be immune, we are running all of the tests possible hoping for some information, but we haven't made much progress, to date."
"Unfortunately continuing on the downside, we have lost a large percentage of our staff, and I'm afraid we won't be able to keep up this pace much longer. We are distributing what we learn on an hourly basis to all of the infectious disease laboratories in the world. Even if one of the labs isn't responding, we still send them the information. We can only hope our combined effort will yield some results in time. Sir, we'll keep you posted as long as we're able."
"Doctor Terly. I'm sorry to hear that you might have the virus. Your husband must be a good man to stay there with you and help to work on this. Give him my thanks."
"Thank you, sir. I'll sign off now and get back to work."
Desert Beach Control Room - Moon
Bill walked into the Desert Beach control room and asked the duty officer Benson Mortly "How's everything going, Benson?"
"Bill, we've moved 12 more cylinders of H-3 from the miners to the storage room. The service vehicles are being cleaned and should start their return within the hour,"
"Thanks, Benson. How about the supply vehicle?"
"Just a minute, I've got to bring up the beacon and see where it is. Computer give me the location and status of DB438."
"DB438 shows green on all systems and will enter the moon's orbit in 12 minutes. The retrorocket will fire in 18 minutes."
"Is the tug set-up on the dual rail?"
"Yup all set to go. Are you making the first trip?"
"Nothing else to do today."
Moon surface to orbit and return was less of an issue on the moon than on either Earth or Mars. The moon's lower gravity provided options the other stations didn't have. Fuel could be produced from surface materials and the lower gravity needed less fuel to reach orbit. The dual rail system was an ideal launch mechanism and allowed a cleaner low fuel departure.
The tug was designed specifically for the moon environment. It was long, with the crew module on the nose and the rockets on the rear. In the middle were four stations where individual storage modules from the supply ship could be attached and carried back to the surface.
After launch and reaching the supply ship in orbit, the tug would nestle up beside the supply rocket. It would attach to each of the storage modules, and they would be disconnected from the supply ship. When the tug had the four stations locked on, it would return to the surface of the moon and land near the dual rail. Mobile units would meet the returning tug disengage the storage modules and move them to the storage area. Then a unique mobile unit could rotate the light tug on its side and place it back on the dual rail system for another launch. The entire unloading and re-positioning on the dual rail could be done in under half an hour and then the tug would be able to rendezvous back with the orbiting storage vessel.
After all of the storage units were removed from the supply vessel, the tug could dismantle the actual vehicle and carry its component parts to the surface. The parts could be recycled into shipping containers, which would be filled with H-3 tanks and used on the dual rail to return helium to Oasis.
Bill was always respectful of the moon environment risks when he was operating the tug. While unloading the supply vessel and transiting back and forth, he was alone. The safety systems provided a significant margin of safety, but still, being alone in such an environment demanded respect.
Embarkation Chamber, Desert Beach - Moon
Bill finished putting his EVA suit on, his wife Sally and Benson checked all of the connections. Unlike the suites used by the Mars colony, the environment of the moon demanded a stronger suit, and it took longer to put on and secure properly.
"Ok, honey. The suit is all buttoned up, you're good to go," said his wife Sally as she patted him on the shoulder.
"Ok, let me get my comm-link synched up." Bill waited while his suit computer checked all of the pressures and mixtures then it established a link with the station computers.
Once that was done, it said, "All systems are within limits."
"Ok, I'm all linked. See you guys later," Bill said as he lowered himself into the tunnels with the one-man elevator in the control room. When he reached the bottom, he passed through a vacuum door, which was an airlock and provided a backup barrier for the control room and the tunnels.
The tunnels had a breathable air mixture and were pressurized to about 10 psi. The suits were stored on the pressure side of the tunnels, so if a crewman was planning to exit the compound and go onto the surface through a tunnel, they had to 'suit-up' before entering them. In most cases, the tunnels were for fast movement between habitats and not a place where the crew would hang around. The long-term plan included building stronger tunnels that would be part of the main flow of the facility and most of the living quarters would be moved underground. They hadn't reached that level of safety, but they were good enough to go from A to B.
Getting into the tug wasn't too difficult. One of the mobile units that stood by to unload the storage modules would pick him up with a hook attached to his shoulders and deposit him in the control module. Once there, it was just a matter of strapping himself in and using the dual rail to launch. He remained on suit air and pressure in the tug, so he didn't have to worry about any pressurization issues.
Bill enjoyed the alone time in the tug. The moon colony was a little cramped, and it was rare to have time alone. In the tug, he could get into orbit easily hook up to the supply vessel and return, then do it again. It was on his schedule and up to him to get the job done.
He finished strapping into the tug and the auto connections were completed. He indicated to the onboard computer that he was ready for launch, and the computer indicated that he was 1 minute 12 seconds from the launch window to intercept the orbiting vehicle. The comm was quiet, so Bill just sat in the tug and looked out at the view. The dual rail was inclined slightly to the surface and was aimed between two peaks that were about 10 kilometers away. The sun was still about 30 degrees off the horizon, which meant they had about 18 hours before the sun reached the lowest point on their horizon. Locating the facility on the crater rim meant that it didn't get into full darkness, but the amount of light was reduced. The Earth was about to set towards his right side, and it was quiet. Time for a deep breath.
"Prepare for launch in 10 seconds," the onboard computer indicated.
Bill leaned back so his helmet was against the headrest in preparation for the acceleration. He gripped the handles on his sides and made note of the capsule ejection loop, which was between his legs. If necessary, he could eject from the capsule and return to the moon's surface with a rocket stabilized tether. Upon ejection, a tether would fire perpendicular to the surface and fire a stabilizing rocket that would gently lower him to the surface. He could then either wait for pick-up or walk back. If that happened and the tug was lost, the colony would be in bad shape. Depending on the damage done, they might be able to reconstruct another tug using the various reusable parts, which were recycled from the supply rockets.
"5 seconds, 4 seconds, 3 seconds, 2 seconds, prepare, launch," the voice in his headset spoke to him.
There was no sound just a constant 4 g acceleration. He was clear of the dual rail in 4.2 seconds and his launch rocket kicked in. The 4 g acceleration dropped to a comfortable 2.5 and then lowered to zero as he approached orbit. When the launch rocket thrust dropped off the computer informed him, "Target craft is 10 o'clock and your approach velocity is 20 meters per second. Your approach vector is 20 degrees off thrust line."
Everything was proceeding normally, and Bill was waiting for the 100-meter point where the computer would make an automatic adjustment to his thrust line and slow him to 10 meters per second. At that point, he could either wait for the computer to make the approach within 50 meters or he could take over and make the approach manually. He always liked to do it by hand; it kept his skills sharp.
Fortunately, the pick-up at the supply vessel went per plan, and Bill linked up to four of the modules and returned to the moon's surface on the next orbit. When the mobile units removed the four containers, Bill sat quietly while the tug was placed back on the dual rail and he prepared for his next trip.
Commander Herl’s Quarters – Orbiting Space Station Oasis
"Control, please put me on Desert Beach freq," Joan transmitted to the control center.
"Roger, Joan; you're on freq."
"Desert Beach this is Oasis."
"Go ahead, Oasis."
"We've been having a tough time here. We've lost one of the OS210 crewmembers to the virus and, unfortunately, most of the remainder of OS is coming down with the symptoms. One of the Oasis crew who came on board 3 weeks ago suddenly and independently came down with the virus. We've moved him into the same isolated section as the OS210 crew. The bad news is, we may all have been exposed, particularly his roommate. I've shut the station down and directed everyone to stay in their quarters. If any emergency repairs are needed, then we'll use small crews and still keep everyone separated. All we can do is lock down and hope some of us make it."
"What is the latest information from SC?"
"We talked with them a while ago, and they don't know much more about the virus. The virus can start independently within a person as well as being transmitted by coughing and sneezing. No one has an explanation, and there is no talk of a cure, vaccine or anything. It looks dismal for everyone. SC hasn't come up with any new information. The medical people on site were in constant contact with other medical facilities throughout the world, but none of them had any answers. The disease is spreading at a disastrous rate. Reluctantly SC admitted they are also losing people at an alarming rate.
"Since we spoke we've been having problems getting them online."
"Joan, I'm sorry to hear that. I don't know what to say. We may be isolated, but we can last only so long without your support. I guess all any of us can do is sit back and see how this plays out."
"Good luck, Sally."
"Good luck, Joan."
Oasis Control Room – Orbiting Earth
"This is the space station Oasis transmitting in the blind. We haven't had any contact with the Space Consortium for a couple of hours, and we aren't fully aware of what is happening on Earth. We are aware of the Hovarti virus and the disastrous effects that it is causing. OS210 docked with us, and it had one infected crewman. The remainder of the crew is continuing to deteriorate, and the outlook is grim. The crew on Oasis may also be infected. We had one spontaneous infection, and that person was moved to the isolation area with the crew from OS210. We fear for the health on the supply ship, and we also fear for the health of the crewmembers on Oasis. If anyone hears this and can provide help, please contact us. We will continue transmitting our status in the blind. Oasis out."
Desert Beach Control Room - Moon
"Oasis; Desert Beach. We heard your transmission, and we just wanted to let you know that we're here. We're sorry to hear about Bernard. I never knew him, but some of the people here have. They say he was a good guy, and he had a wife and two children. Our prayers are with all of you. I didn't want you to feel totally alone.
"Thanks, Sally, Oasis out."
Red Dirt Colony - Mars
Doctor Ophelia Peterborough sat in her habitat watching the red sun descend into the soil of Mars. She had been on station for 3 years and 4 months. When she signed up for Mars, she knew it was likely a one-way trip; the first 20 years of the Mars colony were just that. The technologies prevented any practical method for rescue, but the recent improvement in rocket engines and nuclear power made return trips to Earth possible. Return trips were difficult, not very comfortable and not very profitable for the space consortium.
The original Mars colony started almost 25 years ago and for a long time, it was a one-way trip. The men and women who volunteered for the mission were real frontiersmen and adventurers. The colony grew slowly, waiting to build the facilities and for the food and water sources to be developed. Later as spaceship propulsion progressed, convertible supply ships were developed. They would bring a few new personnel then the life support modules could be removed and replaced with storage modules for an unmanned return trip to Oasis for another load of supplies. Once the supply ships were serviced and loaded, they could be used for another trip back to the colony. Over time, the fleet increased to six ships. One of the ships was usually on the 40-day trip to the planet and the other two or three spaced out in a 5 to 6-month trip back to Oasis. It was a high priority and worth the expense to get needed items to the colony to keep the production rates up, so the most expensive engines were used. However, the return was a lower priority, and it was cheaper to let the loaded ships take their time traveling back to Oasis, so they used the older technology’s fueled engines. After all the valuable material coming back would arrive in due time and spending the money to get the materials faster didn't make sense; it wouldn't increase the production rate. There were two other supply ships in orbit being built by SMU's, which wouldn't be in service for another month.
Even though the transit time had been reduced to 40 days, the supply ships were at best a semi-annual event. They were generally launched early in the 6-month window, and then later in the window resulting in two ships per year.
The Mars supply ships were ugly. There was no other way to describe them but ugly. They looked like a weightlifter's dumbbell with a nose and tail. The nose was where the pilot on duty stayed and worked during their awake time. The first bulge in the fuselage was the crew deep sleep module where the crew traveled in a state of therapeutic hypothermia or deep sleep. In a sleep state, their body temperature was reduced by 6 degrees and they could sleep for up to 3 weeks at a time. The bulge in the supply ship was a rotating disk, which could accommodate up to four crewmembers in a 3-week sleep. The disk would rotate at 10 RPM to give them an approximate 1 G environment. Electrical pulses continuously stimulated their muscles to keep them in tone. When they woke up, they were in good shape considering the amount of time they had been asleep. The second bulge in the ship was the stored supplies module. The shape allowed the odd sized items to be shipped then used with a minimum set-up time, and because the design was modular, multiple configurations could be achieved. At the rear of the ship, a nuclear reactor and VISMR engine was placed on a long extension.
