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It was a perfect biological storm. A highly contagious virus—amplifying at the precise moment when movement around the country was at its highest.
Day 6 300,000,000 Infected 70,000 Dead
“In 2004, Congress passed the Project Bioshield Act.
what the public doesn’t know is that there are secret provisions in the act—provisions that are only invoked in the event of a catastrophic biological event.
Project BioShield will soon be invoked to try to stop that outbreak. “When that occurs, the America we know and love will change very drastically.
The last book Desmond had really enjoyed was a novel by Carl Sagan titled Contact.
“Do you remember the Zeno Society?” they had asked. “No.” “The Order of Citium?”
What are we hacking?” “Someone’s brain.”
Disasters are an opportunity for the worst of humanity. And the best.”
Have faith and patience, Dr. Thomas. Time works miracles. We must have the courage to wait for them.”
DAY 7 900,000,000 Infected 180,000 Dead
we have no clue how this thing works—memories could be keyed to sensations, images, sounds.
Inside the truck, he pulled away from the home he had arrived at thirteen years before, after the tragic bushfire that had killed his family. He wasn’t leaving healed, but he was changed.
Day 8 2,000,000,000 Infected 400,000 Dead
A few minutes later, the plane lifted off. Millen gazed out the window at the deserted airport. It had been bustling when he arrived last week. Now it was dead—like the charred remnants of a bomb test in the desert.
Elliott listened as the president detailed the BioShield program. As he’d expected, a state of emergency was declared, including martial law and a nationwide curfew beginning daily at six p.m. Every American was instructed to go home and stay there immediately following the announcement.
The federal government also temporarily nationalized every company in key industries: telecommunications, internet hosting, shipping and logistics, power and energy, and health care.
“If you have been infected for seven days or more, please raise your hand.”
When the last person cleared the FEMA tent, the figure outside raised a yellow flag. The suited soldier spoke again. “If you are over sixty years of age, or if you are unable to walk without assistance, please raise your hand.”
When the over-sixty cohort had exited, the soldier left without another word. The suited figure outside held up a green flag, and to Elliott’s surprise, the bus pulled away.
Chapter 62
Desmond found the conversations incredibly interesting. It wasn’t idle chat. No gossip. No talk of what was on TV. They discussed big issues—everything from technology to science
Desmond smiled. He had expected the small farm to bring more, but it was done, and the money had made its way to the right place. Agnes and the library system had been there for him during one of the darkest chapters of his life. He hoped the money would help ensure that it was there for the next person who needed it.
“They said you were into some major next-generation projects and that you believed humanity was on the cusp of extinction.” “Why?” “The absence of space junk.”
“Who are they?” “Technically, they’re the modern incarnation of an ancient organization called the Order of Citium.”
That’s what they were back then: a group of philosophers. Thinkers.” “What were they thinking about?” “The meaning of the universe. The purpose of humanity. Why we exist.” “Pretty deep stuff for two thousand years ago.” “They were ahead of their time. They applied themselves to three disciplines: truth, ethics, and physics.
When at last she was promoted, it was not because of the skills she had acquired in college, but rather because of what she’d learned in her time at Rubicon: how to read people, analyze a situation, and help everyone find a solution.
“How many messages are in this… queue?”
“Three hundred and sixteen, ma’am.”
I’m close to this investigation. Whoever is seeing these messages will know who I am. They’ll call me first. You need to move my message to the top of the list. Do you understand?” “Do you require further assistance, ma’am?” She leaned her head back and groaned.
DAY 10 4,600,000,000 Infected 1,000,000 Dead
Whenever the database or website was acting weird, someone would say, “Oh God, I think SciNet’s becoming self-aware.”
Their family was tight, Desmond could see that, and Peyton had told him the reason: the death of their father had brought them closer. Her brother’s passing seven years before had also strengthened their bond. Peyton said it had made them more thankful for each other and every year they had together.
The tragedies were a reminder to them of what was truly important.
“Our brains are like a muscle, Desmond: they become conditioned to the strain they must endure. We are an exceptionally adaptive species. We change to survive in the environment in which we exist.
“When others are fearful, be greedy; when others are greedy, be fearful,”
The place had barely changed. The only addition was a wooden study carrel in one corner. It held a Gateway computer with a seventeen-inch monitor. A plaque on the top of the carrel read, Pioneer Library System Technology Center Provided in Loving Memory of Agnes T. Andrews. It was the best thing he’d ever read in that library.
People who flew too high—who lived beyond their means and ability—were bound for failure. As were those who never took a chance.
“I want to create a world where no child has to watch their family burn. Where no child is raised by someone who doesn’t love them. A world where madmen don’t fly planes into buildings and the economy’s more than a worldwide casino.”
Day 11 5,200,000,000 Infected 2,000,000 Dead
“All right,” he said, resigned. It was the reaction of someone who had been married twenty years and knew when an argument was futile.
No matter how much they hid it, every kid in the orphanage was out of sorts. Growing up with tragedy changes a person, trains them to expect still more tragedy around every corner. It’s the mind’s way of protecting you; and it is a very powerful defense. At night, many children cried endlessly in the dark. Some hid under their beds. Many were spooked at every loud sound. I didn’t blame them. It was sort of like being in prison, in a way—and just like in a prison, none of us asked the other orphans questions about what they were in for. We’d seen enough of the war; no one wanted to talk about
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Rejection eats at a person like a worm winding its way through an apple: sooner or later it reaches the core, and you become completely rotten.
To this day I believe a person’s ideal first job is the one that reveals the most about them. Knowing who I was helped me avoid a lot of dead ends in life. A lot of opportunities look good, but I’ve found that sometimes success and happiness are about knowing when to say no.
RSV Beagle Hong Kong 1 May 1965 Ordo ab Chao I translated the Latin words in my head: From chaos comes order.
The Beagle was in some ways a floating university with multiple departments, each with specialists in the field, all of them conducting different research. We took ice core samples in Antarctica, collected soil samples from the ocean floor, and took on animals from all over the world.
They are called the Jasons. And, YES, they are very real here in the USA.
nothing inspires curiosity like a secret.
In August of 1967, we docked in Mombasa. Yuri and a team rushed to Uganda to investigate a viral outbreak. They brought samples back. Containment was instituted in the labs, and for good reason: I later learned the virus they’d brought on board was Marburg, a hemorrhagic fever close in nature to Ebola (which was discovered in Zaire about ten years later).
The war in China exemplified a fact often forgotten about the Second World War: globally, more non-combatants perished than uniformed participants. Civilians in China and the Soviet Union suffered the most, but hunger and violence were a fact of life around the world in the early forties.
She believed that somewhere in the human genome lay the answer to why some people were evil.
