Perfectible Animals: A Post Apocalyptic Technothriller (EidoGenesis Book 1) (20 page)

“This is war, Michael. People get killed.”

“They wouldn’t have to, though. They could just be rendered incapable of warfare. To the point where they’d lay down their weapons in peace. Imagine a whole lot of hippies. We could give them the viral equivalent of LSD.”

“Are you sure
you
haven’t been taking any LSD?”

“Before the military contract with Geneus we were working on a process which could do this.”

“And how long would these effects last?”

“They could be made to last forever.”

Savage looked like he’d just eaten something disagreeable. “I’m afraid that’s not really what we’re after here, Michael. We’re after something which kills people. Puts them out of action. Permanently. These are not nice people we’re talking about. These are the enemy.”

“It’s not just the enemy, though, is it? Many of them are civilians. Do we really need to kill them all?”

“It’s the most efficient way to achieve our goals. What the hell are we going to do with thousands of happy hippies running around? We can’t lock them all up. We’d have to feed them, house them, clothe them… We can’t even manage that with our own population. It would be a total disaster. I’m sorry, Michael, but that’s just not what we’re after here. Too inefficient. What if they come up with a way to reverse its effects? We need to win this war and we need to win it quickly.”

I didn’t know how to respond. There was no way I could tell him I wouldn’t be involved, he’d already made that clear.

There must be ten million people out there at least. We couldn’t kill off ten million people, whatever the situation. I thought about Sam and his family, and the other people I’d gotten to know in the de-reg zone. Good people. Humble people. People who didn’t deserve to be wiped out like a rabbit population.
 

That night I went back to my room where Annie, who had just arrived at the base, was waiting for me.
 

Once I finished telling her everything, she just sat there and shook her head. Then she looked up at me with tears in her eyes.
 

“What are we going to do, Michael?”

“I have no idea.” The weight of the situation was so huge that I was having trouble comprehending it. How could I have been involved in something like this?
 

I disgusted myself. My desire to save Annie and Justin’s sister and others with their disease, my arrogance that I could actually do something to help, my gullibility in believing what the military had told us — that we needed to protect our country from Rebola — had led me to be part of the greatest crime against humanity in this country since white people had wiped out the aboriginal population nearly three hundred years ago.
 

“What about Sam and his family?” Annie said.
 

“When was the last time you heard from them?”
 

“I saw Gilda a few weeks ago. She came in with an infection. We didn’t have any antibiotics left but I was able to get to it before it got too bad.”
 

“They’ll be wiped out with the rest of them.”
 

“Surely we can try to save some people at least. If they’re going to be inoculating people in the regulated zone, can’t they do it in the de-reg as well?”
 

“I don’t think they will. I don’t think they want to save people.”

“Then we have to. We have to try.”

“I’ll see if Gendigm can help.”
 

I contacted Bruno through an encrypted line to to tell him what was happening and ask for his help. I’d been in touch with him on a number of occasions since working for the military and had come to trust Gendigm and their motives.

“We need to vaccinate innocent people living in the de-reg zone,” I told him.
 

“How are you planning on manufacturing a vaccine?”
 

“I’m not sure yet.”

“Why don’t you just tell people to stay inside?”
 

“It’ll get to them anyway. It’s airborne and can be carried by the wind. There’s no way they could avoid it.”
 

“I’ll put it to the board,” Bruno said. “They might say yes to helping with the manufacturing, but not with the distribution. And they might want something in return.”

“What can I give them?”

“We’re still interested in taking over Geneus. While they’ve got this military contract that’s obviously not possible, but maybe once it’s finished… We want to continue with your germline modification project.”

“So do I,” I said, thinking that was now our only chance of saving Annie.
 

“I’ll get back to you.”

“Well?” Annie said, when I hung up.
 

“He’s going to try. If we try to inoculate people, though, then there’s a good chance we’ll get caught. The military probably has spy networks all through the de-reg, keeping an eye on the rebels. Someone will say something. The best we can do is vaccinate a small group of people without them even realizing.”

“If we manage to vaccinate everyone first, though, it won’t matter if we get caught.”

“The chances of us doing that are unlikely, and if they want those people dead, they’re going to kill them whatever we do. This isn’t some Hollywood movie, Annie. We’re not going to be able to save everyone.”

Annie started crying, and she went and lay down on the bed in our room, face down on the pillow. I felt horrible for letting my anger overflow, and I followed her in and sat down beside her. I put my hand on her back, patting her gently as she howled. I ran my fingers through her hair.
 

Suddenly I hated every single human being alive. Only humans were sick enough to try to wipe out members of their own species, and had the brains and the weapons to do it. The military was evil, but no more evil than all those people in the regulated zone like myself who had believed their bullshit, believed that we needed to defend ourselves.

All we really cared about was keeping ourselves safe, keeping ourselves comfortable. The world outside could go to hell and as long as we could turn a blind eye to it, pretend to ourselves that it wasn’t really happening, that it was no more real than anything else we saw on the net, distract ourselves with banalities like sport or famous people or cheap entertainment, then we went about our daily lives and did nothing.

“There must be something more we can do,” I said.
 

“Can’t you stop the project from working? If they need one hundred percent reliability in their vaccine before releasing the virus, then make sure they don’t get it.”

“I can try to delay for as long as possible. Buy us some time. Too long, though, and they’ll get suspicious. Besides, I’m not the only one working on the project. They’ll just get someone else to do it.”

“We obviously can’t go to the media,” Annie said. “What about another country? Is there someone who could stop this?”

“I don’t think any other countries really care at the moment. They’re all too busy with their own problems.”

“Then we’re fucked.”

“Yes. We are.”
 

The next day I went to see Savage.
 

“I don’t want to tell you how to do your job, General, but I think it might be a good idea if you either vaccinate people in the de-reg zone, or at the very least give them a placebo.”

Annie and I had realized that if we could convince the military to give people in the de-reg zones blank vaccines then our own vaccination program there might go unnoticed.
 

“Why’s that, Michael?” The General obviously didn’t take too well to being told how to do his job.

“Once you start vaccinating people in the regulated zone, people in the de-reg are going to find out about it pretty quickly. If the rebels already suspect that we might use a bio-weapon against them, which they might well, then they’ll be a lot more cautious.”
 

“You’re probably right. You’re a real credit to the military, you know that? If this works out I’ll personally make sure you’re awarded a medal.”

Over the next two months, we perfected our somatic modification to the immune system to make anyone who received it totally immune to Rebola. I delayed my part of the process as long as I possibly could, but there was only so much I could do without looking suspicious. If they realized I was delaying on purpose, I’d either be arrested, or at the very least fired, and our plan would be ruined.
 

Every day felt like a death sentence, not just for myself but for all those living in the de-reg zone. I imagined their faces, the effect that the virus would have on them all. Whole families, whole neighborhoods, whole towns of dying people.
 

Each night Annie and I tried to work out what more we could do, but apart from getting locked up ourselves, which no longer worried us, there was the larger problem: if this failed, the military would simply find another way. We were sure this wasn’t their only option — just the best one they had at the moment. They could blame it on the Indonesians, protect everyone in the regulated zone, and protect the infrastructure in the de-reg zone. It was the perfect weapon. A bomb would be much too messy, and far too inaccurate, and ground combat would take too long and cost too many soldier’s lives. A virus was perfect. But in the end — replaceable.
 

When the code was ready, the vaccines for all those who lived in the regulated zones were going to be produced at a factory outside Sydney, and I passed on this piece of information to Bruno.
 

A few days later, he got back to me and told me they’d managed to hack into the factory’s automated system and place an order for an extra ten thousand doses of the bio-vector which would be delivered to a warehouse in the de-reg zone. It was the most we could do without causing suspicion.
 

Annie and I debated whether we should go ourselves, but by then it was almost as if we had a death wish.

C
HAPTER
N
INETEEN

ANNIE AND I arrived back in Melbourne on a Wednesday evening. Over the last two months, the government had created twenty million doses of the vaccine to be spread throughout all the regulated zones of Australia, telling people they were protection against bio-weapons like the one the Indonesians had used in Darwin. Not only that, but they’d created ten million blank doses of the vaccine and were distributing them to clinics in the de-reg zone, telling them the same thing. They’d done a huge advertising campaign about how Australia was finally going to be united again, and how this was the first step of goodwill on the part of the government.
 

As soon as we arrived back, Annie and I drove out to the de-reg zone. We were stopped at the gate by guards but when they asked us what our purpose was we told them we were part of the vaccination program. They looked up Annie’s credentials and let us through.
 

After picking up the vaccines, our vehicle found a place to park as close as possible to Gilda and Sam’s street, which was now crowded with so much temporary housing our vehicle couldn’t get through. Dogs scattered at the sight of us, presumably hanging around the streets for food but afraid they might become food themselves. Malnourished humans, who didn’t look much healthier than the dogs, walked as if all purpose had been drained out of them. I looked at their faces and imagined what their lives had been like before the flooding and the rest of the environmental devastation and over-population problems — probably not too different from my own. We came across a whole group of people sitting in what was once a park. They looked up at us with gaunt eyes. A few of them held up their hands but neither Annie nor I had any cash. A couple of people were dragging away what looked to be a dead body wrapped in a blanket.
 

Then I saw a group of men coming towards us, laughing loudly. There was no time to turn off or around.

“What should we do?” I said to Annie.

“Just keep walking.”
 

We moved over so the gang could pass, but they blocked our passage.

“That’s a nice looking pair of shoes you’ve got there, mate,” one of them said.

I looked up at him. He was around twenty-two, with a set jaw and a glare in his eyes that was beyond his years.

“Yeah. What size are they?” another one said.

“Pretty nice looking pants as well,” a third man put in.
 

“What’s in that box there?” another said, referring to the vaccines I was carrying.
 

“We’re friends of the Mendoza family. Please, leave us alone,” Annie said. I was shaking inside, ready to fly into attack even though I knew I would be taken down in seconds. I could hear my breathing getting louder and faster. My hands were clenched and I scanned the ground for a weapon: a rock or a stick. I worked for the military — why hadn’t I brought a gun? Not that I would have known how to use it. And against so many assailants, it probably would have been turned against us anyway.
 

“And who gave you permission to be here?” An older man stepped forward. He had a tattoo down the side of his neck and his arms were scarred. His skin hung slightly loose around what was once muscle. He had a gold band around one arm — a luxury that very few could afford in this area and even fewer would dare to wear in public even if they could.
 

“We didn’t have time to get permission,” Annie said. “This is a medical matter.” We had tried to contact Gilda before leaving but we hadn’t been able to. It seemed the government had already started jamming communications.
 

“I recognize you.” A younger man stepped forward, and the man who had just spoken glared at him. “She works at the clinic,” the younger man explained. “She was the one who fixed my broken arm.”
 

“David, isn’t it?” Annie said.

“Yes,” the man said.

“What are you going to see the Mendoza’s for?” the leader said.

“I treated Sam for rabies last year. He hasn’t been into the clinic for a while. I need to check on him.”