The Viral Epiphany (4 page)

The gleaming glass windows, the cool metallic frames of the windows and doors, the bright florescent lights, the sparkling, clean floors, the smooth pastel-colored walls of the hallways, and the slightly flowery but antiseptic smell of the new Biosciences building at University College Cork were all due to the Celtic Tiger.
 
After centuries of poverty and despair Ireland had been transformed, as if by the fairies of legend.
 
The poor colleen who had never been invited to the dance was now queen of the ball.
 

It had been several months since Dan returned from his trip to Russia.
 
His office had been repainted and he had moved from the old brooding administration building, with it’s ancient Ogham-stone-lined passageways, to his new bioscience research facility that many said was the finest in Europe.

One of Dan’s duties as a professor at the university was to counsel graduate students in their choice of thesis projects.
 
Today he was meeting with one of the brightest students he had ever taught, Brendan MacDonnell.
 
Brendan had grown up in the small town of Cushendall on the north coast of County Antrim in the province of Ulster.
 
Twenty years ago it might have been somewhat unusual for a young man from Ulster to come to Cork to study, but the line between the north and south of Ireland was becoming increasingly blurred and what was once unusual had now become commonplace.

Brendan sat in the comfortable leather armchair across from Dan.
 
He wore slightly faded jeans and a loose-fitting flannel T-shirt with the word PRINCETON on the front, a souvenir of a year spent studying abroad.
 
He seemed to have made little effort to control the wild curls of his red hair, but it was his startlingly blue eyes that everyone always noticed.
 
Brendan was walking evidence of the ancient Norse-Celtic roots of the MacDonnell clan of Antrim.

“So, have you given any more thought to the ideas we talked about during our last meeting?” Dan asked.

“I have indeed,” Brendan replied, “but I still haven’t hit upon something that really fires my imagination. You know?”

“Oh yes. I know.
 
I felt the same way myself when I was in your position.”

“I understand the need to start work on a bio-med project soon though.
 
Maybe I should go with the work on developing the new HIV test, the one that doesn’t need to sample body fluids but uses low power laser light to penetrate the skin and identify the disease?”

Dan smiled sympathetically.
 
“I agree it would be an interesting project, but I am sorry to tell you that a team in Hong Kong announced last week they have already done it.”

“Oh.” He smiled. “Bummer.
 
There’s a lot of competition out there.”

“Yes, there certainly is, but I have another idea for a project that I think you might be interested in and which, I’m quite sure, no one else is pursuing.”
           
Dan then told Brendan about the discovery of the mammoth and the quality of the mammoth remains.

“You mean that the DNA might still be intact in the cells?”
           
“It looks very likely,” Dan said.

           
“That’s unbelievable.
 
And it’s ten thousand years old?
           
“I believe so.”

           
“Are you sure the DNA is intact?”

           
“No, not one hundred percent.
 
We’ll have to check. Are you interested?”

           
“Of course,” Brendan said breaking out into a broad smile, “you know I would be interested.
 
This would be an opportunity to test my theory about the extinction of certain mammals.”

           
“The virus theory?”

           
“Right. Everyone seems to think that animals like the mammoth became extinct because of climate change or meteor impacts or over-hunting by cavemen.”

           
“They might be right you know.
 
There are a lot of scientists who believe that.”

           
“I know, but what if they are wrong?
 
What if the mammoths died from a deadly disease that spread through the population?
 
What could we learn that might apply to the diseases that affect mankind?
 
Maybe the same fate awaits us!”

           
“OK, hold on,” Dan said laughing, “what you have is a hypothesis but no evidence. You need hard, scientific proof.
 
You would need to examine the mammoth material in great detail to prove your theory.
 
That is, assuming the material is of a good enough quality.”

           
“Yes, of course. But that’s the whole point. It would make a great thesis project don’t you think?”

           
“I think it might indeed.” Dan replied.

           
“So where do we go to get some of the material?” Brendan asked.

           
Dan didn’t say anything for a minute but sat quietly thinking, then he looked at Brendan and simply said, “I have some upstairs.”

           
Brendan practically leaped out of his chair.
 
“You do? That’s brilliant!
 
Let’s do it. When can we start?”

           
Dan couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm.
 
“How about tomorrow at about 3 PM?
 
I have some other meetings I need to go to today.”

           
“Sure.
 
I’ll be back tomorrow at three.
 
Wow.
 
This is just amazing.
 
Thank you sir.
 
This is just so amazing.”
 
Brendan began walking to the door.

           
“OK, Brendan.
 
I’ll see you then,” Dan said with a smile.

           
“OK.
 
Oh, I almost forgot.
 
I picked up this envelope outside your office door.
 
I guess it’s for you.”
 
Brendan handed the envelope to Dan and a moment later he was gone.

           
Dan looked at the manila envelope and then he recalled the previous envelope he had received from his godfather.

           
“I wonder what this is?” he whispered to himself as he opened the seal.

TOP SECRET

MAELSTROM EYES ONLY

15 January 1979

Background
– Small-scale tests of wind borne nuclear contaminants have proven insufficient for generating accurate models of the effect of deliberately destroying enemy nuclear reactors.
 
This lack of reliable information casts doubt on the value of targeting these reactors in the event of war.
 
Intelligence reports indicate that the Soviet Union’s clandestine plans to carry out large-scale nuclear drift tests are currently on hold.
 
They are expected to resume test planning pending design review of a reactor at Chernobyl.
 
It is assumed that this delay is only temporary and that at some point the Soviets will conduct such tests, using their own population as test subjects.

Opportunity
– The U.S. nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania is well understood and presents an opportunity to garner critically needed nuclear contamination drift data in a safe way without endangering the general population.
 
It is imperative that the U.S. gains this knowledge before the Soviet Union conducts its own tests.
 
The U.S. test will be conducted using the cover story that an accident has occurred at the reactor and that trivial amounts of Iodine-131 were released, but that this will have no harmful effect. The required follow-up studies over the several years following the release will

TOP SECRET

TOP SECRET

provide the opportunity to gather large amounts of data that will completely document the dispersion of the Iodine-131.
 
This large database of information will then be available for the construction of computer models that could simulate massive releases from nuclear power plants in time of war.

Plan
– The test is currently scheduled for March 28, 1979.
 
Omega agents will have been inserted into the work force of Three Mile Island and will ensure that the failure of the reactor will occur; however, these highly trained agents will also ensure that a total, and potentially very dangerous, meltdown of the core will not take place.
 
The reactor failure will begin with the sabotage of the feedwater cooling pumps.
 
Following this event, key Omega personnel will ensure that the response of the on-duty operators is inadequate to prevent the progression of the test release.
 
It is expected that the general public will accept the cover story of an accidental, near-meltdown of the core.

Outcomes
– It is expected that no deaths or injuries will occur.
 
The TMI plant will sustain significant damage; however, it may be possible to repair the facility.
 
Invaluable data documenting the spread of a radioactive cloud from a partially destroyed nuclear reactor will be gathered.
 
It is possible, perhaps even likely, than the event will create public sentiment against the use of nuclear reactors.
 
This may well result in a reversion to using fossil fuels as the primary method of generating electricity in the U.S.
 
Such a development would be entirely acceptable.

TOP SECRET

           
The frozen Alaskan tundra was locked in the dark and deep depths of the winter night.
 
There were no brave or inquisitive explorers to observe the crystalline stars shimmering in cold silence.
 
Nor were there any itinerant prospectors to stop and wonder for a moment at the racing, luminescent sheets of blue, green, and scarlet in the sky that danced and leapt as if they were the desperate, escaping reflections of the fires of some invisible Hell that lay just over the horizon.
 
The land lay paralyzed in numbing cold.

A metal sign, covered in repeated deposits of hoar frost, stood leaning at a forty-five degree angle. Its terse words were barely legible should anyone try to read them.
 

ALYESKA MINING

UNAUTHOIZED PERSONNEL KEEP OUT

The flickering lights of the aurora illuminated a small concrete-block building fifty yards away. It had no windows but only a single metal door with an attached sign warning of dangerous high voltages inside.
 
It looked as if the building hadn’t been entered in years, and it would be natural for anyone foolish enough to venture out on this night, with temperatures approaching minus sixty degrees Fahrenheit, that this was indeed the case.

           
Appearances, however, can be deceiving.
 
The building was in frequent use by clandestine visitors to the headquarters of Project Omega.
 
This small, innocuous building was not what it seemed. When one entered the building there were no high voltage devices to be seen; there was only a large metal hatch, like one might see on a submarine, in the exact middle of the floor, and below this hatch there was an elevator.
 
The elevator regularly transported visitors downward to a depth of 150 feet below the surface where an underground command center had been built in 1961 in the days of mistrust between the United States and the Soviet Union.
 
It had been called the Cold War.
 
Originally planned as a backup facility in case the NORAD command center at Cheyenne Mountain was destroyed by a Soviet attack, the facility was now the headquarters of the Top Secret, joint Army/Air Force project office code-named Omega.

           
Tonight the officer in command was Air Force Brigadier General John L. Baker III, recently transferred from the 5950
^th
Test Wing.
 
He had just turned fifty-six years old.
 
Ramrod straight, with jet-black hair, piercing dark brown eyes, he looked exactly like the career soldier he was.
 
Yet, he had a suspicion that he might not receive a second star. An assignment like this one, an ultra-black program at a virtually unknown remote outpost, was a certain career killer.
 
He was the last of his line, a line of generals and commanders that went back to the Revolutionary War, on the British side of course.
 
He had never regretted not marrying or having children.
 
His view of the world was pessimistic at best and he felt that it was better not to bring children into a world that was headed for self-destruction.

He took his place in the commander’s chair next to his assistant Colonel Chuck Waters, and looked down at the “pit”, the area where more than thirty analysts worked at their individual computer consoles. Just over their heads were the large, real-time, situational awareness displays that, at a glance, could tell him whenever an incident of interest to Omega had occurred anywhere in the world.

“Good morning, Sir.” Colonel Waters said.

“Good morning, Chuck. What do we have?”

“Not much.
 
There was an outbreak in Malaysia, but it doesn’t look promising.”

           
He looked at the South East Asia display board that had been zoomed to an area outlined in bright red in the remote Malaysian jungle.
 
Below the CIA Keyhole satellite’s high-resolution photo of a small village he read the contents of an intercepted message that had been sent to UNAPS headquarters in New York City an hour ago:

           
FROM: First Strike Team Alpha TO: UNAPS Pathogens Group.
 
Outbreak of disease in Malaysian jungle positively identified as standard Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever virus, although casualties are very high.
 
Mass Spectrometer analysis is conclusive.
 
Disease is expected to take usual course and not present a threat to adjacent areas.
 
Conclusion: This outbreak is not of interest to UNAPS at this time.
 
Team Alpha returning to base. #####

           
“UNAPS again,” Baker muttered, “Those people wouldn’t know a new disease if they got it themselves…but I guess they managed to get it right this time, anyway.”

           
He glanced back to Colonel Waters, “That’s all we got?”

           
“Yes, sir.”

           
He took one more look at the display board.
 
“What the hell are those Malaysians doing calling in UNAPS for a few cases of dengue fever?” he asked, shaking his head slightly and then taking another drink of coffee.
 
“Not that UNAPS would be able to do anything for them if it was the real thing.
 
Hell, those people need a year just to figure out if they want to buy a new Jeep.”

           
He looked at his watch.
 
It was nearly 3 AM.
 
“Come on, Chuck. We have a Black Wind meeting in a couple of minutes.”

           
They left the control room, the electronically activated doors swishing quietly closed behind them, and walked across the brightly lit corridor to another set of electronically activated doors.
 
However, these did not open automatically.
 
General Baker stood for a moment in front of a camera built into the wall next to the door; then Colonel Waters did the same.
 
Ten seconds later a voice announced, “Retina scans completed. Identities confirmed for access to Black Wind meeting.
 
This meeting is classified TOP SECRET.”
 
The door to the meeting room slid open almost silently.

           
The room was set up as a video-conferencing center with an arcing table located in front of a large screen display.
 
The other meeting attendees had already taken their seats and, as he sat down, General Baker gave the signal to the electronics operator to begin the teleconference.
 
The screen immediately filled with the logo of the Omega office with the words “BLACK WIND” below the logo.
 
The logo quickly faded out and was replaced with the image of Air Force Lieutenant General Eagleton facing them.

           
“Good morning everyone,” he said, indicating that he could see all of them in their places.
 
“We are getting very close to our first launch.
 
Could we have the status of the tracking systems?”

           
“Good morning sir,” General Baker replied, “Our control room is up and operating, down-range Doppler radar sensors are all reporting green status. The weather appears to be ideal for the test.
 
Do you have the status at the launch base?”

           
“Edwards Air Force Base is green with no problems.
 
We have one B-2 stealth bomber fueled, loaded, and ready to go.”

           
“Understand you are ready to initiate the test.
 
We will now transmit the coordinates of the drop site.” General Baker said and then turned to the electronics operator, “Go ahead, Paul, send the coordinates for target three.”

           
The master sergeant looked at his computer and typed in a command then looked back at General Baker, “Roger, sir.
 
Coordinates for Las Vegas, Nevada sent to Edwards.”

           
General Baker nodded and turned to face the screen. “Coordinates have been transmitted for automatic download to the aircraft.”

           
“Acknowledged,” came the reply.
 
Then a moment later, “We have receipt of the coordinates.”
 
The lieutenant general turned to his aide and said simply, “Proceed.”

           
Turning back to his screen General Eagleton said, “OK, the test is about to begin. We’ll be in continuous contact with your control room throughout.
 
We will need a complete analysis immediately after the conclusion of the test.
 
We also will need real time alerts of any indication whatsoever that the test has been detected.
 
Any questions?”

           
“No sir,” General Baker replied.

           
“Good. Over and out.”

           
The screen went black and General Baker turned to Colonel Waters, “OK, Waters, let’s get back to the control room.
 
This will be interesting. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”