Virus-72 Hours to Live (11 page)

"Commander, I'm not sure if you're aware of
it, but this Hovarti virus is acting very strange. Not only is it
moving around the globe like wildfire, but it is also popping up
spontaneously all over. What I'm saying is, your crewmembers might
come down with it even though they haven't been exposed to the
OS210 crew."

"Doc I wasn't aware of that. How can a crew
member, which has been here for a long time, come down with some
virus when they haven't been around anyone else?"

"That's why everyone is so confused. A virus
occurring spontaneously in multiple places is extremely unusual,
and most people would say it is impossible.”

"I don't know what to say Doc. We'll do
everything we can to help. As you know, we have minimal diagnostic
tools onboard. We rely a great deal on support from SC."

"I know, but I don't have much to diagnose.
We just need to wait."

Joan was speechless; would the entire OS210
crew die onboard Oasis? What about the Oasis crew; are we all
doomed too? She thought.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Termen, there is a growing amount of
information on one subject emanating from the eastern European
region,” SIMPOC announced.

“Really?” Termen responded as he sipped his
coffee and closed the status update file he was reluctantly working
on. “What is the issue?”

“There has been a 527% increase in the
communications traffic regarding an unknown virus called Hovarti.
This designation was chosen because the humans infected develop a
Hovarti Cheese like oral discharge.”

Causally Termen responds, “Cheese like? What
is the mortality rate?”

“The infectivity and infectiousness for this
pathogen is very high; early estimates say 100%.”

“What….?” Termen yelled as he spilled his
coffee. “What are the details?

“Apparently the WHO feels the disease is
airborne and the rate of transmission on exposure is almost 100%.
It appears the incubation period is about 72 hours and the symptoms
start in the last 8 hours. Coughing and sneezing are two of the
symptom. The disease is spread through this coughing and sneeze
discharge. Once the oral discharge becomes Hovarti like death
occurs within minutes.”

Termen was now fully engaged and asked, “Are
vaccines in development?”

“Sorry Termen, there is a significant
increase in traffic. Allow me to monitor it for a moment so I can
receive a complete transmission. There is a discussion about
vaccines, but none have been created.”

There was a pause for a few moments, SIMPOC
commented, “Termen, possible cases have turned up in 14 other
countries. Almost 100% of the infected have traveled recently.
Isolation centers are being set up and governments are considering
travel restrictions.”

“SIMPOC, I’m leaving you alone for a while.
I need to meet with some of the other workers in this building.
When I return, please give me an update.”

“Yes, Termen. I will monitor all traffic on
the subject.”

SIMPOC ANALYSIS

Continental North America

Summary – Financial markets are taking notice. There
is increased political activity within subject areas. The medical
information is being accessed and shared. There is a discussion of
detention centers and travel restrictions.

Continental South America

Summary – Minimal impact with a slight increase in
medical traffic. There is a discussion of detention centers and
traffic restrictions.

Continental Europe

Summary – Tensions are building. Numerous
governments are talking about travel restrictions and detention
centers. There are many travelers from infected regions. Numerous
islands of potentially infected are indicated.

Continental Africa

Summary – Little impact. Some talk of travel
limitations and detention centers in major cities.

Asian

Summary – Region is very concerned about the spread
of disease. Implementing travel restrictions and detentions centers
in a few major cities.

Eastern European

Summary – Significant internal and external
pressures rising. The high cost of infection is emerging. Isolation
fears are being realized. Social unrest is growing due to fear and
lack of official information.

Southern Pacific

Summary – Independent island philosophy is allowing
multiple solutions to a regional problem. Isolation is considered a
major tool to prevent the disease from spreading. Travel
restrictions in place.

Northern Pacific

Summary – Little effect to date. Aware of problem
and monitoring. Society purity is increasing actions towards
isolation and travel restrictions.

“SIMPOC, what new developments have you
seen?” Termen asked on re-entry into the room.

“Travel restrictions are being implemented
in 8 minor, four moderate and two large countries. Many countries
are either setting up quarantine areas or considering them.
Financial markets are becoming unsettled,” SIMPOC replied, then
continued, “Termen is this a threat to humans and are you
worried?”

“Yes, it can be a threat to humans and I’m a
little concerned. We have a good reason for concern, but I don’t
know how much of a threat this is. Please continue monitoring and
give me an update this afternoon. I’ll be out of the room most of
the time.”

“Yes.”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The pressure seal hissed as the technician
entered the control room from the airlock. He was returning from a
survey mission looking for regolith deposits that contain high
levels of Helium-3. He had been making the same survey over
different parts of the moon for the last couple of weeks and had
found some areas that looked promising. Everyone knew the regolith
or moon dirt, had varying amounts of Helium-3 trapped in the soil.
Some areas were rich and some weren't. It always takes time to find
the areas that are best for mining.

PH.D William Thompson sat as his control
panel watching the technician enter and grab a cup of coffee. He
was odd, he was one of those who were great at what he did but he
was difficult to talk with. Every time you tried to have a
conversation with him, he would stare at your top button and never
look in your eyes. Bill always laughed and thought he would put a
sign on his button saying, "Please look at my eyes when we talk."
However, he never did.

Bill didn't say anything to Duane, until
after he took off his environmental suit and stowed his equipment,
"Duane where did Pauli and Lauren go?"

Finally, Duane almost looked at him when he
spoke, "They took some samples to the lab. Some of them looked
promising, but we still have a lot of work to do."

When he was done, he sort of glanced in
Bill's direction but still avoided eye contact. Then he left the
Desert Beach control room.

Life on the moon at the Desert Beach moon
colony was never dull; routine yes, hazardous yes, sometimes boring
but never dull. Something was always breaking, wearing out or just
not working. However, everything had to be done 'by the book' when
tasks were done on the moon. There was nothing like a simple
repair. Because any mistakes could be catastrophic, specific
detailed steps had to be taken for the simplest repairs.

Two years ago, the team didn't replace a
fitting on the oxygen regeneration unit to its full torque value.
When the line was pressurized, the connection broke and the loose
end struck Lukas Whalen and propelled him almost 75 yards through
the vacuum of space along with breaking three ribs. He was lucky
that his suite wasn't torn. The lesson showed what happened if the
procedures weren't followed.

Just about then, Bill's train of thought was
broken by his wife Sally who entered the room and asked, "Do you
want some coffee?"

”Sure why not, my ulcer has almost healed
from the last cup."

He thought how nice it was to have his wife
with him on this moon trip. Couples had been commonplace for some
time. As soon as the astronauts were staying 6 months to a year on
the space station or moon colony, the leaders figured out real
quick that letting couples go into space together was the only way
to get qualified people. It also opened up the skills available.
Men and women had skills that contributed to the moon's success and
allowing couples often doubled the expertise.

For almost 20 years, the moon colony had
been fully staffed. The first colonies were temporary and used for
exploration. Survival on the Moon was difficult. The lack of
resources and particularly water put the early colonies under
tremendous stress. The current location provided adequate supplies
of water. However, the water supply depended a great deal on the
machinery, or miners as the mining machines were called. The miners
needed to remove the top layer of regolith and then scrape to the
lower levels, which had higher concentrations of water. The miners
removed between 3-5 meters of the regolith at a time, separated the
soil and retained the higher concentration mix of soil and ice.
Like the units used on Mars, the processing didn't occur at the
site but once the unit was full of ice material it picked up the
scraper and drove itself back to the colony for processing. Because
the moon environment was so harsh, breakdowns were frequent and it
was difficult for the colonists to go to the site and repair the
miners. Any offsite repair was very difficult and risky. For any
number of units retrieving ice, a large percentage were always in
transit to or from the site or broken down. The process made sense
but in practical application, it was always a challenge to have
enough units working so they could retrieve enough water.

During the early years of the 2020's, the
possibility of Fusion Reactors looked realistic. China saw an
opportunity and accelerated a long-term plan to mine Helium-3 on
the moon. Helium-3 was key for the second-generation Fusion
reactors. It was very limited on Earth, but abundant on the Moon.
H-3 was the only non-radioactive element that could provide nuclear
power.

Earth's other super powers found themselves
behind in the H-3 race and jumped on the subject of moon
commercialization. They quickly formed colonies. By the late
2020's, there were six moon colonies working towards commercial
mining of the moon.

The colonies were in close proximity to each
other because they were seeking the same resources. They were each
attempting to mine Helium-3, but the moon presented so many
challenges for colonization that survival was the first priority.
The moon's environment lacked Nitrogen, Carbon, and Hydrogen. All
of which were needed for colonization. Water was available in many
locations but was in the highest concentration near the North Pole
and South Pole. The H-3 was in the highest concentration near the
equator, which made site selection a challenge.

As the final compromise, the sites were
placed around the Shackleton crater at the moon's South Pole. Its
location and structure provided a good source of water and the rim
of the crater was high enough and in the right position so it was
in sunlight throughout the lunar day and the night. The constant
source of solar energy provided many options that other sites
didn't. Survival was the most important consideration, so the
location was based on human needs more that H-3 concentration.

International pressures increased, but
efficient mining was elusive. Two of the colonies hard numerous
things go wrong and if the other four colonies didn't help in the
rescue, many lives would have been lost.

In 2031, a massive meteorite shower
decimated the Chinese colony along with another one and severely
damaged two others. H-3 was the foundation of energy production so
the international community came together and formed the Space
Consortium. It was a reluctant partnership, but it held together
over the years.

The Space Consortium was given control over
the first and most efficient H-3 production site. They moved the
personnel to the new station and abandoned all of the equipment
they didn't need. Oasis was the link in the operation, which tied
the exploration on Mars with the production on the Moon.

The moon colony was the crown jewel of the
space operation. The Helium-3, which was extracted, was key to the
energy production on Earth. The H-3 paid for Oasis, Desert Beach
and Red Dirt with a considerable profit. The profit was distributed
among the investing nations based on their contribution.

Sally slid her long legs into the seat next
to her husband and pushed the coffee across the console. "What's
up?" she asked while she put two feet up on the pressure monitoring
console.

"Same'o, same'o and take your feet off the
furniture."

She grumbled and moved her feet away from
any sensitive switches, but left them on the console.

Bill continued, "There are three crews doing
exploration. One working on the dual rail launcher and we had a
couple of breakdowns in Zone #2, nothing major. One of the helium
extractors is acting up and I have a maintenance crew heading over
to work on it. What's happening with you?"

"My research with accelerated bacteria
growth is going well. I'm getting some amazing replication rates
and cell uniformity. I can almost make them dance, and hey; I
actually had a medical issue about an hour ago. Dean hurt his hand
and I had to bandage it."

"Glad you got to use your MD and earn your
keep up here."

"Love you too," she said with a growl and
she reached over and poked him in the ribs.

After the lover's friendly dual, they just
sat there looking through the window onto the lunar landscape and
remained silent while they thought about the duties they had in
front of them. The moon was either dark or light, black or gray.
There were no other colors. There was no wind on the moon so the
footprint put in the soil yesterday would be there tomorrow, next
month, next year, and likely next decade. The outside picture
didn't change much except when someone walked by the window.