Extinction Level Event (20 page)

"Onassis here. I think the situation warrants FEMA's
attention. This is beyond our ability to control. I've advised
Homeland Security to get FEMA mobilized and head over there with
everything they've got." "We will need the Governor’s permission
for FEMA to enter the state. Have you spoken to him?”

“Yesterday evening. I think you should explain the
situation, and tell him that I personally recommend we need to take
this to a higher level. Remind him that we are already handling
many aspects of the investigation and have started immunology
research on our own in concurrence with UCLA and CBEID labs.” “Yes,
sir. What if he doesn’t want FEMA here in his state, and does not
want to declare a state of emergency?” “Try to convince him as best
you can. He’s seen as much of the evidence as we have. Considering
that the outbreak has spread to Nevada and Arizona as well, I
figure it is only a matter of time before other states start to
declare emergency states as well. We need to cut this out now. FEMA
will bring in extra communications equipment, computers, satellite
uplink to all of our teams combing the countryside right now."
LaJoy thinks it through, glad that FEMA could be involved but
starting to question the necessity of advising the governor to
involve them.
FEMA is made for emergencies like hurricanes,
flooding, and earthquakes, not Cretaceous-era extinctions.
"Sir, I assume FEMA will also be bringing in their Emergency
Medical Response Teams; even if they are trained to aid human
victims of biological and chemical agents. So far we have no human
victims, only invertebrates." "True LaJoy, but I don't want to take
any chances. If this can affect humans, FEMA can help keep people
away from infected areas." "I see, sir. How are the Mexicans
dealing with this?", asks Peter offhandedly. “They are doing worse
than we are, that’s all I know at the moment. Talk to the Governor
for me, will you?” “Very well.” “Good. Keep in touch.” Onassis’s
line cuts off, leaving LaJoy to phone the Governor of California
for the eleventh time that week. The buzzing produced by the
waiting machine quickly dies off after several electronic clicks,
bringing LaJoy’s line directly to the Governor’s office without
phone-line hassling. This privilege, naturally, only began a week
ago.

The other side picks up. “Morning sir, its LaJoy from
USDA LA again. I’ve been in contact with USDA in Washington,
reviewing the situation as it develops and updating your office. It
is the recommendation of the USDA that we declare a state of
emergency at this point, sir. This way we can get FEMA assistance,
and be able to deal with other problems as well more efficiently.”
“State of Emergency? LaJoy, I know you are doing your job well so
far but is this your idea of a joke? I see no reason for me to
declare a state of emergency. There is no natural disaster, no
rioting, no real emergency for me to deal with. If I do this,
people will become fearful, start to panic; if for no other reason
than there is a state of emergency. Then I will have to explain why
we have one, which will be thrashed by the legislature. . . this is
ticklish business that I think, we have no reason for executing.”
“True, sir, but FEMA has resources that we don’t. Federal funds,
Emergency Medical Teams to deal with human victims -” “Human
victims? I remember you specifically telling me that the virus you
have identified only harms worms? Now you’re saying that this is
transmissible to humans?!” “No, sir. Well, not exactly. Dr.
Krishnan and his team are fairly confident that this is a very
specific virus that we’re dealing with- unless a random mutation
would occur, allowing it to be zoonotic- transmissible from animals
to humans.” “You should have told me this before. But you said that
this is very, very unlikely. Under these circumstances, only the
invertebrates are dying. As long as people, citizens of this state
are not involved, I’m not declaring any emergency. This is merely
an inconvenient long-term problem, one that your scientists should
find a solution to given enough time. Don’t ask me to make a state
of emergency; . . . the people of California don’t need one right
now.” “But when we start having effects of soil degradation. . . –“
“When that happens, I’ll make a note of it.”, snaps the Governor
back, “Make sure that quarantine zone of yours sees to it that this
doesn’t spread, and that some way of stopping this virus is found
soon.” “We’re doing our best” “Great. Keep me posted then.” With
that, the Governor hangs up, leaving LaJoy to think through the
short conversation.
He really needs to change his mind, we’ll
need FEMA here sooner or later and I’d rather have them here
sooner.
LaJoy realizes that, despite seriousness of the
situation to an environmental expert, the Governor as a politician
may not see the longer term implications.
He expects a quick
fix, and ability to maintain political normalcy without sacrificing
expediency.
LaJoy decides to call Secretary Onassis back and
tell him that for now, California will continue to run in a “state
of normalcy”.

Washington, DC

Onassis’ office in the Department of Agriculture
headquarters occupies the fifth floor, giving him a clear view to a
sea of nationally important museums, in particular the Smithsonian,
the Air and Space Museum, and the Museum of American History. While
nowhere near being the most perky of lofty office in town, its
relative height in a city of relatively horizontal construction
affords Onassis a sense of being on top of things. For Onassis,
this helps bring a clear head when complicated situations arise,
which are usually rare.

The last ten days have made Onassis rethink his
entire view of the world. Never has there been such a strange and
unknown occurrence in agriculture in his entire career. The last
week has brought something entirely new to the Department’s
attention, something that never existed before, something that no
one imagined could exist. Now, with the entire department abuzz
with whisperings, rumors, and frantic activity trying to make sense
of the latest news streaming in from the West coast, it was up to
Onassis to show that the department could react to unexpected
situations like this in addition to managing farming countrywide
year-to-year.

On the seventh day, though, he realized that the
department wasn’t designed to combat as pestilential an occurrence
as the one that has shown up. In the last seven days they had
refuted McCarthy’s early hypothesis of artificial herbicides
killing the earthworms, debunked suggestions that changes in the
microclimate of the soil was the cause, and totally dismissed any
possibility that oils spills or other chemicals had been the cause.
Then, Dr. Krishnan had identified the biological nature of the
threat- a previously unidentified virus present in every single one
of the dead earthworms. Krishnan had deduced and reported to
Onassis his theory that the virus had been single-handedly
responsible for killing millions of the creatures, stunning several
west coast states into silent perplexity, and inducing a condition
of uncertainty on California’s farmers. Onassis had reported this
to the President, who entrusted Onassis with controlling and
containing the unusual outbreak. Onassis wasn’t sure what would be
the next stage, but he was sure that it couldn’t be good.
Which
is why we should involve FEMA. We still don’t know if this thing is
transmissible to people in the long run
. Onassis sighs,
weighing his options. FEMA could bring in counter-biological threat
agents that are trained to prevent the spread of diseases. Contrary
to popular opinion, FEMA does much more than merely hurricane and
flooding relief, most of which is now seen in bad light as a result
of the hurricane Katrina mangling. The agency is also designed to
deal with both natural and man-made biological disasters, an
ability that Onassis believes the situation warrants.
Too bad,
really, that the Governor doesn’t want to declare a state of
emergency. Mr. All-is-normal will wait until the situation
worsens
, thinks Onassis silently.
Curses
.
What other
choices do we have?

With the FEMA option out, Onassis realizes he is
relying more on the CBIED-UC team that he placed together rapidly
to give him the answers he is looking for. Ranking his priorities,
Onassis explicitly told Krishnan that he wanted to know
precisely
where the virus came from. After that, he wanted a
cure, a solution, an aerosol mitigation; anything that could stop
the malignant viral process from continuing.

Where can I get more scientists from? I need the
best, and I need them now!
Onassis had already spoken with over
two dozen university presidents in a hasty effort to acquire
immunologists, ecologists, and wormologists for the USDA’s
investigative effort. Onassis knows that Krishnan has very capable
scientists from CBEID, but still believes that any more help is
better than no more help.
I need some guys who are skilled in
counter-biological spread. FEMA is out of the question right now. .
.hmmmm
. Suddenly an idea hits him. Onassis dials one of his
Secretarial colleagues.

“Welcome to the Secretary of Defense’s office. If you
would like to leave a message, Press 1-”, Onassis jabs the six,
bringing him in direct contact with the Secretary’s head secretary.
“This is Onassis, from the Department of Agriculture. I need to
speak to Henry”. “One moment please”, is the reply. Over the phone,
Onassis overhears the man ask “who? Agriculture? What for? Let me
see. . .” Beep. “Yes? This is Henry Bates. Onassis? What do you
want, I’m busy?!”, the other man’s gruff voice booms over the phone
line. “Henry, good to hear you’re doing so well. I have a situation
and I may need some of your people to help fix it.”, states Onassis
smoothly. “Really?”, replies Bates at the other end of the line, “I
can’t imagine any situation where we may actually have to join
forces. Now I’m curious, what is it?” “Well. In case you haven’t
been paying attention to the news, there is a large environmental
disaster going on right now on the west coast. It could be-“
“terrorism? Intelligence should have found out earlier. .-“ “It's
not that. Well, I don’t know for sure yet, but I doubt it. It is a
biological agent, though, viral, and its spreading really fast.”
“Sounds like bioterrorism to me. You should have notified me
earlier.” “We
don’t
know what it is. We could use your
counter-biowarfare guys to help us investigate the case and find a
solution. You have specialized teams for this business, right?” “Of
course. I could have our AMRIID division ready to assist you in
less than twenty-four hours. Where is this outbreak?” “California.
My team is based in Los Angeles. Yes, that would be a great help.”
“I’ll see to it personally that they arrive in Los Angeles quickly.
They know their jobs; your outbreak should be quickly taken care
of. I’ll inform the President.” “Thanks, Henry”, answers Onassis.
Bates ends the conversation by switching off the line.

Well, that’s that. Now we have the Army to help
us. Maybe their guys know something about infectious diseases that
we don’t. Hmm, I doubt that though.
Content that CBEID and the
University of California will now have AMRIID to work alongside
them, Onassis decides on his next course of action. Figuring it is
the right time to coordinate a joint quarantine effort with Canada
before the worm infection spreads there as well, Onassis picks up
the phone to call his counterpart in Ottawa.

Shanghai, People's Republic of China

The world’s largest shipping port is located in the
Yangtze River Delta on the eastern coast of the People’s Republic
of China. Huge quantities of cargo traffic is processed daily
through the ports thirty four state-of-the-art container ports,
including exports heading both East and West as well as imports
arriving from Europe, Africa, and the Americas. In the hustle and
bustle generated by dozens of ships, hundreds of dockworkers and
thousands of multicolored containers, the presence of one addition
ship attracts little notice or attention from anyone. This
particular ship, however, is carrying merchandise from the
McGreenery Corporation- an assortment of horticulture and
foodstuffs. Due to China’s increasing demand for more food and
better quality food in the last decade, the country has resorted to
importing food in order to support local food production, which is
not enough to meet demand. Certain items that are harder to find in
China are especially important to import.

Thus, items such as oil seeds, fruits, pulp, and
organic chemicals find themselves high on the list of items coming
over from the New World. Amongst the McGreenery Corporation’s
products include seeds of various kinds, olives, and olive oils.
The dockworkers use heavy machinery to load the shipboard
containers from the vessel onto waiting railway cars. The railway
cars will then take the items to a massive distribution facility
where smaller crates will be places into trucks to be shipped to
their respective destination cities. The olives in question will
head to cities as wide flung as Nanjing, Xi’an, and Tianjin. There
they will be taken by individual companies who will sell the
products to local restaurants, businesses, markets, and
residents.

The small detail that slipped passed the dockyard
supervisor in Los Angeles, however, has also made it through the
stormy waters of the north Pacific. A few earthworm corpses of the
genus
Lumbricus
have survived the high waves and salty sea
to land in the People’s Republic. Despite a lack of passports on
their behalf, their presence goes unnoticed by the dockworkers who
do not open this particular container, passing it off with a
cursory glance. The little critters continue their global journey
to the world’s latest Asian super tiger, bringing with them an
unwarranted gift that has already left a shock in the land from
which it came from.