Plague Planet (The Wandering Engineer) (73 page)

“Right,” Robby said, picking up steam. This was an elegant
solution to the problem, she wasn't sure why the admiral hadn't suggested it a
while ago. “From what I understand of the admiral's system,” she turned to
glance his way and nodded briefly to him. “The anti-virus nanite would act as
an artificial immune system, much like the admiral's. Instead of inoculating
against each individual pathogen we could program the nanites to scrub for them
as we learned about each pathogen.”

“All right, go on,” Salt said, cocking his head.

“Think of the streamlining involved here. Instead of rushing out
vaccines every few hours, and never having enough for everyone, we can make a
one shot. Inject then update it as needed. I'm not sure about that part,
technical matters really aren't my thing, but the solution...” she turned to
the admiral.

The doctor was excited by the idea, bouncing as she laid out her
grand brainstorm. The admiral crossed his arms and watched her. He didn't want
to burst her enthusiasm, but he did feel he should rein her in a bit.

“Instead of chasing each of the damn viruses, then inoculating
people, only to watch some die anyway, we can make the nanites, get them into
people, then update them with the latest threat profiles daily.”

“Like a computer anti-virus software package,” Sprite replied.

“There's one problem doctor, it's illegal to use nanites in this
way.”

“Not with the planetary medical emergency clauses admiral,” Sprite
replied. The admiral blinked. “It was revised in the constitution after we went
into stasis in Senka. The leading medical authorities can, and I quote, take
any measure to fight the Xeno pathogens during a planetary bio-terrorism
incident, unquote.”

“Oh?”

“It's there admiral,” Sprite flashed the relevant paragraphs and
clauses. He scanned them dutifully. “I know you're nervous about nanites...
Which is unusual for you...”

“I'm a product of my upbringing commander. It took a little while
for even my hind brain to catch up you know,” he said dryly.

“Be that as it may, it is a viable project. The problem is getting
it past the population.”

“They don't need to know,” the doctor said with a shrug. The
admiral turned to stare at her. She hunched her shoulders a bit then stood
defiantly. “They don't. Explaining it to them will take up too much time. We
can explain, in time, but right now every minute is critical.”

“Doctor...”

“Better to ask for forgiveness than permission?” Sprite asked
slyly, smiling. The doctor slowly smiled back. “There are some ethical considerations
there doctor.”

“They are clamoring for a cure, a cure all to all the pathogens.
This won't  kill it outright, but it'll be a one shot and it will kill all we
know about, and then we can update it as needed. It can update in what, a
minute?” she asked looking at the AI.

“For what?”

“To update the queens with new pathogen targets to find and kill.”

“It depends on the data transfer method and the amount of data you
want to transfer. I'd say a minute is pushing it for one or two pathogens.”

“All right, thirty-seconds each. We could do entire rooms, maybe
entire blocks of people with a radio signal right?”

“Inside or out, yes,” Sprite replied. “A cell signal would work.”

The doctor nodded enthusiastically. “All right,” she said.
“Queens, a work force, and a couple princes for power. The princes will have to
be exothermic and translate the host's body heat to electrical power for
transfer or they will have to tap the body's natural electrical generation.
Ultrasonic for inner communication, daisy chain it... Some sort of transceiver
for the cell signal?”

Sprite nodded. She liked how the doctor had caught onto the basics
of nanotech despite the lack of an electronics or robotics education. “The
signal would have to be encrypted. Which is a problem. If it was anywhere near
where a Xeno or hacker could pick it up the chances for misuse go up
tremendously doctor.”

The doctor frowned. After a few minutes she shrugged. “We'll have
to work on that. Even if we have to use it only here in town with short ranged
methods.”

“You could work on ident packages at the same time,” Sprite
suggested.

“Going a little too far ladies,” Irons replied, waving a hand.
“The misuse of this technology is frightening, especially when you start
throwing in identity chips into the mix.”

“Oh all right,” Sprite replied, relenting. The doctor bit her lip,
unsure.

“I see your enthusiasm doctor, but I assure you, this has been
thought of before, by many people over the centuries. It's very... seductive to
use this technology. To not only cure this virus, but the next outbreak. Then
screening for STD's. And what about population control? Why not repair defects
in the bodies of the patients or prevent them from passing on bad genes all
together? Tracking people? Locking them up if they break the law? Even killing
them with a push of a button? It's a very slippery slope we're on,” the admiral
cautioned, sternly looking into her eyes.

The doctor paled visibly. “But one that is currently facing
downhill. We have to try it,” she said. “We can always yank the nanites later.
Maybe create a dead man’s switch? Or a I don't know um...”

“Suicide gene?” Sprite asked. “A kill command? Something embedded
in the nanites that will kill them after say a year? Most of the nanites won't
last a full two years in a host body, they won't be self-replicating. So those
that fall victim to the host's bodily functions or immune system won't be
replaced. Eventually they will attrition down to nothing.”

“Point,” the doctor replied. “You're right,” she said looking at
the admiral. “This is going to take a lot of thinking about. But right now the
implications matter less then getting the project off the ground.”

The admiral sighed and nodded, stepping back to watch her go to
work with Sprite for a time before he turned and left the building.

“Is it really bothering you this much admiral?” Proteus asked.

“You, no. This... a little. But it's an elegant solution. I just
remember what they taught me in war college, beware elegant solutions. They
have hidden pitfalls. Usually you become so enamored in it working you fail to
see them and write plans to compensate for their faults.”

“I see.”

“Also...” he pursed his lips and stopped by the building. “There
is a very old saying, something dating back from the twentieth or twenty first
century, I'm not sure. Sprite knows the original quote, but it goes something
like this. The scientists were so excited about what they could do they never
stopped to consider if they should.”

“Jurassic Park,” Sprite interjected. A founding principle of
ethics for medicine and scientific research after the first AI war admiral,”
Sprite replied. “And I hadn't forgotten it.”

“I see,” the admiral said.

“I'm aware of the dangers. I will try to guide the good doctor
into thinking along those lines.”

“All right,” the admiral replied with a nod. Proteus seemed quiet.
He sighed. “I take it you're going to be busy helping her? Both of you?”

“Yes.”

“So, I should go jack in at the industrial area and let you go to
work, great,” he sighed, shaking his head.

...*...*...*...*...

It was an innovative idea, but dangerous if it was mishandled and
for some very scary. The team got back to work, and within a few days had a
modified version ready for test. Each version would have to be coded for the
host body, since they were different species. There was only so much data they
could get into a nanite.

Irons recognized the approach they were using, it had of course
been done before. He wondered how much Sprite had coached them on the plan. She
may have subtly guided the design, he wasn't sure. He did know he'd have to
talk to her and Defender soon. At least Defender wasn't throwing up any red
flags about breaching security.

To the staff it was innovative, to someone who already had it in
place... a bit of a repeat. All officers had such nanites in their bodies he
knew, the military had instituted such protocols to protect its people from not
only Xeno bio weapons, but also against being replaced by a Xeno changeling.
And of course the entire thing was classified up the ying yang.

He had been tempted to brief them, they were officers in the navy
now. But... they were green. Too new to being officers, and none of them had
military discipline. Well, Sam Daniels and Salt did, but none of the others had
any common sense. The two men were the pessimists, forcing them to take the
most pessimistic assumptions and slowing them down to make them think things
through. Robby and La Plaz at first seemed to resent it, but after Sam had been
proven right twice they had reined in their eagerness and were willing to
listen.

It was surprisingly easy to create the nanites, something Irons
wasn't sure he liked, but kept the misgivings to himself. Fortunately the staff
was fussing over the thing, refining it. They were on the latest version, batch
E-1101. They were looking for a suitable test subject to try it.

Irons knew it was far from ready, they had little testing. Sprite
and Proteus had simulated the nanite immune system, so far it worked, but the
nanites were rough, if they detected an infected cell they were much like a
cancer surgeon, they not only killed the cells infected, but also any of the
surrounding tissue. That was a scorched earth tactic he wasn't sure would be
effective. The cure could very well kill the patient.

Viruses worked by tricking a cell, inserting themselves into the
nucleus, overwriting the cell's DNA with its own, and then inducing mitosis
until it filled the cell and the cell wall burst spreading the virus through
the host. Each virus attacked different cells, so in order to cure an infected
person the nanites would be ripping chunks out of every part of their body. The
host would survive if they were healthy and used quick heal, but if they were
older, young, or already very sick, the consequences of using the nanites were
grim.

They planned a series of medical tests on animals in the morning
as the computer finishes running simulations. Doctor Robby argued they didn't
have time. She was outvoted and over ruled by her colleagues however.

...*...*...*...*...

When the latest batch of vaccines were ready, Robby Daniels, a
nurse, and Irons went to the hospital with the load of materials. Nohar
silently kept them company, helping to guide them through the sea of bodies.
His presence as a Neotiger helped make some people back off.

“Why did you do it? The boy and the hospital ward?” The doctor
asked after they made their way through the crowds to the hospital.

“Because...” Irons sighed. “There were a lot of reasons, like not
letting a desperate guy with a gun go on a rampage. But the main one? I saw a
little boy. A child. I took my eyes and mind off the big picture and did what I
could. I don't know if he lived or died.”

“I don't know either. Rumor has it that Fat Larry took the kid out
of the hospital later when he stabilized,” the doctor said.

“That figures,” Sprite said.

The woman turned, seeing a woman carrying the limp body of a
child, jiggling it, trying to get the child to live. She closed her eyes,
feeling her eyes sting.

“So... sometimes we have to do what we have to do in order to get
the job done. Thanks admiral,” the woman said, breaking off and immediately
loosing herself in the crowd.

“Something I said?” the admiral asked.

“I don't think so. She's thinking deep thoughts but I'm not sure
where she made that connection.”

“Whatever. Let's get this done,” he sighed.

...*...*...*...*...

It only took her a few minutes to get through the crowd back to
the virology lab. She took the precaution of looking normal as she made her way
through the labs various corridors and cubicles to the quarantined area where
she had been working on the nanites. She turned, closing and locking the door 
and then she took a deep, deep breath.

“This is...soo stupid,” she said, letting it out. “But here goes,”
she murmured.

“What's that doc?” a nurse asked over the intercom.

“Nothing,” she murmured. She didn't want to draw attention to
herself. At least not yet.

The doctor took the latest nanite sample and hesitated, looking at
the syringe for a long moment. Then she turned, raised her right arm out palm
up and plunged the syringe through herself selfsealing blue pressure suit and
into her arm. She gasped as the needle bit into her flesh, she couldn't find a
vein through the suit of course. The gasp changed to an anguished cry of pain
as her implants flashed red and pain ran through her arm. She must have hit a
nerve she thought, dropping to her knees.

“Well, isn't this a kicker,” she said, hanging onto the edge of
the counter for support as her left hand dropped the syringe. Red lights were
flashing. Sam came at a run, pounding on the door. She turned and gave a wan
smile as her husband arrived behind him.