Virus-72 Hours to Live (9 page)

"Thanks, mam," the waiter said as he left
the suite.

Evette wasn't escorting the breakfast in as
she usually did, "Do either of you know where Evette is?" She asked
the two secret service men.

"Here she comes mam," one of the agents said
as Evette slowly turned into the doorway.

"Evette you don't look very well. Maybe we
all have the same thing. Dave and Beth are both sick and I'm
canceling their day. How are you doing?"

"Not very well. Let's eat and if it stays
down, maybe I can make it through the day."

"Evette, I don't know what I'd do without
you. Let's get this over with so we both relax a little."

It seemed like the breakfast took forever.
Abby or Evette would talk a little then they would do their best to
get some breakfast down and sip a little coffee. It was obvious
they weren't doing well and the lack of detail discussed made that
evident.

"Evette, I'm not feeling well. The longer I
sit here, the worse I feel. Would you please cancel everything for
us today? I think we need a day to rest and recuperate. You look
like you need some down time too."

"I'm sorry, but I think you're right. When I
get back to my room, I'll send for a Doctor and let the White House
know what's going on." Evette tried to laugh a little and
continued, "If I can make it."

"Don't forget to let the French delegation
know that we're canceling the activities today and give them a
typical sick mother and sick child explanation. It has nothing to
do with them."

"Yes, I almost forget them. I'll send them a
fancy note giving them our regrets."

They both smiled a little and ended the
breakfast.

"Evette, I'm going back to bed and the kids
are both asleep. Please check on us in a couple of hours and maybe
we can talk more then."

"Ok, I'm heading to my room right now.
Suddenly I feel worse."

"Evette, take care of yourself," Abby said
as she saw her friend walk down the hall. She closed the door and
stumbled back to her bed. It sounded like a good plan to nap for a
little while then check on the kids.

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

Arnold Patterson was enjoying a few minutes
in his relatively small study right beside the Oval Office; he was
mentally going over the main events of the day. The president's
study hadn't changed much over the last couple of presidencies. It
was a small office beside the Oval Office. The 'day-to-day'
business was done in the study, but when the president needed to
appear 'presidential' he worked in the Oval Office. When he had
time between meetings, the study was a great place to be quiet and
think.

The carpet was thick and the walls had a
couple of small bookcases. Past presidents, who wanted to impress
visitors, had the bookcases full of famous novels. Arnold wasn't
like that he filled his shelves with mementos of his presidency and
past terms in the Senate. He was proud of what he had accomplished.
It was easy for him to have pictures, baseballs, small toys from
children, a hand painted rock and a hardened moose dropping from
Wyoming mounted on a plaque. Many of them were serious and
represented battles hard fought which he had won, but there were
many that reflected the lighter side of helping people and how they
tried to show their thanks.

The window in front of his desk had the
amazing view of the White House lawn and in the distance the
towering spire of the Washington Memorial. Arnold swung his chair
around and looked around the room as he thought. He noticed the
stuffed lion, which Beth had left on a chair during her last visit.
The lion was watching him; he smiled waiting for the faint roar
from his daughter.

There was the typical noise and activity of
the White House. His life was quiet now that Abby and his children
were in Europe, so the sound of his personal communicator buzzing
startled him. Only a few people could reach him directly so it
immediately got his attention.

Glancing at it, he could tell who it was,
"Yes, Eddy."

"Mr. President I'm sorry to disturb you but
there is something I've got to show you."

"Ok, I'll let you in just this one last
time," he said with a little humor although he suspected the
subject wouldn't be very funny.

Within minutes, Eddy walked down the hallway
from his office, knocked on the door and swung it open. The
president looked up at him as he strode across the quiet carpet to
the president's desk.

"Mr. President, if I may, there is an
explosion of information on the net about this virus. The reports
say it's popping in hundreds of cities, the WHO, and the world
community is getting cranked up. The press is eating it alive and
everyone is wondering what is happening."

The president moved his chair and let Eddy
approach, "Computer bring up Hovarti virus summary."

"Yes, Mr. Purser."

The curved computer screen presented a
series of summaries and Eddy touched the ones he wanted to be left
on the screen.

The president glanced at the large screen
and could see dynamic updating to the summaries. While he was
looking at the images, Eddy's communicator buzzed and as he glanced
at the display screen, "Mr. President it is Dr. Caster from the
CDC, and he doesn't look happy."

"Eddy, let me take it," the president said
as Eddy handed him the communicator.

"Paul this is the president. Eddy was just
updating me on the Internet and news feeds, they are throwing out
some dire predictions. Some of our allies are talking about travel
restrictions?"

"Yes sir, there is a concern. Dr. Powers,
the epidemiologist we sent, should have checked in with us by now,
and we are still trying to reach her. When she got there, she went
to a care center immediately. Unfortunately, it was remote. As soon
as we hear back from her, I'll pass the information to your office.
The news that I'm getting is just as dire as what you see on the
Internet. It does appear to be occurring spontaneously in a large
number of cities. Unfortunately, it's also occurring in the US. We
haven't been able to confirm all of the cases but they appear to be
the virus. Sir, I can't explain it, this type of outbreak has never
occurred before. "

"What about travel restrictions in eastern
Europe?"

"Sir, I've heard some locals are restricting
travel but I haven't heard of any of the nation's declaring it.
They are talking about it, but I don't think they have made the
declaration yet."

"Is there anything we can do to limit the
spread in the United States?"

"Yes sir, we have the option of travel
restrictions and quarantine centers also."

"Paul, I don't want to panic the people, go
ahead and start the process for quarantine centers. Let me know if,
and when you need to make the announcement. We'll consider the
travel restrictions."

"Please put together a press release along
with my office summarizing everything and try to get this under
control before we have panic worldwide."

"Yes sir, Mr. President."

"Thanks, Paul, please keep us current. Call
Eddy anytime 24/7 until we get this understood."

"Yes, sir."

The president handed the communicator back
to his chief of staff.

"Eddy check with Walt at the U.N. and see
what he's hearing."

"Yes Sir."

Date – 2051.51325 (12:04 PM)

"Judy, who is with the president? I've got
to see him immediately," said Eddy.

"Sir, he is with the Argentinian
President."

"Please interrupt him and tell him something
of extreme importance is happening and he must be told."

"Yes, sir," Judy said. Then she keyed the
personal intercom to the president's desk, "Mr. President, I'm
sorry to disturb you but Eddy says he has something extremely
important."

"Send him right in."

Eddy jumped for the handle and swung the
door open. "I'm sorry for disturbing you sir, and I apologize Mr.
Perez, but I must speak with the president and I'm afraid it must
be in private."

"I'm sorry Juan; I'll have my staff work out
the details with your people."

"Yes, President Patterson, thank-you for the
meeting and I'm sure we'll be able to find a solution."

The moment, the Argentinean president, and
his aid left the room, Eddy exploded, "Mr. President we have a
worldwide crisis. That suspicious virus is spreading like wildfire
and the numbers, we're hearing, are true. It appears to be a
catastrophic pandemic. Word is spreading fast; financial markets
are under a ton of pressure. Many Eastern European capitals are
setting up quarantine centers. I got an email from Paul saying that
he has to start setting up quarantine centers in our major cities.
I sent back a video message saying we're in full support. I've
taken the liberty of sending a message to the first ladies' flight
crew to prep for immediate departure."

"Have you been able to get through to Abby
and tell her what is going on?"

"Not yet sir, there is a lot of confusion
and I haven't been able to get to her staff; none of them are
answering their communicators."

"Do whatever you have, but get my family out
of there."

"The problem is exploding here too. Many of
the congressmen and their staffs appear infected. Sir, I think you
should consider some form of operation Round Table. We've got to be
concerned with the continuity of the government."

"Roundtable is to lock us all down in the
event of an attack. Locking up a bunch of healthy people with sick
people doesn't make a ton of sense," pointed out the president.

"Sir there is a variation of operation
roundtable, where we separate groups of the government and use
electronic communications. It was intended for biological attacks.
In that scenario, we split Congress into groups and you go to Camp
David with the key leaders."

The magnitude of the situation suddenly
occurred to the president, which was evident, by the way his
expression changed. "I agree, warn the VP and Congressional
leaders. If some of them want to go to their homes we, should allow
that. Put those, who are on the designated leadership list and who
are healthy in quarantine. We have to take care of the sick and
separate them from the healthy. I don't want it spreading among our
leadership. Before we fully implement Round Table, I want a
nationally televised press conference. Have Roberto put some plan
together to implement Round Table."

"Sir, I also suggest, access to you is
restricted to just your family, Roberto, Judy and myself. All
others should be through phone calls or teleconference."

"Lovely, don't let that get out, I don't
want the people to hear I'm going behind some kind of barrier, it
will only cause them to panic more.

"Eddy, I'm not going underground until I
know about my family. We won't go to Camp David until I know what's
happening. Put together a plan to move the key leadership to the
camp and a plan to manage the government the best we can from
there. Once we're there, then we'll consider other options. Before
we jump too high, get my staff together on Videocon and let's make
sure we know what we know."

"Did Paul at the CDC hear back from his
person in the area?"

"No sir, the last message I got a couple of
hours ago from Paul was a vid-mail and he said Dr. Powers
disappeared right after she landed. There is chaos in a number of
the cities in the region."

"Tell Paul I want hourly updates from
him."

"Yes, Sir. I tried calling him just before I
came here, but he didn't answer."

"I did hear back from Walt at the UN,
they're entering into 'panic mode.' The WHO is spreading out as
fast as they can, and they're working closely with Ed's people at
CDC. The WHO is doing the best they can, but they get most of their
resources from countries and most of the countries are in panic
mode and not supporting the WHO."

The expression on their faces showed neither
of them liked that answer. "Ok, just keep trying," said the
president.

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

"Oasis, this is OS210 requesting permission
to dock."

"Permission granted you're clear to dock on
Alpha port. Welcome to our part of space," responded the operations
center controller.

"Roger, Alpha port. Sorry to say this, but
one of our crew doesn't feel too well. Something just came up. We
have Dr. Chevesky onboard and he's not sure what the problem is so
I suggest we follow the contamination protocol and we'll stay
separated until Chevesky and your medical staff give us a green
light. We'll be docking in about 17 minutes."

"Roger once you enter Oasis, go through CAT
Delta to section A12 and we'll leave you in section A12 until
you're cleared. I'll inform our med people to help out," said the
operations center controller.

"Commander Herl this is op center."

"This is Joan, go ahead OC."

"Be advised OS210 is docking in about 16
minutes and they have an ill person on board. Dr. Chevesky is with
them with them and he is suggesting we follow the contamination
protocol until he knows what is going on. I'm limiting them to
section A12."

"Sounds good, we sure don't want some
miserable stomach flu or something worse going around the station.
Go ahead and have section 12 sealed and put the Biohazard signs on
both ends."

What a pain, Joan thought. Having a
restricted area means, everyone would have to go all the way around
the station to go from section A11 to A13. Oh well, the exercise
would do her good.

"Will do," responded the duty officer.

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

Abby opened her eyes, almost. She lay in her
bed for a moment remembering where she was. Her body felt terrible
and breathing took 'way too much' work. Deep breaths were almost
too difficult.

"Beth, Dave!" The thought of her children
immediately woke her up. She tried to roll out of bed to check on
them and she had a tough time. What time is it? Was the closest
thing she had to a lucid thought. Glancing at the clock, she was
shocked and confused when she read 8:35 PM. Had she slept all day?
Oh my God, she thought.