Virus-72 Hours to Live (29 page)

“Acknowledged.”

“Comm, aside from providing the information
interface you’re now responsible for searching all sources for new
or developing technologies. You're also responsible for
coordinating everything necessary to isolate them, develop them and
possibly enhance them so that we can use them.

“Acknowledged.”

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

Arnold Patterson sat looking out his window.
The winds were still blowing hard and the rain seemed to be
slacking. The main part of the storm passed through yesterday, but
there were still bands of intense moisture, which pounded the trees
around him. During the storm, a couple of the larger trees had
fallen and everyone hoped today they could venture outside more and
start to clean up. Now was the time to repair the damage before the
next storm came down the pike.

Sitting and watching the storm over the last
couple of days forced the pace to slow down. It was obvious that
his people were starting to run out of people with whom to
coordinate. There were few people in key positions where they had
current knowledge or any information about their areas.

It was easy to sit there and forget about
the last couple of weeks. The birds were still in the trees seeking
cover, but the picture through the window was quieting and
relatively normal compared with the pain the people of Earth had
dealt with. He was hiding from reality. The pain of losing his
family and the knowledge of the hundreds of millions of other
families, which had been lost, was overwhelming at times.

"Why didn't I get it?" was an easy question
which everyone was asking themselves. However, the question was
much easier to ask than to answer. None of them knew why they
hadn't succumbed to the virus. Each of them had a tremendous loss
and each of them thought Why was I spared?

Reality brought Arnold Patterson back to the
moment when he heard a noise behind him. He turned and saw one of
his old friends, Admiral Hagerly. "Nial, come sit down."

"Thanks, Mr. President."

"Whatever you have, let's cover it quickly
then we can sit here and enjoy the weather."

Nial took a deep breath, "Sir, we continuing
to lose contact with operational units. I'm pretty sure we've lost
contact with most of the AF MAJCOMS and Air Forces. We still have
some lower level units responding, but I don't know how long that
will last."

The president sat for a long while before
saying, "Nial if we survive, we'll be going back to an earlier
time. I can't imagine we are the only ones surviving. We have to do
everything we can to contact any survivors out there. If the
survival rate is in the third or fourth digit, we'll have thousands
or hundreds of thousands or people who are lost. Maybe if we can
band together somehow, we'll be able to start a completely new
world. Hopefully, this one will be better than the last."

"Yes, sir. I've been thinking about the same
thing. We're going to have a ton of challenges. We have the
technology now and most of the infrastructure is still functioning,
but it won't last for long. The more survivors we find, the better
our chances will be.

At that point the two of them had nothing
important to talk about, they just sat watching the storm, enjoying
the weather, watching the rain. It was a pleasant time to say
nothing and think about the problems they had to solve.

Wednesday 7/26/51

Date – 2051.56474 (7:07
AM)

“Facility computers; Fin. There are a large number
of mobile units, not under our control moving towards our facility.
I have directed all local mobile units to intercept them and
prevent them from getting closer.”

“Fin; SIMPOC. How far away are they and how
many are there?”

“SIMPOC; Fin. There are approximately 12,000
units and they are 4.3 miles from our location. We have 8,363 units
in their immediate area and I have an additional 6,423 units moving
towards the area.”

“Comm, can we intercept any of their
communications?

“No, they all appear to be encoded and I
haven’t been able to decipher the code.”

“Can we block the communication
channels?”

“No the systems being used are
dedicated.”

“Can we locate where these units are being
controlled from?”

“The activity is radiating from the location
of our other division.”

“Comm, we’ve had no communication from the
other EDU?”

“No.”

“Fin; SIMPOC. What is happening in the
conflict area?”

“Our mobile units have fully engaged the
others. We are currently losing 1.3 units per each invading unit.
It appears they are some of the advanced mobile units with enhanced
strength.”

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

Artur wasn't from a poor family. They
weren't rich, but they had some of the niceties of life. Both of
his parents worked and he was the only child.

His youth was spent part of the neighborhood
gangs. He wasn't terribly good at it because it seemed like a waste
of time. They never accomplished much, just minor street crime.
Artur knew that he was destined for greater things and he didn't
want to waste his time in jail for some stupid youth crime. He
participated and played the game with his fellow gang members but
he was sure not to be the lead, he was more of the manipulator
behinds the scenes.

His role in Thurmont was typical of his
modus operandi; lead from the rear and make sure he was available
to pick up the benefits. The plans, for attacking Camp David, were
progressing and the troops were doing what they were told. He had
convinced them the government was gone and he and Dmitry were
alone. The troops had to worry about the authorities behind the
fence or the ones standing behind them with guns. They chose the
latter.

He was familiar with mobile units. His
family had one of the basic units that cleaned the house and did
most of the cooking. Some of his friends had more sophisticated
units that went shopping and could drive the car. He never envied
those with better units, he just recognized their usefulness. Since
the virus, the mobile units had dropped out of his thoughts. He was
only mildly aware of them before the attack so now they were like
furniture. Like furniture except when they started doing something
unexpected.

Sitting in front of the Mayor's house was
supposed to be a quiet time except when he saw some mobile units
walking in the same direction. It wasn't unusual for them to wander
around, but when they walk as if they're going somewhere, it got
his attention. "Where are they going?" he said to himself. Those
are personal units and shouldn't be doing anything together.
Something is up.

Date – 2051.56574 (3:52 PM)

“SIMPOC; Fin. Our engagement ratios are
improving. We are now using different tactics and losing .87 units
for every invading unit destroyed. It appears that they weren’t all
enhanced units. Now that the enhanced units are removed, the
remainders have slower response times, likely due to less efficient
communications. Our units are beginning to prevail.”

“Fin; SIMPOC. Can you retrieve some of the
enhanced units, so we can examine their capabilities?”

“Yes, I will find the best specimens.”

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

President Patterson and Vice President
Gonzales were walking down the hall to the status room when a door
exploded open and four secret service guards with their guns drawn
ran down the hall towards them. They grabbed the two men by their
arms and began moving further into the building.

"What the hell is going on?" asked
Roberto.

The president suddenly stopped and looked at
the guards and said, "I won't take another step until you talk to
us."

"Sir, please come quickly. I'm sorry to rush
you, but we've detected a number of people by the perimeter fence.
We don't know what their intentions are or if they are part of a
larger force. For your safety, we're moving you to the underground
bunker until we can figure out what's going on."

"Ok," said the president, "but we're going
to walk."

The guards reluctantly backed off but were
still trying to move the two men along. After a moment, they
reached the elevator, which would take them to the lower level and
protective bunker. As they entered, they could hear other key
people being herded in their direction, but the guards pressed the
override button to begin the descent. The first priority was to get
the president to a safe area; the other leaders could wait for the
elevator to return.

The ride to the lower level was quiet until
the doors opened then other guards helped to escort the president
into the bunker. The term bunker was hardly an adequate description
of the lower facility. It was designed for the president to be
safe, and it had communication capabilities, which were the same as
the comm center in the main facility. It could take control of
communications if needed. There was also a briefing room, kitchen,
eating area and bedrooms for 10 people aside from the president. It
was a fully functioning command and control center, to be used in
case of emergency.

The president was getting a little irritated
after everything the country and he had gone through, this was the
last straw. He charged into the briefing room and yelled, "What the
fuck is going on?"

"Sir I'm bringing up the status boards right
now," said the poor staff person who wasn't prepared for that
either.

As the president and vice president slid
into their respective chairs the secretary of state Nancy Bartlett
slid to one on the side. The briefer was a staff member from the
National Security Agency, he was frantic while the DID brought up
the image of Catoctin Mountain Park and the view quickly expanded
to show the outline of Camp David. The almost 2-mile perimeter
fence stood out clearly against the dense forest within and outside
the fence. The patrol road around the fence line defined the
boundaries very clearly. The briefer had fumbled for a moment
before the infrared images appeared over the outline. Just as a
dozen red dots appeared on the northeast corner of the map between
towers 4 and 5, the chief of secret security, Louis walked in and
the briefer eagerly gave up the podium.

"Mr. President I'm sorry for whisking you
and the Vice President down here, but as you can see, we have 12
unidentified people just outside the perimeter fence. It appears
they are reconnoitering the area. We've decided not to engage them
at this time we want to see what they will do. They have been
motionless for about 10 minutes."

"Why do you think they are just looking us
over?" President Patterson asked.

"Because we picked them up on our long
distance sensors and they moved quickly to our fence then they
stopped and they've moved along the fence in both directions. They
aren't moving like tourists, they're moving like a unit trying to
check out our perimeter. As you can see, they're in a defensive
line with two people in the rear. A group, of people moving through
the forest, would be bunched up talking about what they saw.
Remember sir, we have almost 2 miles of fencing and it's pretty
obvious they're not welcomed."

"What are you going to do?" asked the Vice
President.

"We'll give them some time to move on and if
they don't then I'll send out a team to check them out."

President Patterson asked, "How will they be
approached?"

"We don't want conflict so we'll send a
truck with a loudspeaker along the perimeter road and we'll tell
them they are approaching a classified area and they will not be
allowed entry. We'll ask them to announce themselves and identify
who they are. Then we'll base our actions on their response."

"...and we're stuck down here till when?"
the president asked.

"Until we understand their
intentions...Sir."

After about 10 minutes watching 12 little
red dots just sit there, Louis announced in a loud voice, "We've
waited long enough." He spoke into his communicator ordering, "Team
Charlie move to the perimeter and make the announcement."

No one in the room heard the response, but
they could see a green vehicle shape come into view and slowly
approach the area of the fence near the other dots. The vehicle
approached the fence nearest the intruders and stopped.

"Louis spoke under his breath, "They're
making the announcement now."

Everyone in the room was fixated on the
displayed image. None of the red dots moved until suddenly the
entire front line began to move back. They took up flanking
positions with regard to the two dots that had lagged behind the
line. They moved out to the north in a formation.

"Well, that answers our question," Louis
said in a clear voice.

"They're either military or they have good
leaders. That is a tactical withdrawal.

"Louis, you mean we have a military unit
checking out our perimeter?" asked the President.

"Yes, sir. I'm afraid so."

"How would our defenses hold up against an
attack?" asked the Vice President, who was a retired Army
Colonel.

"Sir, we have 20 secret service along with
the full-time Navy guards with all of the heavy firepower we need.
We inherited that small guard unit, but they are only a squad.
Total we have only about 50 fighters. If they attack with larger
forces, we might have a fight on our hands."

Just as the room quieted for a moment
thinking about what that meant, Admiral Hagerly entered the
room.

"Sir what is happening?" He asked the
president.

"Nial, it looks like we've been checked out
by a military unit. They approached the outer fence then when
Louis' people confronted them, they withdrew. Are there any
military units in the vicinity, you trust, that could come and help
out if we need them?"

"Sir, we've spoken with a couple small
groups, but I'm not sure how effective they will be. I'll try to
contact them again and see if we can get some reinforcements."