2022 (3 page)

“About four years—and came out of nowhere,
but are well organized and very well-funded. You’re right about
their ability in reaching out to people very effectively. They have
been so effective that they’re now getting the attention of
corporations, unions, and governments. I’ve been tasked with
finding out all their activities. Should be quite routine given the
tools we have at our disposal.”

********************

From the outside, The Pleasant Belief
Foundation appeared to be another environmental group. The
organization had been founded by an ultra-rich philanthropist named
Richard. At nearly sixty his outward appearance, bald head, shorter
than most and slightly overweight, did not give the first
impression of the founder of several of the largest corporations on
the planet. Yet he possessed an uncanny ability to weave together
current and past events and understand years before anyone else
where they would lead. He attributed his foresight to the power of
concentration and his rigorous meditation schedule. Many were not
convinced, though, and believed he had paranormal powers or could
time travel to see into the future.

As his wealth grew, his data gathering
resources increased and provided him with studies, trends, and
insider knowledge of government, corporation, and financial
institution agendas. While he used this information to his own
corporation’s advantage, he also started to piece together a dark
future for the human race. One where the planet was near, or had
already passed, a tipping point in the areas of pollution, resource
consumption, economics, as well as in the fabric that held society
together.

He was certain that some type of correction
was imminent though not sure of its magnitude. He felt that the
size of it would depend highly on the actions, or inaction, taken
over the next few decades by the world’s population and would range
from a minor disruption to people’s lives to a catastrophic
breakdown.

To do something to slow or reverse the
negative trends he foresaw, he decided to form the foundation,
which had two divisions. The first was the public front whose focus
was to prevent a collapse, and the second was the research
division, geared towards preparations for a major collapse. With no
restraint on spending, these two divisions went to work on several
fronts, hiring the best and not caring much about regulations and
laws in achieving their goals.

Olivia’s eyes snapped open following neither
a slow nor calm transition from the weightless world of sleep. She
found herself breathing hard and feeling panicked.
Could I be
the reason that my friend was murdered?
Her dream had been a
replay of the last time that she had spoken to him. They were
having their normal weekly video conference call and were
discussing recent breakthroughs in microbiology, their shared field
of interest. Immediately before awakening, she remembered having
accidently mentioned Virtuesh, the name of the top-secret virus she
was currently working on. As she sat on the edge of the bed, she
thought about it again.
Could that have done it?

Olivia had known the risks of her current job
before accepting it. She understood that a simple mistake could
kill her, or others and that all the work she would be doing was
highly illegal. She had never considered, though, the lengths that
would be taken to keep it secret.

The initial job posting she had applied for
did not outline the dangers involved. It was a simple ad from The
Pleasant Belief Foundation looking to hire many people with many
different skills, including researchers like her. Like many others
concerned about the current state of the planet, she had seen the
foundation as a breath of fresh air. Although it had started only a
few years before, it had been particularly effective in getting its
message out. Simply put, people had to consume less and strengthen
the basic components that held society together. She had felt
compelled to help and responded to the ad.

A month later she received an e-mail inviting
her to spend a week at the foundation’s headquarters where she went
through a battery of tests and interviews. At the end of the week,
an interview was arranged with the head of the foundation, Richard,
who informed her that she had done well and could choose from
several jobs being offered. He mentioned one in particular that he
would like her to consider.

He described a long-term experiment that the
research division would soon begin; one that he hoped would last
hundreds of years. Four small villages were being set up around the
globe. They would be isolated from the outside world and their
inhabitants would live under very strict rules that ensured a
sustainable outcome. There would be no weapons created in the
villages except those needed for hunting and protection from
wildlife. This would work as long as the land that surrounded them
was protected by the local government. However, if there were a
catastrophic societal collapse, and the government could no longer
protect the space, the villages would be left defenseless.

They would need a weapon so powerful that no
one would try to overwhelm them, and the best defense that Richard
could think of was a lethal virus. Until that moment, she had been
keenly interested in the experiment but now was in a state of shock
after hearing Richard’s plan to use a biological weapon.

She remembered the moment in the interview
when he had pressed a button on his phone and asked for Mikhail to
be sent in. He introduced her, explaining that Mikhail was in
charge of the research division and that he would be explaining the
details of the job he had in mind for her. Then he left them
alone.

She had noticed that Mikhail was more direct
than Richard and not as friendly. He told her that Richard had
hired him because he wanted to keep projects of this size in total
secrecy. Rules needed to be bent, bribes made, and people
threatened in order to get the job done. These were areas in which
he excelled. He told her that based on her psychological profile he
was reasonably convinced she would not tell anyone about the virus
or anything else. If, for any reason, she did talk about it, there
would be consequences, and she clearly understood what he
meant.

Then he outlined the position. The virus,
nicknamed Virtuesh, and its corresponding vaccine had already been
bioengineered in Asia. She was to work out a method for storing it
safely in the villages until needed, developing instructions for
making and administering the vaccine, and engaging with a few other
engineers on creating more of the virus and developing a good
dispersal method. He gave her a day to make up her mind.

She weighed the pros and cons of getting
involved and finally decided to accept the offer. Her reasoning was
that they would go ahead with the plan with or without her. At
least, if she were involved, she could make sure the lethal virus
would be handled and stored as safely as possible. She also thought
that if circumstances became too hazardous, she could contact the
proper authorities.

It was this conversation that took place over
a year ago that she recalled and wondered how far he would go. She
also thought about whether she was really so closely monitored that
just saying the word “Virtuesh” would be enough to get a man
killed. The call to her friend was on a private line so that should
not have been monitored. She spent several minutes examining her
jewelry and various items in her handbag to see if she could find a
bug but found nothing. Still worried, and not knowing what to do,
or whom she could trust, she decided there was little choice but to
get ready and return to the lab.

The choice of clothes for the day always made
her feel better. She loved high-end fashion and since graduating
five years ago she was able to get a position with a salary that
allowed her to build up an enviable collection. She finally decided
on a new blouse and skirt then selected the perfect pair of
high-heeled shoes. As a last indulgence, she stopped at the local
café for a latte and croissant before heading towards the
foundation complex.

It took fifteen minutes to pass through
several security checks and enter her state-of-the-art lab. As she
suited up to enter the biohazard level-four lab, where samples of
the virus were housed, her early-morning concerns were replaced by
the need for intense concentration on the immediate work at hand.
On this day, she would perform some of the final steps in the
creation of a new batch of Virtuesh. As she ran through a mental
checklist of the next steps, an unexpected voice erupted in her
helmet. She came close to dropping the sealed vial she had just
picked up.

“Good morning, Olivia,” Mikhail said.

“Good morning, Mikhail. What brings you to my
neck of the woods?” she asked as calmly as she could. She was glad
to be in her suit. The helmet would make it hard for him to see the
anxiety she imagined that showed on her face, and the microphone
covered any tension that may have been heard in her voice.

“Just checking in,” he said. “I wanted to see
how you were coming along with the new Virtuesh sample. Today is
the day it should be ready, isn’t it?”

With his doctorate in microbiology, she knew
he had a full understanding of her work. She also felt that as the
head of the research division, he should have more important things
to do than spend as much time as he did in her lab. “Yes, today is
the day. I was about to take a look at a sample. Give me a few
minutes, and you can view it as well on your screen.”

She went to a small chamber, placed the vial
inside, and sealed it. With skilled precision, she operated the
mechanical hands inside the chamber and placed a drop of liquid
from the vial onto the sample plate of the electron microscope.
After a few minor adjustments, she could see several of the viruses
on the screen. She flipped a switch that turned on the monitor
outside of the containment area.

“What do you think?” she asked.

There was a pause as Mikhail studied the
monitor. “You do good work, doctor. We’ll need to perform the
standard set of tests on this batch, but visually, they look
identical to the original sample.”

“Yes, I think so too,” she replied. Although
replicating the virus from the instructions given to her was a
risky process, it was something any graduate student in
microbiology could perform. The tough part was the original
bioengineering of the virus and she marveled at the work done
there.

Virtuesh was a derivative of the H1N5 virus
enhanced for both length of survival without a host and for its
lethalness. Calculations had shown that it could probably survive
two hundred years or more if stored properly, and out in the open,
would still be contractible after a few weeks. She was thankful
that this strain was not airborne as that would have made it a
human species killer.

“If this batch checks out ok, you’ll only
have to make one more, and then we’ll have enough to stock the
villages. After that you’ll be able to say good bye to that
spacesuit,” Mikhail said.

“I’ll be glad about that too. The rest of the
work will be related to the vaccine and that’s not nearly as
dangerous. I have assistants working on that now on the other side
of the lab if you want to see how it’s coming along.”

“Okay, I can take a hint and will leave you
alone. When you’re done in there, have me paged; I want to discuss
something with you.”

All the fears from the morning rushed back to
her. “Why don’t we meet in the cafeteria for lunch? I should be
there around noon.”

She stood back from the window for a few
moments to ensure he was gone and then began to breathe again.

As she entered the small cafeteria that
catered only to the in-house engineers and scientists, she reminded
herself that she needed to act as if everything were normal.

The chef behind the counter greeted her. “The
usual?”

The cafeteria was one of the job perks.
Unlike most company cafeterias, this one would make available
anything she ordered, and all of it was covered by the foundation.
For more unexpected dishes, such as lobster tails for breakfast,
prior notice was required, but no other questions were asked. Her
usual lunch order remained simple and consisted of a fruit plate
and a specific brand of European yogurt.

“Yes, please.” She sat at her customary table
beside the window, turned on her tablet, and pretended to read
while thinking more about that morning’s dream. She wondered if she
were becoming paranoid.

Maybe it was just a random murder
. She
wanted to convince herself but knew this wasn’t the case.

The chef brought over her meal, and she made
an attempt to eat. A motion her caught her attention, and she
looked up to see Mikhail stroll into the cafeteria and approach the
counter to get a cup of coffee. Then he walked over to her table
and pulled out a chair. “Hello, again.”

“You wanted to speak to me?” she asked,
wanting to get to the point.

“Yes. I know that you were hired to work here
on Virtuesh and its vaccine, but you’re nearly done. Would you be
interested in working at the North America village site known as
Percipience? Getting their laboratory established and making sure
that everything is set up properly for Virtuesh.”

She hoped he hadn’t noticed her exhale with
relief. “For how long?”

“That’s up to you. The construction time is
about a year so you could be part of that, or you could join the
village permanently. You have the personality profile for it.” He
strongly suspected that she had leaked information on Virtuesh and
he wanted to monitor her actions. “But if you decide to stick
around, you have to make your decision formal very soon. Permanent
members do help with the construction, but most of the next year
will be spent training them on basic skills like farming, making
clothes, and building things in the on-site Fabrication Hub.”