Plague Planet (The Wandering Engineer) (64 page)

“I know but what happens when they find out the truth?” the doctor
asked.

“They aren't far off doctor,” Sprite replied. Helen started at the
holo image of the AI. The AI smiled.. “With your implants you can now access
the classified medical files. Apparently Doctor's La Plaz and Milinkov have
done so. They have successfully created another vaccine based on the templates,
and even modified the vaccines based on the data doctor Ivanov has provided.”

“They have?”

“They're working on each cure. So far they have two completed and
are working on a third now.”

“They have?” Helen asked, eyebrows rising with her tone of voice.

Irons smiled. “Medics are known to be miracle workers doctor, just
like engineers. They'll need some down time. Each virus will need to be tested
of course, but they can key the medical replicators to create each vaccine
dose. I've replicated a hundred and twenty medical replicators for that
purpose. They have the first batches in progress now.”

“Oh.”

“We'll start with the medical staff here of course, but I think we
should ship some to Hazard, Crater City and New Seattle quickly.”

“A thousand per replicator, a hundred and twenty...”

“A hundred and sixteen doctor,” Sprite interjected. “A hundred and
sixteen replicators, they are using four for testing purposes,” she explained.
The director nodded. “That is a hundred and sixteen thousand dosages per hour.”

“So, we really can lick this.”

“Given time. Hope, doctor, right now, it's giving us hope.”

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

The most effective vaccines were those that were bio genetically
engineered subunit vaccines that used capsid proteins of original attacking
pathogens. They were designed to introduce the threat to the body in order for
it to create its own antibodies. When the real thing shows up the immune system
immediately attacked it, in theory killing it.

However not all vaccines were effective based on just the medical
archive templates, and those with a weak immune system to begin with were at
the most risk of the first line vaccines, which were weakened versions of the
attacker. Some still came down with the virus despite all efforts at
prevention.

The process was simple in theory, but in practice it involved a
lot of steps.

When artificial gene synthesis wasn't available or too time
consuming they switched to another method.

Take for instance a sample of the rhino virus, the common cold.
They would empty out DNA from nucleus, then use replicators to replicate an
anti-virus and vaccines based on the available medical texts, modifying each
based on the data doctor Ivanov provided. Nanites were controlled by the
immunologists and virologist.

Both men were exhausted when each virus was done. They were forced
to take a minimum of a two hour power nap as their assistant took over.

Their assistant would take the replicated DNA and then inject it
under a microscope into a series of donor virus cells. The nurse would induce
mitosis to get the vaccine to replicate naturally, and watch the results.

If it passed that threshold they would then make trays of them and
then incubated them in a bio reactor to get them to bond with the donor cell
and then induce further mitosis. All of the work was done in P suits and lit by
ultraviolet lights, which hampered the work.

Once doctor Richards had her people set up for distribution and
her other bases covered, she threw her own efforts into the virology lab. She
was amused that the admiral had done such a by the book job in expanding the
existing lab, but she saw a few things, mostly logistical that needed tweaking
and therefore went about making the changes.

One of the things that bothered her the most was that there were
four of them with the proper training, Doctor Hadjiri, La Plaz, Milinkov,
herself, and the Veraxin endocrinologist Doctor Gijis. The Veraxin was a bit
behind the others, he could follow directions of course and he had the keys.
They could pass him materials to replicate and he could key it while the others
focused on other projects.

Each doctor had a nurse assistant. Each pair focused on one
pathogen, taking what doctor La Plaz and doctor Ivanov had done in breaking it
down and analyzing it and then comparing it to the templates they had on file.
Then they worked on a vaccine, replicating a test strain and then testing it
with live mice. Unfortunately they went through a lot of mice, sometimes
running out before more could be brought in. But  one by one they were knocking
the viruses back.

Unfortunately that was all the people they could put on the
project, the other doctors would just get in the way. But Irons had other
thoughts for them, he replicated additional medical replicators and then had
them either work on treating some of the patients in the hospital, or
reassigned them and a medical replicator to nearby Gotham. They would be able
to replicate materials as needed from there.

When a vaccine was done they tested it, tested it, and tested it
some more just to be on the safe side. The first batches were only partially
successful, Sprite calculated that they helped less than eighty percent of the
population. More refinement was needed.

 “It's a generic anti-virus strain, but right now it's all we've
got. We need people to get a live sample of the viruses so we can adjust this.”
This would hopefully be much more effective than what they had been using for
inoculations. She'd run out of material there. They'd used generic measles and
flu shots for the public, Irons estimated that they would be less than ten
percent effective.

“Normally a vaccine takes months,” Helen replied. “We normally
have to isolate it, weaken it, and then find ways to keep it weak so it can be
used as a vaccine. This...” she indicated the tall bioreactor they had in the
virology lab. “I honestly don't know how effective this will be.”

“Right now doc, something is better than nothing,” her assistant
said. “But you are right, we need active...”

She held up a hand. She'd been thinking about this for a while.
They needed to relocate to Hazard. “I know. I'll call Hank. We'll send him some
supplies and he can play Guiana pig and point man.”

“Oh?”

“The admiral wanted the virology lab set up in Sin City. I'm sure
that it might work there, but Hazard is in the line of fire and it has more
resources. That was why I sent it there. That and Hodges is scared shitless,
too scared to pull a fast one.”

“But...”

“It also has the airport. Sin City doesn't. I'm the director of
medicine, my call. I'll get the ball rolling, my responsibility. You get the
next strain prepped. I'll...”

The assistant put a hand on her boss's shoulder. “First doc,
officer or not you're going to get some rest. Then we can talk about the next
strain. I'll prep it. I know what to do now. It shouldn't take me as long. Then
I'll get some down time while you work.”

“Slave driver,” Helen grumbled good naturedly.

“I learn from the best doc. Go eat and make your calls. I'll get
this done.”

“Right,” Helen sighed. She got up and felt weak kneed. Running her
implants had really sapped her. The concentration she realized, was like a
marathon surgical session. And her implants weren't fully integrated either.
She could feel a headache coming on, it wasn't all low blood sugar.

“Yeah, I think I need some down time,” she muttered leaving. Her
assistant watched her go in concern and then returned to her work.

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

With Helen up to her ears in the vital virology work, Ted Zane
took over as her liaison. The Malcolm twins resented it but she ignored the
griping and low key carping. She'd been tempted to have doctors Chung and
Ramius work on enhancing additional medical staff, but each taken out would
mean less available now... and each would take a week to recover fully. She
knew she still wasn't a hundred percent.

The first time Zane had contacted her through her implants had
scared the bejeezers out of her. He'd probably done it on purpose for that very
reaction. She vowed to get even with him later. With their Wi-Fi links the
augmented staff were starting to form a cliché of their own, she'd have to
watch that later.

The Wi-Fi links did allow for faster communication and access of
information. Zing, an email or instant message to someone, or they could open a
window and talk with them over audio or in a virtual mode. And wow, accessing
information? Bam it was there, like a headache, but all they needed and more,
right there, literally in their brain, or at least close enough.

Jerry, her ex-husband, had somehow managed to slip onto the
grounds and even managed to get to the outer layer of quarantine around the
virology lab before Nurse Joy had pushed him back outside. Richards was going
off shift for a meal break, she'd taken her ex to lunch. He could tell she was
weary.

When he found out about her implants he dropped his fork, and jaw.
She'd grinned, then snorted in amusement as he stared at the jack ports
embedded in her skin, then into her eyes.

“What are you looking for?” she finally asked.

“Circuitry,” he said.

She snorted. “Well, you won't find it. It's too fine to see, and
besides, most of it is on my optical nerve. Now, do you have enough for a
story?”

“Um...”

“How the medics are doing their best? How two nurses died getting
these implants? How one died in recovery and another is in a coma?” she asked,
waving a hand. He nodded. “Good then.” she dabbed at her chin with a linen
napkin. “Glad that is settled. Yes I'm alive, no, I can't go into a lot of
details, I've got to get back into the fight. When we've got more, you'll know
more.”

“Okay,” he said gripping her hand. “Just as long as you're safe.”

She smiled, squeezed his hand and then went back to work.

Before she could return to the lab Ted Zane sent her an e-mail.
She sighed and paused as she read it. He reported thirty more volunteers for
the augmentation, most were nurses, orderlies, or civilians. One was the
admiral's assistant Andrew, a young man with rather lofty goals, she thought.
He may have been inspired... or had been inspired by greed over having the keys
handed to him. As if the admiral would do such a thing.

She could understand now why the admiral had tested her, or at
least the AI had. It was responsibility, not just over one like she was used
to, or even several lives as she was also used to. But a community, a world,
even the entire sector. It was a heavy burden to bear, and she was glad this
sort of thing wasn't handed out like candy.

Only two grad students had signed up to join the naval reserves,
both were in their last trimester as interns, one Bobby was barely scraping by.
She wasn't sure about that. Teri though, Teri the pharmacist might be of use.
She made a note to approve her.

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

Meanwhile Hank had replicated another drone, this one smaller. He sent
it aloft, and then worked on another. The new drones were smaller, slower, but
they used solar panels and had electric pusher fans to keep them aloft for
great lengths of time. Phoenix controlled them remotely. They would orbit
Hazard and the surrounding area, sending back sample data to the Hazard team.

Disbelief over some of the treatment ideas made its way through
the general public. Some of the ideas the public was coming up with were so out
of the box and completely undoable.  However some things were possible. When
the first shipments of vaccines left the Landing airport there was a brief
flurry of anger over it. People in Landing wanted to be treated first, leaving
those already exposed to die. But that cold idea died as the word spread of
inoculation clinics reopening the next morning.

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

Doctor Ivanov reported a strange thing, the first wave of
pathogens had mostly died off due to the time period, the vaccines, and
aircraft seeding the air with attack materials. The lesser virulent strains
were still around, some lingered for long periods of time, but some of the more
dangerous viruses like the black pox had all but died out.

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

Now that they understood what was involved, Doctor Chung and
Doctor Ramius handled the next round of surgeries on the new crop of
volunteers. Most were young, all were eager, albeit very nervous. They did
their bests to reassure them, though they did try to hide how nervous they
themselves were.

The admiral insisted on administering the oath of office, the
orderlies would serve as enlisted. Andrew had agreed to sign on, but then had
backed out when the admiral had informed him he would only get enlisted
implants. Doctor Chung wasn't sure if it was some sort of test or not. Either
way, Andrew had failed it from the look of disappointment in the admiral's
eyes.

The implants took longer than they had by the admiral, also to be
expected. Chung had simulated the surgeries, but they'd still taken their time
to make sure they had done it right. Fortunately there hadn't been any deaths,
but two people had had complications and were in medically induced coma's until
their bodies could recover long enough to apply fixes and patches.