Chapter 8
Monday August 22 2086
The Manor, Massachusetts
5:00 PM
The team of six was assembled in Lab Six, each working within their own field of expertise. Cam was diving into the Datastream, searching for covered-up artificial viruses with similar symptoms as the ones plaguing the HCBA's livestock. Nadia Chase was deeply engrossed in the samples of the virus, furiously conducting experiments with an expertise only she had. Courtney Cruz was, as usual, upstairs in her own private lab, supposedly genetically redesigning future generations of livestock to be more hardy against the virus. Doug Green frantically filled out paperwork in an attempt to bypass laws and regulations. Anya de Ralez was methodically (one could say sluggishly, if not for her long hours dedicated to staring into the microscope) working through categorizing the virus and listing every symptom. And Charlie Liess was nowhere to be seen- she had left thirty minutes prior to find more stimulants. With no more than thirty-six hours of sleep between the six in the past four days, long yawns echoed throughout the lab and dark bags grew under exhausted eyes.
Charlie burst through the door, nearly toppling the large pile of files Nadia had collected. "I have stimulants!" she announced, and the five gathered around her, clamoring for theirs. The high-energy stimulants, black liquid sloshing in tiny rose-glass bottles, were top-of-the-line, meaning they were thirty credits apiece. Luckily, with Charlie's generous funding, they were supplied with fresh bottles every two hours.
Nadia yawned and stretched, moaning, "I think my eyes are going to fall out of my head."
Doug nodded, mumbling something incoherently. Cam smiled at the assembled team, eyes drooping. "My MindBubble keeps sending me alerts to go to sleep."
Courtney, the only one that didn't appear to be on the verge of hibernation, clapped her hands. "I'm calling a fifteen-minute break, everyone. Do whatever you want; our deadline for the brief is in an hour and that means you can sleep after we're done." Cheers echoed through the lab.
Anya slouched against a desk loaded with her notes. "I've nearly classified the virus. It's tricky because engineered ones can do whatever the creator intends them to. At this point, I wish I could infect the creator."
"It's a kinder fate than he deserves. I mean, heart attacks, bleeding eyes, and, get this- the animals finally die because they go into anaphylactic shock, triggered by their blood. That's nearly impossible to do!" Nadia threw up her hands in desperation. "And I'm still weeks away, possibly months, from developing a testable vaccine."
Doug muttered something, rubbing his bleary eyes.
"Doug says that we should focus on catching the guy that did this," Cam relayed. "And he's right. Maybe we can force him to give us the antidote."
Courtney slammed a fist on a titanium lab table. "That's it! Cam, can you find out any potential creators?"
He blinked at the uncharacteristic exclamation. The sullen Courtney that hid in her lab was gone, replaced by a hopeful, bright-eyed young woman. "Of course," he replied. "I'll collect information on people that have a history of genetic engineering, with enough expertise to create something like this. In the meantime, we should all be wrapping up our parts of the presentation."
Anya de Ralez gave a curt nod. "Is everyone done?"
Nadia rubbed her eyes. "I've categorized it and recorded its major symptoms."
Courtney shrugged. "I've arranged the media outlets and the story will be covered exactly the way we need it. I've got several politicians waiting to hold a press conference about the virus. The only problem is, should we tell them it's artificial?"
"No." Doug stood up, having received a temporary burst of strength from the stimulant. "People will panic. The less they know, the better. We have to cover up as much of this as possible." The assembled team murmured assent.
Cam gasped loudly, interrupting the thoughts of his teammates. "I think I found him."
The team gathered around his MindBubble, intrigued. Cam flapped his hands wildly while he explained, "This is the only guy that I found. His name is Rick Maynard. He's a fifty-two-year-old bioengineer that designed the counter-virus to the Spider Flu- remember that? That crazy old whack that lived with, I don't know, a thousand or so tarantulas was trying to enhance them- make an army or something- and he screwed them up and made them deadly venomous. Anyway, Rick sold his cure for two million credits to some company- LivCorp, I think it was- and he's been hiding in a private lab out in the West Mountains ever since. Someone tried to wipe all recent traces of him from the Datastream, but I did some tweaking and found a bank account. He's broke, the idiot. He's elusive but I pinged a satellite and I know where he's living."
Nadia raised an eyebrow. "So we're going to fly over and find him, and he's going to give us the cure, just like that?"
Anya shrugged. "It could work." Then she snapped her fingers. "We need a bribe. Payment for the cure."
Charlie grinned crookedly. "How about partial immunity for many, many crimes? I can rustle up some fake papers-"
"Or," Nadia interjected hurriedly, "or, we give him a small share of the HCBA. A quarter percent, maybe? That'll keep him going for a long time."
Charlie sighed. "You're no fun, Nadia. But yes, I'll donate the .25 percent myself."
Cam's fingers darted over the MindBubble touch interface, commanding the computer to track Rick Maynard's precise location. "He's tucked away in Oregon," he proclaimed. "At the base of Mount Hood."
An image of a large, majestic mountain overlooking a blue lake appeared. Doug arched an eyebrow. "There are places that still look like that?"
Nadia laughed. "The idiot's crouching in a Global Center illegally."
"No way!" Charlie snickered. "I've got the best idea. Three words: Global Police uniforms."
Cam threw his head back, emitting a bark of laughter. "He's going to have a heart attack!"
Anya crossed her arms with a disapproving huff, claiming, "I'm too old to play dress-up and intimidate men." But she couldn't keep the budding smile from peeking through. The older woman was just as amused with the prospect of a mission.
Courtney excused herself to receive a call while her teammates cheerfully planned their attack on Rick Maynard.
"What do you want?" she hissed.
The voice on the other end replied, "I want you to follow through on our deal, Courtney."
Courtney sighed. "I told you, Damien, I won't be responsible for thousands starving. I'm sorry, but I'm going to pursue this cure."
There was a long, deep sigh from Damien. "Fine. But I'm withdrawing that funding from your project, Cruz. You'll regret defying me."
"Always so melodramatic, Damien." Courtney bit back a grin.
Damien cleared his throat. "Very well. I'll be leaving you to your pet project, then. Farewell, Courtney."
"Goodbye, Damien," she replied.
"Oh, and Courtney? If you don't mind, tell my daughter to come home for dinner once in a while. We do miss her."
And with that, Damien Liess hung up.
Monday August 22 2086
The Manor, Massachusetts
6:00 PM
The perky GNN reporter, Darla Dare, opened the 6:00 news with her customary, "Darla Dare double-daring you to have a great day! You are watching GNN, the highest quality news on the hour! Welcome to the latest scoop, with special guest Courtney Cruz!"
Nadia rolled her eyes at the perpetually upbeat reporter. Having been over three days without adequate rest, she was easily irritable, and the chirpy voice of the obviously well-rested reporter was already driving her mad.
"Can she not be so happy? I mean, this is an actual crisis we've got right now," Cam muttered to Nadia, as if reading her thoughts.
"Shhh, we might miss our cue," stage-whispered Charlie, running her hands through her short hair wildly. It had no effect on the condition of her hair whatsoever- in fact, she only succeeded in mussing it up further.
"Charlie, cherie, you're going to go bald if you keep tearing your hair out like that," Anya reprimanded sternly.
"Can you all stop worrying about it? I'm trying not to lose my mind right now, and none of you are helping in the slightest," hissed Courtney.
The team muttered assent, except for Doug, who paced back and forth so quickly that a rut would have formed, had the floor been made of anything other than an indestructible titanium weave.
Then the man operating the camera system gave them their cue. The six shuffled onstage in front of the audience. A round of applause for the team members rang out. "Please welcome Dr. Nadia Chase, Dr. Anya de Ralez, Doug Green, Asher 'Cam' Jones, Charlie Liess, and, the star of the hour, Courtney Cruz!" Darla exclaimed, clasping her hands together excitedly. The team members nodded their heads, reluctant to be under the bright lights rather than in their beds.
Darla ushered her guests to an assortment of comfortable seats arranged like a living room. "So, I see that you're excited to be here to share your discoveries with the world?"
There was an awkward silence as the exhausted team realised that a question was posed. Courtney spoke up first. "Yes, and I hope you'll excuse us if we're a bit sleepy- I'm afraid none of us has slept much over the past four days as we were trying to identify the virus."
Darla nodded approvingly. "Very well. Now, we here at GNN have been gathering as much information as we can on this mysterious virus, but you scientists will have the most information on the subject. I know that you, Dr. Nadia Chase, are the only expert on artificial viruses in the world. Care to enlighten us, Dr. Chase?"
Nadia sat up, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. "I- yes, absolutely. I've classified the virus as CAV-86, Carnivorous Artificial Virus. It targets the heart and immune system of the body, and it cumulates in a fatal surge of self-triggered anaphylactic shock." There was a peculiar silence among the audience.
"Basically, the animals are allergic to themselves. The body shuts off the lungs and heart; every victim dies within minutes of contracting the virus," explained Courtney. There was a surge of outraged muttering from the crowd.
Doug stood up suddenly and began to race off-stage. "There's an emergency back in the labs!" he announced as he stumbled behind the curtain.
"What is it?" Charlie asked, jolting upright from her state of torpor.
"New virus- gotta go," Doug replied, already whipping out his wrist-comm.
Nadia sighed and made her way to the door, but Courtney beat her there. "No, Nadia. They can deal with it. I'll send de Ralez with Doug and Cam. You have to stay here and prevent a mass panic." Then, in an undertone, she added, "That's ten thousand more credits to explain a virus to a bunch of morons. Do you think you can handle it?"
With a deep huff, Nadia relented. "Fine. I'll do it."
"Thank you," Courtney replied with a genuine, grateful smile- the first real emotion Nadia had ever seen the stoic and often disgruntled scientist display other than frustration.
The two sat back down. Darla chuckled, exclaiming, "The lives of scientists must be so action-packed! Tell me, Dr. Chase, how did you get to working with Courtney Cruz, of all people? My sources inform me that you were a wild cat behaviourist before all of this?"
Nadia rolled her eyes. "Well, Charlie Liess came to me with a business opportunity. It turns out that that opportunity was working to save the world."
Darla raised her drawn-on eyebrows skeptically. "Really? Save the world? So you believe that this virus could kill us all?"
"Not at all," Nadia stuttered. "I simply mean to say that quite a lot of the world depends on cloned livestock, and if they are wiped out, there would be mass famine. Five billion people would starve to death- nearly 90% of the population would be dead in 6 months."
Someone in the audience fainted. There was a surge in the dark mutters from the viewers. "I- um, wow, that's fascinating," Darla replied, suddenly unsure of herself.
"I hardly think that the near extinction of people is fascinating, Darla." Nadia eyed the reporter with such intensity that a chill ran down her spine.
"I think that's enough for today. We apparently have another crisis to attend to, so if you please?" Courtney intervened, shattering the tension in the room.
Darla nodded, clearly grateful for a respite from Nadia's piercing gaze. "I do believe our time is nearly up. Thank you for agreeing to be on the show. Remember, I'm Darla Dare with GNN, giving you the news as it comes!"
The audience, instead of applauding at her usual closing, filed out silently.
Nadia sighed and raked her fingers through her hair, unraveling the hastily done bun. "I think I just aged ten years," she noted to Courtney.
Courtney nodded sympathetically. "GNN is the worst. Every interview ends like this. You'll see."
As the two exited the GNN building and headed towards Courtney's hover, a gaggle of reporters spotted them and crowded in from all sides, yelling questions at the exhausted women.
"Courtney Cruz! Is it true that you know who's behind the virus?"
"Dr. Chase! What does it feel like to be part of a task force saving humanity?"
"Courtney!"
"Miss Cruz!"
"Nadia Chase!"
Using a surge of energy reserved for emergencies and nosy reporters, Courtney steered Nadia towards the hover, refusing to look directly at the media hounds.
**Remember to like this chapter and add this to your stories if you want to keep up with Nadia and the gang!