The Eden Plague

“So…you agree with my plan?”

“Sounds more like a goal than a plan, but yes…I always did.” She smiled reassuringly.

“Even if it causes chaos.” His tone of voice made it a statement, not a question.

She sighed. “Yes. Horrible as it might be, it will make a better world.”

He felt a twisting in his gut. Where have I heard that phrase ‘A Better World’ before? “I bet Oppenheimer said the same thing.”

“Wasn’t he right? After Japan, has there been another use of atomic weapons?” Her gaze was intense.

“No. But a couple weeks ago you were arguing that assassinating enemy scientists was wrong,” he said.

“I didn’t say I had it all figured out. I don’t think there are real parallels anyway. This isn’t a weapon. It’s just goodness that this evil world won’t be able to cope with.”

“But it won’t be just those who accept it that get cured. If you make it contagious, it will be indiscriminate.” Daniel looked at her for approval.

“Good. The faster the better.”

“I think so too. But let me play devil’s advocate for a minute. Aren’t we making that decision for all people? Shouldn’t they decide for themselves? And what if five years down the line we all turn into aliens or zombies or something? What if it does something completely unexpected and wipes out the human race?”

“Come on, Daniel,” she said with exasperation. “I thought you were the risk-taker and adventurer.”

“I’m also the one who took the Hippocratic Oath. First, do no harm. I’m not sure I’m not violating it.”

She shook her head. “If you do surgery, you have to cut. You have to harm to save. But…whatever you decide, I’m with you. I’m your life partner.”

“You’re my wife.”

“Okay mister old-fashioned, yes I’m your wife and you’re my husband. But if I disagree I’m going to let you know. So now you have my views. Let’s practice making the next generation of Markises. Less talk, more do.” She reached for him with abandon.

***

The next day Daniel called a council of war. He termed it “war,” not because they were going to make war on anyone, but because he thought it likely enough their actions would start one.

Against them.

He prepared to explain it all the best he could in the conference room, with computer-projected slides and diagrams. Military briefing habits die hard.

Larry was back, with a whole group of his family members. Daniel wasn’t sure what he had told them but there were about twenty of them, and they were not invited to the council. They were too new and he wasn’t going to risk some kind of schism or budding political dispute in their little community.

He’d made sure that Spooky and Skull got invited back as well. Spooky came, but Skull didn’t. Daniel couldn’t worry about that.

Spooky had brought several family members with him after all: the old, and the sick. They were immediately injected with the Eden virus, and started getting better right away.

Daniel was glad they weren’t among those southeast-Asians who didn’t believe in medical intervention. He remembered a big lawsuit in California some years back, with the doctors trying to force a Hmong family to allow their son, crippled from birth, to be operated on. The family won, and the boy stayed crippled. There were eerie parallels with the present situation.

So it was a small group that sat down to decide the fate of mankind: the scientists Elise, Arthur and Roger; Larry, the Nguyens, Cassie and Daniel.

Daniel opened with, “Good something-time, everyone. What, it’s afternoon? Hard to remember in here.” That got a courteous laugh. “I called you here to tell you about some plans I have.”

Everyone sat up a bit straighter, eyes fixed on him.

“I’ve sounded everyone here out so I think we’re all in agreement, but I want to be sure. We’ve got a couple of dozen new people and we need to keep friction to a minimum. That means we need to have a formal structure, for now.

“Spooky said a while back that I should be the new Colonel Zeke. But I don’t feel right about that. I propose this to start: we’re now the Sosthenes Bunker Council. One year from now – and you can tell people this – we can have elections to choose new Councilmen and Councilwomen. I will be the Chairman until then, unless anyone objects or wants to be it?” He looked everyone in the eye one after another. It was obvious he wanted them all to be on board for this critical first period, because he had to be autocratic to get anything done.

“Okay then. If anyone asks, that’s my title. Chairman. Like a town council, not like Mao.” Daniel laughed, then put on his most earnest expression. “But here’s a serious subject. Very serious. We’ve just been drifting from crisis to crisis, doing what has to be done, but ignoring the main issues. So here’s the first one, and the biggest.”

He swept the room with his eyes. “I think we need to spread the Plague. Come what may.”

A babble broke out, then calmed down after a minute. Daniel held up his hand for quiet.

“Most of what I just heard was, ‘why now?’ I’ll tell you why. First, Jenkins isn’t going to forget I killed his son. He will hunt us down.”

“So why not just turn yourself in?” asked Roger.

Daniel smiled at his brazen lack of couth, and waved back the glares directed toward the man. “It’s a fair question. The main answer is, that won’t stop them. Yes, he blames me personally, but he also can’t lose control of the power of the Eden Plague, so he will be do everything he can to find us before turning it over to his superiors and being cut out. So that’s the second thing. They will be researching. Jenkins will figure a way to pour resources into labs and scientists and within a year or two will probably be ahead of us. If he figures out how to inoculate against it, or how to get rid of the virtue effect, we lose all our leverage.”

Elise cried, “But then we won’t be a threat to him!”

Daniel shook his head. “Honey, we’ll always be a threat. We’re an uncontrolled power bloc with the potential to destabilize the world. And that leads to the third thing. They will find this place eventually. Despite all we can do, unless we seal up completely and never leave, something will happen. They will locate us, and they will come and disappear us. We have to move soon. We have to blow it open so wide it can’t be suppressed.”

“So why not just put it out to the media?” Vi

“Without proof, that won’t mean a thing. It will just alert Jenkins to our plans. We will go to the media, but only after we have acted.”

“You are starting to sound like a terrorist, DJ,” Larry said with a smile, but Daniel could tell he was uneasy.

“Terrorists bring death and destruction as a way to get what they want,” Daniel disagreed. “I am proposing we bring life to millions – billions – of people. Call it insurgency, or a freedom fight. I don’t think there’s ever been anything quite like this before, but the closest I can think of is a war for independence. Spreading freedom and liberty, even though it upsets the established order.”

“So now we’re revolutionaries?” Larry said.

Daniel nodded, undeterred. “We have to be. I have thought long and hard about this and I am willing to accept that responsibility. I can’t let the fear I am making a horrible mistake deter me from doing what I think is right. ‘That Others May Live’ has been my code my whole adult life. I know there will be unintended consequences. Like any vaccination, the Eden Plague will save a lot more lives than it loses.”

Silence prevailed for a time as everyone thought about what he had said.

“So how are we going to do it?” Roger asked, always the scientist.

Daniel held up a hand. “First, we have to agree to do it at all. To impose a solution on the world. To spread the Eden Plague against their will. Sure, a lot of sick people will welcome it. But a lot of people will get it without a choice – from us spreading it deliberately. From birth, even, as soon as pregnant carriers start having babies.” He looked over at Elise and smiled. “So I’m going to leave this room right now. I’ll be at the nearest hatch, enjoying the breeze. I’ll come back in at sundown or when someone calls for me. But you all have to talk it out and reach a consensus, without me to impose it. Because it might be the most important decision ever made.”