Microbiotic Mutiny

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Microbiotic Mutiny

 

After spending more than eight years working to find a way to genetically modify the body to extend its life, Korel J'Ranus had finally achieved his triumphant moment; while the basic principle was never in doubt, how to actually carry out the process had troubled him greatly, but looking back at a small outbreak forty plus years into the past had given him the key. The past outbreak was caused by a mutagenic virus that caused people to start growing extra organs within them, but the virus had been very fragile and didn't spread well, so that it was contained and eventually wiped out, except for a few samples that had been stored in a high-security and ultra-high-containment lab. He had been able to successfully pitch his idea to the government, and was able to work with that virus and study it. Eventually, he discovered the secret to the virus' mutagenic capability, and had then found the way for it to carry out his life-extending manipulation. After successful tests on lab animals, he had been able to approve it for human testing, and was the very first to do so.

 

The testing was a success, but it was difficult to grow the viruses and they still didn't spread well, so the process was cost-prohibitive, and only the richest, most affluent individuals had been able to undergo the process by invitation, which by this point had been classified ultra-secret by the government. Knowing that it would likely stay that way, Korel was determined to bring this miracle of science to the masses, so he went back to work to see if he could make the virus more contagious. Another three years went into this process, and he finally had what he wanted: a virus that was easily spread, and above 97% contractible. More testing was put into effect under standard control procedures, and it was a success. He then wanted to take it to the world, but the government insisted a larger scale test be performed, and a village was set up 48 km from the capitol, and populated with volunteers sworn to secrecy from the government ranks and those with their hands in the government pocket.

 

The virus was unleashed, and all seemed well. After six months, all but eight of the 2,146 volunteers had their lifespans potentially doubled by the virus. However, unknown to Korel and his team, or anyone else, some virus cells had lain dormant in a bathroom within the village. After being hit with some UV radiation, the virus mutated, and began to breed. When a young man came in to the bathroom to clean it, he contracted the virus, went home, and fell ill; thinking it no more than a common cold, he went about his usual business, and thereby infected dozens more. From there, it began to spread like wildfire. At this point, the mutated virus was not truly lethal, but very painful.

 

Korel, meanwhile, had been happily vacationing on one of the southern sub-tropical islands, a well-earned reward for his decade and a half of dedication and hard work. It was then that he heard on the news of a small outbreak in the capitol city, and he called up a colleague in the area to see what was going on. All his friend could tell him, however, is that an unknown virus was causing people to become very ill. There were a few deaths in the elderly and infirm, but healthy adults were struggling through, but with some organ damage. Shortly thereafter, Korel was on a flight back to the capitol to see what he could do.

 

Settled into his lab, he placed a slide with the new virus under an electron microscope and took a look. Five minutes later, he moved away from the eyepiece, pale as a ghost and sweating more than he had broiling under the sun on vacation. He knew the protein shell of his own virus as well, if not better, than the lines and folds of his palms, and the virus under his microscope was the same. Feverishly, he studied the inside of the virus to see what had happened, and felt a thrill of fear upon discovery. His lovely, life-extending virus had mutated into a potential killer. What was worse, is that as people began to contract the first virus, they opened themselves up for the second, because the design of the virus made antibody creation difficult. Out in the world, this is exactly what was happening. As people got a slight fever and maybe a few chills, their body was being modified and their lifespan extended; then, the virus wearing the camouflage of the beneficial one would come in and start attacking.

 

With Korel working frantically to find a way to stop this cycle, the government began ordering supplies and working to treat what was, at that point, a dangerous but not yet entirely lethal outbreak. The virus, however, exposed to more radiation and the mutations expected with much reproduction, changed yet again and became the monster that the senior scientist had feared from the moment he sat up pale and sweaty from his microscope. Transferred for his own safety to an underground bunker, with lab equipment hastily assemble inside, he worked for a cure with his team. Out in the world, however, the highly contractable virus that he had lovingly made for the betterment of his people now had a mind of its own, and with murderous intent; thousands of people came down with the lethal new version, and more and more after that, until it was a tidal wave that no levy could hold back, and the ending was written. The story still played out as hundreds of thousands of people suffered, vomited, bled, and died until all that remained were those that could find an isolated environment to hole up in.

 

Korel, and what of his team and the support staff remained in the bunker, lost all contact with the outside world, and knowing the extent of what had already taken place, he was not optimistic, but continued to find a way to cure or at least prevent the mutated virus from killing what was likely no more than a hundred people throughout the world that may have survived. Then, the tall fair man and the rather scary woman with the ridged head had walked through the door, bearing news of the complete destruction of the civilization, and questions on how it happened. Likely, they also brought the virus, and he would know soon enough if they had carried it.

 

One thing he knew, however, is that if his son started showing symptoms, he would mix a lethal combination of chemicals and kill him kindly before he could suffer. He would not watch his son undergo that death, though he himself would, as punishment for the accidental genocide he committed.