Under a Graveyard Sky

“Schools out for summer…” Dr. Curry crooned, looking at the latest spread graphs. Only Sunday and they’d gone from dots on the West Coast to spreading red in every reporting zone across the globe. And the “Save the Planet” deodorizers had been found in dozens of public locations stretching up and down the eastern and western seaboards. Somebody had been a busy little beaver. “Schools out for ever…”

* * *

“Okay, first of all…” Dr. Karza said, shaking his head at the scene in the interrogation room. “Get him out of the cuffs.”

“Doctor…”

“Just get him out of the cuffs you dick-brained myrmidon!” Karza snarled. “He’s not going to be able to think if he thinks he’s on his way to Gitmo and WE NEED HIS BRAIN!”

He waited until the agent had released Shull and left.

“Idiots,” Karza said, shaking his head again. “I mean, not actual idiots. They’re smart. They just aren’t bio smart. And that scares them. And I didn’t literally mean we need your brain, just in case you were wondering…”

“I didn’t make the virus,” Tim said, rubbing his wrists. “Please, I really didn’t! I’m worried about catching it!”

“I know,” Karza said, nodding. “My lab processed the hell out of yours. There were zero pathogens in your lab and I’m pretty sure from the looks you hardly ever went out. And eventually they’ll figure the same thing out.”

“I really don’t,” Tim said, hunching up. “Not since I left school.”

“Sorry about the master’s thing,” Karza said, shrugging. “I know Dr. Wirta. He’s a dick and not nearly as important as he thinks he is in the field. I’m Dr. Azim Karza from the CDC, by the way. And while I’ll admit you have more problems than I do, try being the lead investigator on a bio terror attack while being Islamic, born in Iran and with a name like Azim Karza.”

“I can imagine,” Tim said, chuckling and sniffling at the same time.

“Your mom is fine, sort of,” Karza said. “She’s been released and she’s gotten you a lawyer. Who for all sorts of Patriot Act reasons isn’t going to be able to help you any time soon. On the other hand, CDC is on your side. We get how the DOJ reacts in these sorts of things. They think about the perp walk and calming the public because just because you have the culprit the plague is going to stop all by itself! We react differently. Which is why I’m here. We’re going to be moving you to Atlanta pretty soon. Not the Pen, to CDC. FBI and DoJ are still going to be going apeshit and asking all sorts of questions you can’t answer. That’s because they don’t know which questions to ask.

“We know you don’t know how to make a vaccine or a ‘cure’ as the FBI keeps insisting. They’ve been watching too many movies. ‘What’s the cure?’ They don’t like ‘There isn’t one, even theoretically.’ But what we need is your knowledge of dual expression. So what we’d like you to do is go with the flow for the time being. You’re under arrest but as of this point you’re also one of our research associates. Until DOJ can get over ‘he had to have made the virus’ they’ll probably insist on treating you like a criminal. Let them. Cooperate with them. Be polite. Keep your head down. If we, that meaning the CDC, can possibly get one of our people along the whole time we will. And he or she will be there to both pick your brain and keep the Fibbies from getting berserk. Let your lawyer work on getting you out and work with us on finding a vaccine. Deal? At the very least it’s going to make their argument that you must have done it because you can a little weaker. The term is ‘cooperation.’ Goes loads with judges.”

“Absolutely,” Tim said, nodding vigorously. “I mean, a chance to work with the CDC on this is like a dream come true. I really really want to help!”

“Good,” Karza said. “Good. Now: how in the hell did you get a DNA virus to express an RNA virus? That right there was effing brilliant…”

* * *

“These are all the points to two hours ago where the canisters have been reported,” the agent said, pointing to a dot-filled map. “The red dots are where they are presently and have been verified by removal teams or local police. The yellow dots are reports from owners or managers where they were reported to have been seen and removed prior to determining the spread method.”

“That’s…” the President said, looking at the map. “There’s a line…”

“The unsub appears to have worked down the West Coast to Los Angeles,” the Attorney General said, working from notes. “Then Interstate Ten to its joining with I-20. From there the unsub continued to I-95. Indications are that the unsub then went north through the Washington, New York, Boston corridor, then down again into Florida. The indications are that it was one unsub or unsub team. If there were more they would have been expected to spread out. This is definitely a single movement. Because the pathogen was initially…” he consulted his notes for a moment. “Because it was asymptomatic at first, there was no indications for some time this was a bioweapons attack. Current estimates are that the unsub could have completed most of this spread within the period prior to the neurological symptoms outbreak.”

“Any idea who he or she or they are?” the President asked.

“We have a number of working suspects, Mr. President…”

“So do we,” the Director of National Intelligence said. “Al Qaeda being at the top of the list…”

“That’s an absolutely unfounded attack, Director,” the Secretary of State said.

“Oh? Really? Shall I count the ways…?”

* * *

“Welcome to the Centers for Disease Control, Mr. Shull,” Dr. Dobson said.

Shull started to hold out his hand, then pulled it back.

“Nothing against you,” Dr. Dobson said, hastily.

“No, sir, Doctor,” Shull said, just as quickly. “I…I guess I’m having a bad protocol day.”

“We’re having a more or less ongoing teleconference this way,” Dobson said, gesturing for the former master’s candidate to precede him. “I’d like to say… Not sure where to start. First of all, your dualistic expression is an amazing breakthrough, especially with limited resources…”

“My dad had a lot of insurance,” Tim said, shrugging uncomfortably. “After… Stanford I just sort of… I guess I got obsessed. And I was right. You can get a dualistic expression!” He paused as he remembered what his breakthrough had been used for. “Is this how Oppenheimer felt after Hiroshima?”

“Probably,” Dr. Dobson said, nodding sympathetically. “Through here…”

* * *

“Mr. Shull has yet to be fully exonerated by the DOJ,” Dr. Dobson said. “But the CDC is satisfied that while he may have discovered a method of dualistic expression that he did not develop the H7D3 virus. He is, however, the only one that knows anything about dualistic expression. Dr. Addis?”

“Pasteur…”

“Mr. Shull, from what we have gleaned from your videos the expression is two fully separate viruses. To be clear, the secondary virus is also able to replicate?”

“Yes, D… Doctor…” Tim said nervously. “It of course depends on what you want to replicate as the secondary expression. But a secondary expression can be a replicable organism. My initial experiments were with a nonreplicating secondary expression but… Yes, Doctor.”

“Pass…”

“Hong Kong…”

“Mr. Shull, as with these others I’d like to add my congratulations on your breakthrough,” Dr. Bao said. “However it has been used. The question is whether in your opinion a vaccine against the secondary expression alone would work?”

“I believe so, Doctor,” Tim said, his brow furrowing in thought. “There is no reason that it should not. I…I was following the progress of the information about the pathogen before the dualism was identified. And I’d like to congratulate you, as well, Doctor. I read the draft paper before… Before… Very brilliant. Just really… Uh… The thing is that even before that I was…wonder… More like worrying that it was a dualistic