Family Reunion "J"
Read Family Reunion "J" Online
Authors: P. Mark DeBryan
A Novel by P. Mark DeBryan
Copyright © 2016 P. Mark DeBryan
ISBN:
978-0-9977371-0-3
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in review, without permission in writing from the author. You may contact the author at [email protected]
Cover by: Justin McCormick
Cover Photo by: Kellie Brown
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
For Finn, I hope you read this someday and think you had a cool Grandpa.
Thank you for reading my work. If you haven’t read
Family Reunion,
the first book in this series, I recommend it. This book stands on its own, however, and contains no plot spoilers for
Family Reunion.
In fact, this book goes into more detail about how the vaccine was created and parallels the time frame of
Family Reunion.
That brings me to another point I need to make. Originally,
Family Reunion
was to have been a companion book to John O’Brien’s A New World series. However, at the time, John had so many other projects going on that he was unable to fit it into his schedule, and he allowed me to self-publish my story. I changed some things: the name of the flu pandemic, the name of the creatures, and as you will discover in this story, how the vaccine came into being.
I want to be clear that the story lines will not be the same from here on out. My explanation of how the vaccine was developed does not apply to John’s series. The way my story unfolds isn’t better, just different.
I owe John more than I can express for his mentorship and his friendship. His series will always be my favorite, and I hope that if you haven’t already, you will go read all of his books. He is a great storyteller.
Dr. Julian Ruegg’s phone vibrated on the counter next to the screen of the electron microscope. Intent on the image before him, he didn’t even consider the phone. As it buzzed, it worked its way closer to the edge, stopping only when the call went to voicemail.
The same phone had awakened him at 3 a.m. earlier that morning, a call from the Secretary of Health and Human Services. At first he thought Eddie, his lab tech, had gotten drunk and was pranking him, until he recognized the voice. The secretary said the director of the CDC recommended that the president press Dr. Ruegg into service immediately. The South African flu had broken containment and was now showing up in the U.S. as well as other countries around the world. The government was putting up a brave face for the public but the situation was dire. Julian was already working on some ideas, but he hadn’t had access to any of the raw data coming from overseas so he’d only been able to attack the problem theoretically. The secretary informed him that the CDC was hand-delivering a sample to his lab. It should arrive by the time he could get up, get showered, and get there.
The image that captivated his attention now was that of the nanites he had introduced into a specimen for observation. He’d been given the task because of his recent breakthrough in drug delivery through what is known as the blood brain barrier. In nonmedical terms, the blood brain barrier is like a computer firewall for the brain.
The barrier wraps around the outside of the capillaries, the small blood vessels in the brain, its purpose being to isolate the brain from harmful toxic compounds or pathogens. Certain retroviruses could cross the barrier by altering an allowed molecule such as an amino acid or glucose in a way that allows the virus to lurk inside—as if using a Trojan horse, so to speak. For years, a majority in the medical sciences thought it impossible for influenza to cross this barrier because it could not change the DNA of a cell. Doctors questioned this belief in 2009 when they found that the avian flu interrupted neurological function in Canadian geese.
The big pharmaceutical companies had successfully created enzymes that could carry drugs across the blood brain barrier. However, the use of enzymes in previous flu vaccines in Canada was suspected to have caused inflammation, which is deadly to the brain. The vaccines were also feared to contribute to degenerative brain diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. The flu vaccines distributed in Canada were quickly recalled when multiple teenage girls suffered severe brain damage.
Dr. Ruegg’s new nanite delivery system reduced the danger of collateral damage to the brain because the tiny machines only affected those cells specifically programmed into their instructions. This was the theory he was trying to prove with the current set of experiments. A rather significant deviation from the normal protocols was in place and he’d been pressured to produce results immediately. The normal path to FDA approval took years and they wanted this yesterday. The extreme mortality rate of the virus and the fact that it was airborne had prompted President Sanders to sign an executive order circumnavigating the usual process.
Julian’s employer, Miann Pharmaceuticals, was privately held and, until they recruited him from the University of Zurich, had been relatively obscure. Not being one of the Big Pharma insiders was a point of pride within the company. But landing one of Switzerland’s leading virologists, who also headed the university’s neurobiology department, put them on the map.
Miann was associated with a research hospital in West Virginia. They would patent a drug and then license it to a bigger pharmaceutical company to manufacture and distribute. Dr. Ruegg’s successful recruitment to the company had been a coup. On top of a completely outrageous salary, the owners gave him a promised percentage of the profits on any drugs he patented. This was unheard of in an industry controlled by boards of directors and stockholders.
He was under no illusions that he was the only one the secretary had called to work on the problem. He was sure that she had contacted every drug company with any standing, or any individual who had a chance to solve this dilemma.
He depressed the button that activated the communication link to the technician in the biohazard level three containment area. The tech was Julian’s hands for these tests. “You should see this, Eddie—the ‘A team’ nanites are annihilating the virus and zipping around the uninfected cells like the Sandworms of Dune eating Harkonens. Now let us see if the ‘B team’ does their job as well.”
The “B team” was a second set of nanites designed to modify the immune system response. While the “A team” nanites were busy destroying the virus, the “B team” followed in their path, modulating the results. When the immune system becomes overactive, the body attacks and damages its own tissues. When there is an immune deficiency, the body’s ability to fight invaders diminishes, which causes vulnerability to infections. The “B team” nanites were programmed to monitor both and react accordingly.
He followed the progress of the second set of nanites. “We will have to examine this data closely, but dammit Eddie, I think it is going to work.” Dr. Ruegg was having a hard time keeping his excitement in check. Eddie needed every bit of reassurance he could get—one mistake and he would become the first human subject, and only human trial, of the vaccine.
“Okay Dr. R, if you’re through with me in here, I’m sealing the specimen and coming out,” Eddie replied.
“Yes, we are good, come on out. We have much more work to do tonight.”
Julian finally looked at his phone. His wife had called. He pulled up the voicemail to listen to it. “Hey Jules, I was just wondering if I was ever going to see you again. The kids are missing you too. Give me a call when you get a break.” He called her and broke the news that he wouldn’t be home anytime soon.
The next day, after thirty-plus hours of work, they shipped the vaccine off to the CDC, who would send it to the labs equipped to mass-produce the nanites, which would then be distributed around the world.
Eddie and Julian stood in the parking lot. “Well, Dr. R, you may have just saved the world. What are you going to do now?” It was part of the post-work-binge banter.
“I am going to Disney World!” He laughed and clapped Eddie on the back. “Seriously though, go home, get some sleep, and be back here at 6 a.m. We have much more to do. I want to replicate all of our tests and data as many times as we can over the next few days to ensure that we have gotten it right.”
“Boss, there are thousands of labs that will be re-creating our tests.”
“Nonetheless, we will be starting at 6 a.m. Be glad that I am letting you go home at all.”
*****
Two weeks later:
Dr. Ruegg looked at his daughter; his eyes were red-rimmed from lack of sleep and the tears. Angelina was strapped down to the bed in the ICU. She was having some kind of reaction to the vaccine. After running the tests numerous times and being convinced that the vaccine was safe, he had inoculated his entire family. His heart was breaking.
The test results in his hand showed him what was happening to his Angelina. The nanites were supposed to go into a null state, effectively dormant, after their jobs had been completed, but they hadn’t. They had somehow reprogrammed themselves. Impossible, but it was happening.