The Viral Epiphany (35 page)

“So maybe the dream is something about that?” Dan suggested.

“I don’t think so,” Sheila said after a moment’s thought. “I don’t know why, but it just doesn’t feel like that is what the dream is about. Besides, Ireland has already obtained its independence.”

“OK,” Dan said, “So what do the wild geese symbolize in your dream?”

“I don’t know.”

“What about the swans then?”

“No idea,” she said shaking her head with a smile.

“The magpies?”

Sheila laughed. “That I do know. It’s an old symbol from Celtic mythology.”

“What does it mean?”

“In Celtic lore, if you saw seven magpies it meant that there was a secret that must never be told.”

“What secret?”

Sheila simply shook her head, “I can’t imagine, Dan.”

Dan finished the last bite of his breakfast and picked up his coffee cup.
 
“Well, Sheila.
 
I think I like my dream better than yours.”

She laughed heartily, “Me too!” she said and hugged him.
 
Then she continued, “Maybe we should forget about our dreams for a while and send the computer code to the CDC!”

“Good idea,” Dan said as he stood up from the table.
 
“Let’s go!”

Thirty-Five

           
In April 1958, Lieutenant Commander Jeffrey White submitted his thesis for a PhD in marine communications to the faculty of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.
 
It was entitled “Long Distance Underwater Communication by Humpback Whales in the Northern Pacific Ocean”.
 
He was barely granted his PhD and went on to serve an uneventful career in the submarine service.
 
The thesis received little notice at the time and for many years it lay in the archives of the Naval Postgraduate School gathering more dust than attention.
 
Then, in 1981 a Navy researcher at the SPAWAR complex in San Diego, California asked for a copy of the document.
 
He was also interested in long-range underwater communication; however his interest lay in communication with submarines, and he thought he might learn something from the whales…

           
Randy James, the communications officer aboard the
SSN Seawolf,
had never heard of Lieutenant Commander White, nor did he understand the physics of long distance sound propagation through the ocean.
 
His function was to monitor his communication station and to send and receive messages as needed.
 
He was counting the days until his tour of duty would be over and he could leave the Navy for a life back in New Jersey.
 
Life at sea hadn’t been as glamorous as the recruiting posters had implied.

At the present time, as the Seawolf churned its way towards Cork, with an estimated arrival in six more hours, he had little to do.
 
The normal satellite communications cable and antenna that had been towed behind the submarine had been retracted because it would not operate well at these speeds.
 
His active sonar was not in use either, in order to maintain the secrecy of their location. The submarine was racing through the deep at maximum possible speed, completely blind.
 

Randy, however, was unconcerned about the lack of sensor information about what lay ahead. At a depth of three hundred feet, there was no danger of running into underwater ridges or other obstacles.
 
The ocean floor here had already been thoroughly mapped and all that was required was an exact knowledge of the sub’s location.
 
That had been secured via a GPS satellite fix the last time they had surfaced. They had then used the GPS data to update the submarine’s inertial navigation system.
 
The submarine’s computers watched over the course of the boat at all times keeping it safe from collisions with inanimate objects.
 
As far as living creatures, such as whales or seals are concerned,
Randy thought,
well, with us having a weight of over nine thousand tons, they had just better get out of the way.

           
At this depth and speed, Randy’s only task was to monitor the Low Frequency Alert Channel.
 
This was an emergency signaling channel that relied upon the principles of Very Low Frequency (VLF) sound wave propagation under water, and was based upon the pioneering work of Lt. Cmdr. White.
 
As his thesis explained, sounds that are very much lower in frequency than the lowest range of human hearing had been found to travel over thousands of miles in the ocean and it was thought that humpback whales stayed in contact with each other in this way. The problem was that low frequency sound could not be used to carry much information.
 
It was mostly useful to get someone’s attention, and that was how the Navy used it, albeit in very rare circumstances.

           
With so little to do, Randy sat at his duty station and tried to read the best seller he had picked up in New London.
 
However, while he would normally have become deeply engrossed in the novel by now, he was finding it hard to concentrate.
 
No one else had died from Asian Fever, yet everyone on the boat was very tense. They all pondered the same question:
Who will be next?
 
Randy wondered if he would have any warning at all if he were the one, and he secretly checked his pulse rate. For some reason his anxiety level didn’t decrease although he counted a normal resting pulse of 68.

He had taken a deep breath and resolved to pay attention to his book when he heard an insistent beep coming from his console.
 
There were two short beeps followed by a long beep, and then the sequence repeated itself every few seconds. He looked in surprise for confirmation at his button indicator display and saw the illuminated VLF button was flashing alternately red and then white. He had never seen a VLF message indication occur while on duty, except during training simulations.
 
He frowned slightly as he watched the light blink on and off, trying to decide whether to report it.
 
Probably a malfunction,
he said to himself and he pressed the reset button. The beeping and flashing lights stopped – for about two seconds; then they began again.

“Captain!” he called out as soon as they had restarted, “We’re being pinged by a VLF boom box!”

Captain Andrews quickly came over, stood behind his communications officer, and listened to the repeated sequence of two short beeps and one long beep.
 
“That’s us!” he exclaimed, “
Seawolf
is hull number twenty one.” He turned to the helmsman and gave the quick order, “Helm! Reduce speed to half. Maintain heading.”
 
Then turning back to the communications officer he said, “Comm., deploy the SATCOM antenna.”

“Aye, aye, sir,” the two men responded simultaneously as the submarine began to rapidly slow. A moment later a whooshing sound could be heard as the satellite communications antenna was released and the inflatable balloon to which it was attached raced upward to the surface.
 
Less than a minute later the external communications receiver board lit up. An incoming FLASH priority message was being received.
 
Randy set the printer to ON and twenty seconds later he handed the printout to Captain Andrews.

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CLASSIFICATION: TOP SECRET

PRIORITY: FLASH

TO: CMDR SSN SEAWOLF

SUBJECT: URGENT COMMUNICATIONS REQUIREMENT

UPON RECEIPT THIS MESSAGE HAVE PRESIDENT CRANSTON CONTACT OMEGA HEADQUARTERS VIA SECURE VOICE.

BRIG. GENERAL JOHN L. BAKER SENDS.

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Captain Andrews held the message tightly and, his heart skipping a beat, quickly walked to the President’s stateroom.
 
This was the first time in his command of the
Seawolf
that he had been pinged by the VLF system and this urgent communications request seemed ominous.
Everything must be going to hell on the mainland,
he thought.

           
“Sir,” he said when the President came to the door. “Some organization called Omega wants you to contact them. It says it’s urgent.”
 
President Cranston took the message from the Captain and read it quickly.

           
“Come in, Captain,” he said.
 
“Grace, I have to call Omega headquarters. They say it’s urgent.”
 
Grace looked up from the book she was reading.
 
She looked much more relaxed than at any time since she had come on the boat.
 
She nodded and smiled slightly but didn’t say anything.

           
Without another word the President turned away from Grace, selected the speakerphone option, and dialed the number for General Baker.
 
It was answered on the first ring.

           
“Brigadier General Baker, Omega headquarters,” he said as he answered the secure voice call.

           
“General, this is President Cranston. What’s happening? Why do you need to speak to me?”

           
“Sir, things are going very badly - very, very badly.
 
Our latest satellite data, plus whatever reports we are getting from various ground resources, indicate that Asian Fever is now spreading uncontrollably.
 
Some cities, such as San Francisco, are very hard hit.
 
Now it looks like Los Angeles is beginning to suffer heavy losses.”

           
“What about other cities?” the President asked.
 
“What about the east coast?”

           
“It’s not as bad there yet. But our projections indicate that it’s only a matter of time for them too. The disease seems to be firmly rooted in cities that have populations of 200,000 or more. Not only here. It’s all over the world. The situation is dire; there’s no other word for it.”

           
President Cranston thought about this for a minute before replying.
 
“Tell me about the rest of the world.
 
How does it compare with the U.S.?”

           
“As you already know, sir, Asia is fully involved.
 
That’s where the disease started and we expect the casualty rate is over fifty percent at this time. The disease appeared later in Europe and they’re about the same as the U.S. However, a couple of cites there…let’s see…Paris and London, have significant Asian populations so it seems that the disease got there early. They’re experiencing heavy losses now.”

           
President Cranston looked over at Grace and he could see that she was now listening intently to the conversation.
 
“I see. What about the other continents?
 
Africa, South America, Australia?”

           
“It’s the same thing everywhere, sir.
 
Sir, we are now at a turning point for the survival of the human race.”

           
“What do you mean?” the President asked as his eyes showed the shock of hearing the reality of these words.

           
“The people are really beginning to panic, sir. It won’t be long before they start abandoning the cities in huge numbers, trying to get away from the disease.
 
But the problem is that they themselves are the carriers of the disease.
 
If that happens, our mathematicians project, and as you know we have the very best mathematicians in the country, that we, as a race, will face extinction. There will be no place on earth that will be safe. No place.”

           
“What do you suggest?” President Cranston asked, almost in a whisper, because he already knew the answer.

           
“We need to stop the disease in its tracks, sir.
 
Now.
 
We can’t wait any longer. If the people start fleeing the cities in large numbers it’s all over. I’ve seen the simulations.
 
If we can prevent the people who are already infected from carrying the disease outside of the cities our mathematicians assure me that the smaller towns and rural areas will survive.”