remains of priests in Constantinople—it was the common practice at the time to bury priests in underground catacombs, making a type of preserve for tissue—shows us that it was in fact some now extinct form of Yersinia pestis.
“If you can imagine the scene in Constantinople, you can see how frightening this particular contagion really was. Bodies were piled so high in the streets that t hey were like roadblocks at every turn. Justinian eventually ordered the burning of the bodies on the outskirts of the cities and this calmed the contagion until the next iteration. But to be perfectly clear, we don’t know why this contagion occurred, or why it went extinct.
“In my research into the plague of Justinian, I developed a coding system, a type of shorthand, for the infectibility of a particular contagion. I did this so that those outside the medical and scientific communities could understand the level of threat they were facing with any disease. I called it the T score and now it is a widely accepted rating model.
“Its theory is simple: T-1 means that the contagion is such that each person infected, on average, will infect one other individual. The common flu is a T-1 contagion. The bubonic plague was a T-3 contagion. The plague of Justinian was a T-4. The scale goes to T-7, which, in effect, would cause the extinction of all mammalian life on earth.”
Ralph looked up to the screen as it changed to a shot of the earth. It went through the different iterations of T, showing small red spots that grew as the infectibility rate progressed . At T-5, all human life on earth was extinguished. He looked back to the audience and adjusted his glasses.
“ This contagion has been determined to be a strand of smallpox . What strand, we cannot say for sure, though we have our theories that it could be black pox . Smallpox , and its derivative black pox, currently, only exist in two places on the planet earth: the CDC BSL 4 labs in Atlanta, and a remote outpost in the former Soviet Union. Other than that, man has conquered and abolished it. It has, to put it bluntly, come back somehow.” He shook his head. “Mother nature always has surprises in store for us it seems.
“ Our most important goal for this contagion is determining its T score, containing it , and if possible, destroying it. ” He adjusted his glasses again. “I see many worried looks in the audience. I myself am not taken to panic and I apologize if I seem too relaxed in discussing this subject. But please do not misinterpret my calm for a lack of concern. To put it bluntly, we are looking at an extinction-level event. At least, for mankind.”
CHAPTER 11
Wilson sat down after the Q & A and a general took his place to begin talking about logistics. Sam noticed that there were no reporters asking questions , just a news crew taking video and audio.
When the general was done speaking, everybody stood and mingled a bit before filing out of the room. Duncan remained seated and sipped his drink as he stared off into space.
“You look worried,” Sam said.
“About possibly the deadliest disease known to man popping its head up? What’s there to worry about? ” He wiped his lips with a napkin. “Sorry, that was a smart-ass thing to say. It’s actually not so much that. I work with stuff almost as dangerous every day.”
“Then what is it?”
“It doesn’t make sense. Smallpox is abolished. It doesn’t exist except in those two laboratories. Why would nature just ‘ spring ’ it on us? And here of all places?”
“I don’t think it was here. I’ve been tracking down the index patient’s history and he was a tour guide in South America.”
“Even if it originated in South America, it’s an extinct organism. We wiped it from the face of the earth. It can’t just come back.”
“So what do you think’s going on?”
“I don’t know. I don’t even know why I feel uneasy about it. Do you know there’s a type of moth that only
“If you can imagine the scene in Constantinople, you can see how frightening this particular contagion really was. Bodies were piled so high in the streets that t hey were like roadblocks at every turn. Justinian eventually ordered the burning of the bodies on the outskirts of the cities and this calmed the contagion until the next iteration. But to be perfectly clear, we don’t know why this contagion occurred, or why it went extinct.
“In my research into the plague of Justinian, I developed a coding system, a type of shorthand, for the infectibility of a particular contagion. I did this so that those outside the medical and scientific communities could understand the level of threat they were facing with any disease. I called it the T score and now it is a widely accepted rating model.
“Its theory is simple: T-1 means that the contagion is such that each person infected, on average, will infect one other individual. The common flu is a T-1 contagion. The bubonic plague was a T-3 contagion. The plague of Justinian was a T-4. The scale goes to T-7, which, in effect, would cause the extinction of all mammalian life on earth.”
Ralph looked up to the screen as it changed to a shot of the earth. It went through the different iterations of T, showing small red spots that grew as the infectibility rate progressed . At T-5, all human life on earth was extinguished. He looked back to the audience and adjusted his glasses.
“ This contagion has been determined to be a strand of smallpox . What strand, we cannot say for sure, though we have our theories that it could be black pox . Smallpox , and its derivative black pox, currently, only exist in two places on the planet earth: the CDC BSL 4 labs in Atlanta, and a remote outpost in the former Soviet Union. Other than that, man has conquered and abolished it. It has, to put it bluntly, come back somehow.” He shook his head. “Mother nature always has surprises in store for us it seems.
“ Our most important goal for this contagion is determining its T score, containing it , and if possible, destroying it. ” He adjusted his glasses again. “I see many worried looks in the audience. I myself am not taken to panic and I apologize if I seem too relaxed in discussing this subject. But please do not misinterpret my calm for a lack of concern. To put it bluntly, we are looking at an extinction-level event. At least, for mankind.”
CHAPTER 11
Wilson sat down after the Q & A and a general took his place to begin talking about logistics. Sam noticed that there were no reporters asking questions , just a news crew taking video and audio.
When the general was done speaking, everybody stood and mingled a bit before filing out of the room. Duncan remained seated and sipped his drink as he stared off into space.
“You look worried,” Sam said.
“About possibly the deadliest disease known to man popping its head up? What’s there to worry about? ” He wiped his lips with a napkin. “Sorry, that was a smart-ass thing to say. It’s actually not so much that. I work with stuff almost as dangerous every day.”
“Then what is it?”
“It doesn’t make sense. Smallpox is abolished. It doesn’t exist except in those two laboratories. Why would nature just ‘ spring ’ it on us? And here of all places?”
“I don’t think it was here. I’ve been tracking down the index patient’s history and he was a tour guide in South America.”
“Even if it originated in South America, it’s an extinct organism. We wiped it from the face of the earth. It can’t just come back.”
“So what do you think’s going on?”
“I don’t know. I don’t even know why I feel uneasy about it. Do you know there’s a type of moth that only
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