After a day and night of non-stop work, Jack and Phylicia almost had the site back up. The cloud servers the government provided were adequate but as with everything the government does there was a lot of resistance when doing even the simplest things. The security requirements were extremely confining, often stumping them until they could contact their CDC liaison who would then chase the request up the chain of command until he found a person that could resolve the problem.
Eventually, they had it all put together and brought the site up. By that time the flu epidemic had reached its peak.
Except for a few trips to see each other Jack and Phylicia had mostly stayed in their apartments after bringing the site up. For weeks they maintained and updated the software and site remotely. But now they had been invited to a meeting at the CDC by Dr. Hughes. Jack called Phylicia about the invitation. Because it would require them to fly, neither was looking forward to the trip. Still, they prepared for travel with a feeling of excitement.
Their first long-range venture outside their apartments since the epidemic had begun shocked them with what they saw. Streets deserted of people except for troops and automated delivery vans. Checkpoints that had to be negotiated. Robotic drones overhead and robot security on foot. Barricades and barriers seemingly everywhere, nothing they had seen on television could compare with what they were seeing with their own eyes.
At one point Jack took Phylicia's hand absentmindedly.
“Jack?”
“Yes Phylicia.”
“This is frightening, isn't it?”
“Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. It's amazing how fragile is civilization. Normality gone in a moment. I'm thinking I may be more afraid of the measures taken to meet this emergency than by the cause of the emergency itself.”
They continued their ride to the airport quietly, taking in the strangeness of the scene, still holding hands.
At the airport, the old security was back, a thing they had only heard about. Besides checking ID's and tickets, security also scanned them for their temperature before allowing them to board the plane. At least the plane was only half full, the seat next to them was empty, no doubt a result of the viral outbreak.
Even though he had been there before Jack found Atlanta to be as strangely unfamiliar as Boston. It was as if the cities had been transported in total to a foreign country or a different planet. The enormity of the situation was more real to Jack now than it had ever been. He was glad he had been of help to the researchers at the meeting. He was glad Phylicia was with him.
The halls of the CDC were bustling with human researchers and robotic assistants. A robot concierge guided Jack and Phylicia to their seats.
The meeting began with introductions. It was an impressive assembly. Some of the better-known names were Dr. John Sailes of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, responsible for understanding how viruses were spread and how that might be prevented. Dr. Mary Heier, head of the Bureau of Biologics at the Food and Drug Administration, responsible for quality control and licensing of vaccines. Dr. James Gold of Virginia's Department of Public Health, the epicenter of the outbreak in the United States.
Dr. Frank Kilbourne, Director of the CDC, began the meeting. “I want to thank everyone for being here today. We at the CDC have been tasked with spearheading the response to this influenza outbreak. As many of you know we could be seeing a new mutation mechanism with this virus where MGE is involved. But however it arose, we are pleased to report that researchers here at the CDC along with researchers at the National Institutes of Health have produced a vaccine for this current strain. This is the fastest response ever to any viral outbreak. It was facilitated by the rapid increase in our ability to model and simulate the viral proteins and their delivery mechanism. We have already decided to have the vaccine mass-produced and we want to thank those manufacturers who have responded to our call. We have also decided not to make this a mandatory inoculation but to allow local health authorities to decide the proper course to follow in their respective communities. We do however strongly recommend that everyone be vaccinated as soon as the vaccine becomes available, which should begin shipping in about two weeks, again a rapid response time by historical measures. We believe with the addition of this vaccine to our arsenal of treatments we will now be able to get ahead of the outbreak.” There was applause from the audience.
When it subsided Dr. Kilbourne continued, “We also want to announce an initiative to offer help to those who have already contracted the disease. As you know in any outbreak there are those that are already infected before they can be vaccinated. This highly contagious virus and its high rate of deaths have convinced us that we also need a way to treat those already infected and that we need to develop that treatment just as fast as we can. To that end, I have assigned Dr. Sydney Spencer, Deputy Director of the Office of Infectious Diseases here at the CDC to head the program. Sydney will now speak to you about this new initiative.”
As Dr. Spencer was beginning to speak a robot concierge came up to Jack and Phylicia and asked, “Are you Jack Jackson and Phylicia Hastings?”
“Yes,” said Jack.
“Would you follow me please; I will take you to Dr. Hughes.”
They were taken to the cafeteria and introduced to Dr. Hughes. “Oh, Mr. Jackson, Ms. Hastings, I'm so pleased to meet you in person, call me Roberta please.”
After asking Jack and Phylicia how they liked their coffee, Roberta turned to the robot concierge and asked that two more coffees be brought to the table.
“I hope you both are enjoying the conference. You two had much to do with making it possible you know.”
“Yes, I do find it interesting, and please call me Jack. Although I have to admit, I'm not real sure why I was invited.”
“We thought, that is I and my team, that you two would find it interesting to see what your work has allowed us here at the CDC to do and the researchers that have been using your software wanted to thank you both personally. I think you will be surprised how much your efforts have helped our research.”
She continued, “It is no small thanks to you two that we were able to develop a vaccine for this infection. I would like to take you to meet some of my team.”
“Thank you Roberta, we look forward to meeting them,” said Jack.
After finishing their coffee Dr. Hughes took Jack and Phylicia to a lab room down one of the side corridors. Upon entering Jack saw about a dozen people. Dr. Hughes called for attention and introduced Jack and Phylicia to those assembled. Jack seemed embarrassed when several researchers congratulated him on his software, but Phylicia seemed pleased, if not for herself then for Jack.
Several of the researchers gathered around Jack and Phylicia in discussion.
“Mr. Jackson,” said Mark Lindsey, one of the virologists.
“Please just call me Jack, Mr. Jackson is just too formal for me.”
“Well Jack. Your software has been very helpful to my research and having an ANI link makes it even better to use. I was wondering what motivated you two to create such a great tool and make it open to all.”
Jack related his original motivation to find a cure for the disease that had killed his family. He then told them about his health problems that had put that search on hold. He brought Phylicia into the conversation by saying how helpful she had been in the software’s development and the price she had paid for that help.
Dr. Wesley Williams spoke up, “We've been able to apply your software to some of our existing projects and with good results. We are also interested in your program for research into providing a treatment for people already infected with a virus. I've been personally charged by Dr. Hughes to look into your idea of blocking molecules. As you know your idea is very similar to one of the ways the human body already employs to neutralize viruses. Have you made any more progress since your last posting?”
“No,” said Jack. “I've given it a great deal of thought though. I don't see any reason the approach wouldn't work except for one thing.”
“What is that?”
“I'm not sure the replication rate for the blocking molecules will be fast enough to block all the virions. It would basically be a race between the blocking molecule production rate and the virus reproduction rate.”
“Yes,” said Dr. Williams. “I had just about come to that conclusion myself. Do you have any ideas?”
“Well, the only way I see that we can be sure to get the production rates necessary is to use the body's cells themselves.”
“You mean as the virus does? Infect cells with blocking molecule machinery and allow them to create the needed copies?”
“Yes.”
“Preposterous,” said one of the virologists listening. “But it might work.”
“Jack,” said Dr. Williams. “I hope you will consider collaborating with us as we pursue a viral cure.”
“Certainly. I would be more than pleased to help out.”
“Jack, Phylicia,” said Dr. Hughes interrupting the discussion. “You may not realize exactly what you have done. You have essentially legitimized the use of synthetic biology in biological research. Something that, as you know, was frowned upon for years by the biology establishment because of the accident that killed the fruit flies.”
“Well,” said Jack. “I was an engineering student before I switched to biology so the idea of using synthetic biology to design a mechanism for viral detection seemed logical. The history of the reaction to that accidental release of gene drives from the Moscow lab seemed to me more of a knee jerk reaction among those fearful of foreign research groups. Gene drives, which everyone knows override natural selection to pass a desired trait down through succeeding generations, in this case, selection for male offspring only, have nothing to do with synthetic biology. As far as I know the reaction, which was never an outright ban, chilled synthetic biology research in academic labs here but nowhere else in the world which is probably why many people are looking at restarting their programs and why I continued with it in my research.”
“I think you will find most of the researchers here at the CDC agree with you. But since we work for the government, we could not approach its use logically as you have,” said a virologist.
“Well, I guess that is the result of not having a real job over the past few months and not needing official approval for my work. I am fortunate in what happened to me although at the time I was pretty distressed. I had personally wanted to be the one that discovered an effective approach to handling viral infections. You only realize after long reflection that it is the effort you contribute to the goal that counts not whatsoever you do.”
“I would be willing to bet,” said Dr. Hughes, “that the methodology that you have provided for researchers here will eventually lead us to accomplishing the goal you set for yourself all those years ago, a universal viral cure.”
“Thank you Roberta, those are kind words,” said Jack.
“And you should be proud,” continued Dr. Hughes, “of what you have accomplished so far. You have contributed just as much to helping us find a vaccine for this current outbreak as anyone here.”
There was immediate agreement expressed by the other researchers.
“And I believe your wife and son would be proud too,” said Phylicia.
Jack looked at Phylicia, he was smiling again.
The End
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