While his son was at school, being taught the ways of business, resource management, and history, John had plenty of time to call the research lab. It was a special call, in the virtual reality room. He knew the humans of the surface wished they had such technology. But this was reserved, by the families, for the families.
He placed his hand on the door to the room, the sensors identified the hand, the exact shape of it, whether it was three dimensional or not, if it had blood flowing through it, and was still alive, the details of all fingerprints, the DNA signature of the hand. All security to make certain he was the only one allowed in that room.
Satisfied, the door slid open, silently, and waited for him to enter. Once inside, the door sealed the room shut. The room was empty, but the walls, the floor, the ceiling, were all textured, moving, constantly reorganizing themselves. He could call up a simulation of his favorite park from the surface, and walk for miles along its trails, and never move. Just stand there, walking in place, the room changing to keep him feeling like he was moving.
“Bio Lab.”
The room shifted, and a holographic projection of the Bio Lab quickly formed inside the room. With John standing in it. It wasn’t solid. Wasn’t real. But it looked real. The room even simulated the temperature, and air currents of the real Bio Lab, hidden in the Appalachians.
A man formed, seated at a desk, “Good afternoon, sir!” He stood.
John nodded.
“Would you like me to escort you to the bacteria weapons lab?”
John nodded again, and the man, John didn’t even know his name, led him through the building, through locked doors, and past security guards, to the lab. It was real, in the sense the man really did walk through the building on the surface. He wore a set of augmented reality glasses so he could see, and talk with John, who wasn’t really there.
When they reached the lab, the man took the appropriate actions, inserted his key card, had his retinas scanned, and his hand examined, and the room opened, to allow him in. John walked in with him, in the VR room. It was like he was actually there. The same noises, the same smells. All of them simulated in the VR room.
The man walked to three computer panels, where a single man, with the classic look of a mad scientist, stood, staring at the numbers that scrolled past on the screens. “Willie, the boss is here for a status update.
Willie stopped his work, and turned to face the man in the funny glasses. “Good afternoon, sir.”
John wasn’t into playing around, “How is the new strain coming?”
“The CRISPR edits have been completed, and verified.” Willie smiled. “The bacterial strain targets red blood cells, eats them for lunch.”
John nodded. “Good.”
“Would you like to see the most recent test run?”
“Certainly.”
Willie turned to the display panels again, and touched a pale rectangle on the central one. The screen images changed, and showed a video of the last test of the new strain. “Anti-Iron variant test 243 occurred two nights ago.” Willie grinned, “It went well.” A human walked into the room on the display panels. “We picked an expendable item, of course. From the appropriate resource pool.”
John nodded, “Of course.” The human appeared to be a black human from a private prison. He still wore the prison garb.
“Once he was inside, and the seals were in place,” John watched the human on the panels as he searched for a way out of the room, “the V243 variant was puffed into the room, through a single air vent, that was immediately sealed.”
John didn’t even see the puff from the vent. “It was only a 20 cell dose. Invisible to human eyes.” Willie seemed quite pleased. “That’s all it took, though.” John watched as the human subject walked around the room, then sat down. “That’s when the subject became infected. It didn’t even inhale all the cells.” The human walked around the room a bit more. Within minutes, he shook his head, and rubbed his eyes. Then he yawned.
Willie continued his narrative, “After three minutes, V243 had begun reproducing in his bloodstream. At one hour, V243 had consumed the equivalent of one double red cell donation of the victim’s blood. At three hours, the victim became non-functional.”
John watched the video skip ahead, at the three hour mark, the human was resting on the floor, unable to move, and looking rather pale. John smiled. V243 was going to be most helpful in the management of human resources.
“At 12 hours, the subject’s body functions began failing.” John watched the human gasping for air as he laid on the floor of the lab. His hands and feet had turned much bluer, starved for oxygen. Suffocation of the body was occurring. John watched, fascinated.
“At 18 hours, the test was completed, and the subject had total organ failure, caused by lack of oxygen. Further tests revealed the subject had lost 93 percent of his red blood cells. We observed V243 kept consuming those cells until no trace of them could be found. Then, V243 died out rapidly. At the 28 hour mark, no trace of V243 could be found in the remains.”
John smiled. “Good.”
Willie nodded.
“Take the week off, Willie. Spend it with the family.”
“Yes, sir! Thank you sir!”
“Oh, and Willie.”
“Yes sir?”
“Stay away from the coast.”
Willie nodded. “We’ll visit West Virginia, sir.”
“Good.” John turned to face his escort. “Contact the team in Currituck. Tell them the backpack will be ready in 48 hours.”
“Yes sir!”
John smiled. “Good work, gentlemen. Good work.”
Then he let himself out of the room, by turning off the Virtual Reality. The walls of the room resumed their usual, always moving appearance. The door opened, and let him exit the room, then sealed itself shut again.
John was happy. V243 would be released in Norfolk, within a matter of days. That would cure the problem of Hampton Roads, Virginia not having suffered in the war, and greatly reduce the population of that area. It would become much easier to control, once the V243 had run its course.
“Human Resource Management. That’s all it is.” John sighed, as he walked back to his office, “Just like Daddy always said. You have to manage your resources properly, so they don’t become worthless.”
My Soul's Tears 