The Demon Plagues Read Online Free

never get anything done.
Besides, she and her small staff worked better with some personal
contact.
    Her title was ‘Chief of Integration.’ What
she really did was try to coordinate and rationalize the entire
far-flung research program of the Free Communities. This meant a
lot of work on elimination of redundancies, negotiations on budgets
and resources, and personnel issues. It also meant she and her
staff had tremendous visibility across the spectrum of development
efforts, from the genetic engineering and improvement of the Eden
Plague, to the foundational work on the fledgling FC space and
missile program.
    As soon as she got there she logged into a
secure link with Elise Markis. The chairman’s wife headed up the
Free Community’s Eden Plague improvement effort, and had been
instrumental in eliminating its major problems. All except the
virtue effect. That had never been overcome. Shawna sometimes
suspected that it never would be, and perhaps shouldn’t be.
    Maybe the scientists working on it have
suppressed information; if they tweaked the virus to overcome the
virtue effect, we’d be back to a lot of the same old crap – crime,
vicious politics, domestic abuse – that is mostly gone now. If the
price is difficulty defending ourselves…tough call. Can’t force
them to cough it up.
    The microbiologist’s face popped up on her
screen. “Hey, Shawna, How are you? You look fresh and bright.”
    “You do too; no more all-nighters? How’s Cape
Town?”
    Elise smiled. “It’s all right. Though I get a
lot more done if I work straight through. Research is a creative
endeavor.”
    “Yes, you’ve fed me that line before. Any
news? You’re late on your last report.” Shawna put on her best
no-nonsense boss face.
    “Sorry about that. I let a lot of the staff
take some time off. Tinker should be back today. No, nothing new.
Has you-know-who come up with anything on you-know-what?” Elise was
talking about Cassandra Johnstone, Markis’ chief spymaster and
confidante.
    Shawna wondered how Elise could avoid
worrying about the close working relationship those two had, but
she never seemed concerned. “No, sorry.”
    Elise shrugged. “Well, frankly we’ve gone
about as far as we can on the EP. It unravels the Devil Plague -
the original alien virus - almost perfectly now, and it augments
the immune system against just about any known germ. But we have no
idea of how it will do against a Von Neumann nano-infection,
assuming there even is such a thing.” She was talking about
theoretical self-replicating machines tiny enough to inhabit a
human body and affect it just as germs did. “We need a sample of a
real threat before we can defend against it.”
    “I hear you, just like I heard you last week.
I’ll ask again,” she said resignedly. “Anything on the airborne
front?”
    “The usual.” Elise shrugged.
    “Elise, are you sure…” Shawna ground down,
exasperated. “Look, I’m no microbiologist but I do know that
viruses mutate and become airborne all the time. It’s always a big
worry with any deadly new one. How hard can it be?”
    “Shawna, are you asking me whether I’m lying
to you?” Elise’s eyes were wide with surprise.
    “I’m just asking what others ask me, Elise. I
don’t think you’d lie to me unless you thought it was very, very
important…life and death, in fact. Some people think if the FC
makes the Plague airborne, the Big Three will initiate an all-out
nuclear strike…so are you sure none of your team is suppressing a
discovery out of that fear?”
    Elise’s brow furrowed. “No, I can’t be
absolutely sure. We have scattered and distributed operations, we
have a lot of quirky personalities, and we have way too many
leaks.” She sighed. “I’ll try to keep my eyes open, but you know
what? I’m exhausted. Tomorrow my second-in-command will be
returning from his week off. I was thinking of going to visit
DJ.”
    Shawna frowned. “I’m sorry, Elise…” She
chewed the