Oliver hung up the phone, satisfied that he'd done the right thing. A little while later, Oliver checked his tissue sample: the viruses had multiplied in the tissue, but there was absolutely no change to the tissue from the mutagen, scanning all the way down to the genetic level. This took a couple of hours, as he got more and more sweaty. Perhaps the refrigerant in the air cycling unit was running down. He's have to get that checked, when this was all over. Hank was shivering, though. Oliver frowned. This seemed like more than a cold...
He looked up when the phone rang and picked up the receiver. Callie's voice: "Dr. Simpson? The men from Homeland Security are here." "OK, Callie, you'll have to help them with access..." There was a loud bang on the other end, then the line went dead. Oliver had a sinking feeling, but he wasn't left in suspense for long. The security door blew inward a few minutes later, armed military types rushing in to check the lab for any exits. Then they turned, raised their weapons, and shredded Oliver and Hank both with sub-machine gun fire. Then they backed out, setting incendiary charges as they went, and destroyed the building. They set fire to the remains and delayed the arrival of the fire department to make sure that the evidence was concealed as much as possible. While the fire department worked to contain the blaze, DHS brought in massive earth-moving equipment and extinguished the main building by covering it with inert dirt.
The families of the 122 people killed in the building and resulting fire were informed that no identifiable remains were found, and the city held a mass funeral service two weeks later. By the time of the funeral, some men all over north america were complaining of cold-like symptoms and general exhaustion. No one could figure out where the disease had originated. Within months, they started dying off. Too late, other countries attempted to restrict travel to and from the continent, but within a year the plague had traveled to every community in every part of the globe. Within 10 years, all male humans had died. Mass anarchy resulted, with war and famine following from the breakdown in infrastructure. Groups of female scientists and doctors banded together to either figure out what was happening, or, more often, to create clone embryos to insert in mothers so that the race could continue for another generation. However, a global backlash against medicine and science resulted in witch hunts in which anyone practicing medicine or science were burned at the stake for causing the cataclysm.
After 20 years, no community had the population density or infrastructure left to maintain any standards of electricity, water, or sanitation service, and women sank into complete barbarism. His daughters grew up, fought to survive and died in a world very different than the ones into which they were born.
Within 60 years of Oliver's death, the last human beings died, leaving the earth free for the next sentient species to develop.
THE END |