Origins, Part 10
"Targets leaving building."
"Identity of female established as Alecia Connell, student at the College."
"They must be going to her residence. Follow and take down."
"Understood."
--------
"Doctor, why are we going back to my place? Surely we should be informing the authorities about this?"
Alecia felt herself getting out of breath as she struggled to keep up with the Doctor's longer stride. He shook his head, never breaking pace once, not even seeming out of breath.
"Alecia, this kind of thing goes on well above the heads of authority. By the time they get here, the people responsible will have covered their tracks, the deaths recorded as 'collateral damage' and the strain cultivated for sale to whatever country bids the highest."
She tried to take this in. Just a couple of days ago she'd been a student at the College, now she was stuck in the middle of a sick experiment.
"Why are we getting involved, anyway?" she asked.
She instantly regretted the question, as he halted and turned on his heel suddenly to face her.
"Alecia, lives are at stake here! Not just Kris's, but yours and probably hundreds upon thousands of others, maybe millions if someone were ever tempted to let this thing loose. We have to stop this, right now, right here."
She nodded, slowly, in acknowledgement, and they continued walking. He told her as they walked that she needed to get some clothes together; that they were probably being followed, and that whoever was responsible would resort to desperate measures to retrieve the samples.
Alecia fumbled her keys as they reached the doorstep, her nerves starting to get the better of her. The Doctor took the keys from her, gently, and opened the door.
"Whose sample was that?" she asked, as they went into the kitchen.
He went quiet for a moment, and set about making some tea.
"Whose?" she demanded, staring at his back.
His shoulders sagged. Alecia panicked.
"No! Not Kris!"
"I'm sorry," he said, helplessly.
Alecia sank into the chair at the table, not sure whether she should throw up, scream, or both. Silence reigned for several minutes.
"Tell me," she said, finally. The Doctor looked at her. "Tell me exactly how they're doing this."
-----------
"Targets have entered residence, repeat, targets have entered residence."
"Acknowledged. Wait for my signal. Approach from the back."
----------
"I've been studying all the outbreaks I could get my hands on," the Doctor began, "That's why I was late for the Art class that morning - and why I left before you woke. A thought struck me and I had to follow it up."
Alecia nodded, slowly, her hands clasped around the tea mug as though her life depended on it.
"From what I've garnered, it seems they've been introducing a weakening virus into the air in high-traffic areas at universities around the world - untraceable, you see, because it's carried in the air. So at the same time as an outbreak of meningitis, there is also a higher incidence of colds and 'flu symptoms."
"And of course, the guinea pigs being students, nobody thinks anything of it because of the halls of residence, and the close contact students have with each other there, which is usually the first thing to be blamed." Kris' words came back to her as she said it. "All those people in a confined space, breathing the same air..."
"Precisely. And the universities start an intensive program of jabs - which works against them in the long term, and is no real guarantee against infection. It does however work for these people who are creating the super bacteria. They select a few unsuspecting 'guinea pigs', and expose them and some control groups to the bacteria... then wait. It's only a matter of time, with a weakened immune system."
"Oh gods... and they're taking samples and improving the strain each time!"
The Doctor nodded.
"The global nature of this experiment leads me to suspect a large corporation rather than a governmental arm. It's about money, after all, and what government would sell off their greatest weapon to a potential enemy?"
"So what can we do? And what will happen to Kris?"
"In a matter of hours, Kris is going to become a living carrier for the most dangerous bacterial form of meningitis known to man. It will have a one hundred per cent fatality rate. If he is carrying that superbug inside him, they will be able to take their samples from him, he will die, and they will then propagate it artificially. Which leaves us two options."
Alecia almost didn't want to know, but he carried on anyway. "We have to find Kris and cure him before it evolves far enough, and destroy the lab they're using to create it... or... "
"Or... Kris has to die."
-----
"Targets leaving building."
"Identity of female established as Alecia Connell, student at the College."
"They must be going to her residence. Follow and take down."
"Understood."
--------
"Doctor, why are we going back to my place? Surely we should be informing the authorities about this?"
Alecia felt herself getting out of breath as she struggled to keep up with the Doctor's longer stride. He shook his head, never breaking pace once, not even seeming out of breath.
"Alecia, this kind of thing goes on well above the heads of authority. By the time they get here, the people responsible will have covered their tracks, the deaths recorded as 'collateral damage' and the strain cultivated for sale to whatever country bids the highest."
She tried to take this in. Just a couple of days ago she'd been a student at the College, now she was stuck in the middle of a sick experiment.
"Why are we getting involved, anyway?" she asked.
She instantly regretted the question, as he halted and turned on his heel suddenly to face her.
"Alecia, lives are at stake here! Not just Kris's, but yours and probably hundreds upon thousands of others, maybe millions if someone were ever tempted to let this thing loose. We have to stop this, right now, right here."
She nodded, slowly, in acknowledgement, and they continued walking. He told her as they walked that she needed to get some clothes together; that they were probably being followed, and that whoever was responsible would resort to desperate measures to retrieve the samples.
Alecia fumbled her keys as they reached the doorstep, her nerves starting to get the better of her. The Doctor took the keys from her, gently, and opened the door.
"Whose sample was that?" she asked, as they went into the kitchen.
He went quiet for a moment, and set about making some tea.
"Whose?" she demanded, staring at his back.
His shoulders sagged. Alecia panicked.
"No! Not Kris!"
"I'm sorry," he said, helplessly.
Alecia sank into the chair at the table, not sure whether she should throw up, scream, or both. Silence reigned for several minutes.
"Tell me," she said, finally. The Doctor looked at her. "Tell me exactly how they're doing this."
-----------
"Targets have entered residence, repeat, targets have entered residence."
"Acknowledged. Wait for my signal. Approach from the back."
----------
"I've been studying all the outbreaks I could get my hands on," the Doctor began, "That's why I was late for the Art class that morning - and why I left before you woke. A thought struck me and I had to follow it up."
Alecia nodded, slowly, her hands clasped around the tea mug as though her life depended on it.
"From what I've garnered, it seems they've been introducing a weakening virus into the air in high-traffic areas at universities around the world - untraceable, you see, because it's carried in the air. So at the same time as an outbreak of meningitis, there is also a higher incidence of colds and 'flu symptoms."
"And of course, the guinea pigs being students, nobody thinks anything of it because of the halls of residence, and the close contact students have with each other there, which is usually the first thing to be blamed." Kris' words came back to her as she said it. "All those people in a confined space, breathing the same air..."
"Precisely. And the universities start an intensive program of jabs - which works against them in the long term, and is no real guarantee against infection. It does however work for these people who are creating the super bacteria. They select a few unsuspecting 'guinea pigs', and expose them and some control groups to the bacteria... then wait. It's only a matter of time, with a weakened immune system."
"Oh gods... and they're taking samples and improving the strain each time!"
The Doctor nodded.
"The global nature of this experiment leads me to suspect a large corporation rather than a governmental arm. It's about money, after all, and what government would sell off their greatest weapon to a potential enemy?"
"So what can we do? And what will happen to Kris?"
"In a matter of hours, Kris is going to become a living carrier for the most dangerous bacterial form of meningitis known to man. It will have a one hundred per cent fatality rate. If he is carrying that superbug inside him, they will be able to take their samples from him, he will die, and they will then propagate it artificially. Which leaves us two options."
Alecia almost didn't want to know, but he carried on anyway. "We have to find Kris and cure him before it evolves far enough, and destroy the lab they're using to create it... or... "
"Or... Kris has to die."
-----