Health and Purity
|
  |
During after-supper cocktails, the octogenarian leaned back in his chair and regarded his grandson.
"It's time you heard about the work your father and I did to bring about the world you live in today, Crawford. I'm sure you've wondered how the changes you've seen came about. I know you've asked why the history books and video archives show a world so much different than you live in. And you're probably wondering what other changes you might see." The old man smiled and sipped.
"A lot of us wonder," Crawford said to his grandfather. "Dad didn't explain before he died. He said that it wasn't his place to explain."
The old man nodded, pursing his wrinkled lips. "Well, let me tell you, then. Mind you, there is nothing anyone can do to alter the course of what has come about, or what is yet to come about. So what I tell you is for your information, not your action."
Crawford allowed himself a smile. "Does anyone else know what you're going to tell me?"
"No," the old man told him. "I'm the last survivor of a team. There were four of us. We were very young, fresh out of our universities with post-doctorate degrees in biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics and virology, and societal evolution. We'd known each other for years, shared similar ideas about the future and where we would like it to go. So when we received research grants at our university as incentives to remain as permanent non-teaching staff, we saw our opportunity."
Crawford stood and walked over to the bar, where he splashed another finger or two of Scotch into his glass. "You all worked together, then?"
"Unofficially," the old man confirmed. "We had separate grants, but that didn't prevent us from sharing research time and working toward our goals."
"So what happened?" Crawford asked as he sat down across from his grandfather again.
"Well, about five years later we succeeded beyond our wildest hopes. So we put what we called our 'Health of the Species' phase into operation. Basically, we released a baker's dozen of specially engineered, highly contagious viruses into the general population." He smiled.
"Viruses?"
"Yes," he said. "They spread like the flu virus spreads. They defeat immune systems by rapidly mutating into fresh strains while in situ, which means that they cannot be immunized against, not even by the most robust immune system. But unlike the flu virus, people infected - and everyone on earth was infected within five years - suffered no symptoms of any sort. They felt perfectly healthy, they felt normal. No one knew there was an epidemic, the infections were never detected, so no action was taken to fight the viruses. What these viruses did was sterilize anyone who carried certain genes. Those people could not reproduce their genetic code. Thirty years after releasing those viruses world wide, zero cases of diabetes, hemophilia, sickle cell anemia, and a half-dozen other genetic diseases existed in anyone twenty-five years old or younger. The viruses had taken those diseases out of the gene pool. Everyone today has perfect vision, strong teeth, clear skin."
Crawford showed his surprise. "Wow!" He paused. "You called that the 'Health of the Species' phase. Does that mean there were other phases?"
The old man cracked a crooked smile. "Very good, Crawford. Yes, there was another phase. We put it into effect - oh, I think it's been about twenty years ago now. We called this phase the 'Purity of the Species' phase. We used the same general approach as we used in the first phase, releasing specially engineered viruses. But this time the viruses sterilized anyone not carrying certain gene combinations that describe their racial characteristics. And that's why you see all those different-looking types of people in books and in the video archives, but not so many walking around on the streets. Today we are one people, one race, and as soon as the last of the racial dinosaurs die, we will only have history to remind us that those other races even existed."
"Everyone will look like us, then? Everyone?"
"Yes. And there are a couple of other twists. We invented what we call a 'counter' virus, which counts certain bodily functions and then acts. For example, one of them counts successful implantation of fertilized eggs in a woman's womb. Out of regard for limiting human population, we engineered a virus that would permit only three such implantations per woman. Another one counts cell divisions, and then acts. That's why your father died last year. He reached sixty-five years of age. The virus kills anyone who reaches that age, and it's accurate to within a few months."
Crawford showed his shock. "So that's - that's how the world population dropped to less that one billion over the last fifty years!"
The old man nodded again. "Yes. And look now at the quality of life. Believe it or not, in the old days there were wars fought over skin color, over race. All that is gone now. Of course, we badly underestimated the, uh, interracial penetration – genetic contamination, I guess you could say, or miscegenation – that has occurred over the last few centuries. So it looks like the world population will fall to well below a quarter billion in another twenty years or so." He shrugged. "But we'll all be one race. No more racial problems."
Crawford thought a moment. "Wait a minute. You're almost ninety. How did you survive?"
A cackle escaped the old man's withered neck. "I built the virus for that," he explained. "So I also built the antivirus. One dose."
"Oh." Crawford stood. He walked to the bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror. "Everyone will look like me," he muttered to himself. "Everywhere." He touched his cheek, running his finger along the low ridge that stretched his black skin into a glossy sheen. He looked into his own dark brown eyes, at his tight cap of kinky black hair.
He wondered what the next logical phase of viruses might be. "Granddad," he called out. "Is there another phase yet to come?"
He heard another cackle from the living room. "Let me tell you about the Redimensioning of the Species phase," he heard.
- - - - fin - - - -
Mail the Blizzard Guy your thoughts