“Now that I have your attention,” Avanti continued, “I need to impress upon you the seriousness of this situation. I asked you here so that we may discuss this as colleagues.”
“You stopped being my colleague the moment you threatened innocent lives.”
“Innocent. So self-righteous. .” Avanti’s voice trailed off. . “You’re not here so we could argue banalities; there are more pressing issues.”
“So why am I here?”
“To hear what I have to say and ultimately to make a decision,” Avanti reached for a small briefcase on the table next to him. “Do you remember the last time we met?”
“Not clearly,” Martin watched as Avanti fumbled with the latch and suppressed the instinct to help the blind man.
“It was the 1992 UN conference on population sustainability. You had just started working for the CDC and I was an invited guest.” Avanti retrieved a glossy program guide from the briefcase and tossed it to Martin.
A collage of smiling children spelled out the word “United Nations” and beneath it in bold black script: Social Carrying Capacity and the Population Bomb. “I remember.” Martin said softly while leafing through the distantly familiar pages. “What does any of this have to do with what you and your people have done in Colorado?”
“I need to correct a few of your misconceptions. First, they are not my people…”
Martin scoffed loudly. ”Bullshit! At least give me the courtesy of the truth.”
“I understand that you are under a good deal of stress, but if you could control yourself for just a little longer perhaps we can get through this.” Avanti paused for a moment and took Martin’s silence as a sign that he could continue. “Now, as I was saying, they are not my people. Undoubtedly, you have been told that for a time I lived and worked with a group of ’Islamic extremists,’ and it was under their umbrella that we originally created the Hybrid virus. However, I was never counted among their numbers, and I do not now wish to be remembered as one of them. They simply paid the bills, and supplied the raw materials.”
“I was told that you were a Muslim.”
“Surely, you are not implying that all Muslims are terrorists?” Avanti chuckled.
“You seem to be both,” Martin countered.
“Superficially perhaps,” Avanti smiled knowingly. ”At least that’s what they believe.”
“Who, the Americans, or the extremists?” Martin noted that Avanti’s flair for the dramatic had not dimmed with time.
“Both of course, but in time the truth will be known.” The sagging face that a moment earlier was pulled into a smile was now fixed with determination. “If you haven’t guessed by now, I am quite close to death, and it is because of this that I have been sent to deliver their message. I am believed to be a good and faithful Muslim and have been given this great honor because of my service to Allah.” Avanti paused and expertly reached for a glass of water on the table that separated them. “Excuse me, but my mouth gets dry so quickly these days,” he said before nosily draining the glass. “Where was I?” he said to himself.
“Delivering a message,” Martin answered.
“Demands really, and in different times I would view them as quite reasonable, but these are extraordinary times, and I have little concern for states and territories, or even for religions.”
“You have me thoroughly confused,” Martin said.
“The message I bring to your government is pure subterfuge. No matter what you do, the original Hybrid Virus will be released, and there is nothing you or anyone can do to stop it.”
“Then why bother with demands; if you intend to kill us, why not just get on with it?” A single thought kept recycling through Nathan’s mind: this is not really happening; it’s just an academic exercise of a worst-case scenario.
“From the point of view of the Islamists, it is quite reasonable; you see they believe that they, along with the rest of the world, will survive this attack. Their computer models are quite sophisticated and have convinced them that the outbreak can be confined to the United States.” Avanti’s smile had returned.
“That’s preposterous! Even the mutation that you’ve already released poses a worldwide threat. There is no possible way a second attack could be contained.” Martin began to sweat. “How could you let them. .?” He cut himself off as realization exploded in his mind. “You let them believe that.”
“No, I didn’t let them; I had to lead them to that conclusion, and it wasn‘t easy. They are not madmen, much as you Americans would like to believe. They are quite reasoned and some are very well educated. They have no desire to destroy the world; they simply want to remake it in their own image.” Avanti leaned back into the cushions of the chair, his face once again shrouded in shadow. “Dying is remarkably liberating; it allows one to think all the unthinkable thoughts.” He said his voice barely a whisper. “They may not wish to destroy the world, but I do, and they have provided me with a convenient vehicle to do just that.”
“I don’t understand. Most of your life has been dedicated to the eradication of disease and suffering, and now you suddenly decide to create it on a global scale!”
“Futility, utter and complete futility. What do we have to show for decades of hard work? Nothing — less than nothing. Things are far worse now than when we last met. You know the science, but you along with the rest of our ’best minds’ choose to ignore it, and now we are long since past the point of no return. We had a small chance back then,” Avanti motioned to the conference program in Martin’s hand. “But once again, we proved to be selfish, myopic people, poorly organized politically, socially, and economically, incapable of setting aside petty concerns and dealing with the obvious problems that are now out of control.”
Martin reopened the program. “The ‘population bomb.’ That hasn’t been taken seriously in more than fifty years.”
“Neither was global warming until the Arctic began to melt,” Avanti fired back, and Martin saw a glimpse of the old Jaime Avanti. “Twenty years ago, you yourself said that we were in retreat across every socioeconomic and environmental front. You even said it out loud: humans are the problem.”
“When I said that my intent was only to stimulate discussion and ultimately action. Besides what I really meant was that human nature was the problem.”
“Bullshit! At least give me the courtesy of the truth,” Avanti retorted. “I was there, I remember what you said, and we both know exactly what you meant, at least before you became a stooge for your government. I stood by what I said that day and I was stripped of everything.”
Martin stared at the ruined face of the Ukrainian; he had heard of his dismissal, but really never gave it much thought. “So your plan is to eradicate the human species,” he said softly.
“Not all of it. Just enough to restore a social and ecological balance. A world without borders, religions, or nationalities will emerge from the ashes of the old world. ”
“You’re back to the problem of containing something that can’t be contained.”
“Now we’ve come to why you are here.” Avanti reached for the small satchel. “Take this, open it.”
Martin stood and crossed the floor that separated the two men. “What’s in here?” He asked tentatively taking the bag from Avanti.
“A choice,” he answered cryptically.
Martin pulled out a small sealed canister, biohazard stickers wrapped around the length of it.
“It is all I could gather in secret. My coworkers watched that very closely. Please don’t break the seal, inside is a dehydrated form of the Hybrid Virus. This should help you in your work.”
“What’s this smaller vial?” Martin held up a glass ampule that held fifty milliliters of an amber fluid.