Free Beyond Armageddon: Book 02 - Empire by Anthony Decosmo Page B

but loud enough to hear, Evan mumbled, “Yes, my Lord.”

    “Doctor?” Trevor moved on with a glance toward Dr. Maple.

    “Yes, um, well, in your packs you will find a chart of infectious diseases that have hit several communities inside our borders. Thankfully all of them are of Earthly origin.”

    “You know, that’s been bugging me,” Dante broke in. “We’ve got thousands of animals and people from other planets but not a single weird alien disease? I mean, remember how Small Pox wiped out the Indians and stuff? Why nothing like that here?”

    Trevor’s lips moved but he held his tongue even though the answer hovered there. Like humanity’s nuclear arsenal, bio-weapons—intentional or accidental—probably fell under the category of ‘weapons of mass destruction’, hence outlawed by The Old Man’s ‘rules’.

    Instead of sharing his guess, Trevor told them, “I’ll bet they went through some kind of decontamination before coming over. Probably were inoculated against our microbes and viruses, too. Just a guess.”

    “It does not matter, Mr. Jones,” Dr. Maple continued. “Our own diseases are lethal enough, particularly given the, um, sanitation issues. For example, last week we, um, dispatched a brigade from General Prescott’s 1 st Armored Division to isolate and contain the population in Lynchburg , Virginia . There is a, um, respiratory infection that has taken the lives of a dozen people there and hundreds more are quite ill. We are treating it as best we can but the priority right now is to contain the illness to that settlement.”

    “Nice,” Evan Godfrey sneered. “Our health care program’s number one priority is to contain sick people, not heal them.”

    “Limited resources,” Maple answered. “We did, um, send a team of specialists. They have an old Army mobile bio weapons lab and have set up camp at the center of town. We are hopeful that rudimentary medicines can lower the mortality rate.”

    Godfrey showed signs of jumping on his soapbox again as he said, “And that’s all we have: rudimentary medicines. We’ve got attack helicopters, tanks, and alien air ships in our military but little more than aspirin and cough syrup in our hospitals.”

    Maple consulted a pile of papers and replied, “Well, um, actually there is some good news on that front. Vaccine production out of Swiftwater has reached seventy-percent capacity. Most of the population has received the important inoculations and we are in the process of, um, expanding the scope of the vaccination program. Furthermore, um, our quantity of penicillin, fever-reducers, and antibiotics has more than doubled thanks to a slight increase in output but, um, more importantly the discovery of government stockpiles.”

    The fire under Godfrey faded but he pushed on anyway, saying, “What about diabetics? What about heart drugs? What about surgical supplies? Those are hard to find.”

    Trevor said, “When you think about it, it’s good news that we need those kinds of things again. It means people with chronic conditions aren’t doomed from the start; it means they’re living long enough to need specialized care and medicine.”

    “And we’re not giving it,” Godfrey complained. “There are children being born with conditions that require specialized treatment and drugs. Our capabilities in this area are lacking.”

    Maple presented more good news certain to ruin Evan’s tirade. “The, um, ‘Physicians Training and Education’ facility at John Hopkins in Baltimore will be ready to open within, um, two weeks or so. The, um, immediate focus will be on fundamental health care but we will expand the, um, curriculum to more advanced studies as we progress. Approximately one-hundred, um, ‘students’ have enrolled for medical training.”

    Gordon Knox never missed an opportunity to hit Godfrey with a zinger. “See that, Evan; all your concerns have been addressed. That should keep you quiet for a minute or