T-minus 16 days to DEADLINE.: seanan

T-minus 16 days to DEADLINE.

Somewhere in North America, July 7th, 2014.

The location doesn't matter: what happened, when it happened, happened all over North America at the same time. There was no single index case. It all began, and ended, too fast for that sort of record-keeping to endure. Listen:

On migratory bird and weather balloon, on drifting debris and anchored in tiny gusts of wind, Alpha-RC007 made its way from the stratosphere down to the world below. When it encountered a suitable mammalian host, it would latch on with its tiny man-made protein hooks, holding fast while it found a way to invade, colonize, and spread. The newborn infections were invisible to the naked eye, and their only symptom was a total lack of symptoms. Their hosts enjoyed a level of health that was remarkable mostly because none of them noticed, or realized how lucky they were. It was a viral golden age.

It lasted less than a month. Say July 7th, for lack of a precise date; say Columbus, Ohio, for lack of a precise location. July 7th, 2014, Columbus: the end of the world begins.

The only carrier of Marburg Amberlee in Columbus was Sharon Morris, a thirty-eight year old woman celebrating her second lease on life by taking a road trip across the United States. She had begun her Marburg Amberlee treatments almost exactly a year before, and had seen a terminal diagnosis dwindle into nothing. If you'd asked her, she would have called it a miracle of science. She would have been correct.

Susan's first encounter with Alpha-RC007 occurred at an open air farmer's market. She picked up a jar of homemade jam, examining the label with a curious eye before deciding, finally, not to make the purchase. The jam remained behind, but the virus which had collected on her fingers did not. It clung, waiting for an opportunity—an opportunity it got less than five minutes later, when Susan wiped the sweat from her eyes with the back of her hand. Alpha-RC007 transferred from her fingers to the surface of her eye, and from there made its entrance to the body.

The initial stages of the Alpha-RC007 infection followed the now-familiar pattern, invading the body's cells like a common virus, only to slip quietly out again, leaving copies of itself behind. The only cells to be actually destroyed in the process were the other infections Alpha-RC007 encountered in the host body. These were turned into tiny virus-factories, farming on a microscopic scale. Several minor ailments Susan was not even aware of were found brewing in her body, and summarily destroyed in Alpha-RC007's quest for sole dominion.

Then, deep in the tissue of Susan's lungs, Alpha-RC007 encountered something new; something which was confusing to the virus, in as much as anything can ever confuse a virus. This strange new thing had a structure as alien to the world as Alpha-RC007's own, half-natural, half-reconfigured and transformed to suit a new purpose.

Behaving according to the protocols that were the whole of its existence, Alpha-RC007 approached the stranger, using its delicate protein hooks to attempt infiltration. The stranger responded in kind, their protein hooks tangling together until they were like so much viral thread, too intertwined to tell where one ended and the next began. This happened a thousand times in the body of Susan Morris. Many of those joinings ended with the destruction of one or both viral bodies, their structures unable to correctly lock together.

The rest found an unexpected kinship in the locks and controls their human creators had installed, and began, without releasing one another, to exchange genetic material in a beautiful dance that had begun when life on this world was born, and would last until that life was completely gone. Oblivious to the second miracle of science that was now happening inside her, Susan Morris went about her day. She had never been a mother before. Before the sun went down, she would be one of the many mothers to give birth to Kellis-Amberlee.

***

It's a beautiful summer here in Ohio, and we have a great many events planned for these sweet summer nights. Visit the downtown Columbus Farmer's Market, where you can sample new delights from our local farms. Who knows what you might discover? Meanwhile, the summer concert series kicks off...

When will you Rise?

ashabardon

May 15 2011, 15:54:11 UTC 6 years ago

New comment

Aww now we're getting to the juicy stuff :D

elnigma

May 15 2011, 16:07:19 UTC 6 years ago

I'm enjoying this

vincentursus

May 15 2011, 16:31:22 UTC 6 years ago

Having grown up with Star Trek technobabble it's so nice to see someone take the care to actually research before writing.

mel_redcap

May 16 2011, 05:07:10 UTC 6 years ago

This would never have happened if Dr Kellis had just reversed the polarity of the neutron flow, you know. :(

brownkitty

May 15 2011, 16:32:00 UTC 6 years ago

Please take this question with a heavy dose of don't-want-to-offend.

You have her name first listed as Sharon Morris, and the rest of the time is Susan Morris. Which name is correct?

seanan_mcguire

May 15 2011, 16:34:12 UTC 6 years ago

The answer is given with a heavy dose of "not getting paid for this, writing as I go along."

It's Susan.

6 years ago

judifilksign

May 15 2011, 16:53:32 UTC 6 years ago

Now, as a resident of Columbus, Ohio, I'm going to look askance at the downtown Farmer's Market where I buy my cheese...

wendyzski

May 15 2011, 17:27:31 UTC 6 years ago

Yeah - I'm going to Marcon in a few weeks....

ravin_raven

May 15 2011, 22:40:39 UTC 6 years ago

Okay, so the beginning of the zombie apocalypse is supposed to begin on my birthday and now a story featuring my current town?

Totally going to North Market that day.

paradisacorbasi

May 15 2011, 17:18:49 UTC 6 years ago Edited: May 15 2011, 17:21:53 UTC

AAAAA PATIENT ZERO(ish)!!!!

Thank you!

And the AlphaRC-007 meeting Marburg Amberlee reminds me fondly (and freakoutishly) of the "love scene" from Arachnophobia between The General and a local spider. Two things doing what nature intended them to do, in a tender romantic dance -- THAT DOOMS US ALL.

UPDATE: aaaah I just WIPED MY EYES OMG OMG OMG OMG you have succeeded in making me freak out while reading this the same way I freaked out and had to stop reading The Stand when I started sneezing and sniffling. AAAAAAAA!!

admnaismith

May 16 2011, 04:34:58 UTC 6 years ago

And so, AlphaRC-007 took Marburg Amberlee out for a romantic dinner, ordered the finest champagne, and when Marburg Amberlee wasn't looking, it dropped a 200 carat diamond into the flute right before it drank.

Marburg Amberlee looked up at AlphaRC-007, and through tears of joy, softly mouthed the word "yes".

The wedding was small, but tasteful.

And then they were happy together for the rest of our lives...and beyond. Way, way beyond....

jenrose1

kshandra

May 15 2011, 17:34:38 UTC 6 years ago

Aaaaaaaaaaaand now I'm trying to figure out how to nominate the "Countdown" sequence for a Hugo next year.

drcpunk

May 16 2011, 05:08:50 UTC 6 years ago

Do a word count and look up whether it's a short story, novella, or what.
There's also the Best Related Works, but... I think the regular fiction categories will do.