CHAPTER 11
All Roads Lead To Rome 

Brigmore was sitting in Kuskaya’s office. Kuskaya was looking extremely thoughtful.

“How can this Professor John Durking have come up with an alternative vaccine so quickly?”, Kuskaya asked.

“He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine a few years ago. He is the world’s greatest medical micro-biologist”.

“But he is not a hyper-computer Professor Brigmore”.

“Well, we are in a desperate situation, General. We have to listen to what he says. At least we have to listen.”

“What exactly does your friend have in mind?”

Brigmore hesitated for a moment. He had to think carefully yet fast as to how to answer the General’s question. “It’s was too complex to explain over the ‘phone. I have to see him in person”.

“Very well. I’ll have a plane ready for you tomorrow morning to take you to London .”

Professor John Durking listened carefully and attentively as Brigmore related everything that had happened at the base over the past few months. The plan that Brigmore had in mind to deal with the crisis raised Durking’s eyebrows.

“I’m not too happy with your telling this General that it is all my idea”, said Durking.

“I had to find some legitimate reason for commandeering a plane”, replied Brigmore.

“All right, I understand”.

“What do you think of my idea? We could give it a try. I know you’re not Roman Catholic but you are a practicing Christian. I thought you might be sympathetic to my idea.”

“I’m Church of England, to be exact. Anyway, Brigmore, if you think it’s a good idea, why shouldn’t I? After all you’re the atheist. It’s astonishing that you would have come up with such a bizarre idea. So how do we make the first move in all of this?”

“I’ve arranged a meeting for tomorrow with Cardinal Orivietti, the Papal Nuncio to the UK . The meeting is for 3pm at the Nunciature in London .”

“You know gentlemen, if it were not for the fact that the world faces impending doom and that you both are outstanding scientists I would dismiss your most extraordinary request out of hand. However, I plan to co-operate with you and to beseech the Holy Father to grant you your request.”

“Thank you, Your Excellency”, said Brigmore.

“How long should this entire process take, Your Excellency”, Durking asked.

“I hope no more than two days. First I will convey your request to the Cardinal Secretary of State at the Vatican who will then inform the Pope. We can only hope and pray that His Holiness will act promptly and positively”.

Two days later, Brigmore received a call from the Nunciature that his and Durking’s request had been approved by the Pope and that both men should make their way to Rome as soon as possible. They wasted no time and were in Rome that very afternoon. In the evening they were back in London having got exactly what they had wanted. Durking’s laboratories started working on the new serum. It was ready in only three days.

“Quite simply Durking, how do we announce this to the world without appearing to be prime candidates for the nuthouse?”

“We could say that we have come up with a modified serum; one that does not affect the areas of the brain which deal with abstract thought processes. If it works, we’ll reveal all at some appropriate future time”.

“And if it doesn’t?”

“We’ll tell all nevertheless. For if it doesn’t work, we’re finished as a species anyway.”

“My calculations show that the next pathogenic patch will fall in northern Australia . It will hit in about one week’s time.”

“Then we have to get the new vaccines out there as fast as possible.”

“I’ll organise all this from the Ural base once I get back to Russia .. In the meantime, I’ll make arrangements with the Minister of Defence to get the batch of vaccines your laboratory has produced out to the Urals.”

“Welcome back, Professor Brigmore”, said Kuskaya greeting Brigmore as he descended from the small hypersonic nuclear powered plane. “I do hope your trip was successful.”

“Thank you General. It is good to see you again. I can’t really say that the new vaccine is a success until we try it. The next pathogenic patch is due to hit northern Australia . So we need to be moving pretty pronto in terms of getting the vaccines out to them.”

“In exactly what way does this vaccine differ from the previous one?”

“Let’s get our senior colleagues together and I’ll give a collective explanation”.

Half an hour later, Zostkri, Casper , Gilson and Kuskaya were assembled in Brigmore’s office. Brigmore commenced his explanation:

“Professor John Durking, an eminent medical micro-biologist has developed a serum which in theory at least should prevent the loss of certain neurological functions when administered as a vaccine.”

“How exactly has he done this?”, Zostkri enquired.

“He has identified a sub set of genes which are responsible for abstract thought. These have been grafted onto the main genetic material of the serum?”

Gilson started his eyebrow raising again, but he had the prudence to keep his mouth closed. By now, he had got used to his colleague’s methodical madness!

“However, we do not have time to discuss the finer scientific points of the vaccine”, Brigmore continued. “General Kuskaya – I want a hotline to the Australian Minister of Health immediately”.

Brigmore and Kuskaya made their way over to Kuskaya’s office. Kuskaya picked up his phone and dialed a series of numbers and eventually got through to Terrence Charner the Australian Minister of Health. The Minister did not turn out to be as co-operative as Brigmore would have liked.

“You’re using the Australian people as guinea pigs, Professor Brigmore”, said Charner angrily.

“Mr. Charner! I do not control the pathogenic formations. My calculations show that one of these is due to hit Australia in a week’s time”

“How can you be so sure your new vaccine will work?”

“I can’t”.

“You can’t!”

“It would not only be unscientific but totally irresponsible of me to give such a definite affirmative answer at this stage.”

“Your new vaccine might even be worse than the previous one for all we know”.

“Correct Minister. But I’m not forcing the vaccine on you. I’m simply telling you that a pathogenic cloud is on its way to your country. I’m offering you the best we’ve got so far. Take it or leave it Minister – the choice is yours. If you refuse – fine. I’ll find out where the next pathogenic shower will fall and make my offer there. For the moment we only have limited quantities of the vaccine – the trial batch which was produced in Oxford and flown out here to the Urals is all that exists in the entire world and we’re offering that one and only batch to you, Mr. Charner”.

Brigmore’s firmness had a softening effect on Charner.

“All right Professor Brigmore. I’m sorry if I sounded a bit harsh. I’ll accept your kind offer.”

“Fine, Mr. Charner. I’ll arrange to have the vaccine flown out to you hypersonically by Russian military transport planes. You should receive these tomorrow”.

The vaccines were flown out to northern Australia . The government at both federal and state level organised a mass immunization programme in the territory. The pathogenic cloud eventually arrived and showered its genetic material over northern Australia . Those who had been vaccinated showed neither symptoms of disease nor loss of mental faculties. The Australian government declared the programme a resounding success.

“Well, congratulations old man”, said a beaming Gilson as he walked into Brigmore’s office.

“Wonderful, wonderful”, cried Feodora Kostkri who had accompanied Gilson to the office. “But Professor, we need to know the exact method for producing this serum so that it can be mass produced for worldwide distribution. We have to do this before the main genetic storm hits the entire Earth.”

“We cannot use just any blood or any DNA”, Brigmore explained. “We must use the template Professor Durking has in his laboratories in Oxford .”

“How can that possibly be?”, Gilson asked.

“As I said before Walter, there is no time to discuss the academics of the vaccine now”.

“Then how can the vaccine be mass produced in time to save humanity from the disaster that is coming upon it?”, Kostkri hysterically blurted out.

“I have been in constant communication with John Durking. His plan is to send copy templates to every single country in the world with instructions on how to prepare the vaccine from the templates”.