“Which is it, an organism or a virus?”
“I’m afraid I don’t really know, sir. More than like a combination of both. An ‘organismus,’ perhaps. Or a ‘virusism.’ Those are terms I made up in the last week or ten days. There is no scientific terminology that I know of to describe Congo-X.”
“Colonel,” Press Secretary John D. Parker said, “did I understand you to say there is no immediate danger to the public?”
“I was speaking with the colonel, Parker,” the President said unpleasantly.
“Mr. President, if the colonel can assure us that there is no immediate danger to the public, I think—to counter that comment of C. Harry Whelan, Jr., on Wolf News—you should make a statement to that effect. And as soon as possible. Immediately. We really have to control this before it gets out of hand.”
The President glared at Parker.
“Mr. President,” Ambassador Montvale put in, “I think Porky’s right.”
Parker glared at Montvale, which wasn’t lost on the President.
“What do you think I should say, Porky?” Clendennen asked.
“Mr. President, if you make any statement, it carries great importance. I mean to suggest that it will give the impression that this situation is more serious than the colonel suggests it is.”
“In other words, you want to make the statement?”
“That would be my recommendation, Mr. President.”
“I agree with Porky,” Ambassador Montvale said.
“That makes it twice, doesn’t it?” the President asked, and then went on: “And what would you say, Parker?”
“Sir, something along the lines of this: ‘There was an incide
nt early this morning at Fort Detrick that has attracted a good deal of media attention. The President has just spoken with the chief scientific officer at Fort Detrick, who has assured him there is no cause for concern. What it was was the routine triggering of a safety system, erring on the side of caution. To repeat, there is no cause for concern.’ Something like that, Mr. President.”
The President was thoughtful for a long moment. Then he asked, “Read that back, please.”
A female voice came over a loudspeaker and recited Parker’s suggested statement.
“At the end of the first sentence, where it says ‘has attracted a good deal of media attention,’ strike that and change it to ‘has apparently caused much of the media to start chasing its tail once again. Arf-arf.’ The rest of it is fine. Type that up for Mr. Parker.”
“Are you sure you want to do that, Mr. President?” Secretary of State Natalie Cohen asked.
The President ignored her, and gestured for Parker to leave the office. Then he turned to Hamilton.
“Okay, Colonel. Now let’s have the bad news.”
Hamilton inhaled audibly before he began to speak.
“I think we have to presume, Mr. President, that the attack on the establishment—the laboratory-slash-manufacturing facility—in the Congo was not successful. There is a quantity—I have no idea how much—of Congo-X in unknown hands.”
“How do you know that?” the President asked, softly.
“Because a quantity of it—several kilograms, plus another several kilograms of infected tissue—was delivered to me at Fort Detrick this morning. It is identical to the Congo-X and the infected tissue I brought out of the Congo.”
“Where did it come from?” the President asked, then interrupted himself: “No. Tell me what this stuff—Congo-X—is and what it does.”
“I don’t know what it is. I’m working on that. As to what it does, it causes disseminated intravascular coagulation, acronym DIC.”
“And can you tell me what that means? In layman’s terms?”
“DIC is a thrombohemorrhagic disorder characterized by primary thrombotic and secondary hemorrhagic diathesis, usually fatal.”