Twenty-Five Pairs by T.S. Severe
Chapter Fourteen Washington D.C. 2025
"Shoot!" Josh was laughing at himself in the mirror. "Look at me!"
"You look good." I smiled at him.
He was wearing a tuxedo, with his brown hair trimmed and neatly combed, shiny black shoes. His brown eyes were bright and shiny and the man was scrubbed pink all over, I'd seen to that personally. Josh was tall and handsome and looking good enough to marry.
"Zip me up, Narcissus?" I asked, just to get his attention as much as anything else.
"Who?" He chuckled and then stopped breathing. "Wow."
"You like it?" I struck a little pose with my hands on my hips.
"Christ." He cleared his throat. "There's a zipper on that?"
"Yeah." I giggled and turned around, showing the man my back from the cleft of my ass up to my long golden hair, which I pulled out of the way.
"Hey, you're not wearing any underwear." He said softly and I felt his hands along my spine.
"Don't get me excited, God!" I warned him needlessly. I'd taken precautions, but it was a fun tease. "I'm not going to ruin a two thousand dollar dress, okay?"
"How much?" He laughed. "You paid too much, Jen. There ain't nothing but fifty dollars worth of material here."
"Shut-up!" I giggled, turning my head.
It really wasn't much of a dress, technically, he was right about that, but I'd been paying for the expertise and a real Joni Stur design was nothing to laugh at. She was the new Vera Wang and Rio had really pulled a rabbit to get me onto the designer's calendar. It was red and slinky and it hugged my body like I was born in it, which was going to be a serious problem if I got an erection. Silly as it sounds, I'd put my cock to sleep with some local anesthesia and that needle had hurt like hell! I couldn't wear panties in that dress though, not a chance. Joni would kill me.
I hadn't used a lot of anesthesia anyway though, just some muscle relaxant to keep my penis soft. I wasn't going to walk funny or need a catheter, that would have been bad. I'd be careful anyway though, wetting myself in front of the President...Well, I'd never come back from space if that happened. I'd stay gone.
Getting a big hard-on in front of the President of the United States might have been pretty funny though and I had to stifle a giggle as an old Bill Clinton joke popped into my head.
"What's so funny?" Josh smiled and gave me a little look.
"What was President Clinton's favorite musical instrument?" I asked and Josh shrugged. "His whore Monica!"
"Uh-Huh...How long is that stuff gonna last? I think it's affecting your brain." Josh told me with a roll of his eyes, but he didn't really get it probably. He wasn't much of a history buff.
"I'm gonna turn into a pumpkin at midnight." I said and I wasn't really joking.
"You mean a cucumber." Josh laughed as he zipped me up slowly. "Fuck, you're the most beautiful woman I ever saw."
"You need to get out more." I said, turning around and I knew he meant what he said. I truly was beautiful finally, after all those years of not really believing my mom's prediction, it had come true.
"No, I don't." Josh took my hand, my left hand and kissed me just behind the small diamond solitaire he'd given me.
"Hey. I heard the President likes fly fishing." I said and stifled another giggle, wondering if that stuff really was affecting my brain. Nah, it was just the evening making me giddy.
"Shit, who doesn't?" Josh laughed and he got that one, since he'd told it to me. "I know you do."
"No swearing." I wagged my finger at him and moved to sit down at the little vanity in our suite. "I need one of these."
"What's that?" Josh sat on a big soft chair watching me.
"A vanity." I said. "You gotta get me one when I come back."
"I'll build ya one." Josh shrugged. "Nicer than that."
"Really?" I smiled at his reflection. "It's a nice room though, isn't it?"
"For free, yeah." Josh grinned. "They're gonna put up a sign that says 'Jennifer Pinchbeck Slept Here!' or something."
"Heh." I nodded slightly. "Jennifer Pinchbeck Fucked Here, too."
"Hey!" Josh shook his head. "No swearing."
"Yeah, yeah." I rolled my eyes.
"That stuff better wear off too." Josh said.
"I told you, midnight."
"Yeah." Josh grunted and I knew what he was thinking. Our time was running out.
=-=-=-=-=-={25}=-=-=-=-=-=
The White House had arranged a limousine for us, which was nice and I was thinking I could seriously get used to all this pampering. It was rather like fattening a lamb for the slaughter, I supposed, and we were going into quarantine in three days. We'd have ninety days then, not locked in our rooms or anything, but just isolated from the general public. More training and preparation. More time to worry and I just wanted to go, to be done with it.
"My eyes hurt." Josh winced and there were a lot of flashbulbs as we exited the car and walked up the short steps to the main entrance. On a red carpet, of course.
"God, I hope I don't trip." I whispered, clutching Josh's arm and trying to smile.
I hadn't expected this; a small crowd of reporters outside, like it was a Hollywood premier or something. At least the secret service was there to keep them back and calm. There wasn't a lot of shouting allowed on the front lawn of the White House, I guess.
"Good evening. Welcome to the White House, Doctor Pinchbeck."
A very handsome and congenial man was smiling at us as we arrived safely at the doors. We could hear soft chamber music and the odd sound of voices, indistinct like a flock of birds.
"May I have your name, sir?" The man asked, smiling at Josh.
"Me? I'm...Josh." He shrugged and I stifled a giggle.
"Mr. Joshua Sinclair, my fiancé." I smiled.
"Very good, if you'll follow me?" The man nodded and I looked at Josh and he just grinned.
It was a short walk, through security and down a wide hallway and into a ballroom, I guess. Not a large one, but definitely intended for receptions such as this. It was all very impressive and while it wasn't my first visit to the White House, or my first meeting with a President, this was very much unlike my previous experiences. I was a guest for once and it was very intimidating and intensely flattering.
"Doctor Jennifer Pinchbeck and Mr. Joshua Sinclair." The man said in a loud voice and I almost jumped out of my shoes, not expecting our arrival to be announced.
"So much for sneaking in." Josh whispered and I squeezed his arm nervously as there were an awful lot of people there and some of them even looked at us.
"If you'll step to your right, Doctor, there's a receiving line..." The man said softly and I nodded.
Thank God for the protocol officers and there were a number of them who did nothing but make sure people like Josh and myself didn't embarrass anyone. We would be babysat, from a respectable distance, until the formalities were finished. After that, I hoped, we'd be free to mingle, or at least stand in a corner and be pleasantly awed. That seemed like a pretty good plan to me, Josh too probably.
The President was the very first person in line, of course, followed closely by his wife and then some of his closest advisors, cabinet members and such. Only a dozen men and women, a few more, but the President...
"Doctor Pinchbeck, what a pleasure to see you again." He was older and handsome and smooth as silk, taking my hand in both of his and giving me what seemed a very warm and genuine welcome.
"Thank you, Mr. President. May I present my fiancé, Joshua Sinclair?"
"Mr. President." Josh blinked as the President shook his hand.
"Of course, Joshua." The President agreed pleasantly. "Fiancé is it? Congratulations on your engagement."
"Thank you, sir." Josh beamed.
"Allow me to introduce the First Lady..." The President said.
He and his wife spoke with us for several minutes, and everyone in the line was generous and friendly, with a photographer right there to capture each handshake and smile. By the end of the receiving line I was ready for a drink.
"Thank you." I rolled my eyes as Josh handed me a glass of champagne.
"Is this what it's going to be like married to you?" Josh smiled.
"I hope not." I said sincerely, but it was obvious that going on this mission was changing our lives. Nothing would be the same ever again.
"Doctor Pinchbeck." Allen came by, smiling with his arm around a girl who just had to be a supermodel. I tried not look at her.
"Major Fuller." I nodded.
"Josh." Allen gave a somewhat less friendly look at my fiancé.
"Allen." Josh replied slowly and I closed my eyes.
"Oh, this is Tara Reece." Allen cleared his throat. "She was Miss Alabama last year..."
"Miss Tennessee." She corrected him. "It's nice to meet you, Doctor Pinchbeck and...Josh? Very nice to meet you both."
"Josh is a lumberjack." Allen smiled.
"Really?" Tara had one of those Southern Belle accents and I didn't like her very much. I didn't like the way she looked at Josh either. "I do love the outdoors myself."
"I bet you like fly fishing." I said and Josh elbowed me as Tara gave me a little frown.
"Yeah." Josh cleared his throat. "If you'll excuse us, I think Jennifer wants to dance."
"Oh yeah." I giggled. "Nice meeting you Tara. Major...Don't stay up too late."
"Heh." Allen nodded.
"I wonder if that's her real name." I frowned as we made our way toward the music and the dancing couples there. "A Southern girl named Tara...There oughta be a law."
"I was wondering if those were her real tits." Josh whispered and I gasped happily. "Come on, dance with me." Josh said, taking my glass away and handing them to a waiter who was right there. Those guys were very good.
We'd just started dancing when the President decided to give a little speech, as I suppose he had to. All the guests were arrived and it was nice, he welcomed all of us astronauts by name, although I had a hard time thinking of myself as an astronaut. People clapped and once more I felt myself slightly overwhelmed by the attention, which was utterly alien to me after spending so many years in the dark. This had been Mr. Fox's plan though, his insurance policy, and I really was untouchable, I thought.
I wished he could have been there to see it, but I especially wished my parents had been there. That would have been something. And Ron. I thought of him and it was always hard.
Of course the kicker came right at the end, and even while the President was still talking about how important it was that we reach for the stars and expand our horizons, etc. etc...Waiters were going around the large room making sure everyone had a glass of champagne. I understood a moment later when the President offered the obligatory toast to the successful and safe return of the mission. That was nice and I was more than willing to drink to that.
"...I'd also like to offer another toast, if Mr. Sinclair will permit me the honor..." The President said and I blinked as I didn't understand exactly that his Mr. Sinclair was my Mr. Sinclair.
"...Only this evening did I receive the happy news that Mr. Sinclair and Doctor Pinchbeck are engaged to be married. My wife and I hope you'll join us as we wish them both the very best of luck and lifelong happiness together." The President raised his glass high, smiling into my eyes from two dozen feet away. "To Joshua and Jennifer."
"To Joshua and Jennifer." About a hundred and fifty people said and I thought I'd faint.
"Congratulations." I heard for about the hundredth time and it was impossible for Josh and I to get a moment alone, but that was why we were there.
"Thank you...Oh." I cleared my throat. "Mr. Westin, uh, thank you. Josh, this is the National Security Advisor, Mr. Westin."
"Nice to meet you, Josh. I'm Tom." Westin smiled. "You broke some hearts tonight."
"Uh, thank you." Josh nodded.
"Can I steal Jennifer for just a moment?" Westin asked. "Thanks."
The man put his hand in the small of my back, walking me away and as if by some miracle we found ourselves relatively alone. Mr. Westin had that ability.
"I was sorry to hear about Mr. Fox." He said. "I know you were close to him."
"Yes." I took a breath, looking just over the man's shoulder.
"I know you've been out of the loop for some time now, but we're looking at running with PK again and I'd like..."
"What?" I focused on his eyes, clear and intelligent. "PK was destroyed, I did it myself."
"I understand that and in going through some of the files Mr. Fox left behind, it seems clear that certain...Data..." He smiled, looking around casually for a second before coming back to me. "...Was intentionally misplaced, shall we say?"
"It wasn't misplaced." I told Mr. Westin. "It was destroyed along with my samples."
"Okay." He nodded. "Well, we obviously need to discuss this."
"There's nothing to..."
"Tomorrow afternoon, I'll have a car for you." Westin turned smiling and nodding at someone, but his voice was soft and cold. "Think seriously about this, Doctor. Understand?"
"Yeah." I breathed and all the fun was gone.
"Good. Now smile, everything is going to be just fine." Westin chuckled and turned, bringing me back to Josh with a big smile. "Sorry about that, Josh. Here she is, safe and sound. Good luck to you both."
"Right. Nice meeting you, uh, Tom." Josh smiled but he was curious and I just gave him a tiny shake of my head. I didn't want to talk about it.
=-=-=-=-=-={25}=-=-=-=-=-=
"Jeffrey? It's me, Jen..." I looked at my watch and it was almost one in the morning.
"Jennifer?" General Palmer's voice was soft, but he was waking up quickly. "What's wrong?"
"Paul Keller, remember him?" I asked.
"What?" Palmer had to think about that.
"Paul Keller, my old friend?"
"This line isn't secure."
"I know, just tell me something. Is he dead?"
"Jen..."
"Is Paul Keller dead? That's all I want to know."
"Yeah." Palmer said softly.
"You..." I frowned at the phone. "...You're not surprised, are you? They talked to you. He did."
"Jen, we can't talk like this."
"It's wrong, Jeffrey." I closed my eyes. "We can't do this."
"Get some sleep." He said gently. "You sound tired."
"I am tired." I hung up the phone.
"What's wrong, baby?" Josh asked me and he was sitting beside me on the bed, rubbing my shoulders.
"Oh, I don't know." I looked at Josh, but not in the eyes, and leaned over, putting my arms around him.
"I can help." He said softly. "Maybe."
"Yeah, I know." I pressed my face against his shirt. "I just want it all done with."
"Me too." Josh chuckled. "After this I'm gonna take you back Utah, lock you up in the kitchen maybe."
"In the kitchen?" I giggled.
"Yeah, hell yeah." Josh kissed the top of my head. "Barefoot and pregnant. Rattlin' those pots 'n pans."
"Mmmm..." I sighed, hugging him tight. "I wish I could have your baby."
"I was thinking, uh, maybe we could adopt." Josh said slowly, testing the waters. "When you get back?"
"Oh yeah?" I looked up at him and his brown eyes were immaculate.
"Yeah, you know. A boy or a girl, or both..."
"Both." I smiled. "That would be nice."
"Well, we can think about it, you know." Josh nodded. "I just...I want you back first of all and then, well, I built you a big house, Jenny."
"I know you did." I giggled. "I about had a heart attack when you sent me the pictures."
"Wait til you see it." Josh promised. "It's a nice one."
"God. I love you." I laughed and looked down. "I think I feel something."
"About time." Josh grinned.
"Oh yeah, I feel it." I rolled my eyes.
"What?"
"I need to pee." I giggled. "Come on, did you see the size of that bathtub?"
"You wanna take a bath at one in the morning?"
"Oh yeah, we've never done it in a bathtub." I grinned.
"We didn't?" Josh frowned.
"No." I looked at him. "What?"
"Then who was that girl I was with in Salt Lake City..."
"Oh!" I gasped! "God! I hate it when you do that! You sound just like your father."
"Her name was Tara something..."
"Josh...Don't start!" I stood up, pulling him up by the hands. "I'll make you real sorry."
"Is that a fact?" Josh laughed. "You always liked it when Pop talked like that."
"Yeah, I did. Come on, you big lumberjack!" I pulled him along to bathroom.
"I can't believe that Fuller guy said that." Josh sighed. "I own a damn lumber mill."
"Nah, lumberjack is sexy." I grinned at him. "I like it."
"Hmmmm...Maybe I'll put that on my business cards then." He said. "Josh Sinclair, Lumberjack."
"Yeah." I agreed. "That's seriously sexy...Don't look at me! I can't go."
"What?" Josh made a face and I was sitting on the toilet with my expensive red dress bunched up around my waist.
"Fill the tub, come on." I giggled, hunched over a little.
"You know, I gotta ask..." Josh said, turning on the faucets to fill the very large tub, which was sort of in another room, kind of. It was a huge bathroom.
"Ask what?" I wondered and then sighed happily as my bladder finally let go and my penis was tingling as it woke up.
"You have a dick."
"Yeah."
"So why do you sit down every time?" Josh asked. "I mean, even outside in the bushes..."
"Hey! How do you know?" I giggled.
"I'm you're boyfriend, remember?"
"Uh-huh." I agreed. "But you shouldn't be watching me pee in the bushes."
"So..." Josh stood there smiling at me. "Why?"
"Cause." I shrugged like it was obvious. "I'm a girl."
=-=-=-=-=-={25}=-=-=-=-=-=
"Shhhh..." I whispered as I felt Josh stirring awake beside me. "...It's just a good...Ugh!...dream..."
"Ummm...Ow..." Josh stiffened slightly, wincing maybe as I gave him a little harder push, thrusting my morning erection another half inch inside his deliciously tight ass.
I kissed his neck and then his shoulder, working my cock in and out of his rectum slowly. I'd woken up incredibly hard, probably because I hadn't been able to get a real erection at all before falling asleep at four AM. I only got sorta hard and I felt kinda bad about that and promised Josh I'd never put my dick to sleep again.
"Let me see how you feel..." I sighed, reaching around and giggling as I found Josh's cock standing thick and stiff. I gave it a squeeze and started jerking him off slowly while we made love.
"That feels...Good..." Josh breathed and he was moving a little, fucking me back now as his rectum relaxed, and welcomed me inside his warm tight hole.
"Yeah...Feels great..." I smiled. "I love to love you."
"Morning...Rise and shine!" Rio was walking into the bedroom and I didn't even wonder how she'd gotten a key.
"Oh shit..." Josh jerked and he was looking for a sheet, but they were all bunched up and on the floor at the foot of the bed, probably.
"Uhhh...Sorry..." Rio blinked at us for a second, her face turning red, and then she turned around and left, closing the door behind her.
"That was a trip." I giggled, pulling Josh back against my tits and my cock had never even come out of his ass.
"Doesn't she knock?" Josh frowned at me over his shoulder and I kissed his cheek.
"I'm surprised she left." I said seriously. "Rio knows we fuck, Josh. Don't worry about it."
"Yeah, okay...Just...It's a little weird knowing someone knows that you, uh...You know..."
"That I fuck you?" I giggled, rolling us over so Josh was on his tummy. "Instead of just you fucking me all the time?"
"Yeah." Josh nodded, spreading his legs slightly and I had a nice straight shot into his sweet asshole.
"Maybe she'd join us." I said. "You want to try a threesome?"
"What?" Josh's brown eyes got big.
"She might." I shrugged, working my dick in and out of him slowly, just enjoying that simple pleasure. "I don't think Rio's got a boyfriend."
"Heh." Josh laughed and dropped his cheek to the bed. "Right."
"What?" I stuck my tongue out.
"A threesome?" Josh shook his head slightly.
"Rio?" I called out loudly.
"What are you doing?" Josh jerked beneath me and I drove the length of my cock inside him hard, pressing on his shoulders with my hands to keep him still.
"Hey, Rio! Come here, would ya?" I called again and the door was opening.
"Um, are you decent?" She asked and I laughed.
"No!" I said.
"Jen! Come on, don't embarrass her." Josh sighed.
"Oh." Rio wasn't looking, just talking through the barely opened door.
"We were wondering if you..." I licked my lips and I suddenly wondered what I was doing. "...Well, if you wanted to, um, join us?"
"Join you?" Rio asked softly. "You mean...Have...Sex?"
"Jen..." Josh laughed and his ass was clamped tight around my throbbing cock.
"Yeah, sex." I giggled nervously. "I mean, you don't have to or anything. I'm not gonna fire you or...Uh...Do you want to?"
"Um." She peeked around the door, looking at my face, or trying to, but inevitably her eyes were going lower, seeing my cock buried balls deep in my fiancé's scrumptious ass.
"It's okay." I said, looking at her over my shoulder. "Josh is kinda shy though, but..."
"Are you sure you want me?" She asked and I smiled because she made it sound like we wouldn't for some reason.
"Well...Yeah." I nodded with a little laugh. "You're pretty darn cute, Rio."
"Oh, um...I guess...okay..." She swallowed so hard I could hear it and came fully into the bedroom, holding her small thin computer to her chest.
"Come here." I said, holding out my hand and sort of twisting my body.
"Hi Rio." Josh said and he was pretty red faced too, but trying to bulldoze the situation.
"Hi...Josh." Rio laughed lightly and put her computer down on the nightstand, licking her lips and finally crawling on the bed on her knees.
She was wearing a skirt, plain black and a knit blouse, like a short sleeved sweeter in earth tones. Rio was from Puerto Rico and she was very cute, kind of small all around, caramel skin and big brown eyes, short black hair. A nice ass and smallish breasts. Cute and young, all of twenty-three maybe. The NASA job was her first one out of college and she was smart, competent, and totally likable.
Now Rio was going to be totally fuckable too.
"Wow." Rio was watching my cock as I pulled it out of Josh's ass. "It's um, bigger than I thought it would be."
"Josh has a nice one too." I giggled, reaching for Rio's sweater, moving slowly and the girl let me pull it over her head as Josh sat up.
"Do you like big cocks?" Josh asked and his was still hard as a rock, jutting up between his legs as he leaned back against the headboard of that big bed.
"Well..." Rio giggled as her head came free, her hard little tits bouncing slightly in her white bra. "...Yeah. Who doesn't?"
"Dumb question!" I laughed.
"Yeah, yeah." Josh grinned. "I just wanted to make sure."
"I didn't think you liked girls." Rio looked at me shyly.
"I like everybody." I shrugged. "Have you been with a girl?"
"Me?" Rio shook her head. "No."
"Let me help you with this..." Josh was unclasping Rio's bra. "You're so pretty."
"Yeah, you're pretty too." Rio giggled. "I mean...Um...Yeah."
"It's okay." I smiled. "Come here."
I took the girl in my arms, pressing my bare breasts against hers, feeling my hard nipples rubbing Rio's, and I kissed her gently, slipping my tongue between her easily parted lips. She gave me a sweet little moan and then moved so Josh could get her skirt off. I kept kissing her for several minutes, tasting peppermint gum or toothpaste or something on her breath. It was nice and I enjoyed how different she was from a man, how soft and fragile her mouth seemed.
Josh was wasting little time and evidently Rio was already very wet and eager, because no sooner had he gotten Rio's small white panties off than he was sliding the length of his cock into her from behind, splitting the girl's labia and then the tight walls of her sex around him. Josh sighed with pleasure and Rio joined him, giving me a pleased and muffled gasp to swallow while I sucked her long pink tongue.
Rio was on her knees and there was no talking now, no need for it. I pulled my mouth away, just smiling into her lovely brown eyes. I moved so that she was on her hands and knees, Josh fucking her slowly while I pulled her mouth gently, but instantly to my own throbbing erection.
We filled my Hispanic assistant from both ends and Rio was a surprisingly good little cocksucker, taking half my dick before she ran out of room and I stroked her soft black hair lovingly. It was great fun watching Josh's face while he made love to another woman, or fucked her anyway. He only made love with me, but I think we all shared some genuine emotions for each other in that bed. I was of a type to fall in love with whomever I was with, if only for an hour or an evening. Josh may have been the same and from the way Rio was responding, I got the impression she'd been thinking about me for some time.
"Ohhh...Rio, I'm gonna cum..." Josh was saying. "Can I cum inside you?"
"Yeah..." Rio smiled, licking her lips as she pulled her mouth off my cock. "It's okay...Fuck, that feels good."
"After he cums inside you, I want to fuck you too." I whispered, pulling Rio's lips to mine so I could taste my cock in her mouth.
"Ummm...yeah..." Josh groaned, pushing his cock home one more time, as deep inside the young woman as he could, and I knew he was cumming hard. It was sexy, seeing Josh with Rio because she was so much smaller than him, so sweet and innocent, and now filled with sperm.
"Yeah...Cum inside her..." I smiled, lifting myself and reaching for Josh, kissing him hard while Rio gasped and then took my cock once more into her hungry mouth.
I made out with my boyfriend for several long minutes, loving him while he spilled his orgasm inside another woman's womb and I was okay with that. I didn't mind sharing him because I knew Josh was mine. There was no doubt in my heart and I think it was right then that I decided that if...When...We had children, it wouldn't be by adoption.
=-=-=-=-=-={25}=-=-=-=-=-=
"The Watergate Hotel, how apropos." I smiled unhappily as I was shown into the suite by the man Westin had sent to get me.
This was a secret meeting, as black as they get, and so there'd been some cloak and dagger driving, including switching cars in the underground parking lot at Johns Hopkins, which was my alibi. A meeting with my old friends and colleagues to say farewell. Some of them, the ones with lucrative research grants from the government, would doubtless remember my little visit fondly if asked about it later.
Westin was there, of course, along with General Palmer I was glad to see. A competent virologist named Jackson from CDC and two other people I didn't know. I didn't want to know them, more to the point, and there were no introductions made.
"Something to drink, Doctor?" Westin asked me and I shook my head, looking at Jeffrey. He didn't look too happy.
"Tell us about PK." The unknown man said, older, in his fifties and grey.
The other was a woman, forties with reddish hair and sunglasses, even though the place wasn't really bright. The curtains were drawn.
"Okay." I nodded. "Do you know why it's called PK?"
I was looking at Westin. Palmer would know everything I was going to say and Jackson would understand at least. The others I wasn't too sure about, but Westin...He needed a lesson right from the beginning.
"Why?" The National Security Advisor asked, sitting back patiently.
"Planet Killer." I smiled. "Kind of a dramatic name, I know, but that's what it is. It's an influenza based virus, engineered to exploit that organism's natural ability to mutate. The lipid, which is basically a layer fat, encloses the capsid, which is basically a protein shell to protect the cell, okay? Now projecting out of this shell are spikes, called hemagglutinin and neuraminidase, and those two proteins act like antigens. They start an immune response from the host body. They also mutate, which is why influenza always comes back."
"But the inside stays the same?"
"Right the viral RNA basically stays the same, but the body doesn't care because of the mutation in the proteins." I nodded. "That's what it reacts to. So what we did...What I did...Was take that beautiful influenza shell and I wrapped it around smallpox."
That at least got the woman's sunglasses off.
"So what you're saying is...You made a mutating small pox?" Westin narrowed his eyes.
"A better one." I smiled. "Regular influenza didn't mutate fast enough for my purposes, so I added a third protein spike. Senisalinin. In my simulations, it mutated every fourth generation, on average."
"What does that mean?" Westin asked.
"It means the virus changed every fourth person it jumped to. She infects him, he infects you and you infect me...When I sneeze on Doctor Jackson there, he's getting a brand new virus. Now we have two strains on the loose, you see? Those strains mutate again, and again, and again."
I paused, staring at Westin.
"It does that until everyone is dead." I sat back. "It's unstoppable. The mortality rate is only about twenty eight percent, but that doesn't matter, see? Once it's out you'll keep contracting the virus until eventually you get a strain that kills you."
"What's Senisalinin?" Jackson asked. "I'm unfamiliar with that."
"It's a synthetic protein." I cleared my throat and I was glad of the darkness. "I engineered it."
"So you're the only one who can make it?" The woman asked and I nodded, unwilling to explain just how truthful her question really was.
"I was under the impression that there was a vaccine..." Westin shifted in his seat. "...Tested in Asia..."
"In Myanmar." I nodded. "I developed what I hoped would be a vaccine, a strain which would teach the body to ignore the mutating proteins and attack the smallpox DNA in the cell structure."
"What happened?" He wondered.
"Pigs." I laughed derisively.
"Excuse me?"
"The uh, village had pigs in it and the vaccine, which is a virus itself, obviously, jumped to the pigs and mutated because of that species leap. I didn't..." I swallowed hard. "I didn't expect that. I went back, a week later, eight days, and out of eighty-eight people there were sixteen survivors."
"What did we do about..."
"We burned it." General Palmer spoke up. "There's nothing left there."
"The vaccine was intended to spread, like a contagion through a targeted population. It contained a DNA sequence which was unique." I said slowly. "When it mutated the resulting strain was extremely virulent."
"Unique?" Jackson said. "More engineering."
"The specific coding isn't found in nature." I agreed and that was only a small lie.
"So, without a vaccine, you decided that the PK virus was unusable?" The National Security Advisor asked.
"Without a failsafe, there's no practical use for PK, Mr. Westin. By its very existence we were on the brink of extinction and I can't over-exaggerate that point." I said. "There's no way to stop it once it gets out and it won't discriminate or care who the good guys or the bad guys are."
"After the unsatisfactory vaccine test, Doctor Pinchbeck and I studied the data and determined that destruction of PK was necessary." Palmer cleared his throat. "We had a single sample and we incinerated it together along with the vaccine itself."
"I see." Westin looked back at me. "And you destroyed your notes, Doctor Pinchbeck?"
"Yes sir." I nodded. "The technical material, the blueprints."
"But someone else could...Do this?" Westin lifted his eyebrows. "Build one of these planet killer viruses?"
"Yes." I nodded. "Theoretically, but the possibility is remote at best, sir. The chain of circumstances..."
"Then this something we should be looking at." Westin said, like he hadn't heard a word. "We need to study this, right?"
"No." I sighed. "There's no defense. There's nothing to study. I left enough material with Mr. Fox to demonstrate the futility and very credible danger of research in that direction."
"I saw those." Westin nodded.
"Then..." I shrugged. "...That's what you should have understood sir, that there's nothing there for us."
"So your expert suggestion is..." Westin held out his hands.
"The same as it's always been." I glanced at General Palmer and he was nodding because we'd gone through it so many times.
"We continue to monitor capabilities and intentions, collect and analyze data, and take necessary action to prevent the development, proliferation, and deployment of biological weapon systems." Palmer said and it was straight from the Horace Tufts mandate. "As Doctor Pinchbeck has explained, PK is literally a dead end. My office will not pursue that line of research without congressional approval."
"I see." Westin looked unhappy and our meeting was about over.
=-=-=-=-=-={25}=-=-=-=-=-=
That evening I called the General. I had to.
"Bad dreams?" Palmer asked. "Me too."
"He didn't ask the question." I sighed. "None of them did."
"Yeah."
"Do you think he believed us?" I asked and Palmer sighed.
"I don't know, Jen."
"He knows it's in my head, do you think..."
"No." The man actually chuckled. "Nothing can stop you now, not even Westin."
"Don't let them do it, okay?" I asked softly. "When I come back, Jeffrey...There won't be anything left, you know?"
"I know."
I went back to bed, curling up next to Josh and closing my eyes, but all I saw was bodies. PK. Planet Killer and that was just another bad pun. The real name was PK1.00...Kill Probability one hundred percent and Westin hadn't even asked me why I'd done it. That was the scariest thing.
End of Part 14
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