T-minus 16 days to DEADLINE.
May. 15th, 2011 08:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seanan_mcguireSomewhere 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?
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?
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no subject
Date: 2011-05-15 03:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-15 04:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-15 04:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-16 05:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-15 04:32 pm (UTC)You have her name first listed as Sharon Morris, and the rest of the time is Susan Morris. Which name is correct?
no subject
Date: 2011-05-15 04:34 pm (UTC)It's Susan.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-15 04:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-15 04:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-15 05:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-15 10:40 pm (UTC)Totally going to North Market that day.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-15 05:18 pm (UTC)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!!
no subject
Date: 2011-05-16 04:34 am (UTC)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....
no subject
Date: 2011-05-16 08:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-16 04:54 pm (UTC)As someone who, unlike Seanan, has not actually studied virology and protein-hook-thingies and what-what, it was the best description I could come up with.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-16 01:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-23 07:52 pm (UTC)I love you.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-15 05:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-16 05:08 am (UTC)There's also the Best Related Works, but... I think the regular fiction categories will do.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-15 05:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-15 08:12 pm (UTC)(whimper)
Oh Seanan, you have the power to terrify! You're awesome...
no subject
Date: 2011-05-15 08:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-15 08:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-15 08:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-15 09:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-16 05:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-15 10:50 pm (UTC)*runs screaming*
no subject
Date: 2011-05-16 12:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-16 12:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-16 08:57 am (UTC)Columbus, Ohio: Where the 2014 Viral Apocalypse Will Begin.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-16 12:49 pm (UTC)Dude, you are so frickin' awesome.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-12 11:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-17 03:22 am (UTC)Nice