Empire's Legacy

Chapter 31: Insidious Plots

"That's insane," Brenner said. Above, Amy was thinking the same thing and feeling distinctly sick. "We've been able to control the outliers because we released the virus and then locked down entire planets almost immediately. Nothing can get in or out. You release it on C-Prime, and it's not just the residents of Natterby Close, or the Eleventh Precinct, or Enfield that are going to get infected and die." His jaw worked. "You might be able to contain Natterby Close by restricting travel on the grounds of the riots, but how would you contain the rest of the slums or the lower city? Putting quarantine procedures into effect before there's any evidence of contagious will be a surefire way of letting everyone know that we're responsible—how else would we know about the danger to Natterby Close before anyone turns up sick?" Shaking his head, he continued, "Restricting civilian movements in areas that haven't previously shown signs of trouble, while not something we haven't done before, isn't advisable given the current situation in Natterby Close and the other areas currently fraught with tension; it would be like dropping a match in kindling. The whole lower city might go up in arms, and while they'd then go back down to disease, they'd break through the quarantine lines before the virus took them—and then that defeats the purpose of the quarantine lines in the first place."

Naisbitt waited for him to finish, an amused smile on his face as he leaned back against the windowsill. "Are you finished?" he asked eventually.

"Yes," Brenner said tersely.

"You seem to think I'm a complete idiot," Naisbitt observed calmly. "Have you forgotten the vaccine?"

Amy's breath caught in her throat.

Brenner's eyebrows shot up. "Do you intend to vaccinate everyone in the city, then?" he demanded.

Naisbitt made a little bow. "I am a beneficent man," he said, smiling beatifically. "I have grown so concerned about the threat posed to the denizens of my beloved Commissions by the conditions on the outliers that I am delighted to reveal the existence of a vaccine, which Commissioner scientists have been working diligently to create, and which we are prepared to offer to every citizen of the Commission—free of charge."

"You have got to be kidding me," Brenner said, at the same time Amy mouthed the same thing above him.

"Not in the slightest," Naisbitt replied, sitting back down at his desk and rotating the chair back and forth slightly as he spoke. "If someone wants to be vaccinated against the potential threat of the dreadful disease ravaging the outliers, all they'll have to do is register and come into one of the many hospitals we'll have offering the vaccine."

Brenner waited, watching him.

Naisbitt smiled again, but his eyes were cold. "We'll prepare a list in advance of those individuals who may receive the vaccine. Everyone else will receive a jab so they'll think they've been vaccinated, but it'll just be saline."

"Organizing a mass effort like that is going to be chaos," Brenner pointed out. "It's a huge undertaking."

"I have no doubt in my mind that under your sure hand, everything will roll out smoothly."

"Why not just infect them individually that way, then?" Brenner asked, keeping his voice calm. He'd seen and done any number of appalling things during his time with the Commission, mamy of which had been of his own free will and any number of which he did not regret, but this...troubled him.

"Perhaps we will." Naisbitt steepled his fingers. "We shall see. But I like it. And we've got the antiviral up our sleeves if anyone gets sick that shouldn't have."

"Rabb, don't you think someone is going to get suspicious if the people in the slums die while everyone in the upper city survives?"

Naisbitt shrugged. "They're the same as the people on the outliers. Hard, short lives and quick, miserable deaths. It's not any different than what's expected—and no one will question what everyone expects." He fixed the Secretary with an intense stare. "Make it happen, Seamus."