Viral Shedding

Thousands of small and poorly built ships were hurled into space as quickly as possible. Most were just filled with resources for us. Many died. It was a numbers game. They also send eggs and semen into space, whole ships full of them harvested from those who weren't sick. It would help ensure that we could maximize genetic variability without forcing all sorts of uncomfortable social situations.

They were all in orbit, then, a scattering of ships. That was when we realized the horror, the great cosmic trick.

I remember when I found out. Our medical expert leaned over me, as much as there is an 'over' in zero gravity. There was a dark red almost black color to the whites of his eyes. He moved in close to whisper it to me. His breath came in a rasp, quiet and barely audible, "We all have it in here. We are all infected."

We had all been infected for some time. Each of us had been lying to ourselves pretending that the weakness we had been feeling was the result of overwork rather than the result of something more troubling. It wouldn't have mattered.

There are times when there are many options spiraling off from the position that you find yourself within. These times are hard, I won't lie to you about that one. You need to be decisive in these instances and make the best decision you can. Second-guessing will be problematic. Others will begin to doubt your leadership, will begin to doubt the course of action.

Other times are far harder. These are the times when you know that you have no other options. There is one, and only one, course of action to take. I know, philosophically, these do not exist. There are always options. Upon assuming the mantle of leadership, however, you will see that there often is not room for such philosophizing. You need to make sure that as many people as possible survive. This is your job.

So, that's what we did. We kept the secret for a time, until the launches had stopped. The plan had been for us assemble every part that had come up into a gigantic version of the ISS. Each section would be able to share resources, or to be cut off as needed. We delayed the assembly while we trained the rest of the fleet to the best of our ability. There no longer was time to speak with those on the ground. We told them as much. Houston knew that we were infected, but no one else knew. We had to give them hope in the end.

We did not expect it, but the signals from the ground ended before we had finished training them. We started to die off, slowly. After the signals had ended from the ground, we let everyone know. They had already assumed. Our eyes, our increasingly ragged breath, it was obvious that we were sick and getting sicker.