The Secret of Tanencha sy Tyrin

The Tanenchan found Earth entirely by accident, their spaceship Canava blipping through a  previously unknown wormhole and coming out near Sol. They were delighted to find that Earth was inhabited by sentients, even though the Earthers did not have travel outside their solar system. The Tanencha were friendly, and set about solidifying good relations with Terra.

Until a week ago when the extraterrestrials were recalled to their home planet, Tanencha, for some unexplained alien reason. Their leader, Admiral Wancha Tanencha lo Borka said the journey there would take a month, but new plasma engines would allow them make the return trip in one day, once whatever was happening on Tanencha was settled.

At 23:59 the day after they left, a podcast was broadcast through all media by one of the Tanencha who opposed the admission of Earth as a provisional member of the Tyrin Union.  Captain Aldeso Tanencha sy Tyrin announced that Earth was inferior to the standards required for membership in the Union. Earth would never see the Tanencha again. She and her allies would return Earth to its prehistoric levels of development forever and ever. To make sure the Tanencha never found the way back to Earth, she would destroy the Canava and everyone on it. The podcast ended as she reached for the destruct command and the screen filled with the explosion of the Canava.

 At 00:00  the computer virus that shut down all wireless communications on Earth sped through the internet. In five minutes no cell phones, no radio, no wireless, no broadcast TV, and most other communications shut down.

Police couldn't respond to police radio. Crimes increased exponentially, until the police barricaded themselves in their buildings as protection from rioters and mobs.The Army and National Guard were quickly overwhelmed. Houses and buildings burned because the firemen couldn't get there in time to put the fires out, and in any case, were exhausted. People died in droves because they couldn't get to hospitals. The few landlines were torn apart by people desperate to call someone, anyone, for help that no longer existed. The lucky few hoarded food and weapons to survive until the mobs died out.

The second day of the virus Morris and other coders and hackers were flown to a secluded facility in Washington state by a grim and silent pilot who had no ground control, no radar, only his own experience to deliver his passengers safely.

Morris's unit was assigned to find a cure for the virus. They worked shifts, four hours on and four off, for days. They could not find any crack in the virus that would allow them to restore any part of the cloud or wireless communications. They struggled on.

Carola, a Russian who was one of the world's leading anti-virus experts, led Morris's unit. She may have had four hours sleep a day.

"Why don't you get some sleep, Carola?" Morris asked her on the seventh day.

"This is war," she replied. "My great-great-grandfather fought in the Battle of Stalingrad against the Nazis. My great-great-grandmother fought with the Red Army. We starved. We froze. We died. While we live, we do not give up."

"Well, take a nap. Thirty minutes. I'll search for more virus coding from the new downloads. They just came over the modem landline from the Pentagon. Maybe we'll find something we can use."

She looked at him wearily. Her eyes were bloodshot and dark with fatigue. She nodded, and laid down on the sofa. In two seconds, she was snoring. Thirty minutes later, her watch alarm woke her up. Morris looked over at her. She tapped her watch, mouthed 'Thirty minutes more'. Morris nodded and Carola went back to sleep.

The unit, groggy with exhaustion, struggled on in the flickering light of computer screens. A shift change brought in new techs to replace worn-out hackers. Morris refused to switch out, working an extra shift. He heard Carola get up and leave the room. In a few minutes, she was back with coffee and sandwiches for everyone. She handed Morris a mocha, and warmed her hands on an espresso with lemon. Morris heard her sigh.