John Krygelski - The Aegis Solution

“The arrival of Mister Faulk also necessitated the switching off of the communications blanket, which has enshrouded this facility, as he did not want to be out of touch with his superiors and underlings on this final day of their plan. The end result of this coincidence is that we now have access to the news of what is happening out there.

“And at the time when the microbe is multiplying and spreading around the globe, as is the news of this unspeakable event, there are those already infected, or soon to be, who will decide that Aegis might be a suitable place to run, as did Mister Clements and his family. It must be yet another coincidence that the entrance to Aegis, only in the past few hours, has been destroyed, preventing anyone, who might carry the disease, from entering and infecting those of us on the inside. And even that fact, that event, has yet another coincidence wrapped within. The ostensibly chaotic wind, the downdraft centered on Aegis, is not quite powerful enough to bring down Aegis itself. But, on the day of the infectious release, after years of steadily gaining momentum, it happens to reach the force needed to bring down the new concrete walls Mr. Clements had erected at the entrance.”

Clements leaned forward. “Yes. If you think about it that way, it was incredible that the government decided to add the new entrance structure when it did. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been a convenient arrangement of tilt-up panels close to the entrance, only temporarily braced and not tied in and finished, providing the weaker link for the wind to knock down.”

Wilson nodded to indicate his concurrence. “And your decision to erect those specific panels first.”

“That’s spooky,” responded Clements. “I could have started anywhere. There was no real reason to begin adjacent to the entrance. And we were able to erect just a few before the wind intensified, preventing us from standing the perpendicular panels which would have tied them together, making the new structure almost as strong as Aegis.”

Tillie spoke. “Wilson, this is all amazing. But you still haven’t explained why you think we are safe from the pathogen.”

“Let us review the facts at hand about that. According to Mister Faulk, the microbe is susceptible to extreme heat and cold. Not only can it survive in our atmosphere, it thrives, as long as the temperature range is moderate. This precludes the possibility that the airborne malignancy will be truly one hundred percent effective across the globe. It would be my guess that the occupants of the outposts and scientific stations on Antarctica and the Arctic will survive the spreading terror. I am certain that there are other pockets, the beneficiaries of climatic flukes or extremes, which will also provide a survivable habitat for man in the coming days, weeks, or months. There is one other place, other than the poles, where the temperature of the air is always frigid, a place where the microbe cannot multiply, cannot even survive…and that is our upper atmosphere.”

“The wind!” Elias almost shouted, the final piece of the puzzle falling in place for him.

Wilson awarded Elias with a smile and continued, “Precisely. For a very long time now, we have been witnesses to an unexplainable phenomenon. Beginning as a gentle breeze, steadily building and intensifying, the wind has buffeted Aegis — but not a conventional wind, not a predictable by-product of some mundane regional weather pattern. Aegis has been the epicenter of an impossible vertical draft, coming down to us from directly above and then blowing outward in all directions. There is only one place where this downdraft could originate and that is the upper atmosphere, an environment which, because of the coldness of the layer, is deadly to the microbe. And that fact, this impossible wind from above blowing outward upon its arrival at Aegis, pushing away and holding at bay the airborne pathogens before they can reach us, is the answer to your question. We are safe from the microbe because we are being kept safe from it, as we have been at every incremental step along the way; hence, the second script, the second pattern.

“As outrageous as it may seem, as contrary to what you know or believe, I cannot see an alternative explanation other than the obvious…Aegis is an Ark.”

Elias and Leah sat on the floor in the hallway, both still trying to grasp the magnitude of Wilson’s words. It had been decided that it was necessary to secure Aegis and, therefore, the door; but Tillie had suggested that Matt’s satellite radio could come in handy, at least for a while. Sweezea, unable to obtain from Faulk the code for the keypad on the exit, shot off the lock. Crabill, a mechanic, volunteered to remove the radio, and Clements was outside helping him as Sweezea stood watch at the rear of the truck. Hutson and Tillie had gone into the utility room to clear some of the shelves for the purpose of breaking down the modular steel units. They planned to use the vertical steel angles from the units as braces for the exit door once it was closed. Lisa and Sam were helping.

Wilson was standing alone in the open doorway, staring off into the distance. Elias thought that he was probably imagining the chaos rapidly spreading throughout the world.

“Elias, do you think he’s right?”

He turned to look at his wife. “I hope so. After all this time thinking you were gone and now having you back, I don’t want to….”

She kissed him, the contact fanning a fire which had never gone out over the last two years, but had remained smoldering in his heart. He reached up as they kissed and buried his fingers in her hair, pulling her closer. The veil around them, created by their intense love and passion, was pierced by the sound of a crash from the utility room.

Elias jumped up and was running to the door, when Hutson, with a sheepish look on his face, poked his head out and assured him, “It’s nothing. One of the storage units collapsed.”

“Anyone hurt?” Elias asked, coming to a stop.

“Just Faulk. It fell right on him,” he answered with a chuckle. “We’re moving him to another spot.”

Flashing instantly on the years of training that he and Leah had received, Elias knew that Faulk had gone through the same training. “Mike, no! Wait!”

Before Hutson could respond, they both heard a scream coming from behind him. He spun around into the utility room, with Elias arriving only seconds after. As Elias charged through the doorway, he ran into Hutson, who was frozen, his hands up. As they both tumbled to the floor, the roar of the shotgun filled the room, the buckshot slicing into the wall behind the spot where they had stood a moment before. Elias, disentangling himself from Hutson, rolled to the side and saw that Faulk was holding Lisa Clements with his left arm around her neck, while brandishing the shotgun with his right. In a smooth action following the shot, he performed a one-handed pump, filling the chamber with another round, and brought the barrel around, poking it harshly into Lisa’s side.

His eyes sweeping the rest of the room, Elias saw Tillie lying facedown on the floor next to a heap of parts and shelving brackets. Sam Clements was several feet away, a look of abject terror on her face, her back pressed against the far wall of the room.

“DROP IT!” The shouted command came from the doorway. Elias saw Sweezea pointing his AK-47 directly at Faulk, using the door frame to shield as much of his body as possible. On the opposite side of the opening, Crabill had taken position, his rifle also pointing at Faulk. Clements was behind them, staring worriedly at his wife but displaying the good sense to remain quiet.

Elias stood up, making certain that his hands were visible to Faulk the entire time. Hutson rose to his feet next to Elias, moving slowly to not spook Faulk.