UnZombies

UnZombies

By William D. Gibson

Copyright 2014 William Gibson

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Important Stuff

This is a work of fiction in which I am taking certain fictional liberties. After all, the undead or unliving is fiction, isn't it? Although some characters may have the names of actual people, things or places, their resemblance to actual persons, things, or places is coincidental.

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Chapter 1 - The View from 240 miles

Dr. Edwina Wiederganger watched intently out of the portal at the Earth below her. She had spent her last six months at the International Space Station (ISS) working on a number of research projects related to her specialty, genetics. She and her fellow astronauts, although physically isolated from the rest of humanity, felt very connected to their co-workers, friends and relatives back on the ground. Communications were regular, including live and recorded radio, video and text beamed up from the Houston and Russian Mission Control Centers. That's why the crew wondered among themselves why things now seemed different. Houston's morning calls and updates were undeniably regular at 8:00 a.m., but recently seemed guarded. There were some temporary email and telephone issues for the last several days. The three Americans and the Canadian on board had been assured that the problems were being addressed. The two Russians had not received any messages in a day and a half. That was quite unusual.

Finally, the next day, emails resumed. Edwina was happy to browse the web and find that everything seemed fine at home in the El Paso area. There did appear to be some spotty news about some missing persons. She would be sure to ask her sister about that next time they spoke. She wondered if she might have known any of them. There was some uprising in Russia. Not that unusual, she thought. The Chinese were having an extended naval exercise in the Pacific. There was a major discovery regarding woolly mammoths somewhere in the Alaskan tundra. Interesting, for sure, but nothing of real concern. Things were always happening back on Earth that she worried about, but there was a degree of safety that the astronauts felt by being 240 miles from Earth. They were separated from war, famine, floods, inclement weather and disease. All in all, the space station was an island of its own, unlike any other inhabited place on the planet. The serenity of the blue earth below them was always comforting for them to view. And they spent considerable time doing so.

The crew was expecting two new crew members to exchange places with the two already on board along with a major supply shipment sometime in the next week. Such a shipment always included some fresh food, not powdered, desiccated, or otherwise taste-deficient. Everything seemed to taste a little bland in space, for some reason. However, they would always mix in a flavor additive like mustard, pepper or Tabasco to remove the humdrum. They expected to receive the usual brownies, fruit; mac and cheese which would need water; spaghetti, also needing water; beef, chicken, nuts, peanut butter; condiments in liquid form, and maybe some seafood. Quite often there were some surprise food items which generated an abundance of smiles. Edwina fondly remembers the green chili cheese fries, bean sauce and pita bread from the last shipment. It would still be eating food out of plastic bags, but there was no other alternative. There were two food warmers, a refrigerator and a water dispenser for heated water, if desired. Knives and forks are attached to trays with magnets. There is care taken to avoid eating food that could create crumbs which could clog the air filters or equipment.

While they waited for the supply shipment, the crew kept itself busy working on maintenance, several areas of scientific research, photography, astronomy, communications and other projects. There were filters to clean, computers to reboot, water recycling and other equipment to maintain and repair, giving or getting a haircut, and personal cleanup to perform. There were no showers to take. Cleaning oneself involved using a no-rinse soap and shampoo and a towel. Going to the bathroom was a hoot. There is a vacuum seat for number 2 and a tube for number 1. In all that weightlessness, you don't want your excretions floating around for your stationmates to see. The liquids are recycled. Drinking water that was urine that was water and so on...hmmm.

During down time, they exercised on a bike or treadmill and used resistance training about two hours a day out of necessity to keep muscular tone in the weightlessness of space.

The Space Station Intergovernmental Agreement, signed in 1998, governs the ownership of the modules of the space station, station usage by participant nations, and responsibilities for station resupply. It was signed by the USA, Russia, Japan, Canada and eleven member states of the European Space Agency (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom). The station commander is determined in advance and passes from nation to nation. The duties simply involved the success of the mission and the safety of the crew and station.

Edwina was the commander of the station and would remain so until she left in the next return vessel, likely to arrive in the next few days.

Chapter 2 - Discovery in Alaska - A Prehistoric Infection

Eagle, Alaska is a small town just eight miles from the Canadian border in the Yukon Territory and 360 miles east of Fairbanks by way of the Taylor Highway, a twelve hour trip on a good day. Dr. Rupert Maddox arrived more than a month ago as he headed an archeological expedition just outside of Eagle. His university students were busy setting up a spectacular find. Several months ago, two Eagle residents found the tip of one of the tusks of a wooly mammoth sticking out of the hillside where they had made camp while hunting. Curiosity being what it is, they uncovered enough of the carcass to realize it would be a bad idea for them to unearth anything more. Word got back to Dr. Maddox through a former graduate of the state university who flew into Eagle regularly. Photos of the mammoth's partial head already had gone viral on the web.

Professor Maddox quickly set up a perimeter to restrict access to the site. He brought in a team of experts along with a small army of student helpers. The doctor believed early on that the find was both newsworthy and significant. He was right. Over the course of three weeks, the team worked almost around the clock to unearth the complete forms of three woolly mammoths in the melting tundra. The bodies looked so well preserved that they could have come out of a museum. Even the coprolite formations looked real enough that no one wanted to touch them for a couple hours. Then it was it was screams of 'don't be afraid, it's only petrified poop' or 'look at the size of these mothers'. Finally Dr. Maddox stopped the frivolity in order to save the 'shit' or from one of his interns from being knocked silly by a pile of mammoth manure.

The mammoths had been frozen in place since the last ice age. It might have been another 10,000 years or more before they might have been discovered had it not been for so-called global warming. Global warming was credited or blamed for the partial defrosting of significant areas of the tundra. The archaeological team worked furiously due to the limited time of the arctic summer. Dr. Maddox wanted to know that three mammoths were all there were. The mammoths were carefully moved to refrigerated trucks brought in from Fairbanks and transported to Anchorage for a flight back to the state university in the continental United States. Meanwhile, as the fall approached, Dr. Maddox and his team prepared to wrap up the dig until next spring. The snow would be falling soon. Temperatures were falling and the ground would be freezing up solid within a couple weeks.

What was to follow stunned everyone.

Hey, Doc, hollered Janie Carpenter, one of the graduate students helping to dig out beyond the area occupied formerly by the mammoths. It's a caveman, she said. I found a man, maybe two.

Everyone came running. It was the middle of the night, but it didn't matter. Excitement and enthusiasm at the dig was as high as Dr. Maddox had ever encountered. Conditions were difficult at best for the crew, but they were making history and no one complained. It always seemed to be cold, damp and windy. There was no running water. They would go several days without hot showers, taken in town at some of the Eagle residents' homes, courteously given by the curious townspeople who always had dozens of questions about what they were finding.

Dr. Maddox was one of the first to the site where Janie had uncovered the head and hand of an almost perfectly preserved man. He held a Stone Age weapon in his left hand, a spear with a stone-tipped spearhead.

This is a hunter, said the Ph.D. He was hunting the mammoths. There must be more bodies in this same area. We know they hunted and lived in groups. Keep on digging. We'll continue digging 24 hours a day until we can't. We only have maybe a week or two before we have to give it up due to the cold weather.

Maddox divided the group into three teams. They would have eight hours on, eight for sleeping, and eight to recreate or unwind. But before he finished, all the young and dedicated volunteers agreed to continue with the excavation 100% of the time, except for sleeping and eating.

Over the course of the next 10 days, the group managed to unearth the bodies of an additional five prehistoric hunters in pristine condition. Dr. Maddox was ecstatic. The discovery was unlike any other ever made. Every aspect of the find was ready to set the archeological world on its end. The hunters pulled from the once frozen tundra each looked like they had died only yesterday. Each body was carefully removed from its earthen tomb and kept in a cool place until the refrigerated trucks made it to Eagle from Fairbanks.

The event created quite a worldwide stir. Photographs of the bodies leaked out as they lay side by side under the protection of a large tent in the Alaskan wilderness. Dr. Maddox designated several of the team to guard the bodies until their transport could be arranged through to their final destination for study. The problem was mostly a local one. Land transportation was tedious. The Taylor Highway runs 160 miles south from Eagle to AK-2, the Richardson Highway. It is an asphalt road until mile 64. After that, it is gravel. Winding, dangerous turns and inclement weather, including snowstorms and serious flooding, are always problems. The road is closed from about mid-October until April. Air transport made much more sense. The travel time was much less. Dr. Maddox knew the risks and felt the capable Alaskan pilots could deliver the goods without incident to Fairbanks. The bodies needed to be kept cold, but they needed to be secure as well.

Finally, transportation was arranged and was only a matter of a few days and nights before the discovery and the team would be out of Eagle and on the way home.

The team enjoyed some down time, playing music and cards, drinking a few beers and admiring their work protected under the cover of a large tent. It was a celebratory atmosphere. It was getting colder which was good for the specimens. The planes would be coming in two days. With one night to go, a noisy disturbance in the area of the archeological discovery awakened the team. Dr. Maddox was among the first to the scene. He found two of the team, designated as security for the first night shift, standing over one of the bodies.

He moved, screamed Jodie. His hand moved, then his head. I was just standing there, looking over the bodies, and he moved. Really, Dr. Maddox. He did.

Jodie, are you sure? asked Dr. Maddox. "Jay, did you see it? asked the doctor.

Well, I think so, said Jay, the other student on the first shift of the night watch. I was looking at one of the others. I think I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye at the time Jodie jumped and hollered.

Doc, I can prove it, said Jodie. I was taking a picture of it with my cell phone and...

You know I asked everyone to not take any photographs of the specimens, Jodie, right? said Dr. Maddox.

Yes, I'm sorry, said Jodie, but look, she said as she showed him a photo, the body is still and in focus and the arm is blurry. It moved as I took the picture.

Hmm, said the professor. I don't believe it, really. I'm not sure what to say.

There was a pregnant silence. Everyone looked at the Maddox. The photo seemed to be proof of something that was impossible. He thought some more.

Ahh, anyone have a time lapse app on their iPad or iPhone? asked Maddox.

Everyone looked at each other. He heard a lot of 'no' until a voice from the back said, Yeah, I do, Doc.

Dr. Maddox recognized another of his students, Jake Cutler. Jake, set up your iPad to view the bodies for the next few hours. Take a picture every, say, half second. Then, we'll see what that gives us in the morning, OK?

Sure thing, Doc, said Jake.

That said, Jake set up the iPad. Everyone disbursed and went to bed. Jodie and Jay continued on their shift, still curiously looking over the bodies but now more cautious.

In the morning, Dr. Maddox got up early and sauntered over to examine what the time-lapse evidence revealed about the event of the prior evening. The second shift watch crew stood over him, curious and knowing there was going to be an even more important finding that the hunters themselves. They weren't sure what or why, but Dr. Maddox was about to see. The iPad app was quite easy to use. A few clicks and they started watching the results.

The two on security watch had to speak up. Doc, go to the 2:35 a.m. mark. You'll want to see what happened then, said one of the two. He looked at both and paused.

What, what happened? Are you serious? asked Dr. Maddox.

I don't think you'll believe it, said the other student. We didn't either.

Dr. Maddox moved the timeline to 2:35 a.m. on the time-lapse control, looked at the two, and watched with them. One of the bodies moved, then an arm, and a head. Then more movement from one of the other bodies. A hand reached out from a body, then settled back down. The head of a third moved as if it wanted to get up. It even appeared that an eye opened briefly.

Holy shit, he exclaimed, What the hell is happening? The Doctor of Ancient Civilizations paused for several long seconds and shared his thoughts out loud, The Pyrrharctia isabella is a moth whose larva is called the 'woolly bear' caterpillar. It can freeze solid over a winter, and then comes back to life in the spring when it thaws out and begins to pupate. It creates a cryoprotecterant fluid in its tissues to survive. So something like this can happen in nature, but this is crazy. It just doesn't happen to mammals, let alone humans, but it did.

Thinking ahead to the possibility of even more bizarre consequences, he called out to the small group of team members that had already formed so early in the morning, Strap these things down. We have ropes and straps. Use what we have. I don't want them moving or getting damaged. As he said this, he started the process on the closest specimen. He asked for the help of a couple of the team and started binding its lower torso and legs first.

Then the unbelievable happened. The formerly frozen hunter grabbed the Ph.D. and bit him hard on the hand, over and over, not letting go. The two students helped to pull the hunter off while another strapped the specimen's neck down to the table, making it impossible for it to bite anything else.

The team's medical assistant quickly tended to Dr. Maddox's wounds. He disinfected the bite marks, gave him some anti-bacterial medicine, stitched up the bites, and bandaged the wounds. The team worked quickly to bind the other specimens down, carefully avoiding any potential biting from the moving corpses. The professor said he felt fine after the attack and did not seek any medical attention in town, knowing there was no physician there, anyway. The team had its own expert with a wide variety of medical equipment and supplies. He'd be fine, he said.

As the day went on,