Alien Virus

Whispering from the mirror, I could hear nothing. I had found a nearby scientific journal and was reading it diligently, meanwhile consulting my wristwatch. Everything was timed and timed correctly. A city street clock is a good example, with a minute hand pointing to the hour, and a second hand that ticks forward to count off the minutes. But what about the mirror? Why, for example, didn't the "clock" on the mirror show exactly the half-minute it had told me it was when I first set it in the bathroom?

The tiny computer on my wrist, which was charged on my visits to the mall and shopping center, was offering to tell me the time on any clock in the world. A convenient function.

I was still whispering in the mirror, "Is it time? Has the antiserum arrived? Has the delivery man placed it down by the bathtub, leaving nothing but the day's newspaper to be disposed of and the bathroom light still on? Do they know that I am here, and that I am waiting?"

All day I had been doing preparation, monitoring the computer, and using online travel reservation services to rebook my trip to the planet Mytus VII, which is near the Earth and the primary site where our scientists were trying to understand how to become an interplanetary species.

The old planet was now being destroyed, and interstellar travel was on hold until research was done to understand the costs and risks of interplanetary travel. This week I had been invited to return to Mytus VII for a trip of a week.

The day's newspaper was on the kitchen counter, but I had left the bathroom light on to avoid draining the battery on the computer. The dryer was going, and the room temperature was on red alert, with a yellow to green warning rather than a red to yellow warning. It was 85.6F, but still a bit too hot. I had turned on the ionic floor-dryer.

The house was quiet. Mother was probably in the kitchen. Kalia, who was studying to be a doctor (always studying), was in her room. I had turned off the TV after a news story about our government's budget cuts and the threat to our colonies. Kalia's room was dark and silent, thank God. I was afraid she was trying to sneak out to a party. I knew there were parties at the university; I just didn't know where they went or with whom they went.

I was mystified. Mother had thrown out all the old newspapers. We had just gotten new ones from the newsstand.

I put the mirror and the newspaper away, lifted the towel and towel bar and stepped into the bathroom to shower, wash my long hair, and shave. I turned on the orange LED light so I could see, and cleansed and conditioned with the chemical shaving gel. I shaved carefully, reverently, both the hard and soft areas, and used the hard-outlet hair clippers on the back of my neck.

I had the newspaper spread on the counter and was staring at the face of the red-headed photo of the President of the United States, who was arguing with one of his cabinet ministers regarding being a little more open with the budget deficits.

"I want the people to see that we are still dependent on the rest of mankind, and I want the people to know that they are supporting us, that they are paying for our security."

"Sir, we cannot afford to tell them how much we're spending on this and that program. They'll be able to think that we are either lazy, incompetent and grasping, or corrupt, and they may withdraw their support. Either way, they'll not support us and we'll be unable to control our budget deficit."

"We'll be able to control the deficit and still support them at the same time. These people will thank us for supporting them and will be more open with us. That is not an impossibility."

"There is no potential for this, this or the other. If we make it a little more transparent, then they'll be less open with us. And we need their support to continue funding this - or that - new project. Any reductions here, and funding may well cease again."

"It will also mean that our political opponents will be able to find a way to take advantage of the same budget cuts to go after the bigger cuts in national security, and we will be in the middle of a crisis and driven into more cuts, ending in a collapse."

"Your point is well taken, gentlemen. Let's just say that they are my political opponents and leave it to them. We want to maintain control of the budget issues and our agenda, not be driven by them."

"Yes sir," said the red-headed man on the photo, standing at the podium. His opponent was standing on the far left, looking inscrutable. So the Earth was pretty much on its way to destruction by man. The attempt to save us from a collision with the Xian asteroid was well-known and unsuccessful, as so much else was nowadays.

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