The Weapon - Resurrection - part 24
By Diana the Valkyrie
The four horsemen
Update: 23/06/2003 to valkyrie05


"In the fourteenth century, about a third of the people of Europe died from
the Black Death. In the seventeenth century, there was the great Plague,
another mass die-out. World War One killed several million, the influenza
epidemic that followed killed even more. War, famine, disease and death, the
Four Horsemen. And they're riding again."

Wendy sat on the ground, looking up at Fiona, taking all this in. I listened
too, but so far she hadn't actually said anything.

"In the nineteenth century, people discovered that if you were vaccinated with
cowpox, it prevented smallpox. Vaccination has now been used so widely, that
several diseases such as smallpox have been eradicated. This means that no-one
has any natural immunity to these. People's immune systems, which used to be
kept well exercised by regular infectious diseases, are now atrophied." "But
surely that's good, it means people don't die of that stuff any more?"

"In the 20th century, people discovered antibiotics; penicillin and the
synthetics. These put an end to people dying of infected wounds. But the
bacteria that survives each new drug, does so because it has evolved
resistance to it. Now we're seeing bacteria that are resistant to pretty much
any of the antibiotics. Because we've forced them to evolve."

"At the start of the 21st century, we saw some dramatic terrorist atrocities;
the authorities reacted by passing major legislation, giving more power to
governments so they could fight against terrorism. Travel became more
difficult. Then we started seeing some of the new diseases; the old ones had
evolved, humanity no longer had an immune system as good as five hundred years
ago. Antibiotics couldn't touch them. So governments used the terrorist laws
to restrict travel even more, for national health reason. David, you came here
without a travel pass. If you wanted to travel by conventional methods, could
you get a pass?" "Only if I had a good reason. And travel is very expensive
these days." "Because jet fuel is so expensive, and that's because oil is so
scarce now."

And the USA invaded Afghanistan, while the world approved. And then Iraq, and
the world wasn't so approving. And then the other mid-eastern countries, I
don't even remember the order. But you remember the big row that broke out,
and the UN vote of condemnation?" "Yes, and the US government laughed at
that." "That was unfortunate; that was what led to the economic sanctions."

I nodded. It was pretty much impossible to buy anything from the US these
days, or sell anything, for that matter. Fiona continued. "But those sanctions
cut both ways. They are what led to the terrible economic depression that the
world fell into, and has stayed in ever since. It's like the Great Depression
of 1930s. I'm not so old as to remember back then, but my father told me, and
it was terrible. Millions of people unemployed, factories closing down. Just
like today. And people actually starving; the grain raised in Kansas cannot be
shipped abroad, so people go hungry. At the same time, the surplus of grain in
the US has driven down prices so that farmers can't make ends meet, go out of
business, and their farms are just abandoned."

"War, famine, disease and death, the Four Horsemen," I repeated. "Yes," said
Fiona, "and no-one knows how to end this thing we've gotten into, just like
no-one knew how to end the Great Depression of the 1930s. They say that "the
only thing to fear is fear itself", and "if everyone had more confidence in
the future, business would pick up", but nothing happens. People are scared,
David, Wendy. People are scared of war, of disease, even of hunger. Scared
people don't invest for a future that might never come. People don't plant
corn because they're scared that the price will be so low when they come to
sell it, that it won't cover the cost of farming."

"We all know about the current Depression, Fiona." "Each country is trying to
protect it's citizens. Against disease by restricting travel. Against
competition, by restricting international trade. It's become a vicious circle
that feeds on itself, spiralling down and down. It isn't just that we think
things were better when we were younger. It's that things are objectively a
lot worse now than 50 years ago, and we're still going downhill. Did you know
that for the first time for centuries, world population is falling?"

"And so?" I said, "what's your cure for this illness?"

"I don't know," said Fiona. "I'm a nurse, not a politician, not an economist,
not a businessperson. But I think there is a chance. One chance. A chance that
has only just appeared." She looked at Wendy. Wendy stood up and pirouetted,
"Ta da" she said, "that's my cue!" "Yes, Fiona, but how does she do it?" "I
don't know," said Fiona, "I just don't know." "I'll ask Duncan," said Wendy,
confidently, "he'll know."

I nodded, and looked at Fiona. She smiled, and said "I'm sure you young folks
will think of something. But it's time for my nap, I'm on night duty at the
hospital, and I need to get my head down now." Wendy gave her a big hug and a
kiss goodbye; I wasn't sure what to do until Fiona offered me her hand, so I
shook it. We British aren't too good at this sort of thing. Wendy started to
pick her up to take her inside, but Fiona brushed her off. "I can still walk,
you know." We watched her as she went indoors. Then Wendy grabbed me and
showed me what three gravities felt like as she boosted us into orbit for the
journey back.

The trip back was only 40 minutes. "We've got the wind behind us," said Wendy.
It wasn't until long after we'd taken off that I remembered we were orbiting
in a vacuum, so I suppose she was joking. While we travelled, we talked about
things. "How can you possibly hear Fiona at a distance of 90 million miles,
when sound cannot travel in a vacuum, and when it does travel, it goes so
slowly it would take for ever to reach the sun. Not to mention the extreme
noisiness of the sun. It's just not possible."

Wendy sniffed. "You don't believe me?" "Well ... no." "You don't trust me?"
"Er. Well. Not when you tell me you just did something that's impossible, no."
"Look. If I explain how I do it, will you believe me in future when I tell you
about something that you say is impossible when what you mean is that you
don't know how I did it?" "Well ... yes. OK." "OK, then I'll tell you. You
know how a moving mass creates gravitational waves, and gravitational waves
can be detected by the way they move a mass at a distance?" "Yes, but this is
sound." "Sound is just local compressions and rarefactions in the air. A
moving mass. I can see those, even at a distance, and gravitational waves
travel at the speed of light, so all I need to do is decode them into
phonemes." "Ah." "So now you know. Not impossible, just that you didn't know
how I did it." I decided not to ask her about that following wind remark.

"Fiona looks pretty damn good for a women over a hundred years old. I suppose
it's because she's so active." I said. "Mmm," said Wendy. "We ought to go see
her more," I continued, "she really loved having you visit." "Mmm," said
Wendy. I tried again. "A large white rabbit just flew past." "Mmm," said
Wendy. I sighed. "Wendy?" "Mmm?" "Are you there?" "I'm talking to Duncan," she
said. "Oh." That was Wendy telling me to shut up.

We flew along in silence for a while, and then Wendy said "All right!" "Duncan
told you how to do this?" "No. He said it's impossible."