‘Why stop there? What about a submarine function too? So, someone able to make those modifications to a basic car would be increasing its functionality. That’s what we do with pathogens. We enable them to do things they can’t currently. What was the main spreader of the medieval plague, do you know?’
‘I believe it was bites from fleas carried by rats.’
She made a finger like a gun and pointed it at him. ‘Almost right. It was actually flea vomit. Isn’t that incredible? Y. pestis bungs up their guts, so to try and clear the blockage they vomit and flush this incredibly dense plug of plague out, and that flood of hugely concentrated bacteria goes into the bite. So, to increase transmission and lethality, what would we need?’
‘To be utterly insane first, I would think, but then more nauseous fleas? You’re going to create an army of queasy plague-infected fleas and release them? I know someone who would read a book about that, if you wanted to write one.’
She smiled. ‘It’s funny you should say that. It’s actually already been done—and not in fiction. In 1940, the Japanese mixed plague fleas in a bathtub with wheat, and bombed China with the lethal mix. The wheat grains attracted rats, which then got infested by the infected fleas…I know, sounds like lurid fiction, doesn’t it? But think the other way around.’
Aleksey considered this for a moment. ‘Change the function of the plague so it does not require transmission by fleas…?’
‘Yes! As I said, we have outbreaks of plague all the time in countries now, but mainly places that have massive populations and lots of poverty and pretty grim hygiene—i.e., lots of rats and fleas for easy transmission. But here in our affluent societies, such as America and the UK, an outbreak of plague is always quickly contained because it’s so difficult for it to spread. When’s the last time you came into contact with a flea? I mean seriously?’
Aleksey heard a rumble from under the table, but gave Radulf the benefit of the doubt he was just snoring.
‘You see? No fleas, no rats equals almost impossible to spread.’
‘Well, good, as I think I have already said.’
‘Oh, no, that’s not good at all. We needed to find a way for it to spread in places where it doesn’t currently. So, we didn’t actually concentrate onbubonicplague. It’s too…commonplace.’
‘Huh. That’s something you don’t hear every day.’
‘No, the really interesting one is pneumonic plague. And theprimarystrain of that.’
‘I have not heard of—’
‘No, I know, isn’t it fascinating? Most people haven’t and yet untreated it still has a one hundred percent lethality rate and, more importantly, it is human-to-human transmissible without intervention needed by something like a flea. And the treatment has to be in the first twenty-four hours or it’s useless. What’s one thing every human has in common?’
Aleksey was seriously struggling now. He could think of lots of things, but none that seemed good topics for a dinner party. But this was a party about pox and plague, apparently, so he ventured, ‘Sex?’
She shook her head, but smirked, pleased, as if she’d expected him to say this. ‘Nope, that’s voluntary, or can be made safe for transmission of viruses. Guess again.’
‘Breathing?’
‘There you go. Primary pneumonic plague is spread by breathing.’ Again with the smug look. ‘I know what you’re going to say.’
‘I seriously doubt that.’
‘Oh, but if there was an outbreak, we’d just issue masks or something, or respirators? Or keep everyone in environmentally safe buildings?’
‘Did they not do this in their own way in the middle ages—locked people in their houses? Nailed them in and left them to die?’
‘Well, yes—but we couldn’t do that today. Well, I suppose wecould. Anyway, we probably wouldn’t. But the real downside to the pathogen is that it’s susceptible to heat and light. It would have initial devastating effects, but then gradually all those measures would be enacted in some form or another and it would be contained. So what’s the next thing everyone has to do?’ She didn’t wait for his input this time. She was clearly on a roll. ‘Food! Everyone has to eat. So, imagine, if our primary pneumonic plague was spliced with something that jumped species—to something we ate!’
‘Yes, let’s imagine.’ There wasn’t much left on his plate to push to one side, but he neatly separated out a prawn and put that with the onion and brown mush. If he were an imaginative sort of man, or just one with food issues he still fought on a daily basis, he might say it resembled a very large, skinned flea. She polished off another glass of wine.
‘Do you know anything about biological warfare?’
‘Absolutely nothing.’
‘Oh, well, you see most people suspect many rogue countries around the world have bio-weapons, but probably wonder why they don’t use them more.’
‘Really?’
‘What would be your guess why not?’
‘Oh, just a random stab, I know nothing about this as I said, but I’d guess they tried it but it proved too difficult to contain on a battlefield? Took out our—their own troops as well?’
