When I was writing A Disturbance of Fate, I posited a sci-fi opening of how inventor-scientists had perfected a time machine around 2030, and the president had to determine how to save the planet by going back in time and doing something to change the timeline. She fixates on RFK, to the chagrin of her elderly history professor, who had studied focal points in History. He had strongly urged her to save Henry Wallace as FDR's Vice-President, but she did not believe that was all that exciting and seemed too arcane. The late history professor at USC, Kevin Starr (the dean of historians of California), who was an early and enthusiastic supporter for my novel, had said the opening was too much for a reader wanting to read about RFK. He said, "Give your readers a chance to imagine with you, without adding all the sci-fi stuff to get them there. Just start with June 4, 1968." After my publisher, wife, and others had failed to persuade me, this simple statement immediately convinced me and made me realize I could do without the wild, sci-fi opening. So, into the editing bin the opening went, and readers saved themselves 50-80 pages (the original version was over 100 pages as there was less explanation and more dialogue). I will always be thankful for this great historian setting me straight.
Anyway, with all this virus talk, I thought I would provide my relatively few readers with a later draft from the novel's manuscript, written not long after 9/11/2001, where I had already cut down so much from the original opening. It is off, wrong, and prescient at the same time. Admittedly, it is wild for me to read this almost 20 years after I jettisoned the opening. And I figure, let's show how I anticipated where gender fluidity and science were going together. :). Oh, and editors beware if it is an off flow here and there. That is what makes it a manuscript. LOL.
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At the Zeitlin Anti-Bac Center, Dr. Fine reads the file of his or her next patient. Dr. Fine him/herself had been born a male, became a female as a teenager, reverted to a male in her twenties, and then decided to forget sexual identity altogether. Dr. Fine became a neutral, known more colloquially as a “newt.” With easily interchangeable genital prosthetics, Dr. Fine can choose sexual identities any day, any time. With a computer chip software program implanted in the groin area, one can “feel” male or female sensations.
At his/her work, Dr. Fine feels most comfortable, and is most effective, as a female. Outside of work, she goes either or both ways, depending upon his mood.
While still a distinct minority among the one-way population, newts were becoming a force, borrowing a political strategy once used by homosexuals. Newts, for example, tended to frequent each other’s businesses, gave money to politicians, stayed in the larger cities, and, among themselves, used male-female names. The National Rifle Association even added a “Newts with Guns” committee. A favorite poster from the NRA showed a newt holding a modern assault weapon in one hand and a retractable penis in the other hand.
“BillBetty, you’re next,” said Dr. Fine through a speaker monitor from her office to the waiting room. BillBetty, another newt, was in for his/her weekly anti-bacterial shot.
Anti-bacterial shots had been mandatory since 2013 when a series of bacterial and ecologically based epidemics hit various parts of the planet beginning in December 2010 and January 2011. The bacteria epidemics were devastating in the number of people affected. It was as if the bacteria finally rebelled against 20th Century humanity’s relentless attacks against them. Polio, small pox, and new strains of AIDS, and other viruses re-appeared, as deadly as the flu epidemic of 1918. Within a year of the new epidemic, bacteria were killing more people than a good war.
The spawning of a new generation of super bacteria was due primarily to two developments. In the 1990’s, corporations began to use anti-bacterial agents in genetically modified foods, plants and animals such as pigs, cows, horses, and fish. This had the effect of increasing the likelihood of new and uncontrolled strains. After the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, DC, the research for fighting a war with chemical warfare and the need to create mass antidotes accelerated research on bacteria and anti-bacterial agents for both military and civilian use. When the bio-weapons scare faded after 2004, the civilian research continued, which eventually led to the spawning of the super bacteria that killed or maimed not only people, but also many animals and plant life at the dawn of the second decade of the 21st Century.
The ecological destruction was more difficult to pinpoint, but some radical—meaning not corporate paid--scientists blamed the loss of “nature’s balance” on bio-engineered fish, animal and plant life. Botanists, ichthyologists and animal health researchers found similar patterns of creatures who were not considered prey in their natural state suddenly becoming prey of the mutations and vice versa. The result was an added human-made imbalance among God’s creatures. This imbalance, in turn, led to changes in habitats, that in turn affected water levels and arable land. This compounded the problem that eventually affected a food supply already contaminated with super bacteria.
Faced with warnings and postings on the Web from environmentalists, and some remnants of consumer and labor groups, the entire culture of commerce began to be threatened--especially if enough people started voting again. (Footnote omitted)
The United States government appealed to the World Trade Organization (“The WTO”), which responded quickly, along with most business lobbies and associations. In mid-March, 2011, the WTO created the Trade, Technology and Commerce Council—known generally as the TTC, and among certain elite circles as the “Tic”. The purpose and goal of the “Tic” was to fight the super bacteria with new vaccines.
The TTC, being a bi-partisan affair with unlimited funds and access to technology, efficiently struck back at the super bacteria. One may rightfully inquire as to where the TTC secured the money for research, development, and marketing such a major, global effort. The answer is obvious to any student of modern North American history. As with canals, railroads, steel, dams, electricity, planes, computers and the creation of the Internet, private enterprise freely tapped public taxpayer money in civilized nations to bear the cost---with the resulting profit generally limited to corporate executives and financial interests in the “private” sector. Vast public sums consequently poured into private bio-tech companies—which, incidentally, allowed for nicely decorated labs and executive offices--to fight the super bacteria.
The newly employed advertisers called the bacteria “bacs.” New ad campaigns, jointly paid by the government and bio-tech corporations (of course, ad expenses were tax-deductible as well!), convinced consumers to clamor for a techno-cure. Some may remember one of the most successful ads, with the memorable tag line: “Ew, gross, you’ve got a bac attack! Get a shot, snot face!”
The technological solution was to create more anti-bacterial drugs and vaccinations to fight the super-bacs—and more genetic engineering. Again, no one noticed the irony that super-bacs were themselves created from genetic engineering and human-made drugs and vaccinations. The vaccinations, now called in ad-parlance “vacs”, as in “Fight the bacs with vacs!”, didn’t hurt anymore because of the use of modern, micro-needles. In keeping with a disposable, consumer culture, one could buy a “pack o’ vacs” and self-administer them, at least initially.
Holograms and robots also proved to be a great help (MJF note to the blog reader: This was discussed, with some fun things, earlier in this opening chapter). With the rise of holograms, people found it easier to live with holograms and robots in smaller spaces than with other people—what, with all the bacs each of us naturally carry.
Biotech companies reaped huge profits, which then stimulated further government investment with some additional private investment. After the first two or three years, the various concoctions of vacs became more complicated beyond any self-administered “pack o’ Vacs”. Thus began the rise of private urgent care Vac Centers, offering weekly and daily Vac “flavors.” The Zeitlin Anti-Bac Center, the largest of the franchises, had over four hundred and twenty-seven Vac Centers across North America by the late 2020’s.
Business really improved when the side effects started appearing at a rapid pace. The spawning of vaccines to prevent side effects from other vaccines proved especially lucrative. Instead of creating a backlash against continued fooling with Mother Nature, as some critics hoped, the rise of all the new companies surrounding the bac-vac development easily fit into the entire commerce culture for a constant demand for disposable and reusable products. And if some vaccines became human-made super-bacs themselves, well those things happen. Pharmacists became visionaries and consultants for the new anti-bac industries.
Some worried about lawsuits for defective Vacs and “bac-firing Vacs” (where Vacs worsened the condition in an allergic reaction). But in the world of designer vaccinations, most courts and, when necessary, the Congress, immunized the drug-makers from suit. “There’s a war on with bacs that’s every bit as fierce as any war humanity has ever faced!” said one Supreme Court opinion refusing to hold the drug-makers responsible for anything other than pure fraud, which seasoned lawyers knew was too difficult to prove most of the time. The legal language of “design immunity” allowed one to close one’s eyes to twisted limbs and dead children in a given case, no matter how sloppy the technical procedures or testing of a given vaccine.
The TTC had successfully realized the dangers posed by bacs--and also the commercial promise and opportunity. Some cranky critics, mostly academicians, called it “the vaccination race.” Others called it “Bio-Fascism” due to the government required vaccinations with drugs created by government and business. “Realists” such as the long-time bio-tech and global commerce booster, Thomas Friedman of The New York Times, laughed away such criticism. “It’s not Fascism,” he said in one memorable column on August 4, 2014, “it’s Fashion.” With each year, and eventually monthly, new vaccines were unveiled for each new bacterial strain, much like a spring or fall fashion show.
Aristotle didn’t call us “social beings” for nothing.*
“Nice to see you again, BillBetty,” said Dr. Fine. “We have a new vaccine here in response to the new bac strain. I mixed it with other vacs for just your type of blood and bone-marrow…Besides all the mediciney stuff, it has a GreenTea base, with just a touch of Prozac, and some Zipp. I also added Roulette to hide the medicine taste. I think you’ll find it gives you a clean, happy, zesty feeling!”
*This was an original manuscript footnote--MJF. In a Rand Corporation report to the government and WTO, dated April 13, 2017, it noted: “A positive consequence of the super-bacteria, the loss of habitat due to otherwise decreasing global warming trends, and the fallout from genetically modified organisms was the increase in technological research and a diminishing of any over-population concerns for the short-term, at least. Some may say the latter 'positive' reminds people of Dickens’ characters, such as Scrooge or Gradgrind, but one should avoid overly emotional appeals in light of this crisis.”
