1024 June 13th, 2020 CE
Pentagon
Multiple men entered Quincy’s office. Quincy looked up in a jolt but quickly put a smile on his face. “What can I do for you fine gentlemen?”
One of them spoke. “General. We need you to come with us.”
“May I know what for?”
One of them showed their FBI badges. “We have a warrant for your arrest for suspicions of corruption and intentionally falsifying government documents.”
Quincy chuckled. “And you have evidence for this?”
The agent nodded. “We have someone who has confessed and linked it to you.”
“You can’t arrest me just because someone said I did it.”
The agents approached him. “In addition to that, we have more than enough proof to convict you. Face the wall.”
In an interrogation room at FBI Headquarters, Washington D.C.
Quincy looked up from his handcuffs as a person flanked by Secret Service agents entered the room. “Ah, Mr. President, how nice to see you.”
“I can’t say so myself Quincy.” Ronell sat down as the door closed. “Quincy, you betrayed me. You betrayed the oath you swore. You betrayed this country.”
Quincy frowned a bit. “I have been loyal to this country all my life. And I believe all my actions have been done on its behalf. I feel no guilt for my actions.”
Ronell shook his head. “You are a lucky bastard. We will be handing you a lighter sentencing but the information about civilian casualties must never be revealed. Your career is ruined, Quincy.”
Quincy smiled. “And what if I tell everybody about this? How are you going to stop me?”
“You will be sentenced for charges of treason.”
“And you think that will stop me?”
“You can take what we are giving you right now. Serve a few years in prison, get out, and live your life. Or we can convict you of treason and make you serve life in prison.”
White House
Tom Nolan, the FBI Director, sat across from Ronell. “Mr. President, are you sure about this?”
“If I do reveal this information… sure he will get what he deserved but the collateral damage would not be negligible. We are talking about domestic outcry and if it spreads outside, straining of foreign relations. If I could kill that bastard I would but goddammit we lived in a civilized country.”
“We can make him disappear, sir. Even though it has been rare, we have made people disappear before.”
“God no. That's a line that I will hopefully never cross.”
“I hope so too. We usually only do it to those who endanger national security to an extreme degree.”
1355 June 13th, 2020 CE
A corporate office in the US
<<<“General Quincy Griffith, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has just been arrested on charges of corruption and taking bribes. The FBI have found plausible evidence but have not declared who the now former General has taken bribes from. The court date currently has yet to be set but It is currently predicted that he may face multiple years in prison. The arrest has sent shockwaves through the government. General Griffith was considered a close friend of the President…”>>>
The TV was shut down. A man sitting behind a desk shook his head. “Truly disappointing. He got caught.”
Another man standing nearby spoke. “Doesn’t matter. It won’t be traced back to us. I made sure of it.”
The sitting man waved. “I’m not worried about that. You have always been good with this. Such a shame though.”
“We still have a couple of congressmen under our thumbs so we should get that approval nonetheless. Would have been nice to have more people in the Pentagon on our side too. Especially the fact Quincy has so many connections. Maybe we can try with a different one or whoever is replacing him?”
“Let’s lay low for a bit. The government will turn a blind eye if we don’t act up for now.”
The standing man nodded. “But we really need more people in. We have really taken a hit from not being able to sell to foregin countries anymore.
“Even our country has a limit to the amount of weapons it can buy. We don’t want to bankrupt our only customer.”
“What about foreign countries in this world?”
“I have tried to convince them to let us sell our weapons to the people of this world but they were extremely against it.”
“It’s a tall order. People are going to find it suspicious that there are congressmen willing to sell high tech weaponry to basically barbarians.”
Somewhere in the Northern Frontier
Soldiers, with rifles drawn, wearing baggy clothes and gas masks approached them.
“Hands in the air! You are all under arrest for trespassing on restricted land.”
The group raised their hands. “Fuck you and your corporations.”
A few minutes later
The soldiers loaded them onto Humvees. “Where are you taking us?”
“To a medical facility. You will be put under quarantine. This is for your health and safety. You will also be interrogated.”
“HA! So concerned about our ‘health and safety’. Yet you let these corporate bastards roam around taking all the good stuff.”
“All company employees have to wear protective suits while operating here. You are violating the law so you will be charged upon return to the States.”
White House
In the Oval Office, the President spoke to Austrin Rhodes, the Director of the CDC. “I am concerned about the returning soldiers. You are certain we do not need to take heavier measures to ensure that an unknown disease will spread here? I mean you recommended that I authorize the use of protective equipment in the Northern Frontier yet you show no concern about our soldiers being deployed on unknown land elsewhere.”
“Mr. President. From what we have learned from the native’s records of diseases, there should not be anything concerning. There are many diseases with similar symptoms as the diseases in our world. From what we have seen, the anatomy of the humans in this world are exactly the same as ours. If a soldier did catch anything, it would most likely be the common cold. We have yet to discover any overly concerning diseases which we do find strange. This world does not seem to have smallpox or any worse infectious disease. It’s delightful but concerning at the same time.”
“Then why are we so concerned about the Northern Frontier if the diseases are similar and there’s nothing actually concerning?”
“From what native records state, humans have not stepped foot on that place for nearly a thousand years. We have no idea what could be up there. It is supposedly devoid of animals but it is vital that we are certain. For all we know, there could be a small animal carrying around this world’s smallpox.”
1424 June 13th, 2020 CE
Hundreds of miles away from Hawaii, Pacific Ocean
The USS Cheyenne continued on its exercises. A sonarman looked surprised as his sonar screen went off. “Captain! We are detecting multiple signatures on the sonar. Fast moving. Seems to be torpedoes heading straight towards us.”
The captain of the USS Cheyenne, a testament to his experience and training, quickly started ordering commands. “Engage countermeasures!”
Acoustic decoys were deployed from the submarine and jammers tried to confuse the incoming torpedoes.
“Dive! Dive! Dive!”
The submarine started diving further down. The blips on the sonar screen got closer and closer. The sonarman stared hoping that the blips would pass over them. The submarine jolted as the “torpedoes” slammed into it.
1500 June 13th, 2020 CE
White House
An aide ran up to Ronell in a hallway. “Mr. President. Urgent report. We lost contact with the USS Cheyenne, a Los Angeles class submarine, a couple hundred miles away from Hawaii. It was doing exercises by itself.”
Ronell frowned. “Are we certain it's not any communication error or some equipment malfunction?”
“We have lost contact with them for the past 30 minutes. We are currently dispatching ships for search and rescue.”
“Could it possibly be those sea creatures that have been plaguing us?”
“We are not certain at this time, sir, but if it is, it will be well outside their usual zones, sir.”
“Inform the members of the National Security Council of the situation. I want to stay updated on this. Inform me the moment we get anything new. How many sailors were on that submarine?”
“It has a crew of 129.”
“What ships are on search and rescue?”
“Various ones from the US Navy and US Coast Guard. I am not able to give you the specifics of much.”
“Get me Quinc… get me the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.”
“Nelson Byrd?”
“No. I meant the one that’s now Chairman. Stephen Decker.”
Patreon
"Mr. President. From what we have learned from the native's records of diseases, there should not be anything concerning."
I understand that most fiction overlooks things like concerns over communicable diseases when traveling to other worlds because it would be a real headache and may bog down a story with a minutia of details rather than focus on the main plot. For a similar reason, most fiction that deals with things like interacting with aliens or races like elves and dwarves in fantasy overlooks or merely gives the language barrier a handwave explanation (e.g., the god that transported the MC to a new world granted him perfect knowledge of the language).
Still, to be realistic, the threat of diseases on a foreign or alien world should always be a real concern. ALWAYS.
"There are many diseases with similar symptoms as the diseases in our world."
The fact that symptoms of diseases are similar should have little impact on their decisions, especially since two diseases with similar symptoms may have way different threats such as contagiousness or means of spreading. There are a variety of spread vectors, including contact with blood and bodily fluids, breathing in an airborne virus, sexual transmission, or by being bitten by an insect. Also, while two diseases may have identical symptoms, a given population may have very high or near total immunity, while a different (isolated) population may be highly vulnerable to the same disease.
Instead of relying on the locals' backwards medical texts and a list of symptoms, the CDC should have sent out teams to the different nations. And they should have collected samples from infected patients (or corpses) and then studied these in a lab, using microscopes (or, in the case of viruses, an electron microscope) and DNA analysis to study them and make scientific deductions on things like threat level and vectors of spreading.
From what we have seen, the anatomy of the humans in this world are exactly the same as ours.
If anything, that information is far more alarming than it is pacifying. If the inhabitants had anatomies that were very different, then the likelihood that their diseases were communicable to humans from Earth would be lower. But the fact that we're so similar makes this likelihood much higher.
"If a soldier did catch anything, it would most likely be the common cold."
I'd argue that even this world's equivalent to the common cold could, potentially, be life-threatening or at least economically crippling to American citizens (and visa-versa, the American "cold" towards this world's inhabitants). Key word being "potentially". It may be that this world's inhabitants have a certain immunity and high tolerance towards a "cold-like" bug, but Americans may end up with far worse symptoms (or it spreads like wildfire) because their bodies were never exposed to anything quite like it. Unlikely, perhaps, but I'd say it seems plausible.
For instance, it seems that diseases carried by colonial explorers had a crippling effect on native populations in The New World (Americas), killing countless and leading to the decline or demise of entire civilizations. And disease is the leading theory as to the fall of the El Dorado civilization after the recent discovery of their ruins in the Amazon rainforest. It disappeared shortly after some Spanish explorers discovered it, leading many historians to dismiss story of its existence as a myth... until now.
"For all we know, there could be a small animal carrying around this world's smallpox."
Even if there are animals carrying something as dangerous as smallpox or even worse, this fact alone does not indicate the danger such a disease/animal poses to humans. There is a risk, yes. But it sounds to me like species-jumping is actually pretty rare in animal diseases. (With certain exceptions, like rabies or anthrax.) Diseases tend to stick to very closely related species. My understanding is that only under certain circumstances, such as close proximity over long periods of time, is an animal disease like covid likely to jump species.
"It is supposedly devoid of animals but it is vital that we are certain."
I find it pretty concerning that such a large area is completely devoid of any animals. Not even small animals or insects? Again, I'm no expert. But I thought animals and insects are usually vital to the health of a given ecosystem.
Plants often depend on animals/insects to reproduce or to thrive. Certain plant species have been known to become endangered or even go extinct due to relying almost entirely on a certain animal to spread their seeds (or visa-versa, with an animal becoming endangered/extinct due to relying on a certain plant). Case in point: Consider how many flowering species of plants there are and how many of those would go extinct without bees to pollinate them. Plants also rely on animals for dung/droppings to help the soil and for the CO2 they breathe.
I'm reminded of a recent project intending to bring back the woolly mammoth (seriously) as a way to rejuvenate a desolate part of Siberia. (See articles like, "Bringing woolly mammoths back from extinction might not be such a bad idea".) Apparently, after the last ice age, Earth's largest biome, the mammoth-steppe, vanished after the woolly mammoth disappeared. I'm also aware of science which claims that at least one fruit-bearing tree suffered after the woolly mammoth disappeared because it was a food they ate and, so, it lost the primary means of spreading seeds as other animals won't eat it.
@Xpacetrue ok, So..., to summarize, are you telling me that succubos are transmitters of SIDA and VIH??
Shut up its too long
@blacknooby Nobody is forcing anyone to read my Wall Of Text. Why wouldn't anyone who considers it too long or short on time just skip it? So I don't understand your complaint. Anyway, I did not address that to you. I wrote that as story feedback, which I assumed the author welcomed. I spent my free time doing so because I enjoy giving feedback and polite, constructive criticism.
Oh, and one more thing:
Telling someone "shut up" online is incredibly rude and borderline harassment. (Repeatedly tell someone "shut up" is most definitely harassment.) Instead, the polite thing to say in this case is "TLDR" or "Too long didn't read".
"TFTC!" Thanks For The Chapter.
Thanks for the chapter Mann keep it up 👍
Oh you mean "The World ain't Jamal and White"?
those plantation owners & their descendants. they never fail to screw the world with their nonsense both in fiction & in reality.
every story has origin... and its reason for existing nothing for exists from nothing everything there is a real origin on which a beginning is based.
nothing appears from a empty, anyway even a vacuum is full of dark matter.
we humans souls are beings born from dark matter for that reason since we are born we have the ability to transmutation of energy.