Adventures of the Romeo Gang - "The H1N1 Assignment"

(Disclaimer - The following short story is purely fictional. All names, places and events are used to embellish the story and are not real.)
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Adventures of the Romeo Gang - The H1N1 Assignment by Mark Ryan (c) 2009

The Romeo gang met for lunch this month at Luciano’s Restaurant in Londonderry, NH. It was a cloudy October day, the leaves were light orange and brown and the foliage season was now past peak. We all arrived at noon and strolled into the restaurant. The waitress seated us near a side window at a long table. The Romeos are retired science educators and the ROMEO name stands for (Retired Old Men Eating Out). This social group meets each month at a different restaurant for camaraderie, sharing stories and belly laughs. However, secretly imbedded within the Romeo group was the Core. When called upon, this subgroup takes on the role of international couriers and secretly carry government information around the globe.

In years past, they have traveled to far off destinations surreptitiously attending science teacher conferences and later passing along secrets to undercover contacts. Each member of the Core is specialized in some aspect of science education and is highly regarded by the educational community. They frequently write about their specialized educational methods in science journals and demonstrate their teaching methods at educational workshops. Currently, they work as guest lectures out of the University of Massachusetts and the STEM project (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Educational Institute). With this professional cover they are free to travel to international Universities, Colleges and Conferences around the globe.

As we ate lunch the conversation bounced around the table about current events and we laughed at each others jokes. I took photos as always with my digital camera to document the lunch and later would write an internet blog to share the lunch memories with other Romeos. As I took the photos I pressed a hidden button that sent a secret wireless message and instructions to the Core group. They all had a WiFi receiver on a microchip that was surgically implanted in their right hip. The information was password encoded and could be sent to and from the microchip without physically disturbing the implant.

The current assignment involved a new cutting edge technology called nanoscience. This technology deals with controlling the movement of atoms and molecules to perform specific microscopic tasks. With this technology, new fabrics can be made such as Kevlar Mesh but a thousand times stronger. Other materials have been fashioned as heat shields to cover rocket nose cones. Flexible thin layer solar cells have been made without the use of rigid silicon. Another use of the nanotechnology is in protein synthesis to make antivirus flu vaccines without the use of chicken embryos and long incubation periods.

It is this last application of nanotechnology that has become an urgent need. Mass production of a flu vaccine was currently required as the President declared a national pandemic for the H1N1 virus. Known only to a few of the President’s closest advisors, this virus has been secretly disseminated around the world by Al Qaeda bioterrorists. These terrorist have spread the virus through a network of suicide bombers who were self infected with the H1N1. Acting as unsuspecting tourist, the terrorists traveled by airplane to strategic areas of the world and infected others around them with this air born disease. All it took was a persistent sneeze or cough to spray the virus particles in the air within the enclose airplane cabin.

Although some of the terrorist names appeared on watch lists, they were allowed to travel since they carried no visible weapons. However, they soon died from seemingly unknown causes when arriving at their destinations, their job accomplished and took their secret to the grave. Soon the virus spread through local populations around the world resulting in thousands of deaths to children and young adults who continued to spread the virus on and on exponentially.

Under direct Presidential order, the CDC immediately began nanotech mass production of the flu vaccine at its labs in Atlanta, GA. and at other satellite locations. With this new method, the vaccine could be made in quantities of millions of doses and ready for shipment in 24 hours instead of waiting weeks for the chicken embryo incubation method. Distribution to hospitals and other health agencies was activated and soon reached areas all over the U.S. However, the need to share this technology with others around the world was also critical but had to be done undercover. If the general public knew of this terrorist plot, a world-wide panic would occur.

Hence, the Romeo spy group was quickly called into action. Several members of the Core were selected to bring the secret nanotechnology methods to other friendly nations around the world. As a cover story, they each received an invitation on University of Massachusetts stationary to give a STEM lecture in their specialized area at different international conferences and universities.

Although the Core group would be reimbursed later through STEM grants, we made travel arrangements ourselves, which included all the connecting flights, hotels and car rental. On the assigned dates, we traveled to our assigned destinations and gave our lectures at various university locations. After the lecture, we were invited to dinner by the sponsoring host and had to make the information drop during that time. The contact identified themselves with specified code words. We then activated the WiFi transmitter by pressing a button under the skin of the right hip. When the transfer was successful the contact signaled with a counter code word and it was done. This was the most exciting part of the trip with adrenalin putting at full speed.

After returning from our secret mission, under the guise of a holiday-lecture vacation trip, we will all attend the next Romeo lunch date and check in again with the familiar WiFi protocol. As usual, the conversation will bounce around the table and we will tell a tall tale about our holiday trips abroad to Rome, Asia, Brazil, France etc. and on and on. Most of the group will yawn with feigned interest as they got ready for another boring travelogue story. If they could only read between the lines and see the real story.

Comments and suggestions are welcome. Send email to markryan82@comcast.net