Free Read for the Day

Anopheles Gambiae
by J. Richard Jacobs

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Dr. Lo Hong Phat and his young assistant, Chun Yu Mee, were working late. The sun had set but the heat lingered. The shallow glass bowl they were peering into was filled with a thick, sickeningly greenish-yellow fluid skinned over with a dark grey scum. The slimy surface undulated. On wide counters lining three walls thousands of other bowls were alive with movement.

“Doctor, the larvae are already going into metamorphosis.”

“Yes, I see, Mee. We have done it. Success is ours and the process has taken less than three days. Look, their size is double what I had thought possible. Our Illustrious Supreme Leader will be delighted. Come, Mee, let us go to the office for tea to celebrate this great success and escape this oppressive heat, then I shall contact the Ministry of War.”

In the now vacant laboratory the metamorphosis was completed in less than two hours, four days in advance of what Phat had hoped. They flew frenetically in a search of food to sate a newborn hunger. There was nothing. The hunger grew. Hundreds of thousands coated the white walls with a living, brownish carpet.

#

Phat and Mee sat in the outer office sipping tea and making small talk interspersed with excited comments about their recent success. Phat squirmed nervously, impatient to make his announcement and detail his plan to bring the South to its knees. Just a few balloons and, without spending a single won on the unreliable Musudan, the North would triumph by merely walking in and taking control. Phat was sure those missiles were more danger to themselves than to the enemy. He had seen some of the launches. Balloons were less costly, reliable in the right winds, and would go undetected.

“You seem troubled, Doctor,” Mee said.

“Not troubled, Mee. Anxious.”

“Anxious? About?”

“Moving on to the next stage.”

“I humbly suggest you call the Minister, Doctor.”

Phat gave an economical nod, then flipped open an aged cell phone and savagely poked at numbers on the pad.

#

“Yes, your Excellency. Our work is nearly completed. The carrier, the Anopheles gambiae mosquito, has been successful beyond our prediction and is even now going into its metamorphosis. They have all been given the virus and will be ready to deploy by early next week, depending on the weather. The virus I created is debilitating but not lethal and will have the South on its knees in three to five weeks. By next week we will have enough of the vaccine to innoculate our people. I believe victory is in our hands.”

A moment passed as Phat listened to the Minister’s response.

“No, your Excellency. There is no danger of the virus becoming airborne. It can only be delivered by a direct bite. We have been careful in assuring it can be transmitted in no other way.”

After another moment, Phat, smiling, folded the phone and slipped it into his pocket. He reached across the table and gripped Mee’s hand. His smile broadened.

“We have done it, Mee. The Minister gave his approval and is contacting our Supreme Leader. The age of Poo has begun. We will be honored, Mee. Maybe they will give us small cars. Nicer apartments. With a bed, perhaps.”

Mee grinned her pride.

“Mee, open the windows in the laboratory. It is a hot summer night and we will be working in there until dawn.”

Mee reached over and tapped a button on the wall. The sound of windows opening to the hot, humid night air echoed in the office while Phat and Mee sipped the last of their tea and a hungry brown cloud drifted away on a gentle breeze toward the Illustrious Leader's mansion.