Antibodies 18.

© Copyright BG Taff

Characters.
Verna Spiro Type one Virus
Nana Bev, Interplanetary prospector.
Jamie, Bev’s younger prospecting Partner.
Dennis Potter Freight manager and old friend of Beverly’s.
Jack Godfrey Yard foreman and walking boss.
Charlotte and Lucy - Jamie’s younger dancing & clubbing friends.
Rose and Violet. Cis-girl friends of Jamie.
Dr Williams Virologist
Jennifer Jamie’s girlfriend. (Sleeping partner.)
Shirley Jamie’s niece.

Within a month, the news concerning the vaccine became public. Inevitably the fake-news and conspiracy theorists immediately tried to claim that the whole vaccine story was a misanthropic plot to reduce the male population and in several countries, (mostly monotheist cultures) demands were made to give men the vaccine anyway.

In these countries the conspiracies and fake-news situations were rapidly exposed as lock-down rules were relaxed in those countries and very quickly, the male population began to die off while the vaccinated females and young boys survived.

By the time, these misogynist societies had been brutally dragged to their senses and forced to accept the truth, the bulk of their adult male populations were dead.

As to those volunteers who had received the radiation doses from the asteroid, only about thirty percent had acquired the transferable immunity and most of these had been women.
The testosterone effect had prevented the exposed male volunteers from acquiring immunity but this had not manifested itself until the exposure experiments had been completed. This meant that only a half of all the volunteers whether from my country or the UN group were able to supply blood inoculations. As to the ones who had been kidnapped by the islamist terror group in Africa, the news about the testosterone conundrum had devastated the islamist endeavours to wrest control of the programme

That was one small benefit to the kidnap victims because as the islamists fell ill, they died and left the kidnap victims to literally walk out of the prison camp in the Congolese jungle. Of those that escaped, the females were now immune and able to inoculate infected people while as much as possible the authorities in my country took steps to use Jamie and my bloods to inoculate the males who had volunteered.

These men at least had ‘done their bit’ in trying to become donors. On the other hand however, they were at least able to return to their various countries and help out with vaccinating women and pre-pubescent boys.

The wisdom of pursuing the lockdown principles was now becoming abundantly clear and intelligent men were beginning to see sense.

Thus situation was now made clear.

The vaccine was available to all but only effective for females and prepubescent males.

The blood plasma was only available from Jamie and I plus about four hundred women who had successfully assimilated the radiation effects of the meteorite before it plunged into Jupiter.

This equation thus worked out that about six hundred thousand inoculations were available every eight weeks and those would have to be distributed equitably around the planet.

On learning of these statistics from Doctor Williams and the government vaccination team I snorted with derision

“Are you seriously expecting those third world and corrupted governments to distribute the inoculations on a fair or equitable basis?”

“Frankly, Bev, no. But once those volunteers return to their countries to commence the blood plasma donations, it’s out of our hands.”

“Well, just make sure that in our country, the recipients are selected on a meritorious scale based on need and usefulness. Make sure it does not go to the well-connected or wealthy.”

“D’you think that’ll work?” Dr Williams raised a cynical eyebrow.

“How many inoculations will our volunteers produce?” I asked bluntly

“Based on the number of ours who survived the kidnapping attacks, about two hundred thousand inoculations every eight weeks. All of them from women.”

“So what criteria are they basing inoculation priority then?” I asked bluntly.”

I did a rough estimate based upon our current population figures and calculated approximately 33 years before the whole male population would be immunised. The stark figures told no lies. If the male population wanted to survive the pandemic in just our country alone, it meant lock down for 33 years if we were to guarantee an acceptable death rate.

Doctor Williams swallowed nervously when I asked her bluntly and she finally admitted.

“We haven’t decided yet. The cabinet and the National Health authority are still discussing it.”

“Well you’d better decide soon. The first batch of donations is due to be donated next week. The sooner we get some men to assist the women with the economy, the better for everybody. Might I suggest a lot of refuse collectors to make a start on the backlogs of garbage. Public health and all that!”

Doctor Williams wagged her head with no little irony.

“Ever the practical one you; aren’t you.”

“Listen we’ve been inoculating doctors and nurses for the past eight months. Time we looked at other aspects of public health. Most experienced sewerage workers are men. Once we’ve got a grip on public health, the next priority will be transport. Internal transport that is; no passenger traffic except from safe space colonies.

However, cargo ship crews will have to be inoculated; food has to be imported. We import grain and pay for it partly with some of our rations of inoculations.”

“So health becomes a currency!” I frowned.

“Outside our borders I’m afraid so.” Doctor Williams continued. “Can you see any other way of persuading countries to sell us grain? We’ve developed the first effective male inoculation and we can afford to share some of our share, provided our trading partners play fair with us and continue with lock downs.”

“Which country has shown themselves to be the most reliable suppliers?”

“So far Australia. They are enforcing the lockdown and they are an island so they can secure their borders and keep the virus out. Their lockdown process has been draconian but it’s worked. Just like ours, so far.”

“Yeah, we’ve been lucky, the Europeans have been so terrified of the virus jumping across from Africa that they have brutally enforced their cordon sanitaire. Ipso facto, no migrants have made it through Europe and thus none have crossed the channel. Our navy has been mostly employed helping the French, Spanish Italians and Greeks enforce their boundaries in the Med.”

“Are the Aussies prepared to trade?”

“Definitely. We sent a thousand inoculations to them only yesterday. They will be using them to protect male staff working with our staff to get the trade moving. They’ve already earmarked a million tons of grain for us.”

“We mustn’t be seen to be exploiting them.”

“Nor they us. Every spaceship that loads grain deposits water over their corn fields first before loading. They’re still suffering from global warming. They’re even importing water from the moons of Saturn and Jupiter.”

“Yes, I’ve seen them. Bloody great leviathans with mile wide sprinkler arms.”

“What other countries can we work with d’ you think?” Dr Williams asked.

“Argentina might come on board; South America doesn’t have so many problems with containing the virus and lockdowns.”

“What about Canada?”

“They’re game but they cannot keep their borders secure. The US health care system is too commercially orientated and only the rich men get inoculated. Consequently, lots of Americans keep turning up in Canada hoping to share in Canada’s more equitable system.” Thanks to their commercialised medicine, the yanks have fucked up.

“Yes,” Dr Williams agreed, “until our government sees a more equitable, meritorious system of inoculations in the US, they’re loath to give them any surplus male inoculations except for a politically expedient quantity. Besides, we don’t produce that many surplus male inoculations anyway. It’s a drop in the ocean compared with the US population numbers. It’s only the fact that we’ve supplied tens of millions of the female vaccines to supplement their efforts, that they’ve remained friends. Even so, some of their right-wing politicians are accusing us of weaponising our medicine.”

“Those idiots can fuck off. Most of them see medicine as nothing more than a way to screw people who are desperate to be cured. In addition to that, some stupid Americans refused to abide by lockdown until they were forced at gunpoint.”

“Well, there’s no accounting for stupid. For now we’ve got a mutually beneficial system with Oz and Argentina so the government is taking those arrangements forward.”

“Suits me. Everybody I care for is immune.”

“I never thought of you as selfish Bev,” Dr Williams berated me.

“It’s not that.” I protested.” Beyond supplying blood, everything else is out of my hands now. It’s pointless me getting involved now. I’ll return to my sheep.”

“True,” she agreed, “and peace of mind.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever find that.” I reflected.

ooo000ooo

Late that night, taking advantage of a storm-swept night, I arrived at the farm undetected. It still took me some time to get used to seeing Jamie nursing babies at her breast instead of simply bouncing up to meet me all bright-eyed and bushy tailed.

It further exercised my life view of total freedom when meeting the rest of Jamie’s now extended family and having to account in some small part for my comings and goings.

“How long will you be gone?” Jamie’s sister asked as I revealed my plan to go the outer planets of Uranus and Neptune.

“Can’t say,” I replied. “There’s no great urgency for my blood now the volunteers are donating. My single donation is a drop in the ocean of need. I’ll be gone for a few months I think. I’m curious to see what the outer planet’s moons are like.”

“So it’s just curiosity that drives you?” She charged, somewhat accusatively I thought.

“It’s curiosity that’s driven my whole life. Interplanetary geology and mineral exploitation; there’s no other interests to drive me.”

“What about your children, what about your partner Jamie?”

“Jamie’s my business partner and 1st mate. We are not wedded or married. Besides, she’s got support here.”

“What about emotional support?”

“She’s got Jennifer, who she sleeps with, and her other social friends Charlotte and Lucy. Her younger friends ”

“But your children, they need a father.”

“If Jamie thinks I’m neglecting them, I’m sure she’ll tell me. I’ve noticed that her Cis-girl friends Rose and Violet have stopped visiting since Jamie became a mother.”

“I think they’re a bit jealous, because they haven’t found partners who can get them pregnant. This vaccine’s a bugger.”

“Well; it’s not my problem, I’m doing my bit. I’m heading out to Dennis’s yard early tomorrow so I’m going to bed.”

“Will we see you before you go?”

“Whoever’s milking the cows at four will see me, I suppose the rest of the farm will be sleeping. Good night.”

I intentionally shut down the conversation because I could sense that Jamie’s sister had some sort of agenda but I really needed to sleep.

ooo000ooo

The following morning as the cows were being brought in to milk I encountered Jamie’s brother-in-law in the farmyard. I had hoped to be away before he returned from the pasture with the cattle but I had overslept. It would have been discourteous to avoid him so I exchanged the briefest of conversations and simply advised him I was bound for the outer gas planets of Neptune and Uranus. I anticipated a voyage of some six months.

“You’ll miss the children growing up Bev.”

“I’m hoping this will be the last voyage I do alone. I’ll have enough money to build a bigger, faster ship. Digger was always a little cramped when Jamie and I flew her and if she wants her children to come with us when they’re older then we’ll need a bigger ship.”

“Do you intend prospecting all your life?”

“Not of necessity. I’m set for life financially. I’m just a vagabond at heart.”

“And what does Jamie think?”

“As I said, we are not married and not joined at the hip. She has her own sleeping partner Jenifer and your family provide for the family values stuff.”
“Aren’t you afraid of being squeezed out of the family home?”

“My old ship Digger has been my home for the past twenty years, long before I met Jamie. I provide for the kid’s keep and they’ll know they’ve got a father. My new ship will enable them to travel with me if they want to.”

“So you’ll be a sort of space gypsy.”

“Just about.”

“Don’t you ever get lonely?”

“Apart from when Jamie joined me, I’ve been a loner since I broke with the family over my transgenderism.”

“And when was that?”

“I was sixteen.”

“You’re a strange one Bev. Won’t you want to retire one day?”

I shrugged my shoulders as my lev started ascending.

“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. See you in six months or so.”

He gave me a brief wave and then I was headed for Denis’s freight yard

Space was beckoning and I had the wanderlust again.

~ooo000ooo~