"The Blue Plague" - A Drag/NET Story
By Arthur Levesque -- bs@boog.org -- http://boog.org

     No one knew how it started, but it was a nightmare come true.  Half the
country was already dead, and we were among the last to contract it.  80% of
Europe dead, Asia was just about extinct of human life, Africa and South America
with almost 70% fatalities, only Australia - well, I'll get to that later.
Those that weren't dead were sick; either delirious, too weak to move a muscle,
or slowly rotting away.
     Of course, I'm talking about the Blue Plague.  In March of 1989 it took the
world by surprise.  At the beginning, there was hope for a cure; but now, only a
few scientists remained, struggling against futility.  Both America and the
Soviet Union blamed each other for the disease, whose true origins were unknown
(many theories, ranging from germ warfare to mutated bacteria to bacteria from
space [brought down on a meteor] were circulated).  Many people were afraid that
in these last days of the summer of '89 the two super powers would launch their
missiles at each other; other people pointed out that it would make no
difference.  The human race, almost everywhere, was doomed.
     Almost everywhere.  I believe I mentioned Australia earlier.  The disease
so far had not struck Australia, probably because of their emergency decision to
allow no one in or out.  Viewed as paranoid back in April (God, that seems
almost years ago), now everyone who hadn't died yet was trying to get to
Australia.  Some thought that they had a cure and weren't sharing it.  In any
case, no one was getting to Australia.  Planes were shot down, boats sunk, etc.,
by the Australian army (using the weapons they ordered from America through
ANZUS just before they closed the borders).  The USS Nimitz tried to break
through the blockade, whether by order of the US or under their own volition was
unclear, but the Australians hit it with a small nuclear missile.
     People called me paranoid too, but I was prepared.  I'm what you might call
a survivalist.  You might also call me "Back Slash", some of my friends (and
enemies) do.  I had a fallout shelter in my cellar, with about two years worth
of food, medical supplies, etc.  In April, back when the panic hadn't quite
started yet (Johnny Carson was still joking about it on TV), I invited some of
my friends to join me in the the shelter and sealed it.  Some came with me
because they also believed, some came with me seeing it as a viable alternative
to school, and some laughed at me and ended up dying.  Those in the shelter
we'll refer to as Ian, Max, Sarge, Ford, Mystyk, Greg, Monk, and Zork (not quite
their real names).
     In May was when people really started panicking.  You know, hoarding
supplies, looting, rioting, changing religions twice daily, etc.  Some people
thought it was all a nightmare and kept pinching themselves.  Other people
thought it was all a story on Dragnet and kept hitting the space bar.  But
regardless of what they did, the horror didn't go away.
     In June there wasn't even half a year's supply of food left in the shelter.
Despite careful rationing, nine people will eat more than one no matter what you
do (short of murder, which had been considerred a few times.  Those Beatle
trivia questions were driving us nuts!) We tried, frantically to think of what
we could do to survive.
     In July we heard about Australia.  We were picking up on CB the broadcasts
of a group of well-armed vigilantes who survived by attacking, looting, and
stealing; using weapons that they'd used in saner times for hunting.  They had
heard of what was happening in Australia and decided they'd get in one way or
another.  The leader, a brave and ruthless man who called himself Raven, stole a
small plane (the same kind of plane Mathias Rust slipped into Moscow with, he
pointed out to his followers) and took off for Australia.  They were never heard
from again.
     We decided that we somehow had to get to Australia.  But how? We had no
boats or planes.  We had cars, but they wouldn't be any good to cross major
oceans with.  How could high school and college students, in these mad times,
get transportation to Australia?
     It was Sarge that got the idea to build something.  It was the Monk (who
had just finished reading "Hunt for Red October") who had the idea of building a
submarine.  "We could sneak in under their defenses and they'd never know!" So,
using an old, beat-up van and parts of about 12 old cars (and an outboard motor
we stole from one of Zork's friends) we built a submarine.  We loaded the food
and medical supplies aboard and started out.  We decided that the best way to do
it was to drive across America and then cross the Pacific under water.
     By avoiding major cities, we crossed America with a minimum of trouble (and
the trouble we had was successfully triumphed over; we also had brought
weapons.) Once we got to the ocean, our only enemy was boredom.  Our food
supplies were running out (we didn't dare steal any while on land for fear that
it might be infected).  So, we surfaced occasionally and fished.  Fish is not a
very balanced diet, but with small helpings of bread and such and with
multi-vitamins I had packed we were able to survive.
     We slipped under Australia's defenses (wondering how many other people had
thought of submarines) and arrived, finally, at relative safety: the last
bastion of civilization on the Earth.  We worried about being caught, especially
by our American accents, but Mystyk pointed out that there were, in most
likelihood, hundreds of American tourists in Australia when the borders were
closed.  So, when we got to the nearest city, we got jobs and a place to live.
Work was hard and life was tough, as they could no longer import oil or food,
but the hardy Australians (and their "guests") survived.  We all eventually got
married, even Zork (no, not to each other, to nine Australian girls), and
settled down.  Sarge even put up another BBS for us all to keep in touch with,
Thee Mystyk and Ford became writers, Ian and Max became professional athletes
(organized sports were brought back in 1992, along with the Olympics; although
only Australians competed), Zork became a talk-show host, the Electric Monk
became a very prominent politician, Greg voted against the Monk every chance he
got, and me, well, I don't like being bound down. I've written a bit (this will
hopefully be my second published story; well, if you're reading this, it's been
published), and wandered around a bit, working in all different parts of
Australia.  The scientists say they may soon have a cure to the plague; so we
can finally be free of the fear that the germs will eventually get to us.  If
they do create a cure, I intend to return to America with my wife and
two-year-old son, Buckaroo.  We can raise our family, our new civilization, in
the remains of what was once the greatest nation on Earth. And maybe, just
maybe, we can do a better job of it this time.

     Back Slash
     Melbourne, Australia
     February 20, 1997