The Asmodai Solution
By Jackie Paper
copyright 2012
The hinges squeaked in protest as the gray haired Dr. Mezo opened the door to his old
office. It had been five years since the last time he was here in the hospital where he
worked in the emergency room before he started his travels. The administration had kept
it for him knowing that he would return eventually. The hospital was still running but had
downgraded overall operations and his office was in a wing no longer used. They had
turned the power back on for him for the time being. He limped a little into the dark room and stood there for a moment. Not unexpected, there was as odor of mold but mixed with
something else he could not discern. Instead of turning on the overhead lights, he went to the windows and opened the blinds partially. Sudden shafts of horizontal sunlight lit the
room and gave it some life. He had come here to look over his records while he waited
for an appointment with another doctor, but after some thought decided to do something
he had not planned on. He thought to himself that he had no way of knowing if he would
ever be able to return or even have the time or chance to attend to his journals. He went to his desk and swept the dust off his chair with his hand and sat down. In the small room, a
thin layer of dust covered everything, including the laptop computer before him. He sat
there for a few moments just looking at it, deep in thought. Laptop computers had, in fact, become obsolete many years before but he had not had time to keep up with latest
technology. He had much on his mind that he had to address and it would work just fine
for his present purposes, he thought to himself. Finally, he opened it and turned on the
power. When it was ready, he opened a blank word document. And instead of using the
voice activated word processing feature, he began to type…
‘As of this writing, thirteen years have passed since the Great Grey Plague, also known
as the ‘Asmodai Solution’… befell this world. The plague was created by a small group
of brilliant rogue scientists who called themselves ‘The Four Horsemen’ after the
characters in the biblical Apocalypse story…a fitting name it turned out. The ‘Horsemen’
were of the opinion that we human beings had failed our duty as caretakers of the earth
and had to be exterminated in great numbers, if not wiped out altogether. They managed
to create a mutated ‘mega’ virus derived from the recipe of the so called ‘Armageddon’
super virus that had been developed by the all too brilliant Prof. Yoshiro Kawaoka in the
year 2012. It appeared and behaved like the common flu, but the virus also entered
through the skin and the eyes, spread frighteningly fast, killing nearly two billion people
in just less than two years. Predictably, and immediately after the outbreak, wars broke
out around the world, but were short lived because the military of many nations were the
hardest hit because of their concentration of numbers in close quarters. The wars were
more like protracted, fierce battles that were isolated mostly to Africa and Asia, but
Europe and America did not pass unaffected. It was more like a race to kill who was
thought to be infected before the plague spread any further to the rest of the world. There
was a real fear that the entire human race could be wiped out. But then, as suddenly as the plague had
appeared, it mysteriously evaporated and stopped killing. Just like that. No
one could figure out why because an effective vaccine was never developed in time
because it was too powerful. It just died away, but left totally unexpected side effects
unlike any virus. It was no longer contagious, but people who were infected lived while
suffering an untreatable illness. And birth rates plummeted. It is not known if this was by
design. The scientists made themselves the carriers of their deadly concoction, each going to the ‘four
corners’ of the world to initiate this most deadliest of epidemics in all of
history. They died immediately, of course. They gave no warning and left no records,
only a short cryptic message telling of what they had done and why. There was denial at
first, many saying that things would get better in time, but they never did. Not
surprisingly, the religious right interpreted the plague as the wrath of God for all the
wickedness we humans had perpetrated for too long. I could not disagree less with the
part about the way we humans behave. To me, however, whether the god they believed in
had something to do with it or not was beside the point. The multitudes of the wounded
and the sick needed medical care. Many countries had reverted to police states including
this country, closing their borders in the fear that the plague was still alive. We had, in
fact, returned to an age not unlike the kingdoms and fiefdoms of old…great walls, land
mines, barbed wire were installed even around the largest of cities. Everyone that
attempted traveled was checked and rechecked for symptoms of any sickness. Many were killed just
on suspicion. The infrastructure that supported the way we become
accustomed to live had nearly collapsed entirely and it took many years before things
were somewhat close to normal. The easy life many wealthy people had become
accustomed to was now a thing of the past. Austerity had been forced upon the very
unwilling.
I survived the plague because at the time, I happened to be working and living in the
deep rural areas of Alaska where I born into this troubled world, visiting my relatives,
traveling from village to village, administering care and doing my research on health and
the effects of modern medicine on my own people. All air travel and international flights
had been suspended indefinitely. I and my family and friends lived off the land for four
years and I only got out eventually because of my credentials as a physician. There was a
desperate shortage because many doctors and medical staff died along with their patients
when the epidemic struck. As any great catastrophe can make indelible changes, the
Great Grey Plague forced the governments of the world and especially the medical
industry to drastically rethink the way things were done. Now, worldwide, advances in
medical science that helped to prolong life finally came to the forefront. There was now
more oversight in the pharmaceutical industry and the culture of making money at the
costs of human health was finally brought to open discussion. Not surprisingly, a black
market for many drugs emerged from this and even tobacco became an illegal substance.
There was no more denying what it did to human beings. It didn’t make me any more
popular when I said that it had served as an insidious and even ingenious way to help
keep the population down and provide much needed revenue for the government at the
same. This may not have been their initial intentions, it just turned out that way, but they
did nothing even when they learned the truth. But none of that really matters now as far I
am concerned because even after all these years, the real work is just beginning. Many
nations are finally beginning to open their borders again. The need for commerce and
more importantly proper medical care is desperately needed. Because of the shortage of
trained doctors and nurses, I and my medical crew of seven have become instructors in
medical care and science right in the field. We find the brightest and most willing and
teach them what we can as we administer care. As difficult as it may be to do our work,
several innovative breakthroughs in the medical industry does make it much easier. One
of the best tools we have now in the field is a new all-in-one handheld diagnostic tool that gives us
very accurate readings of patients vitals combined with an asthma sensor and a
liver scanner that uses ultrasound and can give a diagnosis in literally minutes. We can
now even check for cancer with a new spit test that can be administered and diagnosed
right in the field. Invasive biopsies are no longer needed. These new methods save time
which save more lives. I am still waiting eagerly for the good news that the artificial
lymph nodes being developed by the Japanese become reality and fully functional. I am
sure the multitudes of patients are waiting eagerly as well who suffer from cancer or HIV. Not to be
unnoted is the nano-scale adhesive system that seals wounds in and outside the
body and dissolves as the wounds heal. We have arrived into the future of old science
fiction films. All we are missing is a guy named Spock and the starship Enterprise. With
so much to deal with, it’s good to have a few less things to worry about. Yet, as these
amazing new tools do wonders to prolong life and keep people healthy, I still have to say
it is a shame it all came at the price of so many lives. Will we learn this time from this
deadliest of lessons? We, as a whole, seem to have always been bent on self destruction
whether we know it or not. It has to be by design that we continued as always no matter
what any book of any faith proclaims. An old friend said to me once that of all the
countless lives that have come and gone since we humans came to be only a handful,
regardless of their beliefs have ever become truly enlightened and find peace in knowing
that…’
Just then, there was a quiet knock at the door that took him out of his train of thought. A
young nurse stood at the open door.
“Doctor Mezo…?”
“Yes…?”
“Dr. McEvoy wanted me to inform you are expected in pre-op whenever you are ready.”
“Alright….thank you…miss…?”
“Sagan…April…sir…”
“Thank you…April, tell the good doctor I will be along shortly…”
Dr. Mezo sat back down and returned to his writing.
‘…simplicity is the key, and this key opens the door to happiness.’ He stopped writing.
He thought to himself. ‘Here I go again…waxing poetic…might as well be waxing the floor…same difference.’ He continued…
‘I will stop while I am ahead. Before I sign off, I should mention in the interest of medical science that I came back here to have a rather radical procedure done on my body. My good friend, Dr. Obadiah McEvoy convinced me that if I wanted to continue my work in the field, I would have to have my right lower leg and knee removed and replaced with the latest in bionic artificial limbs. I had, unfortunately, been in a plane crash in which my lower leg was severely damaged and did not heal properly. It took me quite some time to come to this decision…an entire year to be exact before the pain became quite unbearable and I was not able to do my work. There was simply no denying it anymore. If I want to trek up and down all those damn mountains and through the rubble to reach my patients without pain and not get tired, I guess that’s not a bad exchange…so, I told him if it has to be done, might as well do it to both legs. He agreed to, but not without a much heated protest and a promise from me I would come back for an oil change and a tune up now and then and did not mean it as a joke. The oil is, in fact, a synthetic full of electrified nano-cells that acts much like real blood to power the ‘muscles’ of the bionic leg, making it more human-like. I suppose I will find that out for myself soon enough. So, until the next time and hope this is not the last entry. This is Doctor Elijah Mezo on this day, August the 5th, the year 2041.
Reference note-I find that the name Asmodai, in one description, refers to an ancient legend of a king of demons, also known as Asmodeus or Ashmedai in Hebrew, and known as the King of Nine Hells to Renaissance Christians and so forth. Peter Binsfield, a 16th century German bishop and theologian created a classification of demons in which Asmodai as representing Lust, one of the seven princes of Hell. Very curious, indeed. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me personally, but what does is that the name Asmodai is believed to derive from Avestan language *aēšma-daēva, where aēšma means “wrath”, and daēva signifies “demon”. ‘The Wrath of Demons’…undoubtedly, this has to be what they were referring to.’
The End
Science Fiction
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