We all nodded and he continued. "When I arrived in Ottawa I checked with the Minister of Health but he wouldn't tell me anything. The following morning we flew to Washington where we were to attend a top secret conference headed by Prime Minister Macpherson of Canada and President Johnson of the United States." He paused. "Johnson, you remember, was the dark horse Democrat who swept the country after the moderate depression of the late fifties and the consequent decline in popularity of the Republicans."
"Anyway," he resumed, "the senior members of the Canadian cabinet and corresponding members of the United States Executive and Congress were to be there, as well as the military heads and observers from the British Commonwealth countries which had representation in Washington. The next morning, in the underground military headquarters which had been prepared for thermonuclear warfare, we assembled at our appointed desks. With their usual love for conferences, the Americans had made elaborate preparations, and we all had name tags and name plates on our desks, as well as microphones and loudspeakers so we could identify and hear anyone in the room. With very little preamble, both heads of state were introduced. The President was the first to speak. I'll try to give it to you as he said it."
"Gentlemen," the President began, "for one hundred and fifty years our two governments have been at peace and for the greater part of that time we have cooperated amicably on major problems. Since World War Two, that cooperation has continued with such projects as the Saint Lawrence Seaway, the DEW line, the various military highways, coordination of defense plans and military maneuvers, so it seems natural that we should cooperate now, in what I honestly believe is the greatest threat we have ever faced. The Prime Minister and I have already talked this over and he agrees with me that, because of the peculiar nature of this world war ... and I have no doubt that it is war ... we can make no public announcements at present, nor should we retaliate in ways which will cause greater harm to our people than they have already suffered." He paused briefly. "Let me make that concept clear.
"As most of you know by now, sterility flu is a synthetic disease agent introduced into the democratic nations by agents of the USSR. The evidence for this seems conclusive, especially as our own agents have succeeded in getting to us a few samples of the vaccines used to inoculate the school children and the members of the military services of that country. These vaccines were in use before ... I emphasize ... BEFORE sterility flu was reported in the western world. Our scientists tell me they contain protection against the S-Flu and probably, though this is not yet proved beyond doubt, against the so-called measlepox which is killing millions of people in Asia and Africa. We have indirect evidence that these same vaccines were also used to protect large numbers of Soviet civilians, adults that is, but not all of them. It has been extremely difficult and dangerous for our agents to obtain enough samples for testing as the vaccines are closely guarded and the whole manufacturing process is of the utmost secrecy. Apparently the dictatorial clique has decided to sacrifice a large number of unwanted human beings in the interests of Communism, under the guise of breeding a better race by elimination of undesirables. By sacrificing part of their own population they hope to persuade us that they, too, are innocent victims of world-wide pandemics. With this diabolical plot they hope to avoid the inevitable retaliation that would follow an open act of war such as a hydrogen bomb attack."
There was murmuring through the assembly. Many of the lawmakers had not known all the facts before the conference and none had seen the attack develop as we had.
"The credit for the discovery of this plot goes to Dr. Hallam of Vancouver, Canada, who is here in this room. He first suspected it and one of his associates, an American and former member of the United States Army Medical Corps, had the courage and good fortune to capture the first piece of vital evidence which proves this theory. It was an aerosol bomb, in the hands of men posing as recent immigrants to North America. By an extraordinary coincidence, and shrewd deduction, this gentleman was able to point to the ship that brought these men ashore. In fact his boat was in collision with the vessel as was subsequently proved by comparing paint scars and analysing the chemical composition of the paint from the two vessels. This gave us enough evidence to put our agents in Russia to work, with the result I have mentioned. If it were not for Dr. Hallam's deductions about the nature of the disease, and the early use of anti-serum, we should today be in an almost hopeless situation.
"As a result of this bacteriological, or rather virus warfare, we estimate that at least eighty percent of the population of India, China, the East Indies and Africa has died or will die from measlepox. There is no natural immunity. Our reports show that it has gained in virulence and shortened its incubation period as it spread and the mortality is reported as one hundred percent of those it attacks. Only pneumonic plague has ever equalled its deadliness and that died out after a while. The great increase in density of populations and in transportation facilities in the past fifty years, plus the artificial stimulation to further spread, has made this disease far more horrible. As you know already, all travel off this continent is now halted and nobody is allowed to enter by sea until a compulsory quarantine period outside the three mile limit has passed. Air traffic is under military orders. All troops and dependents overseas in threatened areas such as Korea, are already evacuated to quarantine zones in safe territory. A few members of advisory groups are staying behind, on a voluntary basis, to help our allies. Other garrisons, for example in Okinawa, are ready to leave."
There was a mixed reaction to this information, obvious in nods or shakes of heads.
"I realize this may leave our bases open to occupation by the enemy," the President continued, "but such would be open aggression and I do not believe they will risk it, especially if they think we are beaten already; they will be expecting to take over in their own good time." He stopped to drink from his water glass. "In the West we have a different problem. The enemy, hoping we would not be unduly alarmed by what seemed little worse than an epidemic of colds, infected us with sterility flu. The plan was to sterilize most of our male population before we became alert to the danger. It almost succeeded.