A Different View

          “Gentlemen, we must face the facts as they are, we are vampires.” Jonas stood at the head of the table and addressed the other members of the conference. His proclamation was on the mark, but the frankness caught the others by surprise. “The facts being as such we are faced with a set of unique problems. First off, we are immortal...”

          “That is quite a problem for us to have!” Yuri, the leader of the Russians, chimed in and the others seemed to agree judging by the laughter circling the room. Jonas allowed the disturbance to settle before he continued. “I wish all my problems were so bad!” Yuri was a good natured man, which annoyed Jonas at this point. The matter was a serious one and the joking was not appropriate, but it didn’t seem to matter to Yuri.

          “It’s a problem because we have almost no natural attrition that keeps our population from increasing. No disease, no wars, no old age. Our numbers continue to grow while our ability to sustain ourselves decreases.” Jonas took a moment to let this sink in while he scanned the room for reactions. Almost all of the delegates at the table were of the purebloods, the original children of the genetic manipulation that created their kind several generations ago. Nobody at the time foresaw the consequences of their science. They never do until it’s too late, Jonas thought to himself. “The second issue is that despite the immortality we still must feed. As we all know, only pure human blood can sustain us.”

          “Jonas, you are only rehashing what we already know.” Yuri spoke up again, “We are not here to relive the past, but to reshape the future.”

          “The point is Yuri, we have no future. The remaining humans are dying. Soon they will be extinct. Once they are gone how will we survive?”

          “To hell with them and their weakness! Right now in my country, scientists are within days of perfecting another option. Soon we will have no use for the remaining ‘resources’.” Yuri was very good at playing to the crowd. “We simply will find something else to eat.”

          “You have always been mad Yuri, but why continue with your propaganda? Your scientists have been within days of a solution since the issue first became known over five years ago! Show us the results of their work!” Jonas slammed his fist on the table for effect and it worked. Half of the room stood to cheer him. They had been hearing about the Russian miracle for years. Yuri’s pale face flushed as stood up from his seat and started walking to the door followed by the rest of his entourage.

          “I will give you the results, and then we will see where the power truly lies. We shall return tomorrow.” With that the Russians left the room. Several smaller delegations followed and it was sometime before the rest of the group calmed. Jonas sat in his chair and waited patiently.

         It wasn’t the first time Jonas and Yuri had faced off like this. Years ago they had meet in a room like this to redraw the map of the world. Once power had shifted from the human minority to the vampire majority the old political institutions were of no use. The measured might of a nation was no longer in the size of its army or the capabilities of their weapons, but in the size and health of their human populations. The new reality was that human beings were now like grain or oil, a resource to be exploited. The room settled down and Jonas was able to start again.

          “While we wait for Yuri and his miracle let me remind you why we are here.” Jonas hated the exposition, but the situation was enough to warrant it. “Six years ago the human population of the Asian Federation began to decrease sharply. The cause was found to be a particularly virulent strain of flu that was able to kill a human within 24 hours of contraction. At first little attention was paid to this as our unique body chemistry rendered us immune to this, and all disease. Within several weeks almost 5,000 humans had died from this flu. I would like you all to meet Dr. Syn Neugyn; he was one of the scientists assigned to study the problem. Dr. Neugyn?” Jonas sat as the doctor stood from his chair at the table.

          “When we of the Asian Confederation first realized the seriousness of the disease we took every step to institute a quarantine of the infected areas. Up to this point we had monitored the humans and had been very successful in keeping the birth to death ratio at an acceptable level. Our supply remained steady and even with the sudden decrease we suffered no ill effects to our population. After approx three months and 25,000 deaths the sickness disappeared as quickly as it arrived.” The doctor was a small man and had an even more colorless complexion then the others in the room. The Asian Confederation was one of the first of the new “Vampire States” that was formed. China had every advantage with its large population and profited in the new order by exporting “stock” to other less populated countries. With the new found wealth they were able to quickly annex and conquer most of the Pacific Rim.

          “Dr. Neugyn, What attempts were made to find a cure for the disease?” Jonas knew the answer and was hoping the doctor would be up front. The room stayed silent waiting for an answer as the doctor made a show of flipping through several pages in a binder on the table in front of him. “Doctor? Please answer.”

          “We felt that with the quarantine in place there was no need to pursue that course. After all we were not getting sick, only the humans? If a few thousand died it would have no effect on our exports.” Even though Jonas himself was no longer human the frankness of the doctor’s statement sent a shiver down his spine. Searching the eyes of the others in room he could see the same effect in others, but nearly as many as he had hoped.

          “How long did it take for the flu to reappear in your lands?” This question was asked by the leader of the European contingent. Again, Dr. Neugyn riffled through his binders.

          “It was several months. We had heard of similar outbreaks in Europe and on the African continent. This caused us to more closely examine the situation.”

          “Thank you Dr. I think we get the picture. For six years this flu has attacked the human population killing over 300 million worldwide. Current estimates maintain that if a cure is not found soon, the human population of Earth will reach sub-critical mass in another three to four years. At that point the population will no longer be able to propagate itself. Our population will begin to see the effects of starvation well before that.” The room was very quite. Jonas was telling them nothing new. They all had the numbers in front of them and knew what they faced. “The reason we are here is because we seem to be split on how best to deal with the situation. The Russian’s and their allies seem to believe that we should focus our energies on finding an alternative resource for our sustenance. Since the early days of our creation this has been a Holy Grail, so to speak, of our scientific community. The reality is that no other animal or synthetic blood can sustain our kind.”

          “But Yuri says they have found the solution!” Jonas could not see who said it, but again it was meet with mummers of agreement.

          “What other choice do we have?” This voice came from the other side of the room.

          “The other choice is to devote all our energy into finding a cure for the disease that plagues the humans. Once that is solved we can continue to work on the alternative.” The room exploded into shouts of all volume levels. Many of the delegates were standing at this point and screaming. The first impression that Jonas had was that they were all yelling at him. He knew that the human’s first plan was risky, but he completely overestimated the support for the plan. Jonas stood stunned watching the conference fall to pieces. He did notice that not all the shouting was directed at him as a few other delegates appeared to support his position. As the leader of the North American delegation he had been in such situations before. His state had the most liberal policies in dealing with the humans, even allowing them a measure of self rule. Such policies did little to impress the other states that held the view that equated humans to cattle and should be treated as such. For most of the people like Jonas it was simple matter of remembering where you came from, to others it was all about power.

          “EVERYONE PLEASE BE QUIET! RIGHT NOW!” The leader of the Europeans seldom ever raised his voice. This fact was not lost on the others as the room slowly began to quite down. “Thank you. The situation is indeed a grave one and whatever decision is made here will not be done lightly. I propose that we call an end to the conference for today. Tomorrow, Yuri has promised to show us the results of what his scientists have been working on. Once we see what they have it may make our decision easier. I move to adjourn until the morning.”

          “I second,” came a voice in the back. The vote was in overwhelming favor of adjournment.

          “Very well, as chair I adjourn the conference until 8:00am tomorrow morning.” Jonas reluctantly watched the room empty. Sitting alone in the conference room he sipped on a warmed glass of blood that had been served during the earlier commotion. He could taste the chemicals that were used to keep it from congealing as well as the spices meant to cover the taste of the chemicals. The irony of the flavor struck him as pondered the situation. In an effort to become immortal humans had destroyed everything that made immortality worth while. For the first time Jonas found himself thinking that maybe the humans should be left to their fate and the vampires as well. Morning would come soon enough, and sitting in the empty room he never felt so helpless. Tomorrow could very well decide the fate of the world.