"In working to develop a vaccine or a cure for DuoHalo, our scientists discovered a stopgap solution that has unfortunately turned into a lifeline, so that we do not lose what few remaining men we have here in the United States. The medical treatment our scientists have developed is lethal when given directly to men, but when given to women, the treatment can be passed on to men through sexual contact. Essentially, we have made a sexually transmitted vaccine. It was certainly not what we had hoped for, but it is what we have available to us. And, more importantly, we know that it works, not some of the time, but all of the time. With 100% certainty. Even someone who has been infected with DuoHalo can make a complete recovery if they are given the treatment fast enough. Among those who have taken the treatment, we have not had any deaths do to DuoHalo. This will allow our country to live on, but a number of changes are being made, rewriting some of our fundamental laws of society, for a time, at least.
"A few months ago, we briefly had hopes that we had created a different version of the vaccine that would function as a stand-alone, and would be able to be injected into both men and women, but it turned out that this version had such a short duration of efficacy that it wasn't worth further exploring, as it would have required weekly injections to every man and woman. Beyond that, each time the vaccine's resistance to the DuoHalo virus would diminish, until eight or nine weeks later the vaccine would be completely useless, providing no resistance to DuoHalo at all. We are still working with that version, attempting to solve its problems, but they seem, at this point, perhaps too great for our scientists to conquer in the needed timeframe, so we are moving forward with the less orthodox solution, and making some strong changes to help our society weather the new world we find ourselves in, whatever it takes."
Andy remembered Phil talking about it around the time his brother had died, but when he'd followed up on it, Phil had simply said that it was looking like the findings had been 'overly optimistic,' and that if anything changed, he'd let Andy know. The fact that Phil had never brought it up again had told Andy that it hadn't worked out, and he hadn't wanted to bring up the sore spot to his friend.
"Starting immediately, marriage for men of age is becoming compulsory. There will be a grace period, of course, as we work over the next few months to ensure that every eligible male of age is paired up with not one but multiple wives. Shared marriages are no longer illegal; they are, in fact, mandatory. Those precious few men we as a nation have remaining need new mental and emotional support systems, as we expect survivor syndrome to hit hard. Polyamory will not necessarily remain the lay of the land for generations to come, but for next twenty years or so, it will certainly be so, and a single man may have as many wives as he feels comfortable with. We expect the number to vary from four upwards, but in some rare cases may even include dozens. It will be mandatory for a man to have at least four wives, and partners will be repeatedly sent to surviving men to insure this. This one-to-many ratio is for the ensured prolonged health of our few remaining men, as the more female partners a man has, the stronger his immunity to DuoHalo will be. I assure you, my fellow Americans, that we are going to great lengths to ensure that both men and women are paired up in only positive ways, and that they are in relationships that will survive the test of time. I myself am sharing my husband Richard with five other women, and while I will be the first to admit, it has presented all sorts of new challenges, we are doing our best to make it work in our home, much like all of you will have to learn to do yourselves. For those relationships that do fail, we are also working on solutions to solve those problems once we have weathered the darkest part of the storm and are on the other side.
"We do not take these forced pairings lightly, because they involve a bonding process, an imprinting of women onto men, which means that women who engage in sexual activity with men other than their bonded partner risk severe injury, even death. They can, however, engage in sexual contact with other women without consequence, as long as they do not come in contact with semen from anyone other than their bonded partner. When women are first given the treatment at one of our facilities, they will be given a briefing on what is required of them in this new world of ours. I advise that each and every woman take what you hear in this briefing deadly seriously, as your very life depends on you following the few rules presented to you.
"We have already begun rolling this treatment out across the United States, and as of right now, nearly 50% of the surviving male population has at least the first of their partners sharing a house with them, providing some basic resistance to the virus. There are other effects - both positive and negative - that can sometimes come with the serum, which our scientists who discovered it are calling the Quaranteam serum, but those vary too much to go into any detail tonight, and more will be detailed over the months to come. Most will be discussed in length with the women when they are initially given the Quaranteam serum on site.
"This change in the family unit is going to bring with it a change in the landscape of the American population. With the deaths of so many male Americans, so many properties are untended, unpopulated. Because of this, I have drafted and Congress, what remains of it anyway, has passed The Great American Redistribution Project, which will relocate and house all of the remaining, surviving men in America in homes and residences designed to accommodate the new, unorthodox family units. This means we have built new villages with larger sized homes, but also reclaimed and renovated large scale tower buildings in more urban areas, knocking down walls and doors, turning a floor of apartments into a single-level dwelling for one family, or Team as they've been referred to by some of our scientists. While apartment towers once had hundreds of families living in them, they now hold only dozens. This will also be true for more suburban neighborhoods, where larger homes are being constructed on lots that used to hold as many as four homes.
"We have done all of this as quickly and quietly as we can, going so far as to enlist all available contractors and construction workers, giving them priority access to the Quaranteam process in order to get them working on altering existing structures as well as building new ones. Many of the men out there watching this tonight are inevitably in their new homes already, trying to adjust to all the changes they've gone through over recent months, and the rest of you should expect to be relocated within a matter of months as you are quickly partnered up. I urge that you make these new communities into homes, to make them your own. Take the time to get to know your new neighbors.
"With eminent domain, we will be restructuring the communities of America, and have done our best to ensure that America continues to be the great melting pot that we know and love. Part of the problem of this country for the last decade has been the self-segregation that we Americans have tragically been engaging in. We have chosen to isolate ourselves away from our neighbors, or, more commonly, have worked to enshroud ourselves in neighborhoods that only reflect our own experiences. We cannot be afforded this narrow worldview any more, and so in the relocation process, we have worked to blend Americans with walks of life they might not have interacted with regularly. Democrat and Republican, liberal and conservative, white, black, Latino, Asian, Native and every other walk of life in between. No man nor woman can continue to be an island, oblivious to the rest of America. We simply cannot afford that level of isolation or ignorance of each other any longer. Learn from your neighbors. Learn to love them. Make sure your Team is intermingling with the other Teams around you. These are our new villages. We must embrace each other, not fear them. It will be a challenge looking at these people with impartial eyes, but I ask you not to judge lest ye be judged yourself.
"We are working to find a solution for those Americans who are LGBTQ+ and are unable or unwilling to partner in a binary male/female relationship, but as of yet, we do not have any solution beyond the one we are working with, so we must ask you to continue to isolate as best you can, until we have a working solution for you. I assure you, this is of the utmost importance to us, and we will not stop until we have something to protect you from this insidious virus. Do everything you can to keep yourself away from other people and to remain isolated and safe from exposure to DuoHalo, as this disease has already killed far too many of us.
"Those of you who are imprinted and paired with a partner or partners, you can freely move about the world again, as long as you are following the regimen required to keep your immunity strong. Keep your partners close and regularly strengthen your immunity together. You can travel, you can return to work, you can visit family... you can do all the things you once did. You are safe once more, and it's important that you reconnect with your loved ones and family members, as long as they are also imprinted and paired. If they are not, you should not visit them until they are paired, for their safety more than your own. We are working to get all of America imprinted and paired, but this is the largest medical action in our great nation's history, and it will take time, so we ask for your patience.
"We as Americans are certainly not suffering alone in this regard. The world at large is suffering with us in this moment of unprecedented crisis, and many nations are far worse off than we are. Other countries have only thousands of men remaining. Others still even less. We have unconfirmed reports that some nations might be down to only a handful of male survivors at this time. It is even possible that a few nations may have no men in them whatsoever anymore. Over three billion men have been killed by this horrible plague, and it will not stop until all men are dead or protected. As such, we are sharing our treatment with as many of these other nations as we are able, to ensure not only our own survival, but the survival of the species.
"In exchange for our help, some nations will be sending some of their citizens to join our great nation, and I expect all Americans to welcome these new women to our shores with open arms. This is only the beginning of many major changes across this little blue orb we call Earth, and I will do my best to keep everyone appraised of all the steps we are taking along the way towards recovery as best as I am able, but so much is happening so fast that details may occasionally be lost along the way. There is talk that we may move to formalize some relationships and that the number of states in our great union might go up by a sizable amount in a very short time, but all of this is still in talks. To ensure the survival of their nations, many are offering land, resources, and even people. I intend to do whatever I can to ensure the prosperity of this great nation of ours, and I will always put our vaccine needs above those of other countries, but when it comes to excess vaccine, we will take care of our allies first and foremost, and those who can offer us the best deal will come next."
