“Even though receiving transfusions of O blood appears to help those who are sick only marginally at best,” Emily added.
“Apparently, some people have other factors that allow them to fight off the larvae as well. We do have individuals who haven’t progressed to stage two. Or at least not yet. I regret to inform you I found a low concentration of Groskin’s in some of the stage-one patients who haven’t shown outward signs of stage two. We must now consider them to be in remission, rather than cured, unfortunately.”
Which added hundreds of potential stage-two cases yet to break. Emily fought the urge to lay her head on the desk and weep.
“Stage two is the bleeding?” Sid clarified.
“Yes, and the hallucinations we’ve seen manifested a few times in extreme cases where the brain cells were being devoured.” Mrs. Fenn confirmed his statement matter-of-factly. “I believe humans aren’t the natural host for Groskin’s, but the organism is making do, as nature does. I hope it doesn’t manage to adapt to humans, or we may indeed become the plague ship the Sectors authorities are dreading. Lords of Space forbid it evolves to an airborne method of transmission. Right now, the organism can’t move person to person. It has to go through the spore stage in water and reanimate inside a new victim.”
“So, how do we kill this thing?” Jake asked.
“I have no idea.” Mrs. Fenn sat back in her chair, while Maeve continued to display the lazily rotating image of the creature. “Certainly the Ship’s precautions in treating the water on Level 5 don’t eradicate it. Another piece of good news, however: There’s no trace of Groskin’s in the ship’s general water supply. Apparently, the standard recycling and decontamination techniques do remove it. Maeve and I are establishing a set of experiments designed to isolate what steps in her standard process deactivate or kill Groskin’s.” She made a little face. “Certainly Patient Zero shed the spores into the ship’s sanitation system, as did each person who subsequently became infested, yet there’s no sign of the spores in the general water supply.”
“One piece of luck for which I’m profoundly grateful,” Emily said. “If only the Line hadn’t been so set on keeping the Tahumaroa experience authentic for the passengers, maintaining a separate hydro treatment system, this outbreak might not have happened at all.”
“This bug isn’t native to Tahumaroa,” Jake said. “Otherwise, an outbreak would have occurred before.”
“I never said the organism was from Tahumaroa.” Mrs. Fenn was adamant. “I agree with you. In fact, it cannot be. Mr. Groskin brought it with him, inside him, from somewhere else. Once he walked into the special water on Level 5, he was shedding spores into that closed system, and the unfortunate events were set in motion. There have been other historical outbreaks of infection where a water source such as a spa or a system cooler wasn’t treated properly. Those tend to be bacterial, however, and easily defeated with antibiotics.” Eyes narrowed as if facing an unspoken challenge to her conclusions, she stared around the table. “My research spans anything even remotely similar to what we’re experiencing, I assure you. I’ve accessed my private databases and gone back centuries to brain-eating amoebas and something known as Legionnaires’ disease, both on old Terra. This, by the way, is neither but has aspects of both.”
“There may be a cure wherever Groskin picked it up,” Hillier said. “A local cure for a local bug. I haven’t run across any research on this creature, though.” He leaned closer to the table, watching the holo spin. “It does have interesting aspects.”
“We’re not engineering bioweapons here,” Emily said, slamming her fist on the table. “We’re going to wipe it out, not study it.”
Hillier raised his eyebrows in disdain. “I can’t help what the military research branch of my corporation may pursue. Imagine letting these loose on the Mawreg.” Obviously relishing the idea, he gave the people around the table a meaningful look. “A pretty vision, eh?”
“We don’t know enough about the Mawreg physiology—” Mrs. Fenn took a deep breath.
“You and I should talk when this incident is over,” Hillier muttered in her ear, loud enough for Emily to overhear. “We might have mutual interests.”
“So, next steps, Doc? Now that we’ve seen the actual bug, does that help us identify new things to throw at it?” Jake asked, redirecting the meeting to Emily.
“In a manner of speaking, yes. Mrs. Fenn is going to continue her research along various avenues as fast as she and Maeve can design and run trials.”
“The challenge will be finding something capable of eradicating the spores and the larvae without also killing the human host,” the elderly scientist said. “Spores are a remarkably resilient life form. So far, none of what Maeve has told me about the standard water treatments could be applied to a human.”
“Could we recycle a person’s blood, keeping them alive somehow, clean out the spores like the ship does to the drinking water, and then return the blood?” Meg asked.
“Possibly.” Mrs. Fenn picked up her knitting. “Not on board this ship. The resources involved would be highly technical and intensive. I doubt if even a Sectors hospital ship could process more than one or two people a day. The rest would die long before their turn came.”
“None of this discussion leaves this room,” Emily said. “The captain is going to announce today that we’ve found the bug and we’re researching ways of eradicating the threat, but no specifics.”
“So, just to be clear,” Meg looked away from the image of the bug. “If a person goes into the water on Level 5, and they don’t have type O blood, they’ll be infected?”
Mrs. Fenn nodded. “Although Maeve and I did find the concentrations of the Groskin’s throughout the mock ocean aren’t uniform. The spores congregate closer to shore.”
“Waiting for prey,” Emily said, with a shiver.
“Not consciously,” Mrs. Fenn elaborated. “But as a survival mechanism. Apparently their natural host, whatever it may be, dwells in shallow water. If all 3000 people on this ship had gone swimming, a large percentage of them would now be sick. Or dying.”
“Thank the Lords of Space the beach deck didn’t appeal to everyone then.” Meg wasn’t smiling.
Mrs. Fenn threw in a piece of trivia. “Only about 45% of Terran-descent humans have type O blood. That still would have left a significant group of passengers vulnerable to Groskin’s.”
“Anyone on this team with loose lips is going to find themselves in the brig for the duration,” Jake said, hand on his blaster, eyeing Sid and then Hillier. “We can’t afford a panic.”
“No need for dramatics, Officer Dilon. I have patients to attend.” Hillier gave Emily a curt nod and headed for the door. He paused on the threshold for one last parting shot. “I imagine the liability lawsuits after this is all over will be quite interesting, especially with Mr. Daburkn’s trideo record entered into evidence.”
Bastard. Why did he have to be one of the few doctors on board? Emily pulled Jake closer, speaking in his ear. “We have to make absolutely sure no one has access to the beach deck until those spores are all destroyed or vented into space.”
“It’ll be taken care of, don’t worry.” His AI buzzed. “Excuse me for a moment, Doc.”
Jayna was on the other end of the call, sending vid as well as voice. “I think you’d better come up here, boss, and bring Dr. Shane.”
“What’s going on?”
“I got a quarantine call a little while ago to pick up six Socialites claiming to be in stage one.”
“Stage one?” Emily gasped and took his arm. “How is it possible? We haven’t had any new cases in days. The beach was closed after the Tetlers fell ill.”
On the vid broadcast Jayna didn’t change expression, her eyes narrowed. “I’m in their suite right now, and something’s not adding up. The stories don’t match, and I’ve got a bad feeling.”
“On our way. Hold the ’Lites there, and don’t let anyone else in.” He snapped the link shut. “J
ayna has great instincts. We’d better go.” He gazed beyond Emily to summon Red. “You come too.”
Jake tugged her to the gravlift at a near run, Red running close behind. Sid debated with himself out loud but ultimately decided the new cases weren’t as pivotal for his documentary and remained behind. Emily could only sigh with relief not to have the two filmmakers tagging along.
“How bad can new cases be?” Red said, gazing down the gravlift.
“Depends where they got infected,” Emily said. “I hope they snuck onto the beach somehow. Could six people have gotten past Maeve?”
“I’d like to tell you no, Doctor,” Maeve said.
“But?” Emily had never heard such a tentative answer from the AI.
“There are high-end, expensive, illegal devices capable of blocking AI ganglions from maintaining surveillance.” Jake exchanged glances with Red. “We’ll be searching their quarters.”
“And confiscating anything we find.” Red nodded his agreement.
“Can you do that, legally?”
“They’re on our ship, Doc. We make the rules. I think if we do find such a device, the owner’ll be only too happy to have it disappear with no questions asked.” Jake towed her to the landing platform.
Inside the cabin, Jayna and Clint were standing guard over six miserable ’Lites, who were draped over the couches and beds, making periodic stumbling runs to the bathroom. Emily surveyed the room and recognized Sessaly, who’d wanted general anesthesia for a splinter removal, as one of the patients. The girl was white as a sheet and moaning.
“I’ll start with this one,” Emily said. Jake brought her a chair, and she sat next to the couch where Sessaly was curled up.
“Meds, we need the meds now,” Sessaly said, her voice hoarse. “I’ve been puking my brains out all morning.” She sat halfway up, shaking a small fist at a man lolling in the chair opposite. “Damn you and your clever ideas of fun anyway, Rupair.” Clutching her stomach, she sank against the pillow. “Come on, what’s the delay, Doctor? We’re sick, treat us.”
Emily did a rapid scan for vital signs. “You’ll live. And you’ll be feeling a lot worse soon if you don’t tell Officer Dilon and me where you’ve been.”
“I don’t know what you mean.” Sessaly licked her lips. “We’ve been on this effing cruise ship. Made us sick. I’m never sailing on CLC again.”
“Well, that’s interesting, because we haven’t had a new case of stage-one Groskin’s in almost a week, not since the captain shut down the beach.” Emily got out the glowing blue inject of Galamialate and laid it on the side table, out of the girl’s reach. “You can be pretty much back to normal in about ten minutes, no more cramps, all done vomiting, once you tell me what I want to know.”
“Shut it, Sess. They have to treat us,” said the youth she’d called Rupair. “The doctor can’t let us die or she’ll go to jail. You don’t have to tell her anything.”
“You’re the one who’ll get in trouble with your stupid blind-eye device. We merely went along.” Eyes widening, Sessaly slapped her hand over her mouth and heaved. Jake got a basin under her mouth just in time.
Her example inspired two of the others to vomit, and one girl ran to the bathroom, screaming, “I’m going to die, I’m going to die.”
Jayna surveyed the cabin with disdain. “What a mess. Stupid ’Lites. Tell us what we want to know, and this ugly incident can be over.”
“I hurt,” Sessaly whimpered, holding her abdomen. “My insides are raw, sore like something’s chewing on them. Please help me.”
Emily patted her arm. “Can someone get me a cool cloth, please?” She wasn’t going to be able to resist giving the injects to these these poor rich kids much longer, but as Red handed her the dripping cloth, she reminded herself what was at stake. “We have to know where you went,” she said to Sessaly as she wiped the girl’s face. “So we can protect the other passengers. Tell me and I’ll give you the inject immediately. I give you my word.”
Tears streaming down her face, the ‘Lite said, “The beach. We snuck onto the beach two nights ago. All we did was go swimming. Naked.”
Emily could hardly hear her.
“Yeah, big surprise there, ’Lites always want to be where they’re not supposed to be,” Jayna said. “Annoying spotlight seekers.”
“It wasn’t any fun.” Sessaly apparently believed the failure to enjoy herself made the trespass okay. “Nothing but a boring beach deck with holos. Nothing special. Nothing on this stupid ship is special.” She glared at Jake as she flung the insult out.
Emily followed up, knowing what Jake was most interested in learning. “And you got past the AI how?”
“You heard her—I have a blind-eye generator,” Rupair said. “You satisfied now? Can we have our injects, or are you going to torture us more? My parents are going to sue you, just wait.”
Jake stayed Emily’s hand as she lifted the inject to relieve Sessaly’s discomfort. He bent down to make sure Sessaly heard him. “Where is the blind-eye device?”
“In his bedroom. Under the bed,” she said, curling up tight and averting her face. “Probably. He throws everything under there. Slob.”
Jake gestured to Jayna. “Search. No meds till we find it, Doc.”
Emily rose and stood close to him. “She co-operated. I gave her my word.”
“And he hasn’t. All six of them are in this together.” Jake was unbending. “No relief until we find the device. No one is going to die in the next half hour—this is only stage one.”
“No, just puke more, so please let the doc give them their shots,” Jayna said, re-entering the living area. “Found it.” She held up a small shiny box maybe four inches long and two inches wide. “Finest illicit tech credits can buy.”
“Good, consider this confiscated. It’s mine now.” Jake held out his hand, and Jayna passed the item over. He examined it closely. “Go ahead, Dr. Shane, you can treat them with my blessing and end the misery, after which we’ll transport them to Level C.”
Emily gave the injects to each of the five ’Lites in the main room and then went into the bathroom after the girl who’d fled there to be sick. Emily found her sitting slumped against the wall, holding a towel and weeping, all her elaborate makeup smeared.
“I didn’t even go to the damn beach,” she wailed as the doctor entered the bathroom. “Why did I get sick? I told the others to stop being idiots—it wouldn’t be fun like Rupe was promising. How could a beach be fun? He only wanted to go once the captain declared it off-limits, so he could say he did.” Slowly, she toppled over on the soft rug. “My belly hurts.”
“You didn’t go to the beach?” Emily didn’t want to believe her ears.
“No, I didn’t. I told you. I hate sand, and salt water is disgusting on my skin.”
Running a scan, Emily verified the girl had stage-one Groskin’s. But the other data indicated by her instruments made her blood run cold. She ran the scan again. “What’s your name, sweetie?”
“Trikka, Trikka Heldon.”
“Trikka, this is important. What have you done since your friends enjoyed their illicit beach party and returned to the cabin?”
“Stayed here with them. We had a party going on, nothing but the most high-end feelgoods, you know? Rupe’s rich, son of a generational billionaire. He’s my squeeze for now, took him away from Sessaly, that bitch. We made love a few times.” She burped. “Then we all got sick. Tried to ride it out, but today Sess said we had to call sickbay even if we did get in trouble over the blind-eye.”
Emily had to be sure about what was worrying her, so she repeated the girl’s words. “You had unprotected sex with Rupair?”
“I just said that. Do I get my inject or not?”
“Problem?” Jake stuck his head into the room. “Pickup team is on the way.”
Emily held up her hand. “Give me a second.” She injected Trikka with the Galamialate and got to her feet. “Someone will be in here shortly to help you to the quarantine
ward, where we can take proper care of you.”
“Fine.” Trikka closed her eyes.
After carefully decontaminating the hands of her suit with her portable unit, Emily went into the short hall to join Jake. “We need to isolate her and the one called Rupair. Probably, to be safe, we should isolate all six of them. Put them all in suits for the transit to quarantine.”
“Whatever you say, Doc, but what makes them special?”
“Trikka, the girl in there? She apparently caught Groskin’s through sexual intercourse, exchange of bodily fluids. She stayed away from the beach, but she slept with her boyfriend after he made the trip.”
Jake’s eyes widened as he considered the implications. “Seven hells, Mrs. Fenn was afraid of the bug mutating.”
“It gets worse. Trikka’s got Type O blood. The organism has found a way to neutralize the safety factor now.”
He cursed.
“I’m hoping the bug has mutated only in Rupair’s system. And of course Trikka’s carrying the new version. As long as the difficulty of transmitting the infection remains high, we’re probably going to be okay.” Glad she was wearing her biohazard gear, Emily looked around the messy suite. “Maeve needs to take this room down to the bare bulkheads. Everything has to be decontaminated, maybe even jettisoned into space. That device Jayna took from the boy’s room and handed you? Get rid of it.”
Jake’s face was white. “Groskin’s isn’t going to wait for us to unlock its secrets, is it?”
“We’re just lucky the bug hasn’t gone airborne. Rupair and Trikka are the two most dangerous sentients on this ship right now. The virus could be mutating further in their bodies.” Emily shook her head. “I’ll stay here and supervise getting them safely moved.”
“What do we do next?”
“Once Mrs. Fenn isolates the mutated Groskin’s bug from these kids’ blood samples, we should repeat the blood tests on all the existing patients to see if anyone else is developing a new version we need to know about.” She sighed. “We need to test everyone who was exposed to the water again. The scale of this is daunting.”
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