The Trojan Horse Pandemic

by Veronica Preda

  “I have this sensation that nothing will happen to me. But that if it does, I don't stand a chance anyway.”

  “At least here, you are in a hospital... At the hotel, what are you going to do? Do you really believe that an ambulance would come if we needed it?”

  “Statistics tell us that here, things are not good. This is no longer a hospital; it’s pure chaos!”

  “OK... but who will sign your discharge?”

  “Do you think it matters anymore? No one will notice that I'm missing.”

  Ryan continued:

  “Leaving the hospital is illogical and bad. How many arguments do you need? From my point of view, if something goes wrong, you are choosing to reduce your odds from minimum to zero.”

  “From my point of view, I'm not reducing anything. Anyway, I've made my decision!”

  Ryan sighed.

  “Ryan, again... something is telling me that I will not suffer from anything else, that I managed to get over it; but I don’t know how I know that. We need peace to solve this puzzle. We need to analyze all the information we have. Let's get out of here while we can. Loukas' death hit everyone like lightning and affected people more than all the other deaths put together. ”

  “How did he die?” Marion asked.

  “You have to let it go!” Timea said.

  Marion shook her head. With a low voice, Timea told her everything she had witnessed during the doctor's last moments.

  “Why? Why?” Marion repeated between tears.

  Both women remained silent for a while. Marion mumbled:

  “Why did he have to die? I almost... I thought... But my career... There is no point... My whole life and now...”

  Timea squinted, as if her sight could pierce the walls, and massaged her right temple, where a vein stretched her skin in a sinuous, rigid cord. The letters could not compose words, the words could not compose sentences. The noises covered her thoughts, dissipating around them. She needed quiet... and help from Ryan. With your intelligence and the way you interpret things in a different way than me, we're going to bring some light to this chaos... At least I hope so... Timea thought and, without hesitating, she went out of the hospital, followed by her husband and the young archaeologist. No one challenged them. Behind them, alarms were still going off, signalling cardio-respiratory arrests.

  To their surprise, they managed to find a taxi that took them to the hotel, which was far from the centre. The news from the hospital had not yet spread, so they sat on the terrace, with large coffees and fresh juices in front of them. Timea had only one thing on her mind: The avalanche of unconscious tourists brought to the hospital from the Trojan Horse exhibition. She reviewed the facts, like when she was confronted with a serious case at her office: the tourists seemed dehydrated or ill because of sunstroke or exhaustion, but then they started passing away. The life-support manoeuvers had been futile. The infusions of electrolytes, rest and medical care had been futile, at least for the majority, including doctor Loukas. He had been fine for a while and had had the energy to argue with her about her theories regarding this undemonstrated connection between the museum and the faintings and deaths. Then he had started feeling worse and worse. He had had no more strength to get out of bed and, with his final resources, had confirmed to her what they all feared: he felt that he would die. He had then asked her to contact Marion, to tell her how much he had cared for her. Such a dramatic testament! We are in a bloody ancient tragedy! But this is not fiction, it's horrible reality! she thought. Loukas had said to her: “If you are a doctor, halt the exhibition and find out what's really happening!” Then, he had stopped breathing.

  She realised that, instead of thinking, she was talking out loud, because Marion burst into tears again. I'm not in the mood to console you! Timea thought and said to Marion:

  ”Pull yourself together, please! It's essential to do something in order to stop this strange phenomenon.” Karides gathered her strength and began making phone calls. When she finished, she said:

  “All of them know the situation: the sponsors, the museum and all the other associations involved. But there is not even one lab result to prove a connection between the exhibition and these strange epidemics. I can't convince them. We have no proof. The exhibition will continue. I have no way to make them change their minds. There are millions of euros at stake. We have no way to fight them.”

  They all nodded and Ryan said:

  “I was there and nothing happened to me. Maybe it's something else.”

  Their discussion continued for a long time, but they could not reach a conclusion.

  “We have no other option but to hope that everything will be alright!” Ryan said. “After all, our vacation will be over soon and we're off to London.”

  “So is the Horse!” Marion said. “In three days, the exhibition will be in London. So will I, because I have to go with it!”

  “Maybe everything happens for a reason in this world.” Timea said to Ryan. “You insisted on visiting the inaugural exposition, knowing that London would be next...”

  “Timea, the inaugural exposition is always the best! Stop searching for anything else!” Ryan said.

  Part IV

  Looking for the truth

  A week after the discussion on the hotel's terrace in Athens, the three were back together, again with a coffee, in the Dulays' apartment in London.

  Ronnie, Timea's former wardmate from the hospital, joined them. Timea had given him her phone number and he called her soon after she had left the hospital.

  ”I stayed in the hospital for two more days. All the test results came out fine. The unexplained deaths continued, and I decided to leave the hospital and return to England.” he said without catching his breath.

  Timea brought him sandwiches and a chocolate cake, caressed his back and said:

  “Eat!”

  “I can't eat that much. This cake is huge!”

  Timea smiled and repeated:

  “Eat! You have to eat well!”

  “She's right!” Marion said. “You need to get your strength back!”

  “I feel fine, I don't feel weak anymore. I still feel shaken, but I'm guessing I got over it!”

  Ryan had just returned from the Ministry of Health. For the past days, he had gone to every public authority.

  “Things are worse than in Athens! Much worse!” he said. “The hospitals here are crowded! Everywhere and every time, I get the same answers!”

  The answers were that tests and verification were performed, but in the absence of concrete, scientifically documented proof that public health was in jeopardy, there was no objective reason to interrupt the exhibitions.

  ”Of course it's moving ahead! Further analysis of the statue is out of the question at this time. Being so well-preserved, practically untouched, the sponsors insisted on starting the exhibition immediately after its discovery. Only the initial examinations at the museum were performed.” Marion said.

  “They want to recover their investment,” Timea snorted, leaning back in the couch as she turned on the TV. The news channels were broadcasting Marion's press conference from the museum.

  “Scientists and tourists around the globe are thrilled with joy and enthusiasm over the boldness of the young archaeologist Marion Karides,” the newsreader said. “What the ancient Greeks hid in the deepest trench of the Mediterranean Sea, she managed to bring to light. Let's watch her press conference from the inaugural exhibition and let Marion Karides tell us more about the joy she must have felt.” Timea saw Marion again, on the ship's deck.

  “Here, I yelled at those who were controlling the crane, to avoid damaging the Horse!” Marion commented on the images. “Here, I told the whole story one more time.” she said as she saw herself standing behind the microphones. “They just want to hear the story over and over!” she added.

  “We pulled it out gently from a vortex of algae and shells. It was buried in the sand on the bottom of the sea. Dazzled, we noticed how the seaweed
started sliding from it, revealing the fact that it had not stuck to its surface at all. Nobody had expected that. We had estimated that we would need a few years to prepare the artifact before presenting it to the public. We had expected to have to thoroughly clean the horse from beneath a mountain of underwater deposits and a probable reconditioning process. In fact, that mountain of algae and shells was only on its surface, and its movement through the water removed all of them.”

  “I saw that too...” Timea said.

  “Mrs Karides, was antiquity your primary specialisation from the beginning of your career?” one journalist asked.

  “Not particularly... I'm convinced that the adventure of the Trojan Horse’s discovery was placed, from beginning to end, in a universe where everything incredible really happens.” she answered. “In fact, I never imagined myself standing here, before you...”

  “Well, to be honest, that was a bit of a lie... PR kind of stuff, you know...” Marion said. “That is, indeed there were two things that I had never expected: the impeccable condition of the Horse and the fact that my era of... “

  “Glory and worldwide recognition?” Timea answered.

  “Yeah... My era would begin so soon after the expedition. On the other hand...”

  Timea turned off the TV and beckoned Marion to continue.

  ”Well, there are a few things that I anticipated.” Marion sighed. “When I was younger, I used to imagine a press conference like this one. I would sit there, visualising it.”

  “Did you wish fame and success?” Timea said. “There's nothing wrong with that! You shouldn't feel ashamed! I've been reading about your father... I understand. I really do!”

  “Exactly! I'm so glad I can...”

  “Speak to me? Of course you can! Being in the spotlight must be very difficult! Marion, I'm not here to judge!”

  “My mom never understood! But you see... these images aren't new to me. These images... used to intertwine in my mind, grasping precise contours, then exact details, and the scenarios came alive especially during my fights with my father. We didn't... we hadn't...”

  “You didn’t have what? The perfect relationship?” Timea asked.

  “Perfect? Not even close... I imagined every aspect of a press conference like the one I had at the museum. I saw myself countless times standing in front of a gathering that would exalt the intelligence and boldness of an archaeologist who was young, but by far the world's most famous. Exactly like they said on TV. Big words... This may sound crazy to you! Probably as a complete lack of modesty... and...”

  “Marion, my dear, I don't think that at all! What should you have done? Throw away your chance to do something meaningful?”

  “I wanted so much to prove that... that...”

  “That you are brilliant! Again, nothing to be ashamed of! I suppose you were extremely excited during that press conference!” Timea continued.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “I noticed some sort of nervousness.”

  “That wasn't because of the press. I tried to focus, to be coherent, but my thoughts kept slipping back to an argument I had had with my father. You see, I wanted so much to speak to someone about this...”

  Timea poured more coffee in their mugs, lit a cigarette and said:

  “I'm here to listen. I'm a good listener. Try me.”

  Marion started telling her story, interrupting herself from time to time to take a sip of coffee, sighing every time.

  “I found, while rummaging through his office after some old maps, his notes on the Trojan War. At that time, I was preoccupied with World War I and especially the Asia Minor Campaign.”

  “Which started in 1919.” Ronnie said.

  “Indeed. Antiquity had not particularly excited me during my studies or afterwards. I was especially not interested in focusing on a war whose factuality could still have been questioned, at least in my opinion at that time. But my father's notes, as well as the indications he had gathered in a thick, calf-leather folder tied with a cord, astonished me beyond words. I read them quickly, greedy for information, and trembling, eager to complete the puzzle my father had put together in that file. When I finished reading, I collapsed. He had a thick Berber carpet in front of his desk, and I lay on it, crying and laughing at the same time. Even now, I couldn’t possibly understand how he managed to gather so many solid indications that the Trojan War had actually taken place, and especially of the existence of the artifact that the whole scientific community believed to be a myth. After all, the efforts of Calvert, Schliemann or Korfmann, despite the controversy within their time, proved to not have been in vain. Not only had they brought the ruins of Troy into the patrimony of UNESCO, they were also leading to something even more enthusiastic. My father managed to accumulate spectacular proofs, which placed the fall of the seventh Troy during the Trojan War beyond any doubt. Furthermore, what took my breath away was the confirmation of the theory that the Trojan Horse had existed, but not as represented in literature and the arts: it wasn't a wood contraption that had sheltered soldiers, nor a siege machinery that pierced through the walls of the fortress.”

  “But a statue! A quartz statue that brings something... something bad...” Timea whispered. She frowned. Me and my big mouth! she thought, seeing how Marion straightened her back and shook her head. With a pitched voice, the young archaeologist said:

  “There is no connection between my Horse and what's happening! There must be something in the air, I don't know! Timea, it's just an ordinary quartz statue! What harm could it do?” Marion said.

  “I don't know what to say. We've been searching for so long and we haven’t managed to find an explanation. But at the Ministry, Ryan keeps seeing classified reports about the increasing number of deaths. They haven't even had the courage to contact Athens, to find out what the situation is there...”

  “Timea, if there was any connection between the artifact and the health crisis, don't you think that my crew and I would have been affected? After all, we were the first to interact with it.”

  Timea opened her mouth to answer, but closed it and frowned while rubbing her chin. Marion had a point. How come the expedition members hadn't been affected? It was an observation that deserved exploration. She opened her mouth one more time to ask Karides something, but the phone rang, interrupting her. Marion excused herself and picked up the phone, because it was her mother, whom she had not spoken with since she had left Skiathos. Her friends wanted to leave, but she moved her hand up and down, so all three of them attended the conversation.

  “Yes, mom, I'm fine... I haven't had time... Yes, I'm in London. They buried him, yes. I know, it's a great loss...”

  “Her mother seems to never stop talking...” Ronnie whispered to Timea, giggling.

  “Ssh... They're talking about Dr Loukas' death!” Timea whispered back to him.

  Marion's mother insisted on learning details, and her daughter started recounting in a low voice how her friend had died. Without changing her tone or stressing the words, she repeated Timea's story: how he had been brought to the hospital, how he had started feeling better. Then she described the state of extreme weakness state that had subjugated him again and how, shortly after, he had passed away.

  Marion paused for a few moments, listening to her mother. Then she spoke again, making her friends almost jump from their seats:

  “WHAT?? Can you repeat??”

  She listened again and repeated:

  “Are you sure?? I think you're imagining things...”

  Angela kept talking, while Marion was listening, with her head tilted to her right shoulder and her eyes looking upwards, like she had spotted something in the air, to her left. When she hung up, she realised that her friends were staring at her. So she said:

  “Mum told me something I hadn't thought of so far... I don't understand how I didn't realise it, because it's so obvious... How come I didn’t connect things up to now...”

  She continued to tell her friends what had h
appened. When she had told her mother about Dr Loukas' death, the old lady had exclaimed: “Exactly the same way your father died!”

  “You see, I realise now that my mother is right. I remember perfectly how I took my father to the hospital in an advanced state of fatigue and weakness. Adrian – Dr Loukas – was on duty. He consulted him and ran lots of tests, but apart from slightly increased blood pressure, which my father had had for many years, he found nothing.” The night her father had died, Marion wasn't at the hospital. Instead, Angela had stayed with her husband day and night. Now she had told her daughter that the same things had happened when she had lost her husband: although apparently healthy, he couldn’t get up from the bed. The young doctor Loukas had used all possible infusions, all kinds of vitamins and various methods of revitalisation. “But my father passed away suddenly and equally inexplicably,” Marion continued. “At that time, the only logical motivation for his decease was nervous exhaustion, probably aggravated by stress. Up until now, I didn't realise this: my father really died in the same way. Exactly the same. But he never, ever interacted with the statue!”

  Marion went on to tell them details about her relationship with her father. She told them about their quarrel, about the fact that he insisted absurdly on her abandoning her search for the horse, although, based on the information he had collected, finding the artifact would be a routine operation from an archaeological point of view.