Star Cruise - Outbreak

by Veronica Scott

  Emily caught Relba’s attention. “Call Bevar in, stat. I’ve got this, Vicente. Take the boy into room two and get him in bed, please.” As her staff moved to carry out the orders, Emily busied herself setting up the intravenous flow of fluids for Mrs. Enzell and added a basic clotting factor. “This is apparently a complication of the intestinal virus, Mr. Enzell. Do you have any symptoms?”

  He blinked. “I’m fine. Marc, my oldest, he’s not doing too well.”

  “My nurse is taking care of him right now. And Syl? And the middle child?” Emily spared a glance for them.

  He clutched the kids closer to him. “Fine so far. Scared for their mom and Marc. How can bleeding from the eyes be related to an upset stomach?” Mr. Enzell’s voice was rough.

  “Sometimes an infection affects different areas of the body at different times.” She tried to keep her own tone soothing.

  “So you’ve seen this before? You know what to do?” He stepped closer to the bed and took his wife’s hand. “How long before she’s better?”

  “Being in sickbay should do the trick, dear.” Sick as she was, Mrs. Enzell made an effort to reassure him. “Don’t give the doctor a hard time. I’m sure I’ll be all better by tonight.” Her voice was a thready whisper.

  “The fluids and coagulant should help,” Emily said. “You were wise to come in right away.”

  Clint knocked on the portal. “Excuse me, Doctor, but I think you should come out here for a moment.”

  “I’ll be right back.” Although she could tell the Enzells weren’t happy to see her leaving the room, she inferred from the security officer’s voice that a situation was brewing.

  Three more patients sat sprawled in the waiting-room chairs, each projecting an impression of terror. A man and a woman clutching each other were obviously in the throes of major nosebleeds. The third person was more alert to his surroundings. Spotting Emily, he jumped from his chair and moved to intercept her. Yanking his shirt open in the center of the lobby, he said, “I woke up with these bruises on my chest, Doctor. What the seven hells is wrong with me?”

  Staring at the large purple contusions on his hairy torso, Emily strove for composure and a reassuring tone. “Side effect of the stomach bug, sir. If you’d step into the examining room on the left, we’ll be with you in a few moments. You’ve had no bleeding?”

  He spun on his heel to gape at the two other waiting passengers. “Am I gonna hemorrhage like them? Are they gonna bleed to death?”

  She took his elbow and was relieved to see Clint coming to the rescue yet again, taking the man’s other side. “No one is hemorrhaging, sir. Just nosebleeds. Now if you’ll come this way—”

  “I’ve got him,” Clint said. He nodded to the door. “Incoming.”

  As the two men headed toward the exam room, the passenger complaining bitterly to his security escort about being brushed off by the doctor, Emily hastened to assist a woman rushing into the lobby, daubing at bloody tear tracks on her cheeks. Her dress was bloodstained where tears had splattered. Glancing down the corridor, Emily saw several more people staggering in the direction of the sickbay. With relief, she identified Bevar, her PA, sidestepping passengers in his way. A moment later, he was helping her with the hysterical, terrified woman.

  “I need to talk to the captain right away,” Emily said, relinquishing her hold on the passenger’s arm. “Triage them for now. Only the most serious cases get a bed. Keep the others in the waiting area. We’ll be moving the sick to a ward on Level C soon.”

  Bevar did a double take at the mention of a special ward but only said, “Yes, Doctor.” He put his arm around the woman he was supporting. “Take a deep breath through your mouth, ma’am, you’ll be fine. We’ll get you fixed up in no time.”

  Forcing herself not to sprint, Emily headed to her office and shut the door, leaning on it for a moment, head against the smooth panel. “Maeve, get me Jake and the captain now.”

  “Captain Fleming will be with you momentarily. Jake says he’s handling a problem in the casino and not to wait for him.”

  “All right.” Emily moved to the desk. “You’re going to have to add robos to the cleaning workforce. We can’t have infectious blood left on the floors or walls for any length of time at all.”

  “Immediate response, yes, Doctor. Consider it noted. The captain will speak with you now.”

  “Fleming here.” The captain’s image snapped into focus, his eyes narrowed. “Maeve says you have a new status for me?”

  “We’ve run out of time, Captain. We need to institute measures to contain this outbreak right away.” Years of conducting military briefings for superior officers stood her in good stead as Emily outlined what was happening in sickbay and then said, “Passengers and crew should stay in their cabins and notify the ship if experiencing symptoms or showing the characteristic purple bruising. We’ll have to send teams in biohazard suits to pick them up and bring them to the quarantine ward on Level C. I’m going to need the entire level set aside if the current rate of new patients keeps up. Any luck on finding me more medical staff among the passengers?”

  “There are three doctors listed on the manifest,” Maeve said. “All have been contacted and requested to report to you within the hour. I’ll redirect them to the quarantine ward on Level C. I’ve further identified an ex-military medic and a nurse among the crew.”

  Biting her lip, Emily kept herself from making a sarcastic remark in response to the AI’s cheerful tone. “Those reinforcements will help, but I’m going to need a lot more if this outbreak keeps growing.”

  “How contagious is this bug, Doctor?” asked the captain.

  “I don’t know.” At his frown, she said, “We’re theorizing the military inoculations are keeping most of the crew healthy.” She did a rapid mental review of the earlier spread of the “norovirus,” before continuing to answer the question. “It’s not a clear pattern. Take the Enzell family, for example. The father never came down with the intestinal symptoms. All three of his children did, but so far two remain free of the second-stage symptoms. In Princess Falyn’s retinue, only Arln and one other guard were affected in stage one, despite all being in close proximity in her suite. I can’t extrapolate from such a small sample, of course, but anecdotally, the data indicates less than one hundred percent contagion.”

  “I’ll take any shred of hope you can give me right now, Doctor. Keep me posted. I’ll drop the ship out of hyperdrive and put in a call to the authorities at Sector Hub at once.”

  He clicked off. Emily drummed her fingers on the desk. “Get me Jake, please. I desperately need to talk to him.”

  “He reports he’s on his way to sickbay. ETA three minutes,” Maeve answered a moment later. “You have a considerable backlog of incoming calls now, Doctor.”

  Instinctively, Emily moved to summon the call log to begin dealing with them but hesitated with her fingers inches away from the keyboard. “Can you get me Meg?”

  “Yes, Dr. Shane?” The cruise staffer’s voice was calm. “I think we can accept patients here on Level C any time you need to send them our way. Maeve’s got half the beds set up.”

  “Good, things are getting hectic in sickbay. Can you find two extra staffers to answer the incoming calls and triage them for action? No medical experience is required. I’ll give them a checklist to operate from. I need to concentrate on the patients we have, not try to diagnose and reassure panicky passengers on the vid or the com.”

  “I know just the people to handle the task, no problem. I’ll have the girls report to me here. Maeve, I’ll tell you as soon as we can start handling the calls. Anything else, Doctor?”

  “Meg, you’re a miracle worker. Nothing else right now, but I’m sure there’ll be more later. I’ll come join you within the hour. Oh, and I’ll be bringing a special inject for you that I hope will help boost your immune system.”

  “I didn’t have the stomach bug, Doctor.” Meg sounded puzzled.

  “Just in case. I-I promised R
ed.” Feeling guilty that she hadn’t prioritized that favor earlier, Emily rushed on to the next item on her list. “There should be a few volunteer medical personnel arriving shortly. You can park them in the small conference room until I get there to conduct a briefing. Maeve found some names on the manifest and crew roster.” Emily clicked off the link.

  Captain Fleming’s voice came over the ship-wide AI circuits. “This is your captain speaking. Sorry to break into your day, but we’ve run into some complications with the stomach bug a few people were experiencing in the last week. If you or someone in your party is feeling unwell, showing unexplained bruises, suffering a bloody nose or other unusual bleeding, please remain in your cabin. Call the Ship, and you’ll be directed on the next steps to take to obtain medical help. We’re fortunate to have Dr. Emily Shane, the Angel of Fantalar, flying with us as our chief medical officer on this leg of the cruise. You’re in good hands. You may have noticed a temporary dropout from light speed just now, which was necessary so I could alert the authorities at Sector Hub to be ready for our arrival in a few days. Dr. Shane assures me this bug isn’t particularly contagious at this stage—”

  “I did not, not with any certainty,” she protested, as if he could hear her.

  “He’s trying to avoid panic, Doctor,” Maeve said, her tone reproving.

  Fleming was wrapping up with an admonition to his passengers to be vigilant but to enjoy the rest of their cruise. He promised to keep them updated and signed off.

  There was a knock on her door. The portal slid aside, and Jake entered.

  “Did you hear what he put in his announcement? I suppose he felt he had to broadcast my presence on board to reassure the passengers,” Emily said before Jake could even open his mouth. “I hope it helps.”

  “Sure, Doc, whatever you say.” Jake held up his hands as if to ward off a fight. “We need you out here.”

  “Maeve said you had a situation in the casino?” She left the desk.

  “Woman started bleeding from the nose and eyes, collapsed on the roulette table. Set off something of a panic, so the manager called me. She’s being taken to Level C now. Maeve’s robots are cleaning the casino area, and then management can reopen.” Jake’s face was set in serious lines. “We’ve got to avoid panic at all costs. Not among the crew, who are proven, solid professionals, but the passengers—” He broke off, shaking his head. “Maybe we can manage this outbreak if passengers stay calm and not too many patients progress to stage two, but conditions aboard ship will go to the seven hells if the civilians panic. Putting down a riot would be ugly.”

  “Agreed.”

  “I want to move you to Level C,” Jake said. “You’re too accessible here. You’ll have desperate patients or their families coming to beg for medicines or treatment. Better if they have to go through the protocol on the quarantine deck before they can see you.”

  Emily hadn’t even considered the possibility so she appreciated Jake’s foresight. “I’m going to leave Relba in sickbay to handle ordinary cases. Can you keep a security officer here as well? Despite the captain’s message, I’m sure some passengers will come here first rather than call. Or people will come here hoping for more information.”

  “Of course.” Jake escorted her through the lobby, which was growing ever more crowded.

  “We need to keep this floor clean of biohazardous materials,” she said, hesitating as she took in the spots of blood and other fluids.

  “I’ll send my cleaning robots here next.” Maeve was prompt.

  “Station at least one robo here full time,” Emily said. “We’ll require several on Level C as well.”

  She walked a few more steps in response to Jake’s tug on her arm, then paused. “I need Vicente and Bevar on Level C. And we have to move the sick passengers we already have. Mrs. Enzell and her son—”

  “My staff and I’ll deal with all of it, don’t worry.” Jake maneuvered her past a woman who was trying to grab Emily’s coat. Shielding her with his body, he rushed her down the corridor and into the crew gravlift.

  Taking deep breaths, she moved away from him as they descended and tried to straighten her tunic and hair. “That was intense.”

  “The situation will get exponentially worse if we have more patients. You’re our only doctor, and people get understandably desperate when they or family members are ill during a crisis.” Jake checked her over with a critical eye. “From now on, you don’t go anywhere without me or a member of my staff.”

  “I won’t argue. Panicky crowds of people scare me.” She floated closer to him, reaching for his hand. “Thank you. How did it go with Princess Falyn, by the way?”

  “She cried, poor kid. I think Arln was her favorite person, from what I’ve been told. Scorsshyn was a cold bitch, as usual. Reprimanded the princess in that icy voice of hers for showing emotion in front of a commoner, then wanted to know if I was giving her another security officer.”

  “Are you?”

  “No. Falyn isn’t my only security concern on board right now. I made a request to the other department heads to borrow anyone they can spare who has military experience, and I asked the captain to release my deadly weapons.” He craned his neck to see how much farther their destination was. “He’s also locked the lifeboats, not that he was happy about it. Extra guards on the bridge access and the engine room.”

  “Overreacting much?” The idea Jake was expecting things to get so bad on board that he’d want his security forces to carry blasters was discouraging. She didn’t think he was an alarmist, however, which meant his assessment of their chances wasn’t very positive.

  He guided her off the lift and into the corridor. “I hope so. I really do.”

  Emily was relieved to see that there was no crowd as yet on this level. She and Jake walked into the newly created lobby area outside the quarantine ward and were greeted by Meg. “Some healthy passengers arrived who said the captain requested them to assist you? Were those the people you told me to expect? I put them in the smaller conference room you wanted for your office, as you requested.”

  “I should probably see the volunteers first, get them up on the curve and ready to receive patients,” Emily said. “Let’s get you that inject before I do anything else.” She tugged Meg toward a small room off the lobby. “Not in front of anyone who wanders in.”

  “You go ahead. I’m going to arrange for the transfer of patients from sickbay and coordinate cabin pickups for the newly symptomatic. I’ll stay in touch.” Jake headed to the gravlift. “Have Maeve call me with details of where my staff needs to go to collect passengers for quarantine.”

  “Remind them to take biohazard precautions, including suits,” Emily said as he walked away. “We don’t know how contagious this is.”

  “Maeve better be fabricating more suits.”

  “I assure you I am.” The AI’s attitude was superior, as always.

  “One of the summoned passengers with medical experience is pretty irate,” Meg said as she and Emily walked to the office after getting the injection accomplished. “He’s not a willing volunteer. Just a heads-up.”

  “Thanks.” Emily took a deep breath and strode into the office.

  An ill-assorted group awaited her. Seated in front of the desk was an elderly man, eyes closed and lips moving as if he was meditating, and a lady Emily guessed was his wife, busy with an archaic pastime known as knitting that had recently become a fad in these Sectors. A tall, stern woman, dressed in the height of fashion and festooned with jewelry, sat to the left of them, frowning at her personal AI. The fourth passenger was a corporate executive type, wearing what Emily recognized as an expensive label of deceptively casual clothes. Her father patronized the same designer. This last man was leaning against the bulkhead, arms crossed, brow furrowed in a frown.

  “I’m Dr. Shane, and I want to thank you all for coming,” she said, edging past the executive, who grudgingly made room. She headed for her desk while directing Meg to the chair closest to it. “T
his is my assistant, Ms. Antille.”

  “Why are we here?” demanded the man. He glanced at his wrist chrono. “I’m expected to be in a meeting in ten minutes. If you’re having some kind of trouble with passengers falling ill, I fail to see how the situation becomes my problem.”

  “I have to agree with him,” said the woman with all the jewelry. “We paid CLC Line a lot of credits for a smooth, luxurious trip to Sector Hub, not to be drafted as unpaid workers.”

  Emily held up her hands. “Let’s start with introductions, and then I’ll be happy to brief you all.”

  “A sensible approach, Doctor.” The elderly woman nodded her approval, continuing her busy knitting. “I’m Mellicen Fenn and this is my husband, Airak. Since I’m guessing you were hoping for medical help, let me tell you my husband is a retired neurologist who taught for many years, and I was his colleague at the Sector University. I’m a xenobiologist, strictly research. Together we hold one hundred and thirty seven patents, and until recently we were the majority owners of Advanced Neunanorotech Company. I won’t be hurt or insulted if you’ve never heard of our little family business, but suffice it to say, we sold the intellectual property for a pretty credit, and now we travel the Sectors, sightseeing.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Fenn.” Emily transferred her attention to the woman in the next seat. “And you are?”

  “Dr. Salel Dalimir, top-ranked body alteration and restoration consultant in the Sectors. You may have heard of me? My clients and I have been the subject of many stories in the media.” She preened a bit, smoothing her hair.

  Emily had the hazy recollection that she might have seen Dr. Dalimir at a conference or perhaps read a paper written by her. The military did restoration on the wounded sometimes. But the next passenger was already speaking.

  “Clarenz Hillier, CEO of Dautramon Pharmaceutical Group, and if you think I’m going to carry bedpans in this makeshift quarantine ward you’ve got going, you need to think again.” The executive paced restlessly across the office behind the chairs the others were sitting in. “I got my MD decades ago, but I haven’t practiced medicine in years.” Jaw thrust out pugnaciously, he stopped in his tracks and glared at Emily. “Nor am I about to volunteer to do so for your benefit.”