Текст книги "Noah's Ark: Contagion"

Автор книги: Harry Dayle

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Twelve

IN COOTE’S QUARTERS, the two captains were enjoying their third cup of coffee. Jake had finished explaining the medical situation, as well as the problems with food.

“Listen, we can pull back my chaps onto the Ambush if it helps. Our rations will see us through for some time. I know it won’t make much difference, but at least it’s fewer mouths for your boys to feed. As to the bigger picture, I am hopeful that we will find more supplies at Neptune.”

“Neptune?”

“HMS Neptune, the submarine base we’re headed for.”

“I thought we were headed for Faslane?” Jake looked confused.

“Same thing, old chap, same thing. The Admiralty like to give their bases a few names, keeps everyone on their toes.”

“Coote, you seem very confident that this base will still be there. We’ve sailed past the Faroe Islands, the Outer Hebrides, and we’ve seen some of the west coast of Scotland. It’s all the same, it’s all been destroyed. It’s Longyearbyen all over again. What makes you think Neptune—or Faslane—or whatever you want to call it, will be any different?”

“Well like I said, old chap, it’s a submarine base. Us submariners are good at hiding things. Not all of the base is above ground.”

“You mean there is an underwater entrance?”

“Naturally! It would be no good having a base if the enemy could watch us coming and going on a live feed from their little satellites, would it? Of course, sometimes we sail right in there in plain view. But leaving? That’s another matter. They never know when we leave. It is my hope that the more private entrance, and the associated parts of the base, remain accessible. It’s true that the majority of supplies are stored in warehouses above ground, but I remain hopeful we can perhaps salvage something.”

“And if it’s not accessible? If it’s all gone?”

“That is a bridge to be crossed if and when we happen upon it.” Jake noticed that Coote couldn’t help but glance at the safe in the cabinet as he spoke. “Now, I suggest we go and see Vardy and you can tell him what you know about this strange malady that is causing so much bother.”

• • •

The body laid out on the table was not in good condition, but it was better preserved than that of Maryse Wernström. It had already provided some additional clues about the disease to Janice Hanson, but she wasn’t done yet. Having photographed the external signs of tissue damage using her own digital camera that had been destined to be filled with holiday snaps, she was at the stage where she would normally open up the torso. But Scott’s body had done that all by itself at the moment immediately preceding his death. So Janice adjusted her mask, tightened the elastic strap in an effort to block out more of the foul smell, and proceeded to peel back his chest.

She stared inside for a long time. In more than twenty years of forensic pathology, she had never seen internal organs as badly damaged, apart from in Maryse. In the woman’s case she had put it down to decay post-mortem. She had assumed, reasonably in her view, that Maryse had been dead for anything up to two weeks before being discovered, and that this elapsed time accounted for her condition. Seeing Scott in a similar state changed everything. A tiny suspicion that had been lurking in the back of her mind, an idea she had tried to suppress for fear of its implications, sprang forward and filled her head.

“No, it can’t be,” she said to herself under her mask.

But she knew that this idea wasn’t going to go away. She needed to make a closer examination of Scott’s lungs—what remained of them at least. On the small table she had set up next to the main working bench, she selected a butcher’s saw. It wasn’t the kind of thing Janice was used to using, but the saw, kindly supplied by kitchen staff who didn’t ask too many questions, looked sturdy enough. Janice took a deep breath, and began to cut her way through what remained of Scott’s rib cage.

• • •

The knock at the door to suite 845 was so polite and quiet that to start with, nobody heard it. The second was a little more insistent, but still went unnoticed. The third was better timed; Mandy was passing and realised somebody was trying to get their attention.

“Hey there, what can I do for you?” She held the door open just a crack; the groaning patients squeezed into the cabin were not a pretty sight, and the smell was getting to be a problem too.

“Hi. Um, can you help me? It’s my mum. She can’t walk anymore, and she’s crying a lot. I think she needs a doctor, and Mrs Rogers said that the doctors were here?”

“Right, sure. Okay, is she far?”

“No, just down there.” The girl pointed down the passage towards the back of the ship.

“Alright. Can you wait outside for me for a minute? I need to get some things and then you can show me the way.”

“You won’t be long will you?”

“No, no of course not. I’ll be as quick as I can. What’s your name, lovely?”

“Andrea.”

“Okay, Andrea, I’ll be just two ticks.”

Mandy closed the door and wiped away the tear that had formed in the corner of her eye.

“Mandy, are you okay?” Grau asked, spotting her.

“Yeah, sorry,” she sniffed. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. A couple of weeks ago, billions were killed by that asteroid. I just felt lucky to be alive. I mean, I know my friends are dead, I know my family is dead, but I can’t cry for them. Why is that? What’s wrong with me that I can’t grieve for the people I love, but seeing one man die here in this room, and seeing the little girl outside who is probably going to lose her mother in the next day or two, and almost certainly die herself, why does that get to me so much? I’m a nurse, Grau, it’s not like I’ve never seen death!”

“It is because it is close, personal,” Grau said, putting an arm around her. “I think very few of us have accepted what has happened to those we love. We are in a bubble, out of touch with reality, detached. But when something happens inside our bubble, of course that will affect us.”

“Has it affected you, Grau? Do you think about your family?”

“My family are…it affects us all in different ways. I suppose you could say I am lucky. Those who are most important to me are aboard this ship.”

“So you didn’t lose anyone?”

“I would not say that. You will have time to grieve, Mandy, you will have time to come to terms with this. Perhaps it is for the best that this will happen gradually. Right now, the people on this ship need us to be strong.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry for being such a soppy wuss. Listen, I have to grab some painkillers and dressings and go and help that girl’s mother. We start leaving them in their own cabins now, right?”

Grau looked around at the packed suite of rooms. “Yes, we have no choice. We also have very few painkillers left. We must cut the dose in half.”

“Half a dose won’t have much effect, you know that.”

“Yes, I do, but what can we do? Give half a dose to many, or a full dose to just a few?”

Mandy nodded. She understood only too well. As she set off in search of the medication, the phone in the suite rang. Grau picked it up.

“Hello, medical, Doctor Lister speaking…Hello, Janice, how are you getting on?”

As he listened, his expression of sadness turned to one of shock. “Are you sure?…How sure?…I see. I will inform the captain immediately.”

He replaced the receiver, all colour drained from his face.

• • •

It was obvious to Lucya that something was very wrong when she opened the door to the bridge. Grau had told her not to let anyone in or out, but as it was he himself who had knocked, had insisted on coming in, she had obliged.

The doctor was wearing gloves and a face mask. He waited until the door was closed behind him before removing the protection from his face.

“How is the girl?” he asked.

“She’s fine. She’s over there with Dave, keeping lookout. We’re entering the Irish Sea. It’s really quite beautiful, even with the ash.”

“Where is Jake? I need to talk to him urgently.”

“He’s on the Ambush. He went to check out this other raft and talk to Coote.”

“He is where?” Grau’s face turned red, his eyes bulged, disbelieving. “Did you not understand what I said about not letting anyone in or out of here? How could he be so stupid? Oh my, he has no idea what he has done!”

“Doctor Lister, calm down. He went before you called. Nobody else has been or gone since then. To be honest it’s getting awkward. I could use a natural break. Are you sure we can’t use the toilets just outside?”

“No! This bridge is under quarantine!” Grau sat down on a tall chair at the map table. “I am sorry, Lucya, this is not your fault. But Jake has put the lives of all those aboard the submarine in grave danger.”

“You mean the illness? But Jake’s fine, he’s not unwell. If anyone is in danger, surely it’s you? You’ve been treating them. You’ve been touching them.” Lucya pulled away from him slightly at the thought that he might be a carrier of the mystery disease.

“It has nothing to do with touching, Lucya. That is precisely the problem. Our pathologist has been studying how this disease spreads. She is certain, almost certain,” he corrected himself, “that the disease is caused by an airborne virus.”

Instinctively Lucya’s hand covered her mouth and she stepped away from the doctor, her eyes wide. Grau shook his head slowly.

“Sorry, but it is already too late. The girl must be infected. Jake too. And now he is aboard the submarine, spreading the virus further. We could have tried to contain it on this ship, although I think our efforts are in vain. There has already been too much free movement between decks; we have little chance of restricting it to a single level. The Ambush, though, that was safe. They could have survived without us.”

“You think we’re all going to die, is that what you’re saying, Grau?”

“I would never be so dramatic as to suggest such a thing. But I must concede that our chances are not good. We are not equipped to deal with a deadly virus, much less an unknown deadly virus. Our procedures as a cruise ship are clear. In cases like this, we quarantine affected decks and await outside medical assistance. Alas, we have no luxury of help coming from the outside.”

“Grau, there has to be something we can do? We can’t just give up hope, not after all we’ve already been through!”

“We can make people comfortable. We can continue to try combinations of antibiotics. Even if we found a cocktail of drugs that was effective, we do not have enough medication to treat everyone on board, and we have no means of fabricating more. And if this is a virus rather than a bacterial infection, then antibiotics will do no good anyway.” He fell silent; Erica was headed his way.

“Hi, Doctor Lister, how’s Daddy? Have you come to fetch me so I can see him?”

Lucya closed her eyes, wishing she was somewhere else. They couldn’t put off telling the girl her father was dead forever, but now wasn’t the time.

“Erica, how are you feeling? Do you have any pain anywhere? Have you fallen over?” Grau looked at her, a curious expression on his face.

She returned his regard, her head tilted slightly to one side. “I feel fine, it’s Daddy who’s ill, not me! When are we going to see him?”

“Your daddy is sleeping, we’d best not disturb him now. He wanted me to make sure you are alright, he thinks you might have caught his illness. Would you let me examine you, to give you a quick check-up?”

“Why does daddy think I’m not well? That’s silly!”

“Yes, it probably is. But he is very worried about you. If he worries, it will be more difficult for him to get better. So can I examine you for him?”

Lucya pulled Grau to one side and whispered urgently in his ear. “What are you doing? You can’t lie to her about her dad! What’s she going to think when she finds out?”

“Look at her, Lucya. Look!” Grau hadn’t taken his eyes off Erica. “She looks perfectly healthy. Scott was the second patient to go down with this. Kiera and Barry caught it from him. The girl should be very sick by now, but she is not. If she has some kind of immunity, we have to find out!”

Lucya turned to look at the child, who did indeed appear to be in perfect health. She made a snap decision. “Erica, darling, it’s okay, Doctor Lister is very kind, and it won’t take long to give you a check-up. Is that okay?”

“Will you come with me, Lucya?”

“Yes, of course I will.”

“Mmm, if that’s what Daddy wants, I s’pose it’s alright.”

• • •

Jake returned to the bridge to find it almost deserted. Only Dave and Chuck were around, the former manning the radar, the trainee on the helm.

“Where did Lucya go?” he asked, looking around.

“Off with Grau and the girl,” Dave said. “He’s not best pleased with you. From the little I heard, this virus is airborne. You’re probably carrying it, and you probably carried it right onto the sub. Now he thinks the girl might be the key to a miracle cure, so they’ve taken her to his cabin to check her over and take some blood. He wants you down there the instant you get back.”

Jake looked out of the window. They were somewhere between Northern Ireland and Scotland, ashen land clearly visible on both sides.

“How long before we reach Faslane?” he asked.

Dave checked the screen in front of him. “Another hour and we’ll be entering the Firth of Clyde. From there, a good twelve hours I’d say. We should hit Gare Loch by oh-six hundred hours, maybe oh-seven. With Ambush out of the water we’re running slower than we could.”

“Chuck, are you okay on the helm for now?”

“Yes, sir. The ship is sailing herself. This close to land we have full radar navigation. I’m hands-off, mostly keeping watch.”

“Okay, in that case I suppose I have no excuses. Time to face the music. Call if you need me.”

• • •

“You’re being a very brave girl, Erica. Doctor Lister is almost done. He just needs to give you a tiny little pinprick, it won’t hurt a bit, I promise.”

“I hate needles!”

“Doctor Lister has special magic needles that don’t hurt, it will be fine, trust me.”

Lucya winked at Grau, and he nodded reassuringly. He swabbed the girl’s arm with an alcohol solution, then sprayed it with a tiny aerosol.

“Ooh, that’s weird!” Erica giggled. “I can’t feel my arm, it’s like before I get pins and needles!”

“Erica, look, out the window, I think I see a seagull.” Lucya pointed at the small square porthole. With her attention distracted, Grau pushed the tip of the needle through her pale skin. Dark red blood filled the syringe.

“Where? Are you sure? I don’t see any seagulls! Daddy said there aren’t any birds left, that they all got on the asteroid and flew off into space.” She started to turn round, but Grau wasn’t done.

“Look! There it is again!”

“I still can’t see it, it’s not fair!”

Grau extracted the instrument and wiped away the tiny bubble of blood that escaped from the puncture with a little cotton wool. Erica turned back.

“I think you’re making it up. You want me to not be scared about the needle.”

“The needle? That’s already done, look.” Grau showed the girl her own blood.

“How did you do that? I never felt it!”

“See? I told you he had magic needles,” Lucya said grinning.

A knock at the door, and Jake entered.

“Oh, that’s our cue to leave. Come on, Erica. If Doctor Lister is finished then I think we should go and find you some dinner.” Lucya got to her feet, took the girl’s hand, and led her outside.

“Bye, Doctor Lister. Say hi to Daddy when he wakes up.”

Grau smiled and nodded. Lucya left, touching Jake’s shoulder on her way past.

“Captain Noah, I imagine your crew have informed you of the latest news?”

“You think the virus is airborne and that I’ve just infected the whole of the Ambush, right?”

“That is, sadly, the gist of it. Now we must hope that this sample of blood contains the key to beating this strange and terrible illness.”

“You think Erica is immune?”

“She should be suffering at least as much as Kiera by now.”

“What about you, Grau? You treated Scott after Kiera brought him in, and you’re not affected.”

Grau sighed heavily. “I had begun to hope that was the case, but alas, since arriving in this cabin with that delightful child, I have lost all feeling in my feet and lower legs.”

Jake approached the doctor and sat on the edge of the bed where Erica had been moments ago. Grau was in a chair opposite him, staring at the floor. “Grau, I’m so sorry. Does Lucya know?”

“No.”

“Have you called the nurse? What can I do to help?”

“There is nothing to be done for me. The nurse has enough to deal with. I am capable of looking after myself. But there is one thing you can do. This blood sample, take it to Vardy. He has newer equipment, perhaps he can offer a more precise diagnosis. Since the infection is likely already on the submarine, it will not be adding greatly to the risk of their continued health by having you go back over there. But before you go, you must get a blood sample from Scott’s body. Janice has prepared one, it is ready to go.”

“I’ll do it now, Grau. Get some rest, and don’t lose hope. Coote is convinced the naval base will be intact, and who knows what they have there in the way of medical facilities?”

“That is a nice thought to hang on to, thank you, Jake.”

“I will see you later, Grau.” Jake got up to leave, turned to say something, but thought better of it.

The temporary morgue was only two flights of stairs down from the crew cabins on deck three, and he was there in minutes.

“Captain Noah, you have come for this I presume?” Janice held out a vial of blood. It was considerably darker than that of Erica. She poked it through the door, which she had not opened fully. Jake could guess why, and he was glad of her discretion; he had no desire to see a post-mortem in progress.

“Janice, I think you should know, Grau is infected.”

She laughed, a reaction which took him by surprise. “Captain, surely you understand that we’re most likely all infected by now? The only difference is that Grau has moved on to the next stage. The virus is paralysing him. For the rest of us it’s just a matter of time. Don’t look so shocked, we’re not dead yet. Where there’s life, there’s hope, right? I suggest you get over to that submarine before your own legs abandon you. Make the most of your mobility, Captain!” Janice gave a lopsided smile and closed the door on him.

Thirteen

“G OOD EVENING , LADIES and gentlemen, this is Captain Noah. I am speaking to you on behalf of the committee, who have just finished an extraordinary meeting following the events that have unfolded throughout the course of the day. I know that there are rumours circulating about what is happening on deck eight, and it is my intention to tell you the truth. The committee is committed to transparency, and everyone on this ship has the right to know our situation.

“There has been an outbreak of a rare virus on board the Spirit of Arcadia. We believe this began somewhere on deck eight, and those on that level are the most at risk of becoming infected. Many have already been taken ill. Our medical team are working around the clock to treat everyone affected. Unfortunately some of the team have, in the course of their duties, also contracted the virus. The committee is in the process of contacting everyone on board with medical knowledge or experience, but it would save an enormous amount of time and be beneficial to the community as a whole if those people could make themselves known by reporting to the bridge, located on deck ten.

“Our knowledge of this virus is limited. I can tell you that it appears to be airborne, probably infecting others through coughs and sneezes. Deck eight has been quarantined as a precaution, and nobody other than the medical team should enter or leave. It is, I must tell you, entirely possible that this virus has already spread to other areas of the ship, or will do so soon. In order to provide the best protection to the community, we would urge everyone to stay in their cabins as much as possible. The less contact there is between people, the less opportunity the virus will have to spread.

“If you believe you yourself may be infected, please return to your cabin and call the medical team on 711; someone will come to you. Early symptoms of the virus include paralysis of the lower legs and feet. If you are suffering symptoms other than these, you probably do not have the virus and we would ask that you do not contact medical unless your symptoms are severe.

“At this time we do not know precisely how serious a threat this virus is to our health. I must stress that the measures we have put in place in terms of restrictions of movement are purely precautionary, and whilst caution and concern are normal and to be encouraged, there is no reason to panic or believe that—as some rumours are suggesting—we are all going to die from this illness.

“Our medical team, along with Surgeon Lieutenant Vardy from HMS Ambush, are confident that we will have a full diagnosis soon, and that we will be able to eradicate the virus completely.

“We have, as many of you will have seen, now entered the Firth of Clyde. By morning we will reach a naval base at Faslane. There, we have reason to hope we will find additional medical supplies.

“In the meantime, please try and restrict your movements about the ship as much as possible. I, or another representative of the committee will keep you informed of developments as they occur. Thank you for listening, and I wish everyone aboard a safe and pleasant night.”

• • •

“Do you think they’ll buy it? The ‘no reason to believe it’s dangerous’ line?”

“Some might. Most? Probably not. What can I say though, Lucya? ‘Sorry, we’ve no idea what it is or how to cure it, but it will probably kill you in twenty-four hours.’ I can’t see that helping.”

“What about staying in cabins? People still have to eat, Jake.”

“I know, but the opinion of the committee is that if people willingly shut themselves in their cabins, they’ll forego dinner, and maybe even breakfast. At least wait it out until it’s clearer what’s happening. It works to our advantage; we’re so low on food this is a way of making what’s left go further.”

“I suppose so. I wish I could have been at the meeting.”

“Someone had to look after Erica. How did you get her to sleep? Wasn’t she still insisting on seeing her father?”

“She was too tired, even she admitted it. But tomorrow we have to tell her the truth; we can’t hide it forever.”

“I know, I know.”

“It’s okay, I’ll do it, Jake, I don’t mind.”

“I wasn’t trying to get out of it. I can tell her, if you want.”

“No, it will be easier coming from me. We’ve got a bit of a bond already I think.”

“Listen, I’m going to head back to the bridge for an hour, just to see how McNair is doing. It feels odd leaving a submariner at the helm, even if it is the computer doing all the work.”

“Coote said he has experience of cruise ships; he’ll be fine. Anyway, it’s only for the night shift.”

“Yeah, but I’m still the captain, it’s still my responsibility. Just for an hour.”

“I might be asleep when you get back.”

“Then again, you might not.”

“Cheeky.”