06/22/01

"Beauty is but a flower,
Which wrinkles will devour;
Brightness falls from the air;
Queens have died young and fair;
Dust hath closed Helen's eye.
I am sick, I must die;
Lord have mercy on us."-- Thomas Nash, Song in Time of Pestilence

174-1121.

The plan, not that he's sharing mind you, is to jump to Saxe (jump two away).

On the inside of the bridge door, Mitchell divides the door in thirds with a permanent marker. Friends, Enemies, Others. Admiral Tengatsu, Dr. Neil, Tadeoshi, Lonny Gerard, Commander Holloway, Malcolm ... Tabitha, Ian Kellerman, Aldemann, Captain McNaughton. Above the list: Profero. [Bring it on.]

175 to 181-1121.

Mitchell comes out of the bridge to use the restroom, get food and drink, and go back to his cabin. He's very actively not socializing. He does pass the time turning up the grav in his room and working out. Malcolm uses the memory-plastic gym to keep in shape.

In her room, Gabrielle feels like she's come down with a really bad case of the flu. Fever, nausea, too weak to do anything but lay in bed. Malcolm is worried, but there's no answer when he pounds on the door, which is locked. Malcolm is stuck in the main crew's area with Trevor, who's over his hangover but is watching grav-ball tapes of forty year old games and obsessing about players' stats.

Malcolm finally gets really worried about Gabrielle when she doesn't come out to eat. After 24 hours, he calls the captain. Malcolm: "We haven't seen Gabrielle in over 24 hours. She hasn't come out to eat, and she's not answering." Mitchell uses his secret captain code to override the lock, then watches from the hallway, not trusting the evil Imperial. Malcolm goes in and finds Gabrielle on the bed - sweating, pale, and thrashing. Med-bot: "Unknown metabolic processes. Possible viral infection of uncataloged nature." Malcolm gives her an anti-pyrretic for her 103+ degree fever, and fluids. Not much else he can do for now. Mitchell: "Is she going to make it to our next stop?" Malcolm: "She doesn't have anything too weird." But he can't read all the detailed information he's getting from the Tech Level 16 gear. The med-bot can reccommend exactly what sort of fluids to give her.

Trevor: "Where are we going?" Mitchell: "Saxe." Trevor knows it's a nearby world, with excellent grav-ball. Hey, that's all Trevor needs to know. Malcolm gives Trevor a complete run down on what he missed on Teucer, in non-gory detail. He doesn't spare the part where Megan makes the comment about "Good job, Malcolm." Trevor: "So Dr. Neil has gone off to be safer with out us. Probably wise, considering how much attention our group attracts." Malcolm: "He was with Capeletti when we last saw him." Trevor: "I'm not sure that's a good idea. On the other hand, it's probably difficult to find anyone more bloodthirsty than Capeletti, so as long as Dr. Neil doesn't piss him off, he should be fine." Trevor figures he should probably just stay away from Gabrielle, so he doesn't catch whatever she has, or make it worse.

The next day Trevor wakes up feeling crummy. Damn. That's why he was staying away from Gabrielle. Bugger. He has a bad fever for about a day or two. The grippe makes it's rounds to everyone on board the ship, including the paranoid captain. The viral filters aren't working.

Trevor sees the individual room filters, and someone has sawn a perfect, circular saw through the filter in his room, in the air vent. Hmm. He checks the air vents in the other rooms, and sure enough...perfect little holes. He follows the pipes to the source. Filters marked with the next date they should be changed, and sealed. On closer inspection, the seal isn't intact. Trevor opens it and sees an aerosol can sort of thing inside, but without a top. As he's watching, it sprays a dose. Trevor carefully extracts it from the filter system, and walks out. It sprays while he's walking, and Trevor feels a dampness on his skin, and something crawling into him (maybe not literally). He dashes to the airlock, sets the can down, and closes the door. Trevor: <on commo> "Captain, you need to cycle the airlock - fast!" Mitchell: "Okay." He does. The outer door opens, the can sits there for a few seconds, then bulges out. It's still functioning, and is spraying into vacuum. Unfortunately, the airlock isn't opened explosively, so it just sits there. Trevor can feel his skin itching. He goes to the fresher, running, clothes and all. Gabrielle (feeling better, but really run down) sees Trevor tear by with really red eyes, like he has really bad allergies. She pauses briefly, then shuffles off in search of juice or something.

In the fresher by the common area, Trevor pushes the switch over to the decontamination setting. It might not take care of the original problem, but if his skin is still crawling after this, it'll at least feel better than the decon process. Youch! As he staggers out, scrubbed pink and clothed barely (in tatters), with really red eyes, Mitchell comes out off the bridge to use the little captain's room. He stares at Trevor, who looks like he was locked in a phone booth with a wet bobcat. Mitchell: "Do I want to know what I just cycled through the airlock?" Trevor: "There was a cannister in our air circulation system that was spraying into the air system." Mitchell: "There was something spraying into our air system?" Trevor: "Yeah. I think the cannister is still in the airlock. You can check it out, but I don't think it would be a good idea to let it spray inside. Oh, and somebody cut holes in all the vents to make sure it got into all our rooms." Mitchell: "Well, Malcolm, you have medical. You check it out." Malcolm will do so, after he puts on his vac suit.

The only decontamination kit is in engineering. Malcolm goes into the airlock, closing it after himself. A well-built, metal cannister with a timing device. No identifying marks. Looks like it was made in a machine shop, and very well designed. <pssst> And still functional. Lovely. Malcolm secures himself, as he does not want to find out what's out there in jump space. He tosses the cannister out the airlock though. (Well, so much for the space-time continuum on that world!)

In the next few days, the men search the ship. They find a drill with the appropriate sized drill. And all the filters have been drilled. They use the spare filters to cut plugs to repair the holes in the other filters. Everything else on board appears to be absolutely ship-shape. All the maintenance, even if it wasn't due yet, was done at the last stop (on Tuecer). It takes a day to repair the scrubbers (as much as possible). There. Now everyone feels better, and Mitchell can go hide in the bridge some more. Trevor: "He's been through a lot of trauma, and he was already twitchy on Sequoyah. And that was two planetary disasters ago."

181-1121.

Mitchell may be traumatized, but he can still pilot. The jump into Saxe is smooth as silk. Saxe is a balkanized world, and each of the five major countries have an UpPort. There are a number of normal sized UpPorts, a big UpPort, a really big UpPort, and a huge UpPort currently under construction. UpPort envy.

New Anglia was the first station to hail the ship (all of them did so, within seconds), Mitchell responds to them and follows their instructions into their UpPort amid really heavy traffic. It's the big UpPort, with a classier ambiance. Sort of a Victorian UpPort, as opposed to the art deco or the post modern UpPort. Lovely flying buttresses, classic Solomani design.

The ship docks in it's assigned bay. Welcome to New Anglia, gateway to Anglia - the best country on Saxe. Mitchell arranges for fuel, etc. They also have cargo, but since Mitchell doesn't have broker, he has to go through a local brokerage firm; they'll take a cut, but they'll also be able to get a decent price. Since he has this little viral problem to take care of, Mitchell looks up medical facilities on port. Elsewhere on the ship, Malcolm checks the local news. The politics aren't too wild - more friendly rivalries resolved through politics, not wars.

Bio-engineering is very big on Saxe. You can get chair-dogs here, and grass that grows to a specified height, never needs cutting, and stays green. A plethora of other bio-engineered products as well. Cool contact lenses that are really living organisms you eye-drop into your eyes and for neat special enhancements. Not to mention all the bio-engineered, bizarre animals, and truly weird bio-sculpting for cosmetic purposes. Anything you want to look like, or have for a pet, you can get - if you have the funds. All thanks to NeoTek.

Mitchell secures the bridge and lets Trevor and Gabrielle know he's going out to get his medical problem checked out. There are more normal pursuits on New Anglia too - you can get a massage from a real person (no machine). There's a real push here towards the "natural" - read "non-mechanical". Mitchell passes a couple of dogs on the corner, having a chat. Rover: "...any way, new collar and everything..." It's hard to understand neo-dogs. The whole thing is rather disturbing.

Mitchell goes into a real medical (non-cosmetic) clinic, and tells them what he picked up on Teucer. He apologizes for not reporting it before coming on port, but who reads all those health regulations anyway?

Doc: <examining Mitchell> "Yeah, it looks like you're still showing signs of the infection....Let's see what we can do about your pancreas....Okay, we have an opening tomorrow morning where we can implant a freshly grown one for you. Don't eat anything after 9 o'clock, and you might want to bring some comfortable pajamas, and something to read. You'll be here a few hours."

Making a brief check-in stop on the ship, Mitchell checks out the document he agreed to earlier. Sure enough, if you've been "exposed to any organisms listed in section 54", you're supposed to report it. Of course, section 54 is a 47 page list of things. "Not that I know of" is probably the most popular answer. Mitchell leaves to check on his cargo, most of which has already been sold. They'll try to find him outgoing cargo before he leaves. Mitchell buys new scrubbers to replace all the old filters, and goes over as much of the document he signed without reading as possible. It does say "to the best of my knowledge", so it's probably not too dangerous. In a fit of...well, something, Mitchell orders a dozen pairs of little blue glasses like Dr. Neil's. [Now that's scary...]

Malcolm takes the opportunity to get off the ship. Non-canned air!! He runs into a woman coming out of a perfume shop, and she's wearing a scent that grabs Malcolm's attention, slaps him across the face, knocks him down and drags him across the street after her. Whoa. They've definitely got the pheremone thing down to an art form. Once he's released, Malcolm wanders around to get a feel of the place, and to check out the "eye shops", so to speak. (For Gabrielle.) Anglia Up is the technological center, and Anglia Down is the agricultural centre.

Gabrielle finally decides to go off the ship, and get away from the others. Mostly the latter. She does leave a note though. The cosmetic bio-tech shops are everywhere. She and Malcolm get rooms on port, but not in the same hotel. Personal space issues and all those shipboard issues that come up.

Mitchell puts up an ad on the job board for an engineer. He'll stay on the ship to field calls. Trevor stays on the ship to watch grav-ball.

182-1121.

There's a report on the morning show that Malcolm watches in his room of the first flu of the season hitting the port. This is followed by a tall blonde named Inga who will lead him through his morning exercises. Yeah. Oh well, if the locals mutate or drop over dead, they mutate or croak. Big deal. The chair dog ad is a tad disturbing to Malcolm. "I love my chair dog, and my chair dog loves me." If you want furniture, buy furniture. If you want a pet, buy a pet. Just because you can combine things doesn't mean you should!

Mitchell deals with interviews for the engineering position. For a positon on a small ship like this, either the applicants' papers aren't the best, or they're just not corporate types. He talks to quite a few people. He gets one person who asks as many questions as Mitchell asks - "So, where were you last?" "How many crew do you have?" "Where are you headed?" All very casual of course. (This would be the obvious SolSec plant.) Mitchell is looking for clean, efficient, and competent. It comes down to a choice of two - one male, one female. Mitchell takes each of them into engineering, separately. The young man knows exactly where the engine was made, by whom, where on Teucer, you name it. The atractive young female's first comment is "Kind of messy in here. And what's that smell?" The tools are also organized wrong - tools that should be together aren't. Mitchell has them each run a brief diagnostic test. The young man does everything by the book, exactly textbook. The female does it by feel and sound, like she's done this stuff before. Neither has Navy background. The male went through an apprenticeship program, the female went to a vocational school and then worked in her father's shop. The female gets the job. The young man looks at Mitchell and says "It's the body, isn't it? I can get that changed if that's what it takes." Mitchell: "No, no. We just need someone who's used to working with the unexpected." And the fact that she's young, female, and attractive doesn't mean a thing. Uh-huh. The young man isn't really convinced, but he leaves any way, grumbling.

The new engineer's name is Grychin. No last name. She used to have a last name, but she didn't like it. She's about 6' tall, built lean like a dancer, with short, very light blonde hair. Mitchell tells her there are three other people on board. Mitchell: "The other crew members might ask you to do things. It's up to you, but anything unusual and you come to me, I'm the captain." Grychin: "Right. I'll go get my stuff." Mitchell leaves notes for the other crew, and then goes up to the bridge to "center himself". This could take a while.

As Mitchell is casually watching the ship's monitor, the computer kicks something onto the system and uploads some file that Mitchell can't find in the system to the starport computers. Now that was odd, he didn't tell it to send any message, and no one else is currently aboard the ship. Except for the lump in front of the grav-ball game, but Mitchell could tell if Trevor were doing anything from there, and he's not.

That evening, Malcolm catches a report on the "particularly virulent flu that has claimed over 200 lives in the last 48 hours. If you show any of the symptoms, report immediately to your local medical clinic." "The officials have not released it yet, but sources have reported that Imperial terrorists have sent a message claiming reponsibility for the epidemic, to exact vengeance for Polyphemus' attempt to "break down the power of the man, using the twisted tools of the government on them..." The UpPort is now quarantined, and medical personnel are working around the clock. The government refuses to comment on the communique, but requests that people remain calm and work together.

The media reports that amoing the first fatalities of the virus, one was a baby and one was an elderly woman. It repeats the warnings, "If you have any of the symptoms, rest, drink fluids, and get in touch with your physician." Mitchell checks out the ship's med-bot, and there's a flaming metric butt-load of information from when Malcolm used it on Gabrielle. If he wants to erase all the data, Mitchell will have to pull the plug, remove the batteries, and basically reinstall all the original programming. Sounds like a good idea to Mitchell! Now he just has to deal with the safeguards. Computer: "This will erase all the data contained on the system. Are you sure?" Mitchell: "Yes." Computer: "Are you really sure?" Mitchell: "Yes." Computer: "Are you really, really sure?" Mitchell: "Yes!" Computer: "Medical data can be very important. Are you sure you want to er-" Mitchell hits the erase button and waits until the flashing cursor changes to "Insert Disk 3". Mitchell looks through the disks he has. "Disk 1, 2, 4. Huh." He goes to find Disk 3, which has urinary tract infections and other shore leave issues. The "read me" file of disk 3 has probably been loaded onto all of the ship's computers and all of the hand readers in the ship. Some files are more popular than others, but no one actually wants to ask the medic for them.

Latest media report: "Despite government claims otherwise, this station has confirmed the presence of troops on the station, and a death rate in the thousands. Statistics indicate a fatality rate of over 75%."

OOPS. It could be a coincidence! Really, it could.

183-1121.

"Crisis on the starport!" Thanks to the swift work of the government, the plague on the New Anglia UpPort has been contained. A number of fringe lunatic groups have also claimed responsibility for the outbreak, and rumors are flying about the other countries not doing their part, and maybe they're responsible for the plague.... And the experts are saying it's a "poly-morphus virus, and as soon as we think it's under control it mutates". Sound militarized to Malcolm. Good thing it's been contained. Mostly. Really. None of the other countries have reported cases, so it's an Anglian problem.

The UpPort is sealed, and Mitchell's pancreas replacement has been cancelled until further notice. All non-emergency procedures have been put on hold during the crisis. There's a hailing at the external door, and people in haz-mat suits. Mitchell lets them on, of course. It's representatives of the emergency medical units working on UpPort, and they've been going ship to ship. Blood draws are taken from Mitchell.

The blood sample is run through a small portable machine the generates immediate results. Medic: "Have you had the disease? You're showing a titre with antibodies." Mitchell: "I did have a cold." Medic: "Did you have a fever? Chills?" Mitchell:"It didn't seem that bad." They want to take him in and run some tests, maybe use him to produce a vaccine.

None of the others are on board (Trevor has gone out for more grav-ball appropos snacks), and Mitchell claims none of the other crew members have been sick. He leaves some of the medical warning pamphlets in the common area, leaves a copy of the security code in Trevor's room, and goes with the techs.

Malcolm calls one of the hospitals and volunteers to help out. Yes, there's a disaster here, and the government has sent mostly troops while more people are dying. The mortality rate is hovering around 84-86%. People who seemed to recover have been relapsing and dying suddenly. It's eerily quiet on the station, thanks to the "Yellow Death" (so named for the yellowish sweat in the final stages of the disease). This is not good.

The starport government is coming apart. Fires are set (easy to deal with on an upport, but still), vandalism, and the government continues to claim it will have a cure soon. This might be interesting, from a safe distance.

Gabrielle and Malcolm move back into the ship; it's safer. There are whacko religious groups with "The End is Near!" signs, looters, etc. Mitchell doesn't make it to the clinic for tests - on the way there, the technicians fall victim to the plague and crash the vehicle. They're showing advanced symptoms, and right quick - they appear to be sweating serum. Gee, they seemed fine when they first came on board the ship... Mitchell heads back towards the Dead Reckoning.

The starport is unnaturally silent.

He hurries.