Star Cruise - Outbreak by Veronica Scott

Author:Veronica Scott [Scott, Veronica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jean D. Walker
Published: 2016-04-08T05:00:00+00:00

Next day Emily had to admit Jake’s assessment of how Captain Fleming was going to react had been accurate. He refused to authorize a ship-wide message, nor did he agree to quarantining passengers who’d had a nosebleed in the last few days.

“Try to see it from my point of view,” he said as Emily left her seat to pace in his office. “We’ve had two cases you can only tell me might be related. We don’t even know for sure as yet. Two men have died. While regrettable, two deaths don’t justify upsetting the entire passenger population and ruining their cruise experience. We’ll stay vigilant, you’ll keep me posted of any change in the situation, and we’ll continue on our course. I think the best thing we can do, frankly, is get to Sector Hub, where there are resources established for handling this kind of thing better than we can. I’ve ordered the chief engineer to increase speed so we arrive sooner. If we luck out and can hand off the entire problem to the Sectors authorities, the Line and the ship emerge in the clear. And our passengers receive the best possible care more quickly.” Fleming was reasonable and stubborn, unconvinced of the desperate urgency Emily herself was feeling about the situation.

Staring above his head at the vidscreen displaying a holo of a star cluster, Emily took a deep breath and forced herself to remain calm.

Jake spoke up when she said nothing further. “I’ll have to notify the Hereditary Princess’s people about Arln’s death.”

“Please convey my condolences to Her Highness.” Fleming studied Emily for a moment. Straightening her spine, she regretted making her frustration plain to see. “Doctor, I give you my word, if there are additional cases, I’ll revisit your recommendations and take all necessary steps to contain the outbreak.”

“Can I at least set up a quarantine area? If and when we need such a space, there may not be time to do it right.” Emily made a last-ditch effort to plead for what she considered necessary.

Fleming rubbed his chin. “Where do you recommend we establish this facility?”

At something of a loss and not as familiar with the ship as her companions were, Emily deferred to Jake, casting a pleading glance at him, hoping for his support. “We could have as many as a thousand extremely ill patients. Is there a suitable space on board?”

“I don’t think we’d need that much capacity,” Jake said. “Let’s start small and be prepared to ramp up. There’s the big conference room slash banquet hall on Level C, sir. No one booked it for this cruise, and we’re using it for storage at the moment. Passengers don’t normally go to Level C unless we’re hosting a convention, which thankfully isn’t the case this cruise, so our preparations would be fairly inconspicuous.”

“All right, go with Level C,” Fleming agreed. “Maeve, provide the doctor with whatever she needs.”

“Yes, Captain.” The AI’s voice had the warm undertone that was invariably present when the ship addressed Fleming.

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