“Okay! Come on Captain, let’s see Daddy!”

Jake set off with Erica hanging onto his hand. It wasn’t a long walk from Silvia’s office on deck six to the medical suite on the deck below, but it was more than enough time for him to feel the weight of responsibility pressing down on his young shoulders. The little girl, skipping along beside him, oblivious to the gravity of their situation, represented the future of mankind. In the few minutes he spent escorting her, he became more acutely aware than ever that his job was to ensure that Erica, and the other young people on board the Spirit of Arcadia, would survive long enough to build a new community, a real community. She was the future of the world. His actions, and those of the committee, had to be decided on what was best for her, not for them.

He studied her closely as they walked. She looked perfectly healthy to him. Grau had explained the symptoms her father was suffering from, but this girl exhibited none of them. If Kiera had been struck down with the illness only twenty-four hours after attending to Scott, then surely Erica would show signs by now if she was infected, he thought.

They approached the medical suite, and his mind was racing. Was sending her into a room with three infected patients the best thing for her? For their future? With horror, it occurred to Jake that to do so could be akin to signing her death warrant.

“Tell you what,” he said, taking a sharp left and heading for a set of lifts, “your daddy is sleeping and Doctor Lister is very busy. Probably best we don’t disturb him. How would you like to come and visit the bridge instead, see where we drive the ship from?”

“Can’t we wake Daddy up?”

“He really needs his rest. It’s the best way for him to get better. I’ll ask Doctor Lister to give us a call as soon as he wakes up, how does that sound?”

Erica considered this, her head tilted to the side, a finger held to her lips. “Okay, I suppose that would be alright.”

Jake grinned. “Come on,” he said, “I’ll race you to the lift!”

• • •

“Jake! Where’ve you been? Oh!” Lucya exclaimed. “What a gorgeous girl. Hello, what’s your name?”

“Erica. You talk funny!”

“That’s because Lucya is from a long way away,” Jake explained, smiling.

“What, like, another planet?”

“Nearly. I’m from a place called Russia.”

Erica didn’t look impressed. Instead she ran to the front window. With her hands above her head, she pressed her face to the glass, taking in the immense view.

“Jake, where’ve you been? All hell has been breaking loose,” Lucya said in a low voice, keeping an eye on Erica.

“Tell me about it. We’ve lost the fish catch, and there’s been a fire in the kitchens.”

“Yes, and now lunch service is being delayed because of it. People have been calling up for the last half hour wanting to know what’s going on. Ella and Amanda are on their way up here now for an emergency committee meeting. And what’s this about a mystery virus sweeping the ship?”

“‘Sweeping’? That’s a bit of an exaggeration. Three people have gone down with something nasty. Well, maybe four. Grau’s working on it. I’m sure it will be fine. Her dad is one of those affected.” Jake pointed at Erica, who was sliding sideways along the windows, still awestruck by the view. “That’s why she’s up here. I’m looking after her for a while.”

“You? What do you know about children?”

“Nothing. That’s why you’re going to help me.”

Before she could protest, the door opened and Ella and Amanda walked in.

“Hello, ladies,” Jake said amicably.

“Captain,” Amanda replied coldly. “We called Doctor Lister to join us, but he informs me that he has placed himself under quarantine.”

“That’s correct. Take a seat, I think I need to fill you in on a rather messy morning.”

• • •

The emergency meeting took about twenty minutes. Silvia was excused; she was too busy to attend. Max also didn’t show up as his new security team were making their presence felt in the restaurants. Despite having somehow managed to get rationed meals out three times a day every day without fail, one late service was enough for people to start kicking up a fuss. Max’s men and women provided a powerful reminder that public order was still to be respected. He had drawn staff exclusively from ex-military sailors from the former crew, and law enforcement professionals from the passenger list.

While they were still discussing the impending food crisis, the phone rang. Dave, who was maintaining the lookout, answered.

“Jake? Doctor Lister. He says it’s urgent.”

Jake took the phone. He was ready to defend his decision to not bring Erica to medical, but Grau had other things to worry about. At the doctors request, he put the call through the speaker system so that the other committee members could hear.

“We have had four more cases of paralysed feet and legs since you left here, Captain. We have no space left. Scott, Barry, and Kiera are all laid out. With Mandy and myself there is simply no more room.”

“What do you think about relocating to the gymnasium again? Like we did after the asteroid?” Jake asked.

“No, that is not where I’m going with this. These people that have been taken ill, they all came from the same place. They all came from deck eight. That is the same deck Scott was from, and Maryse Wernström. Whatever this thing is, it looks like it may have started there. I think we need to close the deck, quarantine it, effective immediately.”

“Doctor Lister, are you sure about this?” Amanda asked. “Closing an entire deck is likely to cause panic. And what about the people stuck in there? How do we provide care? Meals? What about families split across decks?”

“I understand your concerns, but these are things we can worry about later. We have to close that deck, right now.”

“Grau, people will be in the restaurants at this time of day. Even if there’s no food being served they’ll still be there trying to get fed. This will just be a case of shutting the door after the horse has bolted.” Jake was rubbing his forehead.

“So we do it silently, we do not announce it. Send Max and a team to man the stairs. Prevent the lifts from stopping on that deck. Anyone coming back is allowed in, nobody is allowed out. They will need masks, the security guards.”

“No, I’m sorry,” Emma interjected. “You can’t just stop people leaving the deck and not tell them why. And besides, if they are in danger of getting ill, they have a right to know. We have a duty to tell them! And, Doctor Lister, if you’re stuck down there in medical, who is going to help these people on eight?”

“She’s right, Grau,” Jake sighed. “We have to tell people. But we have to be discrete. We put out a call telling all deck eight residents to return to their cabins as a matter of urgency. Max stops anyone leaving. When we’ve got them all back, or as many as we can, we announce the quarantine. And we play it down, insist it’s just precautionary.”

“People will still panic,” Lucya said. “I would if it was me.”

“It’s a risk we have to take,” Emma said. The others nodded solemnly.

“Our new nurse, Mandy, and I will bring the existing patients up to deck eight. We will use Mrs Wernström’s suite; it is big, and empty. We will move the patients now, using the crew lift by medical. If anyone else gets sick, send them to deck eight, suite 845.”

“And if anyone gets sick with anything other than this mystery thing?” Amanda asked. “If we send them to you, we’re possibly condemning them to something worse.”

“That’s just something we’ll have to deal with on a case-by-case basis,” Jake said. “In another twelve hours or so we’ll be entering the Scottish lochs and the Ambush will surface. Surgeon Lieutenant Vardy will be accessible again, so we won’t be entirely without medical support.”

It looked like everyone was in agreement on what had to be done. Jake thanked Grau and hung up the phone. So far the doctor seemed to have forgotten about Erica, and he was keen for it to stay that way. He had no desire to explain himself in front of the rest of the committee.