Domain of the Dead (14 page)

“Below decks,” Jennifer corrected.

“What? Oh, right.” Nathan stumbled before continuing, “Having those things below decks would creep me out.”

“The whole purpose of this ship being here is to research the contagion,” Doctor Robertson reiterated, more for the Captain’s benefit than the guests’. “We experiment on the cadavers and from time to time we collect new specimens either because we have exhausted the ones we have or if we want to track the rate of decay.”

“And anyway,” Captain Warden spoke up, “we don’t have more than three or four onboard at one time. That was one security protocol I insisted on in spite of our resident researchers’ protests. I believe there is only one at the moment, isn’t that correct, Doctor Robertson?”

Doctor Robertson nodded. The Captain’s regulation hadn’t added to the safety of the crew, only the perception of safety. Fewer specimens may have reduced the risk of an accident onboard, but it had necessitated more trips to the mainland which in turn had added to the attrition rate of the extraction teams.

“That’s right, Captain,” Doctor Robertson said. “That’s why we had to send the marines out on a roundup.”

Doctor Robertson didn’t know what had made her say that. Placing any blame back at Warden wasn’t going to make her situation any better.

“So what sort of experimentation do you do?” Sarah asked, sensing the rising tension.

Doctor Robertson replied, reiterating her mandate, “We research the contagion. We’re authorised by Ascension Command to explore any area that will be of benefit. The cause, its life cycle, its transmissibility.”

Sarah leaned closer. “You didn’t mention in the infirmary where you think it comes from. What causes it?”

“We don’t know,” Doctor Robertson admitted.

“I heard,” Nathan butted in, “it was a plague from space brought back by some probe or something.”

“That would seem unlikely,” Doctor Robertson countered.

“Why?” Nathan asked.

“It’s unlikely it could have survived the high temperatures of re-entry,” Doctor Robertson explained.

“Or the freezing in outer space,” Nathan chipped in, eager to prove he had a grasp of something scientific.

“But wasn’t there some biological samples that survived when that shuttle crashed a few years back?” Sarah asked.

Doctor Robertson smiled. “It’s debatable whether or not that was contamination as a result of the crash.”

Sarah looked Doctor Robertson in the eye. “So it
is
possible?”

“It’s not
im
possible.” Doctor Robertson looked across at Nathan. “Both the cold of space and the heat of re-entry would likely kill off any active agents.”

“I sense a
but
in that,” Sarah said.

“There would have to be a whole chain of suppositions. We’ve already shown in the lab that it doesn’t survive lower than minus one hundred degrees. But I suppose if the contaminate were deep inside an asteroid or comet, although freezing it could be possible to get enough energy to keep it viable. Then suppose it were to fall to Earth and if it were deep enough inside the meteorite to insulate it. That’s just too farfetched.”

“As farfetched as the dead coming back to life?” Captain Warden threw in.

“Dead is a misconception clearly addressed in our reports,” Doctor Robertson admonished.

Sarah lent forward, excited by what the Doctor had just said. “What do you mean? Are they dead or aren’t they?”

“The person dies but the body is colonised, for want of a better term. Even though the person’s brain is starved of oxygen, the contamination keeps some of the simplest of functions going as a means of propagating itself. These people are dead as we would understand it, but their resurrection it isn’t some kind of supernatural force. It’s biology. Some organism is killing then hijacking their host.”

“That sounds like something from outer space to me,” Nathan said.

“Saying it’s from outer space when there’s no evidence to support that theory is just as misleading as claiming it’s God’s wrath,” Doctor Robertson objected.

“So how come it all sparked off at once?” Nathan asked, waving his fingers as he wafted his hands over his dinner plate. “That’s explained by a spacecraft burning up in the atmosphere. All those germs wafting down on the planet below.”

“No, it just appears to have flared up all at once,” Doctor Robertson said. “Remember when SARS flared up in Hong Kong? Toronto saw cases a matter of days later. The disease spread so quickly because it was easy for people to travel. A businessman from Kowloon catches the virus and in the few hours it takes for it to incubate he’s across the Pacific and in an office in Canada. Couple that with the fact that so many of the initial reports were miscategorised and we have a far more plausible scenario than bugs from outer space.”

“But it’s not impossible,” Nathan said.

Doctor Robertson rolled her eyes with frustration. “It’s not impossible but it’s so improbable that it’s not even worth calculating the odds, let alone investigating it.”

“And there it is again, Doctor,” Captain Warden huffed.

Doctor Robertson was brought back to their conversation in the infirmary and the Captain’s exasperation at the lack of any tangible progress. But now there was something he could understand and Doctor Robertson had to use every ounce of her willpower to keep quiet. She couldn’t steal Professor Cutler’s thunder. She wanted to see the look on that sour face when they presented him with the scientific breakthrough of the century.

She kept her eyes down, loading her fork with another mouthful of dinner.

“What do you mean by that, Captain?” she asked, talking into her plate.

“We’ve been on this boat for years and what do we have to show for it?” Captain Warden said.

Doctor Robertson raised her head and addressed the Captain. “On the contrary, Captain Warden, we have advanced our knowledge of this condition quite considerably.” Waving her fork at the Captain, Doctor Robertson’s pride grew into defiance. “You well know Professor Cutler and I have produced as much research as all of the other facilities combined!”

“That, my good Doctor, is due to the fact that we haven’t been overrun!” Warden replied venomously. “In no small part due to my safety protocols!”

Sensing the full-blown argument was about to spoil her dinner, Sarah spoke up. “Doctor Robertson, you got sidetracked on where the virus comes from.”

Both Doctor Robertson and Captain Warden looked round at her. Captain Warden ceased his rancour out of an atavistic politeness for his table guests.

Doctor Robertson saw what Sarah was trying to do straight away and was more than happy to break off from yet another pointless argument.

“Of course, you have more than a passing interest in science,” Doctor Robertson said, turning to the Captain. “Sarah here was at university studying Chemistry.”

“Is that so?” Captain Warden said, not knowing where Doctor Robertson was going with this line of conversation. Anticipating an ambush, he kept his response polite but neutral.

A smile spread across Doctor Robertson’s face. “I’m hoping she will accept my invite and help us with our research.”

Sarah shook her head. “I doubt if I could be any use. I was only a second year.”

“As you can probably tell, there is a skills shortage at the moment. A second year student is a whole lot better than anyone else can boast on this boat.”

“We were speaking in the infirmary about what caused the outbreak. You never got round to answering the question,” Sarah said, trying to turn the attention away from herself.

“That’s a difficult question,” Doctor Robertson said. “We’ve never been able to isolate the contagion.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Neither do we,” Doctor Robertson admitted. “We can see the effects but none of the agent. It acts like a virus in its propagation but seems to derive energy like yeast. The lack of aerobic action—”

Nathan laughed, “Does that mean it can’t dance?”

Jennifer’s snigger encouraged Nathan to laugh more.

“That’s the scientific term for breathing,” Sarah interpreted. “You were saying...?”

“The lack of aerobic activity is perplexing.” Doctor Robertson shook her head and pursed her lips, obviously still puzzled by the conundrum. “It was Professor Cutler who pushed us beyond that impasse.”

“Go on, Doctor,” Sarah pushed.

“Well, he had an interest in Psychology. He’s a bit of a polymath. You see, in psychology there is the situation where you can’t isolate the parts of the brain which determine behaviour. Instead theories are advanced on their external features, not the internal working.”

“I’m lost again,” Nathan said, laughing. “You’ll need to slow down. I just attended school, I didn’t pay any attention.”

“Psychologists often look at a list of symptoms and make a diagnosis on what is manifested because they can’t go around sawing open people’s heads,” Doctor Robertson explained. “Professor Cutler did the same thing. He said if we can’t find the cause lets look at the symptoms and see if we can address that.”

“He skipped the identification and started looking for a cure?” Sarah asked.

“A cure?” Doctor Robertson shook her head. “I don’t think that will ever be achievable.”

“Huh, makes me wonder why the hell we’re still out here,” Captain Warden blustered.

Doctor Robertson shot a look at Captain Warden. “We’re here looking for information that will prove useful. I thought the military axiom
know your enemy
would be enough justification for our work? Ascension Command certainly thinks so.”

Captain Warden folded his arms across his chest and sat back in his chair.

“To start with, we looked at what the contagion could and couldn’t do,” Doctor Robertson went on, addressing Sarah specifically. “We examined its effects. In every way it resembles toxic shock. It’s toxic to all vertebrates, killing them within a few hours. Plants, fungi, algae, even colony creatures like the Portuguese Man-of-war weren’t affected. And here’s another curiosity: all the animals we’ve tested instinctively know not to eat the resurrected flesh. Not even the carrion eaters.”

“Does that explain why they don’t just rot?” Sarah asked.

“Partially. The normal bacterial activity that happens when we die is retarded in the infected. The contagion overwhelm the bacteria and destroy them, preventing normal decomposition. But the contagion seems to have a preservative effect as well. Like mummification or pickling.” Doctor Robertson picked up her wine glass and swirled the dark liquid around the sides for emphasis. “We’ve detected trace amounts of esters and ethanol which would imply an amount of alcohol production within the host cell. This could be the energy source that keeps the W.D.’s going. We also suspect that this chemical change is detected somehow by animals which is what warns them off from eating the infected.”

“Is that why they don’t attack each other?” Nathan asked. “Do they smell the difference?”

“That’s a distinct possibility. They could also act on things like temperature, movement and noise.” Doctor Robertson relished the chance to demonstrate her knowledge. “The neurons in the nose that detect smell die off and don’t regenerate as they would do in a living person. That means that although they could use smell as an identifier they would gradually loose that ability over a matter of just a few months. Walking dead over five years old have been examined and they still react to the presence of a living human, so they must be using more than just their sense of smell. I believe they use their senses in concert and that the information is still being processed, although on a rudimentary level.”

“So are you looking for ways to destroy it?” Sarah asked.

“No,” Doctor Robertson replied. “Well, not at the moment. In the early days we did. We’ve frozen it with liquid nitrogen to as close to absolute zero as we can get and yes that destroys it. Boiling has the same effect. High concentrated acid or alkaline, but antibiotics have no effect. Oxygen kills it.”

“But isn’t there oxygen in your blood?” Nathan asked. “Surely that would kill it.”

“That’s true, but in the blood stream it’s bound up by the red blood cells. When it infects you through the blood stream it can’t infect the red blood cells because they have no nucleus to usurp. Also the oxygen in the red blood cells kills off the infection but they are poisoned in the process and eventually collapse. It’s that toxicity of oxygen that means it can’t live outside the body. But even then, if it’s outside the body your skin is an ample barrier against infection.”

“Does that mean you can’t catch it from blood?” Nathan asked.

“You can’t catch it from red blood cells, but there are a whole host of other constituents in blood that the infection can use to multiply.” Doctor Robertson took a swig of her wine and looked at the red liquid as if it were a sample. “We’ve found out lots of useful things about the contagion, but very little we can implement in the field. At that point we stopped trying to simply eradicate it and switched to mapping the parameters of its abilities.”

“A wholly unproductive approach,” Warden criticized.

Doctor Robertson set her glass down on the table. “The approach is a sound one. If we know how it works, we’ll have a better idea of how to stop it.”