Chap. 289 Mapping the Spread

Chap. 289 Mapping the Spread

“By the egg, ma’am, the settlers! That explains a lot,” B’rost said.

K’ndar had never seen him so hyped.

“It’s Arlita,” the woman said, “I’m Mard’s wife.”

“Yes, ma’am, I apologize for not asking. I’m up to my ears in this thing right now.”

“Accepted.”

Cooky came up with a platter of cookies and mugs of klah. Everyone was happy to take one of each.

B’rost looked at her with appreciation. “Ma’am, upon my word, these are the best cookies I’ve ever eaten.”

She blushed. “Thank you, sir.”

“No raisins, either,” K’ndar said.

“Not in MY kitchen!” Cooky snapped.

K’ndar laughed.

B’rost spread a map of Pern out onto one of the kitchen tables.

“Thank you, sir, for allowing me to draw blood from all your people. Except for Fland? He was here two days ago, before we took Nattana to Healer Hall.”

“He saddled a horse and lit out right after you left for the Hall. He’s a sharp one, if a quiet man, B’rost, I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t know the lockdown was coming. He rode out hoping to intercept a wagonload of goods coming from Singing Waters. It’s a day’s long ride on horseback, with a wagon it’s two. Normally they would be stopping at the Wanderers camp for the night, but I suspect he pressed on. Or just holed up off the path, to keep from raider’s eyes. Either way, I expect them back sometime today.”

“Aye,” K’ndar said, “Fland and the drivers take care of the animals. They won’t push them harder than need be.”

“Unlike greenhorn settlers,” Mardriss snapped. “As for raiders? We’ve pretty much run those types out of the area. Lord Dorn doesn’t take kindly to brigands and his master at arms and his crew have been patrolling his Hold. They’ve cleared out several nests of thieves.”

Everyone nodded, happily.

“K’ndar, can your fire lizard let Lord Dorn know about Nattana?”

“The Weyr is probably running sweeps now, Mardriss, training suspended and all hands on deck to get the word out. So I’d bet Lord Dorn’s already aware of the lockdown. Even so, I’d put out a sweep flag if I were you,” he said.

“Run up the yellow one, Mardriss,” B’rost said.

“Yellow? The one with the weird three sickle sign in the middle? We’ve never used yellow, not in my entire life.”

“That’s because it was reserved for situations just like this: to indicate that there is disease at this site. That came about centuries ago, after Moreta’s plague ride.”

“I wonder if the sweep rider will even understand it, B’rost. I’d forgotten all about the yellow flag,” K’ndar said. “And I don’t know of anyone who has a fire lizard at Singing Waters. But worry not, Mard, what I can do is have Raventh contact Careth, tell him to tell D’mitran that your cothold may have a victim of the virus, that the settlers may have brought it, and that we’re dutifully locked down and quarantining.”

“Don’t mention the wagonload. I know Fland, he’ll keep the drivers away from everyone else,” Mardriss said.

I heard. I will tell Careth now. And Rath is telling him, too. Raventh said.

B’rost and K’ndar exchanged dragonrider glances.

“Done,” he said, smirking.

“Done?” Mardriss said, astonished.

“Yes. Raventh and Rath both heard, they’re talking to Careth now.”

Mardriss shook his head. “What a wonder a dragon is. He didn’t mention the wagon?”

Tell him no, neither of us said anything about the wagon. Wait. I have to listen.

Careth says D’mitran knows now about the young human and will inform Lord Dorn. They received the lockdown notification through D’mitran’s data link, among others. The Weyr is doing what you said, sending out all available riders to sweep. I will tell, no, Rath just did, he reminded Mirth and Kenth about the yellow flag.

Duh, K’ndar thought, I could have used my datalink, too.

Yes, but then you wouldn’t have been able to show off MY instant communication skills. Dragons are much faster than those datalinks.

K’ndar grinned. “Not to worry. Neither Raventh nor Rath said a thing about the wagon.”

“Okay, I’d like to continue?” B’rost said. He had their attention.

“Fland and the two drivers are the only ones at your hold I’ve not drawn blood from. That’s okay, I’ll get them when they return.”

B’rost nodded. “Now, if you please, look at my map.

This map is what we call a backtracker. It lists all the known victims. When I first started working on it, it made no sense. Only after I learned about the settlers did it all come together.

Here’s your cothold, Mardriss. Nattana is listed as patient number six and the date is when we took her to Healer Hall. The hall said there have been six deaths, but we haven’t heard that one is Nattana, and I’d be astonished if Sandriss wouldn’t let you know if she had died. So I’m assuming there’s a seventh victim, maybe it’s been reported but they’re not sure it’s the virus.

At this time Nattana is the only one from Southern. I’ll know more when the data is squeezed at Healer Hall tonight. The rest of these numbers are of victims known to have died and, except for the one at Keroon, whose date is missing, the dates relate when the victim was reported as dead or was transported to Healer Hall.”

“Where’s number seven?”

“I don’t know, so I’ve not put it on the map. Right now I’m betting it’s still chaotic at Healer Hall. There’s always been protocol for just this scenario, but it was developed years before Aivas and things like datalinks, and it has never been put into action, until now. I think, for now, we’ll just assume that there are really only six victims, one alive and that being your Nattana.

The settlers claimed they disembarked at Southern Hold, thinking it was Cove Hold. Where they went, how long they wandered around til they got here, I don’t know. It would seem that they had no contact with anyone between Southern and your cothold. For clarity’s sake, I’m just going to draw a straight line from your cothold to Southern Hold back across the sea to Keroon. Even though we don’t know the date of the victim there, we DO know they took ship from Keroon. Keroon’s victim was number five.”

His finger traced a crazy, zig zag course north of Keroon. “Here’s number four, allllll the way over here, in Igen’s eastern desert. Then number three is WEST of Igen. What in the world were they doing? Anyway, this one, number two, is northwest of that. Finally, victim number one is east of that in?” He tapped his finger on the map, looking at his audience expectantly.

“Lemos,” K’ndar and Mardriss said at the same moment.

“Yes. You said that’s where they told you they started out from? Lemos. I might be wrong, I’ve never done contact tracing or mapping like this outside of school, but now I know why it was forced into my head. Those settlers came here. They have a young child who played with Nattana. She came down with what we believe is a virus. We know they’re out on the steppe somewhere. Unless we get another victim report further from here, or who knows where else, their toddler is Patient Zero. The one that is carrying the disease, and is spreading it. What in the name of Pern were they doing? Why didn’t they take ship from Lemos to Keroon? Had they any clue as to how to read a compass? This is as crazy a course as I’ve ever seen, but if yours and Burt’s reports are correct, and I have no doubt they are, then that little boy is the one we need to find-and report.”

Mardriss looked at him. “I’ve never been under a lockdown. In a way it feels like an overreaction, but what do I know? I want this thing stopped, and if this is how it’s done, so be it. But in regards to the settlers, I don’t intend to send someone out looking for them. If Natty dies, Sandriss will want to kill them, knowing full well it would mean his beheading. I can’t let that happen, although I fully understand the sentiment. Even so, those people are not welcome here. I don’t want them here.”

“I don’t blame you. Nor should you allow them to come back, that’s Healer Hall’s orders and so far, the Council of Six is allowing it to stand.”

“Mardriss, let me search for them. I can cover a lot more ground on Raventh than anyone on horseback,” K’ndar said.

Mardriss nodded.

B’rost rolled up the map and stuffed it into a stiff tube.

“I will take all this data and everyone’s blood samples up to Healer Hall, once I get the three samples that are inbound. I don’t want to wait too long, blood doesn’t keep well. I’ve put the settlers names on the possibly exposed list and that we believe them to be out on the steppe right now. I am betting my boots the Masters at the Hall will come to the same conclusion I have, that the settlers are the source of this virus. If so, we might be able to knock this bug out before it gets a grip.”

Arlita, Mardriss’s wife, had been listening, quietly.

“B’rost, I have two ideas.”

“Yes, m?”

“One, they said they shipped from Keroon on the Imp. Someone should track the ship down to see if she has victims.”

“AH. Oh, smart lady! Yes. I missed that. THIS is why we talk to people and do contact tracing!” B’rost typed the data into his datalink. “Yes, yes, yes. I hope someone at the Hall has contacts with the seafolk.”

Ships! Fleming, K’ndar thought. Oh, I have no wish to talk to that lout, but he’s Landing’s shipping analyst, whatever that means. “I know of one, B’rost. Landing already tracks ships and cargo movements. I’ll call Raylan and tell him right after this.”

“Perfect. Ask him to ship those data to Healer Hall.”

B’rost’s eyes were dancing. “And second, ma’am?”

“This virus, so far it’s only been found in humans, correct?”

“Yes, ma’am, as far as I know, it’s only affecting humans.”

“Not in dragons, or wherries, or birds. Not in anything native to Pern.”

“Not as far as I know.”

“What about cows? Oxen? They’re mammals, too. Could the virus be in their oxen?

Thunderstruck, they all gawped at Arlita.

B’rost shouted in admiration, “My stars, Arlita, no one thought of animals. Utter brilliance! The oxen!”

“Animals can pass diseases to humans?” Cooky asked.

“Yes, of course. We’re animals, just like cows and dolphins and chickens. Zoonotics are not unheard of, many diseases that killed humans on Earth were originally found in other animals. Humans passed on diseases to many animals, too.”

“Their oxen,” Mardriss said, “In my pastures.” His voice was ice cold. My kindness, being repaid in death? he thought, angrily.

“Yes, yes,” B’rost said, ecstatic. “I’ll draw blood samples from them, but we don’t know if the other victims even came close to them. The victims are all children. You said the little boy and Nattana played together. Did she go near the oxen?”

“I don’t think so,” Arlita said,“and the toddler was too small to be off on his own. Nattana was besotted with someone so close to her in age to play with.”

“And Dor, the mother?”

“Never left him alone. The child either had the mother or his big sister with him at all times, even when he was playing with Nattana. They stayed here in the cothold the entire time.”

“And none of them got sick.”

“Just Natty,” she said.

“Which tells me that adults are probably immune. Even kids don’t get it, just little ‘uns.”

“Their oxen,” Mardriss muttered, still seething. The beasts suddenly posed a dreadful threat.

B’rost saw it in his eyes.

“Mardriss, I know what you’re thinking. Don’t kill them. I wouldn’t pull a knife on them yet. No one has mentioned cattle dying. And if cattle are vectors, the Hall would much rather have live specimens than dead ones. Thank you, Arlita, that is an incredible bit of insight.”

“You’re welcome.”

“And the horses. They’re with the horses,” Mardriss said. By the stars, if they’ve infected my horses, I may just kill the people myself, beheading or no. Bad enough they killed my niece, now it’s my livestock? he thought.

“Aye.”

“I’ll take you out to the oxen, B’rost, to pull the blood sample. They’re so worn out, they shouldn’t give you a bit of trouble, if you’ve never handled cattle before,” Mardriss said.

B’rost giggled, then roared. The rest were were perplexed.

K’ndar grinned. “He grew up milking cows. He’s a cheese maker.”

It had broken the chilly atmosphere.

Which K’ndar promptly restored.

“Do you think we should fly out to where we think the settlers may be? I don’t intend to land anywhere near them, but we could drop a rock saying, stay here, don’t move, there’s a virus out and we think your child is the reason for it.”

“No, no, no, we can’t do that,” B’rost said, aghast. “Yes, they may have patient zero, but if we threaten them or scare them, they’ll bolt. They’ll keep the baby secret, and it will just spread the virus even further. Yes, we should tell them to stay in place, that’s Healer Hall’s planetwide directive. But don’t say a word about the possibility they’re spreading it. They need to be located, as soon as possible.”

“Tell them to not even think about returning,” Mardriss said.

“I will,” K’ndar said.

B’rost closed his eyes, thinking hard.

“We don’t need two dragons for this. K’ndar, please, fly out there, see if you can locate those settlers. I’ll give you an official notification of the lockdown. Do not come in contact with them, drop it by rock or maybe have Siskin take it down to them. Of course take a reading, you have your datalink, yes? We need a precise coordinate. Send it to me the moment you’ve found them.”

“Aye. And pictures, what? I started carrying one of Landing’s molecular camera.”

“Yes, pictures of them would be wonderful.”

“Right then. I’ll harness up and fly.”

They heard a shout from outside.

“Inbound!! Fland and crew, with wagon!”

They all cheered.

B’rost turned to Mardriss. “Mardriss, please, take me to the oxen, I’ll draw a blood sample from each AND from two of your cattle. Two samples from the horses, as well. By that time, Fland and the men should be ready for a blood draw. Then I’ll fly everything up to Healer Hall. I’ll try and learn how Nattana is doing while I’m up there.”

“Waiting on you, B’rost,” Mardriss said.

“Arlita, if there’s something you think Sandriss or Liana need, give it to me and I’ll make sure they get it. I will pack up everything I brought here, just in case they want me to quarantine there. If they release me, I should be back here in a few hours,” B’rost said.

Deep in his soul, he was enjoying this, despite the deadly seriousness of it. For the first time in his life, he was Important. He was In Charge. People were listening to him, following his lead, trusting in his expertise and taking his advice. And I’m just a journeyman! Where am I getting this self confidence? This self assurance? I’m like a bird on the water, calm on top and paddling for my life underneath.

Why do you think that? Don’t be silly. You aren’t in the water. You know what you are doing Rath said.

His heart swelled. No matter what, he always had his best friend in his mind.

By all the stars, I love you, Rath.

“That’s a good idea, B’rost. I do have something to send to them. I’ll be right back,” Arlita said. She ran out.

Cooky turned without a word. She came back with a package.

“Here, they will want some cookies. I can always make more.”

B’rost took the package. It was warm and smelled wonderful. “Are you sure you can trust me with them? They’re very good.”

Cooky scowled and put her hands on her hips. “Trust me, mate, to make sure you never get another if you even THINK of keeping them for yourself.”

B’rost laughed.

Arlita came in. She handed him a bedraggled and threadbare stuffed toy.

“Here. If she’s alive, I’m sure Natty will want her Pony.”