Don't be afraid of the pandemic flu.

[fishandclips]

Who: Mahir, Shaun and Mr. Harry Goodsir
Where: The Terror’s sickbay
What: Captain Crozier’s post makes it clear who the ship’s medical personnel is, and Shaun and Mahir realize they need to tell someone about their condition.
Warnings: IDK but Shaun is involved, so take that as you will (Also germ theory and zombies and discussion of headshots, probably)

Mahir reads the Captain's post about duties and schedules, and gives it about five minutes of thought before leaving his cabin and heading for Shaun's. He hates to admit that this place might be real, or that they may be stuck here for much longer, but the fact is that they are there. With other people.

Which is a fact that’s eating at his conscience.

"Come in, Mahir," Shaun calls out. How does he know who it is? Who else would be knocking at his door immediately after the Captain posted about duties and established personnel. Including established medical personnel.

Mahir doesn’t ask how Shaun knows; he just enters and shuts the door behind him. He holds up his phone. “You’ve seen the Captain’s post?”

He holds up his own phone. "Yes. Are you volunteering for ice duty first?" He knows that's not what Mahir is here for.

He rolls his eyes. “Honestly, I’d rather get it over and done with, so that’s an option. But you know that’s not what I want to talk about.”

"The medical staff. Our medical condition. Seems like a good time to say hey and offer warnings about how to handle us."

Mahir’s smile is wry and he shakes his head. “And they say you’re not the smart one.”

Shaun gives him a half smile. "I'm not. But I guess I'm smart enough to know this much. Want to go see him together?"

Mahir nods. “I think it’d be best.”

He pushes to his feet. "Well. I guess we should go meet Mr. Goodsir, then, shouldn't we?"

Comments

[bestsir]

They will find Mr. Goodsir in the infirmary, sat at his desk and writing something in a notebook. He quickly shuts it as soon as he hears them and turns to greet them.

"Gentlemen. How can I help you?"

[fishandclips]

Mahir enters first, and offers a smile and nod in greeting. "Hello, Mr. Goodsir? My name is Mahir Gowda, and this is Shaun Mason. We'd like to speak with you, if you have a moment, about some... medical concerns."

[adaptiveimmunities]

'Medical concerns.' Shaun raises an eyebrow slightly at the term, but he's not sure he has a better explanation for their situation for someone who probably doesn't even know what germs are. Normally, this would be the point where he'd make a joke, or find some other way to lighten the mood, but even he knows when it's time to turn off the idiot.

"We have a blood disease," he says. "It's really common where we're from, but it's probably not something you've ever heard of. It makes our blood... and all other bodily fluids really dangerous to people without our condition."

[bestsir]

Harry starts to his feet at the mention of disease.

"Go on," he says, obviously tense.

[fishandclips]

Mahir glances to Shaun, but quickly turns back to Mr. Goodsir. "I realize how impossible it sounds, believe me, but we are from the year 2041. Kellis-Amberlee is an extremely contagious disease that lives in our blood and other bodily fluids, as Shaun said. It's dormant while in our bodies." Please God let it be dormant, he doesn't say. Without blood tests, there's no way to know if either of them are about to amplify, and that's only another thing for them to worry about. "But if either of us were to get so much as a paper-cut or splinter, we need your help to make sure no one touches us."

[adaptiveimmunities]

Shaun nods his agreement. "If something happens to either of us, the best thing would be to find the other and have him help, unless by some miracle you have sterile gloves or something." He doesn't hold out much hope on that front, so plan A is really the best option. Even that isn't great. He and Mahir can still cause each other to amplify, but at least they'll both know how to handle it if it happens.

[bestsir]

That. Is a lot to take in all at once. Particularly for someone who predates antiseptics and germ theory by a few decades.

"I beg your pardon ... am I to understand that you both carry some form of contagion? And that it could harm others aboard? Are you quite sure that it is contained as long as you aren't injured?"

[fishandclips]

Mahir makes a face and sighs. "Yes... and no." He gives a sympathetic smile. "I realize that's not very helpful. Where and when we're from, this disease is so widespread that everyone carries it, but it's inactive, dormant--until it's not. It could be a wound, or an illness, or--really anything, once the body mass is larger than forty pounds. Animals carry it as well, and can infect humans, and vice verse."

He hesitates briefly, then continues, "Once the virus is active, it is deadly. They have developed blood tests, where we're from, to test our viral loads and indicate whether the virus activates. Most buildings and homes and spaces like this ship would have those tests embedded in the doors to prevent anyone from entering." His expression turns wry, and he offer a small smile. "It's rather unnerving, not having them."

[adaptiveimmunities]

"It would also be a problem if we were prone to spitting or puking, but we're not. If one of us gets sick..." Shaun glances over at Mahir. "We'll take care of it ourselves. It's not really safe to let someone else clean up after us if something happens. At the very least, we know what we're in for."

He pauses. The next part is, he knows, going to sound ridiculous. "If one or both of us dies... The disease causes our corpses to reanimate unless the spinal column is severed. Our corpses would still be capable of communicating the disease, and they will definitely try. Shoot us in the head or stab us in the neck, and..." He glances toward Mahir. How are they supposed to clean up without bleach? "I don't know. Wear heavy winter stuff to clean up the mess and then throw it away when you're done. That might be enough to protect you. Quarantine the area where it happens."

[bestsir]

Harry has been looking increasingly befuddled as the two go on, and by the end he's obviously completely lost.

He has a thousand questions fighting for space, but the one that makes it out is:

"What—what is a virus?"

[fishandclips]

"Ah--right. Right." Mahir looks to Shaun, not that he expects much, but because he's a bit at a loss. How do you explain a virus and germs to someone who has never even heard of them? He rubs the back of his neck and sits, buying himself a moment before he tries to answer.

"A virus is... a kind of illness. Like a cold, or influenza. It's caused by a--a kind of microscopic, impossibly small to see germ... like a tiny bug, which I guess must be where that phrase came from." He shakes his head. "Sorry, people sometimes said things like 'I caught a bug,' but it was really a virus. They can be transmitted from person to person by body fluids, or touch, or sometimes breathing."

[adaptiveimmunities]

Sbaun would feel worse about overwhelming Goodsir with information if it weren't so important that he understand what they're asking for and--even more importantly--believe them. "The active form of what we have is transmitted most quickly in fluids. Gross, but." He shrugs. Zombies are gross. He's known that his whole life.

[bestsir]

As horrifying as this all is, it's also interesting. "And so—excuse me—this is entirely new to me. You mean that this disease is caused by tiny animalcules in the blood? Imagine." He almost looks pleased. "So—are all fluids dangerous, or only blood? What of sweat or saliva? Excretions? Seminal fluid?"

Look. If ladies had been present he would have stopped at "saliva". But Harry is a scientist and he wants to know everything.

[fishandclips]

Mahir can't help but feel mild relief; he isn't sure what he expected for a reaction, but scientific curiosity is a better reaction than... basically anything he'd been bracing himself for.

"Sweat is safe, as is semen and other reproductive fluids. Children are still created and born, so the human race continues," he says, smiling faintly. "Vomit, saliva and blood are the most dangerous. It doesn't get absorbed through the skin, but if you handle any of those fluids and have an open wound--even a tiny cut--or rub your eyes or touch your face too close to your mouth or nose, you would infect yourself."

[adaptiveimmunities]

Shaun nods his agreement. "Plenty of people have died because they didn't take that risk seriously enough." Mostly during the Rising, when the world was still figuring out the rules of their new world, but it isn't as though human stupidity has gone anywhere in the intervening decades. People still get cocky, don't take enough precautions, and then they end up on the Wall--the place on the internet where all deaths by zombie get posted.

[bestsir]

"I see. This is—well, you see, I've always been taught that disease is a result of polluted environs or of—well, a poor constitution. The theory of disease caused by small particles—I promise you, it would get you laughed out of many a gathering of doctors." Harry can't help smiling a little at that; Dr. Stanley would have already booted these men off the ship by now. "But I shall accept what you say as true, and ensure that we take the appropriate—" He pauses, his mind finally getting back around something else that Shaun had said. "Excuse me, what—what was that you said about infected corpses?"

[fishandclips]

Mahir can't help but smile alone with him; he's honestly surprised at how well this is going. He and Shaun were prepared to be kicked off the ship or at least have to strenuously argue in hopes of staying. Pitchforks and mobs have come to mind in preparing for this conversation.

His smile fades to a more sympathetic expression when Mr. Goodsir circles back to what he'd sidestepped earlier.

"They reanimate," Mahir said softly. "When someone infected dies, they are--not themselves anymore. The person is gone. But their body reanimates and seeks to infect as many people as possible."

[adaptiveimmunities]

"Mainly by biting or spitting, but if there is blood, it will try to fling blood at people to infect them. The virus tries to spread itself by any means available. If..." He frowns. "There seems to be a critical amount of infection that it eventually reaches, at which point... the reanimated corpses will eat rather than infect." There aren't enough people on board now, but the future is an uncertain thing. Who knows how many people they'll have?

[bestsir]

"Good God," Harry murmurs, going a little pale. "That—have you told Captain Crozier about this? I understand that you may not wish to panic your fellow passengers, but the captain needs to know, as much as I."

[fishandclips]

"...Not yet," Mahir admits, with a bit of guilt. "We plan to. One of the problems that arose when the disease first appeared was that most people refused to believe it was real. Many people died because people refused to listen to the science or even admit it was happening."

[adaptiveimmunities]

Shaun nods his agreement. "We thought it would be best to explain things to you, and then take your advice on how to address things with the others. Since it's a medical and public safety matter, we wanted to handle the medical side first, and then move on to the public safety."

[bestsir]

Harry thinks about Crozier's handling of the business with the cans—We share a burden, you and I. Keeping this. Until Morfin went mad and—

He suddenly realises that he's started pacing. He stops.

"We must tell the captain," he says, "and we shall have to formulate a way of stating this to the others such that the others appreciate the risks without immediately clamouring to throw you both out onto the ice."

[adaptiveimmunities]

That is, in fact, why they'd been cautious about sharing the information in the first place. Shaun considers for a moment whether being thrown out onto the ice would actually stop them after they became zombies. Zombies that are frozen solid can't exactly move around to infect others, but there's definitely some time between "freezing to death" and "becoming a meat popsicle" where they could do plenty of damage if they found a way back onto the ship.

"It might not be as effective as you might hope," he admits finally. "A zombie doesn't care if it's cold, as long as it can still move."

[bestsir]

"Zombie," Harry echoes. "What is—is that an African word? I've not heard it before. I gather it refers to—to a reanimated corpse."

[fishandclips]

Mahir nods. "The word has West African roots, but it came to refer to reanimated corpses in Haiti thanks to the slave trade, and then Louisiana's voodoo culture. It wasn't until the twentieth century that the term became more common."

He looked back to Shaun, and added, "I doubt the cold would matter much, honestly. If it did, Alaska and parts of Russia wouldn't have been so affected. But I wouldn't expect others to think of that, so much as that if we're not on the ship, we aren't presenting a danger to them."