SPACESHIP ZOMBIE CRUISE

FILE ENTRY 10.0

Dr. Jett Mintaka

Back at Neptune Shores, Dr. Jett Mintaka watches a video on his holographic tablet. A journalist visits the Space Venture headquarters in San Diego, California, where they manufacture the gravity drives for the space station and cruise ship. The drives feature an electromagnetic engine powered by a fusion core. As they tour the plant, the video shows workers moving a magnetic turbine with a gigantic crane. The turbine operates with a list of intricate pieces to produce the magnetic field required for artificial gravity.

The journalist explains how Space Venture technologies are trade secrets. One thing is certain, the gravity drives are a miracle of science, used in tandem with the drug, Vestazine. This version of the drug—the latest—is also said to enhance bone density and muscle strength while lacing the body with a proven metallic compound harvested from the Asteroid Belt, which interacts with the gravity drive. The backside of the drive produces antigravity for near light speed propulsion. The journalist appears amazed by its efficiency, but in the middle of her spill about how Space Venture has made a comeback, Dr. Mintaka freezes the video frame on an engineer standing in the background. He knows the man is none other than Atlas Starr, Bella Starr's father, now deceased, supposedly of a heart attack.

Dr. Mintaka had received a video file from Atlas, in which he claimed to have proof of a coverup within Space Venture that goes all the way to the top. According to the video, Bella's father had stumbled upon something related to Vestazine, and its use with the gravity drives. He was supposed to send another file via the data stream, with hard evidence, but then Mintaka learned of Atlas's death, and moments after that, the communication arrays got pelted by micrometeoroids.

Was it all a coincidence? Or is there a conspiracy? Had Bella's father really died of a heart attack?

Mintaka shakes his head, ends the video, and rises from his office chair.

In a lab coat and a white mask over his face, Dr. Mintaka paces the medical bay with his tablet, monitoring the growing number of sick patients under his care. Thirty beds circle the room's outer perimeter, over half of them occupied. Space Venture had approved the beds for Mintaka and his staff as a precaution. Electra Draco considered a viral outbreak a low risk, especially with the body scans administered on Earth before the Celestial Sea embarked on its inaugural journey. But for added insurance, she also permitted an adjoining room that serves as an overflow. Mintaka doesn't think it's necessary.

Scanners at debarkation bays provide an additional layer of security. Not only do the devices check for smuggled weapons, but they also monitor body temperatures for fever. When the passengers disembarked, no one triggered the alarms. One thing rings clear—if a passenger of the cruise ship had come aboard sick—they showed no signs when they arrived. But obviously something is causing the resort guests to fall ill, and Dr. Mintaka intends to sort out this mystery quickly.

He confers with one of his nurses. "Has anyone else developed a fever?"

"No. Only Patient One. It's a low grade temperature, 100.1. We administered six hundred milligrams of ibuprofen and started an IV for fluids."

"Monitor the rest of the patients and let me know ASAP if anyone else runs a temp."

The nurse, in a pair of light green scrubs and a white mask, nods and sets off with a thermometer that looks like a magic wand. She waves it over a patient, from the man's chest up to his forehead. The wand beeps like a Geiger counter, the beep growing faster and faster, prompting the nurse to glare over at Dr. Mintaka and give him a silent nod.

A second person has a fever.

Dr. Mintaka groans. To make matters worse, he turns around as two more people are ushered into the medical bay. Another man and a woman. They assign their beds next to each other as the head nurse rushes over and starts scanning them for a temperature.

More guests start filling up the medical bay. If things continue to escalate, they'll have to spill into the overflow room, and if the outbreak gets work, they'll have to set up triages in other parts of the resort. People are complaining of dizziness, upset stomachs, and headaches, all trademark signs of Artificial Gravity Sickness.

Dr. Mintaka checks on the few remaining patients he hasn't looked at yet and then makes his next move. He orders bloodwork. At first, he suspected he had nothing more than another standard round of AG Sickness. He offered the first patients that came to the medical bay ondansetron for nausea. When that didn't work, he switched to promethazine, thinking he was treating mild symptoms of AG Sickness.

But deep down, he wonders what's really taking place. Fever does not accompany AG Sickness, at least not that he's observed. And things are growing worse. Patient One has a fever and now Patient Two has one too.

He didn't foresee a pandemic spreading through the resort like a wildfire. A contagious virus is the worst danger that can infect a space station or a spaceship. For safety precautions until the blood tests can confirm otherwise, Dr. Mintaka has to take drastic action.

He rushes to his office and doesn't close the door behind him. He activates his tablet and a three-dimensional hologram appears. After swiping left, he taps a floating list of contacts for the resort staff. After a few rings, Dr. Mintaka stares at the chiseled chin of the resort's security chief, Maxwell Armando.

"I need a quarantine on the eighth floor," Dr. Mintaka says. "Anyone brought here stays put until we know what we're dealing with and we get this under control. To accomplish that, I'll need guards at all elevators and stairwells. Permit no one to leave the eighth floor, and allow no one to enter, unless they're sick and need quarantined."

"Understood," Armando replies. "I'm on it."

"Also, issue an alert to everyone on the resort staff. Have them on the lookout for anyone exhibiting signs of AG Sickness, or anything that appears to be something worse."

"Consider it done."

Dr. Mintaka ends the video call and then dreads what he has to do next—contact Grayson Flux and fill him in on the seriousness of the situation. He fears it might be much worse than expected.