"No, they're across the hall."
"Oh, they bloody would be…" Nina rolled her eyes. "Right, I'll be back in a moment."
"Nina, you should let me—"
"No, Alexandr, it's fine," she held up a hand. "You sort out the window. Let Fatima get set up. I can do this."
By the time Nina got back, Fatima was setting up her test tubes on the floor and had a box of samples retrieved from the freezers beside her. Alexandr had found a thick black liquid and was spattering the window with it. Nina handed the vials of blood over to Fatima.
"So, what's the plan?"
"I have an idea," said Fatima. "My original plan, before the expedition got hijacked, was to spend some time investigating the antiviral properties of a particular kind of blue algae indigenous to Antarctica. Evidently I'm not the first person to have been interested in it, since we found those samples in the freezers, but whoever was investigating it previously never got to complete their research. I'm going to try to create a vaccine using the algae and Private Hodges' blood samples. It'll be a killed vaccine, so I don't know whether it will save him, but… at least we'll have tried. And at least it might protect everyone else. Though I'm not sure that these algae samples are going to be any use after being frozen for so long. What we really need is a live vaccine and fresh algae. Oh, and a few years of peer review and clinical trials would be good, too."
"I have faith," Nina said, patting her friend on the shoulder. "If anyone can do this, you can. And if not… well, like you say, at least we'll know that we didn't go down without a fight, right? And I'll be right here holding the torch."
Pulling a pair of latex gloves from her pocket and slipping them on, Fatima gritted her teeth and prepared to get to work.
"Freeze! Hands in the air!"
The beams of light from the PMCs' helmets crisscrossed in the dark. As Nina slowly got to her feet and put her hands up, her heart began to pound beneath the red dots picking out targets on her chest. Fatima's hands shot up so fast that she did not even remember to put the pipette she was holding down.
"What's that in your hand?" Major Alfsson barked. "Drop it, now!"
"Please," Fatima's voice was rapid, urgent. "Please, let me put it down gently. It's a vaccine."
Alfsson strode over to her and snatched the pipette from her hand. "A vaccine? What for?"
"For the virus that Private Hodges and those other two men have. I think—"
"Two." Under his breath, Alfsson gave a bitter laugh. "You still only know about two."
"There are more?"
"That is classified," Alfsson replied. "You must all return to your quarters. Now. Or we will have no choice but to open fire." He took hold of Fatima's arm and began guiding her toward the door.
"PLEASE!" Fatima cried out in desperation, digging her heels into the floor. "Please! I have something here that might save those men — that might save everybody! Can you at least let me test it?"
"She has a point," Alexandr chimed in, briefly attracting extra red dots on his abdomen. "Why not let her try?"
"Surely it has to be better than just letting everyone die without even trying," Nina added.
Major Alfsson paused, irresolute for just a few seconds. Then with one quick gesture he called off the alert. The red dots disappeared. "You can try," he said, and Nina could hear the resignation in his voice. "Is it ready now?"
"I think so."
"Then let's go."
Fatima gathered up the test tubes and pipettes, arranged them neatly in a freezer box, and let the soldiers escort her, Nina, and Alexandr through the maze of corridors toward the padded room and, she hoped, the proof that they were all saved.
Fatima's hands were rock steady as she inserted the needle into Private Hodges' vein and pushed the plunger. He was securely strapped to his bed, completely exhausted after his self-destructive exertions, and his face was crusted with his own dried blood. He snarled and snapped at Fatima with as much energy as he could muster, but the attempts were weak.
Only when Fatima had withdrawn the needle and returned the syringe to its box did her hands start to shake. Not just her hands. Nina could see Fatima's legs trembling.
"Now what happens?" Alfsson asked. "What signs do we look for?"
"Now I inject the others," Fatima said. "And then we wait and see if they return to being themselves."
Nina and Alexandr were escorted back to quarters after that. Only Fatima was permitted to stay and observe the condition of Hodges and the other infected soldiers. To Nina's alarm, Fatima had also insisted on injecting herself with a dose of the vaccine. Nina had protested that she should see how it affected the infected men first, but Fatima had pointed out that by that time, it could be too late for her and that if it didn't work they were all doomed anyway. Reluctantly, Nina had agreed and returned to her room to wait out the night.
She wanted to go and see Sam, to tell him all about the turn that the day had taken, but when they arrived at the officers' quarters the number of PMCs in the corridor had increased. There was now a soldier outside every occupied room.
"What's all this about?" she demanded, addressing the soldier stationed at her door.
"Major Alfsson's orders," he replied. "In light of your escape attempt, all members of your expedition are to be kept apart except at mealtimes. We have also checked your rooms for possible escape routes and sealed them up. Now, please step inside."
Battling the urge to argue, Nina walked into her room and heard the door click shut behind her. Once safely inside, she grabbed her empty backpack and dropkicked it across the room.
The next morning the soldiers came around and knocked on everyone's doors to summon them to breakfast. Nina had planned to update Sam while they were in the refectory, but as the group marched down the stairs and sat around the long table, the PMCs barked orders at them not to speak. Purdue tried to negotiate with them, of course — but Major Alfsson himself pointed his gun at Purdue's head.
"No need for that, major," Admiral Whitsun stepped in and diverted the barrel of major Alfsson's gun before Blomstein could intervene to protect his employer. "I'm sure everyone will be happy to accede to your request." He turned to the rest of the group. "Won't we?" A flurry of emphatic nods was the response. As much as the expedition members might want to argue, it was increasingly clear that Major Alfsson genuinely would shoot if provoked.
Fatima appeared when they were nearly finished with their tense, silent breakfast. The look on her face told Nina everything she needed to know. Private Hodges was dead or dying, and if Fatima's tears were anything to go by it had not been pretty. She refused all offers of food but accepted a cup of coffee, which she could not bring herself to drink. She sat with her eyes pressed shut, one hand tightly clamped over her mouth, rocking gently back and forth. Nina took her free hand and squeezed it.
As they sat in silence the group heard the crackle of a voice speaking to Major Alfsson over his radio headset. It was too faint for them to make out the words, but the expression on Alfsson's face was grim. He said little, merely making affirmative noises, until the voice fell silent and he addressed the group.
"I have just had confirmation from my second-in-command," he said. "Dr. al-Fayed's attempt at curing the infected men has not worked. The virus continues to spread."
"In that case, Alexandr and I should strike out for Neumayer at once," Jefferson Daniels spoke up. "As the two most experienced trekkers, we have the best chance of making it there on foot. Then they can send medical assistance."
Major Alfsson shook his head. "No. Given the unknown nature of this virus, we cannot risk exposing the rest of the world to it. Our only possible course of action is to remain here, in quarantine, and let the disease run its course. We have ample supplies. Once we have gone fourteen days without a new case, then we will attempt contact with Neumayer again."