“No,” Lee Ann said, clutching her stomach. “This is my baby.”
“I said theoretically,” Walker said. “We don’t really have the tools. Back at the squadron with some help from the CDC and the shop on the Grace, maybe. Maybe Lieutenant Fallon could do it without botching it. But Lee Ann says no, anyway. So the only functional alternative is natural delivery.”
“Get to the part where Kevin has to boff his twelve-year-old girlfriend,” Olga said.
“Could be any male at this point but Kevin is the best choice,” Walker said. “Vaginal sex during late pregnancy thins the cervical walls and makes for an easier delivery. No matter what, Lee Ann’s delivery is unlikely to be anything like easy. But it makes for an easier delivery. It’s the difference between likely to be deadly and maybe possible. With some actual medical assistance and something resembling an infirmary, which means she needs to be back on the Boadicea. ASAP. But, yes, Kevin needs to begin having sex with Lee Ann. Soon. And frequently. At least once a day.”
“I’m in favor,” Lee Ann said, raising her hand. But she looked a little frightened.
“We need to call this in to Squadron, anyway,” Sophia said. “And we’ll get a medical read on it from CDC. If they know anything about pregnancy.”
“There are books,” Walker said. “I’m sure they’ve got more than epidemiology on their servers.”
“You know what?” Sophia said, rubbing her face. “I know the whole thing about not jumping the chain of command. But this isn’t really military. And I really need to talk to my da right now…”
“So he’s right?” Sophia said.
“From what I’ve read, yes. That was known back when you were…Never mind…Just…Technically he is right. Over.”
“Ick,” Sophia said. “I just…Maybe calling you wasn’t the best choice, Da. Over.”
“I’m glad you did. We never get to talk. But, I’ve got to get this straight. This Walker guy thinks she got pregnant from involuntary emissions on the damp bottom of a lifeboat? Over.”
“Yes,” Sophia said. “She’s…virgo intacta. And they’re both…Like Olga said, only virgins could be that incoherent about it. Over.”
“You’re not particularly incoherent about it, over.”
“You’ve been talking to us about it since we were kids in one way or another,” Sophia said. “And let’s just say this cruise has been a real eye-opener.”
“I’d say sorry but I didn’t start the Plague. Okay, Walker. What’s his medical background, over?”
“I’m not sure,” Sophia said. “He said he took a course once that included advanced midwifery. I’m not even sure what that means except it has to do with delivering babies.”
“God knows we’re going to need it. Okay, I’m going to get the CDC to call you and see if they can confirm what you’ve said. I’m also going to pass this around in the official news bulletin. Over.”
“Uh, isn’t this a little private, Da?” Sophia asked.
“Well, it’s that or every little old lady on the Boadicea will be beating him with their canes. Squadron, out.”
“Permission to speak, sir?” the chief of boat of the Alexandria said.
“When do you ask, COB?” Vancel replied. “Sure.”
“Hate the situation that we’re in, sir,” the COB said. “Really getting to hate fish. Don’t want to think about what’s happened ashore, sir. But this Wolf Squadron thing is like the best soap opera ever.”
“And turns out she got knocked up by sitting where the guy had spewed in his sleep!”
“No fuckin’ way!”
“That has got to be the lamest excuse ever! ‘No, seriously, Mom, I got pregnant from a life raft deck!’”
“Can you describe these involuntary emissions in more detail?” Dr. Chang said, leaning into the screen. Arnold Chang was an internist as well as an epidemiologist at the CDC whom Dodson had brought in for the consult. “What were the conditions on the interior of the life raft?”
Sophia had seen boiled lobsters less red than Kevin. Lee Ann was just looking pissed. But in a second she’d start crying.
“Doctors…” Sophia said.
“Doctors,” Walker said. “Any of us could describe common conditions in life rafts. The interiors are frequently wet from salt spray. When there is rain, it is usually admixed with spray. The salt content is always high, generally higher than salt water. The clothes also tend to develop high salt content, one of the reasons persons tend to disrobe in the tropics besides heat. It would be useful to keep in mind that you are dealing with two victims of extreme trauma. They are still suffering from dehydration, exposure and malnutrition. They are, in addition, quite young. A degree of care needs to be used in your approach with all due respect.”
“Preliminarily, I concur with your hypothesis, Mr. Walker,” Dr. Dobson said. “As I concur with your sentiment. Among other things, well, one of the reasons to get into research is we don’t tend to have much in the way of bedside manner. Having reviewed what we have on pregnancy, not enough given your conditions, I also, reluctantly, concur with your advice to begin and maintain sexual congress. That would probably get me de-licensed, given the young lady’s age, were there still a Medical Licensing Board. However, it is the correct medical advice and given that the two are…already in the current condition…I concur. And, yes, this is one for the record books….”
“One last,” Dr. Chang said. He’d been leafing through a book as they were speaking and now looked up. “Found a coincidental item. Medical report on an accidental pregnancy in Miami, 2007. Persons were in a group that was engaging in sexual activity. They were, in their minds, protected by condoms. However, they did not understand how to properly use them and were sharing. When one male would get done, the other would flip it inside out. Three young ladies became pregnant due to incidental contact. The young ladies were monogamous to single partners but were all pregnant by partners who had shared the condom rather than their primary partners. So something similar has been documented, although a condom being passed around is not the bottom of a rubber lifeboat.”
“Close enough,” Dobson said. “I would say that is a fair confirmation. Tell the young lady and gentlemen we’re sorry for the indelicacy of the questioning. But we’re researchers who have nothing to research. We’re sort of starved for something new. CDC out.”
Dobson looked across the lab at Barry Martin, his lab assistant.
“You know,” he said, leaning back and interlacing his fingers on his shrinking belly. “When you get into this profession, you think about what you’re going to be doing in the event of a really bad plague. I always saw myself, out there, in the ruins of civilization, wearing a moon suit and searching for survivors. Never in my wildest dreams did I picture being on Skype with a yacht in the middle of the Atlantic trying to figure out how a twelve-year-old girl got pregnant. Just was not on my bucket list…”
“Hey, I just figured something out,” Olga said.
“What?” Sophia asked wearily. She felt like she’d just fought her way through a typhoon.
“Walker, Dobson and Chang,” Olga said.
“Your point?” Sophia asked. “Other than it sounds like a law firm?”