“Mmm,” Vardy mumbled. He was hunched over the microscope, studying the first blood sample. “Yes…yes, yes, yes. This is very strange. The virus is present, and at first glance I would agree with your hypothesis. There looks to be a greater concentration of virus in this sample than in the adult samples.”

“So why isn’t—” Janice picked up the vial of blood and checked the label. “Simone, why isn’t Simone showing any symptoms?”

“Because,” Vardy stood up, looking perplexed, “the virus in her blood is dead.”

• • •

Jake Noah felt alive. More alive than he could remember feeling for weeks. He swam strongly, revelling in the freedom offered by the freezing water of the loch. Freedom from the confines of the Spirit of Arcadia. Freedom from the dreaded ash. Freedom from the gloom and oppression of the underground base.

His wetsuit, donned to protect him from the toxicity of the extra-terrestrial dust covering the ground, was now doing exactly what it was designed to do: protecting him from the chill of the water. The exertion of swimming towards the raft had quickly heated the thin layer of water trapped between his body and the neoprene suit, providing excellent insulation against the cold. Even so, that cold was ever present and he knew that if he stopped moving, even for just a minute, the icy temperature could easily finish him off.

The raft was about half way between the land and the cruise ship. He couldn’t understand why they had left without him. He remembered Lucya injecting him with something. It was that injection that had dragged him back to consciousness. “This will sort you out.” That’s what she had said to him. He replayed the words over and over in his mind, as he powered his way through the water. But then he had passed out again, as the virus raged on, draining the reserves of his embattled body.

The next thing he remembered was waking up on a slab of concrete, near where they had moored the life raft when had had arrived with Vardy and the boys from the Ambush. There was no raft to be seen, and no sign of Lucya either. He had been straining his eyes, trying to see if the raft was back with the cruiser when he saw it float into view. It had been hidden behind a headland of more smashed concrete and rubble. The wind was getting up, whipping across the water, so it seemed to him that Lucya had gone on ahead and then been blown off course. That’s when he had dived into the loch and started swimming, desperate to reach the safety of the little black-and-red inflatable. Such was his determination, he didn’t even notice that his legs were working again until he had already swum a good fifty metres. It was that realisation that had led to his feeling of euphoria, there in the freezing water of Gare Loch. Lucya had saved him; he was mobile again. That meant that the antivirus worked. They were going to be able to save the rest of the sick. And then they could go back to the base and bring back enough food to feed everyone for months.

He had almost reached the raft. For some reason the canopy was up. He wondered why Lucya had raised it. Perhaps, he thought, to keep the wind out. It wasn’t until he was almost touching the vessel that he noticed that nobody was rowing; it was drifting free.

Jake stretched out a hand and grabbed onto the rope that circled the huge inflatable tube that made up the structural sides of the raft.

“Lucya! It’s me!”

She didn’t respond.

Jake hauled himself up out of the water, grabbing at the black air chamber. He swung his legs over and rolled into the vessel, landing on his back, staring up at the bright orange canopy. Still nobody spoke. He sat bolt upright and looked ahead through the opening. He was facing the land. Standing on the concrete slab he had woken up on, he could make out a figure waving manically at him. It looked a lot like Ewan. There was someone else too, lying flat, next to the man. “Lucya?” Jake said to himself. Suddenly he made the connection in his mind. Lucya hadn’t abandoned him at all. She had come to save him, but the raft must have broken free and floated off in the wind. He looked around, expecting to see only a pair of oars with which he could row back to the base. The oars were exactly where he imagined, safely stowed on the floor between the two cross chambers that served as seating in the emergency craft. Lying next to them, was a body. A body without a head.

• • •

Vials of blood, microscope slides, and extensive hand written notes littered the working area in the temporary lab. Russell Vardy’s excitement was evident.

“The same!” he exclaimed, holding up another slide. “Exactly the same! The virus is present, but dead. Something in these children is killing it as soon as it enters their bloodstream. We just have to isolate whatever the common entity is in these blood samples. It’s like they all have a built-in immunity.”

“I want to share your enthusiasm, Russell, but so far I see nothing special in any of these samples. There’s nothing here that isn’t present in the blood of the affected adults,” Janice said.

“Something is doing this. Something is killing the virus. We just have to find it.”

“If there’s something there, it’s well hidden. I’ve run all the standard tests and there is nothing out of the ordinary here. This blood is the blood of normal, healthy children. Apart from the dead virus, that is.”

“It’s there, Janice. It has to be!”

“Could I ask something?” Mandy piped up from her seat. She hadn’t moved since arriving. The laboratory provided a welcome break from the chaos of deck eight. Besides, with no more medication there was little she could do up there.

Vardy and Janice turned to look at her. They had both forgotten the nurse was still in the room.

“It’s just…” Mandy began. “Listen, I’m a nurse, not an expert like you two. But why not, instead of looking for what’s in the blood, why not just put some infected blood into the children’s blood and observe what happens?”

The two doctors turned and stared at each other.

“Right, of course, it’s a silly idea,” Mandy said, shaking her head. “Ignore me! Sorry to interrupt.”

“Mandy, you’re a bloody genius,” Vardy said. He strode over to her, grabbed her head in his hands, and kissed her hair. “That should have been the first thing we tried!” he exclaimed. “We’ve been going about this arse about face. Of course that’s what we should do.”

“We’ve all been awake too long,” Janice said, smiling. “We’re over thinking the problem.”

She grabbed a fresh Petri dish, then selected blood from one of the healthy children, and a sample from an infected adult. Vardy rejoined her as she injected both blood samples into the dish, under the lens of the microscope.

“What’s happening? What’s it doing?” he asked excitedly.

“Nothing yet. Patience, Surgeon Lieutenant, patience.”

• • •

“What’s happened to Lucya?” Jake scrambled to get out of the raft. Ewan had grabbed the line he’d thrown him and was busy securing it to a boulder. His task was not made any easier by the fact that the wind was now reaching storm force, pushing the little inflatable around and causing it to tug on the rope.

“She’s down with the virus. And I think she hit her head on a rock. More to the point, what’s happened to you? You were paralysed!”

“Yes. And now I’m not. I guess the antivirus works. We need to get a dose for Lucya.”

“She’s already injected herself with some. I think that’s what made her keel over and hit her head. It wasn’t a big dose. We need to get her back to the ship quickly.”

“Agreed. Here, grab her legs; I’ll take her shoulders.”

“Are you sure you’re up to this, Jake?”

“Yes. I feel amazing. Better than before. It’s like I’ve been given a shot of steroids!”

“Don’t overdo it. We don’t know if there are any side effects to the drug.”