Ed sat in the pilot’s seat of one of the shuttles, talking to Gabriel.
Earlier, they’d carefully brought the three bodies out of their cottages, taken tissue samples and placed the three Theos on the beach, well away from any buildings and palm trees.
Gabriel had scanned Tony, Steve and Mike from orbit to confirm they were deceased.
Ed, Andy and Linda had stood some distance away with their heads bowed as Gabriel had cremated the bodies using the ship’s Asteri Beam – it formed part of the starship’s defensive systems and translated to ‘star beam’ or ‘sun beam.’ Within a split second, the bodies had vaporised and the two-metre circle of beach where their bodies had lain became molten glass.
‘I’m going to bring the food and water samples up,’ said Ed. ‘Is there anything else you think you might need to find the source of this?’
‘No, Edward. I believe that will be sufficient,’ said Gabriel. ‘Please close the island down before you depart. I have added yours, Andy’s and Linda’s voice commands into the island’s security system, so you are now authorised to use this facility whenever you wish. Let me know when you’re ready to depart and I will autopilot the shuttles back here.’
‘Thank you,’ said Ed and they made their way back to the main building.
He sat on the loungers for a while with Andy and Linda, staring out to sea.
‘Why are we immune?’ asked Linda. ‘What’s so different about us?’
‘With Gabriel’s help, I’m hoping to solve that problem,’ said Ed. ‘Come on, you two. Phil’s not going to get better while we’re all moping about down here.’
They all stood, gathered their belongings from their respective cottages, instructed the island to close down and boarded one of the shuttles. It immediately took off, closely followed by the second empty one.
It made them feel a little better when they saw Phil lying in the auto-nurse.
He didn’t have the ugly rash that the other three had had.
He must have activated the auto-nurse very quickly, thought Ed.
Under instruction from Gabriel, he placed the samples one at a time into the analyser and had the results within a few minutes.
‘The virus is a variant of what you would know as smallpox,’ said Gabriel. ‘Instead of the usual sixty percent fatality rate, this has been engineered to one hundred percent – and to be especially virulent to Theos.’
‘You mean that this is a targeted biological weapon attack?’ asked Andy.
‘It would appear so. The virus strain had been added to the water supply on the island, most likely at the desalination unit.’
‘So, it’s murder!’ said Linda and stared at Phil. ‘Who’d want to kill these guys? They’re so … friendly.’
‘Gabriel, why are we immune?’ said Ed.
‘You were all inoculated in 2029 after the outbreak in central Africa.’
‘I remember that,’ said Andy. ‘I was about twelve or thirteen then. That’s a good anti-virus if it’s still active.’
‘I need some of that anti-virus for Phil as soon as possible.’
‘Can’t you refine some from our blood samples?’ said Ed.
‘If Phil hadn’t been affected, then that would work. But as the virus has got a hold in his system, I need the anti-virus in its pure form. You need to go back to Earth and get some.’
‘Okay, is our ship ready?’
‘No, not for another three days.’
‘Then how the hell do we get the vaccine?’
‘Before Phil got in the auto-nurse, he authorised the three of you to command this starship, so I need one of you on the bridge at all times.’
‘I’m there,’ said Linda, diving out the door and running for the lift tube.
‘Gabriel,’ said Ed. ‘Phil told us that a GDA ship used the island recently and it was very unusual for them to do so.’
‘That is correct.’
‘Are the Theos in any dispute with the GDA?’
‘Not to my knowledge.’
‘What was the name of that visiting ship?’
‘The Katadromiko 37. It’s a large battle cruiser.’
‘And where is it now?’
‘Last recorded jump was into the Dyo System two days ago.’
‘Are there video logs from the island during their visit?’
‘There is data available.’
‘When you say “data”, does that include visual feeds?’
‘Yes, from receptors around the main building and from the stationary satellite.’
‘Can you scan through the feeds of the GDA visit and show me any that involve movement around the desalination plant during that period?’
‘No movement detected,’ said Gabriel, after a short pause.
‘So, nobody went near the plant during their visit?’
‘Correct.’
‘Try the period from then until we arrived.’
‘No movement detected.’
‘Okay, now go back from the GDA visit until you find movement.’
‘Movement detected. Displaying holo playback.’
An image from above the island appeared of the small desalination unit and a large dark shadow swept up and stopped on top, but before they started to get excited, it flapped its wings.
‘Shit, it’s a bird,’ said Andy.
‘It’s an Alieia bird,’ said Gabriel. ‘A large sea fishing bird that spends weeks over the oceans hunting for—’
‘Yes, thank you, David Attenborough,’ said Ed. ‘I really don’t think that’s our man. Keep going back please.’
They saw another two birds and something resembling a turtle. On day 395, what looked like a small boat pulled up on the beach, adjacent to the plant. It was dark, but Gabriel was able to enhance the quality using the faint glow bleeding over from the security lights around the cottages nearby.
Four figures fanned out across the beach from the boat. Three took up defensive positions in a semi-circle around the plant and one approached, spending about two minutes at the desalination plant.
‘Gotcha,’ said Ed as they watched the group re-form at the boat and motor away from the island.
‘Can we follow that boat, Gabriel?’
‘For a while, yes. The satellite has a footprint of about forty kilometres.’
‘How far to the nearest island?’
‘Thirty-two kilometres. I will speed up the feed.’
The little boat suddenly flew across the ocean and, sure enough, it pulled up at the next island under a small jetty next to a large resort complex. Gabriel slowed the feed again and as they watched, four little shadows, one at a time, popped up out from under the jetty and sauntered back to the main building.
‘What’s the name of that resort, Gabriel?’
‘The Okeanos Resort, and it’s open to anyone who can afford it.’
‘Are you able to check out the guest list for any groups of four adults?’
‘Hacker is my middle name, Edward.’
‘Oh, shit. We’re teaching an alien computer how to take the piss,’ said Andy.
‘You forget, Andrew. I’ve been hanging around Earth for several millennia so I don’t imagine there’s an awful lot you can teach me about taking the piss.’
‘Ignore him, Gabriel,’ said Ed. ‘I just need to know how many—’
‘Two groups of four. One a group of women who won the trip in a competition and a freighter ship’s crew, from a ship called the Metaforeas. They’re your best bet as they stayed for one night after dropping some cargo off at the resort.’
‘Why would that be something of interest?’
‘Because it’s never happened before. That freighter has dropped goods here regularly for years and never stopped overnight. The captain paid with his own funds for four of his crew to stay at the resort for one night. He has seven in his crew, eight counting himself. So why only four on that particular night?’
‘It has to be them. Where is that freighter now?’
‘Gone.’
‘Yes, I know it’s gone now—’
‘No, destroyed, four days ago.’
‘How was it destroyed?’
‘It was approaching its home planet of Krix’ir and it exploded. The GDA investigators have not been able to determine exactly why, but they did discover explosive residue on some of the recovered wreckage and the scan logs from the nearby space station show just one of its twelve lifeboats ejected four minutes before the explosion. They report that the lifeboat was then caught in the explosion and burned up in the atmosphere, along with all the other falling wreckage.’
‘Or was that the way it was supposed to look?’ said Ed, thinking hard. ‘Why was there only one lifeboat ejecting? If a bomb had been found on board, there would be mass panic to get off that ship and lifeboats going in all directions.’
‘So, you think the bomber was on the single lifeboat?’ said Andy.
‘Yep. Position the lifeboat in front of the freighter and press the remote detonator. Then tumble into the upper atmosphere with all the other junk. Gabriel, how many ships have left Krix’ir in the last four days?’
‘None. All space travel on and off Krix’ir was suspended until the completion of the investigation.’
‘He’s still there. Our killer is still on Krix’ir,’ said Ed, clapping his hands together and staring at Andy.
‘We have to get the anti-virus first for Phil, though, yeah?’
‘Absolutely, Phil’s our first priority. Let’s go and tell Linda the news.’
‘She knows,’ said Gabriel. ‘She’s one with the ship; everything I know, she knows.’
‘I can see you and even talk to you,’ said Linda. ‘That was a pretty cool bit of deduction back there, Edward. Are you sure your surname isn’t Holmes?’
‘You keep your eyes on the road, Slopes,’ said Ed, grinning. ‘Remember, you only have a shuttle licence. You’re still on learner plates for this intergalactic hauler.’