Ursula Doorne had sent a text to her husband as a sort of heads-up. Let him know it looked like they’d all be in for some unsettled space weather. She hadn’t expected him to text her back.
Just as she was doing spot checks on some data, her phone chimed incoming text. Thinking it might be one of her student assistants, or perhaps a colleague elsewhere, she picked it up to see Tanner’s name at the head of the message.
Things are getting interesting here at Schirrasburg. Rumint is someone turned up sick. We’re now all under complete lockdown. No movement outside your quarters unless absolutely necessary, food and other deliveries by robot. They’re even canceling every mission that isn’t critical, so who knows when I’ll be out of here.
Ursula’s guts clenched. Could the diablovirus have somehow slipped through all the quarantine procedures and gotten up here on the Moon? They’d already had one close call, and while all the various space programs had tightened up their protocols to make sure no one who went home at night had any contact with astronauts preparing for a flight, or the people who had direct contact with them, human nature didn’t change. There was always the possibility of one person deciding the rules didn’t apply to them, that this one little trip wouldn’t hurt.
On the other hand, it was also possible that the person in question had come down with a completely ordinary bug. But given the current circumstances, Medstaff would have to assume the worst. Until the patient’s illness could be identified — which could take several days depending on what they had — they’d follow full biocontainment procedures. And if the person fell sick after arriving, there’d be no telling how many people they were in contact with.
However, there was nothing she could do about it at the moment. Fretting about it would only take time and energy away from her work, some of it extremely serious.
You take care. Keep me posted on how things develop. So far things are remaining calm over here on Farside, but that could change if the Sun starts acting up again.
Will do. And you keep me posted on things over there.