a trip to the quarantine zone
Dr Edith Snow, a young doctor specialising in cholera, along with Peter, our driver and security, met briefly and we drove outside the headquarters area into the old part of the City, toward Broad Street. Sunshine gleamed off the pristine vehicles, parked waiting for their precious cargo. Even during the worst disasters it can still be partly sunny. But it looked like it would rain soon. Within the hour we were at the quarantine zone, with Dr Snow discussing her theories along the way. A local constable was waiting, a Sergeant Tran. She lived in the area and had fifteen years of experience patrolling the neighbourhood—she knew everyone. I needed a guide with local knowledge. Her team of twenty-five were clustered around their dark matte grey vehicles, waiting nervously in the light drizzle. They were all wearing suits with a metallic sheen and helmets.
“Thank you for gathering your team on such short notice Sergeant. This is Dr Edith Snow and Peter.”
“Hello. Is it the plague?”
Dr Snow tried to re-assure her. “No Sergeant. It is not the plague. Still don’t know exactly what it is. We still don’t know how it is being transmitted so we need your help to find out what happened.” Hints of a Scottish accent broke through when Dr. Snow was stressed. She wanted to get to work.
“So, your saying my boys are safe then, going door to door?” Sergeant Tran looked dubious.
“The Doctors treating the patients have not been infected wearing their standard protection.”
“OK, we have that already. Well then, here is a map of the place. There isn’t really a ground zero that we know of, just lots of infection hot spots. Might as well interview the closest ones first?” With that, we were off.
The neighbourhood was quiet, of course, with families pretty much locked inside their homes. We could hear some children laughing in the distance, incongruously. We entered one of the apartment blocks which was one of the earliest to be hit.
These blocks still had children playing outdoors, along the walkways and stairs, despite the quarantine and chill. The buildings were concrete, bleak, but tidy enough, certainly not in any condition to suggest ground zero for an epidemic.
The yards, though weedy and at times bare dirt were, nevertheless, clean enough with only minimal garbage scattered about. There was no obvious source of infection. We trudged up to the second floor, Sergeant Tran leading the way, and she rang the bell. The family inside, scared, finally opened their door after some negotiations with Sergeant Tran in Vietnamese. They knew her well and we all went inside.
As was soon to became apparent, all the units were nearly identical and after visiting five or six families, they started to lose distinction. They all opened into a living room with a flat screen monitor, invariably on, sofa facing the monitor with family members hunched or splayed along it in rapt attention. The occasional harsh decoration individualised one unit from the next but even then, they formed a blur after a while.
Dr Snow conducted the interview for the first part. I stood silent in the background, listening and observing. Dr Snow was thorough, detail oriented and patient. She had expressive eyes and bright red hair with very pale skin which sometimes unsettled the residents who were mostly South Asian as she was in her copper protective gear. She had a great deal of empathy, however, and the residents soon universally warmed up to her, despite her futuristic appearance.
Dr Snow was asking a battery of questions about meetings with anyone infected, reviewed each person’s health record with her own reader, conducted a quick examination of family members, asked about anything new or unusual, querying them about food, stool, coughing, infections and so forth. It was a long checklist.
After about the 10th visit, it struck me that everyone had at least one child in the family. By this time, I was bored and my mind was wandering as I looked at a red incense box in the corner of the room lit with incense. The box was narrow but tall with drawers and a recessed nook for placing incense. Oranges and other fruits and flowers decorated the shrine-like display.
“Yes, but we do have patients without children and single people as well. You’re only talking to the survivors, after all.” Dr Snow dismissed my observation rather curtly, confident in her expertise. The last thing she needed was to be upended by an unqualified talent of all things. She had attended the finest schools after all and was a rising star. Nothing was going to divert her from her procedures and course. She had faith she could solve it.
We were talking with a Mrs. Chin, who lost her daughter and her son-in law.
I asked my first question: “Mrs. Chin, do you have grandchildren?”
“Yes Sir. My daughter has one son. He is very smart, study hard.”
“Is he here now?”
“Yes, studying now.”
“May we talk with him?”
“Yes, I get him.”
His name was Mathew. He was studying for his finals, still in elementary school, probably about 11 at most. He was shy and shell shocked after the loss of both his parents so quickly.
I asked Mathew to trace the events of the day before his parents got sick. With the wonderful clarity of childhood, he remembered everything.
“I got home from school at about 4:30 p.m., took a shower and ate some cookies. I watched TV for 30 minutes and then went to my room to study. We all had diner at 6 p.m. or so. We all ate the same thing, chicken rice and soup and vegetables. I took my study pills, brushed my teeth and went to my room to study maths. Around eight o’clock, Mom came in and gave me some milk and kissed me goodnight. I kissed Dad goodnight after I had my milk and brushed my teeth again. I studied for two more hours and then went to sleep. The next morning Grandma woke me up because both mom and dad were very sick. We called the ambulance and that was the last I saw of them.”
Mathew teared up.
“I killed them, didn’t I?” he looked at Dr Snow.
“Now Mathew, you did not kill them.”
“It’s because I kissed them goodnight, isn’t it?”
“Why do you say that Mathew?” I asked.
“Because I didn’t kiss Grandma that night and she survived!” cause and effect was very clear in his mind.
“Now Mathew, you can’t blame yourself. Kissing someone will not kill them. You kissed them on the cheek?” Dr Snow asked.
“Yes.”
“Well, that can’t be it. I’m a doctor, I know that won’t kill anyone. Don’t worry Mathew, we are working hard to find out what killed your parents. It wasn’t you.”
“But they died after that.”
“Mathew, was there anything new in the house?” I needed to get back to the issue at hand.
“New?” he was curious.
“Yes, anything new?”
“You mean like a new toy?”
“Yes, exactly, a new toy, a new drink, a new cereal perhaps? Anything?”
“Let’s see. I didn’t get a new toy for six months. I did get a new book three months ago. My mom doesn’t really change the food much. I mean, she didn’t change the food much. Ummm. We got a new bathroom mat last week.”
“A new bathroom mat? Can we take a look?”
“Sure.”
So, we went to look at Mathew’s new bathroom mat. It was red, circular, and new. I noticed the pills on the sink.
“Mathew, are these pills new?”
“What, you mean my study pills?”
“Yes, when did you get these?”
“Mom got them, yeah, last week, when she got the mat. But I had study pills before for a long time, since grade 2.”
“I see. Can I keep these? Why do you call them study pills?”
“Mom says they are supposed to help me get higher marks in school, to help me study.”
“Indeed. Dr Snow—these are for you. I think for the time being you shouldn’t take these Mathew, not until we are sure they are safe. That won’t impair your studies, I hope.”
“Oh, you can keep the bottle if you like. My studies are going well, thanks.”
“Thank you, Mathew, you are most helpful.”
“Thank you, sir. You know, if my grades are good enough, I would like to work for the corporation, someday.”
“Yes indeed. I hope you make it Mathew. Do study hard. I hope we meet again.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
“Thank you, Mathew. Thank you, Mrs Chin.”
Sargent Tran dispatched the police to interview all the households with children again and to obtain any study pills. Dr Snow and Peter were waiting in the outside hallway while I spoke with Sergeant Tran. Overlooking the courtyard, we could see children playing in the admixture of grass and dirt.
Dr Snow was miffed. “These study pills, Sergeant Tran, no one ever mentioned them before?”
“The adults? No, I doubt they would.” Sergeant Tran wasn’t surprised.
“Are they illegal?”
“Eh, no. Just not something you want to advertise to authorities, that’s all. More grey market but we tolerate it, have for years. Never had any trouble with them before.”
I took out my reader. “So, overlaying the map of infections, if children taking these pills are the source of the infection, can we trace their movements and connect them to other families who don’t have children?”
“Sergeant Tran? We need to talk to the children, find their movements.”
Within 15 minutes we were following the movements of a little girl, in the second grade, as she traced her movements through the apartment block. She went outside with her sister to another block down four flights, to her grandmother. She had kissed her grandmother goodbye when she left and returned home, but not before meeting with a friend. That friend then returned home and had diner. And so on and so forth. We traced the route of each child as best we could; the children had excellent memories. With each path marked, we could see the pattern developing as they intersected with sites of infection. Sergeant Tran’s team was off, duplicating our work with all the other children.
“Computer?”
Yes, Master Talent. You are at risk being in the quarantine zone.
“Yes, I know. It is necessary. Can you identify each purchase of these study pills which Dr Snow has photographed and overlay them with a map of this area?”
Done.
“Overlay with movements of those taking the pills, assuming children, as collected by Sergeant Tran and her team to date.”
Done.
“Identify infections not explained by this movement assuming that infections are transmitted by contact with those taking these pills.”
Only four not identified within this block.
“Send this overlay to Sergeant Tran and direct local police to interview these four; I need to know of contact with children or families with children within 24 hours of the infection period. They will most likely need to talk to neighbours where there are no surviving households.”
Done.
“Computer, what is your assessment of the possibility that these pills, taken by children, are the source of infection notwithstanding that you don’t have access to the pills at present?”
Pending chemical analysis of the pills, I can only remark that the pattern of infection is not inconsistent with the supposition that ingestion of these pills caused the children to become carriers of infection, possibly transmitted through saliva to the patients.
Of the known transmission routes, none have excluded this supposition; each known case seems to have involved a child who took the study pill as the transmission vector. The data collected so far does not exclude the supposition and the odds that this is not a relevant factor are quickly diminishing.
No other model explains the data collected to date. There is no credible alternate model at this time.
“Well Dr Snow?”
She was still in shock: “We were working on poverty variables, unsanitary living conditions… we collected reams of environmental data…we were looking for…”
“But these pills could somehow trigger an infection mechanism in the children?”
“I have never come across such a thing.”
“No, I doubt anyone has, not even Dr Blanchard. Yet it fits the data so far. At least enough to make it worth examining these pills. Have we collected all these pills from the families Sergeant Tran?”
“Sir, we are working on it.” Sergeant Tran replied over her glasses.
“Very good. Make sure to label the source of each one and then send them to Dr Snow. I think Dr Snow you will want to be involved with that. In the meantime, I will bring these pills to HQ for Dr Blanchard.
Computer?”
Yes, Master Talent.
“Assemble a team to analyse these pills as the possible trigger for infection. Inform Dr Blanchard that I am arriving with the pills and to direct the team. Dr Snow, I think you will need to bring in some of these children for further study.”
Done.
“Oh, one last thing: instruct media teams to contact retailers, distributors and any other potential handlers of these pills—you can draw up a list, can’t you? —and then issue a recall. Engage what resources of the corporation are required to collect and secure every study pill in the city. Start broadcasting now and continuously until the corporation has secured every pill. Contact each potential handler directly. Do it now and have the media team review your notice when they are up and running. Monitor response and verify that all possible handlers have complied. Follow up until it is completed so that every study pill has been recovered. Also inform Dr Blanchard of your progress. Contact justice for possible prosecution of suppliers. You have two days to finish.”
Initiated and will report when complete.
“Ok Peter, lets head back. Thank you, Dr Snow.”
Felix qui nihil debet 