Infected - ALL - OPEN

[jsneill]

Everyone's emotions were running high, and it made it difficult to concentrate, or get any sense out of people, but Will would focus, and he would sort this out; he was determined and stubborn, two traits which would help him through this situation. "Okay," he nodded to Ben, as the man answered his question. He was worried sick, it was plain to see on his face.

Will caught the computer device John tossed to him, "thanks, mate," as John started attempting to sort Penn out using the computers. He pulled up the information, watching Ben with one eye as he scanned through the information with another. "We need to get their temperatures down, way down, and now." If the results from Penn's scan were correct, none of them were going to survive much longer with their body temperatures that high.

Before Will could speak again, Ben had run from the room. Well that's just great, isn't it? "John," Will said, he seemed to be the only reliable guy in the room, "get bags of ice and place them around their bodies, that'll help to bring their core temperature down." While John was doing that, he walked over to a panel on the wall and turned the air conditioning up as far as it would go. They would get cold themselves, but at least the others would hopefully survive.

Now, to check Anna's blood.

Will seemed like the most competent and calm among them despite the fact that his girlfriend was one of those lying ill. The man had focus and dedication, he could give him that. John wasn't really one for taking orders, but in this case, he was willing. After arranging Penn into a more comfortable position and making sure the computer could read his vitals, he set about getting the bags of ice from the freezer.

After a lot of running back and to, all of the patients were now beginning to cool down, he could see so from the monitors. Will had gone to find the blood test that Ally had started before she'd left the room a mess, and that left John standing in the middle of the room with his hands in his pockets, looking around at all the unconscious bodies. He shivered. Anna was twitching in her sleep, as was Natalie. Penn, however, was flat out. The girls were obviously dreaming, probably because of their fevers he imagined. He was no doctor. He'd pretended to be one once way back in the day to smuggle some medical supplies out of a hospital, but that hadn't required him knowing any medical knowledge.

Will came back with a grim look on his face. "What's wrong?" John asked, looking at him for a reply.

"Nanovirus."

[Alliana Porter]

Ally returned, pushing through the open doors with less energy then before. She was quiet, too quiet, and now everyone knew she had been crying. Without a muttered sound, she cleared off another table, sniffling every few seconds to hold any more tears from releasing. Everyone had fallen prey to this virus, whether being infected or affected by their loved ones. She ran a palm across one of her eyelids to wipe away a few tears. Words were hard but she would have to talk eventually.

"Thanks Ben..." she whispered as Luke was brought in onto the table. Luke's face looked pained. If he hadn't put himself out, he would have passed out anyway. "Stay with me darling." she whispered in his ear, kissing his forehead lightly. She pulled herself away to wash her hands and move to test his blood as well. Ally glanced around for a moment, trying to figure out the mess in her mind. Will looked...troubled, more so than usual. John as well. They had found something. "What is it?" She made her way over to the microscope, peering into the lens where a single drop of Anna's blood lay. "Oh..hell...that's definitely not good. Can you identify it's nature?" John probably had no idea what she was talking about, but Will seemed to be on the same page. "we need to figure out what it's going to try to attack first, heart liver extera. " She heaved a heavy sigh, grabbing some ice bags for Luke. "I don't think I'll be sleeping much for the next few days."

[jsneill]

Will shook his head. His suspicions had been confirmed by looking at the blood test, and he wasn't happy. Nanoviruses were largely uncommon, mostly because no one dared to use them. They could be programmed for a specific purpose, but it wasn't known whether they could eventually take on a life of their own, seizing control of the person's body, and using the body as a weapon which only it could control. A frightening concept.

Unfortunately, it looked like someone had planted this nanovirus on board in order to eliminate some of the crew, and four members of the crew had fallen ill. Because their symptoms had started days ago now, Will was fairly certain that no one else had caught it. But if they didn't figure out something soon, he wasn't sure how much longer those that were infected were going to last, and he desperately wanted Natalie to live.

Ally re-entered the medical bay, her eyes red from crying, and the explanation soon followed as Ben walked in carrying Luke on his back. At least he had a reason for running out before. Ally checked the blood and came to the same conclusion. "Not yet," Will said, "but considering the irrational behaviour that I know Natalie displayed, I'd say that it's started with the brain, and is using that to control the other symptoms." Like he thought before, it was frightening.

John merely listened to all that was going on, soaking it all in. He'd seen the effects of a nanovirus before - a group of criminals had thought they'd be clever and steal a piece of rare and expensive art, but what they hadn't known at the time - lack of good research - was that the art was part of a collection owned by one of the mafia bosses on Delta Prime, and to say that he wasn't happy when they took it was an understatement. They'd all met a sticky and painful end. These things were nasty.

As Will and Ally chatted back and forth, Ben was silent like he was, John noticed the vitals on Natalie's screen begin to fluctuate, then Anna's. "Guys," he said, their heart rates were becoming erratic, "something is wrong."

Will stopped talking mid-sentence to see what John was talking about. Just as he was about to do something, the computers starting beeping wildly, both Natalie and Anna began fitting uncontrollably. "Shit!" he shouted, immediately trying to hold Natalie down. No sooner had he touched her, her body went limp and her heart rate flatlined. "No, no, NO!"

[karen2]

Unable to speak, Ben simply stood by and watched as Alliana went over to check Anna's blood. From what she was saying, whatever was making them sick sounded like it could be fatal. He closed his eyes for a moment, sending up another silent prayer, before turning his face in Anna's direction again.

"If she was acting anything like Anna was, then I have to say that I agree with you," he said in response to Will's words, not turning away from the young red-headed woman on the bed. Will and Alliana were discussing the illness again, and so Ben decided to duck out of the conversation and simply pretend to listen. He wouldn't be any help here.

It was then that the women's vitals began bouncing around, their heart-rates spiking. Ben ran forward just as Will did, trying to keep Anna still, but it did nothing. The sound of a heart-monitor flat-lining was the scariest thing he'd ever heard, and he caught his breath in response. No. He wouldn't lose Anna. He couldn't. He knew for a fact that if he did, it would kill him.

"Someone get a defibrillator or something!" he snapped at Alliana and John, determinedly going into chest-compressions on Anna to try and get her heart started again. "Come on, baby, stay with me..."

[Alliana Porter]

Ally listened to will's findings. Brain. That wasn't good, that was far from good, that was downright dangerous. "Alright, we should probably assist an MRI and make sure it's at least-." John's frantic words cut her short, and she had to swallow down a new fear. 'Oh sodding hell!" She turned quick on her heels. Ally searched frantically for a defibrillator with enough shock. One was hiding in a cubbord and she ripped it from it's perch. "get her shirt Ben!" she exclaimed, motioning to get the clearest path to her heart. "There's another one in the cubbord, see if you can get to Nat!"

All emotion died in that brief moment as Ally worked, completely phased into work now. Work she wasn't used to, but suddenly prepared for. After taking a deep breath, she pushed the button to deliver a shock. "Clear! come on Anna, stay with me, stay with me!" Nothing. "Anna! Come on!" Another shock. Nothing. She closed her eyes, breathing deep as she let a solemn prayer release. One more shock, then a beep. "Oh thank God. She's stable."

Ally collapsed her back against the side of a table, releasing all the tension that made her head swim. "Luke might go off in a minute." she muttered. In that moment, she wasn't sure if she could even function properly to save his life. Will might have to do it. The dreams hadn't kicked in yet, nor the uncontrollable fits. She was scared for that moment. She wasn't even sure how the hell she was even functioning right now? Medical practices just weren't her thing.

[William Blake]

Will felt his own heart stop as both of the women flat lined, for a brief second he froze. His cries escaped his mouth in sheer panic as his brain stalled. John clapped him hard on the shoulder, bringing him back to his senses. "Stay with us, man!" Will nodded sharply. John had already seized the second defibrillator and brought it over, thrusting it into Will's hands, assuming he would know what to do.

He charged the paddles, running on autopilot as he forced himself into a state of blind determination. Natalie wasn't going anywhere. One shock, no response. Will charged again, John standing nearby, keeping a watchful eye on both of the other patients, neither of the men had started showing signs of advanced detereoration like the women yet. Another shock. No. Another. No.

"Natalie," he hissed, charging the paddles yet again. Anna was already back with them, but Natalie was still out. No, he wouldn't lose her. Applying the paddles to her chest, he shocked her again, and, much to his relief, her heart beat flickered back up on the screen, stabilising quickly. Will dropped the paddles, burying his head in his hands. That was way too damn close. He cursed to himself over and over, taking a few steps away from everyone. Get a freaking grip, Will. They're all counting on you.

After a long, calming breath, he pulled his hands away from his face in order to survey the situation. Ally looked indescribable. With both her best friend and boyfriend in danger, he couldn't blame her. But, at least one of them needed to focus. "Let's get that brain scan done," he said, clearing his throat so his voice was steady. "Anna first." As much as he wanted to be selfish and put Natalie first, there was going to be so much more hurt in the room if Anna died because he'd been a stubborn ass. It was going to be a long night.

[karen2]

For most men, the first time you took your girlfriend's shirt off was a mile-stone, a moment of success. For Ben, lucky him, it was a moment of sheer and utter panic. He jerked the fabric up over Anna's head and off, getting it out of the way, and then stepped back to watch as Ally tried to jump-start her heart with jolts of electricity.

Relief so strong he nearly fainted washed through him when her heart-monitor blipped back to life, and he fell into a nearby chair weakly, leaning his head back and taking a few deep breaths. She was still alive--at the moment--and that was the best he could ask for until they figured out how to cure whatever this illness was.

Alliana went over to Luke's side when she was done with Anna, giving Ben a clear view of Natalie. For a second that seemed to last forever, he wondered if they'd lost her, but then her vitals-board beeped as well. That had been uncomfortably close. "I guess this sort of answers the question of where the illness will strike first, eh?" he grumbled under his breath to no-one in particular.

Will took a moment to collect himself, and then turned back to them and suggested that they send Anna through the MRI first. Ben sighed and nodded, pushing himself to his feet. "All right. Where's this brain-scanning machine?" he asked, looking at Alliana expectantly. She wasn't a medical officer, but since the only one in the room had fallen ill, she was the closest thing they had.

[Alliana Porter]

Aliana a held a hand to Anna's forehead. She was still burning up, but at least she was alive. She felt her skin itch and half freaked, thinking it was rash. It wasn't that, but it wasn't much better. There were still tiny shards of glass in her arm from the computer screen. That and the dried blood were making it rather uncomfortable. She wasn't in danger of loosing blood, but she had to clean it off, before it got worse.

"Give me a second." she turned from will, straight to the sink. She had to wince scraping a few deeper shards out, groaning a little as one of them started to bleed again. "Dammit." she huffed, reaching for a bandage. After taking care of her arm, she washed up again and turned back to assist Anna.

She fumbled with a few buttons on a back wall and an MRI Scanner robotically moved down. "Alright, watch her head." She helped Will place Anna down onto the table and it slowly fed her through. What she wouldn't give for a hug right now. That and some hot...tea. She glanced her head around to Luke, who was surprisingly..wait..no, the dreams were beginning to kick in. Now his life would be hanging in the balance when his heart decided to fight the virus too. She prepared herself, holding a hand to her mouth, and trying to keep the tears from returning. She had just saved Anna's life, would she manage Luke's?

The scanner finished and began printing out the readings. "they've latched.....latched onto her neurons. They're controlling her brain waves. If...when she wakes up, if we can't stop this, they'll take over who she is. They seem to be changing them into completely different people. Apparently, that's the first step after they attack the heart. " This seemed like Bloody science fiction movie, not reality. Anna choked and Ally was right up to her side. With a concerned face, she looked back up at Will and Ben. "Blood...."

[William Blake]

All of this was truly horrific. People were dropping left, right, and center, and John could barely stand to be in the room. Seeing people hanging onto life like this made him flash back to the day that he had held the body of the woman he loved in his arms, and watched helplessly as the light had left her eyes. He knew exactly how Will, Ben, and Ally all felt right now. Only, he had lost his love, they were still barely holding on to theirs'.

He demanded that he stayed calm, taking a seat between Penn and Luke. If either of the men showed signs of beginning to go into cardiac arrest, he would do his best to help them. The others had other things to be worrying about.

"Right over here," Will said to Ben as he moved Anna carefully over to the scanner. The sooner they could be absolutely sure of this, the better. He was already constructing the basic building blocks of a plan in his head, but he wanted to be sure how far these nano robots had wormed their way into their victim's bodies. He wouldn't do anything unless he knew that Natalie, Anna, Luke and Penn were all going to come out of this alive.

The machine churned the results out. "Jesus," Will said, looking between Ally and Ben. He was going to destroy whoever did this to them, he swore to God. Anna began coughing up blood, not a good sign. Either there was an internal bleed, or some of her blood vessels had burst. Either way, things were only going to get worse, and quickly.

"Okay," he said, "everyone listen up. I have a plan." That meant John too, he was going to need as much help as he could get. "This nanovirus is essentially made up of many tiny nanobots, all wreaking havoc with their victim's bodies. They are therefore mechanical, they have a functional process, electrical or otherwise in order for them to work. So, there is one way to destroy their functioning parts, effectively killing them, and that is to use an EMP."

It was the only plan he had, short of draining the blood out of them and making them go through extensive brain surgery. And, even then, they couldn't be sure that they would get all of the nanobots out. "In order to do that, we're going to need to shut everything on the ship down. We don't want any of the vital systems frying when we set off the EMP. That means everything is going to go, heating, water, oxygen, all while we set off the EMP. Once we've done that, we can turn everything back on again, see whether the plan worked." He hoped that everyone understood. "Got that?"

[karen2]

When Anna choked up blood, Ben was immediately by her side, tilting her head back for her to make sure her air-way remained clear. Last thing they needed was for her to do into respiratory arrest on top of everything else. Ally explained what the MRI had turned up, and then Will took it further, coming up with a plan on how to cure everyone.

"Whoa, wait, shut the entire ship down? Life-support and everything?" he asked, stunned.

It wasn't like he wasn't willing to go to any lengths to save Anna, but shutting down the Venia completely in the hopes that this plan might help her... He looked down at her face for a long moment, then glanced over at Natalie, at Luke and Penn. All four of those who had fallen ill had at least one specific thing in common--they all had people who loved them, and who would be forever hurt if they didn't pull through.

Finally, Ben nodded. "All right, Will. I'm with you. Just tell me what I need to do, and I'll do it." And I'll pray all the while that this plan of yours works.

[Alliana Porter]

Part of what Will had said, made sense, the other half didn't. She folded her arms, hugging herself as he spoke. Shutting down the entire ship would be risky, but being in orbit kept them from crashing down to the ground at least. No telling what Luke had busted in his sick rage. She was fearing for his life now, and would risk anything, possibly her own to save him. Alliana breathed deep, biting the inside of her lip. It started to bleed, and the taste of blood gave her something else to think about.

"The only ones in critical condition are in here Ben. They'll be fine. No one's hooked up anyway." she confirmed. Her biggest concern was what would happen when the power went off. What if Anna went into epileptic shock, or Luke in cardiac arrest, or Natalie stopped breathing? They would have no power to save or stop.

"So what.....what if something happens to them while the power's out?" she stammered, the worry ever present in her grey eyes. She could just be missing something. Technically, electricity and electricity weren't her strong points. Biology and life were. In face, the only reason she even remotely knew what she was doing here, was a friend who was a nurse and what she remembered from college. In all honesty and truth, she had no business even being in the medical bay. They probably knew this, but she was the closest thing they had right now to a medical officer and not to mention, her heart was more than in the right place right now.

[William Blake]

Will knew people were going to have problems with the plan, it did seem really drastic, but if they did this right, it would all be over very quickly. Ben was on board, "great," he nodded. They all had just as much to lose in this situation. "I'm in too," John said, getting up, walking over to the group. He would help in anyway he could. "Good."

Ally was hesitant, however, and he could understand why. "We're going to have to do this all very quickly," he said, looking at her, "we can get everything shut down and back up again in a couple of minutes, tops. Once the EMP has been set off, you can use the battery pack in the defibrillator if you need to, while everything is coming back up. Until then, you'd have to do CPR."

There was so much hanging in the balance here, it was enough to drive a person crazy. "Right, there are two control centers on the ship which hold the main switches for the ship's power. The first is in a small room just outside the flight deck. Ben, I want you to go there and wait. John, I need you to go to the other control center at the aft of the ship, it should be a set of panels in a room right at the back. Again, wait there. Ally, I need you to stay here and look after everyone. I trust you to keep them safe."

John nodded once Will told him what he had to do. Obviously, Will was going to be the one who set off the EMP, but he was relying on everyone else to do their jobs as well. Four people were counting on them to save their lives. So much for there being no excitement around here. Once everyone was set on what they needed to do, they split up, and John took off at a run towards the rear of the vessel. He had the furthest to go, and he needed to be there just as quickly as the other two men.

He skidded to a halt in front of the door, using his security code to gain access - that was the easiest he'd got into a secure room in years - and stood in front of the panels, looking at all the green blinking lights. "I'm ready," he said over the comms, running a hand through his hair. Now he had to wait.

[karen2]

Once he'd heard the plan and gotten his instructions, Ben nodded and turned out into the hall, making his way towards the flight deck for the second time that day. Instead of going in, however, he turned off into a small side-room and studied the control panel for a moment before pulling out his comm.

"Waiting on you, Will," he agreed when he heard John announce that he was where he needed to be. He sent up yet another fervent prayer as he tapped away at the panel so that with one simple press of a button he'd be able to shut down this entire end of the ship. Considering that he's never been good with computers and the like, it was surprisingly easy for him to figure out.

It was hard for Ben to repress a chuckle when he realized how stressed he was. There was just so much riding on this, so much that could be lost if they didn't get it right. But they had to try. If they didn't, who knew how long it would take for this nanovirus to kill those who it had claimed? He didn't want to know the answer, he just wanted to get this over with and know that Anna would be safe.

[Alliana Porter]

She prayed this would all work out. After joining the Venia, and changing her life around, she had slowly been drawn back to her spiritual roots, at least the way she was raised. Will explained the plan, and she tried to adjust to the risk. she wasn't any less afraid for any of this. In fact, the only way she would relax would be if Anna came running to hug her and she felt Luke's lips upon her own once again. She missed Natalie's hugs and Penn was a fun jokester. Living would be hard if any of them died, and now in her hands, since everyone else was leaving.

She watched ben turn on his heel to leave, plopping down into a chair between Luke and Anna. She had watched a documentary once, saying that sometimes if you talked to the unconscious, they would hear and remember what had been said to them. She turned to Anna first, reaching out for her hand. "Hey...you probably can't hear me and it's kind of stupid, but...I'm not gonna let you die on me. Not today. You're the best, if not only real friend I've ever had. So...don't...don't go, okay? Like would really suck without you in it. You'll probably never know how much." She sniffled a tear away, rubbing Anna's still thumb. It hurt to see her like this, to see everyone like this. Running around like frantic chickens, everything was a mess now.

She let go of Anna reluctantly and drew her eyes to her lover, her other half, Luke. "hey..." her lip quivered for the words. "I....I love you. I've never loved anyone like this, and...I..I swear I can't go on without you You gotta pull through this, you all do. " She brought his hand to her lips, kissing his fingertips as a tear slid down her cheek. "Don't leave me to live without you....what's the point, you probably can't hear me anyway. " she sighed, pushing away to go pace the room in the dark.

[William Blake]

Both of the other men departed hurriedly from the medical bay and Will soon followed, heading straight for engineering. Luckily, when they had been designing and building the Venia, there had been a need for defensive maneuvres and mechanisms on board, just in case they got into trouble with another ship. One of the ideas that one of the his colleagues had was to fit the ship with a device that could emit an EM pulse. It would knock out any electrical equipment within a mile radius of the ship. It wasn't really meant to be used for this, but they were desperate.

Will stumbled into engineering and pushed through to the back of the room, locating the device. He heard John and Ben both confirm that they were ready. Good. Fiddling with the machine, he started it warming up. One green bar appeared on the front, then a couple of seconds later, another one flashed up. Good, it was going to power up pretty quickly.

"All right," Will said, watching the machine, "on the count of three I want you to turn everything off, then wait for me to confirm that the EMP has been set off. Ready?" He took a breath, watching as the last bar lit up. "One, two, three."

While Will had been sorting out the machine, John had been getting the panels ready to shut everything down, whoever built the ship had made it pretty straight forward. One, two..." John got his finger ready over the switch. Three. He flicked it. All the control panels flickered off, as did the lights, the air conditioning, ventilation and the ships engine. There was a low whirring sound, and everything went silent. For once on this ship, the only thing John could hear was himself breathing. It was an eerie silence.

Will watched as all the ship shut down – it hadn’t been this silent in over a year now. Both men had done as he had asked, and now it was his turn. The device had been made with its own separate power source so that it didn’t turn off along with all the other systems. The device was ready, and they didn’t have a moment to lose. Will pressed the button and the device hummed loudly before letting out a burst of energy that made the hairs on his arms stand on end. He counted to ten in his head, that’s how long it would take the EMP to spread to its maximum distance. ”Turn everything back on,” he said over the comms. ”Ally, how are they doing?”