Read Online Plague Ship by Leonard Goldberg - Free Book Online

memory. “That awful purple color, so gruesome you thought it was painted on.”
    “Severe cyanosis does that to the skin,” David said. “Virtually no oxygen is getting to the boy’s tissues.”
    “But why so severe?” Maggio queried. “You never see this degree of oxygen deprivation in bacterial pneumonia.”
    “Did you notice that Will was coughing up blood?”
    “Yes, and plenty of it.”
    “Well, that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” David went on. “The virus is causing Will to hemorrhage into his lungs. And that blood is filling up every bronchi, bronchiole, and alveoli, to the point no oxygen can get through.”
    “It’s as if he’s drowning in his own blood,” Maggio said, after reflecting briefly.
    “Exactly.”
    “What can we do for him?”
    “Nothing aboard the Grand Atlantic ,” David said candidly. “We have to transport him to a critical care unit ASAP.”
    “How can we accomplish that?”
    “With Captain Rutherford’s assistance, I hope.”
    David raced back into the examining room. Marilyn was holding Will’s hand and crying, as she tried to understand his high-pitched babbling. The boy’s face remained deep purple, despite the increased oxygen he was now receiving through nasal prongs. Will coughed, and up came bright red sputum that oozed around the edge of his oxygen mask. It began to bubble, trapping even more oxygen. David watched the soundless bubbling increase within the mask. It was a graphic depiction of what was happening inside the boy’s lungs, he thought darkly. Soon no oxygen at all would be getting through.
    David took a deep breath and walked over to deliver the bad news. “Marilyn, it looks like Will has severe viral pneumonia.”
    “Can he be treated?” Marilyn asked in a rush.
    “It can,” David said, deciding to withhold the grim prognosis for now. “But it requires that Will be looked after in a critical care unit.”
    Marilyn quickly glimpsed around the sick bay before asking, “But we don’t have one here, do we?”
    “No,” David replied. “He’ll have to be transported back to the mainland. I’ll have Captain Rutherford make the necessary arrangements.”
    “I’ll want to go with him,” Marilyn said at once. “I will insist on that.”
    “Of course,” David agreed. “And Sol too, if you wish.”
    Marilyn nodded her answer. “He’ll need care as well. Sol has the same symptoms as Will.”
    “Is his face turning purple?” David asked immediately.
    “No. but he has fever and is coughing up a little bit of blood.”
    “Is he short of breath?”
    “No.”
    “Good,” David said with an optimistic tone, but he knew that dyspnea would start soon. And so would the change in face color. “I have to go see Rutherford now and make the arrangements for Will to be transported.”
    “Thank you, David,” Marilyn said gratefully.
    David dashed out and down the passageway, digesting and assimilating all the medical facts he’d just encountered. The diagnosis was certain. All the signs and symptoms fit. But there were several things out of place that bothered him. First, he had never seen more than a few cases of influenza pneumonia, but they always occurred during a major influenza outbreak. And that wasn’t happening now. The only other case was Sol Wyman, who had gotten it from close contact with his stepson. So there was no outbreak, yet there were already two cases of influenza pneumonia. The second bothersome point was that neither Will nor Sol were elderly, had compromised immune systems, or had preexisting pulmonary or rheumatic heart disease. Those were the conditions that predisposed individuals to influenza pneumonia. Yet none of those factors were present in Will and Sol. Peculiar business, David thought to himself, very peculiar.
    He went to the staircase and darted up the stairs, still thinking about the out-of-place facts. David had learned from past experience never to discard facts that didn’t fit the diagnosis. They were