Chapter 18: set backs and steps forward 890AD

It started in Oban. One of the craftsmen from the newly emerging steel mill complained of a fever and a runny nose. His name was Duncan and before the day was through his body ached so much he had to go home to the comfort of his wives. His wives took one look at him and stripped him off, cleaning him with damp cloths before bundling him into bed.

Duncan's fever worsened and he lapsed into unconsciousness. His wives continued to bathe him and to apply cool towels to his head and body but the fever wouldn't break.

Spots began to appear on his head and face and then spread to his body. His wives looked at each other in fear, they had heard of such things before - a plague!

By day five one of the wives was coughing and had streaming eyes, her temperature soaring. Duncan was delirious and his breathing sounded laboured and raspy, a rattle in his throat suggesting there was liquid on his chest or lungs.

By day seven, when the healthy wife ran to their neighbour to seek help she found that the entire household was suffering the same, the man a workmate of Duncan's had succumbed three days before and his two wives and three children followed quickly after.

Word spread round the settlement and panic set in. People packed up a few belongings and left the camp, rushing to stay ay Kilchrennan or Inveraray. The leader of the Oban burgh had the foresight to send carrier pigeons to all the surrounding towns to warn them of the potential danger from those fleeing and each settlement closed its gates against all comers.

In Inveraray Scott had been passed the message and he rushed to find his medical team. The Doctor who had travelled back with him was called MacKay and the nurse, a male nurse, was called MacNeill. Scott found them working in the laboratory with the pharmacist.

"Doctor, I've just received a message to advise that some form of plague has broken out in Oban. People are panicking and fleeing the settlement, the burgh in Oban advise we should avoid all contact with them if at all possible. Is there anything we can do?"

"Symptoms man, what are the symptoms of this plague? I need information." Said the doctor, ignoring Scott's rank.

"I'm sorry, I've no details yet, but I'll send a pigeon to the burgh to request more details."

"In the meantime do as they have suggested, confine everyone to camp and close the gates." The doctor said.

It took the best part of a day to send a message to Oban and get a response. During that time half a dozen people had appeared at the Inveraray gates seeking admission. One man had tried to scale the walls, wedging a tree trunk up against them and climbing to the top. A guard had wrestled with him, the man screaming abuse in his face, before he toppled from his log to the ground. While screaming, tiny droplets of saliva had sprayed from the man's mouth and covered the guard.

Inside the camp Scott shared his latest intelligence with the doctor. The burgh advised that nine out of ten of all of those remaining in the settlement were now affected. The symptoms ranged from coughing, runny noses and inflamed eyes. All seemed to eventually develop a rash or spots, starting from the head and then spreading over the body. The burgh notified Scott of their first deaths and pleaded for help.

"It sounds like measles, but it shouldn't be this severe. Blast, I'm forgetting, the people in this time will have had no real exposure to this and certainly no immunisation against it."

"Do you mean we have brought this back from the twenty-first century?" Scott asked.

"In all likelihood. In our time death from measles would be highly unlikely, but I don't know what the chances are in this time. Complications could include pneumonia or even encephalitis, probably linked to the fever."

"What can we do? How can this be treated?"

"I'm afraid once they have it that's it. There is no treatment. We can immunise people to try and protect them from catching it, but there's no treatment as such."

"Start that immediately. The old cliché applies - women and children first, no, hold it. Check that all of the newcomers have already been immunised and then the women and children."

"The pharmacist will need to get busy, we don't have much of the vaccine prepared."

Word had spread through Inveraray and everyone was anxious. The doctor had quickly used up all of the available vaccine, but more than half of the camp remained unprotected.

Four days later the guard fell ill, along with his wife and children. It seemed likely that the woman and children had already had the illness passed onto them before they had been vaccinated. Quickly thereafter other men in the settlement began to show signs of illness too.

Scott raged, feeling completely impotent as he watched men he worked with, men he had fought with side by side, succumb to the illness and take to their beds. A final message had arrived from Oban to advise that it seemed the worst was over. Of the population of approximately four hundred, the burgh recorded that eighty-seven had died, mostly adults, but the numbers included five children.

Messages from Kilchrennan advised that they had been hit hard by the virus too. The burgh had not moved quickly enough to close their gates it seemed and somehow the measles had got in and spread quickly.

After a further seven days most of the adult males in Inveraray had been struck down, Gabrain one of them. The first death was reported two days later, the doctor unable to do anything to stop it.

Scott remained by his friend's side, willing him to beat off the virus. Gabrain's wives also huddled round him, frantic about his condition.

The fever broke and it seemed likely that Gabrain was going to be okay. Scott was relieved about his friend and the fact his family had escaped the privations of the illness.

Five days later the worst of the outbreak seemed to have passed and Inveraray's death toll stood at forty-three, two of them children. The doctor was preparing to set out with a wagon full of vaccine to immunise the remainder of Dalriada as a precaution to the virus spreading further afield. Scott had suggested they needed to sit down and think about other illnesses that might appear and which could be protected against through immunisation.

The death toll across the three settlements once the outbreak was over reached one hundred and ninety two. Eighty-seven at Oban, sixty-two in Kilchrennan and forty-three at Inveraray. Scott was crushed. What made matters worse was the probability that it had been his transportation of the newcomers back from the twenty-first century that had led to the virus affecting the people of Dalriada in the first place.

Mass funerals were organised and Scott and his family attended each one, his wives supporting him as he shed tears unashamedly, particularly when he saw the small coffins with the dead children inside them. The bagpipes played Flowers O' the Forest, the drone of the pipes all but killing Scott. (e-mail for the tune!!!)

Depression settled over Scott and his wives, family and friends tried to comfort him and bring him out of it. Once more it was Gabrain who managed to get through to him.

"Your Grace, we have been here before. This is selfish on your part and does the people of Scotland no good whatsoever. Remember, before you came, many more than this would have died every year. Died of various ailments, killed by Norsemen or just perished through the effects of a poor diet and poor hygiene.

"The best memorial you can give the dead is to carry on with your plans. The best defence against something like this happening again is to do likewise. Scott, the specialists are following your lead. All work has stopped and you need to do something to get things back underway. Now!"

Scott knew his friend was right, but his heart was still heavy with the loss and the guilt. He did manage to shake himself and visited the newcomers to urge them to begin working again. As Gabrain had suggested, only by ensuring developments moved on apace would they be able to secure the improvements in medicines that would safeguard the population from another outbreak.

The pharmacist was working overtime, preparing vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella. He was also making up the required vaccines for smallpox and TB. The doctor was training additional nurses so that teams could go out round the country immunising the entire population. They knew this was going to take the remainder of the year to accomplish, but all agreed it was essential.

Lachlan had let his 'prisoners' go as soon as the snows had melted and reported to Scott that some of them had pleaded with him to be allowed to stay rather than return to their own settlements in the north of England. He hoped those that had gone would spread the word and provide Scotland with an additional workforce.

Scott's next message from Lachlan didn't bring good news however. It seemed that the Saxons had decided to retaliate for Lachlan's raids the previous year and they had raised a host to march north. Lachlan's scouts estimated their numbers at around five thousand and they were already over the border and heading across Dùn Phris (modern day Dumfries).