Konstance and Father eat. Mother sits on her bunk, her food untouched. Again she asks Sybil to check their vital signs.

Pulse and respiration rates normal. Blood pressure shipshape.

Konstance climbs into her berth and Father stacks the trays by the door, then rests his chin on her mattress and pushes her curls out of her eyes.

“On Earth, when I was a boy, most everybody got sick. Rashes, funny little fevers. All the unmodified people got sick every now and then. It’s part of being human. We think of viruses as evil but in reality few are. Life usually seeks to cooperate, not fight.”

The diodes in the ceiling dim and Father presses a palm to her forehead and in a great dizzy uprush comes the sensation of standing inside the Atlas atop the Theodosian walls, all that white limestone crumbling under the sun. For as long as we have been a species, Mrs. Flowers said, we humans have tried to defeat death. None of us ever has.

The following morning Konstance stands in the Library at the second-tier railing with Jessi Ko and Omicron and Ramón waiting for Dr. Pori to arrive and commence the morning’s lesson in precalculus. Jessi says, “Tayvon’s late too,” and Omicron says, “I don’t see Mrs. Lee either, and she was the one with Zeke’s chunder all over her,” and the four children fall quiet.

Eventually Jessi Ko says she’s heard that if you feel sick you’re supposed to say, “Sybil, I’m not feeling well,” and if Sybil detects something wrong with you, she sends Dr. Cha and Engineer Goldberg to your compartment wearing full biohazard containment suits, and Sybil will unlock the door so they can isolate you in the Infirmary. Ramón says, “That sounds awful,” and Omicron whispers, “Look,” because down on the main floor Mrs. Chen is leading all six members of the crew who have not yet turned ten across the atrium.

The children look tiny beneath the towering shelves. A few grown-ups send perfunctory IT’S YOUR LIBRARY DAY balloons up into the barrel vault and Ramón says, “They didn’t even get pancakes.”

Jessi Ko says, “What do you think it feels like, to be sick?” and Omicron says, “I hate polynomials, but I do wish Dr. Pori would show up,” and below them the young children hold virtual hands and their bright voices fill the atrium,

We move as one

In everything we do.

It takes everyone together,

Everyone together,

to get to—

and Sybil announces, All non-medical personnel to their compartments, no exceptions, initiating Quarantine Level Two.

Zeno