"What really matters is what you do with what you have."
- H. G. Wells

As with all of these stories, I do not own Warehouse 13.

Chapter 10—Fever

Somewhere over Florida

Claudia had just closed her laptop. Myka and Helena were sitting beside her. Kato was behind them. They had another charter flight and no one else was with them. Vanessa had taken a flight back to CDC in Atlanta.

Myka noticed Claudia's frown. She asked, "Something wrong?"

"Other than we could not find Mr. Hung?" She looked at Myka, "Yes, I checked with the FDA office this morning. There was no 'call' for approval packages." She put quotation marks around 'call' as she said it. "So, it was a set up. And we don't know who was behind it."

Helena shook her head, "Sounds like what happened to us once."

Claudia smiled, "You didn't finish the last story from last time. Can you finish that and tell us about this other Curiosity?"

Myka smiled in agreement.

Helena thought back, "Righty then, let see last we left the story I switched the bracelets, put my gloves back on, fastened the Helen of Troy's bracelet to my wrist and put the ribbon back on. I was about to turn and leave when the thief asked, 'Pardon me, could you help me fasten the dress in the back?'

"I said, 'It will just be a second. I have to remove my gloves.' As soon as I removed the glove on my arm with the bracelet, I thought I saw my reflection in the mirror with a glimmer in my eye. I knew at that point it was the artifact. I remembered what Caturanga had said about the artifact being voice activated and did not say another thing. I finished wrapping the ribbon around the bracelet. After I buttoned her dress, I patted her shoulder and left." She looked at the astonished looks of Myka and Claudia. "What? What were you thinking?" Her eyes got big and she exclaimed, "I should think that would be something Pete would wonder."

Both heads pointed down as they looked at the floor.

"But you see the good thing that night was the ribbon. Bobby saw me come out of the facilities and head toward the museum front door. He quickly followed and asked what was happening. I pointed to the bracelet. After going round and round without saying a thing, I told him, 'I have Helen's bracelet. We need to get back to the Warehouse.' Bobby did not react like the others had to the thief and the bracelet. He did not have that dazed look. He seemed normal as we argued about which roads were the fastest way back to the Warehouse.

"Carturanga was at the Warehouse offices when we came in. He smiled as he saw me come in. I pointed to my wrist and he got out the bucket."

Claudia looked up at Helena, "Bucket."

Helena answered, "Right, we did not have your wonderful Mylar electrostatic bags back then. We used a rubber bucket. The amazing thing was the ribbon I used was not conductive either. The artifact touched my skin when I first took the glove off. But when I wrapped the ribbon around it, it no longer had any affect over me.

"Caturanga was ecstatic. He was almost dancing around his office. Within a week, he had perfected our first set of gloves for handling artifacts. They were made from the material of the ribbon." Helena smiled at the thought.

Helena continued, "The next events were similar to what we just experienced. And as you'll see there was someone behind these events.

"About a week later we got our next Curiosity. Mr. Crowley again received the notice through the pneumatic tube. He read the notice and came over to Agent MacShane's station. He handed him the paper and said, 'Since you're seem to be finding them quickly, you should take this one. It involves the Royal Navy. We will try, in other words you will try, to be as cooperative as possible. One of their ships the HMS Warspite, has returned from the North Sea with an outbreak of Yellow Fever. Half of the men have died and the rest are inflected.' He cocked his head at us, 'Yes, the North Sea and Yellow Fever. The ship had not made any stops where the disease was prevalent. This should be an easy one, but try not to get infected.'

"Bobby asked, 'You know what we are looking for?'

"Mr. Crowley was as nice as ever. 'Yes, something that causes Yellow Fever.'

"I had previously told Caturanga that we would play chess that afternoon. By then he had beaten me the last five times. Bobby stayed at his station to collect the armaments he wanted for the job. He still believed in shooting anything that look threatening.

"I knocked on the door frame at Carturanga's office. He was sitting at one of his workbenches. Without looking up he said, 'Miss Wells, a bit early, that must mean you've been given the HMS Warspite Curiosity.' He pointed to the seat next to him.

"After opening a paper next to his workbench, he looked over at me and said, 'There is a reason this was flagged as a Curiosity. A report by Carlos Finlay proposed that mosquitoes transmit the disease. Now while there are mosquitoes in England and countries around the North Sea, it is still hard to imagine that they would be in numbers sufficient to infect an entire crew out in the North Sea. One would think there is an artifact making mosquitoes or someone has an artifact in their possession that causes this.'

"I added, 'And they would have to be a person that would see the entire crew.'

"He smiled, 'Yes, quite so. Very good. So, your persons of interest then would include?'

"I thought for a second, 'The Captain and his first officer, then any of the medical people should have access to the entire crew.' I was beaming thinking this would be easy. We would go to the ships and interrogate those people.

"Carturanga smiled, 'Look deeper when you get there. The people who routinely support the ship's crew could have that access too. And since we are talking about an artifact, it could be something that the crew passes or touches on a routine basis. Do not assume that what seems easy on the surface, is so. I think you will find most of our ventures are rarely easy.'" Helena watched as Claudia and Myka nodded in agreement.

"Our first stop was to the offices of the base commander at Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth. The commander was Commodore Eric Nielsen. He had just been meeting with the head surgeon and an agent from the Foreign Secretary's office. Bobby presented our papers to the Chief Petty Officer at the office. Caturanga had arranged for us to be agents of the Home Secretary." Helena paused and thought for a second.

She explained, "While we introduced ourselves as Inspectors before, an Inspector from even Scotland Yard would have had no jurisdiction over a ship in a Royal Navy port. The offices of the Home Secretary would have been on par to your Secret Service at that time. In this case it was novel enough to get us in the door to the Commodore.

"The Commodore began the meeting with a question. He asked, 'And what does the Home Secretary have for a concern today?'

"Booby answered, 'We wish to board the HMS Warspite.'

"The Commodore looked us like we were a bit crazy at that point, saying, 'You realize the ship is a plague ship. No one is permitted off the ship. And of those we have sent aboard, one has died and three others are down with the fever. This is no day for a tour or a visit.'

"I smiled at him and answered, 'Yes, I know. But we have been asked to find the cause and eliminate it. I am sure you had other needs for the Warspite. Perhaps, something suggested by the Foreign Minsters office.' I know I was just postulating. But just as Claudia did down in Florida I was looking for some connection.

"He responded to my surprise with, 'Yes, the Admiralty had expected to use the ship and others to show the flag to some forgetful people in Portugal.'

"I was happy at that point that we read so many newspapers and articles from the times. I had seen that we were not pleased by recent actions by Portugal near our interests in Africa. I followed up with another question, 'Has the ship been in port at Portugal?'

"The Commodore shook his head, 'No, they just came back from the North Sea. A reminder to our German friends that we have a navy.' He looked at us for a while, 'Just what are you expecting to find?'

"I answered, 'As to the exact thing or object, I can not tell you at this time. But we believe there must be something on board that is bringing these men down. We need the opportunity to talk with the men and look around the ship.'

The Commodore turned to Bobby, "I don't suppose I will be able to dissuade you from this endeavor."

"I did like Bobby's reply. He said, 'No, I am afraid that anything short of full compliance, results in a message from the PM to the Admiralty.'

Helena watched as Claudia made a note. Myka's attention went to Claudia too. When Claudia noticed, she shrugged, "Sorry, I thought I would ask later. It should be something I know. But then, I bet you did not really work for the PM or the Queen back then."

Helena nodded, "Correct, I found out much later that our Regents and the lead Regent were it. The Regents did have specific individuals in key counties that knew of what we did. And in general they were senior enough that we could get things arranged as necessary." Helena smiled at the last part.

"Now, back to the story. We were in a small boat headed out to the Warspite. I was buddled up in a blanket sitting on the side rail watching the Captain guide his boat. It was a small thing. While twice the size of a rowboat, it was still tossed in the seas. We had run up along side the Warspite and someone lowered a rope ladder to us.

"The Captain of the small boat came to me one last time, 'You sure you need to do this?'

"I looked at his eyes and replied, 'There are men being killed up there. I think we can stop it. What else should we do?' I put on a bush hat with the mesh around it. We were dressed to make sure no skin was showing.

"The Captain nodded at me and helped me up the ladder. When we got to the top, we looked around but did not see anyone. We never did find who lowered the rope. I stood there trying to get adjusted to the rolling of the ship. The waves were not lapping the sides of the ship like they were in that little boat but we were rocking and there was a little mist that blew on us as we stood there.

"Bobby pointed to one of the hatches. We entered and I noticed the smell. It was horrid. I must say that if a sickness had a smell, this one did. It was worse than an egg left too long. But I did notice there was little movement in the air and only opening the hatch back up allowed for some air to come in.

"We walked up to the bridge and looked around. The First Lieutenant was on duty. He did not look well. He did have a yellow cast in his skin and especially the face. No one else was on duty.

"There was no sound. And yes, there were no mosquitoes. Even though Caturanga promised that the netting would work, I was ready at any point to start swatting them away.

"The Lieutenant looked at us suspiciously. Bobby began, 'Good day sir, we are here to determine what is causing the sickness. We are from the Home Secretary offices.'

"The Lieutenant was still cautious. He said, 'You came to a plague ship. We cannot provide you any assistance. By tomorrow you'll be no different than me, sick as a dog. Is this what you want? Did you superiors send you because of some grievance against you? The three that came a day ago are now dead. Is that what you want?'

"He convulsed at that point and fell to the floor. Bobby went to him and checked. He could not revive him. The man was unconscious. At that point we decided to look for others to help. We went out the back and down the ladder to the main deck. After going through the passageway, we found the Captain's quarters. We looked in through the hatch and found his quarters were empty.

"We finally found the mess. It was packed with men lying on the tables and on the floor. A man in a bloodied white outfit was moving between the men.

"While Bobby went to the man, I looked around. There were sounds of the men groaning in their misery. And there were no mosquitoes.

"Bobby asked the man, 'Are you the ship's doctor?'

"He turned, looking as yellow as the First Lieutenant. He replied by pointing, 'That's the doctor and next to him is the Captain. Both have extremely high fevers. I don't know how much longer they will… Well, you can take a look at them.' Then after looking at Bobby and I, he finally asked, 'Who are you and what are you doing here?'

"Bobby replied, 'We were sent by the Home Secretary. We just met with your First Lieutenant. He is unconscious. We could not revive him.'

"The man slumped at the information and said, 'Well, I'll get him.'

"I walked to the doctor and Bobby went to the Captain. I was not certain what we would find. The doctor was sweating profusely and mumbling. I bent close to him. He reached up and pulled his shirt back, and the mumble became louder, 'Morte aos nossos inimigo! Deixe o Segundo...'

A/N Please leave a review. And have a Happy Thanksgiving. Intend to post the next chapter on 29 Nov.

Caturanga's History Lessons

HMS Warspite a cruiser commissioned in 1886, imagined as a part of the fleet to block the Portuguese (See Wikipedia).

Carlos Finlay recognized a pioneer in Yellow Fever research (see Wikipedia).

HMNB Portsmouth in operation in 1889 (see Wikipedia).

Foreign and Home Secretaries (see Wikipedia).

British and Portugal were heading toward a conflict in 1889. A Portugesse explorer/scientist had begun an expedition in the Shire Regions of Africa near Transvaal and Mozambique. Eventually two squadrons from the British navy responded in a show-of-strength. (See Google, Onwar)

Use Google translator for Portuguese, should be, 'Death to our enemies! Let the second…'