Doctor Who: Surprise Holiday

Chapter 8: Timey Whimey

"Seventeen... eighteen... nineteen... twenty!"

Clara Oswald let go of the exercise bar and dropped to the padded floor. She switched to doing sit-ups until she could do no more, then flopped back onto the floor, breathing hard, sweaty and tired, but pleased with her progress. There wasn't much else to do while locked away in a cell.

In the hours before the shocking death of Elizabeth Moon, as doctors struggled to save her, city officials dusted off pandemic emergency response plans and declared a medical state of emergency. A city-wide alert via linx called for anyone who'd had direct contact with Elizabeth Moon to self-report for immediate medical isolation. Clara reported in straight away. Aside from medical concerns, it would have been a bad look to wait until the "request" became an order.

New Berlin went on lockdown. It still managed to surprise Clara, but the lockdown had very little economic impact in some areas. Construction, manufacturing, and food delivery workers to name a few examples, worked from home, operating commercial arbys via linx-generated virtual controls.

Workers quickly discovered that waving one's arms around in the air, even if reclined in a favorite chair at home, was far more tiring than using ergonomically-designed controllers at work centers. Union representatives filed multiple grievances, asserting that the lack of ergonomics caused harm. They eventually came to an agreement with management to allow it for a week, after which it was strongly hinted the unions might hold a strike vote.

The biggest impact was to hospitality businesses and such, that still heavily relied on actual people being present, such as the Ratskeller and the Grand Germania. Clara was delighted when Siegfried informed her emergency funding would compensate for any lost business. No one's job was at risk.

While those in isolation remained in isolation, Clara was once again surprised when the general lockdown order was lifted after a week. The rationale was that those seriously exposed to Elizabeth Moon were already separated from the general population, and no other cases had been reported. Unspoken was that nobody really liked being trapped at home.

Released from lockdown, the press went bonkers. News teams set up camp in front of Humboldt Medical Center, New Berlin General Hospital, the old Plaza Hotel, the Grand Germania, outside of shops along Linden Street, and any other place Elizabeth may have visited, real or imagined; all breathlessly repeating the same rumors over and over, which they mostly picked up from each other.

A veritable army of volunteers and epidemiologists descended on New Berlin, conducting interviews to determine who else may have been in contact with Elizabeth Moon up to forty-eight hours prior to her demise, and whom they contacted in turn. That included a lot of people.

For three weeks, Clara had been confined to a nine square meter quarantine room at New Berlin General Hospital, sealed away in case she developed "moonitis," as reporters had taken to calling it. She had been subjected to every test imaginable, all of which came back negative, and throughout her time she had never felt sick or presented any symptoms.

Faced with an unknown pathogen, no one had any idea what its incubation period might be, how it was transmitted, or when it would be reasonably safe to release those held in isolation. The longer Clara and others remained in quarantine, the more politicized the issue became. In public debates, some called for the indefinite detention of offworlders. Others claimed the medical emergency was over, declaring any further detention to be a human rights violation. Few of those publicly debating were medical experts, and none were involved in making any actual decisions.

Clara called it her "cell," but relatively speaking, the isolation room wasn't bad. The bed was comfortable, there was an overstuffed reclining chair in one corner, and the opposite corner had a toilet, sink and shower stall. She still had full access to the world via her linx, which she used to conduct business, stay in touch with friends, and continue her university history talks via telepresence. It all helped to keep her from climbing the walls. Hospital meals were available, but she was free to order takeaway if she wanted something different—which was most of the time.