Part 1
Part 2 - How it spreads
Part 3 - Svalbard

Waterfoul

Far, far away from Svalbard, sitting in the Southern Hemisphere, a tiny, isolated island mused its dark history. From the mutiny on HMS Bounty back in 1789, to sodomy in the church in 2004, the ghosts of Pitcairn’s past forever grew.

It was for this reason that now Legendary Dr. Zhang chose this island to escape. Anticipating the rapid spread of the unknown disease that had since annihilated most life on continental land, he set up specific measures to launch, with a small crew, a ship to the one place that may still be salvageable with the right knowledge.

3,000 miles from New Zealand, with little to no trade routes and no flight path of worth for any birdlife, it would be some time until the disease managed to reach the shores of Pitcairn. 47 citizens are said to still live on this 2 square mile island, all descendants of Fletcher Christian, leader of the mutiny so long ago.

Zhang was of course concerned about genetic bottlenecking and health risks related to incest, but he had no time start considering repopulation of the human race, and simply paid a further 150 crew foolish enough to think money would be of value on the other side. He would have to sedate their outrage at a later date.

After a short stay, welcomed by hosts who were more than happy to finally have new residents, he and his crew got to work.

They were untrained but easy to guide. First he had to replicate the vaccine; the disease came from a manipulated virus, millions of years old. In the meantime, the crew were to set up a number of pesticide sprinklers that would cover a significant percentage of the island.

Once Zhang had enough synthesized about a week later, he instructed his crew to unleash the vaccine and barricade the edges of the area covered. The rest of the island could be done later, whether or not life was affected.

This may be the only safe haven on Earth. Barely a square mile patch. His mind echoed this thought as he stared into the sky, paranoid about the arrival of those blasted ducks that started this whole thing.

Now safe from hell, his crew were quick to placate. A quick view of internet videos sufficed. This colony, now 200 strong, would survive. Zhang later worked out that to maintain healthy levels of genetic diversity, a minimum of 150 people were needed, but 40,000 was preferable. 200 would have to do.

Over the weeks, Zhang and his crew started to pick up on some idiosyncrasies of the Pitcairn’s Polynesian population. Women were oddly silent, men were unusually patriarchal and arrogant. It felt little like a British colony, and more like a miniature authoritarian regime.

Additionally, women seemed to be overly defensive, and the men dismissive. One of the crew men mentioned to Zhang one night over a ration of beers that the island had a history of rape, pedophilia and abuse, controlled by a full half of the male population at the time.

Could this still be going on? Is island life so mundane that the inhabitants’ culture circulated around such heinous acts, or is something more sinister going on?

Next part coming soon!