Quaranteam: Blake's Seven

An adjacent story set in the Quaranteam universe.

Thanks go to CorruptingPower for letting me play in this universe, and a big shout out to the other spin-off authors for their help and encouragement.

Ruairi Blake is the cousin of Aisling Blake (partner of Andy Rook) and Dermot Blake her brother, characters in CorruptingPower's original Quaranteam stories.

Naimh O'Sullivan is the sister of Siobhan O'Sullivan from my own Quaranteam: Team Tim story.

Quaranteam: Blake's Seven

Chapter 1.

Saturday, 22nd August 2020

Ruairi (pronounced Rory) Blake sat in his armchair, looking around at his apartment and nursing his first mug of coffee for the day. As one-bedroom apartments went it was very nice, being located in the trendy Portobello area of Dublin and also not too far from Phoenix Park. But at the end of the day, it was only a one-bedroom apartment and Ruairi was getting tired of the same walls every day. At 31, he was still single and something he saw no possibility of changing in the foreseeable future. He'd had numerous liaisons and a few serious relationships but was currently single, a situation that stretched back before the start of the pandemic. By now, he'd expected to have been married and to possibly have a child, neither of which had happened. Well, he hoped that the latter hadn't happened and that he was unaware of it.

It was the weekend, but that didn't mean much anymore. The days and weeks seemed to roll into each other, with nothing to distinguish one from the next.

Ruairi was knocked out of his reverie by a knock on his door. As he went to see who was there, he tried to recall when there had last been someone at his door, but failed miserably. Possibly an Amazon delivery? He just couldn't remember.

Looking through the spyhole, he saw a young female Garda officer, who was just raising her hand to knock again. Ruairi quickly unlocked the door before opening it slightly against the chain.

"Yes?" he queried, looking at the young officer dressed in her unflattering uniform including what looked like a high-viz stab vest and with numerous items arranged on it and her belt.

"Are you Ruairi Blake?" she asked through the navy blue mask she was wearing, the colour nearly but not quite matching her uniform.

"Yes, that's me," he responded cautiously, wondering why the Garda would have any interest in him.

"Can I come in please, I've a number of questions I need to ask you," she replied.

Ruairi closed the door while he slid back the chain and then reopened it again, this time wider. Standing back, he let her in, unsure where this would lead. It's not like he'd been out of his apartment for more than a walk or a trip to the local supermarket for months. The weather was glorious at this time of year and Phoenix Park should be thronged with people, but the last time he'd walked that far it had been eerily empty with the Fallow Deer seemingly having the run of the place.

The young Garda officer entered his apartment, closing the door behind her. Ruairi led her into the main room of the apartment and indicated the small two-seat sofa before taking a seat in his armchair. She gestured to her facemask and Ruairi nodded his consent for her to remove it.

She removed her cap and placed it upside down on the coffee table before unhooking her facemask and putting it in her hat. "That's better," she declared. "I'm Gillian, by the way."

"Ruairi. But you obviously know that already. What can I do for you?" he asked, leaning back in his chair.

Leaning forward, Gillian came straight to the point. "What do you know about the American DuoHalo vaccine."

Ruairi was taken aback. Of all the questions he'd thought she might ask, that was definitely not one of them.

"Not much," he replied, guardedly. "I was recently talking to my cousin Dermot; he's a similar age to me and we grew up close to each other so he's more like my brother. Anyway, his sister, my cousin Aisling, is a graphic designer for Alphabet, you know Google, and is now working in the US. It seems that she's been vaccinated against DuoHalo and is now in a Team with an older man and two other women, but I don't know much more than that. Dermot was going on about the guy she's with; Andy Rook, I think he's called." Ruairi thought for a short while, "Yeah that's his name, Andy Rook. Seems he's some sort of writer that Dermot's into, although he writes under a pseudonym. Dermot did tell me the name he uses when he's writing, but I've not heard of him."

"And do you know why she's in a Team?" the young Garda officer asked.

"Dermot said something about it providing protection to this author fella. I didn't understand fully, but it seems that men can't receive the vaccine directly."

"OK. Now I need to collect a few bits of information," Gillian informed him, temporarily putting her phone on the table and retrieving her notebook and pen from a uniform pocket. "You're Ruairi Blake and you're 31?"

"Yes, that's correct," he replied, leaning forward in his seat.

"You live alone? No girlfriend?" Gillian continued; her eyes fixed on his.

Ruairi leaned forward. "Yes, and no, I don't have a girlfriend."

"Mmmm." Gillian made a note in her notebook. Then picking up her phone and looking at it, she continued "I see here that you work for the US company Equinix."

"Worked," Ruairi stated, his voice flat and emotionless. "They do datacentres and I managed the installation and commissioning team," he explained. "A few months into the lockdown, they 're-evaluated their business model'," here Ruairi made air quotes. "They decided that they wouldn't need any new datacentres for a while, given the high death rates, so let us all go," Ruairi said with a sigh. "I had a good team of people, too. Now scattered to the four winds, those that are still alive."

"You know that they've defaulted on their repayments for a couple of government development loans, don't you?" Gillian offered.

"Yeah, I heard something about that," Ruairi replied, wondering where this was leading. "I believe they were sailing a bit close to the wind, financially speaking, before the pandemic hit."

"It's probable that one or more of the datacentres will be forfeit to the government, so Ireland may own them soon," Gillian continued, still reading from her phone.

"I'd not heard that," Ruairi said, becoming more alert, "Although it's not unexpected, I suppose. I did hear that all the Americans that were over here got out pretty damn quick at the start of the pandemic, though. There was some talk about them losing part of their allowances if they stayed here."

"I can tell you that if the datacentres are forfeit, there will be a lot of new jobs, jobs for Irish residents," Gillian stated looking towards Ruairi, having glanced down at her phone. "Also, they're not the only US company likely to have their assets seized."

Ruairi's ears pricked up at that. "That would definitely be good news. Maybe there'd be a job for me there."

"Our government has already formed a holding company that will receive the assets from the different companies, should they be forfeit, although as yet it's only really a name and a registration number," she read from her phone. Looking up, she continued "I'm allowed to tell you that you're near the top of the list of those that are likely to be contacted, should our government declare the datacentres forfeit. I gather that Equinix are currently trying to retain control without making the required payments, though." Changing the subject, she asked, "Anyway, how have you been keeping yourself busy?"

"Other than doing what's necessary to live and keep my apartment in order, I've mostly either read or been gaming," Ruairi replied, pointing to his gaming rig, which was tucked away and only just visible from the seating area. Gillian got up and walked over to take a look.

"It looks a good rig. You game much?" she enquired.

"Yeah, but it can make me depressed as well. So many of my buddies aren't there anymore. This fecking virus has decimated my friends."

As Gillian turned, she knocked his gaming chair, which brought the multiple screens to life. Looking at the screens, Gillian exclaimed "Wait, you're 'RoughRider'?"

"Guilty as charged, m'lud," Ruairi deadpanned.

"I've seen you on the boards, but you're way too high for me to challenge. I'm not sure I've seen you on for a while, though."

"I've been playing a few different games recently, mostly as a pair with WonderWheels."

Gillian just stared at Ruairi in something close to awe as she returned to the sofa. "Anyway, back to the vaccine. Do you know a Naimh O'Sullivan?"

This was another question coming at Ruairi from left-field, which showed on his face. "Yes, she's one of my cousin Aisling's friends, he said, guardedly. "I think she's currently at her family's farm somewhere towards the west of Ireland. County Cork, I think, but it could be Tipperary."

"I can confirm that," Gillian stated, without confirming which county the O'Sullivan family farm was in. "Have you spoken to her recently"

"Yes. Why?" Ruairi was on high alert now.

"And have you spoken to her about the vaccine?" Gillian continued.

"Yes, but she knew about it from Aisling. She probably knows more than I do." Ruairi replied.

"When did you start talking to Naimh?"

Ruairi didn't know where the line of questioning was going, but thought that honesty would serve him best. "It started about four or five weeks ago. Dermot had a video chat with Aisling and her Team, or rather this Andy Rook's Team as I understand it is, which is when he first found out about the vaccine. He phoned me the following day and told me all about it. Finding out that there's a vaccine for the virus does mean that there's a possible light at the end of the tunnel, but even if it comes here, it's too fecking late for most of my friends." Ruairi became quiet for a moment, thinking about all his friends who had succumbed to the deadly virus. "Anyway," he eventually continued, "all of their deaths, together with not having a job but still having to pay for this place has taken it out of me. Don't get me wrong, I've been able to claim a bit from one of the Irish Government's schemes and also received a generous payoff from Equinix, but having nothing to do except reading and gaming all day kinda gets to you. Dermot picked up on my feelings and mentioned to Aisling that I was getting a bit depressed in a later call. As I understand it, she suggested to him that maybe she'd do something to try and cheer me up; she was always like that, even when we were kids. Over the next few days, I started receiving texts from a few of my cousin's female friends, eventually receiving regular messages from seven of them. These quickly developed to phone calls and the odd FaceTime. Naimh was one of those young women."

"And the other women were?" Gillian asked, pointedly.

"Um ... I can't see how that is pertinent to our discussion, do you?" Ruairi responded, again getting defensive.

"I'm trying to find out how far information regarding the vaccine has spread," Gillian explained. "If anything, it would be of benefit to these young women as they could be drawn into the vaccination programme sooner."

"Give me a minute," he offered. Ruairi retrieved his phone from the coffee table and quickly started to text, intending to send a message to each of the seven young women, informing them of what was going on. He sent his first message to Emma Ryan and, to his surprise, received an invitation to join a group chat before he'd even sent the second text, which he quickly accepted. Looking, he saw all seven of his cousin's friends were already there.

ER. > whats going on babes

DB. > garda here

DB. > want to know ur names

DB. > suggests u get vaccine sooner

ER. > OK by me

LD. > ditto

CW. > already waiting

NO. > no probs

SB. > do it i cant wait

LZ. > yesss

RM. > already in system

DM. > OK will do it

Ruairi opened the contacts list on his phone and read out their names to Gillian. "Well, there's Sarah Brennan, Laura Doyle, Rebecca McCarthy, Naimh O'Sullivan you already know about, Emma Ryan, Ciara Walsh and Li Zhang.

"Wait, wasn't Emma Ryan the young mountain biker that was a hot tip for the 2016 Olympics in Rio? Didn't she have a bad fall and not make it to the games?" Gillian exclaimed.

"Yeah, that's her. She's WonderWheels. I don't think she's ridden competitively since her fall."

Scrolling through the data on her phone, Gillian could see why she'd not ridden since. "You haven't Googled her at all?"

"No, why should I? She's a friend of Aisling's and I'm not planning on trolling any of them."

"Oh OK. Now I'm going to have to ask you to promise that you'll not disclose anything I say to anyone else. Is that clear?"

"Would anyone believe me?" Ruairi enquired.

"Probably not. So do you promise?"

"Yeah, I suppose so. I'm not in any trouble, am I?" Ruairi queried.

"No, nothing like that. I can now reveal that Ireland has been provided with an initial batch of the American vaccine to help us keep our society going, and I understand that this has a lot to do with the billions of dollars that have been invested here by the large American tech companies. To put this into perspective, the UK has also recently received an initial batch of vaccine, but we have received a higher percentage when compared with our pre-pandemic population." Ruairi noted that Gillian was again reading the information directly from her phone.

Ruairi leant back in his chair again. "OK, so the vaccine is here. What's this mean for me if I can't be vaccinated?"

"It is. And as you mentioned earlier, men can't be vaccinated directly, but can receive the protection indirectly from their partners. We've recently started to identify young women to be vaccinated to help protect our important men, which are becoming a scarce resource due to the virus, and at least two of the young women that you've been talking to have already been contacted. They haven't mentioned anything to you?"

"Not that I can remember. And I think I'd have remembered something like that." Ruairi's mind was busy, wondering which of the young women had already been contacted. Looking down at the messages on his phone, he re-read their comments, and identified Ciara Walsh and Rebecca McCarthy as the most probable.

"Well, There's a long questionnaire that they completed and part of this asks for their current relationship status. Two women have identified you as their boyfriend, which is why I was confused earlier when you told me that you currently don't have a girlfriend. I have a suspicion that if we were to ask them all, then you'd apparently have seven girlfriends."

Ruairi sat back in his chair again, a shocked expression on his face. He thoroughly enjoyed talking to his cousin's friends and now counted them amongst his own, but seven girlfriends? He then remembered that his cousin was now one of three women in a Team with Andy Rook. He wondered just how much Aisling had told each of them.

"Ruairi ... Ruairi."

He heard Gillian the second time she said his name. "It's a lot to take in," he observed.

"It is. Anyway, In America, the current rollout of the vaccine is being managed by the US Air Force and in the UK by the RAF. But here in Ireland, the Air Corps is just too small to handle anything like this. Instead, it's a combined operation between the Defence Forces and the Garda. That's why I'm here."

"OK, that makes sense. So how does this affect me?" Ruairi asked.

"You need to complete the Oracle questionnaire, and quickly. Some or all of these women want to be paired with you, but you're not yet in the system. Until you are, there's a possibility of them deciding to be paired with someone else."

"And this is real? I could be in a Team or whatever it's called with all of these young women?" Ruairi enquired.

"Probably more," Gillian replied. "But that's a conversation for another day." Looking around, she added "Although you'll probably only receive one or two of them while you're living here. After that, you'll need to be relocated."

"What? Where would I ... we go?" Ruairi enquired, wondering how much it might end up costing him.

"Not my problem. But I know some people are due to move as their Team has already grown too big. There are plans being discussed to modify properties to better suit larger numbers, for example knocking two 4-bed semis into an 8-bed detached house. From the discussions I've heard, though, the biggest problems are always with the kitchens and bathrooms, plus providing sufficient parking."

Ruairi laughed. "I can imagine."

Gillian then asked Ruairi for his phone number and sent him his unique code for the Oracle questionnaire by text, a ping on his phone confirming its receipt.

"Good luck, Mr Blake," Gillian said, whilst putting her phone and notebook into different pockets on her uniform. Standing, she retrieved her facemask and cap from the coffee table, putting both on and making to leave his apartment. Turning to him after opening his door, she offered "I'm 'PC69', by the way; my gaming handle. That's if you're interested." She then slipped out of the door, closing it behind her.

=======

Ruairi just sat for a few minutes. Did his cousin Aisling know what she was doing when she'd asked her friends to start talking to him? Picking up his coffee mug, still half full of what was by now cold coffee, he made his way to the kitchen sink to empty it out and to prepare a new one.

A fresh mug of coffee in hand, Ruairi made his way to his gaming rig, calling up the Oracle details on his phone and sending them to his main screen. Entering the code that Gillian had sent him, Ruairi started to complete the questionnaire, but he quickly felt that he needed to confirm which of Aisling's friends had already completed it, and what they had put for their current relationship status. Going onto the group chat, he typed a quick message into his phone.

DB. > who completed oracle

CW. > me

LZ. > what oracle

RM. > yes here

NO. > no but know what is

ER. > this morning

SB. > no

LD. > not yet

DB. > who put me as bf

RM. > me

CW. > me

ER. > me

ER. > u need 2 put us all as gf

DB. > u serious

ER. > yes 100% do it

This was followed by all the other young women also imploring him to put them down as his girlfriend.

Ruairi continued to complete the questionnaire, finding the first few questions to be relatively routine. One of the fields prompted him to link to a recent photograph of himself, so using his phone, he took a few pictures, sending them to his computer and selecting the best to upload.

The wording of one of the questions, though, was an eye-opener. It asked 'Would you consider yourself: monogamous, polyamorous, no preference?'. Considering what he'd been told to do and also what he understood about the vaccine and Teams, he selected 'Polyamorous'. Although to-date he'd not had more than one girlfriend at a time, thinking about the seven young women he was now regularly chatting to and who wanted to be his girlfriend, he knew he could quite easily grow to love each of them.

Following this was a question relating to his relationship status. Having selected 'Polyamorous' for the previous question, he now saw that there was a '+' on the form which would allow him to make multiple entries against this question. He quickly pressed this to give himself seven sets of fields into which he could enter the information for the seven young women. He then entered the name of each of them, selecting 'Relationship, M-F' from the pulldown menu provided against each of them, while indicating that each relationship had been for '<1' year. When he entered three of their names, those for Rebecca McCarthy, Emma Ryan and Ciara Walsh, the system automatically paired him with the profile for the correct young woman. For the others, most of their names weren't particularly unique and, if there was one or more unassigned woman with that name already in the system, Ruairi was presented with their details to confirm or otherwise that they were the correct person. It appeared, though, that none of the other women had yet completed the Oracle, so none of the matches found was a genuine match - instead, he was presented with additional fields that allowed him to input their personal mobile phone number, while other forms of identification from email and postal address to Facebook and LinkedIn profiles could also be entered.