She dialed, and when the click on the end of the line showed he had picked the phone up, she told Max what she had seen.
"No women, just the men," he repeated. "That right?"
"Yes."
"Probably it's chemically alien, inhibited by one of the female sex hormones. We'll try sex hormone shots, if we have to. Where are you calling from?"
She told him.
"That's right. Give Nucleocat Cureall another chance. It might work this time. Push that button."
She went to the panel and pushed the large red button. Through the long height of the Explorer, bells woke to life and began to ring in frightened clangor, emergency doors thumped shut, mechanical apparatus hummed into life and canned voices began to give rapid urgent directions.
A plague had come.
She obeyed the mechanical orders, went out into the hall and walked in line with the others. The captain walked ahead of her and the gorgeous Shelia Davenport fell into step beside her. "I look like a positive hag this morning. Does that mean I'm sick? Are we all sick?"