Day Five Hundred Forty Two #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

Elijah and I went ashore to follow up the lead that P brought to us yesterday. I was struck by how few people were walking about – given the size of the buildings and the sprawl of the city in all directions, there should have been a teeming population everywhere we turned.

It went a long way to explain the man power shortages down at the port.

And our arrival at the city hospital answered the other question we hadn’t thought to ask. Why?

P had heard that this hospital was run by some followers of Hamashiach. And so it proved to be true.

We were not allowed in, but they came out to us.

Thus we learned about the plague.

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Day Four Hundred Fifty Nine #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

Elijah convinced me to accompany him ashore in search of Emil. This despite the Captain’s first inclination to leave post haste. Elijah persuaded him that it should prove fruitful to see to the provisioning of the ship.

In this he acquiesced, but unstated I knew his overarching concern was the potential return of the robotic warship.

Elijah led us to Emil’s residence. Along the way, I noticed an unfamiliar phenomenon – the shadows of people etched into the hard surface of the pavement. Unnerving.

The entrance to Emil’s home was on the ground floor of a building. We descended several levels from there. Elijah explained that the entire population though small, lived underground.

Emil and all his belongings were gone.

Day Four Hundred Fifty Five #DiaryoftheEndoftheWorld

My time ashore yesterday had been brief and under heavy surveillance, more than on the ship where one of them watched all of us. Ashore it seemed like each of us had its own team of three, scrutinizing our every move.

In short order with my reporting done I was back on the ship.

It was an uneasy night. A battery of spotlights were trained on the ship the whole time.

And we have endured more waiting today. Elijah queried me about what I saw. By my estimation I believe the population of this port is even smaller than its sister city. Are they trying to hide that fact?

By sundown the three containers were secured aboard.

Tomorrow we leave.