Jackson, Ferris, Adams, and Rougeau had landed more than five thousand kilometers from the contact site of the UMA and Yee Akadar’s compound. Between the Osprey and the shelter, they hustled to get out of the snowfall.
“I’m Captain Jackson, from the Earth Science Ship Maria Mitchell.”
“Greetings,” Yee Odalis said and crossed one furry arm across his chest. Jackson imitated the gesture while Dr. Ferris translated their conversation. It was a cumbersome at first but after a few minutes of Dr. Ferris doing twice the talking, it began to flow easily.
Odalis wore a cape but otherwise didn’t struggle with the weather conditions as the humans did. Jackson rarely dealt with snow, and when he did he usually wore boots to fit bindings of some sort depending on the sport he’d chosen for the day. This snow barely hit the ground before turning to slick ice under their feet.
Inside he took a deep breath of warm air and looked around at the décor and design of the Continental Health Organization headquarters. The rest of the crew also took in the sights while removing heavy field jackets. Austerity surrounded them as did pure function. Walls hadn’t been painted in decades and at that only painted in dusky white. He didn’t see any paintings or sculptures, photos, textiles, nor hear any music or see any moving images or other advanced technology. This population in the northern area of Cinco was not nearly as developed as the civilization living on the land mass at the middle latitude. This building didn’t harbor an indoor jungle.
“I surprised not UMA didn’t include our group in discussions with you.”
“Why is that?” Jackson asked. The group sat down in hard chairs, shorter legged than the first chairs they’d been introduced to, but still made to accommodate Cinconian physiology. As the party settled in, Jackson noticed the Cinconians in this building were half a dozen shades lighter than the group with UMA. In fact, Yee Odalis was downright white, but with black eyes, not blue like most white furred and feathered Earth beings or even like Yee Akadar.
“Some say it’s distance, some say power, some say money.” Jackson nodded. “Politics.” Odalis led them to a quiet room just off the small lobby.
“So, tell me what I can do for you,” Jackson said. “We were contacted by the UMA but there’s no reason CHO shouldn’t be part of the solution. I’d like to hear about the situation here in the north.”
“I thank you for meeting with us,” Odalis said, and three more Cinconians joined them at the meeting table. Shortly after that another person brought water and small, sweet baked nodules, something like cookies, to snack on. Bowls were handed out, pottery with handles on both sides. Jackson had been introduced to drinking from the bowls but the other three appeared confused. Jackson poured water in all the bowls and casually demonstrated for them.
“Captain Jackson,” Ferris translated, “these people are my colleagues; we will be your contact team regarding the plague.”
“Can you give me the history of your population, here?”
“We have maintained excellent records. This problem has been ongoing for several centuries now. I will start at the beginning.
“Three hundred and thirteen cycles in the past, some of the people who lived on the fourth world came to live here. Sky Raiders.”
“Can you say that again?” Jackson interrupted, leaning forward and checking with Ferris in silence, wondering if she’d gotten the gist of it correct.
“Three hundred and thirteen cycles before now, people from the world closer to the star came to live here. They said their world was sick and they moved off.”
“How did they get here?”
“They came in flying machines a dozen kilometers long. Our people were terrified at first.” Jackson wasn’t sure the translation was correct. Had Odalis just told him that Cuatrons had been space faring? He glanced at Ferris, Adams, and Rougeau, but only Jackson seemed to appreciate the gravity of the information. The other humans didn’t appear to be surprised since they simply maintained plain expressions and indulged in the sweets.
“Then no one cared. There were a few hundred, our people didn’t think it would be a problem, and we helped them. They were always cold, so we helped them make fireplaces and show how to make coats, but they were still always cold.”
“The fourth planet is much closer to the star,” Jackson said.
“They came here but they didn’t have fur, so of course they would be cold. They didn’t wear garments like your peoples do.”
“Not like you, and not like us?” Jackson asked.
“More like you according to our documents, but no one has pictures, just drawings.” One of Odalis’ colleagues passed a thick stack of paper documents towards Jackson. He glanced at them but had a thousand questions yet to ask.
“This information conflicts some with the UMA story,” Jackson said to Ferris.
“It seems to, yes, sir.”
“They brought the plague to us. They didn’t look sick when they got here but it wasn’t long before they were showing sickness, and in a few years, they were all dead. Every one of them.”
“But Cinconians became infected,” Dr. Adams slipped in. Ferris translated and Odalis made the familiar motion of cleaning a pane of glass.
“It appears that we had enough population that we weren’t all killed, but they didn’t. They all died, but not all of us died from it. We had to make fire to remove all of them and their things, but it was too late.”
“Sick people from the fourth planet brought the plague here?” Jackson repeated to confirm.
“They were trying to save their people because so many were dying on their planet. They thought getting away from the plague would stop it, but they were all sick when then came, and brought the sick with them.”
Jackson shifted around in his uncomfortable chair, unable to ignore the hard planks against his spine. He took some water to help clear his mind. This information answered part of the puzzle, but there had been no evidence that the people of Cuatro were space faring.
“You weren’t able to come up with drugs to cure it?”
“We tried! But we couldn’t find a way to get to everyone.”
“Did your people get medicine from someplace else? You obviously don’t all have the plague.”
“The Continental got medicine from the United about a hundred years ago. It worked well, and we thought the problem would be solved. It wasn’t. And they had a new medicine, and we thought that would work, and it did, but, it stopped working too.”
“So why did you contact us directly? Why aren’t you partnered with the UMA?” Jackson asked.
“Differences in our management of the plague have caused a significant divide. The people who brought the disease came to our land, not theirs. They don’t want us in their territory.”
“It’s not your fault,” Adams said.
“We asked others for help. The small primates came to help, but all they did was kill the sick, like we still do today, but they didn’t offer people a choice. Anyone with symptoms was killed right away. They called themselves Kee Yanns.” The four humans all exchanged subtle glances.
“I’m surprised your efforts didn’t eradicate the plague,” Adams said. Yee Odalis turned to the doctor to answer.
“We did not have ability communicate across whole world then. It continued to spread no matter how many pockets of people we contacted and treated.”
“We can help, but the CHO and UMA must be working together on this. It will never resolve if you don’t unite,” Jackson said. He drew a deep breath and helped himself to one of the sweet dough balls. “Yee Odalis, can we find a neutral place where you and Yee Akadar of the UMA, can meet and work together on a plan of attack with our medical team? What would you suggest?”
“Greetings,” Yee Odalis said and crossed one furry arm across his chest. Jackson imitated the gesture while Dr. Ferris translated their conversation. It was a cumbersome at first but after a few minutes of Dr. Ferris doing twice the talking, it began to flow easily.
Odalis wore a cape but otherwise didn’t struggle with the weather conditions as the humans did. Jackson rarely dealt with snow, and when he did he usually wore boots to fit bindings of some sort depending on the sport he’d chosen for the day. This snow barely hit the ground before turning to slick ice under their feet.
Inside he took a deep breath of warm air and looked around at the décor and design of the Continental Health Organization headquarters. The rest of the crew also took in the sights while removing heavy field jackets. Austerity surrounded them as did pure function. Walls hadn’t been painted in decades and at that only painted in dusky white. He didn’t see any paintings or sculptures, photos, textiles, nor hear any music or see any moving images or other advanced technology. This population in the northern area of Cinco was not nearly as developed as the civilization living on the land mass at the middle latitude. This building didn’t harbor an indoor jungle.
“I surprised not UMA didn’t include our group in discussions with you.”
“Why is that?” Jackson asked. The group sat down in hard chairs, shorter legged than the first chairs they’d been introduced to, but still made to accommodate Cinconian physiology. As the party settled in, Jackson noticed the Cinconians in this building were half a dozen shades lighter than the group with UMA. In fact, Yee Odalis was downright white, but with black eyes, not blue like most white furred and feathered Earth beings or even like Yee Akadar.
“Some say it’s distance, some say power, some say money.” Jackson nodded. “Politics.” Odalis led them to a quiet room just off the small lobby.
“So, tell me what I can do for you,” Jackson said. “We were contacted by the UMA but there’s no reason CHO shouldn’t be part of the solution. I’d like to hear about the situation here in the north.”
“I thank you for meeting with us,” Odalis said, and three more Cinconians joined them at the meeting table. Shortly after that another person brought water and small, sweet baked nodules, something like cookies, to snack on. Bowls were handed out, pottery with handles on both sides. Jackson had been introduced to drinking from the bowls but the other three appeared confused. Jackson poured water in all the bowls and casually demonstrated for them.
“Captain Jackson,” Ferris translated, “these people are my colleagues; we will be your contact team regarding the plague.”
“Can you give me the history of your population, here?”
“We have maintained excellent records. This problem has been ongoing for several centuries now. I will start at the beginning.
“Three hundred and thirteen cycles in the past, some of the people who lived on the fourth world came to live here. Sky Raiders.”
“Can you say that again?” Jackson interrupted, leaning forward and checking with Ferris in silence, wondering if she’d gotten the gist of it correct.
“Three hundred and thirteen cycles before now, people from the world closer to the star came to live here. They said their world was sick and they moved off.”
“How did they get here?”
“They came in flying machines a dozen kilometers long. Our people were terrified at first.” Jackson wasn’t sure the translation was correct. Had Odalis just told him that Cuatrons had been space faring? He glanced at Ferris, Adams, and Rougeau, but only Jackson seemed to appreciate the gravity of the information. The other humans didn’t appear to be surprised since they simply maintained plain expressions and indulged in the sweets.
“Then no one cared. There were a few hundred, our people didn’t think it would be a problem, and we helped them. They were always cold, so we helped them make fireplaces and show how to make coats, but they were still always cold.”
“The fourth planet is much closer to the star,” Jackson said.
“They came here but they didn’t have fur, so of course they would be cold. They didn’t wear garments like your peoples do.”
“Not like you, and not like us?” Jackson asked.
“More like you according to our documents, but no one has pictures, just drawings.” One of Odalis’ colleagues passed a thick stack of paper documents towards Jackson. He glanced at them but had a thousand questions yet to ask.
“This information conflicts some with the UMA story,” Jackson said to Ferris.
“It seems to, yes, sir.”
“They brought the plague to us. They didn’t look sick when they got here but it wasn’t long before they were showing sickness, and in a few years, they were all dead. Every one of them.”
“But Cinconians became infected,” Dr. Adams slipped in. Ferris translated and Odalis made the familiar motion of cleaning a pane of glass.
“It appears that we had enough population that we weren’t all killed, but they didn’t. They all died, but not all of us died from it. We had to make fire to remove all of them and their things, but it was too late.”
“Sick people from the fourth planet brought the plague here?” Jackson repeated to confirm.
“They were trying to save their people because so many were dying on their planet. They thought getting away from the plague would stop it, but they were all sick when then came, and brought the sick with them.”
Jackson shifted around in his uncomfortable chair, unable to ignore the hard planks against his spine. He took some water to help clear his mind. This information answered part of the puzzle, but there had been no evidence that the people of Cuatro were space faring.
“You weren’t able to come up with drugs to cure it?”
“We tried! But we couldn’t find a way to get to everyone.”
“Did your people get medicine from someplace else? You obviously don’t all have the plague.”
“The Continental got medicine from the United about a hundred years ago. It worked well, and we thought the problem would be solved. It wasn’t. And they had a new medicine, and we thought that would work, and it did, but, it stopped working too.”
“So why did you contact us directly? Why aren’t you partnered with the UMA?” Jackson asked.
“Differences in our management of the plague have caused a significant divide. The people who brought the disease came to our land, not theirs. They don’t want us in their territory.”
“It’s not your fault,” Adams said.
“We asked others for help. The small primates came to help, but all they did was kill the sick, like we still do today, but they didn’t offer people a choice. Anyone with symptoms was killed right away. They called themselves Kee Yanns.” The four humans all exchanged subtle glances.
“I’m surprised your efforts didn’t eradicate the plague,” Adams said. Yee Odalis turned to the doctor to answer.
“We did not have ability communicate across whole world then. It continued to spread no matter how many pockets of people we contacted and treated.”
“We can help, but the CHO and UMA must be working together on this. It will never resolve if you don’t unite,” Jackson said. He drew a deep breath and helped himself to one of the sweet dough balls. “Yee Odalis, can we find a neutral place where you and Yee Akadar of the UMA, can meet and work together on a plan of attack with our medical team? What would you suggest?”
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