Symbiosis: Chapter 27

“Sick bay to Jackson,” the intercom squawked. “Captain, I need to see you right away in sick bay,” Dr. Adams called. The urgency of Adams’ voice startled Tom out of bed.

“On my way,” he answered while pulling on a shirt.

“It’s 23:00, what could be that important?” Rianya mumbled. In the dark, he couldn’t see her.

“I’m sorry, did I wake you up?”

“No, Dr. Adams did.”

“I wonder why he’s up at this hour?” Tom grumbled and left their quarters for the sick bay. From 22:00 to 06:00, he ordered lighting at half power to conserve energy and keep the crew on a schedule of sixteen hours of light, and eight hours of darkness with safety lights only.

The door to sick bay opened and he walked in without breaking his stride.

“What’s so important it couldn’t wait until morning?” Tom asked. Adams simply waved him over to a monitor displaying colorful worm shapes that swarmed and slowly moved.

“I have some disturbing news. I’m not sure how to break it to you.”

“Disturbing?” Tom’s stomach jumped into his throat.

“It’s about the mummy.” He sighed and found a chair to sit on, then yawned and shook his head a little.

“Oh, is that all? I was afraid you were going to tell me Rianya’s pregnant.”

“I’m serious, Captain.”

“So am I.”

“The mixed up human mummy died of a Yersinia infection.” The doctor didn’t bear a hint of humor on his face. His eyes were pained, somber, and intense. Behind his head the moving image of Yersinia, magnified at least a thousand times, reminded Jackson of the morbid gravity of their mission.

“How can that be? Are you sure? It wasn’t an animal bite or a head wound, or-”

“He obviously contracted it and carried it to the Cuatrons.”

“How do you know the Cuatrons didn’t infect him? Which came first, the chicken or the egg?”

“I don’t know, but I believe this person, mostly human, some mixed races, contracted Yersinia on Earth, brought it to Cuatro. They were quick to die out.”
Tom didn’t know what to say. He opened his mouth but words didn’t come out. He stood and got himself a glass of water and came back to face Adams.

“How did a mixed species person bring Yersinia from Earth several hundred years ago? Even time travel can’t explain that. He couldn’t be that age and be a mixed species.”

“We don’t know for sure if Earth was alone that long. There could have been aliens on Earth in the fourteenth century.”

Tom refilled his glass and came back to stare at Adams for a moment before he could put thoughts together.

“You’re certain this body brought the plague, not Kiians or Pegasi, as a biological weapon so they could play both sides.”

“The body is dated to Earth year 1345-1355. The Plague was absolutely rampant then in Europe.”

“But the body didn’t mummify eight hundred years ago. Only four hundred years ago. And the extinction wasn’t eight hundred years ago, it was also four hundred years ago. We lost four hundred years somewhere.”

“That’s why I called you down, Jack. I need you to help me with a timeline.” Adams tapped the monitor; the screen promptly turned black.

“Can we do this tomorrow? I had a pint of Guinness an hour ago and my brain is not fully engaged, Doc.”

“You’re a lightweight. Come to sick bay first thing in the morning.

“I always come on duty at oh seven hundred. After I get the bridge running I’ll be here.”

“Goodnight, Jack.”

~~~

“Doc, what if we have it backwards? What if this body brought Yersinia to Earth in 1350, maybe as a biological weapon, and then came back to Cuatro.”

“That doesn’t explain why Cuatrons went extinct. Plus, remember, the mummy is mostly human.”

“This is the most confounding thing I’ve ever heard of. We’re just guessing at this point. Someone must have answers, someone on Cuatro or on Cinco.” Jackson leaned back in the chair and scowled at nothing. Behind him just the blackness of space reflected in the window, but before him the fifth planet of Eta Cassiopeia glowed in a greenish blue haze covered in transparent white clouds. The planet didn’t have nearly the ratio of water to land as Earth, with double the land surface. Lower moisture, thinner atmosphere, its features had different visibility from orbit.

“Did you talk with Rianya about this?”

“No, why? She was asleep when I went back last night. She never gets enough sleep; I actually got up alone this morning.”

“I don’t want to talk about the Cinconians or Cuatrons right now. I want to talk about your wife.”

Tom sat up and focused on the old man’s face. Tiny lines around his eyes and deep grooves on his forehead agreed with his eight decades of age. Living with an empath and her mother he’d learned to read body language and facial expressions beyond the average human's abilities. The doctor never looked so grave.

“What’s wrong?” The doctor wouldn’t meet Tom’s eyes. “Doc?”

“I know she was taking initiative, trying to find out about the genome of the mummy--”

“She ruined it?” The doctor shook his head. “She what?”

“She handled the body. She may have exposed the whole ship, including herself, you, the children.”

“How do you know?”

“She told me. She didn’t use sterile attire, not even gloves. I don’t know what possessed her to do it, I have no idea.”

“From a mummified 400 year-old dead body she could get infected by Yersinia?”

“In the case of this mummy, without any lesions on the skin, it points to the airborne transmission, the pneumonic plague, not the bubonic plague. There have been cases where a person contracted it just handling the tissues. She handled its blood. Its blood, Jack.”

“Well get her down here and let’s find out!” Tom stood up so fast his chair rolled back and hit the wall.

“Wait, hold on, don’t panic. I don’t want anyone else to know unless we have proof. But we need to find out today, this morning, yesterday in fact. The saving grace is that this genus of bacteria is not spore forming, and without water it perishes. It simply depends on how dry the spleen was when she invaded it.”

“You mean you scared the pants off me for nothing?!”

“Ask Rianya to come down here. I need to do some tests, I want her to think you’re getting the same tests, I don’t want her to worry unnecessarily.”

“But it’s okay for me to worry unnecessarily,” Tom grumbled. He took a few deep breaths trying to regain brain function and calm down his adrenaline factory.

“I know you Jack. I don’t know Rianya. In fact, since she’s not a human, I can’t be sure what we’re going to find. She might be more vulnerable or completely immune. But given this mixed-race human had it, and died of it, that’s what worries me.”

Tom’s anxiety ratcheted up again. He stepped over to the sick bay intercom and called his quarters.

“Rianya,” she answered.

“Hey, Love,” Tom said as calmly as possible. Just knowing that he was going to mislead her would change his voice enough for her to notice.

“Tom? You’re in sick bay?”

“Doc wants to run some tests. Can you come down here first thing?”

“What kind of tests?”

“I uh, don’t know, he just asked me to call you.”

“What’s going on?” Dammit. He knew she’d hear between his words.

“Come on down, please.”

“’Lara is up, I have to bring her with me.” Tom looked at Adams to catch his reaction to Rianya’s words. He spread his hands in defenselessness. Tom squirmed and closed his eyes.

“Okay, just come straight away.” Tom closed the com and saw the doctor from the corner of his eye still somber, looking at his desktop and ignoring a cup of something still steaming in front of him.

“You can treat it, right?” the captain asked.

“I can treat the humans. It’s treating aliens that complicate matters.”

“The pneumonia plague bug is the same bug on Cinco?” Adams nodded and finally reached for the beverage.

“I already treated the landing parties. I’m going to treat everyone on the ship prophylactically, but I’m not sure what to do yet with Rianya and Zalara.” Tom sat down slowly, grinding the thumb and one finger of one hand together before covering his mouth and chin. He hadn’t felt so nauseous since his wedding day. It wasn’t a physical illness, but a mental terror that raised the hairs on his arms and clenched his jaws. Death by bacteria held no honor or purpose.

“Jack?” Tom, sitting like a statue, moved only his gaze up to the doctor’s face. “Are you alright?” Tom shook his head ever so slightly and closed his eyes against the world. The back of his tongue grew salty and could feel a sting rising from his gut. A moment later, Adams pushed a glass of water at him and a plastic emesis bowl. Immediately the doctor put a few clear drops of something into the water and pushed it into Tom’s hand. “Drink it, fast,” he said.

Tom sipped at the water and the sensation faded abruptly. Then he drank some more to make sure it wouldn’t come back. He nodded and set the tumbler down.

“It’s serious, but don’t worry. I won’t let Yersinia win,” Adams said with another pat on the captain’s back he left Tom alone.