17 Erbe 1117: Gashuumi – Tlianke/Hinterworlds (1206 B527769-7 O:1104 923 Na M4 V M9 D)
I don’t remember much about today. I remember the medoc opening and someone helping me out and onto an emergency sled, then being led through the ship. I was still groggy from whatever the medoc had been giving me.
We didn’t go outside; Gashuumi’s atmosphere is too thin to breathe without a mask, and that’s before you consider the fact that the atmosphere is high in spores from the local plant life. An allergic reaction was the last thing I needed right now.
Instead, we went through a tunnel to the main starport complex. There, the e-sled I was on was loaded into an air-raft. A Tlianke technician busied himself with hooking me up to some equipment as the woman who had been guiding the sled, who I suddenly realized I hadn’t recognized and who had never said anything, quickly left.
“Huh?” I said, trying to talk. I felt numb and weak, but at least it seemed to be keeping my coughing down. “Wha? Where am…”
“You’re ok, um, Captain Kodai,” said the technician, still attaching leads to my arm and chest. “You’re at Gashport; the Gashuumi downport. We’re getting all of you to the med-center here. Now hang on while I get this attached.” He wrapped some kind of cuff around my upper arm, and I started as several needles seemed to bite into my skin.
“Sorry,” he said. “We need to get this stuff into you faster than we can with a dermal transfer. Now, rest.”
Someone else entered the air-raft, and I looked to see a second sled being pushed in; this one holding Shelly. She had a technician with her holding a medical device of some kind that was attached to a mask she was wearing.
“That’s it!” said a second tech who had been pushing the sled. “Get them to med.” She immediately jumped out the back of the air-raft, and the hatch started closing.
I tried to ask about Shelly but only could make some inarticulate noises. I was falling asleep again. I barely had time to register that a third sled, holding Reina, was also in the vehicle before I passed back out.
—-
I don’t know how long I was out, but I came to to see Saahna hovering over me. “Derek? Derek, can you hear me?”
My whole body felt both numb and on fire, when I wasn’t feeling as if I was freezing. I wasn’t sure what was happening.
“Yeah?” I managed to get out through lips and tongue that didn’t seem to want to move. “How… how are we? The ship?”
I saw her visibly relax in relief. “Thank all the gods you’re ok. We’re all worried about you, but they only let me in here.”
“Are we… ok?”
She nodded. “Yeah, the ship is down safely. All of the rest of us have been scanned, and we’re clear of the toxin that hit you. Jami is working with the Starport staff to get things fixed. We’re probably going to have to do a full overhaul on the Jump Drive.”
“And Shelly? And Reina?”
“Ms. Dradon has already been released,” she said. “It’s you and Shelly we’re worried about.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Not without treatment, you won’t,” came another voice. I looked over to see a woman in a Tlianke jumpsuit approaching. “I’m Doctor Raster. You and Ms. Tharis were both exposed to a highly dangerous, tailored nano-phage. Both of you need full cellular regeneration treatment.”
It took a second for that to register. “Anagathics?”
“Yes, but in this case, the anti-aging benefits are secondary. Anagathics work by…”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I interrupted. I felt terrible and just wanted to go back to sleep. “They fix your DNA so that your cells go back to normal.”
“Yes, pretty much. It’s a bit more complicated than that in that you have to get a correct DNA profile to begin with, but that’s close enough. The toxin you and your crew were exposed to is doing the opposite; it’s destroying your DNA. An anagathic treatment will arrest and repair the damage.”
I wasn’t following. “Well fine then, let’s do that.”
The doctor looked between Saahna and me. “Anagathics… aren’t cheap. And they aren’t covered by Basic.”
I groaned. It was always about the credits, wasn’t it?
I looked at Saahna. “You still have access to the Grayswandir‘s computer, right?”
“Um… yes?”
“Don’t worry, I know you still have full access from when we got compromised. Look up our finances and do what you need to do. If we have to start back with just the cargo we’re carrying… we’ll survive.”
I fell back onto the bunk and closed my eyes. I was so tired.
“Do what you have to do,” I said, waving a hand in what I thought was the direction of the doctor.
“Thank you, Captain Kodai,” I heard her say. “Your crew did not want to commit to the treatment without consulting you first.”
I groaned. Of all the times to suddenly start worrying about that. “Yeah, fine. Do it.”
I heard her move away, then felt Saahna lean over me. I opened my eyes to see her only a few centimeters away. There were tears in her eyes.
“This,” she said. “This is why I didn’t want things serious between us. I can’t say goodbye again. I can’t.”
She abruptly stood up, turned away sharply, and left the room.
I looked over at Doctor Raster, who seemed unperturbed by what had happened.
“Very well,” she asked. “Shall we begin?”
I was still trying to register what had just happened, but stepped forward and placed a dermal feed on my arm. I faded out before I could think anymore.