Chapter 78 - The Diagnosis
"Did you sleep at all last night?" Miranda asked her sister as she walked into Toria’s workroom, "You don’t look it."
"I’ve been trying to figure this out," Toria told her sister, "The symptoms don’t make sense with what everyone has been saying it was."
"It wouldn’t surprise me," Miranda said, "Ari Coblein didn’t particularly impress me."
"Me either," Toria said, "Luckily he’s sulking in his room or something. I haven’t seen him since I pushed him out last night."
"Well," Miranda said, pulling up a chair, "Have you figured out anything new?"
"I know it’s not a virus," Toria said, "The symptoms don’t fit. I’ve been reading all night on them. Not to mention he has almost no fever that I can determine."
"No fever?" Miranda said, "So what is causing the delusions?"
"That’s the part that doesn’t fit," Toria told her, "The only time I’ve ever seen delusions with a viral problem are when they have high fevers. Viruses don’t affect the mind directly, they cause the immune system to burn the body up, basically."
"So what else could it be," Miranda asked her, "If it isn’t a virus?"
"I’ve been thinking about that," Toria said, "I ran into something years ago that gave symptoms close to this, but I don’t think that even Coblein is incompetent enough to do what caused it."
"What’s that?" Miranda wondered, "Something he could have done to cause this?"
"There was a drug used many years ago called mellemaic," Toria explained, "It was cheap to produce and was widely used on minor fevers and head ailments. It was even occasionally used for reaction headaches like Medoferro’s."
"Why have I not heard of it then?"
"Because," Toria said, "It was pulled off the market before we were born. It has a nearly thirty percent allergic reaction rate and degrades short term memory. In high enough doses it can even send a person into madness."
"How do you know this?" Miranda asked her sister, "And why had you dealt with it?"
"There are still supplies around," Toria said, "Back in my first years as a medico here, when you were a toddler, someone brought a child to me that had eaten a bottle of mellemaic pills. I fought for a week to bring her back around."
"You don’t think Coblein was giving Massimaferro mellemaic, do you?" Miranda said, "He may be arrogant, but he can’t be that bad a Medico."
"No reputable Medico uses that drug anymore," Toria said, "They pulled Mellemaic for good when they brought out wophkeneprin. It does a lot of what Mellemaic did and has a less than two percent reaction rate. The reactions don’t tend to be as severe either."
"Is there any way we can test for mellemaic presence?" Miranda asked, "Does it stay in the blood?"
"Yes!" Toria exclaimed, "I have been up too long. I forgot about that. Mellemaic in the blood causes a violent reaction with chlorine. Can you be a dear and get me a sample of Massimaferro’s blood?"
"Sure," Miranda said, "Be back in a couple. Need some coffee or tea?"
"Not right now, thanks," Toria said, "Is anyone else awake yet?"
"Suvorov is," Miranda told her, "He took over for Stacy. Medo and Simon are still out, probably will be for a bit."
"Let them sleep," Toria told her, "If I’m right they’ll wake up soon enough. The books say that the reaction is loud."
"Right," Miranda nodded and went out into the main room.
"How goes, Miranda?" Rav asked her.
"Not too bad," Miranda said, "Gotta go draw a blood sample if you want to watch."
"I’ll come in," Suvorov nodded, "Someone has to restrain him if he starts raving again."
"Right," Miranda said.
They walked into the secure room to find that Massimaferro was indeed awake and raving a bit. His current target of tirade was Ari Coblein, who was sitting there trying to take his temperature.
"I know what you want!" Massimaferro ranted, "You want me to die! You want my lifeblood!"
"Nonsense, dear Massimaferro," Coblein said, "I merely wish to check on your temperature."
"My temperature is fine you twit!" Massimaferro yelled, "Now go back to your den of iniquity before I have you thrown out!"
Miranda and Suvorov looked at each other and had trouble keeping themselves from laughing. Massimaferro’s delusions had brought him into a state of mind seen in a photoplay from many years before. It was an old photoplay that Miranda particularly liked and remembered well.
"Dear lord of the manor," Miranda said, letting her tongue ride the words a little, "I am but a servant girl and request a minor thing from you.
"Are you all daft?" Coblein said, "What are you…"
"Shut up, Coblein," Suvorov told him quietly, "Let her work."
"Certainly, my young mistress," Massimaferro said, not really seeing Miranda but talking to her anyway, "What can I do for you, my lovely?"
"There has been a disaster master," Miranda said, playing to the hilt, "The only thing that can prevent it from all falling in on us is a bit of your lifeblood, enough to consecrate the ground and make it holy again…"
"By all means child!" Massimaferro exclaimed, "I may not be able to give much, but if it will prevent such evil I will give what I can."
"That is all I ask, sire," Miranda said, going over and pulling the blood draw she needed, "Thank you, sir."
"Go now, child," Massimaferro said, lying back down and starting to mumble, "I have done all I can…"
Massimaferro was out again and the three of them went back outside the room to talk about what had just happened. Coblein was a bit annoyed that a young girl had managed to do better in there than he did.
"How did you do that?" Coblein said, "I was just trying to take his temperature!"
"He was living in a photoplay from memory," Miranda told him, "Toria wanted a blood draw, so I got it as best I could."
"What on earth does she want that for?" Coblein asked, "You can’t detect virus by blood tests!"
"She doesn’t think it is a virus," Miranda explained, "She thinks it might be mellemaic poisoning. She wants the blood draw to test."
"I never gave him mellemaic," Coblein said, though he was a bit shaken, "Is she sure?"
"Not yet," Miranda said, "She will be once she tests the blood."
"Let me know what you find," Coblein said, departing quickly, "I will be in my room."
"I’ll be here," Suvorov said, "In case he wakes up again."
Miranda nodded and brought the sample in to Toria’s workshop, where she was putting the final components for the test together and putting them in a blast pot, specially designed for tests like this that could get reactive. Toria looked up to see her sister, who presented the vial with a smile.
"Any problems?" Toria asked.
"Nope," Miranda said, "He was raving at Coblein. I played his game and he gave the sample willingly."
"Good," Toria nodded, "Might want to get back. The books say this could be reactive if it is positive."
Miranda nodded and went over by the door. Toria prepared a sample and put it on to a disposable test strip. She then moved the glass as far as she could away from the testing area. Toria smiled and put on a protective apron and mask and used tongs to lower the test strip into the vat and stepped back.
"I guess you were wrong," Miranda said after a minute with no reaction.
Toria said nothing for a few moments, watching the pot. Finally she covered her ears and watched. Miranda looked at her sister and did the same, just in time. The vat containing the test let off a loud noise, shooting the top up into the ceiling and leaving a little bit of a fire in the vat that burned itself out quickly.
Toria went over and put another top on the vat, fully extinguishing the fire as some of the others came rushing into the room. Medoferro and Simon were the first, rushing in, their hands in ready stance. They looked for the source of the danger and found none.
"What the hell was that?"
Simon asked, "Something exploded?"
"It was proof," Toria said, "Massimaferro’s sickness isn’t a virus. Someone has been feeding him mellemaic."
"Coblein," Medoferro said, his now refreshed mind making the connection, "Where is he?"
"He said he was going to his room," Miranda said, "Just a couple minutes ago…"
Medoferro and Simon rushed over there, soon followed by Suvorov. They found the room that Ari Coblein had stayed in last night and it was empty, only a window open to show that Coblein had been through there. Medoferro cursed a few times and looked at Suvorov.
"Get any guards you can find and get that son of a bitch," Medoferro said, "He can’t have gone far."
"Right," Survorov said, "I’m on it."
"I’ll go get Roland," Simon said, "He needs to be in on this."
"Miranda," Medoferro said, "Go through Coblein’s stuff. Look for what he used."
"I’ll go see if I can start turning the tide on this stuff," Toria volunteered.
"Where are you going, Medo?" Miranda asked him.
"Hunting," Medoferro growled, "I’m going to see if I can use my power to find the rotten son of a bitch."