It would take them three days at top non-jump speed to reach the colony. They transmitted their status to the DSMC, receiving a trans-light response the next day. Backup forces from the ISNC were on the way to help but wouldn’t arrive for several Earth days.
Emi busied herself double-checking her supplies one last time and familiarizing herself with their locations. Of the three vessels, the Bight had the largest and best-equipped sick bay, but the Braynow Gaston had more lab facilities, able to run more complex testing much faster than she could. As the three ships settled into orbit around the planet, locking into a position relative to the colony, they had still not received a reply from below.
Emi sat at the scanners and compared the readings to the records she had. “I’m showing human life forms.” She tweaked the settings. “Can’t tell for sure, but in approximately the same numbers we should be seeing.”
Aaron’s businesslike frown bothered her. He’d slipped into full captain mode, which made it harder to read him. He reached over and activated the com link. “Hey, Rob, it’s Aaron.” The captains had dropped the formalities over the weeks, making it easier to work together.
“Yeah, go ahead.”
“You’re further back in orbit than we are. Can you lock onto their com satellite?”
“Hold on, let me check.” He came back a moment later. “Yeah, we need to shift orbit a bit. Why?”
“Can you pull it in and take a look at it? See if there’s anything wrong with it? Or at least dump its memory into your computer and see if we can retrieve the whole message?”
“Sure. Give us an hour.”
Aaron sat back and stared at the front vid screens. The planet looked remarkably similar to Earth, only with more land mass, two gigantic continents surrounded by a freshwater ocean. If plans for its development succeeded, it could provide a lot of food for this section of the galaxy. The planet’s life forms hadn’t evolved to intelligent humanoids yet. The highest apex predators were reptiles similar to dinosaurs, but none larger than a big dog. Mammals were limited to birdlike animals and small, rodent-like creatures, and the oceans teemed with a variety of sea life suitable for human consumption.
The area settled had been picked for a variety of reasons, including climate, soil, and commonality of habitat. The DSMC wanted to balance sound ecological practices with their need to expansively develop the planet and didn’t want to wipe out any native species if they could possibly avoid it.
“What are you thinking?” she asked him.
“I don’t want us to go down there without knowing as much as we can first.”
“Well, they’re not dead. At least, most of them aren’t.”
“Yet.”
“That’s a creepy thought. We need to get down there.” The doctor in her wanted to be on the way down there ASAP, worried lives might be lost because of the delay.
“We can’t walk in there without knowing what’s going on.”
“What about an unmanned drone?”
“I want to see what Rob comes up with first.”
It felt like a long wait. The com link whistled when Rob hailed them less than an hour later.
“We got it. The same message the DSMC received, and it cut off in the same place. There’s nothing wrong with the satellite. Whatever happened went down at ground level, during transmission. I had it ping back and didn’t receive a response from its base.”
Aaron stared out the front vid screens, deep in thought. “What kind of com traffic did it have before?”
“Nothing spectacular, outbound and inbound reports, mostly data links. The usual.”
“What do you think?”
“I think we have to land. Sending in a drone will only waste more time.”
“Emi and I will go.” Elloy started to protest, but Aaron cut him off. “Rob, no offense to Donna, but Emi has more skills than she does. We need Emi on the ground to evaluate the situation, and I’m not letting her go without me. I need you up here in case there’s a problem.”
“At least let me send Greg and Sam with you for backup.”
John Tarrence from the Braynow Gaston sounded off. “Why don’t you take one of my guys?”
Rob said it before Aaron could. “Because my guys have combat experience, and we might need all three of you working in the labs. We can’t spare your guys to go down there yet. Besides, there’s only three of you, and two need to stay onboard. He’d still need one of my guys anyway. It doesn’t make sense to waste time picking crew up from two ships.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t worry,” Rob said, amusement in his voice. “You guys will get your turn to explore soon enough.”
Aaron mulled it over. “Okay. We’ll leave at their dawn, that’s in,” he consulted the computer, “twelve hours our time. Emi and I will come over and pick your guys up then.”
“Roger. Out.”
Emi prepared for the vocal protests from Caph and Ford as soon as Aaron disconnected the com link. Sure enough, they didn’t disappoint. Their twin voice sounded, perfectly in tune.
“There’s no way you’re going! I’ll go!” the men protested then scowled at each other.
Aaron shook his head. “We need two on board to run the ship.” His face hardened. “As Captain, I’m making this an order. I go, you two stay.”
The twins shut up despite their angry scowls. From the tense set of their shoulders, Emi knew they felt less than happy about the decision, but they would obey their captain.
Emi and Caph spent the evening loading supplies into the lander, including scanners, basic first aid supplies, protective hazard suits, and decontamination units. She thought she was done until Aaron stuck his head inside the door and glanced at the neatly stacked items.
“How many weapons?”
“None.”
He shook his head. “Two side arms per person, one rifle per, a case of grenades, and three cases of cartridges for the weapons.”
Her eyes widened. “You can’t be serious!”
“I am.” He looked around one more time. “And restraints. Add a case of energy shackles. Just to be on the safe side.”
He disappeared. Emi wasn’t happy about his decree, the scientist and doctor in her wanting to think the best, not the worst, but she added the items to their inventory.
She got very little sleep that night, the delay in getting to the surface pecking at her conscience. The next morning, they hugged and kissed Caph and Ford in the cargo bay before they sealed themselves into the lander and launched.
Never having flown in one before, Emi’s stomach did a nervous roll in the reduced G before settling again as Aaron skillfully guided the lander into the K-2’s cargo bay. Gregor and Sam piled in, bringing even more supplies with them. Ten minutes later, they were on their way to the surface.
Aaron located the colony’s main landing pad homing beacon. An hour later, they slowly descended the last thousand meters to the pad.
He reached over and punched in a code after they touched down. The front armor plates slid out of the way as the vid screens deactivated, but the lander vehicle seemed encased by a yellow, hazy glow.
“Energy field,” Aaron explained at her questioning look. “Until we know for sure there’s no physical danger.”
Several women and a couple of men had gathered at the edge of the landing pad, well out of the way of their vehicle. They waved their arms at the lander, trying to get their attention.
Aaron activated the external com unit. “Please do not approach any closer. We have an energy barrier activated. We were sent by the DSMC. They received a distress transmission from your colony, but it cut off in the middle.”
All the people nodded.
Emi couldn’t read the people from that distance, especially with the energy barrier around the ship.
Aaron spoke to them again. “Is one of you in command?”
An older woman stepped forward. “I’m Governor Ilse Martinez. Our transmitter was destroyed.”
“
What’s the nature of your medical emergency?”
“Some of our population is infected with an unknown pathogen.”
Emi leaned in to the com panel and spoke. “I’m Dr. Emilia Hypatia. What are the symptoms?”
“Extreme intermittent rages, worsening every time. We haven’t had any new infections in over three weeks, but we’re not any closer to finding out what’s causing it or why.”
“Contagious?”
“It’s only affecting certain people. All we know is it’s not airborne, waterborne, or contagious from person to person.”
“What people?”
“Adult males.”
She looked at the three men in the lander with her. “I’ll be right out.” She sat back. “Turn off the barrier, Aaron.” She climbed past him to the back of the lander and headed for the air lock. If the disease was only affecting men, she wouldn’t need a protective suit. The decon air lock would take care of making sure she couldn’t bring anything back inside the lander when she returned.
Aaron looked livid. “Now, you wait one fucking minute—”
She turned on him. “No, you wait. I’m a doctor. This is my job, Captain Lucio. You want me to get all regulation on you? A ranking DSMC fleet medical officer can override a captain’s orders when health and safety are at stake. I’m overriding you. You guys stay here until I find out what the hell is going on.”
Sam Johnson laughed. “She’s right, Aaron.”
Aaron frowned. “I don’t give a shit what the fucking regs say. I’m your husband, and you are not going out there alone!”
“I’m your medical officer. I say you’re not going out there, Captain!”
Stalemate.
Aaron glared at her. “How do you plan on keeping me here, Doctor?”
She looked at Sam and Gregor. “You got it under control?”
Gregor smirked and shook his head. “Oh, fuck no, you’re not dragging me into this, regs or not. I’m not a moron.”
Sam shook his head, too, although he looked amused.
Aaron’s eyes darkened. “She said it’s not airborne or contagious person-to-person. I’ll wear a protective suit.”
Emi wasn’t happy, but they were wasting time. “Fine. Get it on and hurry up.” She grabbed her medical kit and hand-held terminal.
He switched off the energy barrier and activated the decontamination air lock setting. Quickly donning a suit, he followed her out the air lock to the landing pad.
Governor Martinez led them from the landing pad to a nearby low, rambling office complex. Inside the lobby area, while tidy, the evidence of a violent attack still lingered. Wood covered one window. A long, winding crack crazed another. Gouges and burn marks scarred one wall.
This close, Emi could see and feel the wear, fatigue, and fear in the woman. She reached out and touched the governor’s arm. “Ma’am, what happened?”
That’s when Emi felt the other woman’s grief wash through her.
The governor burst into tears. “We don’t know! They just went crazy, but there’s no reason for it we can find!” She collapsed into a chair as Emi knelt in front of her. Fear now filled the governor’s emotions.
“What are the symptoms?”
“It’s all adult men, and not even all of them. They just started acting weird and having intermittent rages. We can’t predict it. We’ve had to sedate them and keep them that way.” Tears rolled down her face.
“Can I speak to your head doctor?”
That’s when what little was left of the governor’s composure shattered. She sobbed into her hands. “My husband, Sascha. He was one of the first to come down with it.”
Chapter Eight
The transmitter, it turned out, had been damaged by the head communications engineer. He became ravaged by the disease as they broadcasted their distress call.
“We tried to fix it,” Ilse, as she’d insisted Emi and Aaron call her, said. “Then our head electrical engineer and two others who could have repaired it all came down with it.”
Aaron punched his com link. “Hey, Sam? There’s a portable telecom base in there somewhere. Can you put on a suit and bring it in here? Get it hooked up for them. Their transmitter’s toast, and their com staff isn’t…available.”
“Roger, Aaron. On my way.”
He looked at Ilse. “Where are you holding the men?”
“In the hospital. It’s overloaded now. We’re nearly out of supplies to keep them sedated.” She choked back another sob. “There’s no predicting the rages. They can be okay for hours or even days, then they try to kill anyone who comes near them.” She shook her head. “We don’t have a brig large enough to hold them all!”
“How many?” Emi asked.
“Thirty-eight.”
Emi’s eyes widened. Over ten percent of their entire population. “How many men are in your colony?”
Ilse went quiet. “There were one hundred and three.”
“Were?”
“Five have died because of this…whatever it is. Two died, killed in self-defense by their wives when the men went crazy. One was killed by another man who went into a rage. Two more died from wounds they received while raging.”
The revelation stunned Emi. Nearly forty percent of their men were infected.
Ilse continued. “Our veterinarian, Dr. Shourpa, she tried to figure it out. The best she could do was eliminate the obvious suspects. It’s not a bacteria or a virus, no biological agent or amoeba or anything like that. She couldn’t detect changes in their blood work from their pre-arrival results. She’s not a human doctor, there was only so much she could do.”
“And it’s only men, no women, no children?”
“The youngest infected is sixteen.”
Emi’s mind raced. “So who is in charge of research now? Of trying to figure it out?”
Ilse shook her head. “No one. There is no one with the knowledge or skill. Our other human doctor is also infected. The remaining med staff has its hands full trying to manage everyone and keep them alive. They’re using volunteers from other divisions to monitor vital signs, manage IV nutrition, and handle care. We’ve practically had to cease operations because we need our other staff for critical services, and some of them are doing double or triple duty to keep the colony running.”
“Take us to them.”
Sam appeared, wearing a protective suit. He carried the transmitter and a bag of tools. Aaron got him started before he followed Emi and Ilse from the building.
Emi didn’t miss how Aaron hung back and didn’t interfere with her job, although he kept one hand on the butt of the energy pistol strapped to the hip of his protective suit. She also didn’t miss how on edge he felt, hypervigilant to any potential threat to her.
Ilse talked as they walked across the compound. “I mean, if it was all the males, then I could understand that, and Dr. Shourpa would have a starting point to work from. But it’s not all the men. We haven’t been able to isolate a common factor that would lead us to a diagnosis. Keep in mind, we’ve been here for several years now. Nothing’s changed, there was nothing like an impact from a meteorite or something, nothing. Nothing has changed!”
Emi doubted that. What she suspected was a change they didn’t recognize, didn’t notice because they lived here.
But she wondered if she, a stranger to the planet, could find it.
* * * *
To say the small medical complex was overcrowded would have been an understatement of Jupiter-sized proportions. Unconscious men were hooked to IV drips, many of which hung on makeshift poles. With only fifteen patient rooms, they had filled those as well as their emergency room triage area and all but one operating room. Dr. Cayce Shourpa looked overwhelmed and exhausted. When Emi shook hands with her, the woman’s deep despair washed through Emi.
“Thank the gods you’re here!” she cried, hugging Emi. “I just…” She broke down crying. “I don’t know what to do! I’ve done all I can!”
Emi felt the other reason for
her anguish. “Your husband, too?”
The vet nodded. “He was one of the first.”
The nurse and med tech, a man by the name of Shello Taber, sat at a desk with Emi. He passed her a hand-held. “Here are all the records we have, all the data we’ve amassed.”
“You’re not infected? You’ve had no symptoms?”
“No. I don’t know why some of us are and some aren’t. The new infections were coming at least one or two a day there, sometimes more. I don’t know why they stopped.” Dark circles lined his bloodshot, green eyes. He also neared exhaustion, Emi sensed. “The rest of us men, we isolated ourselves from the women at first, when this started, after Kale and John were killed.” He took a deep breath. “Now that the infection seems contained, we’ve given that up. We need every available person to help care for them.”
Emi quickly scanned the information while Aaron silently stood behind her and kept a watchful eye on Taber. Before the colony lost their top research and medical staff to the rages, they had ruled out airborne and waterborne issues. The situation had deteriorated dramatically before they could determine what the infected men had in common. Blood type and underlying health issues had been ruled out.
“All the infected men had been here from the beginning?” Emi asked.
Taber nodded. “From the start.”
“No new personnel?”
“Nope. In fact, our last resupply arrived over six months ago. No crew stayed behind.”
“What happens if you wake one of them up?”
He shrugged. “Usually they’re fine, for a while. One guy was fine for two days, and then, just as we thought maybe he’d gotten over it, he attacked me. Back to sedation. Usually they go anywhere from a few hours to almost a day. We haven’t brought anyone out of it for over a week now. It’s too risky.”
Emi studied the files. The first symptoms differed from man to man. One commonality was many of them experienced extreme irritability before the rages first started. The subsequent rages literally came from out of the blue without any apparent trigger. One woman was rescued when her fifteen-year-old daughter heard her father attacking her mother in the middle of the night. She shot him with a stunner.