Chapter 03

Elsewhere, a group of pathologists and virologists struggled to work ahead of a potential pandemic. A man named Nel growled in frustration. He had been working for two weeks with little sleep trying to find a cure. None of the low-level drugs made a dent, and the high-class ones were showing almost no effect.

"Calm down," Darcey said. "You'll blow a vein."

Nel rubbed his temple.

"This isn't working. None of it is working."

"Don't worry about it so much," she said. She adjusted her glasses. "Getting angry will only make it harder to focus."

"Darcey, do you not understand what's at stake here? This virus isn't affected by most of our medications. We need to start research for a vaccine."

"We've got plenty of time for that. Only three people have been caught with the virus."

"We don't even know how the transmission works. It could be the air. The filters might not capture it. We might have to disinfect every surface on the planet!"

"You're starting to sound a little crazy, Nel," she said. "We're still learning how this virus works. We'll panic when there's reason to. Right now, you're only making assumptions."

"We can't have another Famine of 2312," he said. "It almost killed the colony."

"It's been a few hundred years. They're testing all of the animals. So far, none of them have it."

"Only thirty percent have been checked," he said. "Almost every disease has been eradicated with our medicine."

"It was only a matter of time before something got strong enough to fight it, Nel," she said.

She looked at the vials containing the virus.

"I think you need to take a day off. You're freaking out over something that might not even happen."

"Darcey, this hasn't happened in centuries. There have been studies showing the viruses mutating inside our bodies. We're just the incubators for the next Covid-19. This is going to happen whether we're ready or not. We need to be ready!"

"Calm down," she said. "You really need a break."

"I don't need a break. I need to find a cure."

"You need to clear your head so you can think straight. Take the rest of the evening off. Watch a movie. Drink some wine. Have some fun in bed. Whatever gets your mind off of work."

Nel scoffed in annoyance, but Darcey had already left. He looked at the vials of yellow liquid. He knew it was just a ticking time bomb ready to go off at any moment. How could the Planetary Health Firm not consider this immediately dangerous? He couldn't believe the lack of concern for a potentially deadly disease.

Perhaps... perhaps he should try what he wanted to try for a long time.

He would have to talk to his attending. Luckily, he was easy to find. They were kept close together to reduce the spread of enclosed diseases in other parts of the colony. A quarantine would easily be established without the risk of airborne diseases escaping since they were on a separate filtration network. His attending, essentially his boss, was conducting tests with a team of botanists to develop potential medicines for plants and animals. He was running tests on his machine when Nel approached him.

"Could we talk in private for a moment?" He asked, looking over at the other scientists.

His attending agreed, and they talked outside in the hallway. Nel told him his concerns about the virus. His reaction was similar to Darcey's

"Don't worry. We'll be on it if it gets dangerous."

"Not you, too," Nel said. "Come on, George. You and I both know how much damage this could do to the colony. This could wipe everyone out."

"Look, I share your concern. I really do. I can take it to the medical board and see how they want to approach this. In the meantime, keep trying the medicines that we have on-hand. I'm sure we can find something that will help."

"And if we don't?"

George sighed and rolled his eyes.

"We can't jump on every virus we see that scares us. We've had many false alarms in the past. This could just be another one."

"I want to start looking for a cure," he said, "before it gets too late."

"If that's what you want to do, then go for it. You're going to get paid either way as long as you're making progress."

"I need... I have a theory, but I need the resources to figure out if my theory is correct."

George crossed his arms. "What theory?"

"If... If I had access to the symbiote, I could–"

"No. Absolutely not."

"You didn't even let me finish."

"I don't need to. You and I both know under no circumstances are we to take any part of that organism. It's too unstable without a host to keep it under control."

"We can find one," Nel said. "The Drax are similar to humans. They have a single heart, a respiratory system, a digestive system, even a single brain. What if we infused the symbiote with a human?"

"There's no way we would ever get permission to perform that kind of experiment. It's unethical."

"It's smart! The symbiote is full of white blood cells that can kill diseases in less than a day. That's what the initial tests showed."

George shook his head.

"That was before the symbiote tried to escape containment and take over the colony."

"We don't know what it was doing. It could have been helping us for all we know."

"It's a risk that we can't take. The potential risk is too great."

"So the risk of the symbiote breaking out is too great, but the virus isn't?"

George didn't answer that.

"No experiments on the symbiote," he said. "Got it?"

"Sure. Fine. I'll keep looking for a working medication."

"Good. I've got to get back to work."

When George left, Nel was debating taking that early break. He walked away, ready to leave, when he felt the tremor in his hands. He flexed them and put them in his pocket. No, he couldn't leave. He was the only one concerned about saving the colony. He had to find a cure before his arthritis stopped him from using his hands completely. He had a duty to save the colony at whatever cost, even his own life.

He went the other way back into the room with his attending.

"What is it now?" George asked, clearly annoyed.

"I'm just... I'm sorry. It's been a long day. I'm going to leave early and get some rest. Maybe I won't dream about conspiracy theories tonight."

"Yeah... sure."

Awkwardly, Nel leaned in for a hug. George just pat his back.

"Okay. Feel better now?" George asked.

"Yeah. I do."

Nel left. What George didn't see was his ID in the pocket of Nel's jacket. He used it to gain access to the Containment Zone of Diseases. He scanned George's card and made his way through. It was cold inside, but he wouldn't be long. It was sitting behind a vault. He scanned the card again, unlocking the door. He turned the wheel and opened it. The Drax was in a sitting position in a metal chair. The room was rarely accessed and kept vacuum-sealed to preserve the body. The black webs from the symbiote pulsed on the body. Even though the Drax had died, the black organism didn't.

With gloves on, he took a sample off of the body into a test tube. He put a cap on it so it couldn't escape. It spread out, looking for a way out. It stuck to one side, the side with his fingers on the glass. It was actively looking for a host. He was sure his experiment would succeed.

He put the vial in his jacket. The room was closed and sealed. He left and clocked out as quickly as he could. He told Darcey that he was heeding her advice and asked to not be bothered so he could rest.

"See? A little rest can give you some extra energy for tomorrow," she said. "See you, Nel."

He changed into his street clothes. He put the vial in his pocket and went home. He couldn't work with it in the office. Too many people. Too many... witnesses.

He unlocked his door and locked it behind him. He lived alone, so he had the whole apartment to himself. It only had a single bedroom and a bathroom. It was just bigger than an efficiency apartment, but that was because he could afford the bigger ones with his job. He had a view of other buildings from his window, but it was all the same. Some of them had color on the side because people could afford paint, which was enough color for him. He had his bedding moved to the living room where he slept on the futon. Since he was a scientist, he wasn't issued a wolf of his own. They could make a mess in labs.

He took off his jacket and hung it and his hat on the wall by the door. He made a cup of coffee and debated watching some TV before he would get back to work. It was decided for him when he downed the rest of his coffee. He licked his lips and put his cup in the dishwasher. He put on a surgical mask and knocked on the bedroom door.

"I'm home," he said in a singsongy voice.

The door opened. The man strapped down in the hospital bed screamed through the gag in his mouth. He was covered in sweat and red from trying to break free. He watched the doctor put on a lab coat on the wall.

"Sorry I got home so soon. I figured I would bring some homework back with me today. Now, the virus you're carrying is airborne, which is why I had to keep this room airtight and double the filters in the vents to prevent it from escaping."

He replaced the catheter and stool container to prevent infection. He did his daily cleaning and checked the IV drip. He didn't need to eat solid foods, which made it easier to handle the stool samples. He put them aside and looked at the poor soul watching his every move. He smiled behind the mask.

"I have something new for you to try," he said.

He pulled the vial out of his pocket. The symbiote wriggled inside. The man went wide-eyed and started shaking.

"It's full of antibodies that could potentially kill every disease in your body. If it works, which I'm sure it will, then you will be the first to be cured of every disease and virus that ever existed in the colony. We will never get sick again."

He took out a needle and poked the needle through the cap.

"No!" The man tried to scream. "No!"

"Relax," Nel said. "You'll feel just a pinch."

The man tried to break out, but the restraints were too strong. He could only watch the needle get closer and closer. He shook the bed again.

"Be still," Nel said. "I'll have to keep trying until I hit a vein. Moving doesn't help you."

The man shook even more. He felt his arm go free and smacked the doctor's hand away. The needle went from Nel's hand to his chest when the man pushed him back. He looked down and saw that, even though the hammer wasn't pressed all the way, the symbiote was gone. His chest tickled. He pulled his coat open quickly and busted buttons on his shirt to reveal his pale chest. The veins started turning black.

"Ack!" He said.

He grabbed his chest. His heart started to throb with every beat. He thought he was having a heart attack. The burning sensation spread through his legs and arms. Eventually, it went to his brain. He started to seize and spasm on the floor. The man waved his arm around and tried to get the restraints off, but they were made of metal. He couldn't break off the locks. They must have been controlled by something else. He watched the doctor seize for about ten more seconds before stopping. He lied on the floor quietly. The man couldn't tell if the doctor was dead or not. Whatever he just injected himself with looked deadly.

He had to get out of there.

He pulled on the restraints again. He thought they were finally starting to give way when the doctor spasmed again. At first, it was just the arm. Then it was his fingers. He opened his eyes. They had gone from a pale blue to black. His skin was colored with faded black veins that pulsed with his heartbeat. He slowly got up like he hadn't walked in a long time. The man stared at the large, black eyes. Nel's head jerked from side to side three times. His teeth had grown to be sharp like a vampire's. He stared at the man on the bed. The man screamed.

It was the last thing he said before Nel sunk his teeth into the man's flailing arm. After a few seconds of spasming, the arm went limp.