Chapter 63: Solution to the Shaquine

Tremt-Fusi tapped one of her webbed fingers against her cheek in thought as they all sat in the whirlwind disaster that her office had become.

"And you have no idea how often they come out?" Fusi confirmed.

Lusac nodded. "It's only happened once while I was awake, and that was about an hour or so ago."

The Nemarian shook her head. "I still can't believe the infection caused all this. Let me check through some research and see what I can dig up about curing this on a faster timeline. Clzllv, I could use your help with it."

"Of course, Doctor." The nurse ducked his head.

"We'll leave you two in peace. Lus and I need to soak ourselves again anyway, and after that we might have to go back for more water." Becky stood from the wall where she leaned.

Lus followed her out of the room to where Avil and the waterbuckets waited. The cyclops gave them a deep throaty screech in greeting, and Becky walked up and scratched his arm as though he were still a cat.

"Good to see you, Avil. You're doing such a good job," she said in a baby-voice.

Lusac smiled as he grabbed one of the buckets and lifted it up, getting ready to pour it over himself.

"Stop, Lus. That's such a waste of water." Becky grabbed his arm.

He lowered the bucket. "How else do you suggest we easily soak ourselves?"

"Watch and learn." She knelt next to another bucket and scooped handfuls of water up and onto her face and body. After her upper half was sodden, she stood and did the same to her legs.

"That's a waste of time," Lusac muttered as he set his bucket on the ground and did the same. As annoying as it was to perform, it did save a lot of water, using only half the bucket's contents instead of all of it.

"What now? It seems like Fusi and Clzllv might take a while." He looked around the destroyed medical center. Most of the beds were locked onto the floor in case of problems with the artificial gravity, but everything else from medical scanners to vials of medication were strewn across the floor. "Maybe we should go find Nippy or Captain Tave and free them from the Shaquine while we wait."

"That's not a bad idea since we still have to figure out how to soak the rest of the crew and permanently get rid of the Shaquine." She moved towards the door, but paused before she reached it and looked over her shoulder at Lus. "You should actually stay put, Lus. The last thing we need is for you to spawn a bunch of Shaquine while we're out there."

"It's not like they can hurt us."

She shook her head. "But the process hurts you, and it's going to be dangerous enough out there without me trying to worry about keeping you safe if it happens. Avil and I will go find someone. You stay here and wait for Fusi to finish. And make sure they stay soaked."

Lusac crossed his arms, but unfortunately her logic was sound. Last time he spawned the Shaquine, the pain had been blinding enough he hadn't considered the time it took for the process to happen. He gave Avil a smile and nod as the cyclops looked between him and Becky, trying to decide who to join.

"Go with her, buddy. I'll be okay," he promised his guardian.

Avil gave another screech, grabbed a few water containers, and then followed Becky out into the hallway, leaving Lus alone in the torn apart medical center to wait.

It was a painful wait, too.

Being in the room reminded him about Yonnex-Quniwel and then that drew further into his memories, all the way back to Aschir Alpha when he plunged the cutter into Quniwel's eye and then facing dozens of Shaquine alone at the ancient temple and nearly doing the same thing to himself.

An involuntary shiver crossed over him as he remembered the darkness and the fear. It was a good thing he woke up when he did, so he could solve this crisis before it became too bad.

The door to Tremt-Fusi's office slid open, pulling Lusac from his dark, spiraling thoughts.

Clzllv exited first, followed closely by the doctor.

"Where are Becky and the cyclops?" the Kremel asked with a confused look on his face.

"They're going to track down and free one of the commanders or the captain from the Shaquine influence so we have a little more help in coming up with a plan to rid the ship of the Shaquine entirely." He nodded over to the remaining water buckets. "You two should resoak yourselves, just to stay safe."

Clzllv immediately followed his direction, and before Lus could say anything to stop him, the Kremel dumped an entire bucket over himself. Luckily the Kremel was so large that what was an inefficient method for Lus and Becky worked well for Clzllv, wasting hardly any of the water.

Tremt-Fusi was more careful, using the hand method like Becky had. Lus wondered if it was some trick all females of every species learned, or if he was just being dumb because of his 1 [Common Sense].

"So, did you guys find a solution?" Lus wrung his hands together in a mixture of nerves and lingering guilt.

Fusi turned back to him with a grin. "We did. And the best part is that it'll be completely painless too."

"That's… great." He hadn't been aware they were even considering a process that would be painful, but he decided to be grateful those methods hadn't won out.

The doctor motioned to bed in the exam area. "Take your shirt off and sit down. I want to examine your shoulder one last time and clean the wounds on your hands again before we start."

Lusac walked over to the bed and tugged off his comfortable t-shirt which was still thoroughly soaked. Goosebumps formed on his skin from being wet and uncovered, and he held his arms close. "What exactly is the process then?"

Tremt-Fusi walked to the bed with a scanner in hand as Clzllv went around gathering materials from the floors and shelves.

"We're going to dose you with as many kinds of antibiotics as we can, and a recently published paper suggests that adding in some Kremel growth hormones will increase the reaction speed, killing the infection off completely in a matter of hours rather than days," the doctor explained.

"Kremel growth hormones? Is that safe?" Logically, he knew the doctor wouldn't suggest something that was going to permanently harm him, but an eerie picture of him with green skin and Kremel ears appeared in his mind, so he asked anyway.

"For a short time, yes. The problem is that a Human body trying to process alien hormones is known to be an excruciatingly painful process, but luckily none of the drugs we're going to give you react with anesthesia, so we'll be able to sedate you and keep you from experiencing that part." The doctor moved from her scans to unwrapping his hands.

Clzllv came over to them with a tray holding fresh bandages and some antiseptic.

"I'm going to be unconscious then? The whole time?" Somehow the idea of being knocked out for the whole experience was uncomfortable. Perhaps because the last time he slept, he woke to an abandoned ship full of murder-happy crewmembers.

"The whole time." Tremt-Fusi smiled at him reassuringly as she cleaned the holes in his right hand.

Lus grimaced, but he didn't say anything about the small jolts of pain as she worked. Once the doctor finished with the right hand, Clzllv started to wrap it in new bandages while she moved the wounds on the left hand.

When they were done, Fusi pressed on Lus's shoulder and motioned to the rest of the bed.

"Lay down so we can prep you."

He gulped, and his mouth ran dry. "Oh, we're doing it now? Right now? Maybe we should wait for Becky. And I should probably douse myself with more water, just to be safe."

Clzllv grabbed him before he could slip off the bed. "Come on, Lusac. You're going to be fine. Besides, you'll be under such heavy anesthesia that the Shaquine won't be able to bother you. Probably."

"It'll be just like going to sleep. The sooner we start it, the more likely it is that we rid you of the infection before you can spawn more of your friends." Tremt-Fusi's webbed hand pressed on his chest, and Lus complied with her wishes, lowering himself to lay back on the bed.

It would be fine. He trusted Fusi and Clzllv, right? Lusac always struggled with the idea of being put under by medical personnel, an irrational fear which spawned from a horror movie he watched when he was very, very young.

"Relax, Lus." Tremt-Fusi placed an injection site right below his collar bone, and when she pressed the button, he felt the usual sharp pinch of the tubes going into his body. Clzllv handed her tubing which led up to a very full bag of clear fluids, and Fusi connected it to the injection site.

Lus shivered once more as the cold liquid entered his body, forcing himself to keep his hands at his sides instead of hugging around his torso like he wanted.

Fusi used a small holotablet to change a few settings on the injection site, determining the rate of the medicine's drip, and Lus watched her as his heart pounded in his chest.

The doctor then nodded to Clzllv. "Anesthesia is set. Count down from one-hundred, and then we'll start the antibiotics and hormones."

The nurse began to count immediately, and Lus bit his lip. One hundred wasn't going to be enough. He didn't even feel… tired.

Almost as soon as he thought the word, his eyelids began to droop. His heart wasn't racing quite so much, and he was suddenly aware that his hands didn't ache anymore. He wasn't cold anymore either. Suddenly he felt so warm and cozy. He blinked slowly, his eyes finding Tremt-Fusi's one last time.

"Have a good nap, Lus." She patted his arm.

Lus tried to keep his eyes open, but the drugs won out. He thought one last prayer to the Watcher as consciousness left him.

***

Lusac was slow in returning to the waking world. He became aware of his body, but there was a weird floaty feeling inside and part of him wanted to just go back to sleep.

Sounds reached his ears, and enough of him was awake to realize that it was voices. All at once, the memories of the Shaquine on the Argo returned, alongside his panic and worry.

He tried to leap out of bed, but the best he could do was open his eyes and half sit up before hands caught him and pushed him back down.

"Easy there." Becky's face was right above his, a warm smile on her lips. "Welcome back to the land of the living, Lus. We missed you."

"Becky. Is it…? The Argo, the crew…" Lus interrupted himself with coughs due to his dry throat.

Zer-Dasht handed him a glass. "Try this."

Lusac eagerly gulped down the water, ignoring the stares of everyone in the room. Becky, Zer-Dasht, Tremt-Fusi, and Nippy were all there.

Once he finished, he cleared his throat and tried again. "So, uh, what did I miss?"

Everyone laughed, and Nippy took point on the explanation.

"Becky and Avil found me in the mess hall and freed me from the Shaquine influence. After that, we confirmed that Tremt-Fusi had found a way to keep you from spawning anymore Shaquine, and then we rigged the ship's life support system to up the humidity to 200%, soaking the rest of the crew."

"But how did you get rid of the Shaquine? I'm assuming we're not just going to spend the rest of our lives soaked." Lusac sat up a little more, rolling his stiff shoulders out.

"All Becky's idea. She put on a space suit, allowed herself to dry off, and then stood alone in the shuttle hangar. With all the other crew members immune to them, all of the Shaquine gathered at the hangar to focus on her. Once we were sure none remained on board, we opened the doors and jettisoned them into space," Nippy concluded.

"We're all alive today thanks to Becky," Zer-Dasht added.

"She's a real hero," Nippy agreed.

Lusac forced a smile. He wasn't so petty that he needed to point out that Becky was only able to do anything because of him, but it did sting that his contributions were overlooked so heavily. His smile faded as he realized something. "But how do you know all the Shaquine are gone? I thought I was the only one who could sense them."

His [Sixth Sense] wasn't triggering now, but that only meant that there wasn't one in the room with him. The ship could still be housing several.

Nippy shrugged. "Our best guess. It's been twelve hours since we jettisoned, and we have people all over the ship making repairs or cleaning, but there have been zero reports of any Shaquine-like symptoms. Once you're on your feet again, we'll have you do a thorough check of the ship to confirm."

"I can go now." Lusac again started to move from the bed, but those around him stopped him.

"Not yet, Lus. You're going to be here a couple more days so I can make sure you're infection free and there are no lasting side effects from the Kremel hormones." Tremt-Fusi crossed her arms and looked down at him.

"Aw. I don't know. I kind of like those ears on him," Becky said.

Lus's hands shot up to his ears, terrified that he was about to discover the oversized pointy ones like those he saw on Nippy. Everyone else laughed as he breathed in relief, finding his normal, rounded ears.

"Consider that payback." Becky lightly punched his arm.

"Alright, alright. You've all had your fun. Get out of here, and let him rest," Fusi demanded.

Everyone filtered out of the room, and Lus wrapped the blanket closer around himself, finding he was still shockingly tired after having been asleep for more than twelve hours. Even Fusi left, giving him a little time alone to process things.

He was glad the ship was saved, but he had to admit, he was a little disappointed he'd missed all the important stuff.

With a sigh, Lus leaned back. Two days, and then it would be back to business as usual.