Chapter 62: Soaked Through

The garden deck was a long room with rows and rows of grow boxes placed directly under white UV lights. Bushy green plants sprouted from them, and the space felt a lot more Human-like than most of the ship thanks to the extra lighting brightening up the space.

Perhaps it was that quality which attracted Becky Bright to it in the first place during such a horrific time.

"Becks," Lus smiled at his friend. This was probably the best case scenario. She wasn't exactly a fighter, and once he snapped her out of the murder-haze, she would be a huge help in figuring out a solution to the crisis they now faced.

Becky grinned back, but it was the psychotic kind that signaled that she was well under the influence of the Shaquine. His [Sixth Sense] triggered in warning of a single Shaquine in the space.

Lusac glanced around at what was nearby. He needed a hose, and fast. The last thing he wanted was for him or Avil to hurt Becky. Luckily Avil seemed to recognize his babysitter, and he made no motions of aggression.

She dove towards him as he jumped towards the nearest water spigot which held a hose. He grabbed it and slammed his hand on the "on" switch.

Water flooded out of it, and he faced the end towards the angry woman rushing towards him. She slowed down as the water gushed against her, eventually stopping and putting her hands to her face to protect it.

"Suns, Lus. Enough," she called out.

Lus lowered the hose so it sprayed at the floor and stared warily at Becky. That sounded very non-Shaquine, but he wasn't so sure he should trust her yet. There was a flash in his peripheral from the Shaquine, and he tightened his hand on his hose, preparing to fight Becky if it came to it.

"So… what's going on?" Becky looked at him expectantly.

"Well, there are a bunch of Shaquine on the ship driving everyone into crazy murder sprees. Captain Tave tried to kill me." Lusac nervously tapped one foot.

"Yeah. There was that emergency announcement about dangerous aliens on board and everyone needing to shelter in place, but all sorts of creepy things were happening. I got chased in here by Dasy-Jonil when she lost her mind." His friend reached up and wrung out her neon green curls. "How did you figure out that water provides protection?"

Lus explained what happened on Aschir Alpha and his original suspicions about the artifacts. "That's why I went to Captain Tave's quarters to gather them. Then it didn't work, and he tried to kill me, then Yrqw tried to kill him, which is why I called Avil in to help stop the fight. Once we got that taken care of, I realized that it was the water that protected me from their influence, not the artifact."

Becky nodded. "Shouldn't you douse yourself then too? Just to be safe."

He held the hose out. "I figure you deserve some payback."

She happily accepted the weapon and wasted no time spraying Lus down quite thoroughly.

"Enough," he gargled through the stream across his face after she'd wetted down every inch of him three times over.

The stream died down as Becky turned it off at the spigot. She glanced back at Avil's hulking form waiting near the door. "Huh. I didn't realize his cyclops form could get that big."

Lus blinked in surprise. "You knew he could change from a cat?"

Becky shrugged. "I've catsat a lot for you. Does he need to get doused too?"

There was a story there that she wasn't sharing, but Lusac decided now was not the time to try and get it out of her. He looked at their companion. "Avil, can the Shaquine affect you?"

The cyclops growled.

"I'll take that as a 'no.'" Lus looked back at Becky. "He'll be fine."

"Are you sure? I don't want to deal with crazed-cyclops Avil if he loses his mind, Lusac."

"Would you rather deal with crazed-cyclops Avil when he has to get sprayed with water?"

"Fair point." Becky crossed her arms. "What's the plan now? How are we going to douse the rest of the crew? And how do we get rid of the Shaquine once we're safe from their influence? They tried lockdown, but those creatures can get anywhere it seems like. I wonder how they got on the Argo in the first place without someone noticing."

Lus ran the toe of his boot through one of the many puddles on the floor. "I was hoping you could help me come up with some ideas." He needed to tell her about how he was the one spawning Shaquine, but he decided to save that conversation until after they figured out their next steps. It wasn't like they could do anything to stop it from here.

"Okay. We can come up with something." Becky glanced around the room. "Why don't we sit while we think? Avil can watch the door."

Lus nodded and followed her through the rows of garden beds to where a small collection of chairs waited. It was peaceful surrounded by all the plants, the closest thing to a park they had on the ship.

"The easiest thing would be to lure everyone in here and then spray them with the hose as they enter," Becky noted.

"Honestly not a bad idea. But we'd have to keep spraying people to keep them wet. I'm assuming that drying off will allow the Shaquine to take control again."

Lus leaned back in the chair, grateful for the chance to sit down for a few moments. His fever was still running rampant, and his hands and shoulders had yet to stop aching. "And as we gather people here, the concentration of Shaquine to crew members increases, giving them more control over those who aren't under their influence. That could turn ugly."

"What you're saying is that we need to find a way to douse everyone at the same time?"

He nodded. "I guess so."

"There might be a way to make it rain inside the ship if we mess with life support enough." Becky ran a hand through her hair. "But even then, I'm not sure that we'll have enough water on board to keep everyone properly soaked for more than a few hours–a day at most. We need an end plan of dealing with the Shaquine once and for all."

Lusac bit his lip. She was right, of course. But that would prove complicated considering the source of their problems. "Becky… About how the Shaquine got on the ship in the first place…"

She turned to him with those deep brown eyes, and he sighed.

"They came from me. Like… inside me. I got an infection on the planet, and Tremt-Fusi gave me antibiotics which seemed to work, but the new wounds I got down at the shipwreck caused it to spring up again. Not too long ago I was in the kitchen, looting for supplies, and it happened." Lus nervously wrung his bandaged hands together.

"That must have hurt," she said softly.

"Yeah. But the point is that we can't permanently rid ourselves of the Shaquine until we figure out how to get rid of the infection inside me causing them to spawn," Lus replied.

"Sounds like our next stop should be medical. We've got to solve this problem from the root cause. Let's fill some buckets to take with us. With any luck, Fusi will still be in the medical center. We can douse her and get her help in figuring out how to cure you." Becky stood up, and he followed suit.

Avil was still waiting at the door, one of his four legs bouncing up and down in annoyance.

"We're hurrying, buddy," Lusac promised his cat-cyclops.

Becky grabbed a couple of buckets from nearby and began to fill them up as Lus went in search of more containers. The more water they could take with them, the safer they would be. Maybe they'd find someone else to help, like Nippy or Wsr or Cewi-Bano.

He brought back two more buckets and three smaller containers that had lids on them. He wasn't too worried about weight since Avil could easily carry anything that he and Becky couldn't.

Becky filled those up as well, and once she finished, they sprayed each other again to ensure they remained thoroughly soaked. His [Sixth Sense] was no longer triggering, so whatever Shaquine was in here originally had given up trying to bother them for now and gone in search of better hunting.

Avil carried all the containers in his wide, muscular arms, and the trio set off from the garden bay.

The hallway was empty and dark except for the faint yellow emergency lights. He'd forgotten how dark things were after spending time in such a well-lit area. Becky led the way, her steps light and swift as they walked.

As with before, anyone they did encounter cowered away at the sight of Avil, making for an uneventful journey to the medical center. Unfortunately, medical was in rough shape, tables overturned, lab equipment spilled everywhere, and several of the lights broken, creating a dismal scene.

Lus's [Sixth Sense] also warned that there were three Shaquine waiting, though he wasn't sure if it was because they could understand enough to know about Lus and Becky's plan or simply because they'd found such great success in the room.

They made it only a few steps inside before a raging Kremel barreled towards them–Clzllv, the ship's nurse.

Avail stepped in immediately, already having set the water containers on the floor. He grabbed Clzllv by the shoulders, threw him to the ground, and placed two of his thick legs on the Kremel's back to ensure he stayed put.

"Good boy, Avil," Lus praised him as he walked to the Kremel's head. He looked back at Becky. "Do we have enough water to douse him too?"

"Probably. If worse comes to worst, Avil and I can go back to get more," Becky said as she hefted up one of the buckets and went to join Lus at Clzllv's head.

Lus stood on guard as Becky slowly poured the contents out onto the Kremel, going through three buckets to get him properly soaked. When she was finished, Avil lifted his feet just enough for Clzllv to raise his head and look at them.

"T-that was so strange. I'm sorry. I couldn't control myself," the Kremel said in his soft voice.

"All good, Clzllv. It's happened to all of us," Becky assured him. She motioned to Avil who removed his feet completely from the nurse's back. "Where's the doctor? We need to get her soaked too."

"Locked in her office." Clzllv motioned to the closed door. "Yonnex-Quniwel escaped during the mess. I might go try to find him."

Lus wrung his hands together, disliking the memory which replayed in his mind. "I already ran into him. The Shaquine got to him, and… he killed himself."

The Kremel nodded. "Very well. Let's get to Tremt-Fusi then. Suns know we could use her."

The four of them walked to the office door. Clzllv hit the open button, but unsurprisingly, the door remained in place. He then tried knocking on it and calling out to Fusi, explaining that they had a way to help her.

When that didn't work, Lus and Becky tore off the nearest wiring panel and set to work hacking the controls. Becky did most of the work given the state of Lus's hands, and soon they'd bypassed the locking mechanism.

The door slid open to reveal an even more disrupted state in the office, including blood smeared walls and broken holotablets. The doctor was huddled in a corner, crying.

Clzllv went to her first, his gentle nature far more reassuring than Avil's cyclops form or Lus's feverish face. Becky returned to the front of the medical center to retrieve the water they would need.

The Kremel managed to coax Fusi out of her corner just enough for Becky and Lus to begin the job of soaking her through with the water. She sputtered under the stream, but her tears stopped.

"Suns, that was awful," the doctor said as she shook her scaly head. "Ah, but the water does feel good."

"Glad you're better, Fusi. We need your help." Becky motioned to Lusac. "We've got a big problem for you to solve."