Mike and Tony got Jim to a bed and Jess immediately hooked up an IV with fluids and an antibiotic.
“What’s that?” asked Theresa.
Jessica looked up sadly. “An antibiotic. I don’t even know why I’m giving it to him. It didn’t help Ian.”
“We don’t know it’s the same bacteria. It could be anything. Maybe he’s just narced out,” said Mike.
“That’s what I’m praying for, Mike. He was having some nitrogen issues; I’m just hoping that’s all this is.”
Tony shook his head slowly. “This ain’t narcosis, Doc, and you know it.”
Jessica looked up at him, pleading with her eyes. “Tony? We don’t know that for sure, okay?”
Tony patted Jim’s shoulder with his gloved hand. “Skipper, can you hear me?”
He didn’t move.
Jess tilted Jim’s head back to make sure his airway was open and he could breathe. When she did, his mouth opened, exposing his tongue. It was bright crimson.
“Oh my God!” exclaimed Theresa.
Jess looked at Tony, her head cocked to the side with tears now running down her cheeks. “He’s got it, too. It’s exactly what happened to Ian. This whole ship is infected.”
“Whoa! Don’t say that!” said Mike. “We don’t know that. Jim was with Ian when he got infected.”
“So was I!” said Jessica, now sobbing.
“Relax,” said Tony. “Everybody be cool. We don’t know for sure if the skipper has the same stuff. And everyone else is still healthy. Jess, you told me a couple of days ago that Jim wasn’t feeling a hundred percent, right?”
“Yes,” she sniffled.
“Okay, so maybe he’s been sick all week and just had a tougher immune system. You feel fine, right? You’ve been fine all week?”
She nodded.
“Me too. I’m good. You guys good?” he asked Mike and Theresa.
They nodded.
“Okay. So everyone’s fine. Let’s just try and be calm and see what happens. Maybe you caught this early enough for the antibiotics to work.”
Theresa spoke. “The antibiotics won’t work if it’s Deinococcus. It’s too tough.”
“How do you know?” asked Tony, trying to stay optimistic.
“I’ve been helping Ted. The bacterium has mutated. It’s something else now. It’s like a separate organism. It changed Ian’s entire physiology and anatomy. I’m not sure there’s anything that can kill it once it’s taken hold. It can withstand extreme heat and cold, poison gases, acids, and heavy metals. It uses chemosynthesis to create food energy from poison. Antibiotics are like giving aspirin for cancer.”
“Then we should surface. He needs a hospital,” said Mike.
Tony held up a gloved hand. “First of all, it will take a week to surface, and Ian was dead in two days. Secondly, whatever this shit is, it’s contained on this vessel. There’s no way we’re bringing some superbacteria to the surface until it’s contained and the ship is safe.”
“He’s right,” said Jess. “This whole ship is quarantined. We need to send up a buoy to ODSR and tell them what’s going on down here.”
“We need to tell Ted what’s happened,” said Tony.
“Fuck Ted,” said Mike.
“He’s in command,” Tony replied, and then added, “Until Jim’s better.”
Jess cleared her throat. “Jim, uh, he said he was going to make me his second.”
“He put it in writing?” asked Tony.
“Not yet. I don’t know. I don’t think so.”
“Then Ted’s in command,” said Tony.
“Tony!” exclaimed Jessica. “You think I’m making it up?” She was surprised that Tony didn’t immediately back her up, but he was a product of the United States Navy, and the chain of command wasn’t something you voted on.
“Of course not. But unless you can document that Jim gave you command of the ship, Ted is in command now. We need to tell him what’s going on.”
Jess shook her head in anger. “I can’t believe you!”
“As far as I’m concerned, Jess can be acting commander,” said Mike.
“It doesn’t work that way, Mike. You know better,” said Tony.
“We’re not on a navy sub,” said Mike.
“Guys!” snapped Theresa. “Jim is lying right here and you’re arguing over who takes his place! Have some respect!”
Jess replied curtly, “She’s right. Call Ted. Get out of the sickbay and bag your suits and shower off. Sterilize yourselves. I’ll stay with Jim. We can all discuss a course of action after Ted is notified.” Her voice sounded cold, and Tony knew he had hurt her feelings. He was just trying to do what was right.
Theresa used the phone in the sickbay and called down to Ted. She explained what had happened and said she assumed he was acting commander until Jim was feeling better, although none of them believed he would recover.
Ted advised them that he would be up to sickbay to see Jim, and they would meet afterward. Theresa hung up and turned to Jess. “Sorry,” was all she said, and she stepped out of the exam room to remove her hazmat suit and bag it up.