The Exercise Room on Galahad was packed for the early afternoon workout sessions. Located on the lower level, across from the Airboard track, and down the hall from the Storage Sections, it was busy from morning until night as the various work shifts on the ship began and ended. “Stay active,” Dr. Zimmer had lectured over and over again. “You’ll need every bit of strength and energy when you reach Eos. Don’t take it for granted that you’re young and healthy. Exercise, exercise, exercise.”
Channy was in charge, and there wasn’t a more qualified person. The daughter of a physical therapist and exercise guru, Channy lived for physical activity. Besides acting as trainer for 250 other crew members, she also taught dance classes that were generally full.
Right now, however, was her own personal workout time. Her roommate, Kylie Rickman, was sprawled out on the floor beside her, both of the girls stretching their leg muscles. Activity whirled around them, with various crew members peddling stationary bikes, bent over exercise balls, or running on treadmills. A large vidscreen in the Exercise Room was tuned to the actual scene outside the ship, displaying the dazzling sight of Saturn as it receded into the backdrop of stars. Speakers hung from the ceiling and pumped music throughout the room. It was loud, but Channy and Kylie were able to talk over it.
“So where will it stay?” Kylie said.
Channy leaned back, her leg twisted under her. “I don’t know. I guess that’s up to Tree. There have already been about twenty requests to keep her. This cat is an instant celebrity on the ship. But that’s not the main issue, anyway.”
“Oh?”
“No. We have to figure out what to feed this new crew member. Unless,” Channy said, extending the bent leg and tucking the other one under her, “she likes simulated tuna fish from our Dining Hall. She’s gonna run out of her little treats pretty quickly.”
“How’s she doing?”
“Pretty good. Lita has her wide-awake now, and is just keeping her for observation.” Channy laughed. “Of course, she’s not really sure what she’s observing. Iris is just happy for now to walk around Sick House, sniffing everything. Seems normal enough to me.”
The two girls finished their stretching and walked over to a pair of treadmills. Kylie couldn’t help notice how taut and muscular Channy’s physique looked through her bright yellow T-shirt. It was almost intimidating.
They began with a quick walking pace on the treadmills, eventually working their way up to a jog. After a few moments of silent running Channy broke into a laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Kylie said, beginning to breathe hard.
“I just thought about something else with Iris, something that is just too perfect.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Well, our new guest is going to need a litter box, isn’t she?”
Kylie looked over at her roommate. “Yeah, so what’s so funny about that?”
“Think about it,” Channy said. “There’s one giant, natural sandbox on this ship, isn’t there? Just wait until Bon sees this cat nosing around his crops.” She giggled, and then cranked the treadmill up to a brisk run. Kylie laughed before programming in the change to try to keep up.
Triana stuck her head into Sick House and found Lita sitting at her desk, tapping a stylus pen against her cheek.
“You wanted me?” Triana said.
Lita put the stylus on her desk and waved the Council Leader in. “Yeah, thanks for coming by. I know you have a lot going on.”
“What’s up?”
“Well,” Lita said, “hopefully nothing. But I think you should see this.”
She motioned for Triana to follow her over to the doorway leading to an adjoining room. Looking through they could see the twenty beds that made up Galahad’s hospital ward. Six of the beds were occupied. Alexa Wellington, Lita’s assistant, was scribbling on an electronic work pad, noting some readings on one of the patients, a Japanese girl whom Triana recognized as one of the workers in Bon’s Agricultural section. She was talking quietly to Alexa, answering questions. The other five crew members were either asleep or resting quietly with their eyes closed.
Triana looked quizzically at Lita. “Six patients? What happened? Was there an accident?”
Lita shook her head. “No. And that’s why I called you.” The tone of her voice matched the concerned look on her face. She motioned for Triana to return with her to the office.
Triana pulled a chair over and sat next to her friend, knowing that Lita would never have summoned her if she weren’t worried about something serious. This much was sure: since their launch from Earth four months earlier, Galahad’s Sick House had never handled six patients at the same time.
“All six reported the same symptoms,” Lita said. “Severe headache, the type that wipes you out and puts you in bed. Dizziness. And a muffled sense of hearing. Two of them described it as the sound you hear when you have water stuck in your ears.”
“Could it be migraines?” Triana said.
“None of them has ever suffered from that before, so I would rule it out. And it’s not just these six. Two other crew members popped in and asked for a pain pill. They were having headaches, too, but not bad enough to knock them off their feet. I gave each of them one pill and told them to climb into bed and take it easy for a while.”
Triana bit her lip. “Radiation maybe? Something leaking through the shields after our pass around Saturn?”
“I considered that, too, but no. All of the readings are normal. Roc ran another check just before you got here, and everything’s fine.”
Triana called out to the computer. “Roc, any ideas here?”
“Have you heard some of the music they’re listening to?” Roc said. “I’m surprised their heads don’t spin right off their shoulders.”
“Roc, please . . .”
“You’re right. Some of the songs are fine. I actually found myself singing along the other day to one called ‘Get Me a Ladder, I Need to Get Over You.’ ”
Lita saw Triana’s pained expression. “Just give him a minute. He usually gets it out of his system pretty quickly.”
“All right,” Roc said, “if we must get down to business. No, there is no radiation leaking into the ship. The slingshot effect itself around Saturn would not produce any symptoms such as these, either. I’m going to analyze the recent crop harvests and match them to the crew members’ health histories and see if there might be something in the food that their bodies can’t process. That’s a long shot, of course, and highly unlikely to affect six people out of 251.”
Triana spoke up. “Roc, what about the pod we brought aboard the ship. Any chance that it could have brought some sort of contamination with it?”
“Not very likely. Besides, four of the six patients reported getting their headaches prior to the interception.”
“What kind of tests are you running?” Triana said to Lita.
“Nothing too extensive yet. I wanted to see if the symptoms lasted very long before I poked and prodded them too much. I’d at least like to find out if there is something they have in common. Have they been in the same area of the ship? Have they eaten the same foods? I’m even going to check their workout schedules to see if there’s some kind of connection in their exercise routines. But right now, I just don’t have much to go on.”
Triana glanced back toward the room where the six patients were being treated. “I’m getting a bad feeling about this. I think you are, too.”
Lita didn’t respond, which told Triana she was right.
“All right, then,” Triana said, getting to her feet. “Let me know if anything changes. In the meantime, don’t forget about our Council meeting tomorrow morning. Early.”
“Not too early, I hope,” Roc said. “I’m useless before noon.”