Laura trusted Bill to watch out for Stephen, but she trusted only her eyes on Harvey.
Before Bill had followed Stephen out of the room, she’d nodded at him. The panic in his eyes had lifted, confirming his worries about leaving the geneticist alone. She still hadn’t shared with Bill what she’d learned about Harvey’s deceit: he’d taken a sample of her DNA. The neurosensor was still in her pocket; it would remain there until she was done using it. Anton, a patient now, would not need it any time soon.
Laura checked on Anton. His eyes were half lidded, but he was still conscious. Arianna’s eyes were closed. Laura worried she was slipping into a coma, like the elders.
Harvey worked as fast as he could, fitting them with the electroencephalography cap first. He checked the DPad before shocking them in the same way as he had Stephen.
‘Is the frequency the same in the elders as it was in Stephen?’ asked Laura.
Harvey shook his head. ‘They all have slight variations. We’ll need to shock everyone. Hopefully the cap recordings will isolate their individual frequencies before everything shuts off.’
Laura couldn’t tell if that pleased Harvey or not.
He stopped by Anton’s bed next. Laura squeezed the Indigene’s hand and reassured him with gentle words, letting go when Harvey neared with the Buzz Gun. The shock sent a jolt through Anton’s tired body and him into a sleep, like it had done with Stephen. Arianna was next. Her chest filled with air and she released it, falling unconscious before Harvey delivered the shock. Laura’s chest hurt at seeing both of her friends in this state.
‘Will it work on the unconscious?’ she asked Harvey.
He flicked his eyes from Arianna to her, tilting Arianna’s head to the side. ‘A shock is a shock.’
A nervous-looking Clement stayed close to her.
‘Clement and I... do we need it? And Serena?’
The thought of receiving a shock to her brain didn’t appeal to her.
Harvey shrugged. ‘The symptoms were slower to appear in the second generation. They may never appear in the third, or they might show up in a day or two. Let’s wait and see.’
‘Do you think our bodies already have immunity, you know, because of our human sides?’
Harvey shocked Arianna. She jerked on the mattress, but never opened her eyes.
‘Possibly. The first gens were that too, but time on this planet has altered their immune systems. I’m reluctant to do anything in case it’s not necessary. If your bodies have protection, any cure I attempt could weaken it.’
Laura nodded and released a quiet breath. She could wait, in no hurry to be shocked by Harvey.
Jameson treated the other side of the room. When he finished with the patients there, he joined Harvey. Arianna was his last patient in this room.
Harvey stood. ‘We should treat the others. If they don’t come to us, we go to them.’
He ordered the medic to stay with the patients and not to move them. Then he left the room to deal with those directly outside the infirmary.
Laura kept close, as did Clement—a move that Harvey noticed.
‘Did Bill tell you to shadow me?’
Laura pretended to be surprised. ‘There’s a lot of hostility here. Think of Clement as your bodyguard.’ Clement lifted a hairless brow at her. ‘Maybe we can help. And we should both learn what the symptoms look like, in case it hits us.’
Harvey narrowed his eyes, then concentrated on the patients lying on the floor. Several had sheets covering them. Laura averted her eyes from the dead.
Jameson pressed his fingers to the neck of one patient. He stood up without treating him. ‘This one’s dead. We need to move fast. There’s no logic to this virus.’
Harvey agreed with a nod. ‘Some may have been using their telepathy more than others and spreading the virus faster.’
Both doctors got to work and finished up in the area half an hour later.
Harvey said to Clement, ‘We need to locate more sick. You’ll be our liaison.’
With a nod, Clement led Jameson and Harvey deeper into District Three. Laura followed, keen not to leave Clement alone with either man.
An eerie quiet had descended over the district. Even with the use of telepathy, the silent language had an odd buzzing sound to it. Now, a deep silence was interrupted only by the sounds of intermittent coughing. At least the Indigenes had heeded Stephen’s advice in the end.
She followed the group through the tunnel and they arrived in the Central Core. More sick dotted the floors there; the walls propped up those who were still strong enough to stand. Clement rushed over to groups that had gathered and explained who the doctors were. His explanation was greeted by scepticism followed by clear relief when Clement told them the cure worked.
Laura stayed back, still an outsider here. Margaux joined her.
‘Will you be leaving now?’ she asked.
Laura frowned. ‘I don’t know.’
It was the truth.
‘Have you decided what you are? Human or Indigene?’
Laura assessed the scene before her, wondering why she had to choose. ‘Can I be both?’
‘Certainly. We are all both in the end. We just choose one lifestyle over another.’ Margaux pinned her gaze on Laura. ‘I enjoyed visiting the surface, your world.’
‘It was lovely having you there. You should come back. Maybe when we’re not trying to stop a virus from killing everyone.’
Margaux chuckled. ‘I realised when I returned that this is my home now.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘Where is yours?’
Laura had tried not to think about it. To do so would hurt two men she cared about deeply.
As though Margaux had read her thoughts, she said, ‘One will get hurt, but you must choose. To leave both without an answer is worse.’
Margaux’s words hit her hard. Laura had been selfish, stringing along two men in the hopes their company would keep her from making a tough decision.
‘I know. I need to choose.’
‘Do it soon.’ She nodded at Clement. ‘He already loves you.’