CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

PHOENIX was investigating planets in a binary star system and conducting some mining operations. It had been a quiet few weeks, with no new sign of the Screen and no new alien races encountered. They kept in regular contact with the Onixins and Quix. Both races were working together on blending their technology despite the Quix still being stuck in their nebula. The Onixin merchant authority reported that one of their freighters was at the trading outpost around the time it was attacked. The authority requested that PHOENIX keep on the lookout for it.

As for the Ni? Despite John continuing to send them reports about the Screen the gaseous aliens continued to remain silent. The captain couldn’t figure them out. Clearly the ship’s reports showed how dangerous the Screen were towards other races. For the Ni to seemingly remain on the sidelines baffled him.

John was sitting in his chair on the command deck, trying to steer clear of the staff in the pit. Several of them had come down with flu like symptoms and the captain was in no mood to catch it. Doctor Myers reported that the illness would have to run its course. If John knew so many people had gotten sick he would have remained in his quarters.

“Captain,” approached Alex’sis as she tried to keep her throat clear. “Mining group A has completed their operations on the moon.”

The captain wasn’t concerned about the update. “Lieutenant, go to your quarters and get some rest.”

“What happens if the Screen attacks?” asked a defiant Alex’sis. “You need me.”

“Not in your condition. The computer would do a better job of targeting weapons than you.”

“Leave her alone,” barked Julie as she coughed.

“You’re not setting a good example by being here either,” John said to his executive officer. “You both should be in bed.”

“I’d rather focus my mind on work than be miserable in my quarters,” replied Julie.

“Same here,” said Alex’sis.

“Captain,” interrupted Bret. “We’re getting an incoming transmission. It’s from an Onixin cruiser.”

“Put it up,” ordered John. He spotted the communications officer rubbing his neck. “You’re sick too?”

“No sir. I’m fine.” Bret was feeling achy but he brushed it off as nothing. And he didn’t want the captain getting on his case like with Julie and Alex’sis.

Above the operations table displayed the holographic image of an Onixin. She was dressed in a yellow uniform, indicating she was a military officer.

“This is Vori Hendestaun of the cruiser Claz.” Vori was the proper name of an Onixin ship commander.

“Vori Hendestaun, this is Captain Roberts of the PHOENIX.”

“Greetings, captain. It is an honor to speak with you for the first time.”

“Likewise,” nodded John. “What can we do for you?”

“I am pleased to inform you that we are en route to your location with a cache of Quix ruialon beam weapons for your ship.” Ruialon was a differentially charged energy source that was highly potent as a weapon. It put the Onixins quadrin to shame in its destructive capability.

“Have the Quix emerged from their nebula?” asked John.

“No,” replied Hendestaun. “But they created a hole in the energy net and were able to fire out a container full of their weapons. We have been able to modify them to work with our quadrin. We hope you may be able to adapt the weapons to your vessel’s plasma network.”

“I’ll notify our engineers of the shipment,” said John. “Will you be staying with us long?”

“No, captain. We are scheduled to reach your location in…” she checked her computer to convert Onixin time measurement to human time. “Six of your hours. But we must leave as soon as we deliver the shipment as we are still searching for our missing Onixin freighter.”

“We’ve been scanning the local space for it as well but haven’t found so much of an ion trail.”

“We have two cruisers looking for it,” said Hendestaun. “If the ship is intact, we will locate it.”

“Understood. John was grateful to hear other several ships were involved in the search. The Onixins had built their fleet up enough to send ships out of their star system on a regular basis. “We’ll prepare for your arrival.”

“There is one more thing, captain,” said Hendestaun. “One of our cruisers picked up a stray transmission in the sector of space they were patrolling. It is encrypted; however, it matches your communications protocol. It was disguised to appear as normal background radiation.”

That sounded exactly like the setup they use to send their messages to Earth. Was it possible Billy and David were trying to send a message to them?

“Vori, it might be a message from our homeworld,” said John as he tried to contain his excitement.

“There has been some degradation of the data packet,” warned Hendestaun. “I will have it placed in one of our binus crystals to prevent further degradation and give it to you when we rendezvous.”

“Understood, vori. Thank you.”

“Of course, captain. Hendestaun out.”

Julie was the first to speak up. “If it’s from Billy and David, they took a huge risk sending a message out to us.”

“Maybe something’s going on back home they want us to know about,” speculated Kevin.

“Or maybe it’s from TERRA,” added Alex’sis.

“You really think the message could be from them?” said Bret.

“No,” replied Alex’sis as she coughed.

John smiled. Although possible, he doubted TERRA would be trying to communicate with them. What would they say? Demand that PHOENIX return to the solar system? No, the message had to be from his friends. John looked forward to hear what they had to say. A message from the solar system would lift the crew’s spirits.

Suddenly, the medical klaxon blared. There was a ship wide emergency. “This is Chief Medical Officer Myers. Emergency medical quarantine is in effect. All non essential human personnel are to report to their quarters immediately. Captain Roberts, report to medical. Repeat, full medical quarantine is in effect.”

“What the hell?” blurted Alex’sis.

“Julie, you have the command deck,” as John ran out of the pit. There was no indication that there was a problem with this illness going around. Myers said the virus developed from the bacteria carried in the Aldarian xixia plant. The doctor had hoped the inoculation he created for John’s illness last year would kill the virus in other crew members. Instead, it was only slowing the virus, not eradicating it. The medical staff concluded the inoculation would simply render the virus inert over time.

********

John was shocked on what he saw when he entered medical. It was packed full of people. Every bed was occupied and cots had to be pulled out to accommodate the sick. The captain looked around and saw Myers with Thresha attending to one of the patients.

“Doctor, what the hell is going on?” asked John.

“Captain, this crisis only manifested in the last thirty minutes. People are collapsing throughout the ship from the virus.”

“You said the inoculation would take care of it,” reminded John.

“Nurse Gil,” called Myers to one of the nearby nurses. She took over treating the patient as Myers ushered John and Thresha to his office. “I didn’t see it until the first cases started coming in but the virus creates a mutation in the inoculate itself.”

“How’s that possible?” asked John.

“I don’t know,” replied Myers as he coughed. “I’ve never seen anything like this before. The inoculate does break down the virus as its supposed to but during the process the virus alters the inoculation, turning it into a unique virus all on its own. This new variant has its own pathology. I haven’t been able to determine how to treat it.”

“Captain, Drix and my people are immune to this virus,” revealed Thresha.

Myers nodded. “We’ve already verified that Cresorian and Aldarian physiology are immune.”

“That makes it less complicated,” said John. “You can just focus on human biology. How serious is it?”

“Three of my earliest cases died in the last few minutes. That’s why I declared the medical emergency,” said Myers. “It’s highly communicable in the air. Even with the environmental filtration system I expect most of the human crew has been infected.”

“Including me,” said John. “Most of the command staff are exhibiting symptoms.”

A sick Professor Donavin stumbled in the office. John and Thresha grabbed him to prevent the chief engineer from falling down. “Captain, my entire engineering team is sick. They can’t work. Only three Aldarians are left down there. PHOENIX needs engineers to maintain….”

John helped Donavin to a seat. “Don’t worry, professor. I’ll make sure PHOENIX doesn’t suffer from lack of staff.” He looked at Thresha. “I’m going to need you to coordinate sending your people to critical departments to keep the ship running.”

“Of course, captain,” replied Thresha. “But there will not be enough of my people to help make up for the loss of human workers.”

“We may need…to rely on the computer to automate some of the processes,” sputtered Donavin. “We should also get some of the bots reassigned to critical tasks.”

“We’ll take care of it,” assured John. “I’ll send some Aldarians to the command deck for operational training.” John had avoided training any Aldarians on command deck operations. They were pacifists and refused to harm others even if their own lives were at risk. He didn’t want to put them in positions that might violate their moral code. But if this epidemic was going to incapacitate the crew, he would need bodies up there manning the stations.

“I will begin dispersing my people,” as Thresha left the office.

“I’ve been working closely with Velni,” explained Myers, referring to the only Aldarian who had been trained as a doctor. “He’ll take over medical once I’m unable to continue working.” Myers grabbed a medical scanner and passed it over the captain. “In the meantime, we should determine where you’re at with the virus.”

“I don’t feel sick,” said John as the doctor conducted his quick examination.

Myers had a look of surprise as he reviewed the medical data. “I’m not seeing any trace of the virus in you. You’ve been in proximity with infected individuals. There should be some sign of it in you.”

“Lucky you,” remarked Donavin as he rested his head on Myers’ desk.

“There’s more,” said Myers. “I’m picking up some antibodies I’ve never seen before.” He pressed a button on his desk. “Doctor Velni, please report to my office.”

A few moments later the Aldarian entered the office. “What is it, Doctor Myers?”

“I need you to do a comprehensive exam on the captain. He’s showing no sign of the virus and I’m picking up unique antibodies in his system.”

“Why can’t you do the exam?” asked John.

“I estimate in a couple of hours I will be too sick to work,” explained Myers. “You seem to be our best chance to finding a way to stop this virus and I want someone who can see the research through without being sick.”

********

Myers proved accurate in his statement. An hour and a half later, he collapsed from the effects of the virus. Velni had the main surgical bay cleared of everyone so he could examine John. The captain watched helplessly as crew members were brought in droves. It wasn’t long before he spotted Julie and Alex’sis. Julie was unconscious. Alex’sis was awake but babbling incoherently due to her high fever. All the captain could do was sit helplessly as they were taken to cots.

John contacted the Onixin cruiser CLAZ and informed them of PHOENIX’s medical alert. It was agreed that to protect the Onixins from possible infection, they would eject the Quix weapons shipment into space to be picked up by a REPO. Hendestaun would be contacting her homeworld to alert them that PHOENIX would be heading there for protection if the ship’s situation continued to deteriorate.

Included with the weapons shipment was the binus crystal containing the transmission from Earth. As much as John wanted to see it, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not while the crew was suffering. He felt it would be selfish of him enjoying a message from home while the crew was sick.

Thresha returned to medical from her assignment of dispersing her people throughout the ship. “My people have been placed to assist with ship operations.”

“Do we know how many people are sick?” asked John.

“At last report over twenty-eight hundred have fallen ill,” she replied.

“How many dead?”

“Ten.”

John lowered his head. Ten dead, with thousands in danger of dying. There wasn’t anything he could do about it. This was a situation only the medical personnel could solve. Military tactics and training was useless in this situation. All he could do was sit and wait for them to find a cure.

Doctor Velni returned to the main surgical bay. He sensed the captain’s concern for the crew. It was a strong emotion. “We are tracking the progression rate of all infected individuals. We do not expect any more fatalities until tomorrow morning.”

“That leaves us only eighteen hours,” said John. “Is it possible to find a cure before then?”

“I will do my best,” promised Velni as he left the surgical bay to check on medical staff.

Drix arrived at medical and headed directly into the surgical bay. “The Quix weapons have been delivered and secured in the hangar bay. Vori Hendestaun sends her wishes that we will overcome this crisis.”

“I am hopeful we will prevail,” said Thresha.

John appreciated her optimism because right now he had none. “Why don’t you two get some rest. You’ve been working non-stop ever since all this craziness began.”

“I cannot rest while my friends are suffering,” replied Thresha.

“I too will not rest while the crew is incapacitated,” added Drix. “There are duties to be performed.”

John appreciated their commitment. “One thing we need to address should be the bots. With most of the techs sick, we don’t have enough people to reprogram the bots to cover some functions we need them to do.”

“I can gather the Aldarians who are trained as technicians to work on that,” offered Drix.

“Thanks,” replied John as Velni reentered the surgical bay. “Doctor, isn’t there anything I can do to help?”

“I am still running tests on the virus using the antibodies extracted from you. You can help by remaining here. I will need to extract more blood from you for additional analysis.”

John didn’t like being told he couldn’t help. How could he sit here and do nothing while the crew suffered?

Thresha could see he was anxious to do something. “Perhaps you should visit with those who are ill. That will help keep you occupied and I’m sure the crew would appreciate it.”

It was a good idea. If nothing else, John could try and lift their spirits and feel like he was doing something meaningful during this crisis.

********

As Velni and the remaining medical staff continued to work on a cure, John wandered around medical to spend time with his sick crew. He didn’t think he was doing much chatting with people but his visit had a profound impact on them. They appreciated that their captain was willing to spend time with them when they were hurting. Many of them never had the opportunity to meet him during their almost two years in space and they all welcomed the opportunity to talk one-on-one with him despite the circumstances. John offered each of them encouragement, asked them about their lives and duties on the ship. He never rushed his time with any of them. He stayed with each person as long as they had strength to talk. He was amazed how much he learned about his crew. He never realized what a diverse group of people lived on PHOENIX. He walked away from each visit feeling he had made new friends.

The hours past and the last thing John remembered was laying down on a cot listening to William, a farmer, bragging about his prized pig giving birth to a litter six weeks ago. He must have dozed off because he remembered being gently nudged awake by Thresha.

Realizing he fell asleep, John quickly sat up. “What time is it?”

“It is alright, captain,” assured Thresha. “It is 0930 hours.”

The captain didn’t mean to sleep through the night. “Is everyone ok?”

Thresha smiled. “Velni found a cure for the virus a couple of hours ago. The medical staff are administering it to the crew.”

John looked around. Although medical was still full of people, many of the cots and beds were now empty. He watched the doctors and nurses rushing to administer the cure to each patient.

“Did any more people died?” asked John.

Thresha shook her head. “We did not lose anyone else. Velni discovered by combining the antibodies with Drix blood chemistry that it created an inoculate that destroys the virus. I do not understand the exact science behind it but the humans will never be threatened by the virus again.”

John was relieved to hear that bit of news. “The crew’s safe. That’s all that matters.”

“Those who were ill will need a couple of days to recover,” explained Thresha. “Velni has issued an order ship-wide that no one who was sick return to their duties for two days.”

John was relieved that this crisis was over. The loss of anymore human crew members would have most likely forced John to return PHOENIX to the solar system, which would have ended the mission to find the Screen. He laid back down and closed his eyes, happy about the outcome.

“I should probably get back to the command deck,” he muttered as he drifted off to sleep.