by M. D. Cooper
The sound of running footsteps came echoing down the tunnel, distracting Isa from her melancholy thoughts.
Isa lifted her head to peer up at the approaching sound. Two figures were speeding toward her, carrying equipment slung over their shoulders. In a few moments, the man and woman were at her side.
“Isa, I’m just going to check you over,” the woman said. They quickly assessed her, and then the woman pressed the cold, metal end of a transfuser to her neck, passing fluids directly into her bloodstream. A few moments later, Isa felt her heart slow to its normal rhythm, and her uncomfortable, overheated feeling dissipate.
“Do you feel any pain anywhere?” the man asked.
“No, I don’t,” Isa replied. “I feel fine. Much better since you gave me that.” She moved to sit up.
The woman stopped her, saying, “Please stay still for now. I have to say, you’re the shortest Noctus I’ve ever seen.”
When Isa rolled her eyes, the medic continued, “Sorry, I guess people must say that to you all the time.”
The man’s eyes were kind as he said, “We’ve given you something to return your temperature to normal, but we don’t want to take any chances until we’re sure you’re okay.”
“Did you come all the way from the capital?” Isa asked.
“Yes, we did. There aren’t enough people out here to justify staffing a medical base in the area. Otherwise we would have gotten here sooner. Of course, you being a few kilometers underground didn’t help.” He swiftly grinned. “I think you must be our deepest rescue. What do you think, Stefana?”
“I’d say so,” said the woman.
“How are you feeling now?” he asked.
“I feel much better,” Isa said. “I think I could even stand.”
“Wait a moment,” the medic said. He scanned her again. “You do seem to be over whatever was ailing you, but we’ve brought an a-grav gurney to bring you out. It’s going to be safer to do it that way. Then the doctor at the hospital can give you the all-clear before you try anything as ambitious as standing.”
Isa protested that she felt fine and wanted to leave the cave system the same way she came in: on her own two feet. But the medics wouldn’t hear of it, telling her that it was still quite the hike out of the cave, and they’d be chewed out by their superiors if they allowed a patient to walk out after a collapse.
They set up the gurney, and Isa relented, climbing onto it even though she felt embarrassed and dumb. Straps slid out from the gurney’s sides and snaked over her body, securing her firmly as the medics set her discarded gear—barring the a-grav harness, which the man slung over his back—by her feet. With the medics stationed at her head and toes, the procession set off.
Though Isa understood the need for the medics’ approach, frustration ate at her throughout the journey they undertook to leave the cave system. Her feelings were in marked contrast to what they had been on the way in. The golden cavern didn’t hold the same charms when she returned through it flat on her back, either, and the swallows at the entrance were no longer so enchanting.
As the journey up through the caverns and tunnels carried on, Isa found herself glad for the a-grav stretcher, though she still felt embarrassed at being taken out like an invalid.
“What’ll happen to my pinnace?” she asked the medics as the gurney approached their ambulance. “I don’t want to leave it behind.”
“Just tell it to follow us,” Stefana replied. “You can park it in the hospital’s lot. There’s plenty of space. We have hardly any patients. Not that it isn’t a good thing, but you’ll find things are quiet at the hospital; just kids who have fallen out of trees, and women giving birth. The doctors will be pleased to have something different to do.”
Isa noticed a drone hovering overhead. “What’s that doing there?” she asked. “Is that one of yours?”
Stefana squinted up at the drone. “No, it’s a news drone. Word must have gotten out about your rescue.”
“You mean I’m going to be on the news?” Isa asked.
“Unless something more interesting happens on Tyre today, you are. Sorry.”
“Well that’s just great.”
During the entire ride back to Ushu, Isa debated with herself about what she was going to tell the doctors when they asked what had happened. Despite years of nightmares and sudden attacks of anxiety, panic, and overwhelming sadness, Isa had never sought medical help for her problems. She wasn’t sure why. In the odd, rare moments when she really thought about it, she came to believe that her difficulties were her penance for surviving when so many others had died. If she sought medical help and achieved a cure of some kind, might that only increase her guilt?
She guessed that there was one guaranteed solution for her problems: memory erasure. Her most painful memories could be wiped from her mind so effectively that not even her subconscious would bring them up again. She would be entirely cured. Though she knew she was being perverse, that was the last thing she wanted.
At the hospital, a doctor quickly assessed that, physically, she was absolutely fine. Then, as she’d feared, he wanted to talk about other causes for her episode. He mentioned words like “disassociation” and “fugue.” As Stefana had predicted, he seemed a little excited about the different possibilities.
Isa told him she had to visit the bathroom; she needed time to collect her thoughts. Looking at herself in the mirror as she washed her hands, she came to a decision about what she would tell him.
When she returned to the examination room, the doctor said, “So, if we can go back to the beginning again, can you tell me the last thing you remember before you heard Onyx advising you to leave the cave?”
“I think I was just admiring the crystals. And I felt hot, but not so hot that I was uncomfortable. I guess I must have overheated, though.”
“Your body temperature was too high, yes. But not until you’d been inside the cave for a considerable length of time. I think the overheating came after you entered your odd mental state. As far as I can tell, you didn’t faint. Even if I didn’t have the brain wave readings that Onyx made, I would expect to see an injury from falling suddenly unconscious, but you have none. What I do know is that you seemed to be thinking intensely. Does that mean anything to you?”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“I see. Have you ever had anything similar happen to you? Like strong memories resurfacing at odd moments?”
“No.”
“Right. Do you suffer from nightmares?”
“No.”
“Hmm…” The doctor tapped his chin. “Well, I have to confess I don’t know what to make of what happened to you. The best I can suggest from the evidence is that you were intensely distracted by something, something that caused you to forget where you were and what you were doing. Are you sure you don’t remember anything like that?”
“No, nothing at all.”
“Okay. Well, your scans are entirely normal, so I’m not too worried. Hopefully this will turn out to be a one-off, idiopathic incident. However, if anything like it happens to you again, I would suggest further investigation including a psychological evaluation.”
Psychological evaluation.
The words caused Isa to inwardly shudder. He was right, though. That was what she needed. The ghosts of her past were haunting her, and they were becoming more insistent, intruding into her waking hours.
But she would never avail herself of the treatment.
* * * * *
When Isa walked out of the hospital, it was early evening. She decided to head back to her hotel and eat in her room before going to bed. After a good sleep, she would be able to put the day’s events behind her and return to making her infomentary.
Three people were standing in a group just outside the exit, and, to Isa’s surprise, one of them walked over to her.
“Isa Chen?”
&n
bsp; “Yes,” Isa replied, even more surprised.
“I’m Samuel.” He held out his hand. “Pleased to meet you.”
Rather confused, Isa shook his hand. Then she wondered, warily, if this was something to do with the news drone recording her rescue. Was this man a reporter who wanted to hear her story?
“I’m sorry about what happened to you. Are you feeling better?” Samuel asked.
“I am, thanks.”
“That’s great. I hope you don’t mind me introducing myself. I’m a friend of Tony’s. I heard about what you’re doing on Tyre, and I’d like to help. Tony suggested that maybe my friends and I could be your informal guides.”
“Tony?” Isa’s mind did a retake. “Oh, Tony. You know him? He didn’t mention any people he knew on Tyre.”
“Yeah, I’ve known him a long time. He always pops in to see me whenever he’s here. So, about your infomentary, my friends and I were wondering if you’d like some help? We’d love to show you around.”
“You want to help me make the infomentary?” Isa asked, a little embarrassed. Samuel probably thought she needed help staying out of trouble.
“That’s right. We were some of the first settlers, and we’ve gotten to know the place pretty well. This is Rahmin and Ada.”
The other man and woman had walked over while Samuel and Isa were talking.
“Sorry, this must seem a bit weird,” said Samuel.
“No, it’s fine,” said Isa, definitely feeling a little weird.
Everyone seemed to know everyone else’s business in Ushu; Samuel had known who she was the minute she left the hospital.
As if he could hear her thoughts, Samuel said, “News travels fast in a quiet place like this.”
“I can tell,” said Isa. “So what you’re saying is, all of Tyre knows I had to be rescued from a cave?”
“Pretty much,” said Ada, smiling.
“But don’t worry,” Rahmin said. “Everyone’s ecstatic to finally have something to talk about other than local gossip.”
“Well, I’m glad I could provide such an important service to the public,” Isa said.
“Seriously, though,” Samuel said, “we know all the best places. Some of them we discovered ourselves; they aren’t mentioned in the information given out to tourists. We can take you to see them.”
Although the offer was probably a gentle way of preventing her from getting into any more scrapes, Isa hesitated about refusing it. Perhaps some local guides wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all. Who would be better at pointing out the attractions of Tyre than the people who’d chosen it over Carthage and the other planets as their home?
“I’ll think about it,” said Isa. “Thanks.”
“It would be our pleasure,” Rahmin said. “Any excuse to take a few trips out of town.”
Samuel said, “How about we go and get something to eat? We can talk about some places we could take you.”
“Sure,” said Isa, her mood lifting. Maybe it would be nice to have some companions on her travels after all.
Her new acquaintances took her to a restaurant near the hospital. Isa ordered what they recommended. A lot of food on Tyre was Carthaginian in origin, they said, but locally grown was better.
Isa spent the meal getting to know her new friends. Samuel was a vintner, Ada was a sanitation engineer, and Rahmin was a servitor specialist, though they didn’t talk about their jobs very much. Instead, they excited Isa with their stories of the thrilling things they’d done on Tyre and the places they’d been. When she told them she’d taken the chute through Mount Athos, they acted like it was old hat.
“Yeah, all the tourists do that,” said Ada, “but once you’ve been through the mountain over a hundred times, it loses its edge.”
“You should try wing-gliding from the top,” Samuel said. “Now that’s an experience that doesn’t get old.”
Isa excused herself to visit the restroom. She was glad she’d made the decision to spend some time with the Tyrians, and she was looking forward to seeing the places they could show her. Insider information really would be a good scoop for her infomentary.
She walked back the eating area, but before passing through the entrance to the tables, she saw something that made her pause: Samuel, Rahmin, and Ada were leaning toward each other in a huddle, their postures and expressions tense. Isa was within earshot of them, but she couldn’t hear what they were saying because they were whispering to each other.
Arguing, she realized.
The change in their behavior from only a few moments previously was so dramatic, she couldn’t guess what was going on.
Then Ada noticed her hesitating in the doorway and immediately snapped a smile. The other two quickly followed suit, moving back to open postures. The reactions were so fast that Isa almost wondered if she’d been mistaken in what she’d seen.
She rejoined the table, and the conversation continued as relaxed and amiable as it had been before. But Isa couldn’t shake her unease…. She now saw insincerity in the faces of the three Tyrians. Yet she’d already agreed to accompany them on several excursions.
Could she make an excuse and renege on their agreement? Should she? Isa was curious about what they wanted.
She didn’t know what the Tyrians’ true motivation for helping her was, but no credible reason for backing out of their plans sprang to mind.
GETTING COMFORTABLE
STELLAR DATE: 03.18.8937 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Marine Eco Station #14, Knossos Island
REGION: Carthage, New Canaan System
Martin had discovered that Malcolm was fine with sleeping in the lounge area of Martin’s little beach house/laboratory. He was also fine with cooking in Martin’s kitchen and, best of all, he was totally fine with using Martin’s lab and all its specialized equipment. And when it came to the huge range of embryos Martin had in stasis, waiting for the correct moment to introduce them to the Med’s ecosystem, Malcolm was absolutely enchanted.
“What amazes me,” Malcolm said as he studied the thousands of tiny chambers that lined the walls of the lab from the floor to the ceiling, “is the complexity and intricacy of a self-sustaining biome, you know? And it’s so fragile. All it takes is a single species in the wrong place or at the wrong time, and it’s, you know….” He made a noise that sounded like something wet and gassy being squashed. “Destroyed. Annihilated. Kaput.”
A muscle in Martin’s jaw twitched. He was cleaning his kitchen. To the untrained eye it might look like it was already clean, but Malcolm had insisted on cooking the previous evening, and he’d left smears on the countertop.
“Yes,” Martin said, increasing pressure as he rubbed away at the surface. “Kaput.”
Malcolm squatted down. He ran his gaze along the rows of embryo chambers near floor-level.
“Whoa,” he exclaimed. “Balaenoptera musculus. Core, that’s so cool.” He leaned closer to the chambers. “But they’re empty. Wait. You already started growing them? Awesome. I can’t wait to see. Maybe I could do that today.”
“Well,” said Martin, “there isn’t much to see yet. They’re still quite small.”
“That’s okay. I’d love to have a peek at blue whale fetuses of any size.”
“And they’re far out to sea,” Martin continued. “They need a lot of space. I didn’t want to have to move them more than once when they grow large.”
“Not a problem,” said Malcolm. “I love diving, you know.”
“Right. But they’re at an extremely sensitive growth stage.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be really careful.”
“Okay, but….” Martin wracked his brain for a good reason that would stop Malcolm from going anywhere near his precious blue whale fetuses.
“Wow,” Malcolm exclaimed. “Archelon? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“Yes,” Martin replied through his teeth, “I deliberately mislabelled a set of stasis chambers for the sole purpose of playing a joke on you.”
Malcolm had his nose against a chamber to peer at something. When he heard Martin’s reply, he turned toward him.
“Huh?” he grunted, frowning, but then his brow cleared, and he laughed and pointed at Martin. “Good one! I like working with people who have a sense of humor, you know. So, when are we heading out?”
Martin couldn’t decide what part of Malcolm’s utterances sounded worse. Was it the ‘we’ part, or the bit where he mentioned ‘heading out’?
“Ah. I need to talk to you about that,” he said. “Before you can begin helping with the practical element of my work here, you have to complete an introduction to its basis in ecological theory. You should also be fully conversant on what I’ve already used to begin the population of the system, and what I’m preparing for the second, third, fourth, and fifth stage releases.”
“Okay,” Malcolm said. “That shouldn’t take me too long.”
“That isn’t all,” said Martin. “You must familiarize yourself with all the progress assessments, balance checks, contingency strategies, emergency procedures, and so on.”
“Oh. Right.”
“It’s all on the Link. I’ve given you access to my files and records.”
“So I have to read all that information first? I can’t just go out and have a look around?”
“No, you can’t. I’d feel better if you were up to speed on everything before you go out there. Like you were saying, seeding a system is a highly complex process. It’s very sensitive to even the slightest disturbance. I’m sure you understand. But don’t worry, reading everything through a couple of times shouldn’t take you more than two or three weeks. A month, tops. Then we can talk about taking you out to see some of the nurseries.”