by Eliza Green
His gaze went to Anton and Arianna, both of whom were bed-bound, like him. Both of whom looked paler than when they’d first come in, and sported heavy, dark rings around their eyes.
Anton turned his head towards him, his eyes half closed.
‘She’s right,’ he croaked. ‘We should wait for more news about the cure from Bill. There’s nothing more we can do.’
He didn’t believe that. Stephen sat up, shifting his weight to his knees. The thought of standing made him dizzy.
Serena made disapproving noises, but helped him up anyway. ‘I suppose it doesn’t matter what I say to you. You’ll do what you want.’
‘I’m sorry but I must speak to the district. They need to see how their defiance is only spreading the virus faster. They must stop using telepathy at once.’
Serena sighed, hooking an arm under his and helped him to his feet. ‘Come on, you’ll have me for support.’
His head grew light. He closed his eyes and waited for the dizziness to subside.
Opening his eyes, he checked his mate over. ‘How are you feeling?’
She nodded. ‘Nothing yet. I’m okay.’
That’s what worried him. How would the virus present in a third generation? Worse than it had in him?
Using Serena as a crutch, he shuffled out of the infirmary. As soon as he had vacated the mattress, the medics ushered a new patient on to it.
‘To the Central Core,’ he directed her. ‘I need them to see me.’
Serena guided him slowly. His feet barely lifted over the uneven floor. A couple of times his toes caught on the rough terrain. Serena kept him upright.
‘I could carry you.’
She smiled but he saw the worry beneath the cheerful facade.
‘This is only temporary, I promise. It will take more than a virus to kill me.’
She said nothing, resuming her guidance of him through the empty tunnels. The vibrations in the tunnel walls persisted, a steady, low thump that reminded him of the second heartbeat in the Nexus. Once he regained enough strength, he would fix whatever malign presence had camped out in there.
The tunnel ended and the cavernous space that was the Central Core began. The scene there shocked him. The space was wall to wall with sick Indigenes. Male, female, young and old slumped against the walls, sitting on the floors, or moving about in a slow fashion. The numbers in the infirmary didn’t come close to identifying how far this problem had spread.
A familiar hum from his charges made him gasp.
‘Please, stop using telepathy,’ he croaked.
The Indigenes turned to look at him. A collective oh filled the room. He assumed it had to do with his appearance.
‘We have confirmation the virus is spreading through our use of our ability.’
‘Who told you that, the humans?’ A young Indigene male looked at him then flicked his gaze away. ‘They are the problem.’
He fanned his hands at his audience, while Serena kept him upright. ‘The humans are helping us. They’re putting together a cure as we speak.’
A few Indigenes close in age to him sneered at him. ‘They infected this place. Now, they want to control us.’
Eight years ago, he would have agreed with that summation. But no longer. ‘No, the humans are our friends.’
One said, ‘Seems like any time something bad happens, it’s because of the humans.’
Serena whispered next to his ear. ‘You can’t reason with them, Stephen. They’ll do what they want in the end. All you can do is warn them.’
He knew that. But being a leader meant facing the good and the bad.
‘Promise me you will not use your telepathy. Please help me to convince the others. If we work together, we can beat this.’
One Indigene collapsed where he stood.
Serena left Stephen and rushed over to him. ‘Help him to the infirmary. Is there anyone here well enough to carry him?’
A couple of males nodded and picked up the fallen Indigene.
Stephen found the safety of the wall, while Serena did things he could not. He watched as the Indigene was carried out by the pair.
To the shocked sea of faces, he said, ‘This will only get worse if we let it. Preserve your minds until we can beat this. Use your voices only.’
The group nodded, mute and agreeable.
Serena returned to his side and gripped his elbow once more. ‘Where to now?’
‘One of the empty quarters.’
‘Don’t be silly. I can take you to ours.’
‘No, I need to isolate myself, in case I slip and use telepathy.’
‘But I’m not affected.’
‘You could be. Please, Serena...’
She nodded and escorted him to an empty accommodation unit in a disused section of the district. She got him settled him on the mattress in the room.
Kneeling beside him, she said, ‘You got through to them today.’
Stephen shook his head. ‘You heard them; they hate the humans. I fear that attitude won’t change much with the arrival of the cure.’
‘Hold on to your hope, Stephen. It’s all we have left.’
He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his fingers to his head. ‘I wish my envisioning skill was working. Maybe I could see how this would play out.’
‘How long has it been gone?’
He opened his eyes. ‘Since the GS humans built their machine. It hasn’t returned since it was switched off.’
‘What about the neurosensor?’
‘I tried it. No more visions.’
Serena reassured him by stroking his forehead. ‘Please rest now. All we can do is hope Bill and his team will find the cure.’
He sighed. This life was getting too hard. ‘Maybe I should just give up. The Indigenes don’t listen to me anyway. I’m not Pierre and I’m definitely not Elise. Emile was right. I don’t know what I’m doing.’
A cross Serena shook his shoulder lightly. ‘Nonsense. I won’t hear that talk from you. Emile is wrong. He is bigoted and small minded, and so is his wife. You are progressive and you’ve been up against it from day one, ever since you took over from Pierre.’
He smiled. ‘To coin a human phrase, they were “big boots to fill”.’
He’d seen how Pierre’s rigid style had alienated his charges, so he’d tried Elise’s more democratic approach.
But Serena didn’t smile back. ‘Pierre and Elise had very different leadership styles. One was not better than the other. The older Indigenes preferred Pierre’s methods and the younger ones want more freedom. This rebellion is to be expected.’
Stephen had considered talking to Bill, to see if he could renegotiate the peace treaty.
Serena said, ‘Maybe when this is all over, we can,’ proving she could still read his thoughts.
Stephen told her about what he and Clement had found in the Nexus.
Her eyes widened at his admission. ‘You went in there, without telling me? Why?’
‘I wanted to see the problem for myself.’
‘But a second heartbeat, what does that mean? Is Tanya still in there?’
‘I don’t think so, not anymore. We used it for weeks without issues. I think the Nexus has been infected and is lashing out with a poison of its own. We won’t know for sure without more investigation.’
Serena stood up. ‘I’ll go in, find out what I can.’
Stephen grappled for her ankle, getting his thumb and finger around it. ‘No, it’s my responsibility. Don’t risk your life. You may be well now, but the Nexus could accelerate your illness.’
Serena hunkered down beside him. ‘I can’t let you do it; you’re too sick.’
He laughed once. ‘I can barely stand. I’m not going anywhere, not until Bill finds the cure. After, I’ll hit the Nexus hard.’
Serena gazed longingly at him. Her fingers warmed his face. ‘It will all work out. You’ll see.’
40
The car drove Bill and Ben to the hospital. They’d just finished
going through Greyson’s files and were on their way to meet with Harvey and Jameson. It hadn’t been necessary for the teen to accompany him, but Bill liked having him around.
‘Did you have to open up the interstellar wave to get Greyson’s files?’ Ben asked.
‘Yeah.’ It had been a risk doing so. ‘I just hope it wasn’t a waste of our time.’
‘Of course it wasn’t. We got important information about early testing that could help.’
Discovering that telepathy operated at different frequencies in the first, second and third generation could be a breakthrough. But it didn’t temper his dread about his actions.
‘I don’t think you understand. I’ve bet my livelihood on this working.’
Ben snorted beside him. ‘I understand plenty. I’ve been watching the interstellar wave for the last few weeks. I know what’s going on out there, even though people aren’t using it much. Their lack of use is telling enough. I know tensions are high.’
‘So you realise what I did, opening out the comms channel for that one minute, could be the end of the ITF?’
‘Or it could mark the beginning of something new. Just because things look bad doesn’t mean there’s no silver lining.’
Bill blinked. ‘What do you mean?’
Ben turned partially. ‘Look, if you did nothing and let those two clowns run the show, we might still be grappling for answers. I think Greyson’s data is on to something. A certain frequency could grow the virus or kill it.’ He sat back in his seat and looked ahead. ‘Doesn’t matter what you do, the ITF’s in the shit anyway.’
‘Hey!’
‘Tell me I’m wrong.’ Ben glanced at him sideways. ‘It’s hanging on by a thread. It’s under-resourced; it clings to an archaic treaty that serves nobody except the people you command and the people who used to command you.’
Ben wasn’t wrong about that.
Bill nodded. ‘If it goes under, it will be my fault.’
‘Nah, it was headed that way all on its own. I could tell from the second I set foot in your offices.’
Despite himself, Bill laughed at the teen’s honesty. He hadn’t heard much of that lately. ‘So why were you so eager to work there?’
Ben shrugged. ‘It’s the only place on this planet trying to keep shit together. That’s got to be worth something.’
He hoped so. Bill’s mind settled partially. ‘Well, enjoy the ITF for as long as you can. There might not be one in the morning.’
‘Tomorrow’s another day. I’ve lived through worse than this. Trust me, things can turn around.’
Bill smiled to himself. Not that long ago, Laura would have been giving him the pep talk. Ben made a good substitute. He’d told Laura about the findings in Greyson’s files and their theory about the virus attacking the frequency used by telepathy. She and Margaux promised to pass on the information to Serena. The only thing left now was to find the cure.
The car passed through the gates and pulled up outside the hospital. Before the car came to a stop, Ben had his door open and one foot out. Bill exited the car and followed a fast-moving teen inside. A minute later, they entered the lab to see Harvey and Jameson stood next to each other, both staring at one of the monitors and looking studious. From where Bill stood, he couldn’t see what they looked at. Another monitor behind them showed the data Bill had sent ten minutes ago.
He strode over to the pair. ‘Please tell me we’re close to finding the cure.’
Jameson looked up but Harvey answered. ‘Almost. The information you sent over gives us a new angle.’
‘All right, hit me with it.’
Harvey made a steeple with his fingers. ‘We know the virus is attacking telepathy. And we were trying to figure out a way to deliver the cure. We may have come up with one way.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Electroconvulsive therapy.’
‘Shock treatment?’ asked Bill.
‘The very same, except we administer a higher-than-normal voltage to the brain in an attempt to confuse the virus that’s using electrical signals to move around.’
‘Won’t that kill the Indigenes?’ asked Ben.
‘No,’ said Jameson. ‘The Indigenes can self-heal fast. The virus is most likely affecting that ability, which is why they’re so sick. If we shock them hard and fast, it should render the virus dormant immediately and give their bodies time to fight it.’
‘That’s one idea.’ Bill gestured to the data he’d sent. ‘What about radio wave therapy? Can’t we find the virus’s preferred frequency and hit it with radio waves to disable it?’
Harvey nodded. ‘It would work, if we knew the exact frequency. Radio waves are a more targeted solution and I’m not sure we have the time to experiment. Shocking each patient and interrupting all the electrical signals will shut the virus down faster.’
‘What about using nanoids?’
On Earth, medics had used nanoids to deliver cures, bypassing any defensive walls the body tried to put in their way.
‘If we had any it would be the first thing I’d suggest,’ said Jameson. ‘I have no supplies left. We used all available nanoids for the genetic reversal treatment, which you said was mandatory for us to carry out.’
‘It was... it is.’
It would remain a condition of the peace treaty; Isobel had undergone it before she returned to Earth. But Bill had no way to get a fresh delivery of nanoids. What he’d given to the clinics had come from a supply he’d found in one of the World Government’s storage facilities. He assumed the board members had stockpiled the nanoids for when genetic testing resumed. Now, he had no idea where to get them, or how to make them.
‘Okay, nanoids are off the table. I just think shocking them hard is risky while their immune systems are compromised.’
‘We can offer both radio wave and electroconvulsive therapy as a treatment,’ suggested Jameson.
‘No, shocking the brain is the only way to go,’ said Harvey.
Storming District Three with a machine capable of shocking might not be the most diplomatic solution. The Indigenes would never trust him again.
‘We offer them both solutions,’ said Bill. ‘They have another problem now: the Nexus. It’s looking like the source of the virus.’
Harvey lifted his hands. ‘Sorry, Bill, I can only help with matters that exist on this plane.’
He wasn’t asking him for help. Stephen would need to figure that problem out for himself.
‘Tell me more about the shock therapy. What will it do? Are there any risks, side effects?’
‘There are always risks with this kind of therapy,’ said Harvey. ‘We’re hoping the shock will switch off their ability to communicate silently. The risks? Take your pick. We may end up permanently damaging their ability, we may not. They might never recover use of their silent language.’
That was some risk. The Indigenes relied on telepathy more than for their voice alone.
‘But that would destroy them in other ways,’ said Bill.
Beside him, a concerned Ben nodded.
But Harvey looked unfazed. ‘It’s a small price to pay. It we do nothing, the virus will end up killing them.’
The geneticist was right. It had already taken two elders. Bill couldn’t risk more dying, and certainly no Indigene he considered a friend. They had to do something now.
‘How long will the “cure” turn off their ability?’
Jameson ran his fingers through his sandy coloured hair. ‘Minutes, hours, months... this is untested, Bill. Anything could happen.’
‘What will you use to shock them?’
Harvey smiled. ‘Actually, the Buzz Guns.’
With thumb and forefinger, he mimicked a shot to the head. The deadly weapon the ITF carried packed a punch.
The image disturbed Bill but he didn’t see another way. Do nothing and the Indigenes would surely die.
‘Okay, how soon before you can treat the entire district?’
‘You say there are severa
l hundred living there?’ asked Jameson.
Bill nodded.
‘Give us a few hours. We need to work out how much shock to deliver. When we go in there, I want it to be just once.’
‘You’ve got two hours.’ Bill walked to the exit. ‘We’ll be back then.’
Ben followed him out. When they were outside the lab, he asked, ‘Now what?’
‘Now, I warn Stephen that a couple of human doctors brandishing Buzz Guns are about to descend on his district.’
The lift doors opened and they entered it.
‘Would the radio wave therapy not be safer?’
‘I’m not qualified to make that call. I have to trust them when they say this is the better option.’
‘They won’t be welcomed.’
Bill agreed as he activated the lift panel with his bioscan. ‘Those two have a reputation. One created the people who infected them and the other stole their human lives. Would you welcome them?’
‘No.’
‘But the Indigenes don’t have a choice.’
Ben made a noise. ‘Story of their lives.’
It was. And Bill was to blame, for all of it. He’d allowed Tanya to build her machine and steal power from the Nexus. He’d known she was up to something. He could have stopped her.
The lift doors opened and they exited.
‘We need to get back to my apartment. It’s time to convince the Indigenes to let us help.’
‘Should I tell Julie where I’ve gone?’ said Ben.
Just the mention of her name made Bill’s blood boil. She’d revealed her true feelings about the Indigenes. He wondered how many more humans felt the same way.
Bill flexed his hands to break the tension he felt. ‘I’m the boss. Julie will cope without you just fine.’
41
Stephen slumped against the wall next to District Three’s entrance as he waited for his guests to arrive. Given the recent hostility from his charges, levelled at both him and the humans, he had to make sure Bill and his team made it inside safely. Despite his weak legs threatening to floor him, both the wall and Serena kept him upright. Never had he been so sick, so unable to carry out his duties. Never had he imagined a virus could knock his supercharged immune system sideways.