Within seconds, Marilyn’s computer lit up with arrays of numbers and letters which Marilyn utilized to interpret the data being fed from the mechanical arm to her computer.
Anta had not been in the medical station more than 10 minutes before Marilyn said, “There is something wrong. But my computers can’t tell me what it is. I suspect it has to do with AE, but these computers were likely never updated with information related to AE. They need to be updated, but I don’t know how to do that.”
“Should I get Mike?” Angel asked.
Anta screamed out in pain and thrashed back and forth on the bed. Shift leaned over her and wrapped his arms around her, both to hold her still and to comfort her. After a few seconds, Anta began to calm down again. Shift stood and grasped Anta’s hand, squeezing tightly.
“Sorry,” Anta said. “The pain comes and goes, and when it comes, it is intense.”
“No problem,” Shift said, emotion causing his voice to betray his outward calmness.
“Yes Angel,” Marilyn said, “go get Mike, and Jonas and Hasani. Anta, I will give you some medicine for the pain, but not until I have an accurate reading of what’s going on here. Please be patient with me.”
A few minutes later, Mike and Angel rushed into the medical station. Hasani and John were right behind them. As Marilyn explained the problem, the remaining members of their small group began to arrive at the door. Angel quietly explained what she knew and asked them to wait outside. Then she closed the door.
Mike sat down at Marilyn’s computer and began typing and swiping in an effort to find out what needed to be done to input information about AE into the computers. Jonas told him where to find the information they had stored on the system when they were creating E-rase. Hasani, not daring to approach his sister too closely, smiled at her and said a silent prayer for the health and safety of his sister and the baby.
Within minutes, Mike had figured out what needed to be done. He began the upload from the international station’s servers to the ship. He was surprised to find the servers at all considering the state of the International Shell after the breach. Apparently, a backup of all information on the servers was stored in every major shell. Seconds later, they heard a quiet beep from the computer.
“That’s it,” Mike said as he moved out of the chair.
Marilyn sat down immediately and instructed the computer to scan Anta’s and the baby’s blood samples again.
“Here it comes,” she said quietly, only seconds later. Shift stayed by Anta’s side while the others closed around Marilyn and the screen in front of her.
“It is AE,” Marilyn said. “The baby is infected and is beginning to show signs of illness. We need to inoculate the baby. Either Anta’s vaccination didn’t transfer to the baby, or her infected blood from her cut months ago has contaminated the baby’s blood. Either way, the baby is sick.”
“Will it work?” Hasani asked fearfully.
“I don’t know,” Marilyn said. “But I know that if we don’t do it, the baby will die. This is our only chance. Do you agree with that Angel?”
“I do. Everything we know about this disease, which is not much, indicates that a human body will not likely survive once the disease has manifest itself for over 30 hours, probably less time in a fetus. When did you first feel pain Anta?”
“Just an hour ago or so. But the pain got significantly worse, quickly.”
“Is there any way to tell how long ago the baby first began to show signs of illness?” Angel asked Marilyn.
“I don’t know,” Marilyn replied. “The computer really doesn’t know what to look for. And I don’t know how to tell it what to look for since we’ve never been in this position before.”
“Inoculate the baby!” Anta screamed as another wave of pain overtook her body.
“Do it,” Shift confirmed.
“Okay. Someone get John in here.”
Marilyn ran over to the containment locker where they had stored pre-measured dosages of the vaccination. The dosages had been kept in syringes just in case they had needed some on the moon—in case they had found any survivors. Both child and adult dosages were in the locker, although nobody really knew if that made any difference. Plus, this was not a child. It was a fetus. By the time she returned to the bed, John was there.
“Angel? John?” Marilyn began, “how much should I give the baby?”
“I don’t know that,” Angel replied heatedly. “You’re the doctor. Figure it out.”
“I don’t know either Marilyn,” John said, more patiently. “What do you think?”
“I’m trying. I just . . . I don’t know. We’ve never done this.” Marilyn began to shake as she held the child-size dosage of E-rase in her hand.
Shift and Hasani both walked over to her.
“Is there any possibility that we could overdose the baby and that the overdose would hurt the baby?” Hasani asked the group.
“Not really. I . . . I don’t think so,” Marilyn replied. “I wish Tom were here. He’d know what to do.”
“I don’t think so either,” John replied. “E-rase is an anti-bacterial vaccine. I think it would take a much larger dosage, perhaps the adult dosage, to cause an overdose in a fetus. So, the child dosage should be fine.”
“Then let’s just give the baby this dosage Marilyn,” Shift said quietly. “Whatever happens, you’re not to blame. We all know that. We all know that you’ve never been in this situation and every one of us is grateful you’re here.”
“I’m sorry Marilyn,” Angel said. “I’m just scared. Let’s give the baby the child dosage. I agree with you and John. I don’t think we can overdose the baby.”
Angel squeezed Anta’s hand as she screamed in pain again.
“Let’s go Marilyn,” Shift said as he quickly guided her to the bed.
Marilyn poured the liquid from the syringe into a small cell on the side of the mechanical arm that she had just directed to the side of the medical tray. The liquid vaccination flowed from the small cell into the arm. A pointed syringe stretched out from the arm as the large claw again sidled up to Anta’s side and held her down. The arm then automatically sprayed antiseptic and pricked Anta’s side, slid through the layers of tissue separating Anta’s skin from the fetus, and pricked the fetus.
“Now what?” Mike asked.
“Now we wait,” Angel and John said in unison.
“And watch,” Marilyn added.
“Just like everybody else we’ve ever vaccinated, we’ll have to wait several days to know whether the baby is clean,” Angel said.
“Until then,” Marilyn added, “Anta will stay here, in bed, with all the medications I can safely give her to make her more comfortable.”
Anta screamed again.
“Here’s for the pain,” Marilyn said as she put a small metal disc to the side of Anta’s head.
Anta fell asleep almost immediately. She slept for 36 hours.
November 16—International Lunar Space Station
“How’s Anta?” Mike asked.
“She’s awake now, and feeling pretty good, or so she says,” Shift replied.
“You don’t believe her?”
“Yeah, I believe her. But she has a pretty high pain tolerance. ‘Pretty good’ to her could be awful to the rest of us.”
“What do Marilyn, John and Angel think?”
“Anta’s body is reacting to the additional dose of E-rase without complication and, as you know, the baby is still alive. So, they’re hopeful.”
“And the baby isn’t showing any additional signs of contagion,” John said, walking over to Mike’s computer table.
“John,” Shift said, “I am so glad you’re helping out with this. I trust Angel and Marilyn, but your brain . . . well, you’re probably the smartest man left alive.”
“Ahhh, shucks,” John said, feigning bashfulness. “But that isn’t saying much, is it?” John smiled. So did Mike and Shift.
“Anyway, the baby looks good, at least as f
ar as we can tell for such a small thing with a disease never before known to mankind.”
“Well, I should go see her,” Mike said.
“I’m sure she’d like that Mike,” Shift replied. “Anyway, what are the stats man?”
“Again, it’s hard to really pinpoint actual numbers, but we figure there’s probably under 100 Skins left alive anywhere in the world and not a single one alive in the northern hemisphere.”
“That’s amazing!” John said.
“Yeah, and I guess it makes sense that there would be none left in the north.” Shift said. “The disease spread from Canada. If the Skins continued to mutate, to the point of death as we believe, then the place they started would be the first place they all died. The last place the Skins’ plague hit would be the last place they died. So, the ones still alive, are they all in Africa?”
“Almost. There’s a small group in Iran—maybe eight or nine of them. All the rest that we can see are in the southern countries of Africa. The Middle East and Africa were probably the last places the Skins went, and the last places to have many numbers of living humans when the Skins arrived. And now, it looks like they’re the only places the Skins are still alive.”
“You remember my theory that the Skins needed living human blood to survive?” John asked. “I think they are dying because there are no more humans to suck the life out of.”
“That’s as good a theory as any. But just how ‘alive’ are the rest of them?” Shift asked.
“They’re all dying. There are a few in South Africa that look a little healthier, but they won’t last long, I don’t think. They look old, but not as old as those that have already died. Based on what we’ve seen with the deaths of the others, I don’t think any of them will live more than a couple more weeks.”
“I wonder what happened to Cain.”
“We’ve looked for him a few different times,” Mike said.
“And?”
“We found him this morning.”
“Mike, you’re killing me. Where is he? Dead? Alive?”
“He looks dead to me. And when he died, it looks like he was the only Skin left in Florida. It’s like they all fled and left him there or something.”
“Can we still see his body?”
“Yeah, let me find it. Hold on.”
Others of the group had wandered in as Mike, John and Shift talked. The word was spreading. Anta and Marilyn were not among them.
“Since you’re all here, let me tell you what Mike and his team have learned.”
Shift proceeded to relate the conversation. When he was done, Mike said. “So, we found Cain. Here he is.”
Every person in the group stared at the image on the screen. It was definitely Cain. He certainly appeared to be dead. His body had shriveled up like all the rest, but because his skin remained intact, like a few of the others, they could clearly see his features. There was no doubt.
November 18, 2093—International Lunar Space Station
“Alright Hasani,” Jonas said through the Holo, “Start it up.”
Jonas and Shift sat on the bridge of the ship. Hasani and Mike were in the Operations Center above the ship in the station. They had gone through all the manuals they could find and Shift had quizzed Jonas extensively on everything he may have heard Jerad say about operating the craft. They were ready to start it up.
Everyone else was gathered on the deck above the ship, watching intently. Since yesterday, when they had decided it was time to go home, everybody had been busy. There wasn’t really much left to do on the moon, but some of them thought it would be appropriate to organize and make things tidy in case anyone ever came back to the International Station. None of them thought that was too likely.
The International Station was virtually worthless since the United States Shell had blown apart. Only the Mexican and English Shells had their own landing bays, and England’s had never been cleaned of the dead. The Mexican Shell was an unknown. They hadn’t explored it much. It was presumed that there were no dead bodies and thus, habitable at any time; but the shell was very small compared to the others. But, if anybody ever returned to the moon, it would probably be to one of those two Shells.
“Here it goes!” Hasani said excitedly as he keyed in the codes they had first located four months ago.
When the code sequence had been input, the ship quietly hummed to life. The sound was beautiful. Everyone cheered. Neirioui cried as she looked up at Hasani through the window of the Operations Center. He looked down at her and winked. “Let’s go home,” he mouthed. Neirioui blew him a kiss.
Within minutes, the whole group was onboard. As the ship began pre-flight maneuvers, Anta, resting comfortably in the lounge, entered the news of their successful start-up into the IIA Database. She knew that, on Earth, Marcus and Lin were anxiously awaiting news. They would be thrilled. Marcus seemed to have taken the news of other human life more casually than Anta had expected, but she could read the joy in Lin’s words on the database.
“Is everybody ready to go home?” Jonas called through the ship’s com system.
Answering for the group back in the lounge, Steve Porter answered, “Mr. Sampson, sir, we’ve been ready for a very long time. Take us back to Earth please.”
Jonas touched screens and pushed buttons as he gently maneuvered the hovering ship to the starting block. Hasani, sitting between Jonas and Shift, started the port opening sequence. Within two minutes, the port had opened and the sweeping dark night was exposed to their view.
The ship’s thrusters engaged and the ship rose into the air, shakily at first. Within a few moments, Jonas had it stabilized. Thirty seconds later it blasted out of the port to the wild and raucous cheers of 13 very happy people. In the darkened lounge where most of them sat, Jon leaned over to Suvan and kissed her lips for the first time. Only Street saw it. He smiled. Suvan blushed, looking around nervously. But she had a feeling nobody on this ship would really be upset, not even her mother.
On the bridge, Jonas, Shift and Hasani checked and rechecked the systems to make sure Earth was their destination. Once they were sure, they went back to the lounge to be with the others. It was a time to be with their friends. It was also the time to begin planning their lives.
Anta was still recovering from the pain and turmoil of a few nights back, but she and her baby had both been cleared. As far as anyone could tell, after extensive testing, the baby in her uterus was now immune. The vaccine had worked, and with it, the hopes and dreams of several members of the group had surged. But they still didn’t know what would happen when the baby was exposed to contaminated air upon his or her birth. And they wouldn’t know for several more months. Plus, they didn’t really know whether the air was still contaminated.
After three months on the moon, they were going home, headed for Florida. That’s the place from which they had left Earth. It was the place they had some familiarity with. If they were going to land successfully, that was probably their best chance. Plus, a couple of them had some unfinished business with the body of Cain.
November 19—Over Cape Canaveral, Florida
“Are we ready, Jonas?” Hasani asked.
“Yes, as long as there aren’t any Skins on the ground waiting to eat us alive.”
“Mike?” Hasani called through the holo.
“Yeah boss?”
“Stop calling me that. Anyway, Jonas and I just wanted one more confirmation that we aren’t putting this ship down into a horde of Skins waiting to tear our flesh apart and gnaw on our bones. Can you confirm that we will be alone, please?”
“Yeah boss,” Mike replied with a smile. “We will be alone. I checked a few minutes ago. The place is deserted except for the body of Mr. Cain.”
“How about weather?” Hasani asked.
“A little cold, as expected for this time of year in Florida. However, no storm fronts and no water on the ground. We’re good to go if you guys can figure out how to land this thing.”
“Excellent! W
e’ll try. Maybe you should come up here and show us how.” Hasani’s laugh brought a “Hmmph!” from Mike.
“Okay.” Serious now. “Have everyone get in their seats please. We’ll be landing very soon.”
The small group of survivors sat in their seats in the lounge. They eagerly awaited the feeling of landing gear settling down upon the pavement.
“Alright everybody, about 20 seconds,” Hasani said through the com system.
21 seconds later, the ship was hovering over the tarmac, coasting toward the gate from which they had hastily departed more than three months earlier. As they approached the gate, Jonas engaged the wheels which quietly lowered from the underside of the hull. They coasted the rest of the way to the gate and stopped without incident. They had arrived safely, but the apprehension of the small group was palpable.
From the computer bay, Mike turned on the outside monitors. The charging station was sitting as they had left it. The dry bones of the few Skins who had died falling from the ship as it departed littered the ground.
“Well people, should we get off?” Shift asked as they began to gather in the lounge. A couple people were already standing, but nobody moved toward the doors. It was time to leave the safety of the ship and brave the world outside, but their fear held them in place. They knew they were safe from AE, but even though Mike had confirmed, over and again, that there were no Skins here, each of them still worried. The Skins were not to be taken lightly.
Over the past few days, Mike and the others had become confident that no Skin was left alive in North AM. The only ones they had seen moving about were far away in Africa and the Middle East. But that didn’t mean they were all gone. Perhaps they were just in hiding. The group, hesitant to go outside the ship, finally drifted to the computer bay, where Mike was now sitting, looking at the world outside. Even though communications had been disrupted when they left, the power was still on. Mike had remotely connected to the camera systems on the base through USCAN.
Tomorrow We Rise Page 27