Annia raised her voice. "Liam."
Liam opened the door. His saw Maycee and stiffened as if he were going to attack her. He stopped, confused.
Annia said, "Maycee needs to go home. You take her and stay with her."
"Yes," Liam said. "Come." He looked as if he meant to pick her up and throw her over his shoulder.
"I can walk," Maycee protested.
"Home," Liam said. He took her by the elbow and steered her from the lab, ignoring her protests and her dragging feet.
Cho'en was in the waiting room, cocking her head at an old woman with a runny nose and eyes. Annia said, "I'm sending Maycee home. She needs rest."
Cho'en's bells, thin and dull with weariness, said, concur/ fear/lonely.
Just outside the door of the clinic, Tora peered at Maycee, spoke to Liam and came inside at a trot. "Maycee human is sick."
"I sent her home to rest. Liam will be with her."
Tora frowned. "Very sick. Enemies." She looked over her shoulder at Maycee who was arguing with Liam.
Annia shook her head. "I can't help her now, Tora. She will rest at home and be better in the morning."
"No."
"Tora, I can't help her. I can't find anything wrong with her."
Tora sniffed and went back to Liam and Maycee. She assigned a young man from the militia to go with them.
Annia faced the patients in the waiting room. "I've had to send Cho'en's partner home. They won't be able to help anyone else today, but none of your children are in immediate danger. We'll find room for the worst cases to spend the night here."
She outlined the rules for quarantine. "Isolate yourselves. Discourage people from coming to your home. You've seen us using antiseptic sprays and gels. You can substitute a mild caustic. Dilute it with water and spray everything in your home. Spray your hands with it regularly whether you think you have touched an infected surface or not. Wash clothes and cloths with it. That will help keep it from spreading."
A girl with a baby and a tear-stained face said, "Doctor, we've been here all day, and you haven't told us what our kids have got. Do you even know?"
Behind Annia, Martia Cummerland said, "They've known all along. We've got century plague."
A mother alone with her seven-year-old daughter said, "It was destroyed a hundred years ago. How did we get it?"
A father with narrow eyes and a weak chin said, "My kids got it from the Bangers."
Martia said, "It's in their sequencer. They're extracting it from our children."
"What for?" The man with the weak chin turned from fear to anger.
Annia had to raise her voice to be heard over the rising babble. "Calm down so I can explain."
"You'll explain, all right," the man with the weak chin made a grab for Annia as if he thought he could throttle the explanation out of her.
Cho'en whirled, putting her heavy tail between Annia and the patients.
They were tired and hungry and terrified, and all Annia could think was that the room was full of sick children who were going to be trampled if a riot erupted. The man with the weak chin snatched at Annia past Cho'en's guard.
"No fighting," Tora snarled from the doorway.
The patients turned toward the door, startled out of their hostility, and Annia realized afresh how fast clones could move. One moment Tora stood in the doorway and the next she had crossed the room and slapped her hand on the shoulder of the ringleader of the small riot. He grunted and dropped to his knees, trying to pry Tora's fingers from their grip on his shoulder.
Tora looked around at the shrinking parents. "No fighting doctors in clinic. Clinic is for fighting disease enemy."
The stocky man at Tora's flank said, "You all right, Doctor? We've got things pinned down outside, but they've already heard something about century plague."
Annia laid her hand on Tora's wrist where she held her prisoner by the shoulder. "Release," she said.
Tora looked dubious, but she relaxed her grip and let her prisoner fall forward.
Solante's soldier with the newly-repaired arm came to the door. "Is that true what I heard about century plague?"
Annia put her hand on Martia's shoulder where the woman stood weeping with her face to the wall. "I haven't finished matching your samples, and I didn't want to frighten you all until I was sure, but yes, I do suspect your children have contracted century plague."
"It was killed," someone protested.
Annia said, "Apparently not."
Someone said, "But there's a cure."
Annia said, "Disease control is much better than it was a hundred years ago. DV technology didn't even begin to develop until after the last outbreak. The department of Planetary Health knows all about it by now, and they may have a cure in a matter of days, even hours."
Baldwin pushed Solante's soldier out of the doorway. "The important thing is to keep calm and contain the disease. Anyone you come into contact with could be infected. Think about that every time you open your front door."
CHAPTER FOUR
Liam helped Maycee undress and lie down in her bed, and he lay down beside her until she fell asleep. He had liked working at the clinic. Tora had been there, and Tora was good to be with. He had met more of Tora's soldiers and liked them. It had been pleasant to work with soldiers again. General Baldwin had been there and Tora's friend Mr. Ventnor who was a good soldier. Annia and Cho'en had been too busy to acknowledge him, but he had liked to know they were there and he was helping them.
Liam slept beside Maycee and didn't wake up until she rolled over in the morning. She smiled at him. "Have you been here all this time?"
She was very warm under the blanket. He worked himself close to her.
She stretched and put her arms over his shoulders. "I should have got up, but I was so tired." She blinked her inside eyelid.
Liam looked down into her face. The hurting thing inside her was awake, too, plucking at her without hands. Someday, it would pluck away enough of her that it could take her away to the big dark barracks full of sleeping bodies and hands that clutched without touching.
He couldn't kill the thing that was hurting her, so he made love to her instead, and they napped a little until it wasn't morning anymore, and someone woke them up by knocking on the door of the shelter.
Maycee said, "Come."
The young human soldier male called Mika had come home with them to help guard Maycee. He put his head inside the shelter. He blushed when he saw Maycee's bare shoulders. "I'm sorry to bother you, Ms. Charmmes, but there's someone here to see you. Should I send them away?"
Maycee groaned. "My cousins?"
Mika glanced over his shoulder at the people outside. "They didn't say, but I guess that's who they are."
Maycee groaned. "They wouldn't go away if you launched them through a gravity boost. I'll be out."
He nodded and closed the door.
Liam remembered Maycee's cousins. They had come to the camp moving like enemies and threatened Maycee. She said she was not afraid of them, but the Elizabeth-Belle human would hurt Maycee if she could.
He got up from the gel pad and went to the door.
The Elizabeth-Belle human was near Maycee's gate, and the Jordan-Kyle human stood at the gap in the fence. Jordan-Kyle watched Liam with flicks of his eyes, and the Elizabeth-Belle stood with her shoulders at an angle to the Jordan-Kyle. Spatial relationships resolved in Liam's mind. They had come for Maycee, and this time they meant to take her away while Annia and Cho'en were busy at the clinic.
They shifted position when they saw Liam. They knew he was the one who would fight them. They meant to fight him and take Maycee away when she had no one to protect her.
He stopped at the foot of the stairs to the shelter and measured their positions in his mind. The Jordan-Kyle enemy carried a distance weapon under his jacket. He had a confident swagger in his shoulders that said he thought he could fight Liam.
The young soldier human Mika looked at Liam to know what to do. H
e carried only a club like Tora and her new human soldiers, and he wasn't a full-trained soldier. He couldn't tell if these were enemies or not. Liam said, "Get Doctor Annia and Cho'en."
The Mica soldier ran away to get Annia. Annia would know what to do.
The Elizabeth-Belle human said, "Where is Magdalene-Carroll?"
Maycee came out of the shelter. She had dressed and combed her hair. She wore it down her back in a tail of knots that fascinated Liam whenever he saw it. She came down the stairs and put her hand on Liam's shoulder. "Lizabelle, how nice of you to visit," Maycee said in a voice that meant pretending to be friends but really enemies.
The Elizabeth-Belle's face twisted in the expression humans made when they accidentally ate something bad. "What in our forefather's name are you thinking?" She jerked her head at Liam. "It's not even human. If the family hadn't already decided to bring you home, this would convince them you were unbalanced."
"Fortunately, it is none of your business." Maycee put her arm around Liam's waist, which made him uncomfortable because if he had to fight, he wanted to have his arms free.
Elizabeth-Belle said, "We've heard there's an epidemic spreading. Cyrion Security is talking about imposing a quarantine, so we came to take you out before the perimeter is closed to traffic."
Maycee said, "So now you believe Annia is right?"
"Don't be absurd. A place like this must breed epidemics like a dunghill breeds basilisks."
Maycee said, "I was exposed to it all day yesterday. If I went back to Gaea, I'd spread it to everyone there—including the mind-bank."
The Elizabeth-Belle made a noise with her tongue that meant she thought Maycee was stupid. "We don't have time to argue. The city could impose a quarantine any time, and I don't want the nuisance of convincing them to let us through." She looked past Liam to the Jordan-Kyle.
The Jordan-Kyle reached into his jacket for his weapon. He thought he was moving very fast for a human, but he was not a clone. Liam turned to face the Jordan-Kyle and pushed Maycee behind him. He was too rough, and he was sorry, but he was already moving toward Jordan-Kyle.
The Jordan Kyle jerked a small stun weapon out of his jacket and swung it toward the place where Liam had been, but Liam was not there anymore. Liam felt a shock through his side. It was ice cold, and it hurt. The blow he had aimed at the enemy's collarbone to immobilize him fell struck the Jordan-Kyle's cheek instead, crushing the bone and spinning him around.
Liam could not move. He could not see for a moment. Then he heard Maycee scream. He must protect Maycee. There was no time to be gentle with enemies. He twisted the enemy around and broke his back. That enemy would not get up. There was another enemy, the female. He knew where she had been. He could not see, but before Liam attacked the enemy with the stun weapon, he had seen the Elizabeth-Belle begin to move toward Maycee with a medical weapon in her hand. Blind, he followed the spatial sense in his head. He felt his hands strike the enemy good solid blows. The enemy would not get up.
He could not see. Things came at him in pieces broken by dark spots. He hurt very badly. He knew where Maycee had been. He went there and turned his head back and forth until he thought something came into his vision that was her.
He knelt and felt on the ground until his numb hands identified her by the resilience of her flesh—different from the moss and turf. He held her against him. He was shaking, and he hurt too much to feel if she was breathing.
Someone moved nearby. He felt the vibration of feet on the ground. He didn't know if it was an enemy.
"Mr. Tanar, Mr. Tanar, are you hurt? I brought help. Doctor Annia is coming from the clinic." That was the young soldier human, Mika.
The Mika human went away. Liam could not move. It was hard to breathe. He could not feel Maycee breathing at all. Her body did not move in his arms. He heard thumping and footsteps.
Someone who was not Annia said, "This one's not breathing."
Then he heard Annia's voice and felt relieved. She said, "Get her away from him. I can't scan her."
There were many people with Annia. He didn't like to have so many people around him when he couldn't fight.
"What happened to her? Did he attack her, too?"
Liam clutched Maycee and tried to make the pieces of his vision into one big piece.
Someone patted his cheek and turned his face to the side. A man's voice said, "Put Ms. Charmmes down, Chief. She's going to be all right. She's breathing, but you've got to put her down."
#
Annia had barely time and equipment enough to restart Jordan-Kyle's autonomic functions and apply an emergency nerve patch to the shattered spine. "He's breathing on his own. Cho'en, I could have used your help."
Cho'en squatted on the moss, cradling Liam against her torso with one arm. Her free hand rested on Maycee's forehead.
Cho'en hadn't called for Annia's help, so Annia took the time to scan Elizabeth-Belle: broken bones, concussion, broken jaw, internal bruises, but little or no internal bleeding. "Don't move them yet. I want to put boneseal in those broken bones and treat the concussion."
A hypodermic lay near Elizabeth-Belle's hand—half hidden by an overturned camp stool. Annia read the label on the cartridge. It was loaded with enough sedative to keep Maycee unconscious until the flutter metabolized from her system.
"Misbegotten sib," she muttered. Elizabeth-Belle and Jordan-Kyle had intended to kidnap Maycee. Annia and Cho'en would have come home and found the camp empty with no sign of Maycee and no idea what had happened to her. Or maybe Elizabeth-Belle had planned to leave a message. What difference would it make? Annia had no way to go after them and take Maycee back.
She wrenched herself off that chain of thought. It hadn't happened. In fact, the cartridge hadn't been discharged. Something else had caused Maycee's collapse.
Liam still had Maycee clutched against his chest. Annia moved to his side. "Liam, it's Annia. At rest. No enemies." She scanned him.
"Bang in a well, they've wiped his crystal." More a nuisance than real damage. Maycee had a copy of his program, and he didn't rely much on the crystal anymore, but the crystal interface was misfiring into his brain and probably scattering his thoughts to the back of the galaxy. If she didn't shut it down, it could erase his new memories—the real ones—and throw him back on his programming. She turned to the young man who hung back looking confused. "You're Mika? Tora's friend? Go into the shelter there and find a crystal writer.
She pulled Liam's shirt open and pushed her hand between him and Maycee. His pectorals knotted and twisted. She felt down his abdomen where the muscles jerked and quivered, ran her hand around his side to the hot patch under his arm.
Annia ripped his shirt until she exposed the red streak of a stun bolt curving around Liam's ribs from the blistering strike point—second degree burns; the muzzle of the stunner must have actually been touching his skin—to the tapering flare under his right scapula. They must have had it tuned to its lethal setting, thinking that would be enough to drop a clone. Stupid. It had made a mess, but it hadn’t stopped Liam from putting down the threat. The shooter—the stunner had been lying beside Jordan-Kyle—hadn't known how fast a clone could actually move. Liam had crossed the ground between them in the time it took to pull the trigger. It hadn't been a square hit. Maycee must have caught half the expended bolt. At that setting, there was no telling what it had done to her already shaky condition.
"Cho'en, was Maycee hit by a stun bolt?"
Cho'en crouched over Maycee's body with the pot of black sand open in her hand. The drug had already sunk into Maycee's skin and Cho'en's bells whispered fear/grief/despair.
Annia scanned. "Half-decanted, misbegotten sib of a bad brood."
The sprawling Q-wave overwhelmed everything, setting off the seizures and triggering the delta wave. Maycee was in a near coma and falling deeper. Much as the thought of using the mutagenic drug offended Annia's sensibilities, they had to stop the seizures. "Give her another dose," she said to Cho'en.
Again, they waited, watching from their various vantages—Annia on the scanner's monitor, Cho'en through whatever sense she used to see inside Maycee's brain. The seizures continued to fire their destructive energy; the Q-wave oscillated unconstrained, and the delta-wave continued to drag her deeper into unconsciousness and coma.
"It's not working," she said to Cho'en.
Whatever had finally tipped Maycee's fragile control over the edge, it was beyond anything flutter could do to reverse it. If they wanted to get her back, they would have to find another way.
Annia used the last of her small supply of boneseal to repair Elizabeth-Belle's jaw and the worst fractures of her arm and ribs. She injected an anti-inflammatory to reduce the swelling of the concussion, and within an hour, Elizabeth-Belle opened her eyes.
Jordan-Kyle had been more severely hurt. Had the damage to his skull and spine been a little less clean, Annia would not have been able to restore his life-functions with her primitive field equipment. He lay on a pallet against the far wall with gel plastered across the cheek where Liam had struck him. If he didn't get better surgical attention than Annia could give, he might lose the use of his eye on that side, and it would be a long time before the patched nerves in his spinal column fully recovered. He could move his arms now, but he would walk with a shuffle until he got to a real surgery.
Farenough: Strangers Book 2 Page 4