Firmament: Radialloy

by J. Grace Pennington

  I trudged to sickbay, wondering just what Peat had meant by saying “Erasmus Howitz is a dangerous criminal.” What had he done? Could these men have any motive for lying? And yet the Captain clearly considered it at least a possibility, if not likely.

  My pager beeped as I walked down the hall, jolting me out of my thoughts. There was no reason for me to worry about it. It didn’t concern me at all. All I needed to do right now was take care of sickbay so that the Doctor could get his rest. Later, perhaps at dinner, I would talk to the Captain about what had been happening with the Doctor, the strange way he had been acting. The Captain would know what to do.

  Only one of the cots was occupied when I walked in, but it was a serious injury. It was a lieutenant from recycling in the hold, who had a nasty gash in his leg. It had gotten caught in the recyclators, and I tried to keep from grimacing after I cut the bloody pant leg away and saw that the cut ran down to the bone. This would require too much regen for a simple local anesthetic. I’d need a full-scale tranquilizer.

  An hour after I’d begun work on the man, I was still working on the muscle. Lost in concentration, I focused on positioning the tissue in place with gloved fingers, then injecting the regen shot and letting it work while I moved onto another section. This type of work was on the edge of my healing abilities, and I was glad there was nothing worse. If it were, I would have had to call the Doctor, or if he was unable to work, we might have to stop and try to get help from another ship’s medical personnel or a hospital station.

  “Miss Lloyd?”

  The voice startled me out of my focus for an instant, but I then took a deep breath and closed the last section of muscle. “I’m sorry, I can’t talk right now. You’ll have to wait until I’m finished here.”

  I couldn’t spare the brain power to wonder about the speaker, or even try to identify the voice. It was a male, that was as much as I had time to notice before I started work closing the skin. This was easier than the muscle, and would hold better, but it was still a difficult task, and I had to finish before the anesthetic wore off.

  When at last the cut was closed, only a long, white line gave evidence of the cut, and I wrapped the leg in gauze to keep the tender muscle and skin from tearing during the rest of the regeneration. Then at last, sucking a deep breath through the mask that covered my mouth and nose, I stood up straight and pulled my gloves off, shut off the monitor, and pulled my mask down. Then I turned in the general direction the voice had spoken from.

  On one of the cots at the other side of the room, sat August Howitz, his dark eyes wide.

  I smiled as I untied my medical tunic and pulled it off. “What is it?”

  “That looks hard,” he said.

  “It is.” I dropped the tunic in the laundry chute, and the gloves and mask in the recyclator. Then I pulled my uniform jacket off a metal peg on the wall. “Is that all you needed?”

  “No—my father sent me to see if you were all right. He said he was supposed to meet you at lunch.”

  At the mention of lunch, my stomach began rumbling. “What time is it?”

  “It’s past two o’ clock.” He stood up as I walked towards him. “Can I get you something? You seem busy.”

  I shook my head. “I’m done now, thanks. He’ll have to rest for awhile. Is your dad already at work?”

  “Yes.” He fell into step beside me as I walked to the mess hall. “He said he’ll talk to you later.”

  Hungry as I was, I was somewhat relieved that I’d missed my “appointment.” I had no strong desire to talk to Commander Howitz at the moment, though I was still curious about what he had to say to me. And I couldn’t forget Peat’s voice yelling, “Erasmus Howitz is a dangerous criminal!” I sighed.

  “Is everything all right, Miss Lloyd?” August said politely.

  “Yes,” I lied. “I’m—only tired.”

  “My father seemed worried about you.”

  “I know. I appreciate his concern, but I’m fine.”

  He wasn’t finished. “I think it had something to do with the men who came aboard earlier.”

  I stopped, letting him go on a few steps before I hurried to catch up. This—didn’t seem to make sense. I couldn’t figure out why, but it just didn’t seem to add up somehow. Worried about me because of our visitors? But they were here for him. Weren’t they?

  “What makes you say that?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know, he just asked if I’d seen the visitors, and asked me a lot of questions about them, then asked if they’d seen you, and then he said I should go check on you.”

  Frowning, I walked into the mess hall. August stopped inside the doorway. “So—you’re all right?”

  “I’m fine,” I promised. “Tell your dad I’m all right, and I’ll talk to him later.”

  With a nod that was almost more like a bow, he walked away towards the elevator, and I made a rush for the snack bar, to get something to eat before it closed.

  Almira was too busy to talk, so I grabbed a sandwich and some milk and hurried back to sickbay. When I got there, I dismissed the lieutenant to rest in his quarters. I spread a napkin on the floor and sat cross-legged to eat.

  As I bit into the sandwich, I listened to the silence. There were no monitors active, no scanners running. More than that, there was no warm, gruff voice to comment on my work, or banter with me, or quiz me on medicine and theology. That was the loneliest part of the silence. I was so rarely lonely since we came to space—

  “Miss Lloyd, isn’t it?”

  I jumped up, almost knocking my milk over, and looked around towards the doorway. There stood Peat and Sigmet, the newcomers.

  “That’s my name,” I said, brushing the crumbs off my jacket. “Can I help you?”

  Instead of immediately answering, Peat turned his head towards his shorter companion. Sigmet stood behind him, and in his hands was a small metal object. It was about the size of a book, and was making a whirring sound. Nodding, Sigmet pushed a button on the device and it became silent. “That’s her, all right.”

  This vague statement made me nervous, and I backed up a step or two. “May I help you?” I said more loudly, as if that would make him simply answer my question and leave.

  Instead, Peat took a step forward. Sigmet didn’t move from the doorway. It was as if he were guarding the room.

  “We need to have a word with you, Miss Lloyd.”

  Hands shaking, I moved a finger to the transmission button on my wristcom, but he stopped me with a deep, strong voice. “Don’t worry, we won’t hurt you.”

  I didn’t move my finger, but he went on. “There’s something you need to know—but you’re going to have to promise not to tell anyone what I’m about to tell you.”

  A shiver ran through me as I shook my head. “I can’t promise that.”

  “Then I’m afraid we can’t tell you.”

  “All right,” I said, although part of me cried out at the thought of not knowing.

  His face darkened in frustration. “You could be in serious danger, Miss Lloyd.”

  All I could do was shake my head. There didn’t seem to be any answer to that—but I would not make a promise I would not keep, and I would not keep any secret that these two had to offer. I’d kept enough secrets already.

  He turned back to look at Sigmet again. The smaller man raised one eyebrow in a way that seemed to speak of urgency. With an impatient sigh, Peat turned back to me again, his broad jaw more set than ever.

  “All right. You must know—but please, if you value your life, use discretion before you tell anyone else.”

  I glanced up in the direction of the security camera in the corner of the room, and he spoke quickly. “We’ve taken care of that. There will be no record of this conversation.”

  Taking a deep breath, I tried to listen calmly, though I kept one finger near my wristcom. “Tell me.”

  “Close the door,” Peat ordered, and Sigmet obeyed. Then the larger man gestured to one of the cots, while S
igmet limped over to us with his peculiar, lopsided walk.

  Slowly, I lowered myself to the cot, never taking my eyes off the two men. They sat across from me, and if it were not for my anxiety, I might have been tempted to laugh at the sight of the two of them, such different heights and aspects, sitting side by side on the cot. But I neither laughed nor smiled.

  Contrary to my expectation, Sigmet began the explanation, his bright, high eyes glinting at me. “Is it true that your right patella is partially composed of some metallic substance?”

  I started back. That wasn’t what I’d been expecting at all. “Yes,” I answered.

  “And is it true that this metal was already in place when your current father found you?”

  For some reason his use of the word “current” bugged me, but I replied in the affirmative, adding, “Why do you want to know?”

  At this point, Peat leaned in a little closer, and spoke in a low tone. “We know something about that metal, Miss Lloyd.”

  “How could you possibly...”

  “Let me finish.” He sat back again and spoke seriously, mechanically, his thick jaw working through the words as if they were parts on an assembly line. “Have you heard of radialloy?”

  I shook my head.

  “I thought not. It was a very secret operation.” He turned expectantly to Sigmet, who began speaking.

  “Radialloy is very valuable. It was discovered over twenty years ago—a metal with extreme destructive abilities. In the hands of the right people—or the wrong people, as the case may be—its damage could easily rival that of a supernova.”

  He must have seen my eyes widen, for he nodded seriously. “It’s an alloy mined from the planet Qandon, in the Gamma quadrant of sector sixteen-forty-one. Shortly after the mine was discovered, however, the planet’s sun went nova, and the planet was destroyed, along with all the radialloy.”

  Here he paused for too long, and I cleared my throat and asked, “But what does this have to do with—”

  Mr. Peat interrupted me. “Miss Lloyd, only one specimen of the alloy had been taken from the planet before it was destroyed. Those familiar with it never knew what had happened to the piece. But we have reason to believe that it was hidden, hidden somewhere no one would suspect, with the intention of being able to retrieve it later.”

  “Hidden...” I stammered, trying to make sense out of the story.

  “We believe that it was hidden in your knee.”

  For a moment, no one spoke. I kept perfectly still, trying to take in all that they had just said. It didn’t make sense—did it? Could it really be true? That someone had hidden a dangerous metal in my knee, and that they would be hunting it down? Wanting it back?

  “Why did you say I was in danger?” I asked, noticing a tremble in my voice.

  “Because some people would do anything to get their hands on it,” Peat said. “Our supervisor wants it destroyed before anyone can get to it. We were sent to get it.”

  “But—” I stammered, “I thought you said you were here to arrest Commander Howitz.”

  “That’s the other thing,” Sigmet began, but at that instant, the door slid open. I jumped, and the two men turned their heads in one motion.

  XIII

  Commander Howitz stood in the doorway, his large frame seeming to fill it, his thick, dark eyebrows drawn angrily over his small, dark eyes.

  “Did you gentlemen require anything?” he asked, and for once I welcomed his gravelly voice.

  Peat raised himself to his full height and squared his shoulders, but the Commander was a match for him in both height and weight, and the effect was not as intimidating as before.

  There was a second of silence, during which the two men looked each other hard in the eyes and I squirmed under the palpable distrust. Sigmet stood and said, “We were just leaving, thank you.”

  He led the way out the door. After another second of hard staring, Peat followed, not giving so much as a glance in my direction as he exited.

  After they had gone, the Commander breathed a low sigh, and relaxed his shoulders slightly. “Were they bothering you?” he asked.

  Neither “no” nor “yes” seemed like an appropriate answer, so I kept silent and merely shrugged.

  Seating himself on the cot they’d vacated, he looked me straight in the eyes. Only for a moment, and then I dropped my gaze, unable to meet his.

  “What did they say to you?”

  I couldn’t help telling him. It was all so confusing—I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to run right to the Doctor and get him to sort it out for me, but he was acting so strange, I knew he couldn’t help.

  When I finished the story, the Commander looked hard at me for a moment, then his expression softened slightly. He almost, almost looked caring, but there was something—something I couldn’t explain—that still made me uncomfortable.

  “Should I believe them?” I asked at last.

  He shook his head vehemently. “No. They’re lying.”

  This was reassuring. It was what I’d wanted to think. “How do you know?”

  In response, he kept on looking at me for a moment. Then, he reached out and touched my hand.

  I jerked it back, heart racing, but he acted like I hadn’t moved.

  “It’s a half-truth, Andi...”

  “Miss Lloyd.”

  He ignored this. “There is a substance called radialloy, and it was discovered on Qandon. The sun did go nova, and the source was destroyed. You do have the only remaining specimen in your knee.”

  I felt like I couldn’t breathe. “Then... what...”

  “It isn’t what they said it was.”

  “It’s... it’s not dangerous?”

  “No. In fact, it’s the exact opposite.”

  “Wh—what do you mean?”

  “You remember when I spoke to you about Langham’s Disease?”

  “Yes.”

  “You do have it. But it’s not a recent thing. You have had it ever since you were a baby. The radialloy is the cure.”

  The cure. The cure Guilders had spoken of. But—but—

  “How do you know this?”

  He reached for me again, but I slid further back. Again, he ignored my question. “Those men—whatever they are calling themselves—they only want it for the money, Andi.”

  “And—if they get it?”

  “If they take it, you will die.”

  Goosebumps tickled over my skin as I tried not to shiver. “Then...”

  “But it doesn’t have to be that way. Andi, as long as you have it, you’ll never be safe. People will always be trying to take it. But I know another cure. I can help you. Let me remove it, let me protect you, and I’ll give you the cure. You’ll be safe.”

  Something in his voice made me want to scream. Every instinct was telling me I should use my wristcom, call the Doctor or the Captain... “Why do you want to help me?”

  “Because I love you, Andi.”

  The world seemed to turn gray. I groped for my wristcom, but he clutched my arm and spoke quickly, his gravelly voice cutting through my confusion.

  “No—no, you don’t understand. I have the right—I loved your mother... you’re so much like her, Andi. So much like her.”

  No, no, it can’t be, God, please... “What do you mean?”

  “Andi—my Genevieve. I’m your father.”

  My throat went dry as he spoke the words I was already expecting. Blindly, I tried to pull my arm away. “That can’t be...”

  “Yes it can. It’s true.”

  “But the Doctor...”

  “I don’t know why he took you from me—but I can only assume he wanted the cure. He knew if he could find a way to recreate it, he’d...”

  “I don’t believe you!” I shouted. I wrenched my arm away and stood up. “How can you even know that? How can you know who my father is?”

  “Andi, Andi.” He smiled. “You have the radialloy. I detected it. And besides—that blood you gave me. I tested the DNA.
I wanted to be sure.”

  “Does the Doctor know... who you are?”

  He frowned instantly. “Please, don’t talk about him. Genevieve...”

  “And why do you keep calling me Genevieve?” I darted for a medical cabinet without thinking. Flinging it open, I dug for nothing in particular.

  “Because that’s your name.” I heard his footsteps approach behind me. “Genevieve Sandison.”

  “Sandison?” I turned to face him in my surprise.

  “I had to change my name—they were coming after me for the radialloy, the same as they did for you.”

  “But how did they know about me? How... why...” I broke off, not knowing what to say, and allowed myself to meet his eyes for the first time since his revelation.

  He advanced, slowly, and put his hands gently on my shoulders. “I don’t know. But we’ll figure it out. We’ll figure it out together.”

  Oh Doctor! my heart cried, but he kept on talking.

  “I’m sorry I brought this on you—but I did it to save you, Genevieve. You have no idea how hard it was to find the cure...”

  “Don’t call me Genevieve.”

  He let go of me and frowned.

  “And I want to see the DNA match for myself.”

  He sighed, and an expression I couldn’t understand—something like frustration—took over his face. “I suppose it’s only natural that you should doubt. But... I’ve wanted to find you for so long.”

  “Show me the DNA records.” I didn’t doubt—I couldn’t. I knew it—knew in my very soul that he was my father. My real father. But I wanted, more than anything, to doubt him. If he was telling the truth—how could I ever trust the Doctor again?

  “I have them with me.” He brushed my arm again, and I found myself wanting to pull away. “I will keep you safe, Andi. I promise.”

  I turned away. I didn’t want to look at him. As he pulled the paper out of his pocket, I cried out inwardly again. God, it’s not true! It’s not!

  He handed me another computer printout, and I grabbed it and read every line of it. That was my blood record. And the DNA reading matched his.

  “Does... August know?” I gasped. I wanted to be alone. I wanted to run to my room, to hide, to pray. To implore God to wake me up.