Chapter 79 - The Poison’s Effects
"He couldn’t have disappeared that thoroughly," Medoferro grumbled, "We need to find that Medico and quick."
"He left his stuff behind at least," Miranda said, "The mellemaic was in his bag."
"This is a right mess," Roland sighed, "Insegniferro is going to have a fit."
"I’m having a fit," Medoferro exclaimed, "I want Coblein’s head on a stick for putting me in this position."
"How dire is the situation?" Suvorov asked, "I don’t know dick about that drug."
"I’ve contacted some specialists in Skolnik," Toria said, "There’s no need for them to come out. I’m doing all that can be done for it. If he’s not having a complete allergic reaction to it he may come out of it."
"And if he is that one in five?" Medo asked.
"I respectfully suggest you not think about it right now," Toria told him, "You’ve got enough pressure on you."
"Great," Medoferro sighed, "Just what I needed to hear."
"So what do we do now?" Simon asked, "I mean, we can’t just sit here?"
"Roland," Medoferro said, "How close are you on the conference plans?"
"We’ve got a ways to go," Roland said, "It’s going to be a full time job to pull that off in time."
"You and Simon keep working on that," Medoferro said, "Since Massy is in no condition to do it I guess I get to play leader for a bit."
"That’s your job," Roland confirmed, "I caught the highlights of your sessions on the newsreel. You’re not doing badly."
"I guess I need to go tell Insegniferro," Medoferro said, "Rav, ride herd on Travis’s boys. I want Coblein found and quick."
"That leaves us to stay put," Miranda said, "Right?"
"I can’t think of anyone more qualified to watch over him," Medoferro smiled at her, "Without the two of you, I doubt we’d have ever figured this out."
"Translation," Simon said, grinning evilly, "You’ve rendered a great service to the empire, but we can’t afford to pay ya."
"I’m sure I’ll find another way to extract payment out of him," Miranda grinned, "Right Stacy?"
"Absolutely," Stacy chuckled, "As soon as things calm down again."
"Let’s get to work," Medoferro said, "We’ll relax later."
Toria and Miranda went back to the treatments while Stacy took the door in front of the Mullinix. Medoferro, Simon and Roland started walking up the hill towards the government house up at the top of the hill. Medoferro pushed his hair back as he walked, moving his head around and stretching a little.
"This should be interesting," Medoferro said, "I haven’t seen Travis since I was fourteen."
"Family reunions are always fun," Simon said, "We have one every year…"
"I don’t think Medoferro is looking forward to this reunion, Simon," Roland said, looking at the young Mullinix, "I take it there’s some bad blood there?"
"My family is dysfunctional at best," Medoferro told them, "My parents are all right, but we’re not what you’d consider close. Most of the relatives hate each other for various reasons and Travis is one of the most belligerent."
"Gee," Roland chuckled, "I never would have guessed. He’s just such a cheery guy."
"Yeah," Medoferro said, "He’ll probably be really pleased to see me, considering the problems I gave him last time."
"What did you do?" Simon asked, "I can’t imagine you pissing anyone off?"
"I have my moments," Medoferro said, "I asked a few quite logical questions that managed to piss him off. I didn’t know any better and called him on a load of bullshit, making him look rather stupid."
"Nice," Simon said, "You do seem to have a knack for opening your mouth when you shouldn’t."
"I hear that’s what got him the job in the first place," Roland agreed, "Iggy was quite amused by your question as I recall."
"Words I will probably regret for the rest of my life," Medo said as they approached the door, "I guess we’d better go inside…"
Medoferro was nearly speechless at what a mess the government house was. It was smaller than the ones he’d seen over the previous days, but designed much the same. The overwhelming difference was the mess. Medoferro was surprised that anyone could live in this type of filth, let alone a Major in the Mullinix guard.
"You weren’t kidding," Medo said, "What kind of hurricane hit this place?"
"On whose authority are you two taking all my men off their normal routes?" a loud voice came in, "I’ve been trying to find them all morning…"
Travis Steele walked into the room and looked at Medoferro, though his mind was seeing a much younger man that he’d known in a much different location. A frown hit Travis Steele’s face as he saw Medo. Medoferro had all he could do to keep from laughing at the pained expression.
"Surprised to see me, Travis?" Medoferro asked him.
"What are you doing here, Copeland?" Travis said, "I didn’t expect to see you…"
"I came in with the barge last night," Medoferro said, "It’s interesting to hear the name though. Nobody has called me Copeland in nearly six months now."
"I’d almost forgotten you were chosen," Travis said, nodding, "Medoferro is it?"
"Yep," Medo nodded, "I’d like to complement you on your housekeeper, by the way."
Simon snickered at that while Roland just shook his head. Travis frowned again and silently waved them into the other room. They walked in and found the area that Travis had cleaned out.
"Why have you got all my men chasing someone?" Travis asked them, "I take it that you did it?"
"I did," Medo told him, "Ari Coblein is responsible for Massimaferro being in as bad a shape as he is. We need to find him and quick. There’s little that is more important right now."
"I’m understaffed as it is," Travis said, "And now I’ve got no one doing basic patrol!"
"They can do both," Roland said, "I’ve also put in a requisition for fifteen recruits. The Mullinix Centre class ends in three days. They’ll be up here within a day or so after that."
"Nothing to worry about, Travis," Medoferro said, "You’ve got more pressing things to worry about. What the hell happened here?"
"I haven’t cleaned it a while," Travis shrugged, "I’m working on it."
"Well we’re going to have dignitaries here in less than a week," Medoferro said, "Simon and Roland are going to be helping, as well as anyone else you can drag in that doesn’t affect the search."
"I can’t believe I’m justifying my actions to you," Travis mumbled sourly.
"Get used to it," Roland suggested, "If Massimaferro doesn’t pull through he’ll be your boss in fact, instead of just being it in kind."
"We’ll worry about that later," Medoferro said, "Where’s the line room. I need to inform Insegniferro of what is going on here."
"In the back," Travis said, "You’ll have to operate it yourself. The operator was dragged into the search."
"I’ll manage," Medoferro said, "I’ll be back in a bit."
Medoferro walked to the room and closed the door behind him. The buzzer was going off continually, meaning that someone was trying to call them. Medoferro flipped the switch, turning on the line.
"Hello," Medoferro said into the line.
"Skolnik X2 calling border village," the operator said, "I need your call sign."
"I don’t have one," Medoferro said, amused by this, "The operator is out on search detail."
"You shouldn’t be in there then," the operator warned, "Only authorized personnel…"
"Skip it," Medoferro said, "My name is Medoferro. I’m betting the call you’re placing is for me in the first place."
"Medoferro…" the operator said, "How do I prove it is you?"
"If it is Insegniferro on the Mullinix Centre end," Medoferro said, "Put him through. He’ll recognize my voice."
"One moment," the operator said and the line went silent.
Medoferro groaned and waited for a minute and a ha
lf before the operator came back on the line. He was accompanied by a very familiar voice.
"Medoferro?" Insegniferro asked, "Say something."
"It’s me," Medo said, "I don’t have the codes. Kick the operator offline and I’ll explain what is going on."
"It’s him," Insegniferro said, "For future calls he’ll use Medoferro operation seven for a sign."
"I have it logged," the young man said, "Dropping off."
"Gotta love it," Medoferro sighed, "Right?"
"He said your operator was on a search party," Iggy said, not one to miss a trick, "Who for?"
"Ari Coblein," Medoferro explained, "He’s the cause of Massy’s sickness."
"Whoa," Insegniferro said, "Back up a little and tell me everything…"
Medoferro spent a few minutes explaining what had happened since the trip the night before and about the diagnosis that was finally made correctly this morning. The news about Massimaferro’s prognosis was not the most welcome thing he had heard all day.
"Not good," Insegniferro said, the tone dropping considerably, "Mellemaic? Where the hell did he get that crap?"
"I don’t know," Medoferro said, "But I intend to find out. The guards out there have instructions to get Coblein back to me alive. I’ll get it out of him."
"I don’t want to know how you do it," Insegniferro said, "That’s your call. I have bad news for you, something I know you don’t want to hear."
"What?" Medoferro said.
"Massimaferro is allergic to Mellemaic," Insegniferro said, "We had an old medico here back when he was a young apprentice. He was one of Taliaferro’s contemporaries and didn’t trust the new stuff, still preferred mellemaic. Stuff nearly sent him into shock back then."
"I didn’t need to hear that," Medoferro sighed, "I’ll tell Toria though. Maybe she’ll be able to fight it better knowing that."
"We have to prepare for the worst," Insegniferro told him, "You know that right?"
"I’ve been trying not to think about that either," Medoferro sighed, "I’m not ready for the job, you know."
"Nobody ever is," Insegniferro said, "And neither will the new apprentice…"
Medoferro closed his eyes and sighed. He knew what was coming and didn’t want to face it. He had figured that Insegniferro had another ulterior motive when he sent Miranda along on this trip. He had just hoped he was wrong about it."
"Miranda," Medo said softly, "Right?"
"It was neck and neck between you and her," Iggy said, "It makes sense."
"There are complications," Medo sighed, "I don’t know if I can do that to her."
"You’re falling for her, aren’t you?" Iggy asked him.
"Yeah," Medo agreed, "I think I might be."
"Don’t let it cloud your judgment," Iggy warned, "You may not want to do it to her, but we didn’t want to do it to you either. She’ll be as good as you are and you know it."
"I know I do," Medoferro sighed, "But how do you tell a girl that you hope to get closer to that you might have to give her a job she would prefer to avoid?"
"Very carefully," Insegniferro chuckled, "Preferably when she doesn’t have anything handy to throw at you."
"I’ll remember that," Medoferro said, smiling a little, "Should I bring it up before it happens?"
"Might be a good idea to warn her," Iggy said, "We usually don’t work that way, but this is all going to be a nasty shock to the system."
"I’ll talk to her in a bit," Medoferro said, "I’m going to go help the searchers for a while. They’re a bit understaffed."
"Be careful," Insegniferro warned, "You may only be half trained, but you beat having someone completely untrained."
"I’ll be careful," Medo promised, "Probably will join Suvorov for a bit, mainly to do something to keep my mind off it."
"Keep me informed," Iggy said, "Any change in condition I need to know about it."
"Do the same for Cirrus," Medoferro said, "If I’m going to be Mullinix I need to be kept apprised. Even if he recovers it looks like I’ll be doing his job for a bit."
"Good luck," Insegniferro said, "You’ll need it."
"You too," Medoferro said, "Signing off."
The Mullinix Book 1: Ascension Page 83