2313-26

Noah's angry outlash stilled the room. The only motion was the pumping bag at Rachel's side, it wheezed and sighed as it pumped air into her. She was still now, not twitching any longer. No movements at all, just her chest rising and sinking, but nothing else. Then the lights on the Invitae faded out and she took a deep breath. Noah's hand shook when he flicked the oxygen on automatic. His hand coming back, removing a string of sweaty hair from her brow, his stance revealing his concern. And it was not just a doctor's for his patient.

Lou finally looked down at the Kid still sitting leaned up against the door of the cabinet, shattered glass all around him. Glittering in the sunshine that fell in through the window. He wasn't moving either, he looked at Noah, steadily, but Lou couldn't read the expression in his eyes, because there was none. His silence made her worry. "Are you all right Kid?"

"Fine," Kid said tonelessly as he rose, glass falling to the floor with a chink. The silence in the room emphasizing the sound making Noah's shoulders sink as he looked to the ground. He stood hovering over Rachel's face, his hands pressed to the sheet on either side of her head, like shielding her. Lou had to wonder from what exactly.

Lou remain looking at Noah, expecting him to explain his odd behavior, that anger that was directed at Kid. This wasn't the Noah she knew. The silence unnerved her, it felt threatening, his glance was the last straw. "He was trying to help her Noah!" Her voice came out as a whining accusation, not what she had intended.

"Shut up Cody," Lou nearly screamed, "you have not right to say anything to him, at least he was here and he did something!"

"No Kid, I wanna know what the hell kind of stunt that was Noah? What was that? Storming in and throwing people up against walls? What the hell were you thinking?" She got angrier with each word she spoke, it could have finished with Kid cut up, the flying glass could have hurt Rachel too.

His tone of voice so calm and composed in the midst of the confusion that Lou had to turn and look at him. He sounded like he expected something like this to happen. His voice revealing that he knew this was coming, like he had waited for it. She watched as Noah and Kid locked gazes over the room, one calm and composed, the other undoubtedly in remorse. Cody looked over at her, his face expressing the same bewilderment she felt right now.

Noah looked down on Rachel, adjusting the icebag slightly. The shoulders dropping a bit, like he had been caught red handed. But he said nothing.

Cody looked over at Kid, now calmly reaching for the memo-slot, checking it before flipping it onto the stretcher, "There you go Noah, everything I did is logged. I won't..."

"Okay, both of you, quit talking like what happened didn't happen, spit it out!" Lou glared at the two men, not believing that what she just had witnessed had happened, and that nobody even bothered to tell why there was all this tension in the room. And it wasn't just because Rachel was sick, there was much more than that. "Kid? What is it? You did nothing wrong? Noah, why? Kid was just trying to help her!"

Noah didn't even look at her, he remain at Rachel's side, a hand over her wrist, protectively. Kid stayed put, looking at him, waiting.

Lou felt like the animosity was about to suffocate them all, it grew in the room, making her palms sweaty and her thoughts to run wild. "Please," she cracked at last.

"You know how I feel about what you stand for," Noah muttered, "it just ain't right."

"Lou," Kid hesitated for a moment, "it's really nothing, Noah and me just have different standpoints on some things."

Kid sighed and looked to the floor, "all right, here's what I think; Noah knows I'm pro-equality among all life-forms and he's scared. He thinks I don't distinguish the rarity of every life, don't you Noah? At least, that's what most folks think."

Lou's eyes flew to Noah, but he still looked down at Rachel, but his shoulders fell at Kid's words, his fist clinching the border of the stretcher. "I don't understand," Lou let out in a whisper. "What's that got to do with this? And whatta'ya mean Kid?"

"There are just some of us that think human life isn't the only lives worth saving, some of us think that each life has its own value. None of us, human or beast, have more right to a decent life than others. It's as simple as that. But it's often taken for granted that people like me would gladly let a human being die to save an ant. But you're wrong Noah. It's not as easy as that. Whatever you've heard or read, it's not as simple. And I won't do anything to Rachel 'cept help out any way possible, I know you're afraid that most of us stand for the right for a peaceful death too. That's what scaring him, Lou and I might scare you too. I'm sorry, that's just what I believe in, but believing in it don't automatically mean I act on my beliefs. I just know that if I was tied up to a machine to keep me alive, I know what my choice is, but I can't speak for anybody else."

Lou felt relieved, for a moment she had been afraid Kid would confess to having off'ed half a dozen by mistake or something. But the fact that he was pro-equality didn't disturb her, never had. She too shared some of his beliefs. "Noah, he's not the only one, I believe in it too. I mean if you kill off just one strand of bacteria it might have serious repercussions. We have a responsibility Noah, we have it 'coz we know. That doesn't mean ..."

"Of course you would," Noah cast a glance over at her, interrupting her. "But I happen to put human life above everything else, always. At any cost."

"Even thou' it might not be salvable all the same?" Kid inquired, "you're willing to sacrifice another life to save a human that stands no chance all the same?"

"Yes!" Noah spoke with conviction, "and if it was Lou laying here you'd do the same!"

"No Noah, you're wrong, I wouldn't automatically do that, if it was possible I'd let Lou decide. But that's not the case now Noah is it? It's Rach, and you're..."

Kid's voice had gotten lower, threatening. It seemed that he had been defending his beliefs before, and was deadly tired of it by now. Lou walked up to him, reaching out to touch him, her hand gripping his sleeve. "Oh shit!" Retracting her hand she watched the cuts the glass fragments on Kid's shirt had caused. Disgusted she shook her hand. A sharply pointed silvery splinter falling to the floor. "Holy hell Kid, get that shirt off!"

"Lou? Oh good, honey you need that taken care off. I'm so sorry, I had no idea! Noah, please, me and Cody'll watch over Rach, I think Lou needs stitches!"

"No," she looked up from the profusely bleeding cut between her thumb and index finger to his face, now was the time to declare her faith and love for him, her trust. "No Kid, I want you to do it!"

"No honey, you better let Noah see to it, he's the doc." Kid was gripping her wrist, turning her hand up to the light, grimacing at the sight of blood oozing from the deep cut. "Noah, she's bleeding real bad, it's deep!"

When Noah moved to walk up to them Lou turned her head in his direction and shook her head. "No Noah, I want Kid to do it."

Cody let out a short derogatory snort, "oh brother, we already know whose side you're on Lou, no need to flag it."

"Had no idea you were obliged to take sides Billy, thanks for pointing it out and making me see where you stand." Her reply wasn't meant to sound quite as accusatory as it did. Cody looked at her and shook his head, in a sign of disbelief at her statement. Lou calmly murdered him with a glance before turning back to Noah. The humiliation on Noah's face tugged at her heart for a brief moment, but she knew she did the right thing. She trusted Kid, and she knew he knew what he was doing. She needed to make that statement.

"All right Lou," Noah mumbled, "I get it. Kid, take her to the other room, stitch her up, whatever. I have my hands full here, go on."

The dismissal in his voice flared up Lou's anger once again. And she felt the tension in the hand holding her wrist. "Com'on Kid, I want you to!"

Kid just nodded, his eyes glued to the wound in Lou's hand he started backing out of the room, collecting the needed items with his free hand while he walked. When the door closed behind them he looked at her with concern. "Lou, you didn't have to do that, it's all right, I can take it. Noah should be doin' this, I don't...."

Sam's eyes flew in Teaspoon's direction, only to catch the sight of several memo-slots coming sailing through the air. Accompanied by another stream of invectives he hadn't heard in a long time. "What's goin' on? I'll have an equipped ASA soon, they're flying it in from Blue Cr..."

"The won't take her Sam! Them bastards has put us all in quarantine! I just got off a very interesting discussion between Noah and the head of security. As long as we don't know what's wrong they ain't taking her, and that means we don't have all the necessary equips to really see what's wrong with Rach. It's a true Catch 22, them bastards are gonna pay for this, I'm gonna make them pay for this! Get on line and get every medicine for every ailment shipped here! I don't care if we need them or not, I want them! They're gonna pay!"

Teaspoon watched him morosely, having restored some of his usual calm; "according to code 123a/Sl they obviously can, was just read that damned code and it seems to fit. Don't make it right, but it fits, damned them!"

"What I'm saying is we're all stuck here! Let's pray we can figure out what the hell is going on, coz' something ain't right Sam."

"No Sam, there's something else going on, I can feel it in my bones. Just as sure as I feel the rain approaching."

"Teaspoon," Sam moaned, "don't start. If I remember correctly you said it would rain yesterday and it didn't. I don't trust your knee any longer."

"And throw a prayer in too," the team-leader mumbled as he rose. "I'll go check things out upstairs. I'll ask Emma if she can fix dinner. I think we need it. Specially after I brake the news."

Sam smiled, whatever came; Teaspoon wouldn't miss his dinner. And that felt kind of safe. Whatever happened, there was some safety in the routines. They would have to stick to business and hope for the best. No need for everyone to get riled up, maybe it was just an infection of some kind? He tried to push all the evidence of foul-play to the back of his mind. No need to start suspecting all and everyone, better stay calm and composed, do what needed to be done. He logged in and shook his head at the items listed on Teaspoon's list, he'd have a hard time convincing them of the need of all this. Specially all that bacon.

Jimmy sauntered in, never minding Noah's wheeze of warning to stay out. He just ignored it and walked over to Lou and nodded to her bandaged hand; "What happened?"

"That too," Lou admitted, her eyes still on the three inside the room with all the equipment, "is it true?"

Jimmy cast her a glance and arched his eyebrow into a question. Walking over to shut the door to the adjoining sickbay he cast a glance at the situation inside the room, it seemed under control.

"Is it true they won't evacuate her? That we're all put in quarantine? Can they do that?"

"I know," Jimmy sighed and looked to the floor. "Ike and Amanda are browsing through files to cross-check her symptoms, Sam's trying to provide us everything we need, Teaspoon's still negotiating with HuRec. We're doing everything Lou, but we need to find out what's wrong with her."

"And for that we would need more sophisticated equipment Jimmy, like the ones they have in a hospital." She sneered, "this is not right Jimmy, she should be under constant surveillance..."

"She is Lou," Jimmy looked into the room through the large screen dividing the sickbay, "if it's surveillance you want, she's got it."

"He loves her Jimmy, I know he does, I can tell by the way he lashed out at the Kid. He was just afraid, I understand that now. I think he don't even know it himself, but he loves Rachel, that old-fashioned way."

"The way you love Kid," Jimmy smiled knowingly. "I know, it happens to all sooner or later, it's just you women that keep fighting it. Keep teasing us and playing with us." The teasing grin broadened.

"You just don't get it do you Jimmy," Lou muttered, "love is dangerous, scrambles your head up something fierce."

The dark tone in his voice had Lou look at him, waiting for some further explanation. But he didn't offer any. Instead he rose and patted her knee: "I'll go check what I can do 'bout this."

"Don't go in there," Lou warned, "here, take this memo-slot and cross-check every result through the dB and mirror the results with the multipolar-inuter. There's like sixteen billion documents that we need to go through."

Opening her eyes she looked into Ike's green orbs. What the hell was he doing in this maze? "Ike, I have a feeling we're on to it, it's just around..."

"Oh Lord," she moaned as she sat up on the makeshift bed, "I was close this time, I know, had something there..."

"Yes Ma," Lou mocked, " Rachel?" Looking into the room she saw Emma sitting by her side, keeping an eye on the monitors. "Where's Noah?"

Jimmy got him to sit down for a minute, next thing we knew he went out like a light. He's sleeping, or maybe unconcsious, not quite sure. Was up for seventy-two hours, started to ramble."

"No change then?" She knew it already, she could tell by the monitors, they still signaled the same warnings and Lou knew Rach wouldn't sustain this kind of medication for long. Sooner or later her organs would give in and she'd slip away from them.

"Well. she's getting weaker," Ike said, "her spleen is taking an awful beating, I think Noah had some ideas about that, Kid's on it, checking for answers."

"Oh God!" Lou rose to her feet, "Ike, I've had it in the back of my mind for a long time, I knew it was there. That's it, I know what it is!"

"The Simmons-Shafer-Syndrome Ike, it's a manmade disease, a prion induced genetic disorder, it changes the blood's composition ever so minutely but very effectively. Oh Lord, why didn't I see this before? It was intended as a biochemical warfare agent, Simmons and Shafer discovered it in 2025, they just stumbled upon it and reported it and then it was banned throughout the world. There was no indication of them ever finding the origin. It kills very slowly, and it's targeted for socio-economically highly developed areas. It takes days to kill a person, and the effort to keep them alive would cost the societies enormous amounts of manpower, hi-tech equipment and medication, draining the society completely. It was a devilish thing Ike, luckily it was found before set in....action."

"And I don't know if there's any cure for it, the plan was discovered and nullified before any massive outbreak. They planned to use it in a massive influenza inoculation, luckily Shafer and Simmons found it and stopped the process. But then thousands of people died. It's all in there I've just read about it."

"If there ever was any further research done I'm sure it's classified, I only happened upon the description."

Lou nodded, suddenly disappointed. The breakthrough they had all strived to find seemed futile now. Knowing the ailment didn't help them after all, not as they had hoped. It seemed useless, there was no cure for this disease. A tiny fraction of the genetic code had been altered, cunningly so, forced to duplicate itself over and over. Attaching the immune-system, draining the body and in the end, killing the victim mercilessly. Now she knew why, but that still wasn't enough.

"Lou," Ike touched her shoulder, smiling at her. "It's not over yet, I know now what we're looking for and nothing can stop me from getting wherever I wanna go. Amanda and me'll fix it, we'll get you everything there's said, written or thought about this disease."

"At least we'll know what she died from," Lou said grimly, fighting the lump that was forming in her throat.

"Lou, get Kid and go have some food, both of you need it. Tell him everything you know about this. If there's no answers we gotta think of a solution ourselves. As simple as that."

She remain looking at him vanishing out the door. As simple as that, she thought, oh I wish it was. Silently she opened the door into the main room and slipped inside, nodding to Emma as she looked up. Walking over to Kid and laying a hand on his shoulder.

Kid looked up and Lou saw the weariness in his eyes. It tugged at her heart, she had no idea how long he had been sitting there, checking for possible causes to Rachel's acute auto-immune reaction.

Pushing the chair back from the desk he turned to her. "You should be sleepin' Lou, you've not had more than a couple of hours rest." His hands on her hips, his face lightning up upon seeing her. But she knew that smile wouldn't be there for very long.

He gave the order to the EA, watching her intently while he did. Then his closed his eyes for a moment, draping his arms around her waist he pulled her into his lap. His breath becoming more rapid and tense. He said nothing while listening to the EA, muscles tense in concentration. At last he pulled her closer and laid his brow on her shoulder, holding onto her in a desperate embrace. "Oh shit!"

Lou leaned onto him, snuggling her arms around his neck and letting her head rest heavily on the broad shoulder. Then she cried bitterly.

|Prologue||Chapter 1||Chapter 2||Chapter 3||Chapter 4||Chapter 5||Chapter 6||Chapter 7||Chapter 8||Chapter 9||Chapter 10|
|Chapter11||Chapter 12||Chapter 13||Chapter 14*||Chapter 15||Chapter 16||Chapter 17||Chapter 18||Chapter 19||Chapter 20*|
|Chapter 21||Chapter 22||Chapter 23||Chapter 24||Chapter 25||Chapter 26||Chapter 27||