Dark Space (32 page)

   “Ready?” Shawn asked her, to
which she gave a quick nod. They ran for the doorway, with Fralok in the rear.

   When they entered the lab
area, Shawn noticed that the fluid in nearly all the large tubes had completely
drained away. M-9 was standing near one in the far corner that was still
half-full, but it was quickly disappearing. “What the hell did that droid of
yours do, Doc?” he shouted in frustration.

   “We need to get a sample of
that,” Melissa said as she rushed toward the tube.

   “No,” Shawn countered as he
tried to catch up with her. “We need to get the hell out of here.”

   Intent on what she was about
to do, Melissa pulled out a sample retrieval machine from a pouch on her belt.
As she knelt beside M-9, she began studying a translucent tube. As she reached
for it, a spray of fluid shot out from a nearby port and covered her hand. Seeing
her withdraw more from shock than pain, Shawn was quickly at her side and
pulling her from the machine. A thick red goo, like corn syrup, was coating her
entire right hand.

   “I’m fine,” she said
unevenly, then brought her hand to her face.

   Shawn looked up at the droid
that was staring blankly down at the two.

   “What did you do?” he
screamed at the machine. The only response was a series of beeps and blips just
before the droid turned and scurried from the compartment.

   Exasperated, Shawn turned
back to Melissa. “Are you in pain?”

   “I … I don’t know.” The
words were shallow, distant.

   “Can you run?” Shawn asked
over the blaring klaxons. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

   “I …” she said, then looked
around in confusion. “I don’t … feel very good.” With that, her eyes rolled
back into her head as her body collapsed to the floor. Shawn’s quick reflexes
allowed him to catch her before her head struck the deck.

   “Melissa?” he shouted
repeatedly, but got no response.

   “Commander!” Fralok
objected. “We must go!”

   Wasting little time, Shawn
quickly removed his jacket and wrapped it around her injured hand, then lifted
her limp form in his arms and rushed back toward the airlock.

“Do not measure your loss
by itself; if you do, it will seem intolerable; but if you will take all human
affairs into account, you will find that some comfort is to be derived from
them.”

-Saint
Basil, Greek Bishop

Old
Earth, 330 BC

“If Saint Basil had been
there on board the
Tangled
Web
, I’d have punched him square in the jaw.”

-Shawn
Kestrel

In
response to the before-mentioned quote being attributed to him

Ethos:
Words of Wisdom from the Second Great War 

   The journey back to the
shuttle took only a few seconds, but to Shawn it felt like an eternity.
Melissa’s body was completely limp in his arms. Not since their encounter on board
the
Icarus
had he felt so hopeless. When he found a clear spot at the
back of the shuttle, he laid her down gently on the deck. Her face was almost
devoid of color, and covered in dew-like sweat. Putting his head down to her
chest, he could discern a weak heartbeat. Holding his hand above her mouth, he
felt gentle waves of warm air caress his palm.

  
Thank God she’s still
breathing.

   “Doctor!” Shawn shouted
frantically, then noticed Uudon was already at his side.

   “What happened?” Uudon
asked as he, too, knelt by the limp form. M-9 also took a step toward Shawn.

   “Keep that thing away from
her!” Shawn shouted. “It’s already done its fair share of damage.”

   Wordlessly, Uudon stayed
the droid with a wave of his hand, then turned back to Shawn. “Explain?”

   “I’m not sure what’s wrong
with her, but I think it has something to do with that fluid she was sprayed
with. It’s all over her hand,” Shawn said, nodding to the wadded jacket
protecting her right hand. He was about to pull the jacket away when Uudon
stopped his arm. The doctor’s grip was surprisingly tight.

   “It’s best we leave it
covered for now, Commander. If there is an infectious agent, it could quickly
spread.”

   A slight bump reverberated
throughout the hull as the shuttle detached itself from the airlock.

   Reaching into a pouch on
the side of his jacket, Shawn withdrew a small medical kit. “This is all I
have,” he said as he offered the paltry kit to Uudon. “Hopefully you’ll find
something in there to help keep her stable.”

   Uudon opened the kit and
quickly inventoried its contents. “There’s nothing in here that’s going to
combat whatever she’s dealing with, Commander.” He then withdrew a small
device, along with a single syringe filled with a bright yellow fluid.

   “What’s that?”

   “As I’ve said before, I’m
not a medical doctor,” he said as he adjusted the device, “but I do know what
this is. It’s a
xenoresuscitator.”

  
“But that’s only used for if her heart has stopped,” Shawn replied in
confusion. “Her heartbeat is weak, but it’s still pumping.”

  
Making the last of the adjustments, he looked at Shawn. “Commander, her blouse,
please. Time is of the essence. I will need to place this directly over her
heart.”

  
Doing as he was asked, Shawn exposed the area of skin. It was as pale and sweat-covered
as her face.

  
Uudon quickly placed the metallic device over her heart and switched it on. He
then asked Shawn to hold her head steady as he injected the yellow fluid into
her neck. “This is a
thiopental derivative
,” he said as
he withdrew the syringe. “It’s a mild
anesthetic
. In conjunction with the resuscitator, we will
slow down all her internal functions—in effect, putting her into a medically
induced coma.”

  
“That’s all?” Shawn asked in disgust.

  
Uudon snapped back in frustration. “What would you have me do, Commander? She
has likely been infected, but by what I can’t say … nor would I begin to
speculate. She requires immediate medical attention of the highest degree, and
this …” he said, looking at the medical kit with disgust, “is not a hospital. I
can use these to keep her stable, but that’s all.”

  
“For how long?”

  
Uudon looked toward the kit and the meager supply of
thiopental.
“A few days, perhaps a week. That’s all.”

  
“That’s barely enough time to get back to Unified space,” Shawn said in dismay.
He reached down and stroked her hair. Some color had already begun to return to
her face, and the large droplets of sweat were quickly disappearing. “Stay by
her side.” Uudon nodded in response, and Shawn stood and looked to the front of
the shuttle. Far off in the distance, he could see the telltale signs of the
battle still raging.

  
Fralok noticed the commander’s gaze and moved to stand by him. “It appears the
station core was not set to self-destruct.”

  
“Then what happened?”

  
“Once the core reached a critical mass, it vented high doses of radiation
throughout the entire station.”

  
Shawn looked back to Melissa. “So she’s got radiation poisoning?”

  
“I do not believe so, Commander. The station was not flooded until several
minutes after we departed.”

  
“But, with the radiation, we won’t be able to board the station again to find a
cure.”

  
“Sensors have detected lethal does in every corner of the structure. Why the
station did not simply destroy itself, I do not know.”

  
“Major,” an officer said from the navigation station. “We approach the
Tangled
Web
.”

  
“Signal our intentions to land, and that we have sustained a human casualty.”
He then turned to Shawn. “Our medical staff has some experience in dealing with
humans, but I fear it may not be enough to combat what Agent Graves is dealing
with.”

  
Shawn nodded. “Anything that can be done would be appreciated, but we need to
get her back to Unified space as quickly as possible.”

  
Fralok nodded. “You may accompany Agent Graves to sickbay. I will go directly
to the bridge and speak with Captain Ralath. Once I have news, I will come to
you.”

  
As the shuttle cleared the landing bay doors and set down, Shawn looked to
Fralok and nodded. Lifting Melissa once again, Shawn was the first to leave the
shuttle. Turning sideways to get through the hatch, he faced Fralok once more.
“Thanks, Major.”

  
“Go!”

%%%

  
The sickbay of the
Tangled Web
was the most brightly lit space on the
warship. With Melissa the only current casualty, the ship’s two doctors were
focused solely on her. In a corner several paces away, Shawn watched as the two
worked diligently to stabilize her for the journey back to Unified space.
Before they’d begun to operate on her, the lead physician informed him that his
assignment to the ship was only recent, as he was one of the few Kafarans who
had any detailed knowledge of human physiology. Shawn didn’t bother to ask
where he’d obtained the knowledge, deciding instead to inform the doctor that
he should do whatever was in his power to save Melissa’s life. Shawn’s only
other request was that Uudon be allowed to assist, which seemed to relieve the
Kafaran doctor.

  
For fifteen long minutes, the two doctors mumbled to one another as they worked
on her still form. Tubes, which Uudon had said contained basic nutrients to
sustain her, had been inserted into her forearms. The color in her skin had
returned to normal, and the sweating had stopped. Save for the tubes and a
small device placed atop her forehead, she looked like she could hop from the
table at any moment alive and refreshed.

  
How am I going to explain this to her father? I can’t lose her, I just
can’t.

  
Shawn watched as the two men leaned back from her still form, took a quiet look
at one another, then stepped back from the table.

  
“That’s all that can be done, Commander,” Uudon said as he wiped off the
antibacterial coating on his hands.

  
Stepping beside the table, Shawn gazed down at her still form. “What’s happened
to her?” he asked, his mouth dry as parchment.

  
“There’s some form of viral infection coursing through her veins. We don’t know
what it is, and we can’t stop it,” Uudon said, his voice tinged with
exhaustion. “Doctor Salok and I have stabilized her for the time being, but it
may only be temporary. We’ve slowed the infection, but not stopped it. There’s
no telling what its end goal is. The pathology is … beyond our expertise.”

  
Shawn ran a hand across her forehead. The skin was warm and soft. “Will she
make it back to Unified space?”

  
Uudon looked at Salok, who shared a look of concern. “I don’t know, Commander.
It’s anyone’s guess at this point, but … with two days travel time back to the
border, and then two more on board the
Honor Guard …
well, the odds
aren’t good.”

  
“We could put her in stasis chamber,” Doctor Salok said as he, too, wiped the
antibacterial agent from his hands. “I believe it would increase her percentage
of survivability, but there are risks involved.”

  
“Such as?” Shawn asked.

  
“Our chambers are designed for Kafarans, Commander. While there is some shared
physiology between our peoples, it is extremely minor. It may do more harm than
good.”

  
“It’s your decision, Shawn,” Uudon said.

  
Shawn was surprised, not only by Uudon’s newfound compassion, but that he
finally had addressed him by his first name. Shawn leaned down, kissing
Melissa’s lips softly, then stood. “Do whatever you both think is going to give
her the best chance of survival.”

  
Uudon nodded silently to Shawn, then turned to Doctor Salok. “Prepare the
chamber, Doctor.”

  
As Salok turned away, Captain Ralath entered the compartment and walked slowly
to Melissa’s bedside. “How is your mate, Commander?”

  
“What makes you think she’s my mate?” Shawn asked as he looked down on her.

  
“I am no fool, Commander. It is quite obvious.”

  
“Yeah, I guess it is.” Shawn managed a slight smile when he noticed that, at
some point, he’d subconsciously taken her limp hand in his own. “She’s stable …
for the moment. Doctor Salok is preparing to put her in one of your stasis
chambers.”

  
“I assume he has mentioned the risks involved?”

  
Shawn nodded slowly. “He has. I don’t think there is any other choice at this
point.”

  
Ralath grunted an acknowledgement. “Perhaps this will increase your optimism. I
have contacted the Rugorian ship. They will be waiting for us near the border
when we enter Unified space. Captain Litto sends his regards, and expresses
sympathy for your compatriot.”

  
Knowing there was little he could do, Shawn stepped away from the table as
Salok and Uudon moved the nine-foot-long stasis chamber into position. With a
hiss, the top half opened up, and the two doctors quickly moved Melissa inside
the unit. With little fanfare, the translucent top was sealed in place.
Exhausted, Shawn rubbed at his face to get the blood flowing to his cheeks.
“Has there been any contact with our fleet?”

  
“Captain Litto made no mention of it, and we are too far removed to initiate
any communication with them ourselves.”

  
Stepping to the side of the chamber, Shawn ran a hand over the smooth surface
just above Melissa’s head. “How long until we arrive at the border?”

  
“We have pushed the engines to their maximum speed. We should arrive there in
forty-three hours, barring any unforeseen difficulties.”

  
“And Hellnastor?”

  
“I just received a communication from the assault commander. The system has not
been retaken yet. Our forces are still in a heated battle at the outer fringes
of the system, but I fear they will be quickly outmatched. Long-range sensors
have detected more enemy vessels approaching the system from their dark space.”
Ralath turned to watch Salok and Uudon push the stasis chamber away from the
center of the room. One it was in an unobtrusive corner, they hooked up several
tubes to the machine. “Our people have suffered greatly today. I only hope it
was worth it.”

  
Shawn nodded slowly. “So do I.”

  
“Get some rest, Commander. I believe you have earned it.”

  
Shawn looked across the room at the tube, and to Melissa inside. “I’ll stay … just
for a little while longer.”

  
Ralath nodded quietly, then turned to leave the compartment. “I will be on the
bridge.” Before reaching the doors, he turned to face Shawn. “And Commander?”

  
“Yes?” Shawn asked, still staring at the stasis chamber which held the woman he
loved.

  
“That human compassion?”