NAAN (The Rabanians Book 1) (44 page)

Daio had asked her to stay home but she’d refused. “ You are a foreigner, and we are still not popular here,” he’d told her, but she knew she couldn't stay in the house anymore. 

Months had passed since Sosi had left. She’d looked for him everywhere. For the last search, Daio had even asked Musan to send a few police hovercrafts to help her. The searches yielded nothing. Not even a clue. They’d gone down to his pool again, but found no signs of him. There were not even fresh tracks there. They’d landed in a few other places that looked suitable for camping, but again they had found nothing.

Su-thor thought he was dead. In spite of Daio’s repeated encouragement she thought he was gone. Daio told her again and again that Sosi had lived in the open spaces for years and thrived, but this claim did impress her anymore.

Taking care of sick people kept her busy, although it left her mentally exhausted. This was the second season she had helped but the first time she was in close contact with the sick people.

“Like a swing. It comes and goes,” said the nurse to Su-thor.

They were standing next to the bed of an eight-year-old girl. She was anaesthetized and on a respirator. The nurse walked to the monitor, uploaded the infusion control panel, and changed few parameters.

“I spoke to her when she arrived,” said Su-thor. “It doesn't look good now.”

“Yes, some arrive feeling good, but it's only a matter of time before it comes back,” said the nurse.

“We talked about many things,” said Su-thor.

“She was on the positive part of the swing,” said the nurse.

“You think she'll make it?”

“I don't know. It comes and goes. Her vital signs have stabilized so that’s a good thing, but you never know. Did you take them today?”

“Yes, of course,” said Su-thor. 

“Good, let's move to the next one.”

“How long will she be like this?” asked Su-thor as they walked to the next bed.

“If her signs stay stable my guess is we'll try to wake her up tomorrow. But even then, it's not clear if she'll make it. The symptoms will come back for sure, but it is impossible to tell if their intensity will be stronger or weaker.”

“Yes, I know,” said Su-thor. “Like a swing.”

“Exactly.”

They stopped next to a five-year-old child. 

“He is asleep,” said Su-thor. “His parents were here today for a while.”

“Yes, he seems to be getting better.”  She walked to the monitor next to the bed and hit the screen several times. “You see this?” she said pointing at the screen. “The oxygen level goes bad from time to time but the downswings are getting shallower over time. This is a very good sign.”

“Great,” said Su-thor, and wiped sweat from her forehead.

“Take his vital signs,” said the nurse and walked to the next bed.

“Of course,” said Su-thor, and blinked rapidly at the monitor next to the bed. She was completely exhausted. She’d worked in the hospital the whole week. She only went home to shower and to sleep. She didn't want to stay there. Sosi's empty room made her angry and sorrowful.

Five children died during the night, the eight-year-old girl was one of them. Su-thor remembered when the girl had arrived the previous week. She wasn't that sick at all back then. She’d coughed, and her eyes were swollen a bit, but she’d responded. They talked about many things, things not related to the disease, and Su-thor had hoped it was a sign that she was not really that sick.

She knew about the
swing
of course, but Su-thor had hoped the girl would get better. And then, around midnight, the girl’s monitor had suddenly started to beep. Su-thor had rushed to see what was wrong. Her oxygen level had dropped severely. She checked the equipment to see if the girl was getting enough oxygen, but everything was working fine, everything that is except for the girl’s lungs.

The Doctor came soon after but there was nothing he could do. Su-thor called her parents and they stood next to the bed and accepted her death quietly and submissively. It felt odd to Su-thor that she was the one who had to struggle to keep from crying. The strain worsened her already aching throat. She managed to hold back her sobs but she couldn’t avoid the tears.

The plague was so ingrained in them that it was part of their existence, she told herself, trying to make some sense of what she was seeing. She knew they were sad, but their damn faces were no sadder than that of a Mampasian losing his money in the stock market, or around the gambling table.

The events of the night made her weak. She felt as if she were choking. It took so much energy to choke off the cries that she refused to let out. She felt exhausted and wanted only a shower at home and to get into her bed. She was happy when her shift was finally over. She walked to the nurse's stand and took off her white coat. She took several deep breaths and tried to find the energy to head home. 

“Are you coming in tomorrow?” asked the head nurse as she approached.

“Yes,” answered Su-thor. Then she had second thoughts. She wondered if maybe she should rest for a day. She’d felt dizzy several times during her shift and heat was rolling off her body in waves. She felt as if she was standing in front of a burning stove.

“In the morning?” continued the head nurse.

Su-thor gazed at her.

“Su-thor, are you coming in the morning?” she repeated.    

Su-thor stifled a yawn. “Yes, I guess, if that is what is needed.”

The head nurse looked down at the tablet in her hand. “Yes, we'll have three nurses here and I think they would be happy to have an additional pair of hands.”

Su-thor nodded and walked towards a small room behind the nurse's station to wash her hands and face and make herself presentable before leaving. She stopped at the door and leaned her hand on the frame.

“Are you okay?” asked the head nurse and came over to her.

“Tired,” said Su-thor. She walked into the room and a wave of dizziness hit her. She stumbled towards the sink, lost her balance, and hit her head against the basin as she fell to the floor.

I woke up at daybreak. I was facing the cave wall when I opened my eyes and the thoughts of the night before returned. When Dion came up I suddenly noticed that the cave was no longer completely dark. I wondered again about the lighting system. As the light from the entrance grew, I began to see details of the inside of the cave. The stairs were clear now. I went down them and saw that the walls were shining. A soft light illuminated the cave. If this was a photoelectric system then someone had maintained it well, I thought to myself. I walked to the center of the cave and looked up. Far above me I could see a rectangular array of light sources. It didn't blind me since the lights were aiming at the wall. Then I realized it wasn't a photoelectric system. 

I ran outside and climbed the stairs to the fourth terrace. A bunch of transparent domes, the size of a man, were set into the floor. I walked towards them quickly and smiled. “Lenses. These are simply huge lenses,” I said gazing at them. I tried to count them but quickly lost track. I climbed to the next terrace and looked down at them. There were sixty-four lenses in all, arranged in a square of eight by eight. I was not a physicist, but the stains on the walls, and their orderly arrangement, made me suspect that these were no simple lenses. I stood there for a few minutes absorbing the sight. It was fantastic. It made perfect sense and yet was unrealistic.

I thought that like the geological phenomena that had been taking place on Naan, this place was also unknown.   I went down and walked closer to the lenses. Each was my size and they somehow just laid there, one next to the other, on a frame, but with no additional support.

I was sure that beyond its unique architecture this place hid something bigger. It was older. Much older than the mining history of Naan.

This puzzle lifted my spirits, and I wanted to stay here longer to search for a solution, but my food was about to run out, and my water was almost gone. I knew I had to leave. After I found water and food, I thought I might come back and turn this place into my home. I went back down to the cave’s entrance, packed my backpack, and prepared to leave.

I wondered at the fact that the Naanites had been burying people for generations on this mountain, oblivious to the deserted city carved into the back side of their mausoleum. Then there was the simple but brilliant illuminating system that was still functioning as well as it had the first day they installed it, out here in the middle of nowhere. How did it all add up? Lost in my thoughts I made my way down the stairs and off of the mountain.

“How are you?” asked Daio when Su-thor woke up.

“Daio,” she said and coughed. She looked around slowly. “I am in the hospital.”

“Yes.”

She reached for her head. “I remember feeling dizzy,” she said remembering. “I felt tired all day. I should have slowed down I guess. I was working like crazy.”

“No doubt,” he said.

She touched her cheek. “I am burning up.”  She looked around her again.  The bed to her left was empty, and in the one to her right laid a young girl.

“Where am I?”

“You are in good hands.”

She looked at him and coughed again. “What do you mean?”

“Everything will be okay,” he said and now she could sense his voice was shaking a bit.

“What happened?”

“You will be fine in few days. I am sure of that.”

“When you are sure I start to worry,” she said and tried to sit up on the bed but fell back. “Help me to sit.”

“I don't think it's a good idea.”

“I am fine,” she said and grabbed his hand. She tried again to lift herself.

“You are ill,” he said and gently pulled his hand away so she was forced to lay back.

“Ill?”

“The plague.”

She looked at him stunned. “I caught the disease?”

Daio nodded.

“But I am…”

Daio pursed his lips “I know. We were never infected by it but the truth is that we never knew for a fact we were immune.”

“But…” she mumbled.

He laid his hand on her forehead. “I am sorry this is happening to you. You of all people should have been spared by this damn plague.”

She turned her face to the ceiling. “Take me home,” she said.

“I’d rather you stay here. There are people here to take care of you.”

“I will die here.”

“Don't talk like that.”

She coughed. “There is no cure for this disease. You know that. We give them an oxygen mask and someone to watch a monitor. That is what we do here. We watch them until they recover or they die.”  Suddenly she started to breathe heavily.

“Okay, I'll see what I can do.”

She turned her head to the side and closed her eyes. Tears welled up in her eyes and ran down her checks.

Two days later, Daio's car pulled up in the front of the hospital. Su-thor, on a stretcher with an oxygen mask on her face, was rolled out of the entrance to the waiting car. A few nurses helped her into the car. They handed a small oxygen tank as well. 

“Go,” said Daio after settling in beside her. Dug started the car and drove away.

“How are you?” asked Daio setting up the oxygen tube.