partially-hidden weapons for hours per day became increasingly exhausting. For the medical team it began to seem that they were constantly getting into or out of the suits and exchanging them for isolation suits in the lab. There were half-serious complaints that they spent more time changing clothes than working. Days began to blur into weeks.
Kas had just removed his helmet and was beginning to remove his suit when the alarm sounded. He grabbed the helmet and pulled it back on.
“Bridge, Preslin here. What’s happening?”
“We don’t know yet, sir,” came Gran’s voice. “The alarm came from the bio lab.”
Cursing, Kas rechecked his suit seals and used the airlock’s manual controls to cycle the lock. He hurried across the hold to the bio lab.
As he reached for the bio lab’s airlock control, the lock began cycling. Kas stepped back as a suited figure began to emerge.
“Preslin here,” he said, “What’s happened?”
The figure started. “Oh! Uh, Commodore! I was just coming to report. It’s Doctor Kor-Nashta. She’s been contaminated. Oh, uh, I’m Med Tech Vil-Norris, sir. Doctor Ro-Lecton sent me to report.”
Kas was irritated. “Then report, dammit! What happened?”
“Uh, yes, sir. Uh, we had thawed one of the suited cadavers and were starting the autopsy. Dr. Kor-Nashta was cutting the suit off. The beam cutter slipped, and sliced into her isolation suit. Of course, atmosphere from the suit had already contaminated the lab.
“As soon as Doctor Kor-Nashta’s suit detected the breach it sent a blast of high-pressure air through the umbilical and sealed the doctor’s umbilical. The system worked, but Doctor Kor-Nashta’s been exposed to the contamination.”
It was like a blow. Kas had come to know and like Nila Kor-Nashta. Now, unless Ro-Lecton and his people could isolate a cure for the plague she was doomed. Her cheerful good humor had helped keep morale up. Not to mention that she had become Ro-Lecton’s chief keeper, insuring the absent-minded scientist got washed, fed and dressed. In fact, Kas suspected that romance was blooming between the two epidemiologists — or at least it would when Ro-Lecton began once again to notice the rest of humanity. Kas nodded grimly. “All right, you can get back to the bio lab. I imagine they need you right now, and they certainly don’t need me. Tell Ro-Lecton to keep me posted. No, don’t bother. Tell whoever his new deputy will be to do it.”
Even through the suit faceplate Kas could see the med tech’s shocked expression. “But, sir! Doctor Kor- Nashta is the director’s deputy. Surely you don’t think he would relieve her?”
Kas had assumed just that, but he now realized that even if Doctor Kor-Nashta were infected and they didn’t find a cure for the plague, it would be weeks before she became too sick to function.
He flushed. “Of course. I’m sorry. I didn’t think.”
The med tech nodded. “We’ll keep you posted, sir.”
Kas returned to the airlock deep in thought. He hadn’t considered it, but of course the bio lab’s atmosphere had become contaminated. This would be the second suited body they’d worked on. Perhaps he hadn’t wanted to think about it. Knowing that plague-contaminated atmosphere was separated from the inhabited portions of Starhopper by mere meters of vacuum was unsettling. He knew that vacuum and decontam were virtually absolute security — but still…
The bio lab had not been designed for continuous occupancy. As soon as he unsuited Kas called Toj to his cabin.
“We’ll need to figure out how to build a sleeping accommodation for Doctor Kor-Nashta onto the bio lab,” he said. “We also have to figure out a way to deliver food. I assume there’s already a way to deliver water.”
Toj nodded. “Yes, sir. As for food, I just don’t know.” He shrugged. “Perhaps we can take a food synthesizer from one of the Rekesh ’s auxiliaries and build it into the sleeping accommodation. Then all we’d have to deliver would be the raw supplies.”
Kas nodded. “Good. Since the lab has already been contaminated, I think I can make an exception for a food synthesizer. But how are you going to build onto a lab that’s already contaminated?”
Toj shrugged. “I don’t anticipate any problem, sir. I’ll just weld together a box oh, say, three meters by four. It won’t even need an airlock. I’ll put a bunk and all the other stuff inside, then bond it to the bio lab, go inside in an isolation suit and cut a doorway.”
Kas chuckled. “You certainly make it sound simple.” His smile faded. “I wish it weren’t necessary.”
Toj nodded again. “Me too, sir. Doctor Kor-Nashta… well, she’s good people. Don’t worry, Commodore. I’ll fix her up nice and cozy.”
Starhopper ’s other crew seemed to share Toj’s opinion of Nila. While Toj built her sleeping quarters, Edro was working on electronic facilities that would make Nila’s stateroom the most luxurious aboard. Rom, Tera and Gran bothered Toj constantly, suggesting improvements to her accommodation.
Toj was as good as his word. Within two days Nila had a comfortable stateroom available to her, complete with food synthesizer. Edro had rigged a large viewscreen with several cameras so Nila could join the others for meals and even check in on Ro-Lecton.
Nila had been almost pathetically grateful to all of them. She was obviously frightened, but determined to stay in control. For once, even Ro-Lecton noticed something larger than a microbe and tried to be considerate of his assistant. As the days dragged into a week, then two, he resumed his usual behavior patterns. But now there was an edge to his obsession. He frequently had to be physically removed from the bio lab and forced to get some food or sleep.
Nila was plainly getting sicker. She was pale, losing weight, and suffering from diarrhea. But by all reports she was invaluable in the search for a cure. Unhampered by an isolation suit, she was able to speed their progress considerably. And as she commented wryly, there was now no shortage of live samples.
Chapter 11
By the one month mark, Nila was becoming weaker. She frequently had to stop her work to rest, and on particularly bad days she couldn’t even make herself leave her stateroom to cross to the bio lab.
The mood aboard Starhopper was somber. Nila obviously had at most only a few weeks to live. Ro-Lecton’s pace became frantic, and it was a constant struggle to get him to leave the bio lab at all. When he was found hunched asleep over a microviewer, Kas decided enough was enough. He called the little doctor to his cabin.
Ro-Lecton was angry at being forced to leave the bio lab. He was also badly worried, scared, and exhausted.
Kas shook his head. “Doctor, this won’t do. You are Nila’s best hope, and you’re hurting her chances by behaving like an idiot.”
The little man’s eyes blazed. “I can’t just let her die!”
“No, you can’t,” Kas replied. “But you can’t save her the way you’re going. Falling asleep over a microviewer! Ridiculous. That’s for interns, not a seasoned researcher like you.”
Ro-Lecton frowned. “But…”
“But nothing!” Kas flipped a switch. “Rom, would you come in, please?”
Ro-Lecton was looking worried, now. He obviously remembered the last time Kas had called Rom to his cabin.
“Now, Doctor,” Kas resumed, “Rom is going to escort you to your quarters. Then he’s going to give you an injection from the ship’s medical stores. Then you’re going to sleep for about twenty hours.
“When you wake up, you will eat, and then return to your lab. I want you to re-run every test you’ve run in the last forty-eight hours. But this time you’ll run them fresh and alert, instead of dull and exhausted.”
Ro-Lecton’s protests were heartfelt, but in his exhausted state they weren’t very emphatic. He put up only weak resistance as Rom marched him to his quarters and gave him the injection.
As luck would have it, the crew was at supper when a clean and freshly-depilated Ro-Lecton appeared. He seemed considerably refreshed, almost cheerful. “Commodore, I…” he began, then noticed the large viewscreen mounted on one bulkhead, displaying Nila’s image. Edro had set up the screen so that Nila’s table seemed a
