Galaxia

by Kevin McLaughlin

  “Ah, good. Thank you, Carmen.”

  “Oh – I was working today on some tests my father and I were discussing before he left. They have to do with why he went back to Earth so abruptly.” Carmen crossed imaginary fingers and went for it. ‘You don’t mind if we keep working on that, do you?”

  “Mind? A project for your father? Of course not,” Levins said. He winced, sweat beading on his forehead. “I have to go. Use your judgment for priorities. You’re in charge. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  And just like that, the lab was hers. All it took was the gentle application of a few large doses of laxatives into the man’s coffee. He drank four cups of the stuff before it took effect. Best of all, the medic wouldn’t give him medicine to stop the loose bowels, because if it was bad food or a bacterial infection, that could do more harm than good. So he’d be out for at least the next twelve hours or so, she figured. Maybe longer if he needed some time to rest after the symptoms abated.

  Carmen felt a little guilt over dosing the man. He wasn’t a bad person. But he wasn’t capable of thinking outside the box. He was a longtime friend of her father’s, and he was good at plodding, methodical work. But that wasn’t what they needed right now. They needed a leap forward to a solution.

  Which her father was going to provide soon anyway, once they could study the immunity that boy had in some detail. Her father would listen, if she showed the time-stamped scans of the cells side by side. And he’d see the same thing she had. Whatever was letting the teen’s cells stop the viral spread, they’d see it for themselves once they had him here.

  So why the rush to solve the problem before her father returned?

  Her father’s harsh words were like a wound in her mind, always there, never relenting. He’d written her off. A child, he’d said. The work until he returned was irrelevant, he’d said. And he’d all but outright admitted the only reason she was here was because he wanted to protect her. None of which was OK with her. So yeah, part of her motive in trying to solve the problem quickly was to prove to her father that he was wrong.

  But part was also… She was more worried about Pat than she was willing to admit to herself out loud. He was back on Earth by now, and her father planned to leave him there. She knew the odds were Pat was going to be left in hot water on a planet that was a mess and getting worse daily. The sooner she could solve the virus, the sooner Patrick would be safe. And solving the virus would mean she could go back to Earth again. If he wasn’t here on the moon, there was little about the place that interested her.

  Carmen cleared her throat. Most of the team had been paused for the few moments since she’d signed off the tablet call, waiting for her to say something. They all knew something was up.

  “OK,” she said. “New marching orders.”

  She tapped her tablet a few times, sending files to the two big screens on the lab wall. “This is what my father and I were working on before he left. This is what the main project is going to likely shift toward once he returns.” She set the two time-stamped sets of images running side by side.

  She had everyone’s attention, now. “The right hand image is a normal virus patient, normal immune response. Notice on the left hand image that the virus is unable to break away from the cell membrane.”

  Everyone was watching the screens. She could hear people sucking in their breath when the antibody came along and destroyed the infected cell. The entire team was holding back cheers right now. Or tears. Or both. Most of them had family on Earth, after all. Family that was at greater risk with each day that passed without a cure.

  She looked around the room, and knew she had them. If she’d tried this display with Levins, he would have insisted on waiting. Her father was due back in just a few days, after all. Levins didn’t have the drive to overcome his inertia. But he was out of the way now. The entire team heard him pass lab leadership over to her. If some of them were smart enough to wonder now if she’d engineered his removal, they were also probably bright enough to recognize why she’d done it.

  “I have a list of potential molecules which might do the trick,” she said, loud enough so her voice carried around the room. “But we need to try anything that might work. I want all efforts diverted to this.”

  “Dr. Rosa, where is this second set of slides coming from?” That was Dennis Farmer, a big black man who looked more like a retired boxer than the excellent doctor that he was. He was the only other doctor senior to her on the moon – the only person who might try to take the project away from her. Carmen thought quickly. She needed to not lie. That wouldn’t help her, not in the long run. Bad enough that she’s have to deal with Levins if he discovered she’d dosed him with a laxative! But she also needed to have this man on her side. She had to tell a careful truth.

  “It’s classified. I’m sorry,” she said, putting as much contrition as she could into her words. “I don’t have all the details myself yet. But I’m confident my father will brief us all on his return.” There, all true, and just enough information to give Farmer confidence in her plan.

  It worked. He nodded up and down vigorously. “Of course,” he said. “So we’re laying the groundwork for him, getting things ready.”

  “Precisely. And the more work we can get done before father gets back, the faster we can finish this cure and get it to the people who need it most,” Carmen said. “So let’s get to work, everyone! Everyone on Earth is counting on us to be brilliant. Let’s not let them down!”

  The team went into motion. They’d been working together for a while now. They all knew what to do from here. Like a well honed machine, they would get the work done, and report results or problems to her. She took her father’s usual place, sitting on a stool in the middle of the room, working on her tablet. She had computers analyzing the images of the virus, trying to find molecules that might fit into it, like a key into a lock.

  She’d heard a cough from the doorway and glanced up. It was Amy. As soon as she saw that she had Carmen’s attention, she beckoned. Carmen didn’t know Amy all that well. They ran into each other from time to time, but they hadn’t chatted. For the most part, her father’s virus team and the rest of the base personnel remained their own separate worlds.

  No, Carmen didn’t know her well. But she knew people. Amy’s face was pale. Her hands were shaking – not a lot, but just enough that Carmen was able to see the tremor from across the room when she looked for it. Her eyes were red. Had she been crying?

  Fear slammed Carmen in the gut. It was Pat. Something had gone wrong. That had to be what this was about.

  She walked across the room as calmly as she could manage. It wouldn’t do for the staff to see her race over in a panic, although that was her first response. Whatever Amy was upset about, it might have nothing to do with Pat anyway. It might be something totally different, she told herself – ignoring the voice in her head telling her that she wasn’t fooling anyone.

  “Amy, what’s wrong?” she said softly, as soon as she was close.

  “You need to come with me,” Amy said.

  “Of course,” Carmen replied. “But what’s going on?”

  “Easier to show you than ta tell you,” Amy replied, starting off down the hall. She stopped after a few paces to see if Carmen would follow. With a small shrug, Carmen set off after her.

  Amy led her down into the central dome, and then out into the one reserved for the lunar research, where the Hoppers were stored and Pat did so much of the work for his projects. A big chunk of the work station had been cleared, and a large box assembled in the middle out of silicate panels. The crate looked odd, out of place. It wasn’t something that was manufactured on Earth. Someone had built it here, using the three-D printer to produce the parts.

  “Now, what’s going on?” Carmen asked. Amy was fishing for something in a toolbox resting on a work bench. Her back was turned, so Carmen couldn’t see what she was doing. She took a step closer.

  Amy turned around. She was holding a lar
ge pistol in her hands.

  “Get into the box,” Amy said.

  “What the hell?!” Carmen said. She raised her hands, more in reflex than anything else. “Amy, what are you doing?”

  “Just get in the box, and you won’t be hurt.”

  Where had Amy gotten a gun? There were no firearms on the base. Hell, it was crazy to have a gun in space at all! What if she shot through the dome, blew a hole in something vital in the machinery? She could kill everyone with that thing.

  Carmen took a step toward the box. “OK, Amy. I’ll get in the crate.” It was a good size for a little cell, she realized. About six feet square – so half a foot of clearance over her head. Not a lot of room inside. She took another step, and was able to see inside. Nothing in there but plain walls, floor, and ceiling.

  She looked back over at Amy. The pistol looked bigger than ever, pointed at her head from only a couple of feet away. Amy gestured with the pistol, waggling it a few times in a casual way that made Carmen wince, hoping she wouldn’t accidentally pull the trigger. “Go on, keep moving.”

  Behind Amy, a bit of movement caught Carmen’s eye. Someone was back there, hiding behind one of the work benches. Reddish hair poked out from the hiding spot, and then part of a face. It was Jacob! But would he help her? She had to at least give him a chance.

  “I am moving,” Carmen said. “But what’s going on, Amy? This is crazy!”

  “Not so crazy,” Amy said. “My brother, the rest of my family back on Earth? You think I was just going to leave them all there to die?”

  “No,” Carmen replied. “I have family there too. We all do. That’s why we’re trying to cure the virus.”

  “And how’s that working for you?” Amy spat. “I know the bigwigs are planning a huge new colony, down there at the south pole in that glacier that we found. They figure they’re going to pick and choose who lives and who dies. Well, surprise. Not anymore. Not since we took the shuttle.”

  Carmen stopped in the doorway of the box. Took the shuttle? “Is Pat OK?” she asked.

  “You bitch. Don’t know what he sees in you,” Amy said. “Weak little prissy little thing like you? Pfffa. Pat’s fine.”

  Amy took a few steps forward, and Carmen backed away from her – into the box. She was surrounded on all sides except one by the box – and Amy was standing between her and the only way out. Amy switched the gun to a one handed grip, still keeping it trained on Carmen, and reached down to pick up a matching panel from the floor. As Amy lifted the panel up, Carmen saw how it tabs on the thing would drive right into sockets in the walls of the cage she was in. Insert tab a into slot b, part of her mind gibbered at her. The panel would lock into place as soon as Amy shoved hard on it. There was no door. Someone would have to cut her out.

  Carmen saw more movement behind Amy. Jacob had slipped out of his hiding spot. Was he coming to help her? She had to hope he was. Maybe she could buy him some time?

  “Amy, there’s no holes. You can’t – I’ll suffocate!” Carmen said. The fear in her voice wasn’t feigned.

  Amy ignored her words and kept pushing the wall up higher. “It’s not airtight. It’ll be kinda dark, and you might get a bit thirsty, but you’ll last a while. The shuttle will be here in two days. You’re insurance.”

  There was only the smallest gap between the wall and the rest of the box. If Carmen was going to do anything at all, it had to be now. If she was insurance, she was betting that Amy wasn’t actually planning on shooting her. The gun had to be at least partly a bluff.

  She was breathing so fast that she was almost hyperventilating. A few more inches, and Amy would lock her in. Was she the sort of person who sat, helpless? Or could she do something?

  Carmen took a deep breath and rushed forward at the panel, hitting it near one of the sides. Amy was lifting from the middle, so the whole panel twisted in place, and then she was out! She tumbled out of the confined space and lost her balance, not used to moving so fast and hard in the low gravity. Carmen fell hands-first to the floor. She scrambled to get back to her feet as quickly as she could.

  “I told you to stay put!” Amy shouted, swinging the pistol at Carmen’s head. Carmen ducked, barely avoiding the weapon.

  Carmen hit the ground and pushed off hard with both hands. The force of the push was enough to launch her into the air. Amy’s backswing with the pistol missed her as she dodged backward.

  “Stupid bitch. I don’t need you alive that badly,” Amy said. She leveled the pistol at Carmen. Carmen dove sideways, trying to get one of the work benches between the her and the gun.

  There was a loud metallic thunk.

  Carmen stood up and peeked over the edge of the bench. Jacob was standing there, a heavy wrench in his hands. Amy was laying on the floor. She wasn’t quite out – she was still moaning softly. Either Jacob hadn’t hit her that hard, or she really was just that tough. Time to make sure she didn’t cause any more trouble for the immediate future.

  “What’s going on, Carmen?” Jacob asked.

  “No time. Help me get her in the box,” Carmen replied. She dashed forward to grab one of Amy’s arms. She didn’t really need Jacob’s help – she’d forgotten again how light everything was here. But he grabbed the other arm anyway. Together they pulled Amy into the crate, and then quickly locked the final panel into place. The tabs clicked into their slots with a finality that made Carmen shiver. That had almost been her.

  “Now, can you tell me what’s going on?” Jacob asked.

  “I wish I knew,” Carmen said. “It sounds like some of Amy’s family hijacked the shuttle.”

  “That shouldn’t even be possible.”

  “Tell me about it. But that’s what she told me,” Carmen said. “I need to call Earth.”

  “Come on. I’ll help you set up a satellite link,” Jacob said.

  The call didn’t take long. Jacob had managed to stay standing through the first couple of minutes, but had plopped himself down heavily into a chair part way through. Carmen didn’t blame him. If she hadn’t been sitting from the beginning of the call, she would have lost her feet too. As it was, she couldn’t believe what she was being told.

  “So this colonel has taken over the shuttle, and they’re on their way here?” she asked.

  “That’s right.” The voice on the radio was a Doctor Melissa Sanders, directing the efforts in Florida to piece together how this had happened. “Dr. Rosa is aboard. Your father’s safety is of great importance, of course – but we don’t know if anyone aboard is infected. Keeping the moon virus free is the most crucial thing.”

  “Why is keeping the moon virus free more important than saving the man working on the cure?” Carmen demanded. Although she had an inkling, she wanted to hear it from this woman.

  “If you’re half as bright as your records say you are, then you already know the answer to that,” Sanders said.

  “The extra domes,” Carmen said.

  “Yes. And we have another hundred more domes, ready to launch. And a list of names of people to live in them. It’s not as long a list as we’d like, but it’s shorter than a lot of people who aren’t on it want.”

  Carmen leaned back in her seat, exhaling hard. This was all going too fast. “You’re really that sure that the virus can’t be cured?”

  There was a long pause on the other end, and Carmen thought for a moment that she’d lost the transmission somehow. When Sanders finally replied, she sounded utterly defeated. “We had all our hopes riding on the one immune human we’d found. With him dead… I think the odds of seeing a vaccine anytime soon are too slim to count on.”

  “But I think I know how that teenager’s immunity worked,” Carmen blurted.

  Dead silence again. Then, “Miss Rosa. Are you sure you have this on frequency hop? Is this secure?”

  Carmen looked over at Jacob, who nodded vigorously. “Yes, I’m sure,” she said.

  “You say you know how the immunity worked. How?”

  “I read over the data
you sent to my father,” Carmen said. She decided it was time to spill everything she had discovered. If anything happened to the base out here, then at least someone back on Earth could pick up the baton. “It’s pretty obvious if you look at the slides. The boy’s cells were stopping the virus from escaping infected cells, giving the immune system time to destroy the compromised cells.”

  “Shit. If you’re right… How does this help the vaccine?” Sanders asked.

  “I thought you were a doctor? Carmen asked, suddenly a little suspicious.

  “Of engineering, damn it. How does it help?”

  “Oh,” Carmen said. She grinned a little. Time to explain in layman’s terms. “It won’t help with a vaccine. It might help with a cure. I’ll send the data we have so far down to you.”

  “But you might be close?” Sanders pressed.

  “We might have a workable cure in a few days. It might take a few weeks.” Carmen shook her head to clear it. “Hard to say. I need to get back to the lab and direct people.”

  “All right, Dr. Rosa,” Sanders said. Carmen noted the change from ‘miss’ to ‘doctor’. Apparently she’d gone up a rank in importance? “Do what you can. I’ll get your data to the doctors down here. In the meantime, you need to prevent the shuttle from infecting your base. If this cure fails, the moon might be the last chance humanity has.”

  “How are we supposed to stop them, if they decide to land here?” Carmen asked.

  “We’re working on that. We’ve got some ideas down here. We’ll let you know as soon as we have something more solid.”

  “OK. We’ll be standing by,” Carmen said.

  What else could they do? She thought of Patrick, stuck up on that shuttle with a bunch of people who were going to be getting increasingly desperate. And if any of them were infected, they’d become dangerous – unstable. She shivered, hoping none of them had been crazy enough to bring the virus onto the shuttle.

  Chapter 14

  PATRICK COULD feel the tension ratcheting up to intolerable levels. Something was going to burst soon. He had a bad feeling in his gut that someone was going to die. He gave a subtle twist of his body, changing his drift slightly so that he was gliding close to Rosa. Damn it, but he’d worked hard enough to keep the old man alive for Carmen. He couldn’t let him catch a bullet now.