"I don’t know. They didn’t tell us where to go after that," he shrieked.
Taza sighed and pulled the tool away. "Maybe I believe you."
He clipped the cautery unit to his belt and paced before the suspension chamber.
Tarrig wheezed with relief.
Taza pulled his knife free and pressed the tip into Tarrig’s throat. "Or maybe I’ve grown sick of cutting and no longer have any use for you. Tell me. Does a Quamat’s head regrow if cut from its shoulders?"
The prisoner simply looked down at Taza.
Taza withdrew his knife and dark blood trickled from the shallow cut. He took a step back and rubbed the stubble on his chin.
"We already know that you delivered the virus. We already know you sneaked on board the Orinmore using a hijacked food transport. But we still haven’t figured out how you got into the Shroud in the first place." He slid the flat of his knife across the Quamat’s soft throat. “What are you not telling me, snake. I swear I’ll get it out of you even if I have to—"
Taza’s SIG buzzed, cutting him off mid-sentence. Having set his configuration to only send urgent messages, he pulled away and checked the serial interface gate display. The message had come from Andrews.
Stop whatever you’re doing, and report to Sickbay immediately. Captain Grimshaw’s orders.
Taza looked up at the Quamat again. "Consider yourself lucky, Tarrig. When I return, you better have answers."
5
Dead Allies
Grimshaw paced the sickbay scanning room as Andrews operated the terminal. Taza stood inside the machine, its glowing white rings rotating in various directions as they slid up and down the tube.
He was eager to confirm that the ex-archagent was in the clear. They had already lost a valuable member of the team. As hard as he tried not to think of Swigger in those terms, the sharpshooter’s prognosis didn’t look good.
At least no one else on the crew has been infected. Yet.
Upon learning about the brain bug, Grimshaw had filed an urgent request to contact the Confederation about the threat. Earth and her colonies had to be warned. What if others on Colony 115 had been infected? There was no telling how far beyond that the brain bugs had spread or whether Chimera had another source. Chimera and the Aphnai were allied. That much was clear. He had no proof, but brain bugs would also explain how Chimera had influenced key political figures on the Sentinel and possibly elsewhere.
Who else have the bastards infected?
Since the security incident triggered by Swigger…or the brain bug…the Omnion had shut down all external communications. Grimshaw's requests for an emergency broadcast were, as always, met with rejection, and the Zaqarans were unyielding on appeal. With so few Omnion able to survive outside their communal vats, they explained, anything beyond daily operations and general maintenance was prohibited.
"Won’t you stand still?" Andrews snapped over her shoulder. "All that shuffling about is starting to get on my nerves."
"How can I? That damn thing is still loose on the ship."
"There’s nothing you can do about that."
"I could have. I had the damn thing in my sights, but I let it get away. If it infects someone else, that’s on my head. For all we know, it has already has."
"You can’t blame yourself," Andrews said, tutting. "Besides, that’s why we’ve made weekly scans mandatory for everyone on board alongside daily scans for key personnel."
"A lot can happen in a week…or even a few hours if it gets hold of the right person." Grimshaw tried not to grind his teeth. "I’d feel a whole lot better if the Omnion would do more about the situation."
"Given the state of things, they’ve got as many people as possible searching. It’s a matter of time before a maintenance bot or sweeper crew finds the creature. I hear they’ve got a dozen remotely controlled security bots surveilling every vent and shaft on the ship too." Andrews looked at him from her console. "I don’t need to tell you, of all people, that worrying isn’t going to help."
He stopped and looked in her direction. "You know how much I hate standing around doing nothing, Andrews."
"I’d hardly call overseeing the scans doing nothing."
"You know what I mean. I like to get my hands dirty. I can’t take being cooped up on a ship performing mundane tasks, especially with Chimera running around out there with no one to stop them."
"I understand, Grimshaw, but the way things are going, you’ll be leaving sooner rather than later."
"I hope you’re right." The decision for Grimshaw and his crew to leave in search of a cure for the retrovirus had been reversed several times. He wasn’t holding his breath on the Omnion going through with it, even if they had already prepared the North Star.
"In the meantime, may I suggest that you concern yourself with matters that you can control. These scans for example…the last round Swigger went through showed that the parasite left behind by the original has penetrated sections of his gray matter without disrupting normal brain function. It’s incredible, really. However, it means the organism cannot be removed without killing Swigger, or at the very least without rendering him brain dead. The organism appears to be in its infancy and growing rapidly. By all accounts, Swigger should already be dead. The possibilities for medical studies…the things we might learn."
"We’re here to learn how to defeat the enemy not lick our wounds," Grimshaw said with more force than intended.
"Forgive me. It’s just…the treatments…the cures such research could uncover. It could change everything. Anyway, the infant parasite has already grown significantly, but we’re trying a drug that might slow it down."
Grimshaw rubbed his chin, trying not to get frustrated. "By how much?"
"We don’t know. We administered the first dose this morning. We’ll run tests tomorrow."
"The Omnion tech can’t help us kill the parasite outright?" He already knew the answer, but clutching at straws was all he had left.
Andrews’ terminal pinged as she worked at the controls. "Nothing short of a miracle will save Swigger at this point, but we’ll keep trying. Perhaps we’ll learn something useful in the interim or find information we’ve overlooked."
"It’s a nasty piece of work, killing a man like that. We’re certain the creature is Aphnai in origin?"
"Undoubtedly. The most recent report from the lab showed two sets of non-human DNA present in the samples we took from your uniform and the comms hub terminal. One matched known Aphnai records while the other was…a zoospore we haven’t seen before."
"Give it to me in Galactic, Andrews."
"Whatever creature you chased was in fact two creatures…or one creature infected with another. One was indeed Aphnai, but the other was more of a fungus."
"Like a mushroom?" Grimshaw said, his head starting to hurt.
"Not quite, Captain, but it does display similar characteristics. I studied galactic botany and natural remedies at the Academy, but I’m no alien mycologist. It’s much more complex than any standard fungus we’ve encountered so far. But even on Earth, certain fungi have been known to invade and even control the minds of insects. One insect-pathogenizing fungus in tropical climates, called Ophiocordyceps—"
Grimshaw lifted his hand for silence. He needed to think for a second. "Isn’t that how the Omnion archives describe the Chit tanks? The old writings. They said the tendrils belonged to a parasite that attaches to the Aphnai brain stem and grew under its exoskeleton. I’ve given those tank bastards a lot of thought since Colony 115…in case we ever come up against them again. The tendrils were still deadly even after the tanks were immobilized. This fungus thing makes sense. That’s how they got Eline and Nakamura."
Andrews nodded. "A suspicion we share, but I haven’t had time to confirm as much. I’ll cross check it with the samples we brought back from Colony 115. The Galactic Council took most of what we collected, but we still have records. The grub you saw is very likely an infant tank or some other form of Aphnai
we haven’t seen before. From what you described, it sounds like it could be infected with a tendril creature much like the tanks you mentioned in your reports. What’s more," she drew a breath, "it looks like it can infect others with its young. The organism inside Swigger is likely its offspring. We don’t know how it spreads since we haven’t found anything resembling eggs or spores…"
Grimshaw beat his fist against his palm. "Even more reason to double down on finding the damn thing."
"I’ve already reported these suspicions to Doctor Roshi and the Omnion. They’re acting accordingly."
"You said it can spread, but you told me that Swigger’s parasite wasn’t contagious."
"It isn’t. At least not for the time being. As it stands, it has no way to spread. Zoospore cells can change sex and reproduce at varying stages in their lifecycle. We don’t know if this parasite will develop the ability to spread later or if it needs a certain type of host or environment before it can reproduce. Either way, we’re keeping a close eye on things."
The scanning machine pinged again, announcing its completion.
Andrews gave Grimshaw the thumbs up. "Taza is all clear."
"One less thing to worry about." Though he had trouble showing it, he was grateful for the good news.
Andrews opened the scanning machine, and the doors slid apart to reveal Taza. "You’ll be glad to know you don’t have a Chit inside your head," she pointed out.
Were circumstances different, Grimshaw would have laughed at Taza’s reaction for his eyes almost popped out of his head.
"That’s good to know," the investigator said, exiting the device. "Clio was telling me about the brain bug that’s on the loose."
"We were talking about that," Andrews said before Grimshaw could start complaining again. "All hands have been ordered on deck until it’s found. We believe it might be a young tank Chit."
Taza looked at Grimshaw. "From what he’s told me about those things, they better find it before it grows up."
"I haven’t seen Evans in a while," Grimshaw said. "How is she holding up? I’m sure she’s finding the situation…difficult."
"She isn’t handling it very well, though I can’t say I blame her. The kid has had a lot thrown at her lately…and now this. I’m glad she’s accepted therapy." He nodded to Andrews. "Some of the crew have been taking jabs at her which I’m sure doesn’t help."
"Some of the crew think Swigger is a downright traitor. It’s more complicated than that of course. I’ll see to it that they stop bothering her."
"It can’t be easy hearing others talking about your boyfriend like that," Andrews said.
Taza grunted. "Those two are on and off so often I can never tell whether they’re actually together. How the hell did this thing get inside his head anyway?"
"We aren’t sure," Andrews said. "But initial tests confirm that the creature is Aphnai in origin. It checks out with the Omnion archives and with what we have on file from 115."
"So, he got it on Colony 115?"
"Unless a Chimera agent brought the parasite on board the Sentinel, which isn’t impossible."
"Colony 115 seems to match up with the course of events," Grimshaw said. "They aren’t contagious, but we think the brain bug can spread the parasite. No one else on the crew had one, but that could change. As for the other colony survivors out there in the galaxy…Who knows?"
"The more developed specimen crawled out of Swigger’s ear when Grimshaw caught him feeding information to Chimera. It got away," Andrews said with mock accusation.
"So I’m told," Taza said, folding his arms.
"In my defense, the damn thing moved fast for an overgrown maggot."
Andrews looked to Taza with a more serious expression. "You’re clear for now, but that infant tank could spread more. If you notice anything strange, let us know."
"I was getting tired of traipsing around the Shroud on Omnion errands, but now I’m glad they’re sending me off again soon."
Grimshaw couldn’t blame Taza’s eagerness to leave. Nightmares of the Kragak War had been haunting him recently despite an increase in his medication. After learning about the brain bug, his first thought was that the sudden nightmares had been caused by a similar infection. He couldn’t have been more relieved when his scans turned up negative.
"The good news is everyone who left the Sentinel has been cleared…bar one person. Zora." Andrews looked at Taza apologetically. "The Omnion sent her on assignment soon after your departure, Taza. They promised to make her available for a scan as soon as she returns. I offered to conduct a mobile scan, but they wouldn’t tell me where she was."
"I wouldn’t count on her being back any time soon," Taza grumbled, his disposition somewhat darker than usual.
Grimshaw cleared his throat. "I hate to ask you this, but do you think Zora could have been infected?"
"If she was infected, would she have broken us out of the Sentinel?" Taza muttered. "Besides, even if she was, how the hell would I know?"
Grimshaw leaned in closer and lowered his voice. "The Omnion say it’s impossible, but we can’t rule out Swigger getting infected after arriving on the Orinmore. Just making sure we cover all bases."
"Swigger being infected before our arrival makes more sense," Andrews butted in. "These parasites may lie dormant for a while before becoming active. It could be Swigger didn’t exhibit strange behavior until recently despite having that thing inside him for months."
"I agree," Taza said. "It’s too much of a coincidence that Chimera were always a step ahead. I suspected we had a mole among our ranks, but I couldn’t have imagined someone as senior as Swigger."
Grimshaw knew they were right, but he didn’t want to make too many assumptions especially when doing so had already gotten them into trouble. Hell, the entire course of his life had been changed because of an assumption on Captain Desmond’s part. Thinking about the Bakura’s Captain suddenly gave rise to a host of conflicting emotions. On one hand, it felt like he’d been Commander of the Bakura merely days before. On the other hand, it felt like another lifetime.
Taza checked his SIG. "If that’s everything, I have work to do."
Grimshaw stepped after him. "Let me see you out. I was about to leave anyway."
They bade farewell to Andrews and exited via the melting sickbay door.
Grimshaw waited until they were outside before speaking again. Not that he didn’t trust Andrews, but the Zaqaran medical officers had a habit of walking in unannounced. He no longer knew who he could trust on his own crew.
"How’s the investigation going?"
"I haven’t found anything that might point to a cure for the Aphnai disease. We hoped to find out how the Quamat got into the Shroud at least. Then we’d be one step closer to finding out where exactly the retrovirus came from and a possible cure. But, the last lead I chased down turned out to be a dud, though it confirmed Chimera’s involvement. I’ll have another lead before I leave again…if I can get that Quamat bastard to cooperate. He’s a tricky one."
"The Omnion are trying to hide it," Grimshaw said, lowering his voice a bit further. "But, I get the feeling they’re getting desperate. Administrator Li wants to speak with me later. She mentioned readying the North Star’s crew as early as tomorrow. I get the feeling we’ll actually be heading out this time. I take it you plan on staying inside the Shroud"
"For the time being. I’ve had time to think about that while chasing wild geese, and I’d like to finish the assignment. I’ve not made much headway so far, but I need to work out how the damn Quamat got into the Shroud after all the trouble it took for us to get through the storm clouds."
"Regardless of limitations, Chimera having another way through poses a great threat to the Omnion. I take it you read my latest update."
Taza nodded. "It explains why the Omnion are eager to find out more. Even if we do find a cure for this virus, nothing is stopping Chimera from coming through and reinfecting them with a new strain. Not to mention what other troubl
e an opening might cause. Hell, for all we know, they could find a way around whatever is limiting them sending more people through. A hidden army would lead to a whole other host of problems. What if they could mount a direct assault on the Orinmore in secret? If they were able to hit the Orinmore in its current state, things would get real ugly."
"Listen. I didn’t include everything in my latest update. Just in case. After catching Swigger, I spoke with one of the Chimera commanders. He went by the name of General Ovious."
That got Taza’s attention. He swallowed hard. "Didn’t Straiya mention him before in connection with the Shanti Civil war?"
Grimshaw decided to tread carefully. He knew Taza and the former Shanti Minister had been close. Grimshaw had only known her a short time and even he felt a great deal of sadness at her loss. "He mentioned her death. I get the feeling he was involved.”
"They say her ship’s core erupted before it had even hit the surface…" Taza’s words trailed off.
"I agree that these Quamat pose a serious threat, not to mention a possible Chimera incursion inside the Shroud," Grimshaw said, changing the subject. "It’s important that we make sure the Omnion stay safe, especially in their current…vulnerable position. Dead allies don’t make good allies. I wanted to know what to expect. Eline wants a list of proposed names for the crew manifest. I’ll be surprised if anyone else decides to remain."
"To be honest, Mr. Wu is in charge of the investigation. I received a debriefing request while in sickbay. I’ll confirm once I see what he has planned, but I suspect he’ll push for me to continue my search."
"Of course. I’ll speak to you later then."
Taza nodded and headed for the Omnion vats. Grimshaw walked towards his office in the opposite direction.
He hadn’t seen much of the Omnion in weeks. In fact, now that he stopped to think about it, he hadn’t seen any in days. Yet, Wu was going to the trouble of making an appearance for Taza, and from what Grimshaw could gather, Administrator Li had also recently been in direct contact with her superiors. Something was afoot, yet the state of the Omnion didn’t inspire confidence.
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