Stranded in Space

by Rinelle Grey

Her comment made Amelie smile. At least someone could still joke. And she was right. She wasn’t getting any younger. In fact, she was ageing at what appeared to be an ever increasing rate. This treatment could be their only hope.

  She filled a syringe with the liquid, and injected it into Imyne’s arm.

  Imyne watched her closely, then lay back on the pillow and closed her eyes.

  Amelie scrutinised her, looking for signs of improvement, then chastised herself. Removing the radiation would take days, and all it would do would slow down the accelerated ageing. It wouldn’t cure Imyne. The only way they’d be able to measure the success of the treatment was through measuring the radiation in the blood over several days.

  Days they didn’t have.

  The normal procedure would be to wait for test results before administering the treatment to anyone else, but they didn’t have that long.

  Amelie took one last look at Imyne, then went looking for Tyris. She couldn’t make this decision alone.

  She found him sitting next to Marlee, watching her and their baby sleep. When he saw her, he took one last look at his wife, then stood up and came over to Amelie. “Where’s Camali?” he asked quietly.

  “Karla is looking after her for now. I don’t think Marlee was coping.”

  Tyris shook his head. “She wasn’t. I shouldn’t have left her, but there’s so much I have to do.”

  Amelie could understand his distress. She was in the same boat. “I’m sure she’ll be fine once she gets some rest. She’s responding well to treatment.”

  “How’s the search for a cure going?” Tyris asked next.

  Amelie bit her lip. There was no sugar coating it. “Imyne helped me to develop a chelating agent, to help remove the radiation from people’s bodies. I managed to extract the chemical we need from Kugah’s blood, and Imyne has had the first treatment. Unfortunately, we won’t know if it will be successful or not for several days.”

  Tyris glanced back at his sleeping wife, his face worn and tired, then back at Amelie. “We can’t wait that long to find out, can we?”

  His words rammed home the truth Amelie didn’t want to admit. She heaved a sigh and shook her head. “By my estimate, Marlee and Junie aged about twenty years in three days. If the ageing continues at that rate, then it will only take fifteen days for everyone to age about a hundred years. Of course, none of them will live that long. I’m guessing we’ll be seeing some extensive losses within a week if we don’t do something now.”

  “Then we don’t have much choice. Start treating people, beginning with the sickest and oldest, and working down to the youngest. Will we have enough to treat everyone?”

  That was the other problem. “I don’t know. It would take weeks and repeated trials to figure out the correct dosage, so I’m guessing at this point. And obviously we have a limited supply. I know nothing about how quickly Kugah will recover, or how much I can safely take, so I need to err on the side of caution. I wouldn’t dare take more than a litre. Even that is pushing it.”

  Tyris frowned. “How many people will that treat?”

  Amelie was doing the calculations as he was talking. Her heart sank. “Half. Maybe. If I return the blood to Kugah after I’ve removed the chemical we need, we might be able to stretch it a little further, but I can’t guarantee that’s possible, or even that it will help. His physiology and blood is so different from ours I don’t know which bit is the most important for him. For all I know the chemical we’re removing is vital, and hard for his body to replace.”

  Frustration coloured her voice. She knew so little about how Kugah’s body worked. She wasn’t prepared to put him at risk. They had no right.

  And Tyris better not ask her to.

  He didn’t though, just nodded, his lips pursed. “See what you can do.”

  That was all any of them could do.

  Amelie headed back to where Kugah stood, wondering how to even begin to explain this to him. Hopefully his command of their language was enough for him to understand. Maybe he would even have some of the answers she sought.

  “Kugah, do you have a minute to talk?” Amelie asked quietly.

  Silly question. What else was he going to be doing right now?

  But Kugah just inclined his head, his eyes focused on her, as she explained what she had just discussed with Tyris.

  Kugah pulled out his tablet, and typed rapidly. When Amelie looked at the message, it said, “Two litres of Kugah’s blood help everyone?”

  “I don’t know,” Amelie said again. “I don’t know if this is even going to work, or if that dosage is high enough, or too high. It’s all guessing.”

  Kugah typed again. “But two litres will give you enough blood to treat everyone at the dosage you are trying?”

  Amelie hesitated, then nodded. “Yes, that would treat everyone. But Kugah, is it safe for you to lose that much blood?”

  He nodded immediately. A little too immediately.

  “Kugah,” Amelie said gently, “I won’t let you put yourself at risk to save us. You don’t need to do that.”

  “If Kugah not give enough blood for everyone, people will die?”

  The question was so abrupt, and so true, that Amelie’s heart thudded. Kugah had summed it up in a few short words.

  She should never have explained it to him so clearly. Of course he would see what the risks were, and of course he would offer too much of himself. He had so many demons he was trying to exorcise he would ignore the risks to himself to silence them.

  Well, it was her job to make sure he didn’t.

  “I’ll take one litre,” she said flatly. “Then I’ll monitor you and see how you’re going, and if you’re okay, then we can take some more after that.”

  Kugah stared at her impassively.

  Amelie bit back a sigh, and tried a different angle. “You’re the only one here capable of helping me treat all these people.” She waved a hand to indicate the whole cargo bay. “If you pass out from blood loss, how will that help? I don’t know enough about how your body works to be able to help you if something goes wrong, so we need to be conservative.”

  After a few long moments, Kugah gave a nod.

  Amelie still wasn’t convinced he understood the seriousness of the situation.

  Nor could he understand that the thought of anything happening to him made her feel like panicking. Somehow, it was scarily lonely to think of being the only one not affected by the radiation that threatened the rest of the crew.

  If this didn’t work, she didn’t want to be left in the huge spaceship all by herself.

  Chapter 22

  Kugah stared at the needle that Amelie pushed in through a minute crack in his armour, still a little upset at the fact that she refused to take as much blood as she needed. He was sure that the amount she required would have a minimal effect on him.

  Either way, it was a sacrifice he was willing to make in order to help these people.

  It was hard to believe that he felt so strongly about them in just a few short weeks.

  He’d been so determined to get as far away from anyone as he could, so that he couldn’t hurt anyone else. Somehow, that urge had faded. What had changed?

  Somehow, he didn’t feel like he was any danger to these people. In fact, he’d been given a chance to help them, in ways no one else could. Could that change who he’d become?

  He watched Amelie, glad, for once, of the coating on his eyes that prevented anyone knowing where he looked or guessing what he might be thinking. That left him free to watch her every move, and admire her.

  He had to admit that she was a large part of the reason he wanted to help these people. Because it mattered so much to her that they survived, it mattered to him. It was that simple.

  Now all he had to do was convince her to let him help.

  Amelie’s movements were quick and sure, and within moments Kugah’s thick brown blood ran down a tube and into the first of the ten vials Amelie had laid out. He kept still, as Amelie’
s quiet voice instructed, barely even noticing it draining.

  He’d seen the human nurse taking the little baby. Had that bothered Amelie? She seemed fine, but he wasn’t convinced. She was close to the human child. He didn’t blame her. The infant stirred something in him too. It had been very strange, holding the frail baby. Children on his planet were far more robust, able to move themselves within a few hours. Human children seemed far more dependent on their parents.

  A machine beeped somewhere in the room and Amelie made an annoyed noise as she looked up to figure out where it was coming from. Her face paled.

  Following her gaze, Kugah realised that it was the machine next to Folly, Kerit’s wife, that blinked red. He hadn’t even noticed her being admitted to a bed. The little white skuttle stood in the middle of her chest. Kugah could her hear pitiful chittering, even at this distance.

  Amelie glanced back at the blood filling the vial, but it was only half full.

  “KaGeeGee, go,” Kugah insisted. “Kugah do.”

  Hesitation flickered in Amelie’s eyes, but it wasn’t as though he hadn’t done this many times while helping with the testing in the last day. She nodded resolutely. “Just fill all the vials and I’ll be back soon,” she instructed.

  Without waiting for an answer, she left at half run.

  Kugah focused on making sure he changed the vials correctly. It was a little tricky, doing it one handed, but not impossible. As the last vial began to fill, Kugah glanced over to where Amelie still hovered over Folly. Hopefully it wasn’t anything too serious. Kugah admired Kerit’s plucky wife.

  Since she’d been through a wormhole three times now though, it made sense that she had been heavily affected by the radiation. She’d probably be one of the first to receive the treatment Amelie was making from his blood.

  Kugah scanned the room, wondering who here would miss out. The thought made his stomach curl. He glanced down at the nine vials that were already full. It seemed completely insufficient to treat the crew of the spaceship.

  He felt fine. He was sure that there would be no issue with drawing twice the amount of blood Amelie had deemed safe. If only she wasn’t so concerned…

  Not that she was here.

  Kugah glanced over, but Amelie hadn’t so much as looked up. He stood up, careful not to disturb the needle in his arm. See, he was totally fine. The letting hadn’t affected him at all.

  He pulled out the drawer where he had seen Amelie get the vials, picked up another ten, then sat back down. Removing the full vial, he snapped on a new one. Amelie would be upset, but when she saw that he was unaffected, she’d be happy.

  He kept a watch on Amelie as he filled each vial, but she was busy with Folly.

  If this treatment worked, then Amelie might finally be able to have a rest. That thought kept him going when he started to feel faint at around seventeen vials. His genetically engineered body could handle it. Her frail human one couldn’t.

  She turned and started coming back when he was on the final vial. Kugah watched as she stared at him, then broke into a run. The last bit of blood pumped into the vial, and Kugah couldn’t stop staring at it. Somehow, he couldn’t make his hand move to detach the vial or pull the needle out.

  Maybe he’d overdone it a little.

  That was the last thought he had before he blacked out.

  *****

  No matter how many times Amelie looked at the readouts from the monitors, the facts didn’t change. Folly was going into full system shutdown. Every major organ had severe problems, and even if Amelie could stabilise all of them, it wouldn’t matter if she couldn’t stop the ageing.

  That was why she turned back to Kugah. She needed to stop the onslaught of this radiation, to slow it down long enough for her to find a permanent solution. The only way to do that lay with the treatment she could extract from his blood, and the sooner she started administering it to everyone, the better.

  He was staring at the vial attached to his arm as she walked back. Amelie tried to judge how many he’d done. She’d lost track of time while assessing Folly, but surely he should be done now?

  The pile of vials full of blood on the trolley next to him seemed larger than the empty pile had been. She glanced up at Kugah, immediately seeing that his black armour had taken on a purple hue. His eyes blinked rapidly, as though he was struggling to focus. Instead of being shiny, as they normally were, they were a dull, matt black.

  Dammit! He’d taken matters into his own hands and decided to draw more blood. Why hadn’t he listened to her?

  Amelie broke into a run. Even so, she didn’t reach Kugah before he slumped into the chair, the vial going limp in his hand.

  Amelie immediately detached the vial, and pulled the needle out, then stared at Kugah helplessly. She didn’t understand anywhere near enough about how his body worked to guess how serious his condition was.

  The answer was clear though, she needed to return the extra blood he had taken.

  Amelie stared at the vials on the trolley. Enough to treat the whole ship. Then she stared at the unconscious alien.

  She had only seconds to decide, but there was no question in her mind. She wouldn’t risk Kugah. She hooked up an IV line as quickly as possible, beginning by returning the blood she’d taken earlier, minus the chemical she needed.

  His body could probably replace the blood, but it needed more fluids or his heart wouldn’t be able to pump the blood around his body.

  Or that’s how it would work if he was a human. If he was human, she would feel confident that returning the blood would be effective.

  As it was, she had no idea how his genetically altered alien physiology would work.

  She placed the vials into the centrifuge as carefully as she could, cursing the fact that her hands were shaking. Her heart hammered in her chest. This was taking too long. The first lot of returned blood would be finished before the next lot was ready.

  As the centrifuge started, Amelie put her stethoscope on Kugah’s chest. His heart didn’t beat the same way a human’s would, with a soothing, regular rhythm. Instead, it hissed and gurgled, and she didn’t know the sounds well enough to know if they were normal or not.

  Amelie checked the IV. The first lot of fluids were nearly gone. She needed to decide now.

  The centrifuge still had five minutes to go, and even then it would take further time to separate the parts she needed.

  She couldn’t risk Kugah’s life.

  Her mind made up, Amelie grabbed the nearest vial and reached for a syringe.

  Before she could draw the blood out of the vial, Kugah’s hand landed on her arm.

  “KaGeeGee?”

  His voice was weak, but it was there.

  In that moment, Amelie realised how afraid of losing him she’d been. Tears started in the back of her eyes, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t stop them falling.

  “Don’t scare me like that again,” she lectured, swiping them away, hopefully surreptitiously. “And don’t ever do something I’ve told you not to either.”

  “Kugah gorry.” His words were soft, as gentle as his finger when it wiped the tears that ran down her cheek.

  His apology just made her feel worse. He’d only been trying to help, and she’d scolded him for it.

  Impulsively, Amelie leaned forwards and gave him a hug. It was a little awkward, and not quite as satisfying as she’d expected, to hug the hard armour, but when his hands froze, then gently went around her and patted her back, it felt right.

  “Dr Benton?”

  Amelie jerked back at the sound of Aleck’s worried voice. Kugah released her immediately, and she swung around, scrubbing at her face. “Yes, Aleck?”

  “Is there anything I can do to help Folly?” He shifted from one foot to another. “I don’t know, like if she needs a transfusion or something? She might be a pain of a sister, and not really my blood relative, but I’d miss her awfully if she died.”

  Amelie’s heart warmed, and she felt the t
ears threaten again. “There’s nothing right now, Aleck. I’ll have a possible treatment soon though. Just sit with her until then, and let me know if anything changes.”

  She didn’t have time to be sentimental. There were still a lot of people here who needed her help.

  Aleck nodded and headed back to Folly’s bed.

  Taking one more look at Kugah, Amelie assured herself that he would be fine. His armour was a solid black again, and his eyes were shiny and bright.

  Apparently he was right, his body could handle the blood loss. Almost, anyway.

  She turned back to the centrifuge, which was just finishing its first load of bottles

  The pressure of the lack of time weighed heavily on Amelie as she fitted the next batch of vials into the centrifuge and started it spinning. She watched it for a few seconds, but it showed no sign of being out of balance, so she moved onto her next task, separating out the chemical she needed.

  It took all her years of focusing on deep breathing, and concentrating on the task at hand, to enable her to get through the delicate task without hurrying and messing it up. But finally, she had a full vial of the chemical they needed.

  By the time she reached Folly’s bedside, she wondered if she was too late. The young woman seemed to be getting worse by the minute. It looked like she had aged half a lifetime since she’d made that fateful space jump, only a little over a week ago. Her hair had faded and thinned, and her skin was sunken and ashen. She didn’t even open her eyes as Amelie approached. Her little pet, curled up near her head, opened her eyes, their expression soulfully sad.

  Chicken knew. Animals always did.

  “I have a treatment for you, Folly,” Amelie said quietly. Folly didn’t move, not even her eyelids flickered. Amelie forced herself to keep going. “You’ll just feel a small prick,” she said, as she found Folly’s vein, and injected the needle.

  Kerit, sitting up in the bed next to her, watched anxiously. His worried eyes didn’t leave his fiancée’s face, as though he expected to see an improvement immediately.

  Amelie bit her lip. Even if this treatment could remove the radiation from Folly’s blood immediately, and halt the ageing, it might not be enough. Her condition had already deteriorated too badly. Was it too late for the determined survivor from Semala? She hadn’t known Folly for long, but like everyone else on the Resolution, she’d been impressed by her spirit and determination.