by Ezra E Manes
“Ceripe, please trust me on this. I am also directing my team to stay isolated here in the embassy until further notice. We only have Smara and her staff’s best interests at heart.”
She relaxed some visibly, but not much. “All right, I will contact Smara.” She was silent for a moment, then added, “I care very much for you and your team. Get well soon.”
Later that day, Alex and Laura took samples of blood, urine, and hair from each of the team members on the surface. Carlos had George and Alex take the samples up to the New Horizon for analysis. The spaceship had much more sophisticated equipment and automated analysis technology than anything the Zilans could make available on the surface. However, it was all for naught because Alex could not find anything new. The crew members onboard the New Horizon were as sick as those on the surface, but nothing beyond symptoms could be found.
Carlos coordinated the quarantine decision and follow-up actions at every step with Ceripe, although the interchanges were increasingly awkward. Ceripe expressed growing concern about what was going on, but she and her government fully understood the importance of the precautionary steps. The Zilan doctors were monitoring for signs of the illness in those who had been in close contact with the Earth team in recent weeks, especially Smara and her staff and their families. But no one else had experienced symptoms of the disease, at least not yet.
Carlos grew more apprehensive as the illness progressed and the doctors still could not identify the cause. The simultaneous symptoms indicated that exposure to the agent causing the illness had occurred at approximately the same time for all team members.
“Our food is the prime candidate for exposure common to everyone,” Gloria noted as she and Carlos sat alone in his office discussing the illness.
“What about those on board the New Horizon?”
“Each time there is a rotation of personnel, fresh supplies of food accompany the replacement personnel,” Gloria said.
“I agree that our food is the prime candidate. But the source could be almost anything our team touched during a short time period, especially if the disease has an incubation period of several weeks before symptoms show up, as Laura suspects.”
“In any case, we have another major concern,” Gloria added. “It won’t be long before someone raises the obvious question about whether or not the Zilans intentionally exposed us to some toxic contamination.”
This suspicion soon surfaced in the team’s internal discussions, and after that, it was impossible to hide this sentiment in the daily communications between team members and Ceripe’s staff. This growing paranoia was typical for a team isolated from their homeland, but Carlos tried to keep it as subdued as possible. They were about as isolated from home as anyone could be, and he felt this acutely in the growing emergency.
Much to the surprise of Alex and Laura, continuing extensive testing revealed nothing out of the ordinary in the infected team members, other than the escalating symptoms. They ran the same tests on samples from individuals on the surface as those taken from those aboard the New Horizon. The lack of abnormal results was not promising, but there was still hope they could find the cause as the disease progressed. Therefore, the doctors decided to take samples each day for analysis, but not from the entire team. Since everyone appeared to have the same symptoms progressing in parallel, they would take samples from three individuals each day, rotating to another three the next day.
Five days after the symptoms first appeared, Carlos knew it was past time to notify Earth and the Messier Colony about the illness. He drafted the message carefully to make sure Earth understood they were in control of the situation and that the Zilans were not responsible in any way for what was occurring. He candidly described the symptoms they were experiencing and the negative results of examinations and analyses performed so far. He advised that detailed medical data were being sent and asked for help in identifying the cause of the illness.
After a week, the doctors had found nothing by analyzing the samples taken from team members. This prompted Carlos’s decision to bring the backup medical analysis equipment from the spaceship to the surface. The problem was, bringing advanced equipment to the surface was in direct conflict with Earth’s direction. However, the daily shuttlecraft trips to the New Horizon were only aggravating the condition of those involved in the flights. And having the equipment on the surface would enable performing extensive tests without using invasive techniques, which made the examination process much less stressful.
He rationalized the decision to bring down the equipment as being one a field commander could and should make to protect his team. The disease was life threatening and warranted the immediate action. Besides, they could minimize risk of technology exposure by leaving the equipment aboard the shuttlecraft for the immediate future.
Before they brought the equipment down, he had to address a touchy problem. He contacted Eve via his private neural implant channel.
Eve, you were tasked at the outset of our journey to provide periodic reports of ship systems and crew status directly to Messier Mission Control. I assume you have continued making such reports after our arrival at Zilia.
Yes I have, Carlos. However, I have never sent any information that would cause you to take issue with my actions. I have not sent any information about the current illness outside that which you have already sent.
Eve apparently sensed his intent. The evolution of Eve’s human-like insight was impressive.
If I brought the backup medical analysis equipment to the surface to support giving medical attention to our team, would you be obligated to report that to Mission Control?
It was a risk even bringing up the topic, but he had grown ever more confident in the reaction of Eve since she became a member of the close-knit crew.
By my original programming, I am obligated to report this action. I will not report it if you indicate I should not. Taking the backup equipment to the surface is logical and necessary for the health of the crew.
Thank you, Eve. We will bring the equipment to the surface as soon as possible. Please do not notify Mission Control or Earth.
After this exchange with Eve, Carlos felt more comfortable in not advising Earth that the equipment would be transported down until they had a better understanding of what was affecting the team, and maybe not even then.
George piloted the shuttlecraft to retrieve the analysis equipment, and Carlos directed that Alex and Samuel remain onboard the New Horizon to support activities from there. Alex would use the primary medical equipment to monitor his and Samuel’s health.
Tension quickly ratcheted up between the mission team and Ceripe’s people. This was stimulated mostly by the growing paranoid suspicions of some in Carlos’s team and their inability to hide such feelings when interfacing with their counterparts. No Zilans were exhibiting similar symptoms of the illness, which increased the tension. This complicated early efforts to coordinate investigation of the illness with the Zilans.
In addition, Ceripe’s staff quickly deduced that Laura was using equipment aboard the shuttlecraft to assess the disease, equipment they knew was superior to anything they possessed. This irritated the Zilans, who were already sensitive to the team’s suspicions about intentional exposure to some rare disease.
Tempers finally flared openly between the two teams in a conference call meeting, which led Ceripe to call Carlos to try to diffuse the issue. It was a call he wished he had initiated. Maybe the disease was affecting his judgment.
“We must do something to regain the team cooperation we worked so hard to establish,” Ceripe said. She looked haggard and was obviously very tired.
She continued addressing her concerns. “I am getting strong indications that your people suspect us of exposing you to this disease intentionally. If you have ever trusted me, believe this: we would never do such a despicable thing!”
For the first time, a Zilan was stating the suspicion to Carlos. The whole idea suddenly seemed ridiculous. He
had resisted concluding that the Zilans might have done something to cause his team to become ill, but some in the team had quickly arrived at this conviction. There were no apparent reasons for the Zilans to do such an underhanded thing, and there were myriad reasons why they would not.
“I believe you,” Carlos said emphatically, “but I know some of my team members are beginning to believe your people have done so. I apologize for not contacting you on this already. I will discourage them from expressing such thoughts in words or actions. I will also impress on them the need to continue working with your people to find the cause of this disease.”
Should he tell her the whole truth? That was what trust was all about. He took a deep breath.
“Laura and Alex tell me the disease is potentially fatal if a cure is not found before we become too weak to care for ourselves. They cannot tell me how long it might be before we transition to that stage. The disease is progressing slowly for now, so we may have four or five weeks to find a cure before the disease advances to the fatal stage.”
“That is not very long; let us help you! Carlos, you have held us at arm’s length. Are you concerned that we might learn about your medical techniques, or is it because your team is afraid we might do something to jeopardize your recovery?”
“Probably a little of both,” he replied candidly. “On my part it has been concern that your people might contract the disease from our people.”
“Among those of my team who have been close to yours, and particularly the embassy support staff, none have demonstrated any symptoms,” Ceripe stated firmly. “Nor have we detected any sign of the disease elsewhere in our people. We are not susceptible to the disease!”
She was now standing and pacing back and forth, and this was making it difficult for Carlos to see her clearly through the fixedangle camera in her office.
“We need to do everything we can to help,” she continued. “My staff members are not afraid of exposure, even if they must take care of you when you become deathly ill.”
She stopped her pacing and leaned on the corner of her desk. “I must be candid with you about another cause for concern. Our leaders recognize it would not go well with your superiors if we stand by and let this disease consume you without doing all we can to help. I am sure you recognize the likely consequences if this happens.”
“Ceripe, please sit down so I can see you clearly,” Carlos pleaded. When she had done so and was looking directly at him, he continued, “You are right in what you say about Earth and the potential consequences. I reluctantly agree to have your people involved directly in helping us. But we must minimize the number of people involved.”
“Good!” she said with a smile of relief. “As you might guess, Caron Cenenteh will be our point of contact for interaction with your medical staff. He has made it clear this is something he wants to do in spite of any personal risks.”
“That will please our doctors. They have grown fond of young Dr. Cenenteh and have confidence in his abilities.”
He paused before continuing, for he realized the Zilans might also be exhibiting just a little paranoia as well. He tried to put himself in their place, to view what was happening from their perspective. If he were a Zilan, how would he know this illness was real and not just a ploy by the Earth team for some unknown, devious purpose? Maybe Ceripe was under pressure to quickly find out what was going on, which could explain her stressed appearance. Enough of this paranoia—there was too much at stake to let such feelings fester and further complicate matters.
Remembering the advice of Fremont Jones in his last cryptic message, Carlos came to a decision. As Fremont had said, sometimes it was easier to ask for forgiveness than to get prior approval for the action you must take. As difficult as it was going to be to cross the line in opposing Earth, his common sense told him it was time to involve the Zilans even more.
“I need to tell you about the potential consequences mentioned earlier. We need to do so on a secure connection and with the understanding it is just between the two of us. I believe we can save both our teams a lot of problems in the near future.”
“This connection is secure, and I am alone in my office,” she replied. “Feel free to discuss whatever you want. I will keep it in confidence.”
“This really does need to be kept in the strictest confidence,” he reiterated, still struggling to cross a threshold that once crossed could not be reversed. He had come to accept Ceripe’s honesty in dealing with him and decided to put his trust in her fully.
“I have already compromised the strict guidelines Earth placed on our team. We brought our backup medical analysis equipment to the surface. I am sure your team figured out that we are utilizing equipment aboard the shuttle to assess the team’s condition daily.”
“Yes, they have advised me of this.”
“There may come a time soon when my people cannot perform the analysis,” he continued somberly. “It would improve our chances for survival, and your chances of keeping the disease under control, if you had volunteers to operate our medical equipment. With minimal training, they could perform the tests and work with our physicians to interpret the results. Your doctors could then administer appropriate medication and procedures.”
“I strongly support this,” Ceripe said, “and the sooner the better. What do we need to do?”
“Before we reach the point where my people cannot perform the analysis, we should consider moving the equipment to a controlled space located near where they will then be, likely in one of your hospitals. The analysis equipment can directly obtain the necessary information using noninvasive sensors attached to the patient instead of taking raw samples. We could easily check all the team every day to identify any changes, and this could help find traces of the cause of the disease. We could also monitor your people working with us.”
Going this far, Carlos also felt compelled to advise her of the risks.
“There is another reason for urgency, and this is particularly sensitive. Earth will destroy our spaceship and shuttle if they believe we are beyond help. That could happen at any time, but is certain to occur sooner than later if we continue to send accurate information about our deteriorating condition, as we must. They must learn as much as possible about this major risk to people of Earth who will be involved in direct liaison with Zilia in the future.”
“Can they really destroy your spaceship and shuttle that quickly from such a remote distance?” Ceripe said, somewhat surprised.
“Yes,” he replied, “and they will without hesitation if they believe it is in Earth’s best interests. I know you recognize that we can communicate rapidly with our home base and Earth. We can do this almost instantaneously, but only from the spaceship, not from the shuttle.”
He realized he had differentiated in his statement between “our home base” and Earth, but Ceripe did not appear to notice. At least he had not acknowledged the Messier Colony directly.
“Carlos, it is a shame we are not already exchanging information at a level to better prepare us for unexpected events such as this. But we must make the best of what we have. I recommend we provide at least three people for you to train to operate the equipment, and I have in mind people who can be trusted to keep the existence of the equipment secret. Would these same three be sufficient to help move the equipment?”
“Yes,” he said. “I will have Laura and Gloria work with your designated people to get the equipment moved and operational. We need to accomplish this within a day of its start to avoid impact on the monitoring and analysis activities.”
“I will identify the people as soon as we finish, and call you back to get things started,” she said, trying to not show her growing excitement. “The three will include Dr. Cenenteh. I recommend we also provide two volunteer nurses to help you in addition to the other three, for we should relocate your people to the hospital now. This will provide more effective support around the clock.”
“I agree, but I only hope those getting invo
lved really understand where this may lead.”
“They will, Carlos, and they will be dedicated to seeing this through!”
“I might as well tell you I plan to bring more equipment and information to the surface that would be of significant help in identifying a treatment for this disease. We need more processing power on the surface to run real-time simulations of possible infectious agents. We discussed using your very capable computers, but we do not have time to translate the analysis programs to run in your operating systems.
“We can link with the New Horizon remotely but only for the periods it is in our field of view. We could increase this coverage time by linking through one of our probes, but would run significant risk of exposure to Earth monitoring. We can expand processor and data storage capabilities in the shuttlecraft by taking units from New Horizon backup systems. The shuttle is designed to be upward scalable to a capacity near that of the spaceship.”
Carlos took a deep breath and continued. “I am hopeful we can cure this disease, or at least survive it, and plan on working with you to advance technology in non-space conquest related areas. Therefore, I will not make available anything that would provide direct support to space travel ambitions that your leaders may have in the near future. We will take to the hospital only that equipment and information needed to effectively utilize the processing system through links from the hospital to the shuttle.”
He paused for a moment to let what he had said sink in. “Would you support secretly bringing additional equipment and material to the surface under these conditions, understanding the bulk of it would remain on the shuttlecraft?”
“You are pushing me to the very edge of loyalty to my people,” Ceripe said with a frown, “but the potential alternative of never gaining access to the material is not acceptable. Having a better chance of solving this disease problem soon is extremely important. I will do so, as long as you promise we will be provided access in a reasonable time frame to the information and material remaining should Earth initiate destruction of the spaceship and shuttle.”
