Solbidyum Wars Saga 9: At What Price

by Dale Musser

  When I’d finished Doctor Danjuma said, “Ming did try germ-warfare back on Earth, but it backfired on him infecting more of his own troops than it did his enemies. We’ll never know what the outcome would have been, had he continued that campaign, because shortly thereafter, Ming fled to the moon right about when the asteroid hit the Earth, wiping out the germs that caused the plague along with the rest of the planet’s life forms.”

  “What can you tell me? Did he execute massive attacks with the germs?

  “If you mean did he strike a lot of places? No. He hit two major cities with devastating impact. Moscow was one and New Delhi was the other. He tried to target locations in the United States as well, but their missile-defense system is believed to have destroyed the two incoming missiles that carried the biological contaminants, though it was never known with certainty whether they actually were biological missiles or not. Again, this was right near the end of life on Earth. I have no idea what his overall intentions were or if he had more germ-laden missiles that he intended to use. From what you just told me nothing he used then was as potent as what he’s using now.”

  We were interrupted by my comlink. I answered to find it was Kala. She’d just arrived at the estate and Piebar had informed her I was there. She wanted to know if I’d be available for dinner. I had to contain my excitement, since I had missed our dinner the night before and I still longed to be near her in a way that I couldn’t begin to describe. “I’m likely going to be in a meeting with Doctor Danjuma for the remainder of the afternoon, but barring any emergencies, I should be there at the usual dinner hour.”

  The doctor and I reviewed the data gathered from the Agraious event, after which she offered to search the Old Earth databases for any information that might be useful regarding biological warfare. She also offered to prepare specialized mobile labs and consulting biochemical teams that would be available to the military upon request, in the event their assistance was needed with the pandemic. The idea gave me some peace of mind, so I told her to go ahead with her plans. I finished our meeting on a lighter note by reminding her of her promise to Kerabac to dance with him again. She grinned coyly as she bid me farewell.

  I called Marranalis as I showed myself out of the building and informed him I would be staying at the estate and wouldn’t be coming back to the GLOMAR ROSA until the next morning, unless something urgent came up.

  When I tracked down Kala in the estate house, she greeted me with a passionate kiss and then said, “Tib, I hope you don’t mind, but I would prefer to eat on one of the terraces. It just doesn’t feel right in the house without the twins.”

  “No, I don’t mind at all. You know, maybe we should remodel the house. Or even better, maybe we should just relocate to another part of the estate and build a bungalow. That way we won’t have that haunting feeling of the twins not being here when we are.”

  “Tib, that’s a great idea. Then we can preserve this house the way it is a use it as a family when the twins come home. We certainly have enough space for it.”

  “Great, I’ll let you sort out the details with Piebar. You can design it to suit your tastes since you’re here more than I am.”

  “Ha! You’d be surprised how little I’m actually here, Tib. I’m quite busy handling all your affairs and seeing to the estate, your finances and your galactic-wide philanthropy,” she said with a grin.

  “I thought you had a staff to handle those things.”

  “I do, but I need to check their work regularly and give them a good deal of direction. I meet with our financial people once a week to go over reports and authorize actions. You forget how much wealth you have, Tibby. By the way, your wealth is still growing. I also meet with our philanthropic advisers once a month to see how our charities are doing and revise the focus for each of those organizations. Thankfully, Jenira has taken over handling matters concerning the orphans, which has taken a huge load off my shoulders.”

  “Jenira is responsible for the orphans? How long has that been going on?” I asked.

  Kala looked at me sternly. “Tib, Jenira has been seeing to the orphans for several years. It started while we were stranded on Desolation. Since we weren’t around, Jenira took the initiative and stepped in immediately in my place. When we came back, she wanted to stay on as my assistant, but I was so busy catching up on everything else that I pretty much left the management of the orphanages to her. After about a year of this arrangement I was still no closer to getting everything else in order, so I just told Jenira that she was officially delegated permanent responsibility for the orphans. I swear I talked to you about this many times in the past. Weren’t you paying attention?”

  “Uh, I guess not,” I answered sheepishly.

  Kala laughed. “I should be angry with you, but knowing how busy you’ve been and the pressures you’ve been under, I guess I can forgive you… this time.”

  Just as she completed her sentence my stomach growled.

  “Oh my, Kala exclaimed. “It sounds like we had better get you some dinner. Which terrace do you prefer?”

  “I don’t know. How about one we’ve not used before?” I replied.

  “Hm… I'll let Piebar pick from the ones we haven’t used, so we’ll both be surprised,” said Kala.

  Surprise us Piebar certainly did, as I doubt we ever would have found this spot on our own. It wasn’t exactly a terrace. It was more of a small alcove carved into the far west wall of the main building, where a small lake came right up to the natural stone that formed the foundation of the building. From one of the higher terraces, Piebar directed us to a hidden nook behind a vine trellis. The small recess revealed a narrow stairway between two tall walls that twisted downward until it reached the alcove at the water’s edge. The niche itself was only about four hundred square meters, flanked on two sides by towering rock walls and open to the water on its remaining perimeter. Swimming in the crystal clear water a meter below the terrace were fish cloned from the Earth DNA bank and bred in the estate labs. Plants and ferns were arranged in large pots along the meandering edge of the short promenade that bordered the lakeside. The large, silver-gray hewn stones of the deck and towering walls that surrounded the alcove captured the colors of the setting sun and the movement of light across the lake’s surface, creating a magnificent and almost surreal impression of floating. The beauty was overwhelming, which was, I’m sure, evident in all of our faces.

  “This is a lovely place,” I said. “I had no idea it was here. Thank you greatly, Piebar. You’ve shown us an extra special kindness by bringing us here.”

  “Well, sir, not many residents know of this place, but I thought it was time the two of you learned of it. It’s a shame it doesn’t see more use. When your children were younger and they managed to sneak away from Jenira, they would come here to hide from her. Actually, I’m quite certain Jenira knew they were here, but she pretended not to. Even if she didn’t, I believed that was in some way important for them to have a secret place they believed to be their own… and as I have come to know Jenira, I have no doubt that she understood this.” He released a nostalgic sigh and looked around the space before he continued. “Now that they’re grown, no one comes here, so I don’t think they would mind the two of you dining here in their absence.”

  I looked at Kala, whose smile trembled as she took in the beauty of the dancing colors and imagined her boisterous twins ruling this space as their own secret domain. Her eyes brimmed with tears, but the liquid held as she leaned over and gave Piebar a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, Piebar, this place is perfect.”

  Except for a permanently installed stone table and chairs for two, the only other furniture in the alcove was a sofa lounger positioned toward the water on a very cozy-looking rug. Kala and I reclined on the cushions and held hands, enjoying the water and the setting sun, while Piebar and his staff saw to the preparation of our dinner.

  “It was nice of Piebar to bring us to this place,” I said to Kala. “Did you know this was the tw
ins’ secret retreat?” I asked.

  “I knew they had a clandestine retreat they would sneak off to at times, but I never knew where it was. They were pretty good about keeping this place a secret.”

  “It would seem that our staff was pretty good about keeping it a secret as well,” I said.

  “Yes,” replied Kala with a chuckle. “Really, the fact that they were willing to keep it confidential demonstrates that the staff has always had respect for the twins.”

  I looked around in silence for a moment. “If these walls could talk, I wonder what tales they would tell us about our kids that we don’t know?”

  Kala gasped and rolled her eyes. “It’s probably best we don’t know, Tib. Some secrets kids keep from their parents are best not known.”

  “Oh? Did you and Lunnie have secrets from your parents?”

  “Did we?! You have got to be kidding! Can you imagine my sister NOT having secrets from our parents?”

  “Uh, no. Now that you mention it, I can’t. But, did the two of you have shared secrets?”

  “Oh, a few,” Kala said with a sideways grin.

  “Like what?” I asked.

  “If I told you, they wouldn’t be secrets anymore,” Kala teased.

  “Your sister and parents aren’t around, young lady, so it’s not like you need to keep it a secret anymore,” I said.

  “My sister and I promised we would never tell anyone, so I can’t tell you,” Kala said with a sassy, crinkled-nosed grin.

  Our revelry was interrupted by Piebar and two of the house staff arriving with trays of food. Kala and I rose somewhat reluctantly from our comfortable nest in the lounger in order to seat ourselves at the stone table that was now covered with a white table cloth. Piebar poured some wine and after I sampled it and gave my approval, he and the staff stayed long enough to serve the appetizers and main dishes from the cart before leaving us alone. This was unusual, as Piebar generally stood nearby while we dined to see to any needs we might have during the meal. A row of lit torches mounted along the perimeter replaced the fading sunset with a soft, orange glow that drifted up the stone walls.

  “You know, Tib, this is kind of romantic,” said Kala.

  “Kala, did you know Ming is dying from an illness he contracted through his cannibalism that has symptoms similar to my synthetic nerve rejection?” I blurted out before I realized what she had just said. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why just I said that. I shouldn’t have mentioned that just now. It was a mood killer, I know. Really, Kala, I’m sorry. I’m an idiot.”

  Kala sighed. “It’s alright, Tib. I understand, and yes, you’ve mentioned it several times recently. That particular issue seems to weigh on your mind a lot. Do you want to talk about it?”

  “No. Well, maybe… a little.”

  “What are you thinking, Tib?”

  “It’s just that… well, it seems strange. Ming and I are so different, but we’re both from Earth. We’re both – well – dying…,” I said and then realized that I had never said to Kala before that I was dying and it made me swallow hard. “…and both from neurological diseases. I mean, doesn’t it seem ironic that both Ming and I are from Earth and both of us are… uh… having similar problems, even if from different causes, and it’s happening at the same time?”

  “So, what are we really talking about here? You and Ming both having nerve-related problems at the same time, or that you think you’re dying?” said Kala, who had stopped eating and was looking at me very squarely. For a moment, I was shocked by her bluntness, but it made me realize that what I was really talking about and thinking about was my own impending death.

  “I guess I’m really talking about dying,” I said quietly. I had to look away from her as I didn’t want to see the look on her face at that moment.

  “You think it's that bad? Do you believe you will be dying soon? Is there something else about your condition you haven’t told me? Tib? Tib, look at me.”

  “Well, no. I’m not hiding anything from you, but I do feel like I am deteriorating and A’Lappe says these treatments won’t work forever. I think maybe I should go to Weccies and make some sort of arrangements for what happens with my money and estate when I die.”

  “Look at me, Tib,” Kala ordered. I turned my head and stared into her eyes. “No one knows when they will die. My sister certainly didn’t, nor did Admiral Regeny or Captain Maxette or Tanden. Some people live long lives and others have very short ones. We can’t go around thinking about our deaths all the time. As for making arrangements about your estate and wealth, making arrangements for that is a good idea, regardless of when you die. However, doing so with the mindset that you’re going to die any day now isn’t why you should be doing it.”

  “I guess you’re right, though I am going to make arrangements with the bankers at Weccies to set up my will.”

  “Good. Now why don’t we finish our dinner and go back to the lounge so you can hold me in your arms and we can stare at the stars together?”

  The climate on Megelleon at the latitude where my estate was located was moderate year-round. The nights were just as comfortable as the days; and before I knew it, I was getting sleepy in the evening breeze. The next thing I remembered was waking under the yellow blush of an early morning sky. I glanced at Kala, who still lay in my arms with her head on my chest, only now we were covered by a light blanket. Across the alcove our dinner dishes had been cleared from the table sometime during the night. Piebar and his staff had managed to follow through with the entire dinner service without making a single sound.

  Just then my comlink beeped. I had to shift my arm from beneath Kala to answer, causing her to wake.

  “Tibby here,” I said.

  “Admiral, there’s been another canister attack, this time on the planet Vidon. I’ve placed a comprehensive quarantine on the planet. Everything is sealed off, but the Brotherhood hit the planet hard and we can expect heavy casualties over the next few days as the disease spreads,” reported Marranalis’s voice.

  “Is the attack still in progress?” I asked.

  “No, sir. It was another hit-and-run raid.”

  “Alright, I’ll be there shortly,” I said. Then I turned to Kala as I stroked her hair and kissed her forehead. “Sorry, dear, but duty calls once more. Thank you for the evening. Thank you…for everything.” I gave her a quick kiss. “I love you,” I said.

  “Take care, Tib. I love you,” Kala called to me as I bounded up the narrow stairway and headed to our suite for a shower and uniform change before going back to the GLOMAR ROSA.

  When I arrived at the War Room, I found Admiral Wabussie talking with Marranalis.

  “Good morning, men,” I said. “Let’s have the details. First off, what’s the status at Agraious?”

  “The death count is high and climbing,” replied Marranalis. “So far, no one who has contracted the disease has survived more than thirty-two hours. The disease is highly contagious and seems to be transmitted by multiple means; for example, physical contact, airborne transmission, and hosts or carriers. Furthermore, the pathogen can sustain itself for a long period of time without a host body – certainly for several days.”

  “I see. Have we been able to identify what the pathogen is?”

  Marranalis looked at Wabussie who responded, “One of our teams on Agraious was able to obtain a sample from the canister site and get it into a mobile lab incubation chamber before they got sick and died. Fortunately for us, the lab is synced with the equipment at the Central Lab at the Capitol, so we’re able to continue running tests remotely using robots. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to learn anything useful or encouraging so far, even with the help of Doctor Danjuma and her teams. The pathogen is unknown. There’s nothing anywhere close to its structure in our databanks. The samples are still alive after three days with no food or host. One thing that makes this disease especially frightening is that the pathogen is neither a virus nor a bacterium. It seems to be something completely new, something
we’ve never seen before. The samples we’ve actually manipulated by feeding protein material shows that the pathogen changes its structure inside a host after a few hours, at which time it then acts like a completely different disease. In the first phase of its existence, it causes respiratory distress and ruptures respiratory capillaries. Next, the pathogen mutates into its second form that attacks the body’s organs and more or less dissolves them. The victim passes out, goes into a coma and is dead a few hours later.

  The stuff is contagious in both of its incarnations and neither form is affected by any of the known disinfectants, so we have no known way of decontaminating an area, once it’s compromised.”

  “By the stars, that makes this disease unstoppable! The only thing we can do is contain it on any world it infects. Anyone on a world it infects is doomed,” I said.

  “I’m afraid so. At least that’s how it stands right now,” replied Wabussie. “Perhaps A’Lappe and Cantolla can come up with something.”

  “Possibly. I’ll talk with them about it.”

  “I’m afraid we have another problem, Admiral,” said Marranalis. “Leader Pheosa wants you to call him. Apparently, the news of the disease has reached the public and they’re making demands for information and action.”

  “By the stars, what do they expect us to do?” I exclaimed.

  “I don’t know, but you can bet it will be something we’re incapable of,” Wabussie muttered.

  “Is there anything else?” I asked in frustration.

  “Yes, sir. There were one hundred and eighty-two body bombings during the night spread across the Federation territories. Most of them resulted in only a few casualties, but eight of them were significant. Thousands were injured and several hundred were killed in total. Sir, I don’t get it. These attacks really don’t do much damage to the Federation’s strength, so why are they bothering?”