“What's in that?” Bain asked, pointing.
“I have a guess.” She glanced at the boys and tried to smile. “I found that under Joobi's front claws. Now, what you probably don't know is that Joobi only scratches and preens himself with his hind claws. He uses the front claws to attack, or to dig. That material looks like blood and skin and hair."
“The man who attacked Ian?"
“Hopefully. I've notified Security, and they'll be here in a few minutes to take the sample for DNA fingerprinting. Everybody who works here, and every visitor who doesn't come by direct invitation has to give a blood sample when they go through Security. You're easily tracked through your collar links and wristbands—and an alarm goes off if you remove them for any length of time. What we're going to do is identify our thief through his DNA and track him down.” She nodded grimly.
“So it's almost all solved?” Gorgi asked. He sounded a little disappointed.
“Almost. You boys have done more to help than most of the official investigators with all their running around and closing down.... “Her voice caught and she turned away for a moment. Bain saw her eyes blink rapidly and realized she fought tears.
“Heleen?” He wanted to put an arm around her and offer some comfort, but that isolation suit she wore made him nervous about touching anyone.
“Joobi is full of tumors,” she whispered. “They're growing at an explosive rate. You can almost see them expand. It's one of the side effects of the unfinished anti-virus."
Bain leaned harder against the counter and took a few deep breaths, fighting the nausea twisting through his stomach. He had got Joobi's blood all over his hands. He had held the little creature close for more than ten minutes.
“I knew I should have worn gloves,” he mumbled.
* * * *
Half an hour later, the boys transferred to an isolation suite three floors up from Dr. Frurin's laboratory. It was clean and comfortable, with thick beds and bright linens, plenty of food in the cold box, and all the entertainment cubes and book disks they could want. The suite even had windows so they could see the park at the back of the building. Their section of the suite had one bedroom with two beds, a sitting room, kitchenette and sanitary. One long glass wall connected them to the sitting room of the next isolation suite. Bain found himself staring at that glass wall, wondering if they would have a neighbor soon.
There really was nothing to do that late at night except go to sleep. Neither he nor Gorgi were tired. They didn't feel like talking. None of the entertainment cubes or book disks interested them. Gorgi tried to make sandwiches, but he kept dropping things and nearly broke a dish. He finally put the messy sandwich down the disposal and sat down to stare out the window. Bain stayed where he was, curled up on the second couch, staring at the window into the next suite.
“Bain?” Lin's voice coming through his collar link surprised him for a moment.
“I'm here."
“How are you feeling? It's all right to be afraid,” she continued, before Bain could protest that he didn't feel sick at all.
“I don't know how I feel, except mad at what that man did to Joobi."
“We haven't told Ian, yet. When this is all over and we have answers, then we'll tell him. You made me proud, you know. That was a brilliant idea, looking for the tunnels."
“Not brilliant enough.” Bain tried to laugh. “I have to remember to wear gloves, next time."
“Next time. Have you said your prayers?"
“Not yet."
“Well, say your prayers and go to bed."
“I can't sleep."
“You need your sleep, in case—” Lin's voice didn't quite crack. “You need to keep up your strength, in case you did catch something, Bain. You need all your strength to fight it, understand?"
“Yes, Ma'am.” He glanced over at Gorgi. His friend had turned around and listened to them.
“They have a positive identification from that sample Heleen took. They won't let me go with them, but they've tracked him down to a hotel in the next dome and Security is going after him right now."
“Good,” Gorgi whispered.
“Go to bed, now. Everything is going to be all right,” Lin said. “Fi'in will take care of you.” In a moment, the connection broke.
Chapter Eleven
Somehow, Bain did manage to sleep. He woke five times during the night, always staring at the chronometer on the wall between his and Gorgi's beds, and then rolling over to try to sleep again.
Then, suddenly, he rolled over and woke up and it was full day with light streaming bright through the windows in the sitting room. He got up and pulled on the utilitarian gray pants he had found in a drawer the night before. All the clothes in the isolation suite were gray, shapeless, soft and made in a dozen different sizes. They were far better than the smocks and slippers he and Gorgi had worn from Dr. Frurin's lab the night before.
Barefoot, Bain padded out into the kitchen and started to make breakfast. Then he stopped short and grinned when he realized he was hungry. That was an improvement over last night. He dug through the cabinets and was delighted to find a canister of chocolate powder.
A tapping on the other side of the room confused him for a moment. Bain turned around and saw Heleen standing at the big, sealed, clear door leading out of the suite. She wasn't wearing her isolation suit any longer and she looked tired with bloodshot, shadowed eyes and her hair hanging matted and flat down her back. But she smiled at him.
“Are we going to be okay?” he asked, and hurried over to the door.
“First things, first, Bain.” Heleen nodded toward the bedroom. “Why don't you get Gorgi so he can hear this too, all right?"
Gorgi nearly stumbled out of the bedroom in his underwear. It took him a minute to wake up enough to realize who was waiting at the door.
“The most important news is, we found the man who stole the cultures. Joobi did follow and attack him, and the dish that broke had one of the worst versions of the anti-virus in it."
“Was he from the Conclave?” Gorgi interrupted.
“Well, how did you know that?” Heleen shook her head, negating that question. “What matters is that he got sick so quickly, he holed up in his hotel room and didn't come into contact with anyone until Security arrested him. He's full of the same tumors we found in Joobi."
“What about us?” Bain asked.
“The virus has a very short life, once it infects a host. Something about the host's body chemistry keeps it from multiplying past the second generation."
“What that means is that if Joobi didn't come into contact with us until after that generation, he wasn't infectious anymore, right?” Gorgi said.
“Exactly. We want you two to stay here for another day, and we'll keep running tests to be sure, but I think you're already clean and clear.” She laughed as both Bain and Gorgi whooped and thumped each other on the back.
* * * *
Dr. Frurin declared that they all needed to celebrate, when the boys were released the next day. He still looked a little pale and used a cane to help his balance, and he wore a bandage on the back of his head, but those were the only signs of the attack he had survived.
Bain didn't feel like celebrating, at first. He and Lin, Gorgi, Dr. Frurin and Heleen made a stop in the park next to the science building, to have a private little burial service for Joobi. Because the little minkno had died from the anti-virus as well as the injuries received trying to protect Dr. Frurin, he had to be cremated, for health and security reasons. The Commonwealth Council, however, had declared Joobi a hero and gave permission for his ashes to be buried in the park.
Bain dug the hole, Heleen put the little metal canister in the ground and Gorgi buried it. Dr. Frurin needed help kneeling. Lin held his cane and handed him the round, gleaming blue metal marker inscribed by the Council's orders. He stayed kneeling for a long while, silent, head bowed, after he put the marker on the little mound of dirt.
Bain thought about Lenga and
his parents’ grave, and how long it had been since he had gone back there. Just like on the day he had first met Lin, he decided again that graves and cemeteries weren't for the dead, but to help the ones left behind.
“By Fi'in's grace, we have been spared tragedy,” Dr. Frurin murmured once he got back up on his feet again. “I think Joobi would like us to stop being sad and go enjoy ourselves this evening. We are going to Cooria's for dinner, and I am buying. We have much to be grateful for, and to celebrate."
Just after they had been served their tea and Gorgi learned about choosing between all the creams and honeys, Bain realized something had changed between Heleen and Dr. Frurin. When they picked up their huge cups of tea with only one hand each, Bain realized their other hands were occupied.
They were holding hands, resting on the table where everyone could see.
Bain almost dropped his cup of tea. Then he heard a tiny snort of laughter, and glanced over at Lin. She smiled over the rim of her own cup and shook her head slightly, signaling him to be quiet.
“It was a good thing Ian was so groggy from the attack when Heleen finally started showing how much she cared about him,” Lin said later, when they had all headed back to their separate rooms for the night. Bain had gone to her room to check over the schedule for testimony the next day.
“It gave him a chance to get used to it, huh?” Bain said with a grin.
“Exactly. Those two have been tiptoeing around each other for years, both of them attracted and wanting to say something, but terrified they would ruin their very comfortable, harmonious and very efficient partnership.” Lin shook her head. Her eyes sparkled with mischievous laughter. “I fully expect a wedding invitation in another few months."
“We'll probably still be here a few months from now."
“Probably.” Now, Lin did laugh.
* * * *
Bain was very nearly right. Testimony resumed the next day, but he was surprised when the third question of the day was addressed to him. He was sure that was because of his part in tracking down the Conclave spy and recovering the rest of Dr. Frurin's anti-virus cultures. Now the Council knew he wasn't just another young apprentice, coming along for the ride. He was an intelligent, resourceful young man, a force to be reckoned with in the future.
The future would be very bright, the Commonwealth Council concluded eight weeks later when testimony and deliberations ended. The Mashrami were officially no longer a threat, but merely a fading, uncomfortable nuisance.
The day the announcement was made official and the news sent out to every colony and planet and outpost, Dr. Frurin again took the five of them to dinner at Cooria's. This time, the conversation didn't deal with the Mashrami or viruses or Conclave spies, but with Bain and Gorgi's dream of their Scouts.
They would call it the Scout Corps. It would work independently of the government of the Commonwealth, but work for the good of the entire Commonwealth. The goals would be to stay available to help anyone who needed help, to explore the furthest reaches of the universe, to bring justice and assistance where it was needed, to put themselves between danger and the defenseless.
Dr. Frurin promised that when Bain and Gorgi were both adults and fully trained, he would call in favors owed to him to help bring their dream to reality.
“Be ready,” he said, saluting both of them with his fifth cup of mint tea for the evening. “It won't be long until you're grown up. You've both come a long way since you arrived here. The Commonwealth owes you, and I'll make sure they don't forget it."
“But don't grow up too quickly,” Lin cautioned. “Enjoy the time you have left to explore life without all the responsibilities that come with being an adult. Life is too short to carry that burden all the time. You're too young to have the weight of the entire Commonwealth on your shoulders.” She paused, studying their somber faces. A soft smile touched her lips. “Then again, only the young can truly bear that weight."
“To the Scout Corps,” Gorgi said, and raised his cup in a toast.
“To the Scout Corps,” Bain echoed, and touched his cup to his friend's. The others echoed the toast and there was a moment of silence, eyes bright with hope and plans for the future.
END
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michelle lives in North Royalton, Ohio, just about half an hour from Lake Erie and Cleveland. She graduated from Northwestern College, Iowa, with a BA in theater/English, and from Regent University, Virginia, with an MA in communication (film/writing). She has over 40 short stories and poems to her credit in fan fiction—Star Trek, Highlander, the Phoenix, Beauty & the Beast, Stingray, among others. Her first professional sale was also a first-place win in the Writers of the Future Contest, with the short story “Relay.” This story introduced one of her favorite “Barbie Dolls", Rhea Jones. She's a pivotal figure in a series of books Michelle calls Wildvine County. Someday they'll even see print....
“Sunsinger” belongs in a universe Michelle created called “The Commonwealth". Bain and his adventures are about 3/4 of the way through the planned books—there's a lot of history she's still fleshing out. It's great fun, having thousands of people and stories running around in her head. And someday she'll get them all on paper.
Keep track of the entire ten-part series on Michelle's author page:
www.writers-exchange.com/michelle.htm
* * *
Visit www.writers-exchange.com/epublishing for information on additional titles by this and other authors.
University [Sunsinger Chronicles Book 6] Page 9
