THE ALTIAN PLAGUE

by D M Arnold

  “Andra can tell you stories.”

  An Internal Affairs lieutenant approached Kronta. “No sign of her.”

  “She has to be here.”

  “Maybe when Hanri was taken they moved her. He's been incommunicado for a few days now.”

  Nyk looked around the apartment. “Senta!” he yelled. “Senta! It's Nyk! Where are you?”

  Sounds of motion came from behind a wall where it made a jog in the apartment. He heard a muffled woman's voice, moaning.

  “SENTA!” he yelled and put his ear to the wall. “I think she's behind there.” He threw his shoulder against the wall. He threw himself again, and again. The material began to crack. He threw himself again. “Hold on, Senta!” he shouted and threw himself again.

  “Nyk...” Kronta said.

  He threw himself again. “It's starting to give,” he panted.

  “Nykkyo!” Andra called. “Look!”

  Nyk looked up. Two internal affairs officers supported Senta. Her face was bruised and she had black-and-blue marks on her arms and legs. Another officer removed a gag covering her mouth and cut cords restraining her wrists.

  “Internal Affairs had the building manager open the apartment next door,” Andra said. “She was stuffed in the closet there.”

  “An ambulance skimmer is on its way,” Kronta said. “Lie her on that sofa.”

  * * *

  Andra sat beside Senta and held her hand as she dozed on a therapeutic pallet. A pouch of clear fluid drained into a tube threaded into one of her nostrils. Aahhn poked a vidisplay. “She's dehydrated,” he said to Nyk. “They had her in that closet for four days without food or water. We're giving her fluid. She also lost some weight.”

  “Not something she can afford to do,” Nyk replied.

  Ahhnn smiled and nodded. “Not much surplus on that frame.”

  “Did you find other injuries?”

  “Other than contusions, no. We'll release her in a day or so. She should take it easy for a while.”

  “I think we all should take it easy.”

  Senta stirred. She opened her eyes. “Nyk ... Andra...”

  “You rest.”

  “The doctors said I should eat three squares a day. What happened on Lexal?”

  “What we expected to happen.”

  “Did the vaccine work?”

  Nyk nodded. “The only fatalities were Altian. A few hundred required hospitalization, and several thousand reported minor symptoms. The vaccine exceeded everyone's expectations. We're shipping supplies of it to the other colonies. This genie struggled to escape his bottle. Thanks to you we kept the lid screwed on.”

  She reached for his hand and squeezed it. “Thanks to everyone.”

  “What happened to you?”

  “You were right, Nyk -- I shouldn't have called Hanri. I did try to pose the question in vague enough terms, but he put two and two together. It took him a while, but he did. By then I was in Sudal working at the labs and out of his reach. It was only when I returned to Floran City for the vaccine test he could lay his hands on me. I was happy my part was done by then.”

  “Kronta said we had to push on, and we did.”

  “It was the right thing. I was prepared to die, rather than disclose our little project. Better one to die to save a world.” Andra handed Senta a tumbler of water and she sipped through a drinking tube. “I should've known. I should've seen it.”

  “Seen what?”

  “The Ricin gene -- the virus -- Hanri's handiwork. I should've realized the counter sequence in the genome was based on his work with native Floran plants -- that only someone of his stature could've done this.”

  “Vision in hindsight is always perfect, Senta,” he replied.

  “I should've seen it eight years ago during the Ricin project. I was working to undo what he had done. He probably wanted to strike me down then, but I was too high-profile. The sequencing labs prevented another attempt at tainting the food supply. So -- he waited, and devised this virus.”

  “Did he, personally, hurt you?” Andra asked.

  “No -- he had others do that. I'll probably be called upon to testify again. Hanri faces the same fate as those others.”

  “You'll testify not only as an expert witness, but as a victim. You do know what that means.”

  “Yes -- examination and cross-examination under truth drug. I'm not looking forward to it.”

  “Maybe Hanri will cooperate to save his own neck.”

  “With access to truth drug,” Suki asked, “why bother with a trial?”

  “Hanri can't be interrogated,” Nyk replied. “Besides -- the admissibility of truth drug testimony in Floran courts is complex. We're lucky Hanri didn't have access to it, himself.”

  “Or, to Zander's mixture,” Andra added.

  “They tried. They tried to make me talk. I told them what I posed to Hanri was only a hypothetical question -- one that I had been asked by a student. I stuck to that story. They tried to reconstruct Zander's formula. They dosed me with something that unleashed the worst torments.” Senta reached for Andra's hand and grasped it. “Oh, Andra -- do you know what monsters live in the subconcious?”

  Andra kissed Senta's wrist and caressed her forearm.

  “When that failed, they resorted to a more primitive approach. They tortured me.”

  “Oh, Senta...” Andra caressed her face.

  “They used electricity. They put probes on my breasts and into my...”

  “Don't,” Andra said. “Try to forget.”

  She shook her head. “I want to tell you. It'll help me... They beat me. They sleep- deprived me. They locked me into that closet hoping I'd break. I told them that story -- I told myself that story over and over again until I believed it myself.”

  “That,” Andra said, “is exactly how we were taught at Vebinad to deal with such a situation.”

  “The whole time, I kept asking myself, what would Andra do? And -- I didn't care if I died. I almost welcomed it. Then, a few days ago something changed. They stopped trying to make me talk. They argued about killing me or using me as a bargaining chip. I don't know how long I was in that closet.”

  “Hanri probably was trying to find some sanctuary,” Andra said, “some colony that would take him in. He had no place to go.”

  “Senta,” Nyk asked, “did he tell you why?”

  She shook her head. “No. I asked him why and he turned his back.”

  A rap came on the door and Kronta stepped in. “I think we really have them, this time. We've found enough we can interrogate. They'll implicate others.”

  “The net widens,” Nyk said.

  “Yes -- Sirk was right. They're disperse. Hanri was here, others on other colonies. There was even one on Lexal.”

  “The consul.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Wygann had that figured out, too. I don't know for sure but I believe Mykko exposed him to the virus personally.”

  “Speaking of Wygann,” Kronta said. “In two days he's scheduled to address the High Legislature. He's issued guest passes for everyone on the task force to sit in the Lexal box.”

  “Will you feel up to it, Senta?”

  “I hope so.”

  17 -- A Night on the Town

  Suki held Nyk's hand as they rode a tubecar from Central Clinic. “Aahhn tells me Senta will be confined for couple of days so she can recuperate,” he said. “Andra went back to Lexal to be with Janna. That gives us a couple of days to do Floran City.”

  “I haven't seen much of it except for the insides of buildings -- mostly hospital rooms.”

  “Is there anything you'd like to see?”

  “I don't know what's here to see.”

  “Floran City is the most visited place in the hegemony. There are many sites of interest. I thought, as a historian, you'd enjoy seeing the Floran Museum. Then, we'll get settled in Senta's apartment and perhaps enjoy some night life.”

  The tubecar stopped. Nyk escorted Suki to the lift and they w
alked to a paved quadrangle. “This,” he said, “is the Central Square. It's the site of the original encampment.” He gestured. “This is where the Ricin perpetrators were executed.”

  “It's a bit gruesome -- like the guillotine set up in the Place de la Concorde in Paris.”

  “They had erected towers around the perimiter of the square -- to hold the gallows. A crowd gathered to watch. Not one of Floran City's prouder moments, in my opinion.” He gestured. “Over there is the Floran Museum.”

  She walked with him into the structure. “The museum is built around the hull of the Floran. Once the passengers were taken off the vessel, they brought it down on this spot and cannibalized it for supplies. What was left became a monument.” He walked toward a metal wall, now grey with a mottled patina. “This is she -- the Floran.”

  Suki ran her hand along the hull. “It gives me goose bumps.”

  “I feel that way, myself. Over here is a timeline. The launching of the mission in 2201 ... the warp jump accident ... planetfall ... the Floran compact...” He pointed “Here's the first colony, Gamma-5 ... and so on -- to the present.”

  Suki embraced his arm and locked her fingers with his as they walked along the timeline. “I can actually read these descriptions,” she said and leaned against him. “This diorama must be the orignal camp.”

  “Yes... Here's Floran City two thousand years ago... Some of these buildings are still standing.” He slipped his arm around her shoulder and steered her into a hall. “Over here is an exhibit you might enjoy.”

  He stood with her regarding a life-sized statue of an Asian man. “Is that Koichi Kyhana?” she asked.

  “That's right. He's your great-great-great-great grandson. Do you know who I think he resembles?”

  She nodded. “He looks like Daddy.”

  “You see it, too. I translated his journal, Suki. I got to know him -- and, to like him fairly well. His journal kindled my interest in Earth.” Nyk pointed toward the statue. “It's HIS fault I joined the ExoAgency and ended up there.”

  * * *

  Nyk pressed his wrist to the doorscan and the apartment door slid open. “After you,” he said.

  Suki walked in and walked around. “Wow,” she said.

  “This is the abode of a Food Service director. It was my official residence when I made my first transit to Earth.” He gestured her to the balcony. “If you get vertigo -- don't look down. It's 353 stories to the street.”

  “Oh, my God! Look at that view. The city seems to go on forever!”

  “It's our first night in the big town. How about sampling some of the nightlife?”

  “What do you suggest?” she asked. “Dinner and a movie?”

  “You won't find a nice restaurant on this planet.”

  “I noticed there isn't any fine dining in Sudal, but I figured that was just Sudal. I thought here in Floran City it would be different.”

  “No -- the food here is so bland Florans consider eating to be a bodily function. The dining establishments are all utilitarian commissaries. We'd have to go offworld to find a gourmet meal.” He sat at a vidisplay, poked the screen and scowled. “I don't see any holofilms worth watching... We could catch a performance of Red Dawn, Red Dusk. It's a Floran classic -- the longest running play.”

  “How long?”

  “It's been running in the same theatre for a thousand years.”

  “A thousand years? I thought 'Cats' had a long run.”

  “It's considered THE Floran literary treasure -- esteemed more for the beauty of the language than the plot.”

  “Do I have sufficient facility with the language to appreciate it?” she asked.

  “Probably not,” he replied. “I'm not sure even I do. Sitting through a performance of Red Dawn, Red Dusk is considered de rigeur -- something every Floran must do once in his life. It's required reading in the schools. By current cultural standards, it's a silly and trite melodrama...” He poked the screen. “No luck -- tonight's performance is sold out. No doubt, it's because of the upcoming High Legislature session. The HL delegates and hangers-on must be looking for a night out, too...”

  “How about a sporting event?” she suggested.

  “Those are held during daylight... Sorry, korlyta. I'm coming up blank on such short notice.”

  “Isn't there a mall or someplace where we could walk and window-shop?”

  “There's The Arcade... It's a pleasant walk over there. Shopping's not a big thing for Florans... but -- there is a drug club there I used to frequent.”

  “Drug club? Oh, Nykkyo -- I don't know about that...”

  “It's a part of what makes Florans, Floran. This is a nice place. The drugs are regulated by the state; they're safe and non-addictive -- not physically addictive at least. I was never into the recreational chemical scene in a big way here, but a couple of euphoriants might a fun way to relax.”

  “Andra has never taken me anyplace like that.”

  “She won't -- she's what would be on Earth a tea-totaler. She swore off drugs after Zander used them to control her. It's up to you. It's the Floran equivalent of going to a bar to have a few drinks and listen to a band.”

  “I didn't bring any evening wear.”

  “Tunic with lifxarpa is always appropriate,” he replied. “Come on -- let's go.”

  “All right...” He led her down the corridor and to the lift. They rode to the ground floor. He held her hand and they walked along the street. They approached a ten-lane boulevard packed with groundcars. “How do you cross?”

  “I'll show you.” He approached the crosswalk and stood on the curb. A row of ten panels in the pavement glowed red. The one closest glowed white and traffic in the corresponding lane stopped. The panel turned blue and the next one white. Nyk took Suki's hand and crossed the street as traffic stopped lane by lane. As the stepped onto each square, traffic behind them resumed.

  “You cross at the crosswalk,” she said.

  “Exactly. Blue is the equivalent to green on Earth, and white is the same as yellow. Red means red on both worlds.” Suki pointed toward a crowd on the sidewalk at the middle of the block. “Groundcar kiosk,” he replied.

  “I feel like an absolute yokel,” she replied. “This so different from Sudal. I keep reminding myself not to look up at the tall buildings.”

  “Look all you want. No one's going to take advantage of you -- no matter how naive a yokel you appear. Up ahead -- there's a real City girl coming our way. No doubt she's ready for a big night.”

  A tall young woman approached them. Her medium blond hair was up, in a twist. She wore a two-piece outfit -- the skirt's hemline was a diagonal slash from her right hip to her left knee, and this line was echoed in her top, cut to expose her left breast. Her right thigh and breast were decorated with a colorful, abstract flame pattern. The same pattern adorned her cheeks and forehead.

  “Now, THAT's a fashion statement,” Suki remarked.

  “Indeed -- even by Floran standards.”

  The woman passed them. Nyk led them across more boulevards and then turned left. He pointed to a building illuminated with colored lights. “That's the Arcade,” he said.

  They approached the entrance and walked in. In a doorway was a young woman waving to them. “What's that?” Suki asked.

  “One of the round-the-clock sex clubs. If you're into anonymous, no-strings-attached sex -- this is the place.”

  “No thanks... Although -- there was a time in my life when this would've appealed to me.”

  He led her to an escalator to the second level. “Here's the drug store. Care to look around?”

  “I've been in the drug store in Sudal.”

  “This place has it all. Come on in -- we don't have to buy anything. This is part of what Florans are all about. Look -- euphoriants, inhibition relaxers... sex aids ... performance extenders ... orgasm enhancers. Those are Senta's favorites...”

  “It's sensory overload,” she replied.

  An attendant approached them. �
�Only looking,” Nyk said and pointed to a display. “These are experimental. You can try a few for free and report how you liked them. Senta tried an experimental combination performance extender and orgasm enhancer once. I almost didn't survive the night... Do you see anything that appeals to you?”

  “I'm afraid not.”

  He nodded toward the door and stood in the corridor. “Down there is the food store -- not too different than the one in Sudal. Over there is the clothing shop. Down that way is the body art salon -- probably where our walking fashion plate had her work done... At the far end is the kids' club -- no intoxicants, adult supervised -- a place for young people to go and hang out, listen to music...”

  “And, fool around?”

  “To a degree. Lewd touching isn't allowed there, and no one can rent a trysting room until they're past the age of consent. It doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Speaking of which...” He gestured toward an archway. “The trysting rooms are down here.” He led her to another escalator and rode to the ground floor. “Here are some other clubs. This one is Klub'Fraxi...”

  “Club Smash?” she asked.

  “Yes -- loud music -- popular with the middle-age set.”

  “Loud music is a middle-age thing here?”

  “Here, middle-age refers to the period between the ages of consent and majority -- 20 to 25 Floran years. You haven't heard that expression?” She shook her head. “Maybe it's a City thing...”

  He guided her into a doorway labeled Xi Dulxe Nota.

  “The Soft Note?” she asked.

  “The Sweet Note -- it's the club I told you about. The music is quieter in here.” He scanned his wrist and Suki scanned hers.

  The hostess led them to a table in the dark corner of the club. Most of the other tables were empty -- a pair of young men sat at another table near the stage.

  “Why did she seat us here?” Suki asked.

  “Because of you.”

  “Because I'm Asian? Nykkyo -- I thought I left such prejudices on Earth. I never expected to encounter racism here. Maybe we shouldn't stay.”