The Memory Thief

by Sarina Dorie

  The shock of it rattled me to the core. “Can you prevent the other Chiramantepjin from getting sick?”

  “Of course he can! He’s only the most brilliant doctor in the galaxy,” Miss Osborn said in her hoity toity way. She may have been biased since he was her second cousin. I would have believed her words too, except that she started sobbing. Father told me later than her own parents had died of an epidemic long ago.

  I explained the problem I’d unwittingly caused to Shoko Nipa. Our care of Taishi and attention to prevent future illness warmed Shoko Nipa’s heart. The doctor accompanied her back to the village to vaccinate the rest of their tribe. When Taishi was recovered and himself again, his parents returned, this time in bright costumes with festive feathers and their bodies painted with red dots. His mother came in her role as Chiramantepjin leader and bowed to my father. She asked, “Of all the treasures in my province, what can I give to you as thanks from my people?”

  I don’t know who was more surprised that my father should hold up the red stone and ask for more, the Nipa or Taishi. My friend rolled on the ground laughing. His chubby cheeks turned pink and tears rolled down his face. He was well enough by that point to be laughing that hard and his laugh made me laugh, though I didn’t know why it was so funny. He simply had a way of infecting others with his mirth.

  Whereas I had a way of infecting people with disease.

  His mother’s nose scrunched up in disgust. When she asked if my father jested, I translated for his benefit.

  My father shook his head. “Not at all. We would like to find more. Do we ask for too much?”

  Nipa threw up her hands in disgust. “If you knew where they came from, you wouldn’t want them. We will collect them for you all the same.”

  She gave him forty-two stones of various sizes and hues of red. From that day forth, the tribe became dearest friends to my father and the crew. Though, when we visited in the village the stones were a joke among the Chiramantepjin.

  From this incident and others in the years that followed, I was no stranger to disease. I now had the foresight to predict an epidemic. If only I wasn’t too late.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Scenes of blood and cruelty are shocking to our ear and heart. What man has nerve to do, man has not nerve to hear.

  ―Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Space Station

  The stuffy heat of the Tanukijin sick room became oppressive as panic rose up in me.

  “We need to get medicine for this boy. And this woman also will need medicine if she catches what he has.” I said. I didn’t want to make Nipa’s worry worse, but he had to be made aware of all the factors. “I fear your sister has already contracted this disease. In the room you took me to the first night, there were gaijin tools. I need those medical supplies.”

  He nodded and left. A short time later, Meriwether came in with him, his arms loaded with cases and bundles. He wore a long nightshirt and nothing else. I turned my gaze away from his naked legs, not wanting him to feel uncomfortable.

  Nipa stood in the doorway, arms crossed. He frowned and shook his head as if gaijin medicine was the last thing we needed. The room was already crowded and the old woman went into the hall. Out in the cold she coughed. My stomach clenched at the idea she would soon be sick like this boy.

  Meriwether plopped the supplies down next to the child’s bed. “What’s this about an epidemic? Nipa bade me carry all our medical supplies down here.” Meriwether leaned closer to me. “By the way, I think he speaks better English than he lets on.”

  I explained the situation.

  Meriwether’s usual bumbling evaporated. With expert precision, he put together a machine that would prick a finger and analyze the blood. He tested it on himself first to show Nipa how it worked. As expected, his analysis of himself came back clean. The boy’s results showed he was positive for typhoid fever.

  I covered my mouth, trying to contain my shock. Never in my time on the planet previously had typhoid fever been a problem.

  I searched through the vials. We had antidotes and antibiotics. There were vaccines for hepatitis, pox, herpes, and others.

  “Which one do we use?” I asked.

  Meriwether shook his head. “None of these are for this bacteria. Typhoid bacillus is highly contagious. It only kills twenty percent of adults, but. . . .” He frowned at the child curled up in agony. “We need to go to the ship to get vaccines. And someone needs to stay with those who are ill. All in our party have been vaccinated against typhoid. You should stay and care for this child.”

  Still standing in the doorway, Nipa nodded.

  I looked to him and said in Jomon, “Meriwether and Charbonneau need to travel back to where the ship landed and fetch the medicines. Do you think they can make it in this weather? We can then administer the medicines to the Tanukijin so they won’t become ill.”

  Nipa turned away without answer. I followed him into the hall. He paced the length of the dark expanse. I grabbed his hand. “Speak to me.”

  “I don’t trust the men in your party to come back,” he said. “I would rather go myself.”

  “There is only one man at the ship, and he will not let you in. Take Meriwether with you. He will return if I’m here. You can trust him.”

  He took me by the shoulders. “Do you not see? It benefits the gaijin if my people die.” He used the impolite label for my people. All traces of diplomacy were gone and I saw his true anger now that the mask of politeness was removed. “Your Klark Nipa cannot be trusted. Do you know what he did to this planet? He would exterminate us all to plant new people on this world given the chance. Do you think his son is different?”

  I didn’t know what Lord Klark had done, but it wasn’t true he would exterminate those on the planet if he could. The United Worlds of America and British Empire of Planets treaties didn’t allow prospectors to lay claim to inhabited worlds. They were to report indigenous peoples so that diplomats could establish peaceful relationships for trade and commerce—and leave the people of the planet alone should they wish it. Nipa’s comment nagged at my conscience, but I had no time to ponder matters of diplomacy at the moment.

  I said, “If the weather holds, we can call the ship and tell them our location. It would be quicker and—”

  “No! That ship will not come to my province.” He was even more vehement about this. “Ships have weapons that can kill.”

  I stared into his eyes. “A gaiyojin must accompany you to the ship or you will not be given access to the medicines. Let me go with you. Do you trust me to return with you? Do you trust me not to let your people die?”

  He gave me a curt nod.

  I assumed the ship would be waiting where we had left it, though finding it in the endless expanse of snowfall would be the greater challenge.

  We set out, bundled in furs and wearing leather goggles with slits in the eyepieces to keep us from going blind in the brilliantly bright world. The sunlight reflecting off the snow was dazzling even with the goggles. I rode atop my own chiramantep and led Nipa on his to the ship. The wind blew so hard it whispered its way under my furs and shifted my goggles so that I had to hold them with mitten-covered fingers to keep them in place lest I go blind. I could see how even the sun was an enemy in this land of winter.

  The chiramanteps’ feet crunched through the top layer of ice and into the powdery drifts, burying them up to their chests and slowing their speed. My beast, the smaller of the two, struggled to keep up. I was thankful for their warmth.

  Several times we stopped to allow the animals to rest. When the sun sank behind dark clouds and the horizon and sky blended together into a gray gloom, I lost my bearings. Everything looked the same and I wondered if I was leading us astray.

  Nipa pointed to a spot on the horizon. “That is your ship, no?”

  “Maybe,” I said.

  The snow thinned and in some of the thinner drifts we saw hints of plants and ground. When the snow started to come down in flurries again, Nipa bid
us to push our beasts faster. In a matter of minutes, the initial flakes grew in size and number. The wind picked up and the sky darkened. My ears ached in the cold, even with my warm tanuki hat. The scarf across my nose and mouth froze to my face. My limbs felt heavier as we moved and my clothes stiffened where snow had melted and refrozen. The pocket watch against my belly within my furs burned with cold.

  I could no longer see the ship, but Nipa kept us going. He pointed to our left and I followed. I didn’t realize how close we were until I saw the wall of metal in front of us.

  Nipa shouted over the howl of wind. “Can the chiramantep rest and be given food and water where it’s warm?”

  I could only imagine what Captain Ford would say about wild animals being brought aboard his ship. I would have to deal with that later.

  We circled around to the back where the bay doors were. I left him so that I could go within and open them. I entered the code next to the arch of a gothic doorway. Stepping inside the heated ship was a welcome relief from the cold.

  The tap-tap of footsteps on the metal grate of the ship floor sounded as a man approached. Mr. Foster stopped in his tracks upon seeing me stomp the snow off my boots in the entryway. He spilled his coffee across his hand, not even seeming to notice. “What in the blazes?” One of the peculiar quirks about the crewman was his immense handlebar mustache, which had a tendency to twitch when he was nervous, such as at times like these.

  “It’s me, Miss Earnshaw,” I said through the furs muffling my face. “I need you to open the shuttle bay doors.”

  “Where’s Captain Ford? And Mr. Klark? I thought something must have happened to you in the storm, but then the captain called me and told me he thought you might be able to make this a successful mission even if—”

  “How did he—never mind. Open the bay doors.” When he didn’t move, I poked him in the chest with a gloved hand. “Now.”

  My furs left melting puddles of water in my wake. I met Nipa at the doors and guided the chiramantep inside. They shook off their bright blue pelts, making them look like the fuzzballs I remembered from my youth. One of them tried to gnaw on a bulkhead. Another urinated on the floor.

  Mr. Foster stared dumbfound. For once his mustache was perfectly still.

  “Set out some food and water for them. But don’t get too close. They’ll tear you apart and eat your insides if they don’t know you,” I said.

  Mr. Foster’s mustache twitched.

  I left him in the doorway of the cargo bay and walked down the corridor. I threw off my hat and mittens and unwound the part of my scarf that wasn’t stuck to my face.

  “Slowly,” said Nipa. “You will take off chunks of flesh if you aren’t careful.”

  I couldn’t stand wasting more time. Our journey had taken us hours. We had more ahead of us if we were to return in a timely manner.

  He helped me out of my jacket and snow pants, and left the scarf for last. By that point enough of the ice had melted for me to remove it. I was exhausted and more than anything I wanted to sit in the heated water of the onsen in the Tanukijin palace, but now wasn’t time for rest. I immediately went to the medical room. Nipa stared at his warped reflection in the metal walls and squinted at the unnatural lights.

  The room smelled harsh and pungent from chemicals and cleaners. After the natural aroma of wood and people and earth in the cliff palace, the medical room left an itch deep inside my nose.

  I made a pile of supplies. I scrounged for antibiotics, anti-virals and vaccines, and dragged the heavy machine we needed for creating more vaccines. “We need bags to carry these in,” I said, more to myself than to him.

  I didn’t know if he had a way to strap the vaccine-making machine to a chiramantep. If I was to make more vaccines, that would take time. And what if I guessed incorrectly and brought the wrong ones? I had never studied medicine like Meriwether.

  “How much time do we have?” I asked. “Will we bring the supplies back with the chiramantep as soon as they’re rested?”

  Nipa kneeled on the floor before the pile, his shoulders sagging. “We must wait until the storm is over. We will lose time, but there is no choice.”

  “Oh.” I, too, felt defeated now. “Shall I offer you refreshments? I can give you a room to rest.”

  He offered me a half smile. “Yes, I will accept your hospitality.”

  Mr. Foster grumbled as he assisted with dinner. “I’m not a kitchen hand. I’m an officer. Tea and dinner are woman’s work.”

  I gave him my iciest stare and he returned to warming up stew in the oven unit. By then I had redressed in an extra day gown from my room. Lacing the corset up on my own meant the fit was off and I hid my unseemly middle with a jacket, despite the warmth of the room.

  We heated the captain’s private provisions of rehydrated beef stew, bread thawed from the freezer and cherry cobbler for dessert.

  “The captain will be furious when he finds out what you’ve done.” Mr. Foster pinched the ends of his handlebar mustache into points. “Especially to provide dinner for a savage.”

  “Our esteemed guest is a nipa. He is like an emperor. He treated our party with the highest courtesy and hospitality. It is only fitting we should do the same and give him our best.”

  Mr. Foster grunted and glanced at our guest again on the monitor where he sat in the mess hall. Nipa’s back was stiff and he looked out of his element. If only he would remove his tanuki mask he would look more human and approachable. But I supposed if ever there was a time he might feel the need to be formal and perform his role as leader, it would be in the den of those he assumed were his enemies.

  At dinner, Nipa ate the stew with relish. He tasted the cherry cobbler, though only managed a few bites. When he didn’t think I was watching, he spat the coffee back into the cup. I covered my smile with my napkin.

  I turned to the crewman. “Now tell me, Mr. Foster, how did the captain call you? I didn’t think he had a communication device with him.”

  Mr. Foster glanced at Nipa picking apart his bread and back to me. His mustache bobbed as his lips twisted back and forth underneath. “He had it hidden upon his person in a place I dare not mention in the company of a lady. I, er, how does the party fair? Was there trouble? It sounds like there was trouble. Is that why you’re here?”

  “Yes, the first was brought on by the storm. The last trouble was brought on by disease, which is why we must bring medicine back.” I didn’t know how he’d react to the middle trouble that I left out about the death of at least a dozen men he’d gotten to know on the long voyage to the planet. He said nothing about it, so I hoped the captain hadn’t been able to communicate this detail.

  Mr. Foster tried to offer polite conversation, but he couldn’t bring himself to look upon Nipa. For the Jomon, this meant he showed respect. I knew otherwise. From the amount of nervous mustache bobbing happening, it didn’t surprise me when Mr. Foster excused himself early from supper.

  We had no extra rooms aboard, so I decided my room would be best to offer Nipa and I would take Meriwether’s. I showed him how star men slept in beds high off the ground and our use of the water closets for privies.

  Nipa studied the pink lace covering the bed and the frills of the duvet. “What kind of animal does this come from?”

  I laughed. “It’s all human crafted. The fibers are sewn together to make it look that way.”

  His gaze darted to the framed watercolor paintings on the wall, to the striped wall paper, and to the crocheted doilies on the imitation wood dresser. “This is where you live? It is different from what I imagined.”

  “It was decorated by Meriwether’s housekeeper, not me. Is it too, um, feminine for you?”

  “You misunderstand my meaning. I don’t disapprove. Only, I am unused to such gaiyojin homes.” Nipa bowed. “I will be happy to sleep in your bed.”

  I laughed. “I did say I’m going to sleep in the room next to this, yes?”

  “You are welcome to change your mind.”

/>   I showed him how to work the handles in the water closet to take a cold shower.

  What Nipa didn’t understand was our lack of privacy. The surveillance cameras of the ship not only saw any movement outside our rooms but would also record it. I could only imagine how incriminating it would be if I went unchaperoned into the private chamber where a supposed “savage” slept. I made sure he had need of nothing before I retired and fell into an exhausted sleep.

  My eyelids felt like sandpaper when I woke. My muscles ached and my back was stiff. I drank a glass of water and checked the time. Daylight wasn’t for many hours yet, but I covered myself with my wrap and padded down the halls to check on the chiramantep. They’d settled down in the darkest corner of the cargo bay. One of them moaned pathetically. I didn’t blame him. I dimmed the lights. I hadn’t considered they would need darkness, but now it only seemed natural. Mr. Foster must have been asleep, for the bridge was empty.

  The snow still raged on.

  I retired to Meriwether’s room again. A squeak escaped my lips when I realized Nipa sat on my bed. Only the light from the desk across the room remained on. I saw Nipa’s naked face more clearly in the white light than I had seen it before. His features were well-proportioned, his nose an elegant slope like so many other Jomon. His cheekbones were high and well-placed. Even across the room I noticed how handsome he was, despite his age.

  I cleared my throat and bowed.

  “Do not bow to me. You are my equal.”

  I remained in the doorway, uncertain how to proceed.

  “Please, sit with me. I cannot sleep in this place. There are strange noises and stranger silences, ne?” He held out his hand to me.

  I hesitated. If Mr. Foster caught us in my room together he was sure to make a fuss. Meriwether might or might not react, considering he was part of the wife-swap himself, but I had no idea how Lord Klark would take it that his future daughter-in law had spent time unchaperoned with a “savage.” Again. I could only imagine what Charbonneau would tell him he had witnessed on the planet. Only now that I was staring at this foreign sight of a Jomon in the familiar world I had lived in for the past seven years, did I feel the full weight of my actions.