Exiled to the Stars (29 page)

Susan did not reply. She merely nodded soberly.

“We’ve got to get
out
of here!” Douglas Ryles shouted at the Council when Susan reported. “We’ve got to split up, lessen the chances of spreading the plague from person to person.”

“It’s all Montero’s fault,” snarled Arheed. “If he hadn’t let the workers go out without isolation gear…”

“Ha!” Vlad laughed, without humor. “And who was the fool that took a whole dorm full of people off the ship almost before it stopped rolling?

“Susan has been working night and day to figure out a way to fight this thing,” he continued. “But this is its natural habitat, and it doesn’t follow the rules of Earth life. Our antibiotics just feed it and encourage it to grow faster.”

Cesar shook his head grimly. “And ‘splitting up’, as Messer Ryles proposes, would just be a quicker form of suicide. We have no idea what other threats this planet harbors.”

“Yeah,
Messer
Ryles,” Vlad continued. “How about you become the first volunteer? Make yourself up a pack and just start walking. Any direction. If you’re still alive by morning, maybe we can find some volunteers willing to follow.”

“If I
may
,” Cesar continued, glaring at Vlad. “I was about to say it’s too late. Every colonist Susan has tested has been infected by this thing, even if it hasn’t become active yet. All we can do is pray that Dr. Koumanides, Dr. James, and the rest of the med team can produce a miracle.”

“That’s
it?
” Ryles demanded, incredulous. “Just sit back and wait for it to kill us? And hope this gang of bumblers and incompetents EarthGov saddled us with can save us?”

He shook his head. “Incredible!” He stared around at the Council, naked fear visible in his eyes. “If somebody doesn’t
do
something, and do it fast, we’re going to be having riots, and killing each other. Beef up security. Enlarge the Colony Defense Force, and arm them with lasers. We’ve got to keep things under control.”

Cesar’s smile held no humor, only irony. “And what happens when your gunmen fall ill? Who will grab their laser? What if they join the rioters?” He sighed. “At the moment, it appears that all we can do is try to keep hope alive, including our own.”

“And when we all drop dead?” Arheed’s tone was surly, acid.

Cesar shrugged. “Then we will be dead, and another of EarthGov’s colony plans will have failed.” His expression turned fierce. “But we will die like men, facing our fates, not chickens running around a barnyard! Perhaps no one else will ever know, but
we
will know who died bravely and who did not.”

He stood. “But such concerns are premature. No one has died yet, and we have excellent medical researchers searching for a cure. Do not give up, and, most importantly, do not permit your
people
to give up!”

By the second week after the first case was discovered, there were over 100 cases, and eight had died, including Doctor Koumanides. Cesar was calling Susan daily.

Susan sighed when she saw Cesar’s face on her tablet. “Cesar, I’m sorry,” she began without waiting for his greeting. “I can tell you that it’s definitely alien. I can tell you a little about what it does to the body. But I
can’t
tell you how to destroy it without killing the patient. We can slow its progression, but only temporarily.

“The culprit appears to be some kind of parasite, though it’s virus-sized. It attaches itself directly to the cells’ DNA, so aggressive or antibiotic treatment carries very serious risk of harm to the patient. Aside from marshalling the body's defenses, causing fever and aches, it appears to produce some sort of totally alien filaments, which spread throughout the body, though they, in themselves, do not appear to physically harm the patient.”

“Who is senior, since Doctor Koumanides, uh…” Cesar asked.

“That would be Henry Aguirre. He’s recommending treating the symptoms, until detailed studies can be completed.” She shrugged. “I agree about symptomatic treatment, but Cesar, we already know everything we need to. It doesn’t even seem to notice the most powerful drugs we can marshal.

“We do know, though, that some people are beginning to recover. Their bodies seem to be able to adapt to the presence of this…thing, whatever it is. We’ve even tried inoculations with the blood of recovering patients.”

“From your tone, I assume that didn’t work,” Cesar said.

Susan nodded. “You assume correctly. The receiving patients’ bodies reacted almost as though the donor blood carried the wrong Rh factor. It was violently rejected, and even speeded up the patient's decline and death.”

Cesar shook his head, his expression grim. “Keep at it, Susan. Vlad fell ill today.”

Susan’s heart fell. “Oh, God, no. Not Vlad!”

Cesar nodded. “I’m afraid so. Drop in on him when you get a chance, will you? I know you two are close.”

Susan smiled weakly. “Close. Yes, that’s one way of saying it. You know I’ll do whatever it takes, Cesar.”

By the one-month point, over half the colony was dead, dying, ill, or slowly recovering. Aguirre and Susan finally agreed that the parasite, or virus, or whatever it was, was
not
killing the people. What was killing them was their own bodies. The virus bound itself so tightly to the DNA that the body's own defenses destroyed the DNA along with the invader, and eventually killed the patient. Immunosuppressors worked to some extent, but were not a long-term solution; as soon as they were reduced or terminated, the attacks resumed, and the patient died. In most cases, the bodies never acclimated to the invader and kept attacking it until the defenses were exhausted, or began attacking normal cells.

Helen Shourd fell ill just after the one-month mark, and Cesar’s daily calls to Susan for progress reports took on a panicked edge.

“Nothing works, Cesar,” Susan admitted. “You know that. I’ve been telling you so every day. There is nothing we can do except symptomatic and palliative care, and hope she survives.”

She sighed. “The infection rate is 100%.” She said tiredly. “We can’t stop it, Cesar. I don’t know how many will survive. I’m just praying it will be enough to let the colony go on.”

Cesar wanted desperately to hover over Helen, but only a few days later his favorite granddaughter, his beautiful, Kia, also fell ill. A frantic Cesar ignored colony business to rush from one of his loves to the other. But a week later, just as Helen was beginning to show signs of recovery, Kia died. Cesar was holding her hand as she slipped quietly away.

Cesar was numb with grief. Vlad remembered what Cesar had said about Tara when Ron Creding died; he searched desperately for problems with which to distract Cesar. In the end, though, it was a frantic concern for the slowly recovering Helen that prevented Cesar from falling into a helpless funk. He refused to leave her side, afraid he would not be there when death claimed her. Vlad made sure he ate; he had meals brought to Cesar at Helen’s bedside, and bullied Cesar into eating them.

By the time Cesar fell ill, Vlad had completely recovered, and was already effectively running the colony while Cesar tried to deal with his anguish over the death of Kia and his relieved hovering over the recovering Helen. In fact, if the plague didn’t kill a patient, they recovered completely within a few days. Helen, though, was no longer young and resilient, and her recovery stretched into weeks.

Cesar’s illness created a panic among the remaining colonists, but Vlad was able to goad the Council into retaining control and calming fears.

But Vlad was certain that the three weeks of Cesar’s illness were the worst he’d experienced in his life.

And then, just as Cesar was beginning to recover, Susan fell ill, and Vlad realized he’d been wrong.

By the end of the second month, they were reduced to a few med techs and volunteer nurses from among the recovered. Every surviving member of the colony knew the truth: Everyone in the colony would fall victim to the alien menace.

There was panic, of course, and ‘demonstrations’ demanding that the Council ‘do something’. But mostly, the colonists faced the plague with a grim determination and acceptance of the inevitable. The knowledge that there
were
survivors helped keep the colonists’ desperation at a controllable level.

By the end of the third month, the plague had run its course. The speed with which it had run through the colonists was stunning, and left them shocked and bewildered. The final death rate was almost exactly 65%. Somehow, the bodies of the other 35% learned to accommodate the invader. The plague typically ran its course in about two weeks after “going active,” with nearly all fatalities in the second week. Children seemed to recover a bit faster; the elderly often required an extra week.

By the time the plague claimed its last victim, the colony’s population was reduced from 3512 to 1240.

To Cesar's dismay, the list of the dead included names he considered essential to the development of the colony. Dr. Aguirre, the Chief Med Tech. Vince Wojewicz. Robert Franks. And Hans Schmidt, their only pilot.

An exhausted Susan appeared before the Council. “I’m certain that the plague has run its course,” she repeated. “We survivors remain infected. Surprisingly, all of the eight women who were pregnant when they became infected delivered healthy children, though two of them did so on total life support. Once the deliveries were complete, we let them go, of course. They were actually already dead. The babies were all born with the alien filaments already spread throughout their bodies, but aside from a green cast to their skin, they seem amazingly healthy. In fact, the mothers report a near-total absence of the typical childhood infections and diseases. At least in the infants, the alien life form seems to be functioning more as an endosymbiont than an invader.

“To lesser extent, all the survivors report the same experience. With the horror of the plague, it took awhile to become aware of it, but we
think
the lifeform is, in fact endosymbiotic, rather than invasive.”

“What’s this ‘endowhatever?” asked one Councilor.

“Endosymbiosis is a term used to describe an organism that lives inside a host creature. It’s typically used to describe an organism that benefits, or at least does no harm to the host. Your own gut, for instance, is full of microscopic creatures that aid in the digestion of food.”

There was a snort from one end of the table. “It certainly killed both my children quickly enough,” came a voice heavy with grief.

Susan shook her head. “Actually,” she replied, “they were killed by their own bodies’ attempts to repel the alien. Our studies and autopsies reveal no deaths that can be traced to the alien itself.” She shrugged. “We have no choice. We have no way of eliminating the alien from our bodies. And I’m not sure I’d recommend it if a way were found. The med techs and the computer report very few medical complaints among the survivors, and those we have had, broken bones and such, have healed with remarkable speed.

“We have thawed a dozen livestock ova; we have to know the effect of the alien on them. Six were exposed to the air of Crashlanding, and six were kept in sterile incubators.

“All of the fetuses exposed to the air became infected by the alien lifeform, but all developed normally, if slightly more rapidly than normal.

“Of the six incubated in sterile surroundings, all became ill as soon as incubation was complete and they were exposed to the air. Four of the six died. Please note that this is nearly the same two thirds/one third ratio of fatality that we ourselves experienced.”

She took a deep breath, and sighed. “We are recommending that all livestock fetuses be exposed to the air of Crashlanding during incubation.”

“You want to purposely infect the livestock with an alien virus even
before
they’re born
?” came an incredulous voice. “You want to
poison
us? What good are livestock we can’t eat?”

Susan shook her head, a sad smile crossing her face. “Anyone who is still alive today will be able to eat them,” she replied. “The bodies of the survivors have already learned to accommodate the lifeform.

“Haven’t you noticed that we do not seem to be bothered by any other local illness or virus? We think that the lifeform is protecting us from any such problem. And common diseases and illnesses we brought with us from Earth seem to be appearing less and less often. As I said before, what we seem to have here is a symbiont, not an invader.”

“But we’re turning
green
!” another voice shouted.

Susan nodded. “Yes. The lifeform seems to have that effect on human life. Regardless of race, the skin takes on a faint green tint. But the effect seems harmless.

“I’m afraid the biggest threat to our survival, unless there’s another plague out there, will be our own customs and morals,” she said. “I
think
we can make it. But only if we can make maximum use of our sperm and ova banks and every other measure to ensure biological diversity.”

Douglas Ryles got a sudden, smirking grin. “Ha! She’s talking about everybody sleeping around!” he crowed. “Orgies, anyone?”

“Shut up, fool,” Vlad snarled. “Maybe you’d better hear her out before you start planning your conquests!”

Susan grimaced. “Yes, that would be one solution,” she replied, “but not one that would be very popular, especially among the women. Nor would it be particularly effective. Only a few of our men are the types who want indiscriminate sex.” She turned a glare on Ryles.

“No,” she continued, “what I propose is that every woman of breeding age be asked to volunteer to bear a child or children, up to a limit of four, and their husbands, if any, asked to adopt the children as their own.

“We now have complete genetic profiles of all the colonists, and even the frozen samples of those that did not survive. We can make certain that the fertilized ova are viable, and genetically diverse enough to contribute to the colony’s survival.

“In most cases, we hope to be able to use the woman’s own ova, so she will be the actual biological mother.” She shook her head. “In cases where that is not advisable, where the genome is incompatible, we will have to implant another’s ovum, and she will be only a host mother. Eliminating those who are postmenopausal, and those who have already borne four children, we have 227 women capable of bearing at least one child.”