Home: Chapter 13
Yoli separated from Janus and quickly had the baby descend into the atmosphere. This time Hepwater was on board the baby leaving Janus on automatic pilot. He deemed it was secure. The ship approached the island and made a smooth landing. Davis was there to meet them. As Yoli lowered the ramp Davis ran up, Bowie was coming down. Davis stopped and looked at Bowie’s serious face.
Davis asked, “What happened?”
Bowie was exhausted, “We got your subject, but it appears the whole planet has turned to mutants in the worst way. I’m disturbed we might have caused it. Jana and I are thinking the planet and ourselves have been exposed to something when we traveled so far so fast. Plus, I think all the members of the crew are showing signs of mutation. I hope Doc Jones gets this under control quick.”
“What does the Doc say about the situation?”
Bowie stood there looking up into the sky with an exasperated stare, “We let him work his magic. I don’t know what else to do.”
By this time the other members of the crew were coming down the ramp. Two mercs were dragging the mutated prisoner as the Doc was close behind. The group boarded a truck and headed for a warehouse. It served as a mess hall and infirmary.
The truck arrived and everyone wanted something to eat with the large amount of coffee they were about to drink. The two scientists Doc brought in were in the infirmary doing some scientific stuff as the mercs dragged the subject to a gurney and strapped him down.
The scientists and Doc gathered around and began sticking needles in him and the blood began flowing. All three of them looked like kids in a candy store. They huddled around and went back and forth between microscopes, Bunsen burners, and incubators.
The crew watched as they ate frozen dinners of bacon and eggs cooked in the microwave while downing large cups of coffee. Michealson eventually asked Bowie, “Did Davis say anything about Johnson?’
In all the excitement Bowie had forgotten they had mutant casualties of their own, “No, I’m going to find out right now though.”
Bowie went over to Davis, “How’s Johnson doing?”
Davis looked down and slowly said, “He’s in bad shape. He’s mutated to a point where he’s completely unrecognizable. I hope the Docs find something soon. He’s got lesions and pock marks all over his face. His speech is unrecognizable. I’m afraid he’s about done. It sounds like what you saw on the planet.”
Bowie went back to Micheals, “I’m sorry. Johnson is in bad shape. His only hope is if the Doc finds something soon.”
Micheals was devastated, “Thanks Bowie. I know they’ll do everything they can.”
Bowie walked over to sit by Jana. He smiled as he stared at her, “Do you think the same could happen here like the other planet? My rash is getting worse, and it happened so fast.”
Jana was about ready to cry, “Look at my leg.” She unzipped her orange flight suit and pulled it down below her waist. She had a skintight body suit underneath. On her right thigh was a huge red rash with pock marks. The mutation was spreading quickly.
Bowie grabbed her and hugged her, “Don’t worry. It’ll be okay. We’ve been in worse situations than this. Although I can’t think of one right now off the top of my head.” He was trying to bring some levity to the situation. Jana smiled and hugged him back.
He then asked her, “Do you think we should send someone back to the mainland and check things out. We came in contact with people the last time we were here. What if it’s the same thing as on the other planet? Mutants walking around everywhere.”
Jana got a funny look on her face, “Davis has just come from the mainland. He would’ve told us if anything was wrong.”
“Yeah, you’re right. We’ve got to get this problem solved here and now.”
The crew continued to munch on food and mill around watching the scientists do their thing. The conversation went on for several hours. Now all members of the expedition were showing advanced symptoms of the mutations. It was starting to move quickly.
Suddenly there was a loud scream from the infirmary area. The scientists gathered around the gurney Johnson was on and began working feverishly. The entire crew watched intently but no one went near the area. After several minutes the scientists all walked away. Doc Jones came over, and everyone was frozen. He slowly walked up and addressed the group, “Private Johnson has passed. For some reason the mutation moved quickly in his body. I’m sorry.”
Jana quickly turned and put her face in Bowie’s chest as she let out a muffled scream, “We’re all gonna die. It’s going to be like on Two. It starts slow and then moves quickly before we can find an anecdote.”
Everyone was stunned as Doc walked back towards the infirmary area. Bowie pushed Jana aside for a moment and went after the Doc, “What does it mean. This stuff is moving through us fast. What’s going to happen?”
Jones turned around and looked Bowie in the eye, “We’ve got a lead on an anecdote, but it’ll take time. Just hang on.”
Bowie walked back towards the group and Jana ran up to him, “It’s going to happen to us isn’t it.”
He grabbed her, “Doc says they’re close to an anecdote. Just try to relax. You’re the only person I have left. Don’t fall apart on me now. Those guys are good, I think.”
She hugged him and they started kissing, not knowing if it would be short lived. The assembled people, including Davis, decided to go out on the tarmac and look at the mountains of the island in the moonlight rather than sit and watch the scientists desperately trying to save everyone’s lives.
Bowie and Jana stood there with the group for several minutes and he said, “This is an island there has to be a beach. Let’s go get in the waves and relax.”
Jana was upset, “I’m hurting. The rash and pock marks are spreading fast. I’m going to end up like Johnson.”
Bowie hugged her, “Let’s just go get in the salt water. It couldn’t hurt. I really feel like the Doc is close to finding an anecdote.”
They walked off the tarmac and there was a sandy beach about fifty yards away. They both stood there a few seconds and waded into the ocean. The cool saltwater felt good on their mutated skin as the waves washed up on their bodies. They went in about waist deep. When the waves came in, the splash hit at chest level and went over their heads. There was no one around as they hugged and kissed not knowing what the night would bring. The pair came back to the sand as they took their clothes off. They laid there in the soft sand and remnants of the waves brushed up against their bodies as they made love. No matter what happened now, they were one.
Jana seemed comfortable with Bowie, but the mutation was spreading fast, and she didn’t know what to do. Bowie grabbed her and said, “I gotta tell ya, I’m going to feel really cheated if we don’t make it through this. I’ve fallen in love with you and want to spend a long time doing a lot of things.”
“I love you. I want to always be with you.”
“Let’s go back to the doctors and see if they made any progress.”
His words comforted her. About that time the couple heard a voice yelling. It sounded like Yoli, “Pancho! Pancho! You out there?”
Both Bowie and Jana scrambled for their clothes and got covered as they ran towards him. They met Yoli and he said, “Come back to the infirmary. The doctors are preparing something that might help.”
The trio ran back and entered the warehouse. As they entered, they heard more deathly screaming. It was the prisoner from the planet they were on. It sounded like the scream when Johnson died. The crew stood there and figured the guy died. They became discouraged and meandered towards the coffee machine. The scientists walked away from the prisoner and immediately went into a confab working feverishly.
After fifteen or twenty minutes of the doctors working at one station everyone was beginning to accept their fate and now went into the mode of not wanting it to spread to the rest of the planet. The mood was bleak.
Jana didn’t leave Bowie’s side. She started crying and showed him the rash and boils on her legs were growing faster. He hugged her and said, “It’s okay. We’ll go together. Thank you for being here with me.”
She hugged him as hard as she could. She then reached up and kissed him. The group was despondent. Doc Jones then emerged from the scientist’s confab and had a smile. Bowie was the first to see what was happening. He got up and walked towards Doc Jones, “You found the anecdote.”
The Doc had a tray full of hypodermic needles and a large beaker of a blue liquid, “Yes, the prisoner is recovering, and this is definitely what we need.”
Bowie was shocked, “So that’s it. You found an anecdote?”
“Yes, we cured the prisoner and he’s back to normal. For him anyway. We treated it as a virus and developed a serum from Johnson’s blood and the prisoner’s blood. Part of it is in the syringe and part is in this beaker mixed with a chemical of combined blood parts along with alcohol. We are developing more serum artificially in incubators as we speak. I inject one of these needles and you drink a shot of this, and you should have a full recovery.”
A roar came up from the crew and Davis. They lined up and began getting their injections. Immediately afterwards they took a shot of the blue liquid. They all meandered back towards the coffee as they could clearly see the rash and pock marks start to disappear. The Doc and scientists really came through.
Bowie was hugging and kissing Jana when he noticed Davis approach Doc Jones. Bowie walked over and got involved in the conversation, “What’s going on guys?’
Doc Jones looked at Bowie, “I was just telling Davis, whenever we travel to another galaxy, we need to treat people with these injections and serum. They need preparation before they go to different places in the galaxy. There’s something about going so far so fast that makes our bodies vulnerable to any little virus or infection. We also easily infect the inhabitants of the planet.”
Bowie looked at Doc, “You mean we killed that planet?”
Doc looked down, “Yeah, the whole thing could be our fault. The planet will be dead because of us. This prisoner we have can’t go back there. He’ll need to be reeducated here and told what happened. He’ll have to live here.”
Bowie had to go find a chair by Jana and sit down. He looked up at her, “You’re the philosopher here. Doc Jones told me we destroyed that planet. The prisoner can’t go home. We killed everyone. How can I live with that?”
Jana looked him in the eyes, “No one could’ve foreseen this situation. We did what explorers do. We went to check things out and it took a turn for the worse. It’s happened many times before in history.”
Bowie was now beat down and upset, “Really? All those people are dead and that’s what we say? Opps? I gotta tell ya, you’re not making me feel any better.”
Jana continued to try and comfort him, “It’s part of biological life. Living and dying. We explore and investigate.”
Bowie now looked at her, “Funny, you didn’t want me or the mercs on this expedition. You do realize if we weren’t there you would’ve never made it back. Right now they would be wondering what happened to you, like Janus three.”
“Yes, this whole thing is crazy, but here we are. It’s time to move on. We can’t do anything about the past, that we know of.”
“You’ve mentioned time delineation before. Are you saying we can go back in time and set things right?”
Jana suddenly realized she opened a can of worms, “We don’t know. Hell, we might only make things worse. It’s another area of exploration that needs to be investigated.”
“Investigate? We possibly destroyed Two and you think we need to investigate? I think we need to stop and decide what is going on here. Our interference could disrupt many planets we visit.”
Jana contemplated, “You’re right. We need to be more careful and make sure there is no interaction.”
“Be more careful? We have no clue what we’re getting into. What if we go to a planet where the inhabitants there are more advanced than us. Our military weapons might mean nothing to them. I could go on with endless scenarios about what we could encounter. We need to consider what we’re getting into.”
Yoli walked up at the end of what was being said, “Skipper, we also need to consider the fact the baby can’t fire back. Our only advantage on Two was speed. If we hit a planet with as much speed, we’ll be done in. We need more defenses. Even in space, Janus as no defenses.”
After what Yoli said Bowie and Jana looked at each other. Davis walked up and got in the conversation, “Now that we have a preparation treatment we can make other trips. We’ve got several other planets we need to visit.”
The trio looked at Davis and relayed their concerns. He stood there for a second, “Putting weapons on Janus 5 would be a massive overhaul. We don’t have access to military missiles or laser guns. The only defense we have against a superior civilization is we can be in and out in seconds. We need to explode on the scene, evaluate the situation, and decide whether it’s okay to stay or immediately hit the button and head home. They could never follow us.”
Jana looked around, “It sounds good but from what we’ve seen there’s no predicting what could happen.”
Davis said, “So what are you saying? We should just stop the exploration. It’s what all great people do. They continue to press on. We need to find out what’s out there in the universe. We’ll look into to more firepower, but our best option is to zap into an area and if necessary, zap out again in an instant. We have the treatment to make sure our bodies aren’t compromised, and we’ll continue to discover things needing to be done. Never stop exploring. We are now ready for our next mission.”
At the beginning of this story, I told you I’d tell you who I am writing this. My name is David James Bowie, call sign Pancho. I feel like people need to know what’s going on. There are more stories to tell. Coming soon.