First Warning: Acorna's Children

Chapter 17

Jaya's grief surprised Khorii a little. People on Vhilliinyar didn't grieve in quite that way, seeing death as a simple transition. It tore at Khorii's heart how hard it was for Jaya to accept her parents' transitions to their next lives. Also, she felt a sneaking suspicion that if something happened to her own parents, even though she knew the acceptable attitude of a Linyaari toward death, she might feel much the same as Jaya did.

And although Jaya seemed to want to grieve by herself, and clearly needed time to adjust to the alterations in her world, to the disappearance of the familiar and the invasion of strangers, it didn't take Khorii's newly developing psychic skills to know that the girl should not be left completely alone.

Standing aside, Khorii returned her attention to the bodies on the deck.

"What are you doing, youngling?" Elviiz asked. "They are, as you have observed, in a moribund state, beyond your help."

"I know," she said, softly, wishing she could adjust his volume control. "But I need to study them for a moment and try to form an image of what the plague looks like, as opposed to other illnesses, so I may identify it if we encounter it again and take preventive measures. Also, we must purify the bodies so that when they are set to rest they won't spread the disease through the flowers if they're buried, through the smoke if they are cremated, or to some curious passerby if they are spaced." She pulled the sheet aside from the unknown man on the deck. His eyes were sunken deep in their sockets, the flesh of his cheeks had collapsed inwardly, and his skin was as waxy as the artificial fruit Auntie Karina decorated her private dining quarters with because the real thing rotted or was eaten too quickly.

The smell of the man's illness, and probably his death, was strong upon him as she touched her horn to his face. She was glad now that they had not known about the plague when they'd found the Blanca. She had been able to imagine the lives that had inhabited the bodies floating around her without having to look at them, and because of the lack of gravity and low levels of oxygen aboard the Blanca, the smell had not been as bad as it was here.

No wonder Captain Becker and the cats had been ill. There had been toxic gas there, as they said, but before the gas, the plague had claimed at least some of those people. Luckily her parents and she had been with the Condors crew and cats when they were stricken. Otherwise . . .

There were stories among the books and vids on the Condor that treated the dead as frightening or malevolent. She could not understand this. The body she touched with her horn was solid to her touch, much more substantial than a hologram of a person, for instance, and yet, also much emptier somehow. There was simply nothing there any longer. No one at home.

Khorii arose feeling a bit dizzy, the spots that swirled and vanished adding to her sense of vertigo. It was almost as if she had been leaning over an unfathomably deep hole and was in danger of falling in herself if she lingered too long on the edge.

She told Elviiz, "Let's notify Maganos Moonbase of our location and that we're decontaminating the ship and-er-personnel so the Mana can dock. I wonder if Mr. Al y Cassidro had considered that the ship could crash into one of the school's bubbles, which would also be bad for everyone's health."

"It would kill everyone," Elviiz corrected her.

"Yes," she said. "Definitely unhealthy."

Elviiz did as she said. Shoshisha had taken over com off duty and did not look very happy about it.

"What are you doing on the com screen, Elviiz?" she demanded, ignoring the information he had automatically imparted when he hailed the Moonbase.

"Communicating with Maganos Moonbase, obviously," he said.

"So-you guys are up there on that supply ship, right?"

Khorii interrupted. It was rude, but Shoshisha was being curious and not helpful. "Shoshisha, Khorii here."

"Oh, really? I thought it was some other student with a horn in the middle of her head."

"Is there another one?" Elviiz asked. "I do not believe there is."

"No, Elviiz. There is not. Shoshisha is being facetious. Shoshisha, we need to speak to the teacher in charge on this shift."

"I'll bet you do. That would be Calla. Just a nan."

It was a bit longer than a nanosecond before Calla Kaczmarek appeared in the com screen, but she was out of breath and red in the face, so she had been hurrying.

"Khorii, Elviiz, where are you? Have you seen Hap or Sesseli? We've been looking all over for you kids."

"That's why I'm calling, Calla. We are aboard the Mana with Jaya."

"All of you?"

"Yes, we took the shuttle. Elviiz and I were going to come alone, but Sesseli and Hap insisted on accompanying us."

"Oh, no! That's terrible. Khorii, you know you can't return now, don't you? Not until the quarantine is over."

"I don't see why not. Elviiz and I are capable of decontaminating the ship so the Moonbase can use the supplies it brought, and Jaya is fine now, except that she grieves for her parents. Mr. Taj died before we arrived. But no one is sick now, and no one will get sick as long as we are here to prevent it."

"Your self-confidence is admirable, dear, but it isn't enough of a guarantee to risk the entire student body if you're wrong."

"Found them!" Shoshisha's voice piped up behind Calla, and in the viewscreen Khorii saw Asha Bates and Phador Al y Cassidro. Someone else was back there, too; she sensed him but didn't see him.

"I am not wrong," Khorii said. "You know my mother can heal and purify-so does the Federation, which is why my parents went to that other planet. My father has the same skills. So do I. It is not a matter of age with us. I can do what I say I can, Calla. I would not boast in such serious circumstances."

Jaya suddenly came to life. "It's true, ma'am! I was sick, too, and she did something to me and I'm not anymore. If your stupid boss had sent her to begin with, my dad might still be alive, too."

"I'm very sorry for your loss, dear, but casting blame does no good. You simply cannot land here. I know you, Khorii, are certain that your special methods can make the ship safe, but what if you are wrong? This is not just any disease. If other students became ill . . ."

"Then we'd heal them. We could heal all of you with no problem," Khorii said.

But Calla was shaking her head. "You'll just have to sit it out up there, dear. Quite aside from breaking the Federation's rules, despite your assurances we cannot risk infecting the other students with the plague. I'll send messages to the Federation and anyone else I can reach to relay to your parents the facts of your situation, but that's all I can do for now. I'm terribly, terribly sorry."

"But can we not at least land?" Khorii asked. "No one would need to come near us until you were convinced that we are not sick or carrying any disease, but even though the ship has plenty of fuel at present and the requirements for maintaining orbit are not high, eventually it will run out. It might even crash into the bubbles, then everyone would be dead."

"We'll simply have to hope that the Federation finds a cure for this soon and lifts the quarantine," Calla said, shaking her head. "When you first docked on Maganos, you came from a clean vessel that had not yet been exposed to the plague. That's no longer the case. You must all remain aboard until the quarantine is lifted or the ship can be tested and we have clearance from the Federation."

Khorii almost told her how wrong she was-that she had been exposed to the plague before she even got there. But that would be telling a secret that was Uncle Joh's. He had been so right about not trying to do anything about the dead people on the Blanca. She'd apologize to him as soon as she saw him again.

Stupid fraggin' bureaucrats! Darn suckers are gonna kill us all,"

Hap said, overhearing the transmissions between the Mana and Moonbase.

Sesseli patted his shoulder, and said, "It's okay, Hap. But one thing's for sure. We can't just stay in the shuttle all the time. Let's go find Khiindi and Khorii and Elviiz."

"Okay," he said. "But we might get sick, too."

She said, "If we do, Khorii will fix us like she said, like she fixed Khiindi."

He smiled at her certainty. Little kids. Even one who had been through what Sesseli had suffered still believed everything would be fine and someone would save them. He'd thought that, too, at one time. He'd thought Maganos Moonbase was his salvation. Think again.

It was okay for him. He was used to it by now and had learned to take care of himself. But Sesseli was just a child. It wasn't fair to leave her on her own like this.

She was right though. The two of them couldn't stay inside the shuttle indefinitely. He hailed the Mana's bridge. "Khorii, don't forget Sesseli and me. Let us know when you've cleaned the place up enough that we can come out."

Elviiz appeared in the screen. "Decontamination of the landing bay and corridors up to the bridge has been completed, Hap. You and Sesseli may join us if you wish, but it will not be pleasant. There are dead crew members here, and the one survivor is rather upset."

In the background he heard Khorii speaking soothingly while another girl ranted.

Hap turned to Sesseli. "You better wait here till I come and get you, Squirt. We'll get the bodies moved from the bridge."

Sesseli put her hands on what would someday be her hips, and said disparagingly, "Really, Hap, I can handle it. Almost everyone in my colony got killed before the Federation came to help us. Besides, I'm worried about Khiindi."