Spaceship medic

Chapter 15

They had hit the fifty per cent mark a day earlier, when the uninfected people had to quarantine out the ill ones. Now, four out of five people aboard the great ship were down with the fever.

Mars was two days away. Rockets were waiting, with volunteer nurses and doctors standing by. No one would be permitted to leave the Johannes Kepler. It was a plague ship - and would be kept quarantined that way until - if and when - a cure for the fever was found. Food, drugs, equipment, anything could be put aboard. Nothing could come out.

There were now twenty-two dead.

Don took another pain-pill and blotted the sweat from his face with a damp towel. He was taking far more of the pills than were safe, he knew that, but he could not collapse. Not now The equipment before him blurred and he blinked his eyes back into focus, then made an adjustment on the glass petcock that slowed the flow of reaction agent to a steady drip.

'Let me do that, Doctor,' Rama said.

'You should not be in here, you don't have it yet.'

'That is of no importance, sir. I am the only one who can aid you in any way and you must permit it. What is the condition of the duplication process now?'

'I don't know. I'm not sure if I am even doing anything, or if there even is a virus in this solution. We have no animals -other than ourselves - to test it on. But I dissolved those crystals in nutrient solution, different solutions at different temperatures. I filtered them, recombined them, and I put the resulting liquid through this apparatus. It may be clear water for all I know...' His voice rasped and he coughed, then dabbed at his forehead again. 'How is the situation in control?'

'I have just talked to them. Chief Kurikka is there, with Computerman Boyd. Neither of them is sick yet, so they are optimistic that they can bring the ship in. I unhappily report that Dr Ugalde is in a coma, so can no longer aid. But Mars Control says that they can work through our computer and direct the final manoeuvres even if no one is left in control. The remaining mass will be used to put us into as low an orbit as is possible.'

The timer buzzed and Don started across the room to the ultracentrifuge. Suddenly, with no warning at all, he sprawled full length on the deck. His legs had simply given way. Rama put his arms around him and helped him to a chair.

Til be all right in a moment, Rama. Switch off the centrifuge, will you.'

The shrill whine changed to a deepening moan as the rotating machine slowed to a stop.

'With some luck,' Don said, levering himself to his feet, holding on to the back of the chair, 'this could be it. This is the result of the first extraction. The viricidal agent.'

'Shall we take it out, use it at once?' Rama asked excitedly.

Don shook his head no. 'In a moment. First help me with the soup from these other jars' He held up the flask and looked at the murky fluid slopping about inside. 'There are more of the crystals here in nutrient solution. I put them up at the same time as the ones I used for the first run. If there was nothing in the first solution, the viruses may not have been reconstituted yet, we may find it in here. We're working in the dark.'

With careful precision he made the adjustments, poured in the liquid and began the second run of the R.N.A. duplication apparatus. Only then did he turn to the centrifuge and flip the lid open. He took out one of the vials and held it to the light. There was a brownish deposit on the bottom, with a clear liquid above.

'Bring me a syringe with a 20 gauge needle.'

Inserting the point, he drew back his thumb and filled the cylinder.

'Take this,' he said, handing it to Rama. 'Inject the worst cases'

'The dosage?'

'I don't know - this stuff is concentrated - 35 cc's I guess, at least that much. Intravenously. Worst cases first, then all the others. There is enough for everyone in the centrifuge. I have to watch the second run.'

A buzzer. Temperature 110 degrees. Filtrate. Careful, there's no more of this if you spill it. It would be easier if the hands didn't shake so. But the hands shake, so brace them. Pour it. Don't spill it.

A buzzer. What now? What came next? Cold water on the face, head under the faucet, that always helps. Is that me in the mirror? Haven't been shaving lately, have you Doc? Frighten the patients with a face like that. Now, what comes next?

Lying on the floor, the salty taste of blood in the mouth. The sting of something on the cheek, a face above.

'Rama...?'

'You fell, sir. A minor cut. I am dressing the wound...' Fear!

'The apparatus? Did I break any?'

'No, you must have felt it coming. You pushed yourself away, fell backwards. I heard the buzzer and it would not stop. What is next to be done?'

'Help me up and I'll show you.'

Hard to think. The grey fog in his head was now before his eyes. It was very difficult to see through. It was very difficult to think. The patients?

'How long since the injections?'

'Over eight hours, sir. I gave you yours when...'

'How are they?'

There was a long silence and Don could make out Rama's face only as a blur: he finally answered.

'No change, no change at all. Two deaths. The Chief Kurikka fell ill in the control-room and has been brought in.'

'Is it all a waste? Are we all dead?' Don spoke hoarsely, to himself. 'Will it all end like this? There can be no other answer.'

It was time to give in, to collapse, to die. But he would not. With an effort of will, will alone because his body was failing him, he straightened up. His eyes could see, they had to see. He rubbed them with his knuckles, angrily, until he could feel the pain of the pressure even through the haze of drugs that enveloped him. Tears streamed down his cheeks and he could see, dimly, again. He stumbled to the bench.

'Turn off the buzzer. Here. Decant these, into those test-tubes. Cool them. Then into the centrifuge. Four minutes spin. Then use.'

'That will be the final solution, the cure?'

Don thought he was smiling, but his lips were curled back, like those of a horse in pain, his teeth showing widely. Speaking took immense effort.

'That will be a transparent liquid. Looking exactly like distilled water. It may be only distilled water. We have ... we have...'

Blackness, and he was falling, and it was the end.