Darkworld: Earth

“Diego this is Radio, come in Diego. Do you read?”

“Diego here. Do you read me Radio?”

“We read you Diego, loud and clear. Stand by for the Captain.”

“Standing by.”

Diego waited. When the radio had begun crackling signalling that the Seeker was attempting to get in contact with him, they had moved from the core of the ship to one of the large bays and Eolai had opened the opaque walls to clear into transparent glass, allowing him to see out into the firmament. The Seeker was too small to see in the distance, but he new that he was looking in that direction due to the stars he’d memorized the positions of to help him navigate.

“Hello Diego. How are you holding up, Sergeant?” The captain’s coice asked after a moment.

“My nose itches and I’m going to have to change my catheter bag pretty soon,” he admitted. “Any luck bridging the impass with the ET’s?”

“Unfortunately no. We’re trying to find any sort of exception or loophole which might apply to us as a developing society. Unfortunately the documents we’re reviewing are thousands of pages long and not easily indexed by our computers. The three loopholes that we have identify specifically close themselves by saying ‘unless they are human, in which case this exception does not apply.’”

“You believe their claims that there are thousands of human societies out there, Captain?” Diego asked.

“We are examining the evidence as it is presented to us,” The captain answered. “Our hosts claim to be most dismayed by their legal requirements to impound the ship. They are continually attempting to barter with us to trade it to them for a replacement vessel which would far exceed the specs of the Seeker.”

“Except that we can’t do that without failing our mission,” Diego said.

“Correct, Sergeant. Let’s not go into all of the details about why over an open frequency.”

“Righto. It would be nice to bring home a working alien spacecraft though. Maybe the R and D boys could reverse engineer whatever drives they use to be compliant with the intergalactic traffic police.”

The captain sighed. “Believe me, I know. Sergeant, I believe that this impasse will continue for some time. The Yonohoans have assured me that you are free to return to the ship at any time. However, I assume you know what will be waiting for you when you arrive.”

Diego swallowed. “Quarantine procedure,” he said. “Yeah, I know. Not looking forward to it, but I know.”

“This is another situation where I am declining to give you an order, Diego. However, there is a second option. You could remain in the custody of the Yonohoans and entrust yourself to their medical care, which they assure us is well beyond the task of ensuring that you are not infected by any microbes which might be on that ship due to the presents of the Sulivans,” the Captain explained.

Diego blinked. “So you’re telling me to stay where I am? And, what, take off my vacsuit and explose myself on purpose?”

“I am informing you that the Yonohoans have offered to host you on their spacecraft indefinitely and I am also informing you that they claim to be more than capable of ensuring your health. I am not vouching for the voracity or the accuracy of those claims. I am authorizing you to make a decision based on your own judgement, feelings, instincts, and opinions. You do not have to justify this decision to anyone. You may either return to the Seeker at this time, or you can decide to remain in the custody of the Yonohoans.”

There was a slight pause.

“You do know that if you take off your suit before you go through decon, I can’t let you back on this ship. Not without extended quarantine, which would put you in isolation for an inhumane amount of time.”

“Yes, Captain. I am aware of that fact,” Diego said.

“Establishing it for the record, Sergeant.”

“I know.”

“When you make your decision, Sergeant Diego Cruz, I would appreciate it if you broadcast it for the record. Please do not interpret this request to in any way be pressuring you to rush your decision or to put yourself in what you feel is an undue risk to your life.”

“I understand Captain. I think I’m going to ask Eolai for a tour of the ship’s medical facilities before I come to a decision.”

“Understood. Is there anyone on board the Seeker you would like to consult before coming to a decision?”

“I think I’ve said all I’ve got to say at this point, Captain. I’ll reach out again after Eolai’s shown me their medical bay. Sergeant Diego out.”

“Message received. Captain Ji-eun Moon out.”

Diego turned to Eolai, who had been undoubtedly listening to every word of the conversation. It was, after all, impossible to have a private conversation over an omnidirectional unencrypted radio frequency.

That was half the point of their decision to use old-school radio protocol. They had wanted the aliens to understand them. While Diego’s suit could form a secure connection to the Seeker using more secure protocols, he’d rather save that in his back pocket. From what he’d seen of the alien’s technological capabilities, he didn’t want to test their encryption breaking prowes by giving them an exaple and seeing how long it took them to crack it.

“So, medical bay?”

“It is this way,” Eolai said, leading Diego into an elevator. “There is of course three different medical centers for the Sulivans aboard this ship, as is standard for their ships of this size. There is only one medical center for humans, although it is fully functional and standard. If there were any disease, ailment, or injury which the onboard medical equipment is not able to adequately counteract, you could be placed in stasis and transferred to a level two facility on the surface of the planet. A level three hospital ship, which are capable of curing the worst known plagues in the universe, is readily accessible if the facility on the surface should prove to be insufficient. I assure you that your health would be in the very best of hands should you entrust it to our care.”

“Uh-huh. How often do you deal with this situation, though?” Diego asked.

“Personally? This is the first time. In the memories of the ship are a number of other instances of a Darkworlder appearing out of nowhere and carrying some strange disease which has uniquely evolved on their home planet, or the result of a bioweapon that was used against their people during the Liberation Wars. It is quite unfortunate that until you remove your suit we can’t determine which microbes inhabit your body and what possible viri you possess, and as I’m certain you’re aware, removing your suit will expose you to the environment of this ship.”

“Which will possibly infect me, yes. I know. Quarantine procedure for my people starts with a thorough decontamination of my external vac-suit and then a long shower with special soaps, followed by a period of isolation to see if I develop a fever or any other symptoms.

Eolai reached over and picked up a wristband. “You wear this. Normally you would be confined to the human quarters of the ship, but that would be more for the Sullivan’s comfort than yours, and the fact that they have all abandoned us for the moment means that there is no reason to confine you at all.”

“Not worried about me licking their toilet and catching space-ghonorea, then?” Diego asked.

Eolai cocked his head to the side. “You are more likely to infect them with some dangerous disease than the other way around, Diego. The Sulivans are relatively ‘clean’ organisms compared to humans. They do not have digestive tracts that are filled with microorganisms like we do. In fact, if they are not around humans, they often kill off all of the regular bacteria which normally sluffs off of us and onto them through contact. At least when they are in a relatively sterile spaceship.”

Diego blinked. “They don’t have natural germs and stuff on their bodies?”

“No. It is more likely that you or I will infect each other with some virus that is unique to our heritage than any strange disease from one of the cleanest xenosapients in the universe infecting you with some disease you have never heard of. And I assure you that I have already screaned myself for any infectious organism which might pose a threat to you before you arrived.”

“And you’re willing to be mutually exposed with me,” Diego said.

“Correct. If you infect me with something, I am confident in the medicine of my people being able to cure me, and having it occur in a controlled setting will prevent a disease from infecting my world. Likewise, if you are succeptable to an organism which my body carries, it would be best to identify that organism sooner rather than later so that we might provide you with a countermeasure to it.”

Diego sighed. “So either way we learn something, and all we have to do is gamble with our lives.”

“Is that not the way of scientific advancement in your world?” Eolai inquired.

“It is, although the regulators refuse to admit it,” Diego answered. “The captain is really putting her neck on the chopping block with how much leeway she’s given me to risk my life. If I die, she’s probably going to be court marshaled.”

“Does that idea bother you?”

“That I might ruin the captain’s career? No, if I die I’ll be too busy being dead to care about that. I might console myself that I’ll be extremely famous if my actions ever become known the the people of my world, although they’ll probably list my death as something other than alien bio-plague,” Diego said. He examined the medical equipment. “Can you show me what some of this stuff does?”

“Certainly! This is a cloning machine, it will rapidly produce either blood or various tissues such as skin grafts which may be used to repair damage. It is unable to regrow full limbs, however, in the event that that becomes necessary you would be transferred to a level two facility. This is a chemical forge which is capable of producing any pharmaceutical chemical known to its databases, of which there are literally millions of drugs. And this over here is a scanner, which is able to diagnose virtually all diseases and identify the most effective treatment. If you observe, I’ll show you how it works.”

Eolai steppedon to a short cylinder protruding from the ground at exactly the right height to be an OSHA violation, Diego was certain. A moment after Eolai had stepped onto the scanner, a holographic representation of his body appeared next to him. Without the clothes he was wearing, Diego noticed, although he managed to restrain himself from looking shocked. A half second later, the holographic body broke apart into the different organ systems. A system of runes which Diego couldn’t recognize began floating near each of the different organs.

“This is a typical reading for an individual who is not ill,” Diego explained. “The text data is mostly simply stating that there are no current disease, although it is recommending that I spend eight percent more time doing my routine exercises. However, the scanner’s idea of ‘peak human health’ is a little unreasonable, and while its recommendations are excellent, it will always point out some way in which the machine that is the human body presented to it might be improved.”

“How does it work?” Diego asked.

“To be quite honest, I have no idea,” Eolai admitted. “But it is a standard technology used on humans throughout the universe.”

“It’s not going to give me ball cancer, is it?”

“I would not subject myself to it casually if it used ionizing radiation. It’s less harmful than standing outside during a sunny day on the surface of my home world,” Eolai assured him.

Diego chewed his lip and wiggled his nose. He really wanted to take his helmet off. “Will it work with my suit on?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t examined your suits composition to know for certain whether or not it possesses any materials which would interfere with it. If you do decide to stay and remove your suit, then you would be expected to have your body scanned at least once per day.”

“What about blood draws?” Diego inquired.

“The wristband device I showed you earlier will monitor your blood for any signs of infection or illness,” Eolai assured him.

Diego hesitated, then stepped onto the scanner.

Ten minutes later, he broke the seal on his vacsuit.