Well, this was unexpected. Noel was out cold, I couldn't wake him when Ashley came into the room to get me. She practically drug me downstairs where Ria was on the floor of the bathroom with blood coming out of her mouth, so much so that it dyed most of her pajamas red. I was able to wake her up, but her speech was incoherent babble, and she quickly went out again.
Ria is almost a perfect match for me; so if this is a medical problem, I am able to be affected by it as well. I called my normal doctor, and told him I needed an emergency house call. He currently has Noel and Ria laying side by side on the living room floor. His mom is in tears, holding her hand over her mouth to try and keep sounds from escaping, and his dad has pretty much shut down, at least he is comforting Ashley, who found Ria this morning.
"Well, I have good news, Natillia." Doc says to me. "Its not a genetic issue that you need to worry about."
"So what is it?" I ask pointedly, making it clear that I didn't think his attempt at a joke funny. "My husband can't be woke, and his sym is bleeding from the mouth; thats not something I would call good news."
"He was poisoned." he says flatly. "More precicely, she was poisioned, and the sensory overload is making him feel the effects as well."
"Poisoned with what?" his mom pipes in.
"Calipso." he says promptly, while rummaging through his bag.
my legs loose all feeling, and I know I fell to the floor at hearing the word. My father was killed by Calipso poisioning at my eleventh birthday party, and now my husband has been poisioned by the same thing.
"Natillia," Doc picks me back up. "its not like your father. She didn't get such a high dose, and because she is a sym, there are safeguards designed in to help her fight it off. But Noel will probably be catatonic for a week or two."
"He has a big exam coming up, will Ria at least be able to attend school for him?" I ask, fearing he would miss too many classes. at least this happened on a weekend, I selfishly thought.
"The sym will be able to function normally tomorrow; it was able to purge most of the Calipso when it coughed up the blood. But, because of the way the drug works, the host will experiance the withdraw symptoms. His greatest danger for the next two weeks is dehydration. I have to recomend admitting him to a hospital you trust."
"How did she get Calipso?" his mom asked.
"Food." the doctor answered plainly. "something she ate between 6 and 10 pm last night contained it."
"It was meant for me." I said aloud. "when our food came to the table last night, Ria and I switched plates because I wanted what she had ordered. I was the one who was supposed to eat the salad."
"Then, this sym saved your life." the Doctor said. "Should I call an ambulance for Noel? So, he can be transported."
"Yes." his father answered. he moved from behind Ashley, and grabbed me by my shoulders, and then hugged me. "I don't think I would be able to handle loosing another child, Natillia. Please be glad that Ria was the one hurt, please, don't beat yourself up about this." he whispered to me. I cried. I cried harder than when I stood next to my father's casket. I wasn't supposed to cry then, but now I didn't have to hold back, I just cried into my father-in-law's arms.
I didn't stop crying until after the paramedics had already taken my husband to the hospital.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey, Emily!" I say as I enter the classroom. Over the past few weeks her and I have kind of hit it off, well Ria and her anyway.
"Hey Ria!" she calls out, then looks around, "Where is Noel?"
"In the hospital." I answer plainly.
"What?!" she calls out. "Why, what happend?" she asked quieter, noticing she had attracted the attention of most of the class. Since none of what happened was released to the public, I only needed to be partially honest.
"He needed to be hospitalized for dehydration." I gave a half grin, letting her know that I wasn't going to say more. I set the project case on the desk I usually had Ria sit at, and sat at the desk I put myself in; which is the school's policy is if the Sym Host is unable to attend a class for some reason.
"I think there is quite a bit more to that story." she says to me.
"There is, but I can't say more. How is your project coming?" I ask trying to change the subject. "You were trying to make a more efficient Lev motor right?"
"Yeah!" she says seeming to remember her own project. She quickly opens the project case, and shows me the mess of wires attached to a modified can motor. "I have indexed the timing ring so I can tell when I am getting stronger or weaker torque responses; I lathed down the commontator so the brushes have a better contact patch with it, I cut angled slots in the brushes so that air could keep them cooled off, and the wires lead to the breadboard so that I can swap out capacitors and diodes." she says pointing out the methods she was trying to use.
"Wouldn't using brushless motors work better? I mean most Levs are using brushless motors already because of their lower drag coefficients?" I ask, wondering why she was even attempting to do this with a brushed system.
"Brushless motors only need differentials programmed into a micro processor and some form of encoder to tell the arbor postition to increase efficiency, and replacing the magnets on the arbor can easily increase torque, changing the wind of the wire in the can can change performance, but its all, eventually, dependant on software. I wanted to see what I could do with an entirely analog system, relying less on simple programming, and more on the physical parts that make it easier for people to do their own maintinance."
"I can see that, but brushed motors require a lot more maintinance than Brushless systems; our lev has only needed tires and the motor's bearings to be reoiled since we bought it five years ago. I remember the brushed motors, the Lev we had as a kid, used. Dad was replacing brushes every two months, and those retainer springs weren't the lightest thing to get set back into position, then setting the timing on the can whenever they got out of index was crazy; I mean we are talking a few hours with me, at eight and nine years old, with a voltmeter while the motors are running, and Dad turning the cap so we could get the best positions. it sucked."
"I could just imagine your perfectly manacured fingernails under one of those older Levs" Emily smiled and laughed at me. for a moment it seemed like she had forgotten that this body was just a Sym. "So how long until Noel comes back?" she asks, seeming to remember what started our conversation.
"Not sure, a few days at least." I said as the teacher walked into the room, followed by my wife.
"Everyone, Take your seats." the teacher, who has still not introduced himself, but the school's network for this class has him listed as Benjamin Overton. "As you all can see, we have a visitor today." he says and motions to Tia.
"Hello, everyone. I am Natillia Lavender, Noel's wife. I am here to let everyone know that he will not be able to attend classes in person for a few days, however Ria will be here. Because of the nature of his absence, there are some things we can not discuss, but suffice to say that he will return as soon as he is able, and my sym, or I, may drop in from time to time to check in with Ria, or let her know what is going on."
"If you are letting Ria know what is going on, does that mean that its serious?" Emily asks aloud.
"Noel is currently unconcious in the hospital. So some things I, or my sym, would need to talk to Ria about while the doctor is with him. Please don't ask what happened, as I can't answer those questions right now."
"Alright, Class. the Dean, and Assistant Dean have approved Noel's absences during this time, provided that Ria continues to attend classes, as well as our guest's presence. The only reason why the Empress-heir is here, is to let everyone know that she will be coming on, and off, of the campus grounds for a while, and again, this has been aproved by the Dean. Now; that that is out of the way, Natilia, you may sit in Ria's normal seat if you want. everyone else, open your project cases, and lets begin discussions of where you are at."