Memory transcription subject: Daniel Stat, human virologist
Date [Standardized human time]: August 25th, 2148
[Day 18]
Silvvy was getting better at walking on her own, but she couldn’t for very long. Her legs were shaky and gave out often without warning. We stopped by a local clinic for her painkillers and picked up some crutches while we were at it. With her settled and not needing my help walking, it was time for me to visit my new job.
Tinasi lived in a small town called New Litsn. Jatsen Labs, named after a yotul biologist from before the uplift, was one of the most technologically advanced buildings I had ever set foot in. Every door had state-of-the-art decontamination protocol to keep the risks of a lab leak minimal, and the whole place was several times larger than Teiza Labs.
Tinasi gave me a tour of the building, even though it was pretty obvious she had barely seen the place herself. We ended our little tour in the virus lab, where I was greeted by an amber yotul with a bright blue streak of dyed fur running from the top of his head to his tail.
“Dr. Stat I presume,” he greeted me, “welcome to Jatsen, we’ve heard great things about you,” he smiled and extended a paw. “I’m Donis, head researcher on Operation Altruism,” he shook my hand excitedly.
“Operation Altruism?” I asked. The yotul nodded quickly, “Your new coworkers felt like a codename was in order, considering how secretive this whole ordeal is. We’re no strangers to keeping things covert,” he winked, though I could only see one of his eyes anyway. He had a habit of fully turning his head to look at you directly.
“I think it’s a great name,” Tinasi chimed in. Donis cracked a huge grin, “Thank ya, love. Lemme show you two around,” he gestured for us to follow along. The virus lab was split into several sections, each one had a handful of individual rooms that could fit an entire team in each.
“You two, and Dr. Silvon when she’s well, are gonna work here,” he pointed to a door with a holographic sign that shifted between several languages, finally displaying ‘Rhinovirus research’. We stepped inside, there was a huge variety of work equipment scattered around the counters. A couple of other yotul were already hard at work peering down microscopes and dripping reddish orange liquid into slides. They were working behind a plexiglass wall, a decontamination station connected the room we were in to theirs. Another door next to the lab read ‘sample storage’.
“Since Leirn has a very high human population, we’ve had plenty of willing donors providing blood samples, so no worries about running out here. Already since we started we’ve managed to get the human cells to not instantly kill the venlil blood cells, which is great progress,” he explained excitedly.
“We’ve also tested a few of our antivirals on the Skalgan Flu, to shockingly little avail,” Donis shook his furry head before leading us out.
“Once altruism wraps up, President Mesu offered you all full employment here, he’s very confident in your abilities.”
“That’s- that’s great!” I exclaimed. “Silvvy’s gonna be through the roof.”
The yotul then cleared his throat awkwardly, “Though, make sure she’s well aware of the… risks…” he said solemnly.
“The risks?” I asked. He nodded, “Follow me.”
We exited the virus lab and walked down the building’s main corridor, then turned off near the end. The door we walked through was labeled ‘quarantine’.
“You will need suits past this point,” Donis told us. Tinasi and I grabbed a set of sterile, stark white hazmats. When we were set, we went through three entire decontamination cycles before stepping into another large hallway. There were rows of doors, each had a window that peered into the room beyond. Several other suited doctors scuttled back and forth.
I dared a peek into one of the rooms to see a venlil hooked up to several wires and an oxygen mask. I would’ve thought it was dead without the heart monitor and the occasional cough that spewed orange on the mask.
“We’ve had to give time off to all our venlil personnel, but not before we had a few cases,” Donis explained.
“It hasn’t got out yet, has it?” I asked, suddenly very concerned.
“Thankfully no. But if the president himself didn’t mandate it, we’d advise you to keep your wife at home, Doctor.”
I stared at the venlil dying in that bed for a while. The nightmares of Silvon in that same position revealed themselves whenever I closed my eyes. “I don’t even think she’s ready for work again yet, I hope not,” I mumbled.
I couldn’t bear seeing her like that. I felt uncomfortable just being around the patients like I was going to carry out the flu and infect her.
~~~
Memory transcription subject: Lewis Blake, a human refugee
Date [Standardized human time]: August 25th, 2148
[Day 18]
I woke up feeling a lot better than I did yesterday. There was a dull ache in my thigh, where bandages were tightly wrapped around the gunshot wound. I glanced around the room, there were rows of beds with a couple of sick and injured venlil and several more humans than I thought there’d be.
I turned my head, my neck was stiff from my position, and I got a good look at Charlotte, hooked up to oxygen and sleeping soundly still. Her heart monitor beeped steadily, reassuring me that she was alive.
“You did good, Lewis,” a raspy voice spoke from the opposite side of the room. I turned quickly to see a burly man lying in a bed, he was covered in bandages that did little to cover the severe burns across his entire body.
“Ivan?” I exclaimed incredulously, “You’re alive!”
He gave a very painful smile, “Of course, if I didn’t win against those exterminators, you wouldn’t be.”
I was completely flabbergasted, “How though? How did you get here?”
Ivan looked off thoughtfully, “Well,” he began.
~~~
Memory transcription subject: Ivan, earthborn Skalgan
Date [Standardized human time]: August 23rd, 2148
[Day 16]
“GO, DAMNIT!” I screamed. Lewis gave in and listened, sprinting away with the pup in hand. I turned back, my rifle aimed at the oncoming exterminators, and I began running forward toward the sons of bitches.
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Flames spewed from their throwers, but my bullets cut through with no problem. Brains splattered through one’s helmet, and the other exterminator’s approaches slowed slightly.
“Beckhu tse nmash!” I roared, come at me. They were taken aback at my language, buying me time to dispatch the nearest one with a shot straight to the chest.
More fire burst forward that I narrowly avoided, shooting out the knees of the offender, and finishing him off with a clean headshot. I was mentally counting the ammo I had left, I estimated Lewis fired off about half the magazine, which is 15 bullets.
I had 10 left and made them count by tearing through three more exterminators. There were just two of them left, ducked behind trees for cover, fearing my approach as I executed one bleeding on the ground.
I failed to notice one of them sneak behind me, while I took down the other.
In an instant, I was engulfed in flame. I could feel every nerve in my body screaming. My gun was half melted, so I threw it at the exterminator, knocking him off balance. I was still simmering as I ripped off the helmet and smashed it down on his skull.
I breathed heavily and started limping toward the highway. I was in absolute agony. Behind me, just as I was almost home free, a gunshot rang out. I could tell by the sound it was high caliber, and by the way it tore through my chest. I collapsed in an instant, gasping and wheezing while blood soaked the ground around me.
My vision was hazy as I started to accept my death. In my pocket, nestled next to an extra magazine, was Charlotte’s drawing of me. It was burned at the edges, and soaked in blood, but I could still make out the image. I clutched it to my heart and closed my eyes, satisfied with what I accomplished.
~~~
Voices echoed through the woods. There were distant gunshots for a moment, then silence. Not even birds chirped. I felt a tugging at my legs, then I was being lifted up. I opened my eyes just enough to catch a glimpse of a human figure, silhouetted by the still sun.
“Hang in there, Ivan,” his voice was distant but recognizable enough. “You’re gonna make it,” Mason reassured me.
I wanted to speak, ask him what the stars he was doing out here, but instead I fell back into the pitch-black nothing, unconcerned if I’d ever wake again.
~~~
Memory transcription subject: Lewis Blake, human refugee
Date [Standardized human time]: August 25th, 2148
[Day 18]
“Holy shit,” I said.
“That’s a bad word, Lewie!” Charlotte spoke up.
“Char! Oh, you’re alright!” I exclaimed. The pup was awake now, toying with the oxygen tubes jammed in her nostrils.
A zurulian wandered over, offering Charlotte a warm smile, “Oh good, you’re awake little one,” she said. The zurulian turned to me, “We’ve got to take her and run some diagnostics if that’s alright with you,” she explained.
“Of course,” I said. A couple more doctors joined her and they started detaching wires and helping Charlotte out of bed.
“Bye Lewie!” she waved, following the doctors elsewhere.
“Bye Charlotte,” I smiled and turned back to Ivan, who was coughing heavily into his elbow.
“I’m glad you made it, Lewis. You did real good,” he said.
“I couldn’t have if you didn’t hang back. Speaking of, where’s Mason at now?” I asked.
Ivan attempted to shrug, “He and Jeremiah are probably long gone now. They had a caravan of maybe 4, or 5 people, all of them in the UN’s care now,” he answered. “Y’know, they’re gonna fly you and Char out to a real hospital soon, you keep an eye on her for me,” he coughed.
“You aren’t coming?” I asked.
He shook his head slowly, “They don’t think I’ve got long,” he rasped. “I got real messed up out there, and even if I did recover, they say I’ll never walk again.”
“I’m so sorry, Ivan.”
“Nah, don’t be. You and Char made it out alright. That’s all I need,” he stared off, smiling slightly. “I chatted a bit with that venlil, Qwiv, the one who saved ya. He said he was sick a while back and got better. That means she could too. I know you’ll take good care of her,” He fell into another coughing fit, and a little blood stained his hospital gown.
One of the nurses returned and stood on her hind legs to see me better, “Mr. Lewis, right?” she asked.
“Blake, Lewis is my first name,” I answered, “What’s up?
“We’ve almost concluded your daughter’s physical, we’re just prepping to fly you both out somewhere you can receive proper care,” she explained.
“Daughter?” I mumbled the zurulian’s ears perked up.
“Sorry, I didn’t catch that, could you repeat?”
I locked eyes with Ivan, who gave another pained smile and nodded slowly.
“It’s nothing, is she okay?” I asked.
“She’s still sick, but it seems she stabilized sometime in the last paw. The recovery rate for the Skalgan Flu is 1 in 1000, she’s very lucky,” the doctor said. “And your wounds are non-life-threatening, we can take you to go see her if you’d like.”
“Yeah, I would, thank you,” I said, letting her undo the heart monitor and helping me up out of bed. My bones let out satisfying pops as I stretched out. There was only slight pain when I put pressure on my thigh, otherwise, I felt in great shape.
She took me along through the field hospital and into another tent where a human doctor was taking Charlotte’s temperature.
“Ah, you must be the father. I’m happy to tell you little Charlotte is in great condition, and recovering rapidly,” he said. “You’ll be flown out to Earth as soon as the shuttle arrives, she still needs to be quarantined for a few weeks to make sure she isn’t a carrier.”
“I understand, thank you, doctor,” I said. The human and zurulian excused themselves from the room.
“They think I’m your dad, Char,” I chuckled.
The pup looked up at me with a big smile, “That’s cause I told them you were.”
“What?” I asked incredulously, “Why? What about your real dad?”
She shook her fluffy head, “He got smushed, I don’t have one anymore,” she said somberly.
“I’m sorry,” I said, caught off guard by just how blunt she was. I guess that’s why I found her in the aftermath of a stampede. I didn’t think her dad-
I was pulled from my thoughts when she enveloped me in a hug. I put my arms around her and held her tight, “I love you, Lewie.”
“I love you too, Char,” I replied, my voice breaking as I spoke.
“Why are you sad?” She asked.
“I’m not,” I answered, “I’m so happy.”
“Me too, Dad.”
~~~
Memory transcription subject: Governor Maulo of the Venlil Republic
Date [Standardized human time]: August 25th, 2148
[Day 18]
Servaen had a smile today, it was almost uncomfortable.
“Governor, I’ve got great news for you,” he chirped, opening his holopad to a bunch of spreadsheets and graphs.
“What is it?” I asked, “Has the Technocracy had a breakthrough?”
“No, not yet,” his smile faltered slightly, “but until they do, we might just have a treatment,” he said. He zoomed in on a chart that predicted if Ransu’s population was 100% infected, 2000 of them would survive and recover. “You remember that venlil in Beiton who got infected by that gunman?” he asked. I vaguely remembered something like that and nodded.
“He survived. In fact, he was exposed again to the virus, and didn’t catch it! This is huge!” Servaen exclaimed. “And just today, a pup from Ransu was also reported to be recovering. We’re having her shuttled to a proper hospital on Earth to take blood samples and find out how. We’ve got a hypothesis, but nothing concrete yet,” he spoke quickly and had to catch his breath.
“That’s wonderful!” I exclaimed, “I want constant updates on this new treatment, what exactly do you expect to do with these recovered blood samples?” I asked.
“If the body was able to fight off the virus, it means it was a recognizable threat to the venlil immune systems, which gets us a step closer to a potential vaccine. We have hopes it will be somewhat effective, but not a full solution. The Technocracy is still hard at work looking into modified human cells.”
I laughed heartily and pumped my fist, I didn’t care how unprofessional I looked, I was glad we were finally close to a solution.
“And as for the situation in Ransu, neighboring cities have been accepting refugees, and the UN’s planned assault is well underway,” he concluded.
I looked out my office’s window at the capitol city’s glamorous skyline and finally felt hopeful for the future.