The medbay was bigger than it was before. When Brighand woke up there, just recovered from his cold and the sleeping drugs they put him under, it was a small section of the base. Just a small lobby with a few attached rooms. Now it had absorbed a large portion of surrounding areas and was cordoned off by a military checkpoint. Those manning the checkpoint were more of the janitors from the custodial union. One of them pulled out a radio as he approached.
“Captain Brighand has reported to medical as instructed. Remove him from the purge list,” said one of the janitors as he opened up part of the barrier to let Brighand through.
The barrier was made up of the furniture that once lined the medical lobby, from couches to vending machines. The door that Brighand was guided through was literally a door torn off from one of the rooms. Past the barrier, he found areas sectioned off by an elaborate maze of curtains with medical personnel walking to and from each room and writing stuff on clipboards and where clipboards were absent they drew directly on the curtains with markers. Brighand recognized some of the medical staff as fellow scavengers normally operating on small ships.
Like how the security team got replaced by the janitors, the busy medical team took on people with no medical experience as staff. It made Brighand worried that the staffing issue might be so bad that even the sick are still working just with masks on except for those in critical condition. One of the medical staff waved him to follow and brought him behind one of the curtains before hanging up a clipboard and walking away. Fifteen minutes passed before a doctor came in, more specifically the same doctor as last time, Dr. Ripperov.
“Oh Captain Brighand, how nice it is to see you again. I cannot thank you enough for your help last time. Without your little health scare, my department would have been overwhelmed ten times over,” said Dr. Ripperov as he removed his mask.
“Uhh, is it okay to remove your mask like that?” asked Brighand in shock.
“Yeah, it makes no difference. The masks rolled out after I determined the disease was airborne but way too late. This disease got into the ventilation and is resistant to antibiotics and cleaning agents. In other words, it’s everywhere so if you take off your mask for even a second in say a freshly cleaned living quarter or happen to breathe in the air after getting off your ship before getting a mask, you’re already infected. Everyone is infected,” said Dr. Ripperov.
“Is that okay to tell me? Like what if I spread it around, won’t it cause a panic?” asked Brighand.
“Please, do you think anyone will admit to being sick without obvious symptoms? They watched most of the security team go wild and kill people while under the disease. They see some of the infected end up here covered in horrible wounds. To most people, they see those people as what happens when you’re infected and see themselves as healthy. Even if I tell them it’s fine to take off the mask, they won’t believe me. And those that do believe me get guns aimed at them by the janitors and put it back on,” said Dr. Ripperov.
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“So what do you do here then exactly?” asked Brighand.
“Well if you’re violent or start spazzing out, I mark you as infected and slap you into quarantine. If you seem normal enough, I mark you as healthy and let you leave after a few minutes pass. I gave the new guys some temp checkers and cotton swabs to take samples from people to make it seem more legitimate. I’m just waiting now to see if we all die horribly of the disease, if the janitors’ condition worsens and they start purging everyone, or if it all passes like a bad dream,” said Dr. Ripperov.
“Umm, well if we have a minute, could I ask a question? Are there any sick mechanics in quarantine I can bring with me when I next leave port? My engine is in bad condition and I cannot afford a new one. I need more crew in general, maximum of three. Like even if they’re in bad condition, I’m fine with that,” said Brighand.
“Even in bad condition? How do you expect them to fix shit in that state? No, I suppose you haven’t seen how bad this disease really gets. Even if there was someone that met those conditions, it’d still be a no. Most of the engineers in bad condition are kept in a separate quarantine setup by cargo where they can still fix stuff. The only engineer that caught the disease with visible symptoms outside of there is missing. They yoinked a gun from the crazed security team, built an automated turret that gunned down twelve people and slipped into hiding,” said Dr. Ripperov.
“So, that’s not an option,” said Brighand.
“I never said that. I know exactly where they are. Down in the service tunnels. They’ve left behind plenty of mangled janitor bodies to the point none of them patrol there anymore. There’s a tunnel entrance right behind you actually. Go right ahead and convince that homicidal maniac to join you in a space adventure. Absolutely nothing could go wrong with that,” said Dr. Ripperov as he pointed at a door hatch half Brighand’s height in the corner of the curtains.
Just then, the sounds of gunfire rang out. The doctor peeked out the curtains for a second before promptly walking over and opening the door he just pointed at and slipped in without even the slightest change in expression. Brighand walked over and peeked out the curtain to find the custodial union going from curtain to curtain and gunning down the occupants. Unlike Dr. Ripperov who skillfully peeked out the curtain just enough for one eye to glance out and instantly made a decision, Brighand blankly stared with the curtain open wide enough to expose half his body.
He snapped out of it and rushed into the tunnel after the doctor. Blasts of hot plasma and heated energy whizzed through the curtains, blasting through so fast that the material didn’t even have the chance to burn. One blast skimmed his arm, simultaneously cauterizing the wound it just caused while another blast came so close to his head that some of his hair burned with an awful smell. Once in the tunnel, he closed the latch door and jumped back. Several energy blasts hit it but could not pierce through.
However, the blasts did hit enough of the edges to warp the door and make them unable to open it. He could hear them swearing on the other side as it refused to budge and one of them accidentally burned themselves on the heated metal. The pain of his singed arm hit him hard at this moment and he looked around fruitlessly for the doctor. Dr. Ripperov had long left that area knowing that the janitors would find the latch and while unwilling to search deeply due to the mad mechanic, they would check the general area inside where Brighand currently was.