“Well, that would explain a lot.” Leon heard Terry mutter to herself.
Leon looked over towards the astrophysicist and asked “What happened? What did you find?”
She glanced up at him and blinked before seeming to realise what he had asked. “Oh. Well, I haven't found any of the missing planets yet, but I think I might have figured out what happened to them.”
Leon looked at the woman, her face was impassive and he made a small motion with his hand to prompt her to continue.
Terry nodded and then added “Well, the two inner gas giants are still gone, but I have detected a large ring of dust and debris in the place where the two planets should have been. I would hazard a guess that this new protoplanetary ring is the remains of our missing planets.”
‘Great.’ Leon thought silently. Just when they finally started getting a handle on things, another spanner always seemed to get dropped into the works. “Well, what about the terrestrial world? Is it still missing too, or did you find a new asteroid belt?” he asked her, a little miffed about the whole situation. Then there was the other matter he had to attend to as well after this. He grunted to himself, he was not at all looking forward to searching for the medicine thief.
“It's not there, I haven't seen any evidence of it at least. We could… get closer? Maybe?” she added cautiously.
Leon shook his head as the other bridge crew’s heads turned his way. “No, at least not until we know what we are dealing with. For all we know there could be some sort of active weapon systems out in that mess.”
Sabine coughed and said “What? There are no weapons…” she started to say but Samuel butted in before she could finish.
“I wouldn't bet our lives on that. Especially since there was a war fought here in the past.” Samuel leaned back into his chair as he finished speaking, his arms folded and his posture relaxed. As the ship’s primary pilot, he was only waiting till he got the orders to move them out again. Orders that Leon was getting more and more sorely tempted to issue.
Leon pointed out “There may have been a war here at one point, but the chances of any weapons still being active after all this time are…”
“Higher than zero.” Samuel butted in suddenly. “We don’t have any idea what kinds of technology we are dealing with here. I mean, obviously the Ruiners were powerful enough to destroy an advanced multi-system alien empire of sorts. Even if they were caught off guard, they still possessed vastly superior technology to our own. I mean, what do we have in terms of offense? A few asteroid lasers? A couple of small arms?” He finished his rant with a huff and then snapped his mouth shut.
Leon decided it was a good time to butt in on behalf of Sabine “Yes, well. We must not forget the primary obligation of our mission. To discover signs of intelligence. We will never be able to do so effectively without taking some amount of risk. What if we find a hostile alien race, and what if they somehow discover Earth because of us?” He paused to look at the faces assembled around the bridge. Everyone was silent, they seemed to be thinking hard. Good, that had been his intention.
“Well, on that note, I will be making my decision. I'll meet you halfway Terry, Samuel, take us to ten light hours. No closer for now.” Leon instructed.
The look on Samuel’s face told Leon that jumping to ten light hours was the absolute last thing he wanted to do. Leon raised an eyebrow at the younger man who tossed his head angrily then turned to his console. “Plotting a course into the system. This is a bad idea…” He muttered just loud enough to hear.
Before Leon could reprimand him the ship transitioned to warp. He closed his eyes as the bridge seemed to suddenly glow bright orange. A second later he opened them but everything had returned to normal. ‘Damn warp shock.’ He thought to himself angrily.
He looked at the counter, at their top speed of three hundred c they would reach the inner system in only four point eight minutes, not enough time to leave the bridge. He decided to sit tight, once they transitioned out of warp he would locate Oliver and tackle his pressing issue.
He fiddled with his chair as the clock ticked down. He had never expected this, going to space. Becoming humanities first interstellar explorer. It was kind of disappointing really, here he was quadrillions of kilometers from home and yet still dealing with the same old issues. Quelling small disputes and settling accidents.
He sat up straighter. That wasn't entirely true though, he had also seen things that no other living human before him had. The black hole, the alien worlds, that ruined Aori space station. They were marvels that hardly seemed real as he thought of them, but they were. And he had been there each and every time to see them firsthand, if only he had gotten a chance to walk on an alien world. 'Calm down, your time will come.’ he said to himself. It wouldn't do to be seen as a glory hog.
Samuel piped up suddenly, disturbing Leon’s thoughts “Nearing drop point. I suggest we prepare for anything. Thirty seconds…”
Leon sat up straight again from where he had been slouching. His posture notwithstanding, he was ready for anything. The anti-asteroid lasers were warmed up as was the backup generator for the drive core. If they needed to, they would be able to jump back out of the system in less than five minutes. Hopefully that was plenty long enough to weather any potential storms they might encounter.
The lights flashed as the ship dropped from warp. Leon tensed as he waited for something nasty or astonishing to happen, but was even more perplexed as nothing seemed to happen. He looked around in confusion but noticed all the others recovering from warp shock. So why had he been suddenly spared? Was this a one-time occurrence or his new normal? Only time and another warp jump would tell him for sure.
Sabine seemed to twist in her chair before realising she was still strapped in. “Well, that sucked.” she said heavily.
Terry let out a small sigh and added “Yes. Unpleasant as always. Setting up telescope arrays Leon.”
Leon nodded and asked “Taylor, can you scan the inner system for signals. I'm not expecting anything, but that's no reason not to look, am I right?” he said while beginning to unstrap himself.
Joice looked over at him and asked “Where are you heading off to Leon?”
He finished unstrapping himself from the chair and floated slowly up away from the seat before he responded. “I have other matters that need attending to. I know that you and the others can handle this. If there is a problem you can just cam-call me right?” he said, tapping the small wrist device hidden under his vacuum suit. Joice nodded and Leon pushed off towards the bridge door.
He first hung up his helmet in the airlock before also replacing his suit on the rack. With Sabine’s help, Chad had set up blowers to air the suits out between uses. Leon chuckled a bit as he remembered that conversation. Chad had been complaining about the poor air quality in the lock and had suggested the blowers as a potential solution. Seeing no reason not to give it a try, he had approved the project as long as the blowers were properly maintained, and so far Chad had been diligent with his maintenance. Hanging his somewhat aromatic voidsuit on its rack, he activated the blower and smiled as it began to work on dehumidifying it.
Leon moved out of the airlock into the ship’s core. Gripping the numerous handholds along the walls he pulled himself into the first transfer section where the core connected to the first ring via the long support spokes. He tapped his cams device and pulled up Oliver’s location. The man was on the fifth ring in the aquaponics section. I looked like he was helping Myung at the moment as they were in the same area.
He pulled himself along, the core of the ship was sectioned off every dozen meters with large sealable bulkheads in case the hull became ruptured for any reason. They had the ability to seal off sections of the ship to preserve as much atmosphere as possible.
He reached the fifth segment of the core quickly and began to pull himself along the long ladder that connected the core to the rotating habitat rings. As he pulled himself along he began to notice the now familiar increasing pull of centrifugal force generated by the large rings' slow but measured rotation.
The bearings that attached the ring to the core were a marvel of technology. Developed specifically for space stations and other large voidcraft, they were almost perfectly frictionless which had both the benefits of energy conservation and longevity. The bearings on the Leif Erikson would likely outlast the rest of the ship itself if untampered with.
He reached the base of the ladder quickly, his muscles now quite used to the somewhat arduous climb. His feet hit the soft rubber coated flooring of the ring with a dull thump, his soft soled shoes made specifically for comfort on such surfaces. Sometimes when he wasn't needed on the bridge he would forego the shoes entirely and walk the halls barefoot. The times he was most able to do so seemed to be occurring less frequently lately, but that only made the occasional free day more enjoyable.
He checked his cams device one more time before starting off in the direction it showed him. Oliver was a biochemist, his expertise in toxicology and virology well known among his colleges. Now that he was far from earth his day-to-day job had devolved into more of a maintenance role. But Leon never heard the Australian man complain. He seemed perfectly suited to the work they were doing and tended to efficiently complete tasks he was assigned.
Leon walked to a small airlock, the purpose of which was to help keep the high humidity of the aquaponics inside the room. The doors hissed open as he approached. He waited a second as the inner lock cycled before stepping into the warm and slightly pungent room.
He looked around, everywhere he looked was a confusion of pipes and tanks. Vegetation of many types grew from low ponds and wall mounted hydrostacks. As he walked by one of the larger ponds he glanced inside to see a small school of tilapia swimming together. The small silver fish were grown using the biological refuse from the hydroponics. They were then carefully monitored for any potential illnesses or deformities before being harvested for fresh and tasty protein.
The hydroponics was also used to grow other critters like frogs, catfish and shrimp to name a few. Simple to maintain and full of valuable nutrients. He sometimes found himself wishing they had access to red meat, but cows and pigs were out of the question and other meats like poultry were far too messy to be easily maintained on the ship for such a long mission. So fish and seafood it was.
Leon ducked under a low hanging pipe and brightened as he finally saw Oliver standing with Myung over a section of disassembled pipe.
Myung was speaking slowly, gesturing to the pipe. “Yes but the significance of this algae growth, however slight, indicates a failed filter somewhere along this system.”
Oliver scratched his head and asked “Well, do we know what filtration system this conduit runs off of? I mean, in this mess I would have a hard time finding my own… Oh, mornin Leon.” He trailed off as he noticed Leon approaching before giving a cheerful greeting and a wave in his direction.
Myung crossed her arms and asked “I hope you are not here to try and help too. Are you?”
Leon grinned and waved his real arm at her. “No no, I'm just here to pick up Oliver. I need him for something, if that's alright?”
Oliver seemed to sigh though it was somewhat noisy in the room so he couldn't tell. Myung gave the man a glance and answered “Well, I suppose. But are you alright if I call Joice down here then?”
Leon gave a brisk nod. “She’s on the bridge, but I’ll send her a message that you needed her. Thanks Myung.” He said while typing a quick message to Joice on his cams device.
Myung gave them a distracted wave as they left before turning back to her plumbing issue. Leon led Oliver out of the humid room and into the long curving hall of the ring. As they exited the aquaponics Oliver asked “So, do we know anything new yet?”
Leon shook his head. “Not yet. So far we know the timeframe and product, but we still need to determine motivation and reasoning. That's going to be how we catch them. By determining what it is they are trying to mask.”
Leon’s explanation seemed to make sense to Oliver as the man smiled and added “Plus it helps to know how they got in and out of the infirmary without being detected. That way we can prevent it from happening again.”
They made their way to the nearest ladder spoke and climbed silently to the core before making their way along the microgravity to the second ring’s terminal.
Oliver suddenly asked “Who do you think it is?”
Leon looked at the man, his sandy hair floating free and his face full of genuine curiosity. Leon replied “Who do you want to believe it is?” Oliver frowned. Leon continued “Is there anyone on this ship that doesn't have a reason to dull the pain of life?”
Oliver shrugged as best he could manage in the microgravity. “Well I don't think that…” he began before Leon cut him off.
“No, not at all. And that's the problem Oliver, we need to let go of anything that seems arbitrary. This is important. One of our crewmates, our friends, is hurting. It’s our job to find them and get them the help that they need.” Leon said to the man. Oliver bowed his head and muttered an apology.
“I don't need an apology Oliver. I need your help. You and Dr. Kimathi, come on, let's go.” Leon started up the ladder without another word. He heard Oliver following him up the ladder towards the medical ring. Dr. Kimathi would be in her office or the medical suite if his cams check had been accurate. Sometimes she would hang around the observation deck, but he had already checked for that a few minutes ago.
The semblance of gravity slowly began to reassert itself as he neared the top of the ladder. He had to flip from pulling himself vertically to descending the ladder more conventionally halfway there as the pull of the ring’s rotation became stronger.
Soon both he and Oliver were standing outside Dr. Kimathi’s office. He rapped on the door lightly.
A slightly accented female voice called out “It’s unlocked, you may enter.”
Leon gave Oliver a shrug and tapped the open button causing the metal door to slide open. Inside the room was well furnished. A few chairs along the left side and a genuine wooden desk with a bevy of computer consoles. Behind it sat a slim dark-skinned woman, her hair dark brown and her face creased with worry lines.
Dr. Kimathi stood as she saw them “Hello Leon, Oliver.” she said, saying Oliver's name with the familiar warmth of one who cares for another deeply.
Oliver gave her a wave and replied “Hey Blessing. We are here about that little issue. The one we talked about?” he prodded as she remained silent.
Leon looked back and forth between them and asked “Ok, we all know what's going on then right?” Dr. Kimathi nodded and he continued “Okay. We need to go over the medical lab footage to see if they are sloppy enough to leave any trace of themselves behind.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Oliver asked “But we already checked the footage. It was blank, likely tampered with. How are we going to get anything useful out of it?”
Leon shrugged and said “I'm not really that worried about it. Because in order to scrub the footage they would have had to access a terminal. All we have to do is find who was using a terminal at the exact moment the data was erased and narrow it down.”
Dr. Kimathi nodded her head and said “Yes. That's a great idea. We get a list of everyone who was using a terminal at the time and then interview them one by one. Surely our thief will have a guilty consciousness and will reveal themselves.”
Oliver looked at him and then smiled. Leon slapped him on the shoulder and said “Okay, hop to it Oliver. Make me a list and I will worry about getting them all in here for us to talk too, alright?”
Oliver nodded and said “Yes, right on it captain.” before walking out of the room.
Leon turned to Dr. Kimathi and said “We know it was none of us. I have a prescription that you know I don't use, Oliver is too close to you to lie and you have no need to steal. We will find them doctor, before they hurt themselves. That I promise you.”
She crossed her arms and remarked “You had better. There is no room on this ship for that kind of error, and every second they remain anonymous they can cause irreparable damage to the ship or crew. But I have the utmost confidence in you Leon, you have kept us all on the straight and narrow so far.”
He nodded and walked to the door. “I'm going to check out the medical stocks in the storage wing, to make sure nothing had been tampered with there. You will call me when Oliver returns?” He asked, raising an eyebrow in an inquisitive way.
She nodded and waved him on. Leon left, the door hissing closed behind him as he stood in the ring’s upwards curving hallway. The situation stunk, the whole thing was highly irregular. Everyone on the crew had been vetted before they had been asked to join, they all had good psyche evaluations, no prior histories of drug abuse and rock solid willpower. What could possibly drive one of humanity's finest to such extremes he wondered.
Shaking his head to clear it he started down the gently sloping halfway, walking with the rings rotation made it feel as though he was constantly walking uphill for some reason, his muscles working just so slightly harder.
Soon enough he was standing in front of another door, this one sealed with a code lock. He reached up and punched his code into the door causing the lock to flash from red to amber as it slid open. On the other side the door closed behind him, the lock turning to green to indicate the room was occupied. That way if he was rendered unconscious or otherwise injured, anyone on the crew would be able to access the door to help him. A design feature that he was quite fond of generally, though at the moment it made his checking of the inventory rather conspicuous.
He settled himself down and grabbed a scanner from a nearby crate. Calibrating it he began to check boxes, their contents should be under cryogenic temperature as they were full of delicate medical supplies and medicines that would deteriorate under room temperature like conditions.
The first box he scanned read as antibacterial ointments, the box had been opened three times by Dr. Kimathi who had registered the taken materials in the log. His scanner confirmed the missing material and registered no anomalies in the cryocrate’s contents. Moving on to the next he repeated the procedure. This time the box was labeled as unopened and he double scanned it to be sure that none of the vital contents were missing. It was clear.
He continued on like this for some time, his mind focusing as his world became a whirlwind of printouts and scan checks. Manifests and logs swam through his mind as he continued to check the status of the medical cargo, but his flow was interrupted by a loud sharp noise.
Leon jumped, looking around frantically before realizing it was his cams device trying to get his attention. He chuckled to himself at his overreaction and answered the call.
“Yes? This is Leon?” he said clearly.
A slightly tinny voice emitted from his wrist “Hey this is Oliver. We have the list, come on back.”
Leon stooped and stood up, he cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders. Checking his cams he saw that he had been stooped over boxes cataloging them for the better part of an hour. Replacing the datapad and scanner by the door, he opened a link to Oliver and asked “Took you two long enough. I will be there in just a moment.”
Leon quickly made his way back to Dr. Kimathi’s office and entered covertly, checking both ways to make sure he wasn't being followed. No sense letting anyone else in on the secret that didn't need to be.
Dr. Kimathi and Oliver were behind the desk as he walked in, their heads together and whispers emanating from them in a conspiratorial way. Leon crossed his arms as they looked up at him “Well? What have we got?” he asked them as he walked forwards and sat in one of the padded chairs.
Oliver moved to the side of the desk as Dr. Kimathi leaned forwards and began “Well, not much. But I suppose in this scenario that’s actually quite helpful.” with that she slid her datapad over the desk to him and he snatched it up.
Giving it a quick look he nodded and said “Yeah. Well done, this won't be too hard to narrow down.”
Leon saw them nod and looked back down at the datapad. He rubbed his eyes, at least two of the names on the list stood out to him immediately. Though the reasons were vastly different, he needed to make sure he remained objective on this. There was no room for emotion in such a serious situation.
Turning to Dr. Kimathi Leon said “I think I can hide this under the guise of surprise medical reevaluations, though we are going to have to be careful with our questions. I hate to hide things from the rest of them, but this doesn't need to get out. Especially after the last time we had a breach.”
Oliver nodded seriously and asked “I can run security on this if you want me to. I'll monitor communications to make sure nobody is getting suspicious.”
Leon frowned “Ok then, but keep it light. Last thing I want is everyone thinking we have become a dictatorship or something.” Oliver nodded and Leon grabbed the edge of the desk to haul himself up. He suppressed a groan as his right side flared with phantom pain.
It was over in a moment but that was all it took. He let out a heavy sigh and stood, nothing that Dr. Kimathi was giving him a concerned look he asked her “Hmm? What's the look for doc?”
She shook her head disapprovingly and scolded him “I know how you feel about medication Leon. And don't think for a second that I disapprove of your decision, but I would be less than human if I didn't tell you that I worry about you.” she said tenderly.
Leon shuffled, a bit lost for words. Finally he said “I am just fine Kimathi, really. It’s nothing that I haven't been living with for ages, and I have made it this far right?” he finished with as sincere a smile as he could manage. She frowned, obviously not convinced. But what more could she really do, he had made his choice and as his medical professional she had to respect his decisions.
Leon waved a hand and said “Alright, on another more serious note, I will start calling in the suspects.”
He turned and pulled up the crew datasheet on the datapad before selecting the names from their list. Of the ten crew on the ship that didn't include them, there were four names that fit the time of their medicine thief. He sent them all a message to come to Dr. Kimathi’s office one at a time. He started with the first name that had stood out to him on the list, Natalia.
**********
Leon sat in the far corner of Dr. Kimathi’s office, chin resting on his knuckles as Natalia shot him questioning glances. Natalia was sitting in a chair directly across from Dr. Kimathi and looking a subtle mixture of confused and annoyed.
Natalia asked Dr. Kimathi again “So why am I here really. I have over a decade of experience in psychology and can tell something is bothering you both, more than my basic physical condition that is.” she said hotly.
Leon sighed quietly, of course she would have seen through the thin cover story they had cooked up. She wasn't dumb after all.
Leon waved a hand and said “It’s a matter of great importance Nat. Please, answer her questions, I will explain it all to you later. I promise.” he told her as she turned to look at him.
Natalia narrowed her eyes as if trying to stare through him, she seemed to take his word for it and gave him the smallest of nods. Natalia turned back to Dr. Kimathi, he saw her tense slightly and say “Yes, I did use the prescription you provided me. I took one tablet every two days for three weeks and the marks went away. Now, is there anything else you want me to share or are we quite finished?” she asked a bit snarkily.
Dr. Kimathi shook her head and stood, motioning for Natalia to do the same. “No, that's enough for me to make my determination. Thank you for your cooperation Natalia, and I again apologize for the inconvenience.”
Natalia huffed and turned to leave, but before she reached the door she stopped and turned to face him. Leon stood as well and asked “Are you okay?”
Natalia huffed again and said “I know you do everything for the good of the crew Leon, and that’s one of the things that I love most about you. But would it kill you to trust me a bit every now and then?” and with that she stormed out of the room.
Leon took a step to follow but was stopped by Dr. Kimathi as she barked “Leon, let her go. She will be calmed down in a few hours, you can console her then. But for now we need to keep working.
He gave a solemn nod and sat once more. He tried to make his face as impassive as possible as their next suspect walked into the room. He tried to focus on the dialogue but found his mind wandering, Natalia was a tough woman. That was one of the things he liked about her, so to see her so openly upset she must have a reason. He wondered quietly to himself what might be causing her such distress but was unable to come up with anything cohesive.
He jerked as his thoughts were interrupted by his name being called loudly. Looking around he saw Dr. Kimathi giving him a hard look.
“Leon, were you even paying attention to the last two interviews?” she asked him in an accusatory tone.
Leon coughed as he held up a hand, waving it a bit he said “Shit, I’m sorry doctor. My mind was a runaway maglev it seems and it took my thoughts with it. What did I miss?” he asked her with a bob of his head.
She frowned but didn't say anything else about his lapse in attention. Instead she picked up her datapad and said “Well, neither of them sounded like our mark, that just leaves Aden. I must admit, Aden would probably have been my first choice to interview.”
Leon shook his head “No, he is the most suspect yes. But that’s why it was important he be the last one interviewed. If we had questioned him first and assumed his guilt, then it is possible that the real thief might have gotten off scot-free while simultaneously being alerted to our investigation. The fact that the action was hidden in such a way proves that they knew they were in the wrong and didn't want to get caught.” he said in a rush.
Dr. Kimathi cocked her head at his display of intellectual gymnastics. “I suppose that makes a strange sort of sense, but I still don't think any of the first three were our thief.” She leaned to the side and pressed a command on her cams device. “Oliver, send him in please.” she spoke clearly.
Leon sat back in his chair as the door to the room hissed open and Aden stepped in. The short caramel skinned man looked scruffy, as if he hadn't slept well in a day or more. Immediately Leon wanted to ask him if he had taken the pills, but that would have been unfair. Aden deserved the same benefit of the doubt that everyone else had received.
Aden shuffled across the room, not even seeming to notice him sitting in the corner. Dr. Kimathi leaned forwards and placed her palms flat on her desk. “Are you alright Aden? You look a bit under the weather.” she said to him smoothly.
Aden seemed to flinch slightly and said “Yeah, no yeah. I’m just fine, a little tired is all.” he laughed nervously.
Dr. Kimathi sat back into her chair, the motion causing it to creak slightly. She twiddled her fingers for a second before making a friendly gesture and asking “Well, do you want to talk about it? If you are having trouble sleeping I'm sure I could prescribe you something to help…” she offered but was cut off by Aden.
Leon sat forwards in his chair as the dark-haired man seemed to fidget with his shirt. Aden wiggled a little and then leaned forwards and said cryptically “It's the eyes. Those horrible glowing eyes. They are watching me, they come when I sleep. I can’t sleep, please you have to understand me.” he hissed to her.
Leon sat up straight at that. Horrid glowing eyes? Why did that seem so familiar to him?
Dr. Kimathi asked Aden “Aden, I believe you. But why do the eyes want to watch you? Do you know what they want?”
Aden shook his head “No! But they don't want what's best for me, the hate. The anger. I can feel it oozing into me, the more they watch me the worse it gets. I feel hatred, such hatred as I have never known. Please doctor, I don't want to sleep, but I can't stay awake forever.”
Leon frowned, Aden seemed genuinely upset. And more than a little off his rocker. He was about to speak up when Dr. Kimathi asked Aden “Aden. Look at me, thank you. Aden, you don’t have to stay awake. You can rest, it's just a bad dream. These evil eyes can't hurt you…”
But Aden cut her off. “No! They are real! Ask the captain, Leon saw them too. He saw them before we even left Earth, he told me so himself.”
Leon froze in shock, he saw Dr. Kimathi’s eyes flick over to his, the unspoken question on her face. Aden seemed to notice the lapse in attention and turned to see him in the corner. Aden screeched and threw an accusatory finger at him yelling “He’s here! He is in league with the darkness, he is going to kill us all!”
Leon jumped up out of his seat as Aden threw his chair aside and rushed him snarling. Aden was much smaller than Leon but he hit with the force of a battering ram. Leon grunted as the wind was knocked from his organic lung, his bionic one unaffected by the charge. This left him only partially wheezing and out of breath as Aden came at him again, his fingers curled into claws.
Leon shouted “Aden, get ahold of yourself. Blessing get Oliver in here… Ouch, get him in here now!” he finished with a yell as one of Aden’s fists connected with his jaw.
Aden kicked him in the shin and then made another grab for Leon’s face. Leon cursed himself and threw his right hand into Adens chest open palmed. His cybernetic arm knocked Aden across the room and into the far wall where the smaller man rebounded with a shriek of anger.
Before the crazed man could rise to his feet the front door opened and a redheaded blur threw himself onto Aden in a terrific body slam. Oliver pinned Aden down as Dr. Kimathi approached and applied a sedative to the frantic crewmate.
With a slow sigh Aden stopped thrashing and went still, his eyes closing and his breathing returning to normal.
“Fuck me dead…” Oliver said breathlessly as he stood to his feet. “What was his problem?”
Aden groaned as Leon said “He appears to have had some sort of psychotic breakdown. He was spouting nonsense, then he tried to attack me, did attack me.” Leon said as he rubbed his sore jaw.
Dr. Kimathi patted Oliver on the shoulder and asked “I'll be safe, he is sedated. Would you please head to the infirmary and grab me a stretcher love?”
Oliver nodded and kissed her cheek before moving to the door, he paused once more to make sure Aden was fully out before he left. The door closed behind him with a hiss and Leon prepared himself to answer some awkward questions.
He turned to her and grimaced as he saw she was standing with both arms crossed and a look on her face that could only be described as the look of a disappointed mother.
Leon raised his hands defensively and said “Look, I can explain.”
Dr. Kimathi cut him off and waved a hand for silence. She turned away from him and said “Leon. I don't know if I want to hear it. Whatever your connection to Aden here is, it obviously drove the man mental. How do I know that you aren’t also some sort of ticking bomb? Huh? Tell me why.” she said curtly.
Leon shrugged and answered as honestly as he could, “I don’t know.” She gave him a hard look and he threw his hands up and said louder “Well I don’t!”
She seemed on the verge of administering him a dose of something unpleasant and so he sat heavily in the chair Aden had vacated moments earlier. He gave a sigh and looked at her. “Blessing, I don’t know what I saw. Okay, it was the first day of the expedition, we hadn’t even left the sol system yet and I saw something.” He paused, but she remained silent. A look of judgment plastered across her features that was daring him to lie.
Leon swallowed heavily and said “I saw a shadow. Okay? I saw a shadow move where there was nothing to cast it. Then I thought I saw it again while the boys were exploring the Aori station. Whatever it was, it followed us from home. It was on the ship when it launched, it was on the ship when we discovered the station, and it’s on the ship right now.” he told her.
Dr. Kimathi looked him up and down before moving around her desk and sitting. She tapped her fingers idly upon its glossy surface for a moment before she leaned back and asked “That is quite a story Leon. But how do I know any of it is true? Why should I not treat you for the same psychosis that is affecting Aden?” she leaned forwards in her chair, a dark fire seemed to light in the depths of her dark eyes and Leon shuddered.
This was a side of the normally friendly woman he had never encountered before. If she perceived him as a threat she would not hesitate to deal with him as savagely and as quickly as possible. As a veteran medic of the South African rebellions she had seen true horrors. Nobody could stare into such darkness and not have a stain left on their very soul.
He asked her “That’s all I know, please believe me that I never meant to deceive anyone. I just didn't want to cause a panic. Nothing strikes more fear into the hearts of people than the unknown after all…” he argued, knowing that the argument was a weak one. It was his only card left to play though, and so he played it.
He sat still and waited for her judgment. He was the commander of the ship, his word was law, but Dr. Kimathi was the heart. She kept the people running and in top condition, everyone on the ship had immense respect for the dark skinned Chadian woman.
Finally she leaned forwards and said “Leon. I don't want to hear about this again. Do you understand me? Figure it out, and take care of it if it’s a problem, that's what you do after all isn't it?”
Leon nodded to her silently. She stood and walked around the desk till she was standing at his side. Offering him her arm he gripped it and stood. She looked up into his eyes and asked “What do you think is going on here Leon?”
Leon shook his head and whispered “I don’t know Blessing, I really don’t know.”