Hohmiy came into view as the two ships left the hyperlane. The time passing no longer felt as slow as it did before, now that they weren’t in a race against time anymore. Well, they technically hadn’t been before either, but they hadn’t known that.
Nadine meanwhile had dedicated the entire time since her recovery to her exercises, claiming she needed to compensate for the time she had missed. However, Silgvani assumed that wasn’t the only factor that motivated her to be so adamant about it.
Half a day later, as the planet kept getting closer, Silgvani ordered a com channel to be opened to their escort vessel.
“Onric, there is no need for further protection from here on out. Fly ahead and bring the prisoner to the Calhanar Hospital. She is to be detained and examined there. I will give further instructions to the head physician directly, you just need to get her there and make sure she has no contact with our ship or anyone on board. We can’t risk her getting infected.”
“Understood, Your Highness!” the captain of the Onric affirmed and closed the channel. Through the window, she could see the ship next to them accelerate and slowly change course. That was when Doctor Githaiy stepped next to the princess.
“Your Highness, I finished listing all the samples I would like them to procure from her. It’ll be good to have some healthy tissue to compare to the infected samples.”
“Good. We’ll send them a message as soon as we get in reach.”
“Nadine says she shouldn’t be infectious anymore,” the doctor continued, “but considering we’re talking about a mutation, it would be best not to risk it.”
“Your Highness, if I may,” the acting captain of their current ship raised his voice. “First of all, I apologize if it sounds like I am questioning you, I would never. But I couldn’t help but wonder: Isn’t that Tystrie sentenced to death anyway? What difference does it make if she dies of an illness?”
Silgvani eyed the soldier. Normally, a captain appointed to a ship she was on knew at least some basics of politics, but when they had left the planet in a hurry, they couldn’t afford to get picky about the crew.
“The difference is that there is a proper way of doing things, captain,” she decided to say, refraining from giving a lengthy explanation to someone not versed in the matter. There was also the fact that the High Council hadn’t affirmed her execution yet. That might’ve seemed pedantic considering the current circumstances, but Silgvani highly doubted that the illness had been able to eradicate the Tystrie entirely. There had to be survivors, one way or the other. Planets were big. There also was the potential involvement of the Human ship…
“Say, Doctor,” she began, following a sudden thought. “Is there a scenario where Humans could’ve evacuated the healthy Tystrie without infecting them?”
“Sure,” the doctor affirmed without hesitation. “Two alien species being compatible enough is already highly unlikely, though not unprecedented. But on top of that, a virus jumping species should take WAY longer than a few days of contact, even if the mutation rate is as high as Nadine says. As long as they wouldn’t get the mutated virus on board, the chances of it happening again in such a short time would be astronomically low. If they do get it on board... well, that would depend on their medical skills and equipment.”
That was good to know. This ideal scenario was unfortunately not very likely considering that there had been a lot of indicators that the Tystrie had on top of everything else also been attacked.
Or the attack and the evacuation are somehow connected. And if this “species jump”, as the doctor calls it, really is that unlikely… could there be another factor we’re not aware of? Either way, we need more information.
----------------------------------------
The sun over the harbor town was about to set when their shuttles landed in front of the Star Palace. As soon as the doors opened, Nadine rushed inside and darted toward the east wing. While the doctor oversaw the servants who carried her frozen samples, Silgvani made a call for Mhita to see whether she had missed anything during their absence. However, the head maid didn’t even have the chance to get to her when Nadine already returned.
“Found it,” she gasped with breaths so heavy that they were not just audible to them, but actually quite loud. Silgvani couldn’t help but wonder if this was what their breaths sounded to the small alien all the time, relatively speaking.
In her hands, Nadine held the same red box that Silgvani had seen her procure from the escape pod back on the Star Treader. Now that she looked at it from up close, she noticed a green square with a white cross in it painted in the middle, as well as some symbols at the side. Human letters maybe?
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The doctor joined them and Nadine sat down on the stairs, put the box on her knees, and opened it. Taking a peek inside, the princess saw a lot of strange, flat packages that looked vastly different from anything the Vanaery used, as well as a few other things.
“Okay, let’s see… disinfectant, tape, antibiotics… ah, here! Cold medicine!”
She pulled out one of the items that was so full of tiny letters that almost seemed grey from a distance. She then started reading, but the doctor quickly interrupted her.
“Nadine, I didn’t understand a single word you said after “ingredients”.”
The small alien looked puzzled.
“But shouldn’t… ah, damn it. The translator works with intent, and I don’t have any intent because I have no idea what these words mean.”
“We can still work with this,” the doctor assured her. “I can still analyze it and test how they react to different things. I highly doubt this medicine can be used for other species as it is anyway, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some ingredients turned out toxic to the Tystrie. Or most. But it should be a good starting point. ...also, can I take a look at the other stuff once this matter is resolved?”
"Doctor!" The princess reprimanded her.
“Apologies, your Highness. May I work together with the Royal Research Institute on this?”
“Yes, I will give you a letter of attorney.”
The doctor left for her office. Silgvani couldn’t help but notice that Nadine seemed a bit disheartened by the newest development. Had she hoped for a different result?
At some point during their conversation, Mhita had approached them. Now, with the doctor gone, she spoke up.
“Your Highness? You wanted a report about the occurrences during your absence.”
“Yes. The details can be left for the written report, just limit it to the important issues for now.”
The head maid made an affirming bow.
“Very well. First, there was a message from the head of clan Silpiyne. They were inquiring regarding an offer that was apparently made to their heiress and the heir of clan Reiylar. There is no documentation about such an offer, so I told them I couldn’t give them an answer until you returned.”
“Ah, right, that’s on me,” Nadine chimed in and stood up. Standing on the stairs as she was, she actually was at eye level for once. “That was during my meeting with them. We learned about the attack and left right after, so it kinda got swept under the rug because of that. It was about the idea we discussed, having the heirs of noble clans work here as part of their education, remember?”
“I do remember,” Silgvani affirmed. "So you think these two would be good candidates to test your idea?"
"I do, yes."
“The timing is actually good, with everything we found out, a lot of work will come up. I will have to meet with other alliance members to discuss the issue, the extra hands will be of great help.”
“Not that we would need them if commoners doing government work wouldn’t be such an issue,” the alien girl quietly mumbled. And, well, she wasn't wrong. Silgvani hadn't heard of clan Reiylar for a while now despite them holding the rank of duke. The princess took a moment to dig through her memory, then she recalled the news about the accident.
"Wait, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't heir of clan Reiylar lose his eyesight when the previous duke and duchess died?"
Nadine blinked.
"I don't know... they didn't talk about how it happened, but yes, he is blind. But I still think we should make the offer to him. I have some ideas."
Silgvani cocked her head.
"I don't want to sound like I'm dismissing your proposal outright, but you must be aware-"
“I am. And the rest I can guess.” Nadine paused and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, I know I sound selfish. But when I saw him… I was reminded of… back on Earth…”
She stopped, seemingly having trouble putting her thoughts into words.
“What I’m trying to say is: I believe we can make this work. Can you trust me on this?”
"Are you sure now is the best time for this?"
Nadine didn’t answer immediately, giving Silgvani a moment to think about the matter as well.
The issue wasn’t just the prejudice of the other high-ranking noble clans, the matter at hand was also highly unusual, to say the least. Then again, Nadine seemed passionate about this for some reason. And considering the effects the current situation had on her mental state… maybe having something to take care of would be good for her. And the small alien did have some very useful ideas in the past. Additionally, if Nadine was involved with him directly, there wouldn’t be much of Silgvani’s time lost should whatever she was planning not work.
"Well..." Nadine ultimately said, "maybe not the best, but I still think we should."
“Very well. But I can't really afford many experiments right now. Therefore, you will be the one responsible for him.”
The Human hesitated for a moment before answering with a determined nod.
“Alright. Mhita, schedule a meeting with clan Silpiyne so we can discuss the matter.”
“At once, your Highness. Speaking of the alliance, the messenger you sent to Ikltas returned. The Krahwol wish to meet with you as well.”
That also fitted well. Informing the other alliance members about the situation on Eroas would take time, so it would be good if they could bridge that by getting one of the meetings done early.
“Lastly, His and Her Majesty sent word earlier today. They say that, and I quote, now that the matter with the Tystire is resolved, they can return to more pleasant topics, so they wish to talk. In person.”
Silgvani sighed.
“Those two are really the only people who would call this matter “resolved”. How do they even know about it already?”
“Maybe the other ship told them?” Nadine suggested. Right, that would be plausible.
“Alright, fine. There are more pressing matters, but they won’t care about that. I guess this was due sooner or later, we didn’t have much interaction recently. Might as well get this over with. Will they visit or do they expect me to come?”
“My apologies, Your Highness, it seems my phrasing was misleading,” Mhita said with a bow. “They wish to talk to both of you.”