Bightmares

Chapter Nine

Emi found herself alone in bed the next morning when the smell of breakfast awoke her. She grabbed a quick sonic shower, and after she emerged, Ford walked in with a steaming cup of coffee for her.

“There’s my girl,” he said, giving her a quick peck. “Everyone’s in the galley, eating breakfast.”

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” she groused.

“We were going to if you hadn’t got up. We wanted to make sure you got as much rest as you could.” His blue eyes darkened with concern. “You’ll figure it out. Don’t panic, sweetheart. It’ll just cloud your judgment.”

When she broke down crying, he enveloped her in his arms. “What if I can’t?” she whispered. “What if those men die because of me?”

“Don’t think like that.” He led her to the galley where the men, including Sam and Gregor, chowed down on eggs, bacon, and what smelled like cinnamon toast. Emi’s stomach, already bound in knots, wouldn’t tolerate anything more than one egg.

Aaron acted unusually quiet and brooding. She didn’t press him, knowing this situation weighed as heavily on him as it did her. She tried to read him and felt a dark cloud of gloom. Since that didn’t help her confidence, she tuned him out.

Emi spent the trip to the surface in quiet contemplation. She had an idea and hoped the governor would go along with her. Aaron wouldn’t be thrilled, but she had to do it.

“I need to wake Dr. Martinez again.”

Aaron shook his head. “Absolutely not. I don’t want you anywhere near him.”

“We’ll take him to their brig. He won’t be in a rage the entire time. You saw him. He was fine for hours. He might be able to help me and Donna figure this out!”

Aaron looked to Gregor and Sam. “What do you think?”

Sam shrugged. “I’m not really thrilled with the idea either. I’m even less thrilled about standing by and watching people die.”

Gregor nodded his agreement. “The three of us can keep her safe. We’ll tether him with the energy shackles. If he rages we’ll just step out of the cell and let him be until he settles down.”

Aaron leaned in and kissed her before he stood to put his protective suit on. “Please, be careful.”

“I will.”

Governor Martinez was more than happy to allow it. Taber helped them move the doctor to a brig cell they emptied. Then they secured him. Taber waited for everyone else to step out of the cell before he gave Dr. Martinez the shot to wake him up.

Dr. Martinez’s blue eyes slowly fluttered open as they filled with confusion. “Where am I?”

Emi stepped forward. “The brig. I’m sorry, but we need to keep you awake. Maybe you can help us figure this out.”

He nodded. His eyes focused on his wife, who stood in the hallway. “Can you all excuse me for a moment? I need to talk to Dr. Hypatia alone.”

Aaron started to protest, but Emi held up a hand. “No, it’s okay. He’s okay. Just keep the cell door open. I’ll run if he rages.”

Taber stepped out as Emi knelt beside the doctor’s bunk. She didn’t dare touch him but sensed his deeper purpose. “What is it?”

His eyes flicked over her shoulder, to everyone watching, then back to her. “I’m a class 1 empath, Dr. Hypatia. And a class 3 clairvoyant. Natural, not trained.” He studied her, his eyes full of unspoken meaning.

Emi silently swore. He knew.

“We have a serious problem, don’t we?” he softly asked.

She nodded.

He glanced over her shoulder, then back to her. “Do they know? Your captain does, I feel it. Do the others?”

“No.”

“How long do we have?”

“ISNC forces will be here in a few days. We have until then.”

He smiled. “Nothing like trying to beat a deadline, huh?” Then his face grew serious. “I worried about this when it first started because I know full well what was in the contract we signed. As a doctor, I know they’re right, that they can’t risk it spreading. But, frankly, I don’t want to die.”

“I know.”

He nodded to the observation window that looked into a conference room. “Can you set up a large display in there? There’s a two-way com. We can go over data together.”

“I’ll get it done right away.”

He nodded and laid his head on the bunk. “Okay. I’ll wait here.” Then he smiled, his blue eyes twinkling with mischief. “I’m a little tied up right now or I’d be a gentleman and help you set things up.”

Emi laughed. She had to save him. All of them.

“Promise me one thing, Dr. Hypatia,” he said.

“Only if you call me Emi.”

“Emi.” He grew serious again. “By whatever means you have to, if we can’t figure this out…” He looked grim. “Drug her if you have to, but get her off this planet if we run out of time. Promise me.”

“I promise. But it won’t come to that.”

“I hope you’re right.”

Within two hours, Dr. Sascha Martinez sat in a chair by the observation window, going over everything point-by-point with Emi and Donna via a three-way com link. He’d waved off his wife’s offer of toast in lieu of chicken broth. He sipped it as he studied the files on the screen.

“I feel like I’m missing something huge,” he said. “Like it’s right in front of us and it’s so freaking obvious that we’re overlooking it.”

“Sascha, we’ve gone over and duplicated your preliminary results,” Donna said. “Water, food, air, ground. Nothing in the samples indicates environmental. There are no abnormal results.”

One of Sascha’s specialties was epidemiology. Of all the people to figure it out, he should be the one. “Did the supply ship crew come back clean?” Emi asked.

“No problems reported,” Donna said.

They all fell quiet for a few minutes, studying the data.

“What’s changed in the last few months?” Donna asked. “Something has changed in your environment. Is it possibly tied in with seafood?”

“No,” Sascha insisted. “Nothing.” He stood and paced, running a hand through his hair. “You have to wake up more men, restrain them, and keep them awake. We need test samples from them while they’re raging.”

Aaron, who sat observing in the corner of the conference room, spoke up. “That’s too dangerous.”

“I know,” Sascha said, “but what if we find different results when someone’s raging? That might be the key. All the samples we’ve gotten have been from unconscious men.”

“I agree,” Donna said. “I think we need to.”

Emi and Aaron stared off. “Agreed,” Emi said. “Now, how do we do it?”

“How many restraints do you have?” Sascha asked with a teasing smile.

With Taber’s help, they picked the last five men infected and moved them into the second brig cell. With arms and legs restrained, they woke them up and waited.

And waited.

Two hours later, the men were sitting up, talking, and no worse for wear.

“We need a different bunch,” Sascha said, sipping more soup. “There’s got to be something.”

“Can we at least get something to eat?” one of the men joked. “I feel like my stomach’s trying to digest itself from the inside out.”

Emi gave orders to the men’s wives, who anxiously hovered nearby, as to what the men could and couldn’t have. Soup, applesauce, broth, nothing heavy. An hour later, the men had eaten and each been allowed a few private—albeit still restrained—minutes with their spouses. By the end of the day, they still had not duplicated the rages in any of the other men.

Emi refused to return to the Tamora Bight that night. “I need to stay here and work on it.” She planted a kiss on the front face shield of Aaron’s protective mask, then wiped the lip prints off. “Kiss the twins for me, okay?”

He didn’t look happy about it, but he gave her a hug and returned to the lander with Gregor and Sam.

Ilse took Emi home with her. Despite the situation, Emi relished her first long, hot water shower since leaving Earth. It was a luxury they didn’t have on the ship, limited to sonic showers when not in a port with abundant natural resources. When she emerged from the shower, she found Ilse sitting at her kitchen counter and staring at the oven. In it, more loaves of bread were baking.

The governor wanly smiled. “It’s my hobby. I love to bake. I figured I’d make some for Sascha’s breakfast in the morning.” She broke down sobbing as Emi hugged her. “I love him so much! I can’t lose him!”

Emi sensed the governor knew more than she let on. Sure enough, she said it. “Special orders were issued, right?”

Emi couldn’t lie to the woman. “Yes. I’m sorry.”

Ilse sat up and wiped her face. “I was afraid of that. I mean, it’s one of the contract terms. As governor, believe me, I know.” She took a deep breath. “I have to have faith. Are you a woman of faith, Doctor?”

Emi smiled. “I have faith we’ll find an answer.”

Ilse nodded. “That’s good enough for me for now.” She let out a harsh laugh. “And considering our chaplain was one of the first infected, it’s not like I can go ask his opinion.”

Sascha was awake when they arrived early the next morning. Taber gave him the breakfast Ilse brought her husband. Today they would try waking up the men again and waiting to see if they would rage. The first batch of five didn’t react after an hour. Emi cleared them to eat. While Taber coordinated their breakfasts, Emi turned to the observation window to talk to Sascha.

He stared at her through the glass, his face blank, eyes narrowed.

“Sascha?”

Ilse stood up, a look of horror on her face. “Oh, no.”

Emi ran for the hallway. “Taber, get ready! Sascha’s going down!”

Taber pushed through the group of women, who’d brought food for their husbands, and met Emi at the cell door.

Sascha screamed at them as he charged the gate, ineffectively bouncing against the energy field holding it shut. Taber aimed the stunner and shot Sascha through the gate. He fell immediately, still conscious but immobile.

As soon as Taber deactivated the gate, Emi raced through and pulled blood samples before Sascha could shake off the stunner’s effect. By the time they left the cell and Taber activated the gate again, Emi’s hands were shaking and sweating as adrenaline surged through her system. She didn’t sedate Sascha, wanting to see what happened if they left him alone to let the rage run its course.

It took nearly an hour for him to fully come out of the rage. During that time, he attempted to destroy everything in his cell. Once he’d calmed, Emi, with backup from Taber, went in and took more samples.

Sascha looked up at her from where he sat on the floor. “How bad was I?”

“Not too bad. Management will send you a bill for the damages,” she teased.

He laughed. “Remind me to bill it to the DSMC as a work-related expense.”

Two of the other men also raged. Emi and Taber got during and after samples from them as well. By the time Aaron, Sam, and Gregor arrived, Emi was ready to leave with her samples to get them to the Braynow Gaston. She climbed inside the lander before the men could even suit up.

“Let’s go. We need to run these to the BG right now.”

Aaron glowered. “We just fucking got here.”

She knew he felt upset about her staying planet-side the night before, but she was too stressed to try to read him past the angry cloud of emotions riding on the surface of his mind. “I’m sorry, Aar, please. This is my job.”

That seemed to snap him out of his funky mood. She sensed his darkness lift. “I’m sorry, babe. Of course it is.” He hugged her tightly, relaxing as she hugged him back. “Let’s get back to the Bight. The twins missed the hell out of you.”

“What about you?”

He smiled. “You’d better believe it. Ford talked my ear off half the night.” He nuzzled her ear and whispered softly enough so the other two men couldn’t hear, “I finally had to make him suck my cock to shut him up.”

They stopped at the Braynow Gaston to drop off the samples and at the Kendall Kant to drop off Gregor and Sam. Emi took a few moments to chat with Donna after the other woman finished sucking face with her newly-returned men.

In their crew’s common area, Donna had set up a command center of sorts. A large wall display held personnel file info on everyone infected. As she touched a picture, the details would zoom into readable proportions.

“Nothing. We’re running out of time,” she said. “Can you upload the colony’s agro-files? Maybe there’s something in the food chain we’re missing, a pesticide or fertilizer or something they’ve been exposed to that’s reacting with something else.”

Emi sent a message to Ilse, who confirmed almost immediately. Within minutes, the data streamed into the three ships’ data banks.

Donna groaned as she stared at her large wall screen, where the files were now displayed. “This’ll take forever to go through. Guess I’m staying up all night.”

Rob wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. “We’ll stay up and help you.”

When Emi looked at Aaron, she suspected his thoughts and amused smirk mirrored her own.

Rob Elloy, tough former ISNC grunt—pussywhipped.

“Let’s get back to the Bight,” Aaron said. “You can coordinate through the com link.”

Fortunately, Emi’s office in sick bay was large enough that she could spread out and study everything they’d compiled so far. Ford walked in with a dinner tray for her while she talked with Sascha and Donna, following up another lead. Preliminary test results from the newest samples still weren’t enlightening.

Ford sat and kept Emi company as she ate and talked with the other two doctors. After she pushed the tray away and kissed him, he stared at her tray.

“You don’t want your bread?”

Two pieces of cinnamon bread were left on the plate. “No, I’m full. Thanks.”

He snagged one and took a bite as he picked up the tray. “I’ll eat them. This stuff is awesome.”

By the middle of the night, Emi, Donna, and Sascha were all falling asleep over the data and no closer to an answer. “Did you even eat, Sascha?” Emi asked. He hadn’t had any more rages.

“I had some chicken soup. My stomach’s still upset from earlier, I guess. I’m not hungry.”

The other men had already gone to sleep for the evening. After getting the earlier rages, Emi decided not to wake any others until they had an idea if it would do any good. “I need sleep. I’ll get with you two first thing in the morning.”

Emi collapsed into their bunk, next to Ford and Caph. Aaron had taken the night watch and would stay on the Bight the next day while Ford went to the surface with Emi, Sam, and Alex Parisi from the BG. Aaron was busy trying to convince the DSMC and ISNC that they needed more time.

Sleep didn’t come easily for Emi despite her exhaustion. When she awoke the next morning, the sweet smell of cinnamon and coffee filled the air. Aaron brought her a breakfast tray before she could get out of bed.

He looked as exhausted as she felt, his brown eyes lined with dark circles.

“Did you get any sleep?” she asked.

“I will. I wanted Ford and Caph to get a full night for a change. I’m going to curl up here with you while you eat.”

She tapped into her sick bay computer from her hand-held and reviewed information while she ate and Aaron dozed. Her appetite surprised her. She finished everything, from her eggs to the bacon and even the cinnamon toast.

She started to wonder where that last menu item came from when Aaron stirred next to her. She set her tray aside and curled up with him. His emotions felt dark, unsettled. When he slipped his arm around her and squeezed her tightly to him, she snuggled with him. Then he kept squeezing.

“Aaron?”

One of his hands skimmed up her side and caught her neck. As his fingers dug into her flesh, she tried to let out a scream but couldn’t as his hand clamped down around her throat, cutting off her air supply.

She struggled, kicking at him, loosening his hold when she caught him in the groin. He grunted in pain. Rolling away from him, she jumped to her feet and screamed for Ford and Caph.

Aaron staggered to his feet and came after her. His normally sweet brown eyes went blank with rage as he lunged.

She managed to get to the com button. “Ford! Caph! Emergency, our quarters, now!”

Seconds later, their cabin door slid open as the two men raced in. Aaron turned and lunged at them, letting out a visceral snarl.

“Holy fuck!” Caph yelled. Catching him, he threw him to the floor. “What the hell?”

Emi, trying and failing to hold back her sobs, bolted for the door. “He’s got the same thing the colonists do! Keep him here, I’ll get a sedative!” She ran for sick bay where she grabbed a hypo and sedative bolus.

When she returned to their quarters, Caph and Ford sat on top of Aaron, who viciously struggled against them. Ford now sported a profusely bleeding cut over his right eye.

She dropped to her knees and jammed the syringe against Aaron’s shoulder. When he went limp a moment later, all three of them sat back.

Wiping at his face, Ford examined the blood on his fingers. “All right,” he said, trying to keep his voice calm, “tell us what the fuck happened?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know how, but he’s got it.” She broke down sobbing as Caph wrapped an arm around her, trying to soothe her. “He fucking has it!”

After she finally composed herself, Caph released her. He turned to Aaron, where he lay sprawled on the floor. With a grim look, Caph carefully slung Aaron over his shoulder. He carried him down to the cargo bay and into the lander, where he secured him with energy shackles. Emi and Ford followed.

“What do we do now?” Ford asked.

Caph stared at Aaron’s prone form. “How long will those drugs take to wear off, babe?”

Still shaken, Emi tried to think. “An hour, maybe a little longer.” She spotted Ford’s wound. “Come on, let me clean you up.” She took him to sick bay while Caph stayed with Aaron.

“Did he at any time not wear a suit?” Ford asked.

“No! He and Sam and Gregor were good about that.”

Ford reached over and punched the sick bay’s com link on the wall to hail the K-2. “Rob, this is Ford. You there?”

“Where the hell else would I be?”

“Listen, smart ass, Aaron has it. How are Sam and Gregor?”

A moment of stunned silence. “What?”

“How are Sam and Gregor? They went planet-side. Aaron’s got it. He just went batshit and attacked us. How are your guys?”

“Holy fuck. Hold on.” More silence, and then he came back. “They’re fine.”

Emi closed her eyes and cried.

“Emi’s got to finish stitching me up, then we’ll be over to get them and head to the surface.”

“What about Aaron?”

Ford’s gaze held Emi.”I don’t know what we’re going to do, but we have to get him to the surface.”

“Why?”

“Dude, we don’t have a brig. I can’t risk having him go batshit up here and tear the joint up.”

She stopped by their quarters to clean up the mess and get dressed. Her breakfast dishes had been scattered during the struggle. Ford changed out of his blood-spattered shirt before helping her swap the sheets. They carried the remains of the dishes to the galley.

She sat at the table where she sobbed with her head on her arms. “What are we going to do?”

He rubbed her shoulders. “You’ll figure it out. You will.”

One of the men had already cleaned up the galley before all hell broke loose. She lifted her head and stared at the counter, which was empty except for the coffeemaker and two loaves of cinnamon bread. Something niggled at her when the com link whistled, distracting her.

“Hey, Ford, it’s John.”

Ford punched the button. “Go ahead.”

“Rob told me what happened. I’ll send one of my guys over to help Caph while you go down.”

“Thanks. Can he stop by the K-2 and pick up Sam and Greg for me?”

“Yeah, no problem. Braynow Gaston out.”

“Solves that problem,” Ford muttered. He sat at the table and took Emi’s hands in his. “Honey, this will be okay.”

She stared into his blue eyes, feeling the comfort he tried to send to her, but she felt something else. His fear.

“What if I can’t?”

He shook his head. “Don’t you dare go there, Emi. You and Donna, you’ll figure it out. I know you will.”

“What if it’s me?” she whispered. “I wasn’t in a suit. I went through decon, but what if he caught it because of me? What if you come down with it, too? And Caph?”

“Stop. Now.” His eyes blazed with emotion. “Put that out of your mind. Work on the solution, not blaming yourself for something that’s not your fault!”

Parisi came over and brought a couple of portable scanners with him that they could take to the planet to speed up the testing procedures. During the trip to the surface, Emi sat in the back of the lander on the floor next to Aaron and kept a hand on his shoulder. With her eyes closed, she focused on his energy, trying to read him. The sedatives were wearing off as Ford touched down on the planet. He shut the lander’s engines off, then opened the port directly to the outside without activating the decon air lock first.

Emi tried to protest, but he shook his head. “If he has it, babe,” he quietly said, “we’ve all been exposed to it. It’s a waste of time and energy to use the protective gear.”

Emi sensed Aaron’s thoughts felt fuzzy and confused as he opened his eyes and looked at her. “What happened?”

She breathed a sigh of relief as she smoothed the hair away from his face. “You’ve got it,” she quietly said.

He closed his eyes again and swore. “Did I hurt you?”

“No.” She kissed him. “You didn’t hurt me.”

“I, however, took a hell of a wallop,” Ford snarked as he helped Aaron sit up.

Aaron’s brown eyes darkened, this time in anguish. “I’m sorry, buddy.”

He kissed him. “Don’t be. It’s not your fault.” He and Emi helped Aaron stand, supporting him as they helped him shuffle in his energy shackles to the small brig.

Aaron leaned in and kissed Emi at the cell’s doorway. Sascha stood at the back of the cell and watched, his face an unreadable mask behind his clear, blue eyes. He still hadn’t had another rage.

“Don’t come into the cell if I’m not restrained, babe,” Aaron told her. “Promise me, no matter what.”

Emi didn’t care if anyone saw her cry. “Okay.”

He touched his forehead to hers. “I love you, babe.” Then he stepped into the cell and waited while Taber removed the energy shackles for him.

Sascha stepped forward to shake hands with him. “Sorry we have to bunk together under such bad conditions, Captain.”

Later that afternoon, Ford called Emi back to the lander. The ISNC forces had emerged from their jump outside the solar system and sent them a message. They would be there in three days and immediately start evacuations.

“I need you to scour the damn manuals for any regs that will buy me time to stall them,” Emi said, fighting the emotional numbness creeping in. She’d brought a bag with her and would stay on the planet from then on until she figured it out. She couldn’t afford to leave.

The answer was there, she knew it. She just needed more time.

Taber and Dr. Shourpa worked with Emi as she performed full examinations of all the men again. Donna still crunched data on the K-2, offering suggestions that Emi could disprove every time.

Frustrated didn’t scratch the surface of her emotions.