Chapter 4: Medical Emergency

Nykkyo switched off his laptop computer and packed it into his case. Seymor poked his head through the door. “You’re still here — good. Nyk, I just received a panicked call from Grynnya. She has an emergency and needs help.”

“What sort of emergency?”

“A medical emergency. One of our agents checked in with her, sick. She needs help transporting him to the homeworld for treatment.”

“Floran Agents aren’t supposed to get sick,” Nyk replied.

“Exactly. Grynnya thinks this is a serious enough problem she wants to transport him tonight. She asked me to authorize you to use the bubble shuttle.”

“Use the bubble shuttle? With the City on full alert?”

“I know it’s a risk, but Grynnya believes he won’t last ‘til morning without treatment.”

“I don’t know how quickly I could arrange a flight. How do you feel about me taking the bubble shuttle to Kansas City?”

“We do what’s necessary, Nyk. Why don’t we grab some dinner? You can come by my apartment and take off as soon as it’s dark enough.”

“It’s January — it should be dark enough already. Okay, Seymor — I’ll be right along. I need to make a phone call.” He picked up the phone and punched in a number. “Yasuko — it’s Nick. I’m really sorry, but I’ve been called out of town on an emergency. I’ll probably be gone a couple of days. I’ll call ... Thanks, Yasuko.”

Nyk stood on the roof of Seymor’s apartment building. Seymor stepped through the sliding glass doors from his penthouse. “Any suggestions?” Nyk asked.

“Activate countermeasures before you take off. Don’t bother with the rotors — they’ll just slow you down. Get up and out of New York airspace as fast as possible and hope no one spots you.”

Nyk nodded. He climbed into the cockpit of the shuttle, designed to resemble a two- man Earth helicopter. Seymor gave Nyk the two-finger Floran salute. He powered up the craft, activated counter measures and computed a ballistic trajectory to Kansas City that would take him there in about thirty minutes.

The bubble shot into the sky and through a low overcast. Within a few minutes he was seeing stars. Watching his control panel, he corrected his course and began his reentry and descent, landing in the back yard of a ranch house outside Kansas City.

He rapped on the door. Grynnya greeted him wearing latex gloves and a surgical mask, her greying dark-blond hair tied in a ponytail. She handed him a mask and gloves. “You’d better don these before coming inside.”

Nyk put on the mask and slipped his hands into the gloves. He followed Grynnya into her guest room. On the bed lay a young man. His face was covered with blotches, and he was only semi- coherent.

“It’s Marxo Wellans,” Nyk exclaimed. “He’s the Agent in our Scottsdale operation. What’s he got?”

“I have no idea,” Grynnya replied. “He showed up on my doorstep earlier today complaining of a cough and fever. Florans are supposed to report to me if they contract an illness. He said he flew in.”

“From Scottsdale?”

She nodded. “He arrived about two in the afternoon. His condition has deteriorated since then.”

“He walked in with a cough and now he’s like this?”

“That’s right.”

“Let’s try giving him some of the decontamination serum. Maybe it’ll knock out what he has.”

“Been there — done that,” Grynnya replied. “It had no effect.”

“But — it contains a broad-spectrum bioagent.”

“That bioagent is only effective against bacterial infections. I think he has a virus.”

“The decontamination serum works against viruses.”

“Each virus requires a specific antibody. The serum contains an antibody cocktail.”

“You mean of those we know.”

She nodded. “So, this must be a virus we’ve never encountered. It also contains an immune-system booster, to stimulate production of new antibodies. It ought to knock out anything. It didn’t.”

“Perhaps his immune system is overwhelmed,” Nyk said.

“Or compromised.”

“So, what do we do?”

“Help me load him into my shuttlecar, and we’ll hightail it to the relay station. You can follow in the bubble. We’ll put him into stasis, there. I’ve made arrangements for a deep- space shuttle to pick him up and take him to Floran. I’d like it if you’d accompany him. As you can imagine, I have a major decontamination project here.”

“Shall we take him to the clinic on Floran?”

She shook her head. “Not with an infection like this. The ExoAgency maintains a high- containment ward at headquarters in Government Center. We’ll treat him there.” She shook her head again. “It’s been many years since we’ve had to use it.”

“Do we have a medic on call?”

She shook her head. “We’ll need to find one.”

“I’ll call my friend Aahhn.”

Nyk approached the bed. “Marxo ... Marxo ... can you stand?”

Marxo moaned.

“Come on — we’re taking you home. Try to stand.” Nyk supported him. “Try to sit, then.”

Grynnya brought a blanket. “Wrap him in this. It’s cold outside.”

Nyk draped the blanket over Marxo’s shoulders. “Good — here we go.”

With Grynnya on Marxo’s right, Nyk lifted him to a standing position. “Let’s walk ... that’s it...”

They led him to the shuttlecar. Nyk helped him sit in the passenger seat and fastened his restraint.

“Follow me up in the bubble,” Grynnya shouted as she climbed in.

The bubble emerged from the subjump near the relay station. He could see Grynnya’s shuttlecar in stationkeeping by the shuttlebay spacedoor. He maneuvered behind her. The door opened and Grynnya proceeded inside. Nyk followed and parked the bubble in an adjacent stall. The bay began to pressurize.