Liana's Ship (#ONC 2021)

13. Zan: Waiting

The toxins in her bloodstream were almost undetectable. Would it be safe to bring herself out of her induced coma?

No, one more night under sedation, another shot of antitoxin. It was best to be safe.

In the deep sleep of sedation, Liana had no idea how fortunate she was, how close she was to death. How could she have been so stupid?

It was my fault, I kept her uninformed, viewing her as nothing more than a nuisance. To be kept out of the way until she could be sent home. Never considering once she would actually go into the observation deck. The area had been abandoned for rotations, ever since we found signs of the all too familiar fungal bodies. Now it appeared we hadn’t given enough warnings, relying on the scions to steer away curious visitors. Something had failed, when I got to the deck none of them were present. Nothing except the toxin sensors alarming out. Thank the red sun that they did. It was the only thing that led me to Liana, an hour or so later…

I couldn’t think of that outcome.

I didn’t leave her side for three rotations. I slept in the temporary bed (always in my lab for overrunning trials or critical points in the experiments) next to the decontamination tube, ready to top up the antitoxin at a moment's notice. If the anxiety didn't keep me awake, then the guilt never failed. In addition to those feelings, my arm hurt from the injections of antitoxin I had self administered. An unfortunate but necessary precaution. My hazard suit guarded me from the poisonous spores to a certain extent, only a foolish being would leave it at that. If you gave a pathogen even a miniscule gap in your armour, then they would find a way through. The needle hurt worse than a bzba bite but was preferable to the alternative.  I'd seen too many people die in my life, the pathogen that destroyed Xeran and plantlife, a cure was found for us but plants could fight back, for a while. Bioships closed off the infections, it worked for a while but eventually.

It was close to that point in Thera now. The human in the tube confirmed that. 

I prepared the bioglass syringe to inject her, the almost unnecessary last dose of antitoxin. On injection, her vital signs rose as the medicine took effect before they slowed to a resting rate. I hoped she would sleep until morning, buying a little time to consider how much I needed to inform her. The urge to ask Thera to make a small ship, one slightly bigger than an escape pod but thick enough to withstand the heat of entering Earth’s atmosphere was tempting. I could get her off Thera and she would not be any the wiser. That was, if Thera wasn’t too infected to make one. If she was, she would lose the ability to grow parts. If she was too far gone she would lose the ability to think.

Maybe it was already past that stage? After all,Thera hadn’t warned her away, used pheromones to change her emotions. If Thera didn't do that then, how bad was the situation?

Only Betalaina could answer that. Cursed scion she was. 

I couldn't find her, I suspected she was hiding in the walls, afraid of the consequences. She wasn’t the only one.

“Liana,” I said to her, “I don’t know how you came to be on here, who sent you or what you think is going on, but you deserve to know the truth.”

I dry swallowed, “there is no programme and the ship is dying, I’m sorry.”  

If she heard I wouldn’t know. I knew hearing was the last sense to go. If she remembered it would be nothing but a bad dream. Yes, I admitted it to her, I designed the dating programme. It was a ruse to keep me away from my family and out of the way. Now I had to tell her again when she woke up.

********

We had contacted Earth a while ago looking to trade. Fertile rot free ground to propagate ships in exchange for our technology. The eba trees absorbed the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a slight manipulation of genes made them able to withstand the light from the yellow sun. After that, the government assumed it would be easy to convince them to grow the ships. How naïve they were, a few rumours on their communication systems and humans protested. I couldn’t believe how disinformation led to rejection. “No Triffids on Earth!” I read a protest sign saying that on an Earth news video. Message received, we reduced our contact, we nearly considered leaving but the revelation we shared 99% genetic material with humans made me stay. I had planned to sail Thera to a spaceport and find work there before then. I had no intention of returning to the mothership for Thera’s sake as much as my own.Thera would be left to rot at best and at worst, spread the rot to the whole place, dooming my people.

So I stayed in the hope that maybe a pilot could be found in spite of the odds. I needed to fabricate a reason, hence the programme. I had no doubt that it was the only way to get the pods open. Despite the experiments to open them artificially, I knew deep down this was the only way.

No one had formed a pairing to open them for over a hundred years. Few had the ability to be a pilot. It had been bred out, there had been no need. "It was short sighted of us," I said to the unconscious woman, expecting no answer in return, "how can I call you short sighted as a race, when we have been guilty of the same thing?"

The strange colour of her skin. I studied it during the long nights. This strange skin, so unlike my own. There were brown spots dotted over her arms in intricate patterns. This woman must have been revered back on her home planet, why was she on the programme? Her hair was the most amazing part of her, red like my homeland's sun setting during the dust season, I loved it. I stopped myself. It was not appropriate to study an unconscious patient, other than vital signs, I should stay professional.

Maybe I would have initiated the dating ritual when she woke up? 

I would humiliate myself when I made the inevitable misstep. 

And seal our fate. I had to initiate courtship and this woman was my only chance. She was the only one left.

 I steal one last glance, maybe I wouldn’t fail this time?

I was so engrossed in my thoughts I hadn’t heard Betalaina until she was standing behind me. The Scion had finally arrived, so she had formed a guilty conscience.

"I hope by the red sun you have an explanation for this error." I said to her, after a pause.