Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 3

Contamination

"Adam!"

That was krill's voice on the other side, he was sure.

This was his chance to explain himself coherently. Goodness knew that he hadn't been doing such a great job at that."

"Krill!."

Outside the door he thought he heard the sound of other voices muttering.

"I'm here Adam, now tell me what's going on." Krill had his hostage negotiator voice on, or more like his dealing with children voice. He used that a lot when he was talking to Adam, and on most days he would find it funny.

Not today.

"I need you to listen to me very carefully doctor." He said pulling the sleeve of his shirt down over his arm.

"I'm listening, just tell me what is going on."

"Before you do anything else, I need you to cut of ventilation to this room, tell the men on the bridge to seal my sector completely, nothing can get out of this room until.... Until its over."

"Adam I know you think you're making sense, but you aren't. If we shut off ventilation to that you you suffocate, and that isn't soemthing we are likely to do especially not when you aren't talking to us."

Adam gritted his teeth, "The Specimen, Krill. I am the vector. The reason that we have been seeing it on earth, on Anin near my family and friends is because I am the one spreading it. I must have been infected when I first touched the thing, and now its spreading from me. Its probably too late now, but no one else is showing symptoms. I need you to call the GA and the UNSC and lock it down, I don't care what you have to do. Get the entire crew tested for it. I am not sure how the damn thing spreads, but I'm not taking any chances." He itched at his arm, his insides crawling though he didn't know if that was a feeling conjured up by his mind or not.

"Did Kazna tell you this." This time it was Sunny speaking, and her voice was thick. She was doing her best to stay calm, but it wasn't easy. He could hardly blame her, and he felt bad.

She had gotten to see her father again.

This should have been a happy day for her, and now he had gone and ruined it.

He had ruined everything.

He chided himself internally and took a few more slow, deep breaths. Beating himself up over soemthing he couldn't change wasn't going to help anyone, if there was anything he had learned over the past few years.

"It's inside me Krill, and you've seen what that thing can do when it spreads, how fast it grows. The others aren't showing symptoms so I think they might be ok, but I wasn't showing symptoms for the longest time either. The only way to fix this is to cut off circulation to this room, and then bio wipe it when it's all over."

"Adam, you know we can't do what we are asking you to do."

"We wont!" Sunny added

Adam clenched his fists in frustration, "This isn't a polite suggestion. That's an ORDER. As acting fleet admiral of the UNSC I order you to cut off ventilation to this room."

There was silence outside, "With all due respect, Admiral." It was a new voice this time.

Dr. Adric?

"The UNSC manual allows crewmembers to go against the direct orders of a commanding officer if there is evidence that the commanding officer isn't in his right state of mind."

Bastard shrink

"Dr Adric I swear I am as mentally able as I have ever been. Just because you don't like what I am saying doesn't make me mentally unstable." He continued to itch at his arm teeth gritted, "If you disobey my orders, you would be committing a mutiny."