uninvited

chapter eight

       Her look let Julian know just how screwed she thought they were, then she stepped on as well.

       The inside was lit up in a blue light.  Every surface was stainless steel.  The long-haired woman sat in a chair that raised up out of the floor, then a table appeared at the same time a door appeared to the left of them.

       A tall thin man walked in.  The only difference between him and the woman was his hair was short.

       "Name, if you please."

       "Jess.  Jessalynn Williams."

       "Very good.  Age seventeen.  Immune.  Not carrying the virus.  How nice.  You appear quite healthy.  Is this your brother?"

       Jess looked at Julian.  "Boyfriend."

       "Touch the tip and count to five, if it pleases you."

       "Name, sir?"

       "Julian Cross."

       "Also, seventeen."  She touched the table a few times.  "You are infected.  Early stages.  I see an abnormality.  Would you consent to a scan?"

       "Yes."

       Jess felt her world slipping away.  "Are you saying he's sick?"

       "He is.  The other humans I have spoken to believe that this virus has just happened, but that is far from true.  The virus laid dormant inside of us for months.  In your planet's case, years.  We are still looking into what awakens it."

       He is.  She couldn't think beyond those words.

       Julian squeezed her hand.

       "The girl child?"

       He had to answer for her.  "Meline Williams.  They're sisters."

       "I can see that.  She is in the very last stage.  Next?"

       They were all sick but her.  She could lose all of them.

       "Sarah Cudd.  Their aunt."

       "Aunt?  Meaning the mother's sister, correct?  She is carrying.  Fetus only ten weeks.  Now, if you will follow me."

       The door they walked through earlier opened again but this time it didn't lead outside, it led to a stainless-steel hallway.

       "A baby?  Will.... will it be okay?"

       The woman looked at Julian and her, then at their joint hands.  "Dezrick, can you give me the definition of boyfriend?"

       "For these humans, it is a stage before mating.  A frequent or favorite male.  A companion."
        "The cure will only take a moment.  Even now you are being tested to make sure there will not be any complications or any unknown issues.  By tomorrow they will feel better.  By the next day, able to eat certain foods.  Human Jessalynn, your parents have passed on, have they not?"

       "Yes."

       "State their names, if you please."

       "Charlotte Williams.  I don't have a father."

       The woman stopped and turn towards them.  "I was under the understanding that humans had to have a mother and father to be conceived.  Is this incorrect?"

       "No.  That's the way it's done but conception does not make one a father."

       "Dezrick?"