Chasing the Cure and Other Stories

Chasing the Cure

"I'm not aware of any Dr. Montgometry from Princeton back then. If that is what he said, he had not made any follow-up reports."

I couldn't help but wonder if it was because I had gotten tired of waiting and decided to climb aboard this ship. I was pretty sure I had left him enough skin and tissue samples to work with. Well, he's a thing of the past now. I had no energy left to feel anything for him, not even after a year of sleep.

"Alright, fine. What do you think is the likelihood that a cure's found in the next fifty years?"

"It's difficult to say. There aren't a lot of subjects available for study. I would advise that you come back to Earth so that we can take a look at you again... Excuse me."

There was a noise that seemed to be coming from outside her window, like a person yelling on a megaphone. It was impossible to catch all that they were saying, but I did get the words 'Eurasian Bloc' and 'Aggression'. Dr. Arbaury got up from her chair to close her window, the shadowy megastructure vanishing off her display shelf as she did so.

"The Eurasian Bloc? Is there going to be another war?" I asked once she had returned.

"Hopefully not. Our leaders are trying to quell the situation peacefully, though some hardliners are hoping for a more aggressive stance. Anyway, I think you should come back to Earth or at least leave us some samples to work with. Give us another data point so we can help you more effectively! I promise you will be taken seriously this time."

I would be a data point. I remember those from science class; the insect with the larger thorax and the fish with the brighter scales. The promise of being taken seriously had been given to me by no less than five professionals, one of them being Dr. Montgomery. I know all too well about being the anomaly. It was much easier to write me off as an explainable error than find the explanation.

"I'll send down some skin and tissue to work with. I won't be writhing in agony any more than is necessary. "

Back in the dining hall, there was a cacophony of piercing cries and rambunctious yells. I was greeted with a scene of pure jubilation; people were hugging, laughing, kissing, and crying.

"They've cured cancer!" yelled a woman as I walked in.

That was the reason why nearly eighty percent of us went on this trip. I was going to get a new set of shipmates the next day, probably a smaller batch as well.

What the heck. It may have been only one ship year, and we had spent most of it asleep, but we did all embark on a journey of hope together. I decided to be happy for them, maybe share some smiles, and wish them the best in this new world. I had really wanted to stay for the cake, but my itches had begun acting up again. The explosion of insect bites and electric shocks through my body made it feel like my nerves were being ripped to shreds. I had to take my leave and my medicine as these people celebrated a new life with new friendships, ones that I would never be a part of.

It was time to move the clock forward, and roll my second die.

***

Even in the age of Faster-Than-Light speeds, cryonics has continued to elude us. The freezing of a live human body is a sure death sentence even on the best of days. Instead, we have induced hibernation; similar to cryonics but closer to sleep than death. It has the downside of a very limited run-time; just one year, and it doesn't halt the progress of the disease, only slow it. Fortunately, some scientists thought of combining this with time-dilation, and that was how the Cure Chaser program was born.

My second awakening experience was markedly different from the first. I didn't feel the drowning sensation, in fact, I didn't feel anything at all. I did not see my half-naked body in the glass, nor did I feel the ghostly parasites crawling under my skin. Instead, I was in my childhood bedroom; a disembodied consciousness observing a world I had ran away from. I saw a six-year-old version of myself sitting on my bed. My hands were clawing through my pajamas, and occasionally they would palm at my stomach and chest. I was trying to chase out the crawlies that were living in me, the ones that doctors told me weren't real. I watched as I slapped my thighs in frustration, a frown that was too old for me formed on my face. It was a dark feeling knowing that my condition would only get worse from here.