He pushed his way through the clamor, past white coated doctors, and blue scrub wearing nurses, all intermingling with a multitude of alien lifeforms, listening in on their conversations as he passed trying to force his way out and into the front lobby area. All around him quarantine popup bubbles sat next to attached DECOM units. Humans and aliens alike huddled clustered together wearing level A HAZMAT gear/ Holo popups from hospitals on all major colonies and planets were scattered in clusters around the room as doctors talked to each other across thousands of lightyears in real time.
It was impressive.
It wasn't enough.
Dr Krill forced his way past a group of doctors.
"The testing kits just arrived." One of the off-station humans was saying through the holo feed, "We have at least two likely cases and four more suspected. The symptoms are extremely variable, so we aren't sure how to proceed."
The doctors were nodding, "Remember, the testing kits have a higher rate of accuracy on alien lifeforms, with humans they tend to throw false positives, so if there is any question, make sure to test again."
That, at least, was true. The test for the strain of unknown alien disease was now being called Variable Acute Onset Malignant Neoplasm. It wasn't a pretty name, or even a very accurate one considering that unusual bone growth wasn't even one of the major symptoms in most cases and varied so widely from person to person that no one would have assumed it was the same disease if extensive testing hadn't been able to detect it in target patients.
Most people had just fallen to calling it: Habitation, or The Habitation, which Krill liked even less as that made it sound both intimidating and even less accurate. They were trying to cure a disease not Insight a panic. Either way that hadn't helped much, news of The "Habitation" had spread around the known universe on a wave of sudden lockdowns and quarantines that had led to mass panicking and riots in certain cases.
The good news was that, as far as Krill could tell, it wasn't as transmissible as they had first assumed, and was most common.
Ammon government officials.
Which was in some ways ironic and other parts concerning.
The chairwoman of the Galactic Assembly had tested positive only a few days ago and had been brought to the facility for further treatment. As of yet, she was showing only minimal signs of infection, and was in high spirits. Predictably, most of the crew had contracted the disease, though not all of them: a mystery that krill was attempting to unravel.
Krill cursed as he almost snagged his HAZMAT suit on a protruding doctor.
If his suit tore, it would be bad for everyone.
Mostly because he had been one of the first to test positive. Yet, despite that, he knew he had to keep working. Out of everyone In the universe, he knew that he was their only chance of finding a cure. Coming from anyone else that might have been pretentious but coming from Krill it was simply a fact.
Krill had never been sick before, it was an odd thought to consider, but he was immune to most alien diseases as his genetic signature was more similar to plants than it was to animals, which other aliens tended to be, not to mention that the Vrul home world kept a tight leash on their own illnesses to the point of terminating anyone who might be considered a vector.
It was a little known fact that Vrul cities had been built in response to the most virulent and concerning sickness in the galaxy, and perhaps the only on that Vrul really had to fear, but even so he had never had many personal experiences with illness.
His thoughts?
Not recommended.
So far he only had a few symptoms , the primary one being a constant buzzing in his antennae, and on and off hazy vision, which was wildly inconvenient, but not soemthing he couldn't work past . Otherwise he felt mostly fine.
He finally managed to push his way out through the crowd of people and into the main atrium.
Krill didn't want to be here, but they had called for him specifically.
His surprise almost outweighed his annoyance when he saw who was waiting for him in the main hall.
Two figures floated patiently at the center of the room, and based on their body language, not that krill was an expert, he couldn't help but assume they were having some sort of cordial non-conversation that included, but was not limited to, the curious examination of each other's limbs.
As he approached the Lumin and the Mike turned to look at him.
Or he thought they did.
The Mike did for sure but the Lumin didn't really have eyes as Krill understood them, but it was facing in his direction, tentacles undulating slowly beneath it as if it was feeling the air currents.
Both lumin and Mikes Responded to light, though in different ways. As far as he knew the Lumin exclusively saw through a mix of thermal and infrared, while the Mikes could see onto the visual spectrum and used different colored light to communicate with each other. Both creatures floated, and both were potentially some of the most pleasant creatures that Krill had ever met.
The past few months researchers had been developing the translation equipment to better understand their way of speaking, due to peace talks with the galactic assembly, both of which had been put on hold due to the disease manifestation.
It was a pity because both groups had seemed eager to join, and were only a few formalities away from being part of the assembly themselves.
"Greetings." Krill said, trying to keep cordial, "I was told you were asking for me."
Lights blinked up and down the Mike's body, and the Lumin's radio receptors began to buzz filling the air with it's static voice only momentarily before the translation equipment hummed to life replacing their voices and the blinking lights with two voices.
The voice being used for the Mike was a pleasant Male voice, soft spoken but upbeat, while the voice for the lumin was non gender specific but also still pleasant.
"We have come to offer our services to your medical staff."
That surprised him, but not in a bad way. Both mikes and Lumin were known to be highly advanced, maybe more so than the Rundi, but less than the Celzex though no one was sure if that was simply a lack of drive rather than lack of ability.
"I will have to screen you." He said, "Let me begin with a few questions. Have either of you been in direct contact with Admiral Adam Vir or the crew of the omen."
"We have." Said the mike
"Are you feeling at all strange or ill today?" Krill wondered, Pulling the detection device from the front of his suit.
"No we are feeling well." The Lumin said, answering for both of them.
Please hold out an appendage for tissue sampling."
Both did as told, and krill took samples running them through the reader.
Negative.
That was odd.
Most people who Admiral Vir had had direct contact with had tested positive. His entire extended family was under quarantine on earth, as were all of the Neospartans, the Bramble deputies, and others.
He would have assumed similarly with these two if they had been in direct contact.
"Very well, your services are accepted, and you may continue to the intake area for briefing. I am afraid I cannot join you at this time."
The two agreed and floated off towards intake.
Krill turned back towards the open hallway and to his work
All around him eyes stared out from inside their bubbles in various stages of consciousness as the Habitation ran through their symptoms, some worse than others.
As he passed towards the end of the hallway, a familiar face pressed a hand against the plastic sheeting of his quarantine bubble.
Ramirez smiled at him from inside.
"Feeling alright Doc?" As usual he was in high spirits despite what was going on around him.
"Doing alright Ramirez." Krill stopped to look at him, "And how are you feeling?"
"Ok I guess." The marine shifted uncomfortably.
Ramirez was mostly symptom free despite for the failing function of his one and only kidney. When he pulled up the back of his gown to expose skin, little veins of pulsing orange light followed the veins up his lower back and congregated in a pattern of webs around the bullet wound scar before plunging into his tissue towards the aforementioned kidney.
He wasn't in renal failure as of yet, but it's function was sub optimal leading him to a permanent catheter for the time being, a fact which he had not been enthused about.
Otherwise he was fine.
Across from him Maverick sat in her own cubicle on the edge of the bed.
Little veins of orange light was easily visible through her pale skin branching through the delicate veins around her eyes, spidering their way down her neck and into her shoulder. The effect was very creepy, especially in the dark when her veins glowed and pulsed around her eyes and shoulder turning her into an unsettling and unknown creature in the half darkness.
When asked why the Habitation would congregate around those areas she indicated that she had received eye surgery at some point in the past, as well as dislocated her shoulder when she was young leading to an old and poorly healed injury.
Krill wondered why none of this had been on her medical records, and she had grudgingly admitted that the surgery had been preformed illegally, and the dislocated shoulder had not been properly treated. He had not been pleased.
In the next cubicle up, Sunny lay flat on her back inside her cubicle atop the medical cot.
Though connective tissue hid much of her bare skin, Krill could still see the light, following in those pulsing orange veins up her arms and into her joint mostly her knees and elbows, but they were also visible along her spine. They also encircled her mechanical eye, which Krill often forgot existed.
The pattern had become apparent to Krill within the first few days of symptoms beginning to show.
The habitation congregated in areas of the body that were already weak or injured.
Sunny had a genetic condition that affected her growth plates, and joints, Ramirez had had his kidney replaced, maverick had eye surgery and old injuries.
And they weren't even the worst.
Lord Celex was experiencing heart trouble again, and Thomas.....
Well Thomas wasn't doing so well.
After years and years of hard drug use, his body had taken a beating, his heart and nerves were an absolute lattice of pulsing orang veins, and he WAS indicating symptoms of abnormal bone growth.
Across from him Simon was suffering as well, much of the veins congregating around her head, but also around her chest and lower abdomen where she had also received surgery in the past.
She was also experiencing pain, as was Thomas.
Ramirez didn't feel pain but his kidney didn't work.
Sunny reported discomfort including stiffness and reduced range of motion.
Maverick said her shoulder throbbed a bit, but otherwise she had no complaints.
Both Lord Celex and Thomas had extra dermal pacemakers to shock their hearts back into regular rhythm.
But then, there were those testing positive who had absolutely no symptoms at all.
Krill himself had symptoms that were only negligible, as did Lord Avex, Nairobi, and Dr. Katie, who had no other symptoms than her eyes tended towards pulsing veins of orange.
That made sense with her use of glasses,, though she was only mildly myopic.
Then there were more concerning cases.
Etium for example.
Hovering close to death, bone growths attempting to sprout from every inch of his unprotected skull.
It was the worst in him but it was evident in Simon Thomas, and Kanan.
All of whom were listed as some of Dr. Adric's clients.
Dr Adric was also showing no indication of infection despite testing positive.
It made sense logically though not medically, and Krill didn't like it.
He made it to the end of the hall where the last and largest cubicle sat partially in the dark for the convenience of it's occupant, who was further along than any of the others.
Adam Vir lay on his back on one of the only readily available hospital beds. Despite his height at six foot two, the flower printed medical gown somehow managed to make him look small. His mechanical leg and eye had been discarded one of them lying next to the bed and the other resting on the table.
Veins of pulsing orange red light beat in time with his heart congregating heavily in the stump of his leg before branching up his thigh.
Those same veins were apparent around his missing eye, and the numerous scars on his torso, arms and hands.
He glowed like a dull night light in the dark.
And what was worse.
He had entered a stage of accelerated cortisol production as a stress reaction.
And all the hair that had grown since he got here, was growing in white.
All of it.
He lay curled up shivering.
Despite the warm glow from inside his body he reported being cold, when he could report anything at all. He had difficulty speaking, as a result of confusion and difficulty concentrating, and moving was an issue as well. He said wearing the prosthetics hurt his leg and eye. Unlike the others he was beginning to show more physical symptoms
Tissue degradation at hotspot sights, a high fever as his body attempted to respond to the threat, as well as shivering and body aches.
All in all
It wasn't good.
And krill worried that he didn't have much time.
The testing kit for the habitation had been prepared in record time, but trying to find a cure or even a vaccine for the illness was another beast entirely .
As he stared into the bubble, Adam lifted his head slowly.
Krill took a step back.
The spiderweb of veins around his missing eye pulsed slowly. A small glowing dot of orange In the other eye made Krill shiver.
He hardly looked human.
Which was an insane thing to say considering that nothing about him had really changed aside from his coloring.
But there was soemthing about that gaze.... Something about the absence in his eyes that Scared Krill.
It didn't look like Adam.
He chided himself for such thoughts, but Adam continued to look at him, and a shiver ran down his spine.
Adam lay his head back against the pillow and closed his eyes giving Krill a sudden and overwhelming sense of relief.
He needed to work fast.
He needed to fix this before it was too late.