Arrival (Planet of Last Resort #1)

Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

J eff was already in motion. “Clear the building,” he said to Zach and Cody who nodded and took off at a run, weapons ready. “We’d better burn these.” The captain and Samms aimed their blasters at a few severed arms which the door had cut off as it inexorably closed. Melly closed her eyes and tried to control her nausea. Sure she was a doctor and used to sights and injuries a nonmedical person would find disgusting but this was so bizarre, so wrong on so many levels she was having a hard time coping.

“Are they people?” she asked, her voice more tremulous than she’d expected.

“Unknown,” Jeff answered crisply.

“Although I saw a few with spaceport badges,” Samms added.

Paulson the businessman struggled to his feet and he was clutching his arm, blood flowing sluggishly between his fingers. Instinctively Melly moved toward him before the captain blocked her progress.

“What happened?” he asked, holding his blaster in readiness, not quite aimed at Paulson but clearly ready to take action. “Did one of them bite you?”

“No, no,” the man protested hurriedly. “Just a scratch from when I got yanked onto the cargo hauler. There was a rough edge.”

“Let me see.” Jeff was implacable.

Melly glanced from him to Paulson and back. “He needs treatment. Let me?—”

The businessman rolled up his torn sleeve to reveal a nasty jagged gash, from which the blood was leaking. Wincing she said, “That must have hurt. You need skin sealant.”

“So much going on I barely noticed,” he said, seeming a bit calmer. “I’d be grateful if you could help me, doc.”

“Must be a first aid kit in here somewhere,” Jeff said.

“I travel with a medkit,” she answered, feeling relieved to be able to take a helpful action. Melly offered Jeff the borrowed blaster. “Thanks for the loaner.”

He waved it away. “Keep it. We’re not done with the problem here.”

The pounding on the door and the muffled sounds of their pursuers emphasized his words. She licked her lips and studied the door. “Will it hold? Will they go away?”

“Door seems sturdy enough,” he answered. “I’m hoping they’ll forget about us and wander off. Intelligence seems to be in short supply in that bunch.”

“Leaving a feral instinct to pursue and kill,” she said with a shiver. Pulling the medkit out of her backpack she gestured to Paulson. “There’s a chair over there where I can work on the wound more efficiently.”

Jeff held her in place as the man nodded and headed for the chair. “Protective equipment, doc, and be careful, okay?”

She studied his face, trying to assess what exactly he was trying to tell her. Lowering her voice, she leaned closer. “You think he was close enough to them to catch whatever they have? But we were all close to them out there. If he’s sick, then we all are. If it’s an airborne illness we’re all at risk.”

“None of us got scratched,” he answered. “Even if it wasn’t done to him by the infected, we don’t know what happened here or how they got this way. I’m simply saying watch yourself.” Raising his head he snapped an order at Samms. “Go with her and keep an eye on the guy.”

Unsettled, Melly took her kit and went to treat Paulson. While she cleansed the wound, treated it with antibiotics and sealed it up, part of her mind was thinking over what she’d seen outside and wondering how seemingly ordinary people could become those mindless killers. Surely it was localized to the spaceport. Maybe the whole place was quarantined and someone forgot to warn off the robo dropship in time. Just our bad luck. But then why didn’t anyone come to their assistance? She tried not to think about her family, hoping their house in the suburbs was far enough away from this mess for them to be safe.

“All done,” she said, moving away from Paulson and running the decontamination ray over her gloved hands. Carefully she stripped off the gloves and ran the ray again. Better safe than sorry. She’d given him an inject as well, for various potential infections or issues. “I’ll check the dressing tomorrow if we’re still here and we haven’t gotten help.”

“Thanks, doc.” Paulson leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. “I think I’m going to stay right here and try to relax.”

When she stretched to get the kinks out of her back, she saw the other soldiers had rejoined Jeff and there was an intense discussion going on. Her first priority was getting in touch with her family. Now the adrenaline of the arrival at the warehouse and then patching up her patient was subsiding, she felt lightheaded and shaky so she perched on a stack of boxes and got out her handheld. The unit was powered up and active but no matter what she did, she couldn’t connect to the planetary network. There was a private net in the subdivision where her parents lived and she managed to link to it but she couldn’t be sure her message was actually sent. She had no pending messages, not even a welcome home text although they’d known the date of her arrival, if not the exact time.

Figuring she needed to know whatever the soldiers might have learned, she walked over to join them, Paulson on her heels. Jeff welcomed her with a tight grin. “The building is secure and safe enough for now. Zach and Cody found another two of those walking infected locked in an office upstairs and took care of the problem. All the exits are locked and blocked as best we can do.” Glancing at the handheld as she stuck it in her pocket, he asked, “You get anything?”

“Planetary network seems to be down,” she said with a sigh. “Outages happen occasionally if there’s a big enough storm somewhere but there are supposed to be backups. I sent my folks a message on the neighborhood’s net but no answer yet. I have to get home to check on them as soon as possible.” Rubbing her arms, Melly checked out the large expanse, filled with endless rows of cargo pods neatly lined up. “What are we going to do now?”

“Stay put and try to find out more about what we’ve landed in the middle of. There’ll be a sentry on overwatch on the roof at all times, keeping an eye on the crowd. Trent is up there now.” His answer was crisp. “We aren’t getting anything on our coms either. Our next move is trying to find our cargo pods.”

“Why?” she asked, trying to imagine what good ranching gear would do them in the current situation.

“We have a few useful items in there,” he said with a wink, seeming amused.

“What can I do to help?” Melly figured sitting and brooding would only leave her more frightened than she already was.

"A woman of action—I like it." His tone was teasing. “Can you scrounge through the offices and the employee breakroom on the second floor and see what you can find in the way of food and water? My guys did a basic sweep but they weren’t foraging. Anything else you think might be useful.”

The idea of going off alone in the building wasn’t appealing but she’d volunteered, hadn’t she? Knowing the soldiers had killed two of the infected trapped inside made her nervous. Where there had been two there could be more. Touching the butt of the blaster he’d given her, she swallowed hard. “Sure, I can do that. You think we’re going to be here long enough to need extra rations?”

“At least tonight and possibly tomorrow. I’m thinking it may be safest to move at night but we have to gather more intel. The situation here is so weird the last thing I’m going to do is rush out blindly. If we can find our stuff, we’ll be able to do recon and reduce the likelihood of nasty surprises.”

Melly wasn’t sure how exactly he expected to conduct reconnaissance of the area with anything from his cargo and she wasn’t too pleased at the idea of being cooped up in this glorified warehouse for so long but she couldn’t argue about the danger outside. “Maybe someone will come to help.”

“We can certainly hope.” Although Jeff smiled, she had the sense he didn’t share her optimism.

“It can’t be the whole planet affected—it must be local. We just have to let the authorities know we’re here. What about the cargo master’s office? Could we call out from there?”

“Samms will be working on the issue and other things. He’s our coms and systems expert.”

Realizing she was trying to tell the man how to do the job he was trained for and experienced in, while she was only a civilian, Melly bit her lip. “All right, I’ll go on my treasure hunt now. Listen, thanks for getting me here safely. I don’t know what would have happened to me if I hadn’t landed in the same shuttle with you and your men.” I’d have ended up like poor Baird out there. The thought made her nauseous.

“I’m glad we were here to help.” Studying her more closely, he frowned and touched her elbow. “You doing okay, doc? You look pale. I can have one of my men conduct the search and you can rest.”

Time to toughen up again and pull her weight. Melly straightened her spine and pulled the blaster from its place at her waistband. “I’m fine. I’ll start in the Cargo Master’s office.”

“We have two days’ worth of survival rations in our go bags,” he said, “So anything you scrounge up will be helpful.”

“You carry food around?” she laughed, thinking about what was edible in her backpack. Nothing but snacks and candy, none of which were good for her, which she knew as a doctor, but she craved them anyway.

He shrugged. “Gotta be ready for anything, even whatever the seven hells this is we’ve landed in the middle of.”

Melly couldn’t think of an answer to the undeniable truth so she headed to the cargo master’s office, where she found Samms already seated at the desk, working on bringing the systems online. “I’ll try not to disturb you,” she said, opening file cabinet doors beside the desk. A half full cup of synthcaff sat on the edge of the desk and a bunch of data disks lay scattered on the floor as if knocked over by someone’s elbow, leaving in a hurry. She was sure Samms hadn’t done it.

“No problem.” He didn’t even glance up from what he was doing.

“We’re lucky the building still has power.” Melly could tell he wasn’t in the mood for idle conversation but when she was nervous or anxious she liked to talk. Finding a small stash of bottled water, she realized she was going to need a way to carry whatever she found on this assignment of hers.

“It’s on emergency power,” Samms said as she moved to leave the office. “Has been for days evidently.”

When she turned to stare at him, his blank face scared her a little. Melly realized she’d been taking the lights and power completely for granted. “Not—not the planetary grid?”

Shaking his head, he directed his attention to the keyboard and controls again. “Solar panels on the roof feeding this with a backup generator in the building somewhere. Captain’ll have to get Zach working on that to keep it running. Indications are it’s badly overheating.”

Not sure what to do with the information, she continued on her way to grab and empty her backpack, then searched for Jeff. She found him and three of his men out in the cargo storage rooms, moving methodically through the stacks of containers waiting to be distributed across the continent. She supposed the shipments might never happen now, depending how widespread the problem was. In here she could tell the building was on emergency power and the light was dimmer and there were many dark spots. “Can’t find your stuff?” she asked as she came up behind Jeff.

He straightened and grimaced. “If Samms can get the systems up and running, he can pinpoint it for me but in the meantime we’re reduced to good old fashioned eyeballs on the shipping labels. Got nothing better to do with our free time. Done with your scrounging already?”

“No, barely got started actually,” she said holding up the backpack. “But Samms said we’re on emergency power and you need to check the generator because it’s running hot.”

He touched a spot right behind his ear. “Thanks but he’s already reported the issue. We have subaural com implants linking us all together. Not as good as telepathy but I’ll take it.”

“Oh, of course.” Now Melly was awash in embarrassment. Trying to tell them how to do their job again.

“You didn’t know,” he said kindly. “And I’d always rather have too much communication than not enough. Not much experience with us military types then?”

Thinking over her years in the MidSectors at school and then her residency as a doctor, Melly couldn’t remember a single time she’d ever had a soldier as a patient. “Only in adventure trideos,” she said finally.

“We’ll try to live up to the public relations-created image.” Jeff flashed her a tired grin. Leaning closer, he added, “The trideo industry takes a lot of liberties with the truth.”

“I’m sure but I’m grateful for everything you’ve done since we landed. I’ve got no complaints.” Blushing, she left the cargo area and went to the office to gather the water. This time she didn’t bother Samms, who was head down and concentrating on the coms. She thought he might be listening to a news broadcast but figured it would be better not to disturb him.

The second floor employee locker room presented a challenge as the individual receptacles were of course locked, except for one or two with open doors, contents in a mess, as if the owners had grabbed items in a hurry and fled. She hoped they were okay and safe somewhere. Using the blaster at a low setting she sprang the locks on the rest of the containers and found a few packaged snacks, another sealed water bottle and a couple of warm jackets which she set aside for later. Nights on Randal Four got pretty cold at this season and she didn’t have anything warm in her backpack or her cargo pod. She worried whether her parents had picked that up as planned when it arrived but thinking about her family brought tears to her eyes again and ramped up her anxiety.

Going through the lockers had made her tense. Poking around in other people’s belongings was stressful and she expected to have the rightful owners arrive unexpectedly and accuse her of being a thief. When this is all over I can find a way to repay them for anything we use. The idea didn’t bring much comfort though.

The employee breakroom was a chaotic mess, with one table overturned completely, rotting food and dishes on the floor in a puddle of spilled drinks. The other tables had partially eaten sandwiches and other signs of a meal violently interrupted. Stepping carefully she worked her way through the mess and investigated the stasis keeper, finding it running on the emergency power but close to empty. She decided to leave what was in there for now and make a note for later. The vending robo was about three quarters full with chips, candy and the like, including a few packets of nuts, so she used the blaster to open it. As Melly was loading the booty into her backpack, Cody appeared in the doorway, blaster at the ready.

“You okay?” he said, scanning the room. “The captain sent me to check once we heard the blaster buzz.”

“I’m fine,” she said, both pleased Jeff was concerned for her and embarrassed not to have realized how the sound of the weapon firing would carry.

“Need help?”

“Sure, I found a lot of good stuff up here.” Melly had been loading the items into another bag she’d found in a locker and she handed him that one. “I’ve checked all the rooms.”

“We found our containers,” Zach said as they descended the stairs in single file. “Captain’s pretty happy right now.”

Jeff himself greeted her as she hopped off the last step. Taking her bag, he said, “Looks like you had a good scavenging expedition up there. Everything ok?”

“Eerie. Spooky,” she said with a shiver. “Like all the employees left in a big rush. My mind is working overtime visualizing what it must have been like. I wonder what happened to all of them.”

“Concentrate on us and our situation,” he advised. “You’re just in time because Samms has found information he wants us to see.”

She walked with him to the cargo master’s office, Cody trailing behind them and found Trent waiting with Samms.

“It’s not good, captain,” the soldier said as soon as she and Jeff arrived. “I managed to tap into one news station still broadcasting.”

“Show me,” the captain said, leaning over his shoulder but making sure Melly could see the holo pad as well.

An empty set came up, with the network’s name and symbol emblazoned on a back wall behind the desk where the anchors should have been. She exclaimed in disappointment. “This doesn’t tell us much, does it? Where are the newscasters?”

“Good question.” Samms gave her a tight nod of approval.

“Exactly. We can infer, however, the place is abandoned in a hurry because otherwise the feed would have been turned off by someone or there’d be a broadcast,” Jeff added.

“Is that a blood stain on the floor?” Melly asked, pointing at the edge of the holo.

“Sure looks like it.” Samms adjusted the feed and she could see the pool of dried blood more clearly. An arm lay stretched out at the edge but the rest of the body, if there was one, couldn’t be seen. “This isn’t all,” Samms said. “Once I was in, I managed to hack the stored stream. Let me share it chronologically from the first mention of major trouble I found.”

Suddenly the space filled with a holo of a standard duo of cheerful news anchors, a man and a woman obviously finishing up talking about a story on a local arts festival, which she remembered would have occurred about two months ago. The woman gazed at them—at the holo camera—and said, “There’s a new flu virus this year which seems to have some unusual symptoms and a high mortality rate. Doctors are expressing concern but so far the outbreak is localized to the western territories. Better get the annual inject from your medcenter this week just in case though. It’s free of charge.”

The pair then went into their banter for the end of the program and Samms closed the holo, only to open another.

“Flu?” Melly said, doing a doubletake while he was fiddling with the controls. “Whatever happened to those people outside was no flu virus. I don’t understand.”

Jeff touched her arm and she stopped talking to listen to the next holo clip Samms was showing them.

The same two anchors were back, slightly less perky than before. By the date at the corner of the holo, Melly calculated about two weeks had gone by. “Planetary authorities state there’s no cause for concern about the Western Flu,” said the woman newscaster. “Sporadic outbreaks in other areas are to be expected but the new travel guidelines should keep spread to a minimum outside the territories. Doctors remind us not to try to treat this flu by yourself at home so if you or a family member starts feeling sick, go at once to the nearest medical facility.” She smiled at the camera, although it seemed a bit strained to Melly. “Drink lots of fluids and remember varnaberry juice is the old wives’ remedy for anything that ails you.”

The male anchor chimed in with banter about his mother making him drink the bitter juice as a kid and then the duo moved on to the next story.

Again Samms worked his magic and brought up a new clip. This time the woman was alone at the news desk and she was visibly tired, with circles under her eyes the makeup wasn’t hiding. Her voice was scratchy and a bit hoarse and Melly noticed her hands shook. “The Western flu is spreading in the three major cities now and a shelter in place order is in effect as well as a curfew. If someone you know becomes ill do not attempt to care for them. Call the comlink at the bottom of the screen and report the case. First responders will be sent to pick them up for transport to a medical facility.” She swallowed hard and stared straight at them. “Symptoms of the flu include high fever, muscle aches and in some cases violent reactions to the presence of other people. I repeat, don’t try treating this at home, folks.”

The next clip was of a woman Melly hadn’t seen before, young and nervous, reading a prepared statement. “I repeat do not leave your current location for any reason. If a person in your location is ill, use the comlink at the bottom of the holo to report the case and then put them outside for the first responders to pick up. Western flu has been proven to have a nearly 95% mortality rate and if scratched or bitten by a victim, you will catch it. The virus is not air borne at this time. Obey any orders you may be given by the police or the military and do not interfere with official actions in your vicinity. Planetary authorities expect to have the outbreak under control soon and the top scientists are working on a cure. Stay tuned to this station for updates.”

“I think she was sick,” Melly said. “Did you see the bandage on her arm? And how the sweat was rolling off her face?”

“And then the next thing is the empty set,” Samms said, restoring the original broadcast. After a moment the holo flickered and disappeared. “Looks like the station lost power. Must have been on emergency generators the way we are here. I searched on flu and these are the results I got. There may be other broadcasts about this issue we’ve missed but I think you get the essence, right, captain?”

“Well done, soldier.”

Thinking out loud, Melly heard the horror in her own voice. “95% mortality rate can’t be right. There are only a few diseases known to humans with that kind of deathrate and none of them present with symptoms of this type. And then why are all those people outside walking around? Is that what the victims are at the final stage? Medically, none of this makes much sense.” Another thought occurred to her. “Why did the authorities let the Solar Flower land us here then? The whole planet should have been quarantined. And why aren’t there Sectors medships and troops here to help?”

“All excellent questions,” Jeff said, obviously exchanging silent communication with his men. “Certainly at the beginning of the outbreak I can imagine the authorities not wanting to alert the Sectors, who have been known to deal harshly with mysterious illnesses arising. But as things progressed over the two months and your people here obviously lost control of the situation, there should have been an emergency warn off and certainly a call for help to the nearest Sectors Hub.”

“We can’t do an interstellar broadcast from here,” Samms added. “Don’t have the right equipment. Maybe if we went to the spaceport control tower?—"

"Right in the middle of all those things,” Zach interrupted him with disgust.

“Our next step is to eat,” Jeff said. “We can chow down on whatever Dr. Jericho found for us here and save the survival rations for another day. Then we’ll get back to sorting through our gear and you can go check on your patient, all right, doc?”

She wondered why the captain didn’t want Paulson to eat with them but otherwise had no objection to the plan. Melly spread out the more or less fresh food she’d harvested from the rooms upstairs and they managed to make an odd but filling meal from the bits and pieces. There was even synthcaff to wash the food down, brewed on a machine in the cargo master’s office. One man was missing, up on the roof doing overwatch but food was set aside for him.

As soon as she was done eating, Melly brushed crumbs from her hands and went to get the medkit. “I’ll check on my patient now and see if he’s hungry yet.”

“Cody, go with her,” Jeff said.

Although she thought the captain was being overcautious, Melly didn’t protest having an armed escort. Her nerves were on edge and the empty building was creepy, with shadows and odd sounds at every turn. She made her way to the small office where Paulson was lying on chair cushions on the floor. He was asleep, snoring loudly and didn’t stir as she and the soldier entered the office. Melly was surprised to see her patient sweating profusely yet deathly pale. She knelt beside the cushions and gently removed the bandages but Paulson didn’t even stir. She recoiled and Cody swore as the wound was revealed, now swollen and angry red with ominous jagged black streaks fanning out on both sides.

“Doc, move away from him,” Cody ordered, grabbing her shoulder. “Now.”

Stumbling, she rose to her feet with his help and took a few steps backward as Jeff and Trent rushed in. The captain shifted her behind him. “Thinking he lied to us about how he got the scratch. You ever seen a wound deteriorate like that before, doc?”

“Never. This is not how blood poisoning or sepsis as its technically known, presents.” She was having a hard time maintaining her professional demeanor. “What are we going to do? I’ll administer more antibiotic cream and give him another inject but then what?”

“Tie him up,” Jeff ordered his soldiers. “I have a really bad feeling our businessman friend here is going to become into one of those things and we don’t need him on the loose when he does. Once he’s immobilized, we’ll put him in the cage for high value items since it has a lock.” He looked over his shoulder at Melly. “Once my guys have him in a safe condition, you can try your meds but I’m pretty sure it won’t do any good. I hate to waste the supplies but since he’s our first up close and personal encounter with this supposed flu, we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.”

Melly was relieved she wasn’t going to have to argue with the captain about giving Paulson medical care. She couldn’t in good conscience walk away from him without trying every remedy at her disposal, not that she was well equipped. “I appreciate the choice.”

“I’m sure the hospitals here on Randal Four must have tried everything you’ve got in your tiny kit and more, with no results apparently but we may as well see what can be done,” Jeff said.

The soldiers had barely gotten Paulson bound hand and foot before his eyes snapped open. Melly stifled a scream as she saw the milky white, glowing orbs where normal human eyes should have been. He didn’t struggle as he was carried to the small, secure enclosure Jeff had spoken of and she spoke to her patient in reassuring tones, telling him what she was going to do to further treat his wound. He kept his focus on her the whole time, which made her highly uneasy. Jeff and the soldiers stood by while she treated him.

When she finished rebandaging the wound, forcing herself to take her time, Melly wished she hadn’t eaten so much dinner. The black streaks were spreading over his body even as she watched and he was becoming more and more like the horde outside had been. She took a deep breath once he was locked away. “And if he turns?”

“We end his misery. Permanently.” Jeff’s tone was uncompromising.

“I-I don’t think I have anything in this medkit that will end a life,” she said, struggling with the idea.

Shaking his head, the captain said, “I wouldn’t let you close enough to him to do an inject, if he turns all the way, which I’m damn sure he’s going to, sorry to say. I know you hate to lose a patient, doc, but this is beyond the norm. We’ll take care of things, don’t worry, and we’ll be as humane about it as we can be. The guy wouldn’t want to live as one of those things outside, I’m sure.”

There wasn’t anything else to be said so Melly walked away, eyes watering. Earlier in the day this poor man had been fine, thinking about whatever the subject of his business trip was, and now he was well on the way to becoming a murderous killer. She hadn’t been able to help him at all except perhaps for some comfort in the early stages, while she was tending his wound initially. Not what I went into medicine for.

“Why don’t you go lie down on the couch in the cargo masters private conference room?” Jeff suggested from behind her. “We’re not leaving this facility tonight and you need your rest for when we do make a sortie. We’ll have to move fast.”

“I have to get to my family,” she said, pausing so she could pin him with a firm gaze and emphasize her declaration. “If my parents and my brother sheltered in place like the broadcast said, then I’m sure they’re fine but I need to be there.”

“We’ll get you home, I promise. But we may have to go roundaboutly. Have patience with us, okay, doc?” Jeff studied her face for a moment. “Promise me you won’t try to go off on your own.”

“I won’t. I’m not delusional about my chances out there on my own. I’d be a goner already, like Baird and Paulson if I hadn’t been lucky enough to land with your group.” There being nothing more to say, she made a side trip to grab a couple of the jackets she’d found and retrieved from the lockers and went to the small conference room. The couch was leather and not very comfortable but the day had been so grueling she was exhausted and being able to lie down was a luxury. She used one jacket for a pillow and covered herself with the other, making sure her blaster was close at hand. If the infected got into the building somehow they’d have to get past Jeff and the others to reach her but she didn’t want to be defenseless.

It was gallant of the captain to give her the only couch but she smiled at the thought of any of the tall, well-built soldiers trying to rest on this piece of furniture. It was barely long enough for her.

Drowsy, she realized belatedly she should have offered to take a shift as a sentry on the roof. Jeff will come get me if they need me. Or if anything happens. I probably won’t sleep long anyway.