Chapter 4 #2
Oret took his food, sat at the kitchen table, and began to eat.
After he'd eaten a little bit, he saw that Brenda was looking his way, and he gave her a thumbs-up.
The smoked fish was very good, as was the horseradish sauce.
Those had to be difficult things to get right.
The whole meal came together very well, and he was pleased with the result.
After he ate, he decided to go by and check on Victoria, even though there was no one there to take his food.
He sat at the kitchen table and began to eat.
After he'd eaten a little bit, he saw that Brenda was looking his way, and he gave her a thumbs-up.
The smoked fish was very good, as was the horseradish sauce.
Those had to be difficult things to get right.
The whole meal came together very well, and he was pleased with the result.
After he ate, he decided to go by and check on Victoria even though there was no way he could see that she would be awake yet.
When he went in to check on her, he was not surprised to see that she was still completely unconscious.
It was probably for the best, because from everything he'd heard, the change could be rough, and he didn't want her to go through anything she didn't have to. Everyone else, get back to work.”
“I know what it looks like, but we got behind and worked through break to finish up. That’s why we were taking a late break. Three guys didn’t show up, so we are shorthanded.” Mason explained.
“Write down their names. I’ll check on them, and you can join the others. Next time you’re this shorthanded, send me a message.”
Mason nodded and hurried away. Oret knew that he was angry, and that probably made him scary.
Mason was one of the toughest humans, but even he knew he wouldn't have a chance against him.
None of these guys were really fighters, even though some had very good muscles from all the work that they did.
Regardless of their good shape, they had no idea how to fight.
That might be a problem someday, and eventually, self-defense training should be made available to every single citizen here.
If they were attacked, none of them would be able to defend themselves, much less anyone else.
With the monster moon so close, it was possible that someone being sent there could reroute themselves here and be turned loose among the colony.
What would happen then? Only those of Victoria's family had any fighting skills.
There were only a few of them, and eventually they would spread all over this planet and up on the moon.
That was a sobering thought, and he needed to discuss it with Fenwik, although he had probably already thought about it and simply didn't have a solution at this time.
Oret went to check on his first slacker.
Jimmy Smith was playing slap and tickle with one of the local women.
The door was open, so he knocked on the frame, and they both looked up at him.
The fact that the female in question was not embarrassed and made a point of showing him more of her body told him a lot about her.
Jimmy just looked pissed, but he was going to feel differently about that soon.
“It's not going to be long before the next group goes to the moon,” Oret observed.
“It's just one day. We've all been working seven days a week and 12 hours a day. This isn't fair.”
“So, it's fair to the others that you take a day off to play around, and they all have to continue to try to make up for you not being there?”
“When you put it that way, but we should all get a day off every week.” Jimmy declared.
“Because the kitchen staff gets the day off every week, no, they don't. The only ones that get a day off every week are the miners, and I would be glad to move you there so you can get your day off every week.
They risk their lives every day because no matter how hard we try, mining is a dangerous business.
If you want that day off that badly, you can go there or you can go to the moon, and you'll have every day off to try to survive.”
“OK. I'll get ready and go to work.” Jimmy decided.
“Hey, what about me?” the female asked.
“Where are you assigned?”
“I'm not assigned anywhere. I just got here on the last ship.”
“That was almost a week ago. You'll present yourself at the kitchen in the morning, or when the ship goes to the moon, you'll be on it,” Oret explained.
“You'll never find me,” she whispered.
“I have your scent. I can find you anywhere on this planet. In the morning, first thing, I'll be there to make sure you are.”
But it bothered him that somehow this woman had been missed.
He also needed to discuss this with Fenwik.
Someone should have given this woman an assignment and made sure that she showed up.
Hell, maybe that someone was him, but he hadn't been doing that.
It was also possible that she had slipped by, hoping to be missed.
Oret went to track down the second person.
Apparently, Sharon wasn't a man, and she was terribly ill.
He picked her up and carried her up the hill to medical.
Daisy was on duty. She seemed to work all the time, but today she seemed to be on call because she had been sleeping.
The doctor woke instantly and rushed over to the patient in the hospital bed.
They had recently received the Med bed, and she immediately turned it on.
“This isn't good. She has some kind of contagious illness.
Everything in her tent needs to be destroyed or treated with an antiseptic.
You'll need to track anyone she has had contact with to ensure they are not ill.
Without treatment, this can be fatal. I don't understand why she has this because they are given shots on the ship over that should prevent any of these kinds of illnesses. Radvar needs to know about this.”
“I'm going to have to get someone else to help me with this because I still have a builder to track down who didn't come to work.”
“You think they were affected by this, too?” Daisy asked.
“Maybe, but my first one was just playing hooky, so let's hope the next one is too.”
“Who will you get to help?”
“Fenwik and Sara are the only two that probably can't catch this,” Oret explained.
He wasn't sure where they would be, but both had a lot of paperwork, so he decided to check their office 1st. Sara was there.
“I'm sorry to add this to your burden, but we may have an outbreak, and I need to track some people down. Fenwik and you are the only others who should be safe from catching it. Can you help me?”
“Of course. Tell me who you need me to look for.”
“Mason is the supervisor for this shift of builders, and you need to talk to him to see if any of his people are showing symptoms. One is missing, and I am going to find it. We will also have to go through the lady’s tent and fumigate with an antiseptic to ensure that nothing is left alive in there.
I'll do that as soon as I am done finding my missing builder.”
Sara headed one way, and he headed the other.
The next missing builder was Collins. As soon as he approached the tent, he knew that this was going to be bad.
Death had a smell, and he had been around it enough to recognize it.
His builder was either dead or close to dying.
When he opened the door, he could see a swollen body.
He went closer anyway, just in case the man was still alive.
It was clear that he wasn’t, and it was sad that there had been nobody who would realize that he was ill and get him help.
In this case, it might be for the best because that meant no one had contact with him after he had been hit with the worst symptoms. He found some tape and a piece of board and wrote "Do Not Enter. "
All he could do was hope that people were smart enough to avoid something with a sign like that.
Now he headed to Sharon’s tent after picking up a few supplies.
He sprayed everything down as well as he could and hoped it was good enough.
The smell was off-putting, so he hoped it would deter everyone from the tent.
Collins had been single, but that didn't mean that he had no friends or relatives in the colony.
It was sad to lose someone, especially to a preventable illness.
Fenwik needed to be found because it was his place to inform Radvar that either some people were not getting their shots, or those shots were not working properly.
Everyone would have to get their shots to ensure that this did not spread like wildfire through the colony.
The loss of one person was terrible, but to lose more would be tragic.
Three days later, Victoria woke up. She couldn't have been awake long when he found her because she was still lying in bed and looking at the ceiling.
“Oret? What's going on? What happened to me?”
“You collapsed and went through the change. After the day it happened, you've had three more days, and now you're awake. Be glad you slept through it because we've had other problems too.”
“Let me clean up and get ready, and we can go to the cafeteria and discuss what's going on.” Victoria directed.
She reminded him of the general in the way she took charge.
It was one of the best things and one of the worst things about her.
When you needed someone to step up, she was the best you could ask for, but when you were trying to do something on your own, she would kind of push her way in and take over.
A strong-willed person like he was wouldn't allow it, but there weren't many in the colony who were strong-willed.
“I'm ready,” Victoria said as she headed toward the door, and he followed quickly so he wouldn't be left behind. “I'm not sure I've ever been so hungry in my whole life.”