Chapter Twenty-Two
The nurse-tech deposited Michaela in a small office to wait for Dr. Kurur who would reveal the test results. But, when the door opened, Ruyn entered. Immensely relieved to see him, she leaped up to hug him.
Rocking her, he held her tight, his heart thumping against her breasts. “You’re looking so much better. How do you feel?”
“Much, much better.” She touched her face and throat. “Am I still puffy?” She eased back so he could see her face.
“A little. Not like you were.” He hugged her again. “Let’s sit. What caused the reaction?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“By the way…Korsan—” He broke off as the door opened to admit the doctor.
Michaela sat up straighter.
“I know you’re anxious to hear the results.
” Dr. Kurur took his seat behind the desk.
“A little more investigation is required, but what we learned so far is that you were infected with a bioengineered alien allergen. It is partly organic, partly robotic. It triggers your body’s defense mechanisms to attack itself. ”
Michaela sucked in a breath. Contracting an alien disease for which you had no immunity continued to be one of the risks of space travel despite advances in medicine.
“The good news is, we were able to deactivate and neutralize the allergen, so you are safe from further allergic attacks at the moment.”
The qualifier leaped out at her. “At the moment?”
“Until we discover how you were exposed, you’re still at risk. Grave risk. Tonight’s pre-treatment blood sample showed a highly activated bioengineered antigen level—and that’s after you received two antihistamine shots, right?”
“Yes,” Ruyn answered for her. “I gave her one we’d gotten from Dr. Adanna on Elyxis 4, and the medic gave her another.”
“And it barely kept your airway open. The antihistamine shots are becoming less effective,” Dr. Kurur said. “Another exposure would likely kill you.”
She clung to Ruyn’s hand, holding back the tears.
“I’ve never encountered an antigen like this one. Like I said, it’s partly organic, partly robotic. I’ve uploaded its DNA and behavioral characteristics to the universal database in hopes someone can identify its origins.”
He doesn’t know what it is. Not reassuring.
“Do you have any idea how she got exposed?” Ruyn asked. “Did she inhale it? Ingest it?”
“Those answers we have yet to discover. But, since I know what your infection level was when you saw Dr. Prymr and what it was when you arrived here, I can deduce you were reexposed sometime after you saw him. I need you to tell me everything you did from the moment you left his office. Where you went and who you saw. Don’t leave anything out, no matter how insignificant you think it is. ”
Michaela met Ruyn’s gaze, trying to recall what they had done. Yesterday seemed like a long time ago. “It was late in the day by the time we left Dr. Prymr’s, so we went to eat at Mama Murta’s Café. We go there all the time.”
“Murta…” Dr. Kurur frowned. “Wasn’t there a defense minister by that name?”
“The same. She runs a café now,” Ruyn said.
“How did you get to the café?” the doctor asked.
“Hovercab,” she said. “We hailed one outside Prymr’s office.”
“Did you stop anywhere before arriving at the café?”
“No.”
“Did you have any encounters with anyone at the café?”
“Only Mama Murta and Chaumi, her daughter. Chaumi is a server. Mama does the cooking. She’s playing matchmaker, trying to set us up.”
“You’re not a couple?” Dr. Kurur arched his eyebrows.
“We are now. We weren’t at first.”
“So, then what happened?”
“The place was very busy—it was dinnertime. Chaumi seated us at a table in the back of the restaurant. Mama came out to say hello. Chaumi brought us drinks. Mama went to the kitchen to cook. Chaumi brought us the meal. We ate, and then we left.” She glanced at Ruyn to see if he had anything to add.
“That’s pretty much it,” he said.
“What did you drink?”
“I don’t know. Something fruity and bubbly, sweet. Mama told Chaumi to bring us drinks.”
“I’d never had the drink before,” Ruyn added. “The meal was sterwuzeial.”
“The planetary dish.” The doctor nodded.
“I didn’t know there was such a thing as a planetary dish,” she said.
“Mama’s version of it, anyway,” Ruyn said. “Everyone makes it a little different.”
“And you felt no effects after drinking, eating?” the doctor asked.
“No, I felt fine.”
He looked at Ruyn. “Did you suffer any effects?”
“No. Not then, not ever. And we pretty much eat the same things.”
“I thought Dr. Prymr had ruled out food as the cause?” she said.
Could it be the food after all? Some people developed sensitivities to foods they’d been eating for years.
Could that be what had happened? Once-okay food wasn’t anymore?
If she couldn’t eat the food, she’d be forced to return home.
She hated to leave a project undone, but health came first. Thankfully, Ruyn would go with her.
But what if he can’t eat Earth food? Great. Something else to worry about.
Dr. Kurur made a noncommittal noise and asked, “Then what happened?”
“We went home. We walked. Our apartment is close to the café.”
“Did you meet anyone along the way?”
“No. We passed other pedestrians, but we didn’t interact with anyone. We got to our building, rode the booster—there was no one else on it—to our floor, and went directly to our apartment.”
“What did you do when you got inside?”
“We showered, made love, and went to sleep.”
“Did you eat or drink anything else?”
“No.”
“When did the symptoms start?”
“A few hours after going to sleep? I woke up because I was having trouble breathing, and that’s the last I remember until I was on the transport coming here.”
“I’d left the room,” Ruyn said. “I got to thinking about a family matter, and I couldn’t sleep.
I went into the sitting room so I wouldn’t disturb her.
Then I went back into the bedroom to get my tech tab.
” He looked at her. “You were very still. I thought you were sleeping. When I went to kiss you, I realized something was wrong. I turned on the light, and you were bloated. I couldn’t wake you.
You weren’t breathing. I didn’t feel a heartbeat.
” He squeezed his eyes shut for an instant. “It was the worst moment of my life.”
She clasped his hand tighter.
The doctor tilted his head and pursed his lips. “When the incidents occurred on Elyxis 4, had you followed the same routine?”
“What do you mean?”
“Eat a meal, have sex, go to sleep, wake up with an allergic reaction.”
“Um…” She met Ruyn’s gaze. “I guess so.”
“I think we did,” he replied.
Dr. Kurur focused on Ruyn. “I want to run some tests on you.”
“Me? Why me? I’m fine.”
“What do you think is wrong?” Michaela asked.
“I’m not thinking anything yet. I’ll know after I get the test results.”