The Pathfinder Project (25 page)

“Can they?” wondered Nori. “If
your patient dies before he can improve, that’s not a successful treatment in
my book.”

“Thomas almost died because he
deliberately
disobeyed his Doctor,” Adam pointed out. “Stronger medications require a
prescription for a reason… because they are unpredictable to a point and
sometimes have side effects. That’s why they’re tested so thoroughly before the
government approves them for use, and Thomas had no business trying to back
himself off of them without speaking with the Doctor first.” He took a drink
from his own glass. “Dr. Simmons feels terrible that she didn’t continue to
check on him, but I had told her not to worry because I would do that.” He
shrugged. “Thomas summed it up best himself… if you’ve been healthy all your
life and never gone through this type of thing before it’s hard to realize
what’s happening long enough to
not
make mistakes.”

“What if you had found him a
few minutes later? It sounds like he was
really
close to…”

“I know.” Adam sternly sat
quietly for a moment, remembering. “It’s weird. I was on duty working, and
suddenly I had this… concern… that something was wrong.” He harrumphed loudly
and shook his head. “I don’t know how to describe it, but somehow I just
instinctively knew that Thomas was in danger.”

“How?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I
was working and then I leaned back in my chair for a few minutes to take a
short break, and… and all of a sudden I imagined him all curled up in a ball,
helpless, on the floor of his room. Something I can’t explain
warned
me
that he was in grave danger. I left my shift
early
to check on him… most
people don’t even know about that part.” He sighed heavily and rubbed fatigue
from his eyes. “The frightening thing is that I found him in the exact position
I visualized. He was facing the opposite direction, but curled up in the same
tight ball with the empty pill bottles lying next to him.”

“Good God Adam!”

“I know. That’s when I realized
just how terrifying that nuclear attack was, how much pressure we’re all
dealing with. I can’t think of anything else that would ever have driven a
happy-go-lucky guy like Thomas to try and take his own life. He loves living
that much!”

“Well at least he’s sleeping
again,” Nori pointed out. “I know how cranky I get when I miss a night of
shuteye, so I can just imagine what it’s like to go night after night without
being able to sleep.”

“At least he’s
talking
to
me
now instead of compartmentalizing everything deep down inside,”
decided Adam. “We visit every night for at least a half hour and never seem to
run out of things to talk about.” He smiled at her. “Kind of like you and me,
but in a brotherly way.”

“Being diagnosed with mental
illness, even if it is just stress-related, would scare the hell out of me,”
admitted Nori. “There’s such a stigma attached to psychiatry… people
look
at you differently, like you’re some kind of whacko.” She shook her head.
“Except if you’re rich – then you’re just an
eccentric
.”

“When we were kids he really
resented me for everything. I played sports, he read books. I dated girls, he
read more books. I went out and socialized, he spent time at the library. It
went on and on…” He paused, staring at the ceiling. “Then as adults we became
better at interacting but he still looked up to me as some sort of impossible
role model. No matter what I said or did he just felt like he was something
less than his older brother.”

“It’s no small thing that he
and Glen did with the CAS Drive,” she decided. “The things that I’ve seen from
my cockpit the past few weeks – it’s absolutely unbelievable and something I
never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever be able to go out and
experience for myself.”

“No kidding,” responded Adam.
“I’ve always given him grief because he specializes in software, but can you
imagine? What type of intricate mind does it take to come up with the
concept
of creating something like that singularity, let alone the precise calculations
needed to control and stabilize it in order to harness its energy?”

“We were all under pressure to
get things done. Then that attack came and it became imperative that we get off
of the moon and escape,” Nori observed, thinking back to those crucial moments
that seemed to last forever then but now were already fading into the past.
“Not knowing whether your parents are alive or dead… that must have weighed
very heavily on both of you just like family is constantly on the minds of the
rest of the crew.”

“Our parents are dead, I know
they are.” Adam said fiercely. “They were in Minneapolis. That was one of the
places early reports said took a direct nuclear hit.” He rolled on his side to
face her. “I was so
scared
when I found Thomas unconscious,” he said.
“He was so pale and near death it terrified me… but I called for the medics and
deep down I somehow just knew that it wasn’t his time yet.”

“And now
that
incident
is over and in your past, too,” she said, softly stroking his hair. He grabbed
her hand and gently kissed it. “You still have part of your family with you and
that’s more than
most
people on this ship can say.”

“We actually have a better
relationship
because
of his problem,” said Adam. “It’s not something I’d
want
to happen, but since it has we’ve definitely found a way to rebond
as brothers and turn it into something positive.” The grin on his face was so
full of warmth and love that Nori found herself smiling back at him.

“That’s good, Adam,” she said,
leaning over to kiss him.

“But life can be so
strange
sometimes,” he continued, looking deep into her eyes. “Tonight when I left
Thomas’ quarters there was an elderly couple down the corridor a way. If I
hadn’t known any better, I’d have sworn it was Mom and Dad smiling at us with admiration.”
He paused, remembering. “The resemblance was so uncanny that I glanced back
over my shoulder for a closer look. Of course, by then they were gone.”

“Whatever heaven that I’m sure
they’ve found, they’re going to be even more pleased with you in about seven
months,” Nori told him with an odd tone of voice, suddenly grinning
mischievously. “Although I’m not sure the Captain will be when his air group
commander applies for maternity leave.” She smiled at his absolute and complete
silence for a full ten seconds.

“
What?
” Adam finally
replied. “I know we decided to have a kid, but after the attack I was thinking
that
particular process might best be postponed for a while longer.”

“Too bad, you mighty giant of a
man,” she joked. “You knocked me up!”

“That’s great!” he grinned. “Wait
until I tell Thomas he’s going to be an Uncle!” His feet found hers under the
covers and suddenly their upper bodies were tangled again too. He kissed her
sincerely and was still smiling as she swung herself up into a sitting position
on top of him. She guided his hands to her naked breasts and smirked at him.

“Better score while you still
can,” she suggested seductively, licking her lips in anticipation.

*    
* * *     *

Mary woke up later that night,
certain she had heard something. After her shift ended she and Glen had cooked
another delicious dinner together. They were both getting better and better at
the cooking process and eating more than she usually did had left her
particularly drowsy. Promptly at 10:00 p.m. she had turned out the lights and
slept soundly until a series of voices had awakened her.

The clock next to her bed read
1:28 a.m. as she got up and searched the small apartment. She didn’t find
anything and moved to the door, opening it and taking a quick peek outside to
see if anyone had been passing by. The corridor was completely empty and silent
except for the soft hum of the moving sidewalks that divided the center of the
walkway.

“
It’s
okay,
Mary, no
one is going to hurt you
,” someone said from behind her. She whirled in
surprise and the door slid closed.

“Christopher, how did you get
here?” she asked, staring in pure shock at her oldest brother. Behind him stood
her other two siblings, Brian and Samantha. All three of them were smiling at
her and she found the experience extremely profound. “Obviously I’m dreaming,”
she said shyly, moving back toward her bed.

“
No, you’re not
,” Brian
said, stepping forward and taking her hand. She wasn’t sure how to react and
simply stood there quietly, absolutely stunned.

“
We wanted to stop by and let
you know that everything is going to be okay
,” Christopher said, putting
his arm around her shoulder. Samantha also approached and gave her a warm hug.
“
You’re going through a tough time right now but things will work out – they
always do
.”

“How did you get here?” she
asked carefully. “I’m either dreaming or this is a hallucination of some sort,
that’s for certain.”

“
We came because you needed
us
,” Samantha stated. “
We knew that never seeing us again would be
devastating to you, so we’ve come to say goodbye and give you one last word of
encouragement. You’re such a compassionate and generous person… we predict only
great things waiting for you in the future
.”

Mary deliberately lowered her
head and walked past them. She opened the door to her quarters and entered the
dimly lit corridor outside. The two walkways continued to hum, their speed
considerably slower during the night time, each moving in a different direction
away from her. She carefully found a break between the hand rails and stepped
on the reinforced, stationary frame in their center and then across to the
other side of the corridor. Her hand was shaking, but she managed to activate
the nearest door chime and waited patiently, knowing it was very early in the
morning to be out and wandering about.

“Who is it?” someone asked
sleepily from the other side of the door.

“It’s Mary from across the
hall,” she said. “I’m sorry to disturb you but I have a bit of an emergency
this morning.”

The door in front of her slid
open and she stood face to face with Kari Hansen, Dr. Markham’s administrative
assistant from the Observatory. Kari was dressed in her nightwear and also
looked very sleepy and disoriented. “What’s the matter, Mary?” she asked
carefully.

“Could you come with me
please?” Mary asked. “I heard someone in my quarters and I’m not sure yet just
what’s going on.”

“Okay,” Kari replied and they
both proceeded to cross the moving sidewalks to Mary’s side of the walkway.
Mary opened the door to her quarters and activated the lights inside. She
entered the room and carefully looked around, noting quickly that her brothers
and sister were nowhere to be found. Curious, Kari followed her inside, also
surveying the spacious apartment.

“Do you see anyone in here?”
Mary asked, walking into the kitchen area.

“No,” Kari replied cautiously,
glancing from the living area to the bedroom. “Are you sure you heard a person,
or could it have been some kind of noise that woke you up?”

“Truthfully, I have no idea
what it was,” Mary said, frowning. “But
someone
definitely woke me up –
that’s for certain.” She thanked Kari for coming and sent her back to her room,
then sat down on the bed and waited quietly. Fifteen minutes later she had
still heard nothing and cautiously laid down and fell back asleep. She still
suspected she might have been dreaming, but was very tired and decided that
solving the mystery would have to wait until morning.

She left the blankets
crumpled at the foot of the bed, feeling so unusually warm that she was
actually sweating.

THE PATHFINDER PROJECT

Promptly at 6:30 a.m. the next
morning Captain Kaufield entered the Medical Ward as requested. He found Dr.
Simmons in one of the examination rooms visiting with Mary. Dennis put on his
best smile as he walked through the door. “Good morning ladies,” he said
charmingly, winking at Mary. “Aren’t you on duty in a few minutes, Lt.
Hastings?”

“Yes,” she replied, smirking a
bit at his early morning enthusiasm.

“Mary is one of a dozen people
in the past couple of days to complain to me about hallucinations,” Karen said
rather straightforwardly, deciding not to waste any time with the normal
pleasantries. “I ran a couple of tests on her and they all came back negative,”
she continued, holding up Mary’s left arm. “Then we noticed these.” She pointed
to a series of a dozen or so dark red blotches on the underside of the
Lieutenant’s arm, just below the elbow.

“Now what in the hell would
those
be?” Dennis asked curiously.

“I don’t know… yet,” admitted
Karen, frustrated. “The other people who reported seeing abnormal things also
had these spots, mostly on their hands and arms” she confirmed. “And the level
of infection so far seems to be at its highest down below… on passenger deck
four
.”

Dennis frowned deeply. “We’ve
got a contamination breach,” he said, becoming concerned. “Something unknown
got above the hangar bay quarantines and into the ship.” He quickly tapped a
series of numbers into the nearest Comm-link. “Kaufield to Mathison, please
respond.” There was a short pause, and Dennis idly wondered if the farming and
ranching specialist was even out of bed yet.

“
This is Mathison, what can
I do for you, sir
?”

“Jeff, I hate to bother you
this early in the morning but some of our people are showing odd symptoms that
preliminarily indicate some sort of unknown biological agent has come aboard
the
Pathfinder
. It’s quite probable that we have some kind of
contamination leak on the passenger decks. Please engage a quarantine lock on
the Garden and Livestock wings until further notice.” He paused, mentally
reviewing the options one more time. “Most of the passengers may complain a bit
when they can’t go sightseeing as usual, but we can’t take any chances.”