Bloodlines

Chapter Six: A Face in the Crowd.

An hour later and the surgery team had George patched up. He was recovering in a small room they set up for him as a private intensive care unit.
However, Joann had no time to visit him, even just to peek in. It was a mess in the cryobays. Fifteen-hundred people retching, falling down and generally flipping out over the temporary blindness.
The crew was overwhelmed. Normally this would be done in stages, with a single cryobay being awakened a day. Each cryobay held twenty people. That translates to about two and a half months of awakenings.
Not only that, but every animal in the cryostorage units had been awakened as well.
To support a colony this far away, with as many people as it had...the animals alone came in at around ten-thousand. Joann didn't have the exact figures, but it was a lot. Sometimes, with how the cryoshifts work during a cruise, you forgot just how huge the Freyja was.
The madness of the mass awakening did exactly what it was meant to do, Joann was certain it was so whatever had attacked George could slip away in the confusion. Or hide among the throng.
But these thoughts were fleeting and mostly unformed as she rushed to take care of the group the doctor had assigned her.
During all this, poor George kept coming to her mind, his ruined face creeping into her mind.
Five hours later and she was exhausted. Still no stopping. The rest of the crew were already circulating, helping where they could. But the Freyja only had a compliment of seventy-five crewmembers. Just enough to run the ship in rotations during wake periods. Seventy-five to take care of all these colonists and their livestock. Joann sighed and felt her worry for George creeping back up on her.
She mumbled something to the colonist in front of her, something she'd probably said countless times before. He looked at her askance and she had to fight the urge to punch him in the face. The desire burned in her, it was almost a need. An image came to her of him holding his face while blood poured from his broken nose. The image shocked her, but not as much as someone grabbing her left arm. She looked at who did it and was alarmed to realize she had been in the motion of striking the colonist with her fist and that the Captain was the one who had stopped her.
"I think you need a break." He said, his voice soft, warm...but his eyes making it an order. "Go see George, get some coffee, take a power nap...just get out of here."
She nodded, ashamed and guilty. She could not meet his eyes. What the hell was that? Hitting, or almost hitting, a colonist? Was she mad? Or just stupid? That'd be great, spending your first few months on Alchamedes in the colony jail. She thought to herself. She was furious with herself.
She realized she'd been fuming for some time and walking while doing it. She was alone and no where near a rec-room or the medical bay.
Her fury dissippated as apprehension settled in. She was near the computer core. Not far from where George had been...
She stopped, frozen. Apprehension now full-blown fear. It paralyzed her. She'd never felt its like. Fear was something she rarely felt, it just wasn't in her make-up. She felt fear earlier, with that thing chasing her and George...but this. She'd never felt anything like this. It was like panic had taken root in the base of her skull and had wormed its tendrils into her motor functions. She simply stood there, mind working slowly, her limbs shaking and her stomach turning.
That panic finally broke and she ran. She full on ran until her lungs felt like molten lead burning in her chest, ran until her grip on herself started to reassert itself, ran until...until she could not see what she didn't want to see.
She found herself outside the medical bay, her heart pounding, her breathing rapid and shallow. She wanted to see George, but was afraid to. It was stupid, what had happened to him was not her fault, but she felt responsible all the same. Now, hours later, she was terrified to face him. Even if he were knocked out by the meds the doc gave him.
Part of it, she supposed, was guilt over never really getting to know him, despite the many cruises they'd done together. She wondered, now, why he'd signed onto this mission. What drove him?
Her thoughts were interrupted by a gentle, but forced cough. She turned and found herself looking into the eyes of a colonist, he was smiling at her, his face warm, his gray-blue eyes looking at her in a mix of concern and amusement.
"Are you alright..." she jumped at the other voice, having not noticed the other three with him. The voice belonged to a woman of indeterminit age, who's hair was in a severe bun. It reminded Joann of something, but she couldn't place it. The woman was leaning over, looking at Joann's rank isignia,"...Major?"
"N..n...no. Just lost in thought. Are you looking for something?" Joann sputtered.
"My dear Major, we've found it." The man who coughed said, gesturing at the medical bay, "we are doctors. Your CMO asked us to consult on a reconstruction."
"Oh! That is great!" She blurted, immediately embarrassed by the outburst.
The man simply smiled again, then motioned to his colleagues: first the woman, who's name was Katerina and a specialist in bone reconstruction, then a man to his left he introduced as Casper who worked with synthetic skin grafts, and finally a man who gave her chills. His eyes were dark, his head bald, his lips pressed together in what looked like irritation. He barely acknowledged her presence. She missed what his specialty was, but his name was Curtis.
He swept passed her and into the medical bay without a word.
"You'll have to pardon Curtis, he is all business when on a case." Katerina informed her.
"Yes." Casper said, "His emotional response algorithm is toggled off anyways."
"Casper!" Katerina admonished him, though she also covered her mouth to hide a smirk.
"Indeed, these are my collegues." The man said, not unfondly.
Casper poked him in the ribs and nodded towards Joann.
The man looked mildly taken aback, "I apologize. My name is Heath. I am here to see if the patient would respond to a regeneration process."
"My name is Joann. Most just call me Jo." She shook their hands then looked at Heath. "What is this regeneration?"
"That, Jo...is why the four of us came to Alchamedes. It is our pet project. There are certain things about the local fauna that we think can be used in human regeneration."
"You mean like rapid healing?"
"Yes. And maybe more." Heath said, "But I must apologize, we need to meet with Doctor Forbes before looking at your crewmate."
They all filed passed her and into the medical bay. Regeneration. Was it possible? She hoped so, for George.
She considered going in, but she'd only be in the way. Her guilt was eating at her, giving her a sour stomach. She glanced at the medical bay door, then shook her head. Maybe her room...
She paused. Do I have a room? The thought struck her as absurd and she made an uncharacteristic snicker.
Shaking her head, she went off in the direction of a rec-room. They often were stocked with minor medicine for such things.
The room situation would have to be resolved. And it fell on her shoulders, as second-in-command, to make sure it was. She'd talk to the Quartermaster after her visit to the rec-room.
Guilt, colonists, rooms, her stomach, had all conspired to make the incident of just this morning blurry. She'd forgotten the Captain's order to stay in groups. Joann had forgotten about the creature.
Maybe it was simply the last vestiges of the cryosleep, but she was finding it hard to concentrate. Her limbs felt heavy. Not just heavy...but rubbery. She reached one of the centrally located rec-rooms and more fell than sat into a booth.
She felt so odd. Like she were heavily medicated.
She realized her eyes were closed and forced them open. Her vision was blurry and her mind sluggishly warned her to fight. Someone was standing over her, shaking her arm.
"Major! I'm getting the doc!"
What? He wasn't making any sense. Or was it a she? Joann laughed and said aloud, though slurred: "Does it matter?"
The sharp smell of musk was around her and she knew she should be terrified, but she just didn't care.
She saw it, watching her and the panicked crewman. Even with her blurred vision, she could see it was badly mishappen. It had a short snout, one shoulder blade stuck out like a saw, it had a slight hump. It was making a sound. A low rumbling.
As it started to advance, Joann lost consciousness completely.