The Solar Wind (25 page)

“We think there was one, it’s not confirmed yet. It happened only yesterday.”

“I’m relieved that you are all right. I worry about you when I’m out.”

“There’s no need to worry, I’m fine.” Ava reassured him confidently. She knew that she could potentially be exposed at the clinic, but did not want Wesley to worry about her. He had plenty of other things to do on his missions.

Wesley laced his fingers in one of Ava’s hands and held it gently on the table. “Ava, tell me about your life growing up on Earth. Was there ever a time you were able to go up onto the Earth’s surface?”

“I don’t believe so. I was always told it was freezing up there. Besides, there seemed to be lots of crime. My aunt Katherine said some people still lived in the ruined cities but that they were dangerous.”

“Did you ever see the sun?”

“Only on television or online, not in person until I came here.”

“Do you miss the Earth?”

“I miss it a little bit I guess. I have to admit that my living conditions are substantially better here. At least the air quality is a step up and the food is better. Life seems a little less complicated here than the underground city I used to live in. Who knows, maybe someday I could transfer to Earth II when it’s complete. Do you think it will be everything that the news says it will be?”

“Pretty close. I guess that’s something to think about,” he replied softly.

They continued to chat as they ate their dinner, then went for a walk around the avenues leading up to the Square. Ava noticed the small ache in her left leg as they walked but said nothing. The fact that this ache has gone on for so long began to worry her. She started to think about how to have it checked out when they arrived back at her quarters and Wesley started chatting again as they watched the monitor. A program about alien sightings and abductions came on.

“What do you think about beings from another world. Do you think it’s possible they could exist?” He inquired.

Ava laughed, surprised at his question. She felt he was kidding around. “Don’t you think that if aliens existed that we would have seen them and had solid proof by now besides these sketchy eye witness accounts?” She replied, half serious.

“Possibly. I’m really not sure.” He smiled at her and tried to keep this conversation light. He wanted to test her emotions out on the subject. He wished to tell her the truth soon and needed to search for a way to begin this conversation.

“Besides, you’ve travelled the galaxy. You of all people would probably have seen them if they are truly out there,” she continued.

“Let’s just pretend for a moment that intelligent beings other than humans existed. How would you feel about that?”

“What?” She laughed again. “Wesley, why are we even talking about this?” She found it hard to keep a straight face.

“You have a brilliant scientific mind. I was just curious to hear your thoughts.”

“Well, it would probably be terrifying. Every program I have ever happened to watch on the subject conveys an attitude of fear. People believe that aliens would not be friendly, and most likely want to kill us all to take our resources.”

“I could believe that. People think aliens are evil, I get that. But what if there were beings out there that were not terrifying. Some humans are evil while most humans are peaceful. What if there were peaceful beings out there?”

“The likelihood of that happening is less than the chance of human survival on Earth. I don’t know what to tell you,” she snapped. “Can we please change the subject and talk about something else?” Ava found their conversation about aliens a little disturbing. As a child she sometimes had nightmares about aliens and never liked watching documentaries on the “what ifs” of alien existence. She didn’t mention it at the time, but she had a hard time playing the virtual reality game with aliens in it when they took their first trip to Capri together.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you,” he said softly as he tapped a button on the remote to change the channel to the news. He felt somewhat disappointed at her reluctance to explore the subject. The discussion wasn’t a total waste though. He had made a decision. When he told her the truth, he needed to have her on the ship, away from Orionis. At least then she could not run away and potentially cause a scene. Maintaining a low profile was the key to his kind’s existence amongst the humans.  Despite her biased opinion of non-human beings, he knew she could understand him if she had an open mind. He pulled her easily to him, holding her. She rested her head against his chest, closed her eyes, and listened to his heart beating steadily.

Ava could hardly believe how fast the weekend flew by before the time ran out and she had to say good-bye to her boyfriend and the crew, whom had become her family. Ava met them in the Square to say good bye, feeling a little tired. Rowan and Justin had finished their shopping and joined the group to say farewell to Ava before heading down to clear security to get back on the Andromeda. Ava and Naomi were discussing the possible plans for next weekend when they were approached. Rowan hugged Ava warmly and handed her a small package.

“I thought you might like this.” She smiled pleasantly at Ava.

Ava opened the small package, a festively decorated plastic container filled with what appeared to be dried herbs and flowers. The lid had small openings in it to allow the sweet fragrance to effuse out. She smiled as she inhaled deeply.

“It’s an air freshener. I thought you might like it for your living room. I made it from some of the flowers I grow.”

“It’s beautiful Rowan, thank you. I love it. I will really enjoy it. Sometimes the air isn’t as fresh as it could be in here.” Wesley smiled at Ava as she thanked Rowan. He noticed that Justin seemed to study Ava as she interacted with the group.

“Ava are you feeling okay?” Justin asked. Suddenly there were seven pairs of eyes on her. The group knew Justin would not ask Ava such a question unless he suspected something was wrong.

“I’m a little tired, but otherwise I’m fine.”

Wesley, suddenly alarmed, put a hand on her forehead, carefully feeling for an elevated temperature. He did not sense anything abnormal and removed his hand away from her face.

“I’m okay, really.”

“You haven’t had a fever, chills, headaches, or anything unusual?” Justin inquired, still observing her.

“I’m fine. I’ve been really busy at work lately and I haven’t had any extra time off so I’m a little tired. It happens. I promise I’ll take it easy this week and get lots of rest.” She did not want them to worry about her.

“Are you sure Ava? I can stay with you this week if you like,” Wesley offered.

“I know you need to do your job. Don’t worry, nothing’s going to happen to me while you are gone.” She tried to sound convincing. Their concern for her health suddenly began upset her. She knew she had seen a patient a few days ago that possibly had the unusual virus that has been fatal in all of its possible number of cases. Could she be sure she was okay?

“Drink lots of water and get plenty of rest Ava,” Justin advised.

“I promise.” She smiled at him. Ava did not have as close of a relationship with Justin as she did with some of the other crew members. She liked him, however, there was something that made her slightly uneasy about him during their trip home after the stop on the abandoned space station. She couldn’t quite figure it out. He had always been kind to her. She wondered why she felt the way she did. She never mentioned it to Wesley.

With that Ava bid farewell to her friends in the busy square as the people rushed by around them, getting to where they needed to be. Then Ava too, became one of them, walking back to her quarters alone. Ava laid down on her bed and rested for an hour. Still feeling tired she took her temperature, out of curiosity. Normal. I’m fine, she thought, still somewhat apprehensive over Justin’s concern for her health. Ava thought back to her patient last week. She had seen the thirty five year old man, a permanent resident on Orionis, on Monday. He had a mildly elevated temperature, feeling fatigued, and he looked pale sitting on the exam table. Other than that, everything else appeared normal. His vital signs were stable, except for the mildly elevated temp. He had no indication of a bacterial infection. She prescribed him the antiviral medication that had become the new protocol for anyone suspected of having a virus, out of precaution from the fatalities that had occurred. There was not much else to do for him at this point except supportive care such as rest and fluids and to notify her if his condition worsened. Ava remembered he had sneezed several times during the visit. This memory concerned her now.

Ava heard from the patient again on Thursday. He reported that his symptoms had worsened and Ava asked him to return to the clinic. He now had a temperature of one hundred and two degrees, seemed very pale and weak, had an increased pulse rate and had a slight decrease in his blood pressure. He stated that he could not sleep during the night because he would alternate between shaking chills and uncomfortable sweating. A red itchy rash had appeared on his body over the past two days. Aside from the sneezing, he was now coughing frequently. He did not know where he could have caught such an illness, he knew of no one at work or at home that had been ill. His only exposure was visiting the grocery store a few days before his symptoms appeared. At this visit, Ava knew this patient’s condition was deteriorating. She consulted Dr. Grant and Dr. Tom, who had the patient admitted for possible sepsis. After the patient was admitted to the hospital unit, Ava had no further updates on his condition. She wondered whether or not he was okay, she hoped his condition had improved over the weekend.

Ava returned to work on Monday morning as usual, still feeling tired. She saw Dr. Grant in the hall mid morning and asked him if he had an update on the patient from Thursday.

“Good morning Ava. Yes, I do have an update for you. Unfortunately the patient’s condition continued to worsen. His blood pressure dropped and we tried to push fluids on him to bring it up. Meanwhile his temperature continued to elevate despite all of the medications. The blood cultures were negative. Tom believes it was that virus that has been going around. He is trying to isolate it and look for antibodies but hasn’t had any luck. This is something we have never seen before. To make a long story short, we placed the patient on a different antiviral medication and the patient went into an un-explained renal failure yesterday. He is still in intensive care on dialysis and it is uncertain whether or not he’s going to make it.”

“That’s terrible.”

“Tom’s ready to call for respiratory precautions across the station for anyone who has a cough or sneeze. We may even have to start screening anyone who comes in from the hangar if this trend continues.”

“Does the OMC have that kind of authority?”

“Absolutely.”

Ava continued to talk with Dr. Grant for a few minutes regarding the new recommendations for what to do with any new patient who presents for an elevated temperature and a cough or sneeze. The rest of the day went by quickly. Ava felt exhausted by the end of it and wanted to go home and sleep. She napped for two hours, ate dinner, showered, and went back to bed. She began to worry as she drifted off to sleep, it was not like her to be so tired all of the time.

Ava woke in a mild sweat a few times during the night. She took her temperature when she arrived at work. The thermometer read ninety nine degrees. Ava tried not to be paranoid over herself, but this worried her. Maybe Justin was right, maybe she was sick. How would he know that just by looking at her? Tuesday morning came quickly. By the mid afternoon she started to feel dizzy and asked the secretaries to cancel the rest of her afternoon. She went to find Dr. Grant to report her symptoms. Luckily, he was in his office.

“Ava, I heard you aren’t feeling well.” He said as she walked in.

“No, I’m not Dr. Grant. Actually I’m kind of concerned. I’ve been feeling tired since Friday and this morning I began running a mild temperature. I’ve also been feeling a little dizzy. I’m worried that I might have that new virus my patient had last week.”

“This is concerning Ava, it’s good that you cancelled your clinic. Have you taken your temperature since this morning? Yes, just a few minutes ago, it’s still at ninety nine. Low grade, but enough to make you feel terrible. I asked the nurse to take my other vitals, they are still normal.”

“No other symptoms?”

“I was a little sweaty last night, but that’s it.”

“Okay. I’m going to prescribe you the anti-virals we gave your patient last week. I’m not sure you have that new virus, but I’d like to watch you. Cancel your clinic for the rest of the week and get plenty of rest. Start taking the anti-virals tonight and call me if anything changes. Better yet, come in and see Tom tomorrow, just so we can keep a close eye on you.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“I hope you feel better. Call me if you need anything.”

“Thank you, I will.”

Ava made her appointment with Dr. Tom for tomorrow afternoon and asked the secretaries to cancel her clinic for the rest of the week. She picked up the medications from the pharmacy and slowly made her way home. Ava tried not to let her condition worry her. She thought of Wesley. He would be so worried if he came back on Friday night and she was not there. She also did not want to expose him to the virus either, at least not any more than he had been. She left a message in the queue for him to receive when the Andromeda was back within reception range of Orionis. She wrote that she was not feeling well and was being started on antivirals, but that she was okay. She hoped she would be.