NAAN (The Rabanians Book 1) (39 page)

I forced a smile to my face.

“I wonder what it means,” he said.

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Probably nothing,” he said and returned my smile. “I assume you are looking for the Doctor.”

I looked around me and then at him. “No. Actually I wanted to see you,” I said. I thought that maybe I should check my logic with him before telling everyone else.

He waved me toward a nearby door. “Come, this is my lab. You didn't see it the last time.”

“I’d be happy to see it now,” I said, trying to be polite. I couldn't care less about his lab.

The lab was a large hall divided into three sections. Each had a large table, a few chairs, and several terminals. The sections were divided by low barrier such that it was possible to see the people in each of the other sections.

“It’s not fancy, but it’s practical,” he said standing at the entrance and scanning the lab with pride.

I’d never seen a lab in my life, except the one that manufactured yellow boxes on Seragon, but even to me this lab looked very minimal. As for it being practical I had my doubts.

“Come, let's sit here,” he said and walked towards one of the tables.
“I assume you want an update on what we are doing to respond to what has happened.”

“Yes, I would be happy to know that, but first can you bring up the paragraph I brought? The one we saw the last time”

“Yes, certainly.”

He looked at me in surprise but didn't say anything. He put on the neck sensor, and with few twists, uploaded the paragraph to the screen.

I read it several times. It was exactly as I remembered it. Excitement bubbled up in me. I wasn’t sure if I should be happy that we may have misunderstood it, or sad because we probably wouldn’t have a chance to test my discovery.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

I stifled a sigh. “Is it possible we misunderstood this?”

Kashir looked at the screen with surprise. “Do you understand it differently?”

“I don't know,” I lied. I don't know why, but I suddenly wasn't sure I wanted to tell him what I was thinking.

He shrugged his shoulders. “I don't think we misunderstood it. I think our problem was in our implementation.”

“Yes, I guess so,” I said.

“I see you have doubts,” he said and looked at me.

“In light of the complete failure of our solution, I think we all should have doubts.”

“Yes, that is obvious, but it sounds like you think we were not even close.”

“I don't know. I have all sorts of crazy thoughts.”

“Please share them with me. I have no doubt that if we work together we can come up with a better result.”

“Does it matter now?” I asked.

“Of course it matters.”

I shook my head. “Even if we find something new, neither Daio nor the Doctor will agree to do anything with it.”

“Maybe not now but later on. At some point, they will.”

I looked at him. “If you had the solution right now in your hand, I mean something certain, would you implement it? If for example you found a major error in your model and after correcting it you had a guaranteed solution to the plague?”

“There is no
me
in this story. I am only a scientist. I would probably talk to my team and to the Doctor.”

“But you know the Doctor won't do anything.”

He shook his head. “Are asking if I am willing to do something behind the Doctor’s back?”

“I am talking about a hypothetical situation. If you had a definite solution what you would do with it.”

“I would consult with people I trust and the Doctor is one of them.”

“But he won't do anything.”

Kashir shook his head in anger. “Yes. The Doctor wouldn’t do anything if he thought it wasn’t the right time. As you know this is not the first failed attempt to cure the plague. The others were before my time. The Doctor knows how to handle things, and I trust him. Beyond that…" He looked at me and tried to calm himself. “You need to understand the sensitivity of this place.”

“Yes, I know. There are all sorts of sensitivities that prevent us from doing what is right."

"
I don't like what you're implying
. Maybe it's your poor grasp of the language?”

“
I meant what I said
. These sensitivities have nothing to do with anything. If somehow you were able to pull off a cure, these sensitivities will disappear. Everyone would thank you. Your name would be inscribed on a stone at the entrance to the university as the savior of Naan.”

“And I suppose you have such a solution?” he asked.

I gazed at the screen. “No, I don't.”

He sighed and shook his head. “So what are you doing here?”

I looked at him. I couldn’t tell him. I wanted to scream at him that I come to see him just to make sure I was not hallucinating, that I understood the paragraph in a different way, and that maybe there was no cure for the plague. I had come with the intention of sharing my thoughts with him, but now I couldn't do it. Beyond the fact that it was pointless, I felt uncomfortable exposing too many of my thoughts to him. Not that my new vision was so unique, I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point he found it by himself.

“As I said, I wanted to see the paragraph again,” I finally answered.

“I can give you a hard copy, but you must understand that for security reason it’s better if this information never leaves here.”

“No need,” I said and stood up. “Thank you for speaking with me.”

I walked down the stairs to the door and left the University. I trudged out into the street lost in my thoughts. The meeting hadn't gone as I’d wanted, but it wasn’t Kashir’s fault. I had expected that confirming my new interpretation of the paragraph would be encouraging, but I still wasn't sure. What if I was wrong? What if we’d understood it correctly the first time? What if the whole thing was just a big deception?

I didn't want to be wrong again. This was the thing that was nagging at me the most. I didn't want to be wrong again. This was why I’d pushed Kashir. I’d wanted to see if he was the kind of person who would collaborate with me to test my new interpretation before sharing it with others. If it succeeded great, if it failed, no one would have known, and the failure would not have been attributed to me. But Kashir, the most appropriate person I could think of, was Naanite first and scientist after. He’d been born here, and the fears of all Naan were part of him.

“You look exhausted” I said when Su-thor walked out of the hospital entrance.

She took a deep breath. “I am not sure it’s exhaustion.”

“How is it going inside?”

“Very few are left. The shifts are easier but still I cannot get over my feelings.”

“A Desertian like you? You are getting soft.”

“I am Desertian but I’m not emotionless.”

“Maybe it's the double shift.”

“You get used to double shifts.”

We started to walk home. “So you mean you are not emotionless like the people here,” I said.

She took another deep breath. “Where were you this morning?”

“I went to meet someone.”

“So early?”

“I wasn't that early,” I said and looked at her.

“What was it about?”

“Nothing," I said and looked forward. "I mean, I thought it was important but now I am not so sure.” I said realizing that I sounded like someone who was avoiding the subject.

“Okay,” she said looking away. “You didn't have to come, you know.”

“You shouldn't walk home by yourself,” I said.

“Where is the car?”

“Broken down. Dug is trying to repair it.”

She nodded. We walked silently for a while and I felt bad for not telling here what was on my mind. I knew she wouldn't let it go. “So your shift was hard?” I said, trying to start a discussion.

“It's been three months already,” she said.

“So?” she sounded like she was complaining.

“Three month is too long,” she said.

“You mean it's too long for people to still be infected?” I asked, trying to be precise.

She didn't answer.

“Do you think the cure has accelerated the plague?”

“I don't know. Accelerated isn’t the right word. Maybe it indirectly affected it somehow.”

She wanted to say something else, but paused. Someone came running towards us on the sidewalk. We stopped and stepped aside. He glanced at us, then started and continued to stare as he passed us by.

“He’s running to the hospital,” she said. “You see, not everyone here is senseless.”

“Yes,” I mumbled and we continued to walk. “You wanted to say something else about the medicine?”

She looked at me. “I said that maybe there is an indirect effect, but it's just speculation. I don't really know what's happening. No one does.”

“There could be several reasons the plague has intensified, but the simplest one makes the most sense; the medicine simply doesn’t work.

“Well, that much we know,” she said.

“I mean, the medicine was meant to block these adhering sites in the lungs. If it didn't do its job, and the damn molecules adhered more readily instead, then maybe the medicine somehow made things worse.”

“Maybe. That is too technical for me," she said. "What I see in the hospital is that people are suffering. The nurses say the healing process is much longer this year than before."

“Yes,” I mumbled.

“The Doctor is working on this I suppose.”

“They won't find anything,” I said immediately.

“You don't trust them?”

“No. That’s not it.”

“So what? You think someone sabotaged it?”

I nodded.

“Is it possible someone on Mampas scrambled the information before you were able to get your hands on it?”

“No, not a chance,” I said, but to be honest I wasn't sure of that. Maybe there were people there with such capabilities. “If someone changed the message it was someone on Seragon. Maybe it was even Shor itself sending us misinformation. After all, it’s not the first time I have broken into it.” I shook my head. I didn’t think anyone had scrambled the information at all.    

“What?” she asked looking at me.

“I think it's simpler.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think…”

She suddenly looked away and lifted her head. “Do you smell that?” she asked and derailed my thoughts.

I stopped and sniffed.

“Smoke,” she said. Someone ran past us on the opposite sidewalk.

“Something has happened,” I said.

I walked fast at first and then started to run.

“What do you think is going on?” she asked from behind me.

I didn't answer. I didn't know what to think. The house was a short distance from where we were, off to our left down at the end of the cross street just ahead of us. The smell became stronger as we approached. Su-thor stopped behind me as if she was afraid of something. I slowed down too as we got closer. At the cross street I look to my left. The house was on fire. Su-thor clung to me with tears in her eyes as we both stood gazing at the flames.

“Someone doesn’t like us very much,” I said and she started weeping.

Sirens came from our right. Two firefighting trucks, as wide as the street, roared past us and we retreated down the street.

“What do we do?” she asked trying to control her emotions.

“They are not at home,” I said, trying to calm her down. “Dug is working on the car somewhere and Daio is meeting someone.”

She swallowed and wiped her face. 

“Come on, let's get closer.”

We hurried toward the house and stopped in front of the fire trucks. A few people were standing a short distance away looking on.

“Daio says the firefighters are very efficient here, but until these guys get organized there will be nothing to fight.”

A car came up behind us and stopped in front of the trucks. Daio and Dug jumped out and hurried over to us.