Spectra's Gambit (2 page)

“Without a doubt, but the infection rate on this virus is off the charts. They would be re-infected almost instantly,” she said.

“Well, that is easy enough to counter,” said Doctor Hawthorne.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“The virus is extremely narrow in range; it will only infect people with very specific DNA. That is why only the Cathratinairians have been infected so far. All we have to do is mask that marker and they will not be re-infected,” he said.

“Wouldn’t that cure them, too?” asked Karath.

“No, DNA masking can prevent infection, but once a patient is infected, it is too late for the mask to be effective,” he said.

“It sounds like we have a perfect team here: Doctor Leslie and Kellyn cure them, and you prevent them from becoming re-infected,” I said.

“It could work, but you must forgive me for being skeptical that you can cure them when you have merely reviewed their medical records,” said Doctor Hawthorne.

“We have means beyond what you have here to enact a cure. Have you tested your DNA masking at all?” I asked.

“We have used it in other cases with success but no, not in this specific case. There was no way to do that safely,” he said.

“Then use me,” said Karath.

“What?” asked Doctor Hawthorne.

“Test the DNA masking on me,” said Karath.

“If it fails, you will die,” said Doctor Hawthorne.

“That is an acceptable risk,” he said. “But before we do that, I need to transfer full control over this case to Grandmaster Vydor in case I do not survive.”

“Certainly, but I must warn you how fast this virus mutates. The masking might only make you temporarily immune,” said Doctor Hawthorne. “Even if it succeeds, this is short-term protection only. I cannot keep you safe from infection for long.”

“Kellyn, what is your opinion of all this?”
I sent via our telepathic network, then asked the doctor, “What do you mean?”

“My love, I think he has been completely honest so far, but this virus worries me,”
she sent back.

“Well, the DNA mask will not actually change Karath’s DNA. It will just block the receptors that the virus uses. If the virus mutates to use different markers, it could make things much worse,” said Doctor Hawthorne.

“What do you mean?”
I asked of Kellyn then said, “So we will have to keep him in biological isolation until we know it is safe to let him out. How long would that be?”

“There is no way to know. This virus is highly adaptive. We would just have to wait for all the virus cells to die off,” said the doctor.

“It’s too perfect. Nothing like this could have happened on its own,”
sent Kellyn.

“Karath, are you still prepared to do this? You heard Doctor Hawthorne. If the DNA masking fails you might not surviv
e,” I asked.

“Yes, I am, and the sooner the better,” he said.

“Grandmaster, thank you for meeting with me,” said Doctor Hawthorne as I settled into his office.

It had been about a week since we agreed to test the DNA masking on Karath, and Karath was going through some final preparation for the test. “What can I do for you, Doctor?” I enquired.

“Assuming this works, what do you plan to do with all the Cathratinairians?” he asked.

“We have found several places where they could settle and start their lives anew. We will probably move them to one of those, give them enough resources to get started, and from there it will be up to them,” I said.

“I see,” he replied and then he looked off into space, quietly thinking.

“What is bothering you, Doctor?” I asked.

“Well, I have two problems that I don’t know how to solve,” he said.

“What are they?” I asked.

“Once you pull your funding, this hospital will go bankrupt, leaving me with one hundred and fifty people whom I can no longer provide for,” he said.

“That is quite a problem. What course of action are you considering?” I asked.

“There is nothing out here for us, but we cannot afford transport to anywhere else. If you could help us with that, then maybe we can scatter and find places to fit in,” he said.

“You do not like that idea,” I said.

“No, I don’t.”

“Why not?”

“We are a big family here. We have served together for over a century now. Splitting up would be painful at best. We are also unlikely to find anywhere with the tools and resources we have here. I cannot imagine the pain of losing patients merely because the nations around here are too poor for decent medical technology.”

I could guess where he was trying to lead me, but I decided not to take the bait. “The heart of the Empire still stands as its own nation with perhaps the most powerful navy in current existence. You could travel to the capital planet and find work there, I am sure.”

“True. We have talked about that as a possibility, but with their population problems it is unlikely they would take us all.”

I decided to repeat my question in order to lead him to making the request I was pretty sure would be forthcoming. “That is quite a problem. Have you any possible
solution?”

“Yes. We would like to travel back with you to the Wizard Kingdom, if you would have us,” he replied.

“Doctor Leslie, what do you think of us absorbing the hospital staff from here?”
I sent.

“Grandmaster, that would be a great help. As you know, finding good people to perform anything other than magic in our kingdom has been hard, especially in the medical field,”
she sent back.

“How have you been surviving out here? Our funding cannot possibly have been enough,” I asked.

“This section of space is controlled by a mixture of nations, tribes and consortiums. They have conflicting claims and the borders are in constant flux, but the one thing they all usually agree on is that this station is neutral space. Every few months, a trade fleet shows up from one of them with supplies for us. We pay greatly reduced prices in return for sending doctors onto their ships and helping them. They stay for a few weeks, and then our doctors return to the station and the ships move on,” he said.

“It surprises me that none of them have tried to take this station as their own,” I said.

“That is due in part to a rumor floating around out here,” he said.

“A rumor?” I asked.

“Yes. I am not sure how it started, but it has long been believed that you own this station and are willing to leave it alone as long as no one interferes with it. Needless to say, we have never corrected this rumor,” he said.

“I see.” I could definitely imagine from his point of view that it would be advantageous not to dispel that rumor. I suspected they had even encouraged it a little.

“It has worked very well for us. Many of the major consortiums have high-ranking members who owe us their lives due to the treatment they received here. In fact, I would say all the consortiums have been helped in some major way by our services, either directly or indirectly.” He gave me some examples of the people they had helped. I could see the pride and hear the joy in his voice when he talked about the success they had had over the years.

“Tell me something, Doctor: if money was not an issue, what would you prefer to do in the future?”

“That’s easy to answer; carry on with what we are doing now,” he said.

I thought on that a while. What they were doing out here was a good thing, but unsustainable as it was. “Doctor, this may surprise you but, in general, the Wizard Kingdom has no friends. Inside our borders we enjoy a stable, peaceful society, but our borders are under constant threat.”

“Sadly, that’s true for almost everyone these days. Our little bubble here is an anomaly,” he said.

“I wonder if we could take advantage of that?” I mused.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Suppose that we left this station here, but made it the official property of the Wizard Kingdom?”

“What would that mean, exactly?”

“We have a lack of fully-trained medical personnel, for various reasons. What if we turned this into a school? You could run this station as a research hospital and sustain relations with the nations around you. In addition to the locals, you would also treat citizens of the Wizard Kingdom.”

“But your kingdom is too far from here for that to be practical.”

“We would establish a permanent gate here. That would eliminate travel time.” The idea was coming together in my mind. “We could make use of the positive reputation of this medical center and begin to trade through this station. That would open new markets for us and expand our reach for finding magi.”

He leaned back in his chair and considered that for a while. “Grandmaster, are you saying we would basically return to how things were under the Empire?”

“Yes and no. ‘Yes’ in the sense that you would report to Doctor Leslie and treat our citizens, but ‘no’ in the sense that you would continue your free or discounted services to the local nations. My hope is that we can continue to foster a positive image out here and perhaps find some friends.”

We talked some more about it for several hours. His excitement over the prospect continued to grow and became contagious. I was just about to leave when he sighed and said, “Sorry, Grandmaster, but there is one more issue.”

“Ah, yes; you mentioned two problems. What else is worrying you?” I asked.

“Grandmaster, I am not sure we should wake the Cathratinairians just yet,” he said.

“Why not?” I asked.

“Because I have every reason to believe that this virus was genetically manufactured specifically to eliminate them. Whoever did it could still be out there. Given their limited population, I don’t know if we could save them a second time,” he said.

“Doctor Leslie and Kellyn both expressed the same concern to me, but this is not a decision I can make. The plan is to wake their ruling council and let them decide their own fate,” I said.

Just then we were interrupted by a call from one of his aides. He spoke for a moment and turned to me, saying, “This is the kind of problem that we face around here all the time.”

“What is going on?” I asked.

“Well, there is a cruiser requesting medical help for one of their number. They have no doctor on board and have the young lady in a hyberpod,” he said.

“That seems like a fairly normal problem,” I said.

“Yes, if that was all, but there is more. You see, this cruiser was here once before, very recently, and at that time brought us a critically-wounded soldier whom we were unable to save. We did all we could, but the victim was too badly injured. In payment for our attempt a very large sum of money, far more than our normal rates, was transferred to us in the name of the victim,” he said.

“It sounds as if he had generous benefactors,” I said.

“Yes; the Phareon government, in fact,” he said.

“You said he was a soldier, so that makes sense,” I started.

“Well, until that donation the Phareon government has never sent us a single penny. They feel that we’re operating illegally out here since they believe we are in their space and should be subject to their laws. They don’t dare to tangle with us because they are not yet able to take on the consortiums,” he said.

“Very interesting. Go on,” I said.

“So here is the problem: that ship obviously is working with or for someone high up in the government, and helping them could break down that political barrier for us; but, according to the report from my aide, the woman in their hyberpod is an escaped slave. If I help them, then I risk the ire of the consortiums that make quite a bit of money from the slave trade. If I do not help them, then I lose any ground we might be making with the local government,” he said.

I leaned back in my chair. “Yes, such is the game we politicians have to play. Which evil do you appease, and which evil do you strike down? Not even I have the power to take them all on at once, much less you.”

“True.” He sighed and looked pensive. “I want to find a way to help them. Not only do I hate slavery, but I would like to break down the hostility there.”

“If they are a government vessel, would they not have the right to free a slave if they saw fit?” I asked.

“No, not without just cause, and there is no record of just cause or any legal documentation around this slave at all,” he said. “There is very little reason to believe there is anything legal about what they are doing, other than that large donation.”

“I see. It is a tough decision for you. If it were I, I would free her, but keep in mind the law I wrote and passed says slavery is illegal; I could do nothing else but release her. Until we are ready to risk actually raising our flag over this station we must keep things low-key, which brings us full circle back to the problem,” I said.

“True. I want to say it is never right to do the wrong thing, but living out here has been a game of careful compromises. I think I will board their ship and evaluate the situation personally. At least then I can get a better understanding of what is going on,” he said.

“If you choose to free her, you can be assured of our support. You are our people now, and if necessary the full might of the Wizard Kingdom will be brought to bear,” I said.

“You know, at some point you will have to meet with the local government, since we are in their space,” he said.

“You are not far from truly unclaimed space. We can move the station,
if need be,” I said with a grin.

“Not that far? Move the station?” he said. “Surely you jest! Even if you could move it, it’s hundreds of light years to unclaimed space.”

“No, I am serious. If we need to move the station, we will. Then you can let your convoys know your new location and we carry on as we were,” I said. “You are not alone anymore. You have a full kingdom behind you.”

“I am truly grateful for that, but let me just try talking with this crew about their slave before we do anything drastic,” he said.

“Certainly,” I said, and after some closing remarks I left to deal with issues back at home. I was thankful I could leave Doctor Leslie out here to handle the daily operations of this station, because the issues that Shadow’s team was currently fighting were more critical at this time.