NOTE: This story is the third in my first iteration of Phoenix Wright fanfictions. Read the others first if you desire, but this story could be read on its own.
October 7, 11:00 A.M. Kennedy Space Center
Phoenix moved his binoculars towards the rocket. Maya and Pearl were also jumping with joy. Pearl was especially excited, as she liked rockets. As hydrazine vented from the engines, Maya centered her camera towards the point of interest, waiting for the launch to begin.
She yelled, "Nick, are you excited?" Phoenix replied, "Yes, of course! I like seeing things go sky high!"
The PA system began to describe processes that the rocket was going through before the launch. Finally, the message came on the intercom that everyone had been waiting for.
"T-minus 15 seconds," it said.
Pearl screamed, "Mr. Nick, all systems are go!"
The intercom continued, "T-minus 10."
There was a click as the engines warmed up. "9...8...7...6...We have a go for main engine start."
The engines then ignited. There was a violent roar and smoke was blown out of the engines at high speed.
The intercom burst, "5...4...3...2...1...Ignition!"
The boosters activated and the rocket flew into the sky. Pearl cheered along with the thousands of others attending the launch. Maya shifted position to get the rocket launch on camera. The rocket flew higher into the clear sky.
The intercom then announced, "The rocket is currently experiencing maximum dynamic pressure; the engines will slow down to 65% thrust."
A message then declared, "The rocket is now throttling up to 104%."
The rocket passed out if sight for a second, but Maya managed to keep the camera still. It was then visible again. A massive explosive noise filled the air.
Suddenly, the rocket disappeared into a yellow cloud, and then it vanished. Pieces of debris fell down from the sky.
The intercom blared, "We have an anomaly; flight ended at 45.432 seconds."
Maya kept the camera on and filmed the falling pieces of rocket. However, as the pieces dropped lower, she shut it off, as there was no point in keeping it on if the pieces are hard to see.
After the rocket's fragments had fallen into the ocean, Pearl noted, "Good thing no one was hurt! Right, Mystic Maya?"
There was no answer.
She said again, "Mystic Maya?"
She then saw Maya under a large piece of material. Pearl pushed it off. Maya had passed out, and had been bruised up pretty badly.
"MYSTIC MAYA!", Pearl sobbed.
Her tears cascaded on to the ground.
The paramedics came over and assessed her injuries.
One man said, "She's gonna be all right. She was just hit by a piece of debris. However, she'll need a one day hospital stay for observation."
The three got into an ambulance and headed off the the hospital.
Maya was out on a stretcher and wheeled into the ICU. An IV line was started, and she was cleaned up. They did not put her in a gown, however, as Pearl prevented them from doing so.
As Maya sat there, the minutes ticked away. Phoenix became worried that they would have to use drugs to wake her up. Phoenix just plain hated having to look at her ravaged face. She had a black eye and a bruised face. Her eyelids were swollen and she looked miserable.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she opened her eyes.
She asked, "Nick...what happened to me?"
Phoenix stuttered, "You were hit by a piece of flying debris from the explosion."
Suddenly, a doctor entered the room and said, "Mr. Wright, your attention please?"
He said, "What now, doctor? Is she deathly ill?"
He shook and said, "No, I'm afraid not, but please look at this."
Phoenix placed the chart in his hands and asked, "What is so abnormal about this?"
The doctor answered, "Mr. Wright, the wreckage that fell on Maya, as well as some other wreckage that we found, was contaminated with Variola major."
"Excuse me?", Phoenix asked in confusion.
The doctor replied, "Variola major causes smallpox."
Phoenix screamed, "Smallpox?! I though smallpox was eradicated in 1980!"
He said, "Yes, but the virus still exists. It appears that someone contaminated the rocket with the intention to cause a biological attack."
Maya screamed, "Smallpox?! The last time I heard about smallpox was when my ancestor, Ami Fey, caught it in 1725."
Pearl asked, "What's smaul-paux, Mr. Nick?
Phoenix replied, "Well, smallpox is sort of like chickenpox, but it clusters sores on your face and body much more, and is much more painful. It can kill."
Pearl questioned, "Well, does Mystic Maya have smallpox?"
The doctor answered, "No. She doesn't. It is just that the debris recovered had traces of the virus."
Phoenix asked, "Well, I have been wondering why only women can channel dead people."
The doctor respectfully noted, "Well, today's your lucky day! Time to find out!"
He pulled down a human body chart and pointed to the brain.
"When a spirit is being channeled, the brain secretes chemicals called neurophotons. These travel through the bloodstream into the liver, where they are metabolized into antineurophotons. They then travel back to the brain, where they cause the body to externally change that of the spirit's, but sparing hair style and color. The reason that only women can channel is that a woman's brain produces nearly 243 times as many neurophotons as men's do. It takes an average of 120 grams of antineurophoton material to cause the channeling, but men only secrete an average of 18 grams. In contrast, women secrete almost 4,374 grams of neurophoton material."
Phoenix sighed. "Well, that makes complete sense.", he said.
Maya also agreed, "My mom never told me that!"
The doctor then departed. Phoenix realized that it would not be easy to find the culprit...