2. Just A Simple Flu?
An hour passed as Skipper woke up again. The leader laid buried under a pile of blankets and pillows on the couch. His team looked at him anxiously as he opened his eyes. Skipper felt like misery itself and tried to sit up. He was still freezing much, even with all the blankets.
"Skipper, how do you feel?" Private asked and sat down beside him. But Skipper couldn´t answer him, because he couldn´t explain this strange feeling he felt. He had never felt so weak in life. "Skipper, what is it?" Private asked shocked when the leader closed his eyes again. "Its nothing, Private. I´m fine." Skipper muttered and tried to suppress the burgeoning dizziness again.
"Kowalski, what happened?" asked the leader, looking kind of helpless to the scientist, who was taking notes. "Skipper, it looks like you had a dizzy spell. But with a bit of bed rest we can patch you up again." Kowalski said confidently. "What? A dizzy spell? But why and why now?" Skipper asked, upset because he didn´t want to accept that he just passed out like a weakling.
"I´m not sure why this happened. But I have a theory." Kowalski said thoughtfully. "Oh yeah? Hopefully you have a good one." Skipper said with a bitter undertone. "So, you´ve been sitting in the hot tub before we left, right?" Kowalski started, but no one understood what he was going to say. "Um, yes. But why does it matter?" Skipper asked impatiently.
"Well in theory, it is possible that you didn´t tolerate the temperature change. That means, your body was heated by the water temperature, and then you're suddenly out into an icy cold, which goes to the freezing temperatures. Maybe the your blood circulation couldn´t handle that. This happens especially when your immune system and your body is already weakened. I think you get a cold or flu. This could´t happen, even to you but don´t worry, Skipper. " Kowalski said and Skipper was sacrificed with that declaration.
"Well, that would be a good explanation. So, no more hot bathing before freezing missions. All right, its registered." Skipper said, and yawned, because he felt terrible tired and exhaused after the hardships. "Yes, it is the best if you lie down and recuperate your cold. We can watch the movie another day." Private said cheerfully. But Kowalski had a little worried expression on his face after this plausible explanation, that Skipper hadn´t noticed.
So they went to bed and let their heater running at full speed so they could heat their habitat. After everything got quiet, Skipper was still awake. He couldn´t explain why he felt so strangely weak. It was like something was robbing him all his strength. The leader closed his eyes, hoping that he would finally find some sleep. But it didn´t work and he remained awake.
Skipper was actually very tired, but he wasn´t able to get some rest. He quickly jumped out of his bunk and looked at his team, who were all sleeping soundly. He smiled as he thought how lovingly they took care for him. Skipper stretched and left the bunk area to make some coffee.
If he wasn´t able to sleep, he would use his time to go through their old mission files again at least. The leader submitted their files on their concrete table and sat down. The minutes passed quickly and Skipper drank one coffee by another. It was long after midnight when his eyes almost shut themselves. But he already drunk so much coffee that he slipped around quite nervously in his seat.
Skipper could actually feel how the caffeine crawled through his veins and this never happened before. He felt like his heart was racing and he gasped. The leader had never reacted so strongly to coffee that would rouse him so immense. But the strange feeling grew stronger and he felt like Bert the elephant was sitting on his chest.
Skipper pressed his flipper on his chest and felt his heart racing like a wild beat of drums. "What is wrong with me?" muttered the leader and put his coffee aside. He looked at the files which were spread on the table and realized that they became more and more blurred before his eyes.
Skipper quickly closed his eyes and shook his head to get rid of the dizziness. But it didn´t work, but got worse. A strange feeling of weakness overwhelmed him and he was no longer able to sit upright anymore. The leader lost control over his body. With his last strength he tried to get up to drag himself to his bunk, but when he did, everything revolved around him.
He got a painful tingling in is flippers and feet, as they wouldn´t be properly supplied with blood anymore. Skipper went on his knees and leaned with the flippers on the ground. Slowly fear rose up in him and he tried to call his friends, but his voice failed. Now his flippers weren´t able to carry his weight anymore and the leader fell on his belly. His heart pounded in his ear holes, and he trembled as if he had a muscle cramp. Skipper could hardly breathe and gasped for air.
But this caused a severe cough and he laid panting on the ground. Skipper couldn´t do anything and closed his eyes. He hoped that this strange kind of seizure would end soon. The leader got a terrible feeling of pressure in his chest and he rolled onto his back.
Desperated, he stared at the ceiling of their HQ and he tried to keep a cool head. With trembling flippers he felt his pulse on his neck. But this was racing so fast that he found it immediatly. Skipper tried to breathe deeply and relax now, so he got his heart racing back under control.
But this time he was lucky, because after five minutes the leader felt how his body calmed down again. Everything got a clear view again and he was able to sit up again. Skipper was covered in sweat and shivering, although it was cozy warm in the HQ. Now he could not deny anymore that he was sick.
He slowly got up and waddled to the bunks, because he won´t dare to do anything tonight anymore. He quickly slipped into his bed and curled up on under his blanket. After a few minutes he finally got warm and he snuggled up even more in his bed. He clenched his eyes and hoped he would finally fall asleep. Skipper coughed again and it left a slight stinging in his lungs. "I have no time to be sick. Hopefully it's better tomorrow." muttered the leader whispered to himself and fell asleep.
