Chapter 4

"What have we got Doctor Cougara?" Sahara asked as the doctor sat down in the medical conference room on the third floor of New Thundera General. He'd been pacing for some minutes without saying anything and it made her nervous. Tyler was nervous too as he wondered how these three cats had caught the disease when they had not been anywhere near the Lair ever. How many more were infected and spreading it around?

"Doctor, please stop pacing and speak to me. As your Queen you called me down here and now I'd like to know why," the litah spoke again and this time the cougar snapped out of it and took a seat across from her at the table.

"It seems my original diagnosis was incorrect. I have made a call to Third Earth and Plundarr but no one seems to be exhibiting the symptoms. It may be something that only exists on New Thundera," he said.

"You're going to have to give me more than that Doctor. I have dignitaries coming in, in a few hours and I cannot expose them to something we do not know what it is or how to control it," Sahara told him. It was then that the Doctor stood up and switched on the video screen at the front of the room. Punching in some keys, two images popped up on the screen.

"The image on the left is a sample of perfectly healthy blood. The image on the right is a patient who has been exposed to Thundrillium radiation," he pointed out the deformed red blood cells on the screen which looked like a donut instead of a whole circular cell.

"Thundrillium was discovered to let off radiation that no one realized was harmful until about fifteen years ago. As such, all the modifications were made to the way we mine it, store it, and use it. Prolonged exposure leads to shorter life spans, brittle bones, and blood disorders. Blood disorders which in turn affect the immune system and getting something as trivial as a cold can cause hospitalization and even death depending on how severely compromised the immune system is," he continued before typing in another series of keys and pulling up a third image of a blood sample.

"This picture on the far right is a sample of Lord Panthro's blood, three weeks before he passed away," the cells were deformed and had clogged his arteries leading to a heart attack. The heart attack had been effectively dealt with and treatment of Thundrillium radiation poisoning started.

"This picture is a sample two weeks before he died," Cougara punched it up on the screen. The cells were less deformed and things were looking better.

"This picture was two days before he died," the doctor showed a third image, leaving nothing but the three images of Panthro's blood on the screen. The third image made Sahara sick to her stomach. The cells were bursting and no healthy cells remained. He had bled to death internally while oxygen could not get to the vital parts of his body. When the panther's heart stopped for the last time, there was no way to bring him back as his blood was destroyed. Leanna had then locked herself in her room and refused to come out, eventually succumbing to the same disease two months later despite the best efforts to save her.

"This happened over the course of three weeks. My father died after six months," Sahara pointed out.

"Since Lord Panthro and Lady Leanna's deaths, I have been keeping track of the factors involved in the disease. Lord Panthro and Lady Leanna had the most exposure to Thundrillium radiation, followed by Lord Ben-Gali, Lady Pumyra, due to her proximity to Lord Ben-Gali, Lord Tygra, Queen Cheetara, and then your father King Lion-O. The levels in their systems would have shortened their life spans and as they aged, their immune systems would have eventually given up the fight. However, I would have suspected that most would have died from natural causes such as pneumonia, heart attack, or stroke. As you can see from Lord Panthro's blood there was nothing natural about it," the doctor explained.

"Then why was the entire Lair not put on alert after Panthro died? Why weren't blood samples taken from everyone?" Tyler wanted to know.

"They were. King Lion-O ordered blood panels for all the original ThunderCats. All were told their results and all were immediately put on medication to combat the radiation which seemed to be working up until Queen Cheetara got sick," Cougara said.

"How was it working?" Sahara was confused.

"Lord Ben-Gali's blood sample just a day before he passed away showed completely normal cells. It was his age that caught up to him and that bought of reptilian influenza that spread through the three planets. That unfortunately claimed Lord Lucius and Lord Snarf that same year. Lady Pumyra had a heart attack in her sleep, but she too had perfectly healthy looking blood cells. Lord Tygra had a stroke and was successfully living with aides until he caught pneumonia, which happens when the body doesn't move around too much. When Queen Cheetara got sick with a cold, the Royal Physician, Doctor Pungali Jr., treated her for it but sent me blood samples anyway just to be sure. I watched her cells rapidly deteriorate and there was nothing I could do to stop it. The medication for Thundrillium radiation poisoning was not working and the antibiotics did not even slow it down. She died in pain and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Your father, being the youngest of the bunch, had a stronger immune system and was able to keep it at bay but I still have no cure and now the samples of blood I've taken from the three who came in sick look like this," the doctor popped images onto the screen. Three of them right across and it was obvious that each cat was in a different stage of the disease.

"The one on the far right will be dead by the time the sun goes down. The other two, I hope to help but I have no direction and what's worse, I've had to quarantine their families. It's only a matter of time before word spreads and we have massive panic on our hands," Cougara told them.

"I'll worry about the panic. You keep me informed. I'm heading back to the Liar and seeing if I can't cancel the dinner tonight. Put a call into Plundarr and Third Earth. I want any available doctors with experience in blood-borne diseases here before sun-up," Sahara said.

To Be Continued…