Chapter Six:
Rosie set the Macro-Scanner down, and typed into her CompuPad. Before setting it down, she checked the time.
"Radu should be showing up pretty soon." She said to herself. The whoosh of the jumptubes made her turn. "Oh, hi Radu, hi Bova!"
"Hi Rosie." Radu said.
Bova nodded.
"Come looked at this, Bova?" She requested, pointing to the scan.
Bova sighed and did so. "What the-?"
"Isn't it strange?" Rosie asked. "Its like his brain is-"
"Being re-written." Bova cut in, actually sounding interested. "Here. . .and here. . ." He pointed to two spots on the screen.
Rosie nodded. "There are notes on the CompuPad about what I've done so far. Radu, sit down, I want to try scanning you again."
Radu nodded and sat down. "Do you know what's causing this?" He asked.
"Not without more scans." Bova said, not looking away from the CompuPad. "But I'll bet it was the creature."
Rosie rolled her eyes. "You shouldn't jump to conclusions like that, Bova. It's probably nothing." She moved the MicroScanner over Radu's head.
"Oh, yeah," Bova said. "Radu's brain is being re-written and it's nothing."
"Guys? Can you tell me what you're talking about?"
Rosie laughed. "Don't worry." She said. "I told you earlier, the neurons in your brain-"
"It's not just that." Bova interrupted.
Rosie turned. "What do you mean?"
"Look at this new scan." He said.
Rosie set the MicroScanner down and moved to stand beside Bova.
"You're right." She said. "It's his whole nervous system!" She studied the scan curiously. "There, that could be causing his eyes to glow. I suppose." She pointed.
Some of the nerves attached to his eyes had changed.
"I don't understand, though." Bova said. "Nothing should be able to change persons brain like that. At least nothing current medical studies know about. Not that we know much about this thing that bit him, of course."
Rosie gave him a mock glare.
"We don't even know that the creature is responsible for this. . .whatever, do we?" Radu asked.
"No." Rosie said. "And there are no signs of whatever toxin it was in your blood."
"I hardly think the toxin would need to stay around if it had already done enough damage." Bova said dryly. "I'd consider this enough.""
Rosie frowned thoughtfully. "That makes sense." She said finally. She lifted the MacroScanner. "I'm going to scan you again, to see if this. . .re-writing, is happening anywhere else." She explained at Radu's curious glance. Radu nodded.
"I can't believe the Commander is making us get rid of all the traps." Harlan complained for the thirteenth time.
"Oh, just do it, Harlan." Suzee said, rolling her eyes. She deactivated and picked up one of the traps. All were now quite visible.
"I am, I am!" Harlan protested.
"I'm going to kill you when this is over." Suzee said.
Harlan glanced over at her nervously.
"Commander, I demand that you give those children a stricter punishment!"
"You only got caught in one of those traps. I got caught in four." The Commander said, almost patronizingly. "I really don't think you have any right to demand-"
"It's the principle!" Davenport cut in.
The Commander chuckled.
"Commander!" She stomped her foot.
Suddenly a high-pitched soundwave rippled through the air, knocking them both off their feet. The Commander looked down at Davenport.
"It appears the ship wants us to stay like this."
"Commander!"
He laughed and helped her up.
"That was almost like one of Catalina's sonic-screams." Davenport said after a moment.
"Yeah, it kinda was." The Commander agreed. "But Cat's in Suzee's dimension now."
"So, then, what was it?" Davenport asked nervously.
"I don't know." The Commander said. "Thelma?"
"Yes, Commander?" Thelma said. Both the Commander and Ms. Davenport jumped.
"What was that?"
"What was what, Commander?" Thelma asked
"That. . .shockwave, or whatever it was!" Ms. Davenport exclaimed.
"Oh! The Christa's hyperdrive engine emitted a sonic pulse." Thelma exclaimed. "It has reached every part of the ship now."
"Did it damage anything?"
"I do not know. Running shipwide diagnostic." She closed her eyes and began making computer-like beeps and whirrs. After a couple of minutes she opened her eyes again. "Diagnostic complete. No primary systems were damaged by the pulse. However, we will not be able to make a hyperjump for one hour, three minutes and-"
"Thank you, Thelma."
"Seventeen seconds. You're welcome!"
The Commander sighed.
Harlan fell over at the pulse, landing on his side on top of one of the traps.
"Harlan! Are you alright?" Suzee exclaimed.
"I'm - ah, ah, ow! - I'll be fine!" He tried to pull the trap off and caught his finger in it. "Oww!"
"Harlan!" Suzee shouted, crawling to him. "Oh, what did you do now?" She saw the trap attached to both his side and finger. She began to pry at the trap until it came off. "Okay, let's see." She demanded.
Gingerly, Harlan held out his hand. His previously trapped finger was bleeding.
"Is it bad?" He asked.
"I don't really know. I'm an engineering genius, not a doctor. Let's get you to the MedLab."
"Yeah, alright." Harlan agreed.
Suzee punched in the code and followed Harlan into the jumptube.
