Chapter 4—Virus

"Have you spoken with the mainland, yet, Squall?" Zell asked, sitting next to him in the Ragnarok's cockpit. They were seated in front of the comm unit, Squall bent over it like he usually was.

"No, not yet," Squall replied, setting the receiver back on its holster. He ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm just getting static. They're either not there or something's wrong with the equipment. Or a storm. It could be anything."

"It's starting to get claustrophobic around here, what with Irvine acting the way he is," Zell said, leaning back in the chair. "I've never seen him act that way."

"It's just Selphie talking there," Squall said. "He's worried."

"Quistis is looking at that virus some more," Zell said absently, looking up to the blue sky outside the cockpit. It was a sunny morning, without a cloud anywhere in sight.

Perfect day for flying….Zell thought. I gotta down to the engine room and get to work…. it's time to get outta here

"Irvine's not gonna be happy about that…." Squall thought aloud.

"Whaddaya think about the virus, Squall? Do you think it's contagious…? I mean, if it got inside Selphie, then could it get to us if we….."

"I don't know. It's a distinct possibility," Squall replied. "With all those monsters that were down there, and as many that are dead now, it is a very distinct possibility."

"We just have to get through this," Zell said, getting up from his seat. "As long as everybody stays calm and collected right now, nothing else matters. If not, then all hell's gonna break loose." Squall smiled.

"You're one to talk about staying calm and collected." Zell grinned.

"I've been practicing," he replied. "I just went to that dojo and trained for a few weeks. It's a mental thing. I meditate everyday, now. I love it. You should try it, man."

"I'll just stick to sleep, thanks," Squall answered. "But, seriously. Maybe I will."

"I gotta get down and start 'fixing this rig' as Irvine so eloquently put it," Zell said, starting toward the lift. "And say 'hi' to your dad for me." Squall frowned.

"He's not my 'dad'."

"Father, dad, same difference. He's still your biological dad," Zell said, pressing the button on the lift. Squall watched Zell as he descended into the lower level.

"Is she doing any better?" Irvine asked, sitting down next to the bed.

"She's doing fine for now….but we can't continue to use spells on her like this….." Quistis said while she was going through and checking all the monitors. "We'll run out soon and they could cause problems after she's healed…."

"We need to go home…." Irvine declared quietly.

Quistis walked over to the counter where the microscope sat, along with a metal stool.

"We're not going anywhere for the time being," Quistis said, sitting down and looking through the scope. "I need you over here so I can take a blood sample, Irvine. I've already got Selphie's."

"No."

Quistis took her face away from the microscope and turned her head toward him.

"What?" she asked. "What do you mean 'no'?"

"We're going home," he said. "You won't have time to do an examination."

"That's ridiculous. Zell hasn't even begun to work on the engine, yet," Quistis said, looking back through the lens.

"He'll just have to work faster, then," Irvine said hotly. "We're going home and we're going home before the day is through."

"Zell said it could take a week or more to get it fixed, Irvine; you're being irrational," Quistis said. She was hardly paying any attention to Irvine as she looked at the tissue sample from a tri-face corpse. It indeed had the virus, too. "There's no way we're getting out of here anytime within a week."

The microscope was swept out from underneath her face and fell to the floor so harshly that it shattered the lens and bulb inside it. She whipped around on the stool to come face to face with Irvine. He looked as an animal looked in a fit of rage.

"What is wrong with you!!??" Quistis yelled at him. He was only 20 and she was 21, but he was as tall as she was, without a doubt.

"No more examinations, no more of this 'virus' mess," Irvine declared, taking her by the shoulders. "We're leaving as soon as Zell gets the engine fixed. Which will be today."

"You've gone mad," Quistis whispered, searching his brown eyes. 'Stark raving mad' is more like it…..she thought to herself.

"Go help Zell with the repairs," Irvine said, grabbing her by the throat. He had his Exeter rifle on a holder at his side. A long, sleek silver-colored rifle. Not at all the kind you'd take hunting in the woods. More made for man-hunting, than animals, really.

Quistis despised guns of anykind, although she was taught to use pistols when she joined SeeD at age 15. Very few passed their first exam, but she had with flying colors and no less. Reaching the title of Instructor by age 16, she was a rarity. She was the youngest of all the Instructors at any of the three Gardens: Galbadia, Trabia, and Balamb. The original Trabia Garden having been destroyed in the Second Sorceress War or otherwise known as The Great War, it was almost completed in being rebuilt. There was also talk of a new Garden being built in Esthar or there was even a distant rumor of a new Garden being built into a mountain on the Centra continent.

Quistis was by far the best Instructor at any of the Gardens, having been at it for 6 years, minus the time her license had been revoked before the beginning of The Great War. It was said that she lacked leadership qualities. Squall, however, reinstated her as an Instructor after it was all over.

She struggled a moment against Irvine, but he held her fast to the counter.

She was unprepared for this kind of situation from someone she knew so well, training or none. Irvine seldom lost his temper over anything, unlike Zell, who was usually a walking time bomb. The least little thing could set Zell off into a fit of the most colorful language this side of the Timber Pub. But, a glance or word of repremand from Squall usually embarrassed him into silence.

"You've got it," Quistis choked, slowly reaching for her pistol at her side as she spoke. My God…..he's got the virus….she thought.

"Let her go," a voice said from behind Irvine. Quistis turned her attention to the man behind him. She hadn't even noticed him approach. "Or I'll snap your neck."

It was Zell.

He had his hands just an inch shy of Irvine's body: one under his chin and the other at the base of his neck. Zell was only about 5'7 '', by far the shortest 20 year old male he knew of. He was also the finest martial artist and kickboxer in Garden. Nothing short of the Grand Master scared him, even if they were better than he was. He'd take on anybody, whether he had a chance of winning or not. To most, he was either fearless or stupid. And most couldn't tell which.

"I never liked you from the beginning, Irvine. This just proves I was right about you all along," Zell whispered. "Let go of her neck or I'll break yours. Whaddaya say? Give me a reason."

"He's got the virus, Zell," Quistis rasped. "Don't touch him."

Zell flinched slightly. It seemed to have only crossed his mind and was then dismissed as an irrelevant piece of information.

"I'm not worried about it," he said. "Let her go."

Irvine took his hand from Quistis's throat and Zell took his hands away. Irvine backed away from Quistis and her stool, Zell staying right behind him, ready to act if he needed to.

All in one motion, however, Irvine grabbed his Exeter and tried to smack Zell in the tattooed side of his head with it. Zell hit the floor immediately. His reflexes weren't too shoddy, either. He swept the six foot plus man off his feet, causing him to land on his back. More shoulders than back, actually. The blow was so hard he very well could have landed on his head.

Zell allowed him to roll over onto his back before he continued. He jumped on Irvine's back, bending his arm behind him harshly. He jerked it tight and heard a loud pop. Irvine shrieked. Zell had just jerked his shoulder out of joint. It was the arm that held his rifle, too, so he wouldn't be moving that for a while.

Zell looked back at Quistis, who had her pistol aimed at Irvine's head. She realized what she was doing and lowered the gun only slightly, to a less-likely-to-be-fatal position. She was viewing him as an enemy and not as someone who had been stricken with uncontrollable anger. Was this what she was trained to do?

"Get his gun," Zell said bringing Quistis back to reality and watching Irvine groan over his arm.

"Let me go!!!"

Quistis walked over slowly, keeping the gun aimed at him. She knelt down and picked up the rifle with her other hand. She took it and put it on the counter, opening a drawer, all the while keeping the gun aimed at a spot in Irvine's shoulder. That certainly wouldn't feel to good. She pulled out a syringe that was filled with a clear liquid. She spurted some out, making sure that the needle was clear. She walked back over to him and knelt down.

"This is a tranquilizer," she said, pulling up Irvine's sleeve, causing him to holler. She found the vein in his wrist and pressed the needle into it. "You're going to sleep."

"I think he has the virus," Quistis said aloud to the group, sitting in the briefing room of the ship. It was a large, circular table in the middle of a black room. "But, I can't know for sure, since he's broken my microscope. We don't have another. I do not know why I didn't think to bring a second…."

"Our problem now is getting back home," Squall said. "We can't get home in these conditions. Zell? How's the engine coming?"

"Well," Zell said, putting his hands behind his head. "It's not good. Something was caught in the engine. I have no idea what it could be, but it's there, because whenever I try to start the engine up, it just gets stuck. We've got enough power and fuel, it's just the engine. I can't get to it to fix it. We're gonna be stuck here unless they can get somebody out here in a boat. And even if they did, I don't know how they'd get up here to us unless they climbed the support beams. I don't know that I would try that, because they're so tall."

"Zell's right," Squall replied, leaning forward on the table. "If someone were to fall from that height, it would kill them instantly. Falling to the ground would give a better chance of survival."

"How?" Rinoa replied. "The ground is solid. Water isn't."

"Not true," Seifer replied. "This was one of the things they taught us in class one day. If—"

"Seifer actually paid attention in class…???" Quistis asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I just let you think I was sleeping. Have a reputation," Seifer dismissed. "Anyway, before I was so rudely interrupted, water doesn't give like the ground does. Think of mud and clay. You can put dents in those, right?" Everyone nodded. "Water isn't like that. When you hit water, it doesn't give like that. It doesn't make room for you."

"Like when you do a 'back buster' in a pool," Rinoa said.

"Right. That's why your back's red when you climb out," Zell answered. "Now, think of this: what if you fell from the height of, say……" He thought for a moment. "….the D-District prison. The very top. If you were to fall into water, you absolutely would not live because water is like that. If you fell to the ground, you would have a chance, albeit a slim chance, of survival. Water just doesn't cushion like the ground does."

"But, someone could still get out here to climb the support beams to get to us," Quistis said.

"True, if someone was brave enough to do it," Seifer replied. "Then, after the person gets up, someone has to bring the equipment up, either that or use some kind of a pulley or something. And that's a long way to pull something up, too. Especially if it's tools and medical supplies." Zell slammed his fist down on the table, calling attention to himself.

"Then, what in the hell are we supposed to do??!! We can't just sit here with our thumbs up our asses," Zell exploded. His demeanor calmed a little when he saw everyone staring at him. He sighed. "I'm just worried about Selphie. She's doing okay, now, but she could get worse. And we're running out of curagas to use. There's no way we can keep this up. The draw technology doesn't replace modern medicine. It never has and it never will. There are too many complications to keep using them on her like this. It could hurt her in the long run."

The room was silent as each person thought about different courses of action. There was a lot to think about. If they could only get Selphie back to the mainland, then everything would be fine for a time. But, if they could all leave, would they? That was what was on most of the minds in the room at the moment.

"Like I've said before," Quistis said quietly, bringing everyone to her attention. "There are things we can and cannot do. There are maxims and axioms to be aware of and to be followed in a situation like this. SeeD has rules and regulations that absolutely must be followed to the letter if we're to have the public good in mind."

"That's true," Seifer interjected. "But, what about ourselves and what's good for us?"

"You can't think of it from a personal standpoint, Seifer," Squall told him, leaning forward onto the table. "Think about Raijin and Fujin, still on the mainland. Would you like them to get such a thing as this? Look at what it did to Irvine. Turned him into a beast. He nearly killed Quistis, if it hadn't been for Zell."

"Think of the ramifications of what could happen if it got out into the world….." Rinoa thought aloud. "It seems to feed on 'negative' emotions. Worry, anger, fear, paranoia. If that got into the political system, there would be no stopping a third 'world war', only this time it would be against each other and not with each other. And there would be no neutral sides, like the Independent Island Nation of Balamb, where SeeD is mainly housed. SeeD is now a peacekeeping force centralized there, with another Garden being built in Esthar, but ponder this: there are only two actual armies in the world. The Galbadian Armed Forces and the Esthar Guard. The Galbadian Forces are quick to cut arms off and ask questions later. They prefer to cut the head off of a threat before it becomes a problem. It could turn the army into an even more 'hothead'. The Esthar Guard is a patient bull, although if this virus were unleashed, it could overthrow their poise completely. We have to worry about them just as much. They have the technology, no doubt there, to launch a counter-offensive so powerful, it could blow up Deling City. Then, there is the Balamb Naval Forces. If a war were to start between the two, Balamb and SeeD would be caught in the middle. Not to mention, Fisherman's Horizon down south on the train tracks between Esthar and Galbadia. There would be no escape for them, because the trains just started running again through there."

"It's the public good that matters," Quistis interjected. "Duty before self. If we die down here to keep this thing from reaching anyone on the mainland, then so be it. It's not a favorable option, but it's a last resort. The public good is what we have to think of here. Nothing else matters."

"SeeD isn't large enough to stop that kind of war from happening," Zell mused, scratching the left side of his tattooed face. He scratched the small amount of stubble on his chin, as well. "We have, at most, 1,000,000 men and women, most under the age of 25. Seventy percent of our forces are under that age. There is not a way in the world that we could take on both of their armies at once, even with the aid of the Balamb Navy. Especially if both sides treated every faction and settlement as an enemy. Esthar's population is huge. Their Guard alone could quadruple our SeeD forces in a heartbeat. And that's if we put everyone out into battle, even the ones that just passed their exam."

"I'll try the mainland again," Squall interrupted. "There's got to be somebody out there that's listening. I'll change frequencies to see if I can pick anyone up. But, this far out, there probably won't be any civilians."

"Not true," Zell replied. "Balamb fishing boats come down around here. My Pa's out for the month on the ocean. He might be within range. I've got the frequency on memory on the comm unit. Memory number 3. They just started making two-way radios again a few years ago.*** His is new, it should pick up a pretty good distance."

"You're only supposed to call out to civilians if there's a dire emergency, but I guess this qualifies," Seifer answered.

Squall stood up to leave the room.

"It certainly does."

"Wait, Squall, before you go, I've got other news on Selphie," Quistis said, causing the Commander to stop. "It'll just take a second." Squall stood there, waiting for her to stay something.

"Good or bad?" Rinoa asked.

"Depends on how you look at it," Quistis replied mundanely. "With Selphie's injuries, it could be bad or it could be good."

"Well, what is it?" Seifer asked impatiently.

"……….she's pregnant."

End Chapter 4