Oh...Sorry it took so long...I'm working on ten other stories and four essays...so much...stuff! My hands are cramping...
Well, anyway, I'm back! Please review!
"We are approaching orbit with the Dan-ga-Jin planet." The crackly, wheezing voice whispered over the monitor. It had taken a precious week to arrive and already ten percent of the crew had been lost, their bodies cremated and sent into the cold vacuum of space. It meant that the medical crew had only four weeks to complete the mission. The ship would then break orbit and begin its race back to Irk, without needing the aid of anyone else. The medical staff there would then search the containment chambers, after sterilization, for the hopefully found cure. Until then...countless would be lost.
"How are you holding up Tegin?" Shiroi asked as he paused, coughing, from fixing some of the broken equipment. His glove came away bloody and he wiped it on a cloth he kept in his pant's pocket.
"I'm all right, you?" Much to his relief Shiroi stood up to the symptoms rather well, he didn't know what he would do if he lost her...
"Surprisingly better then you and I contracted it before you."
"Maybe you're resistant?"
"I doubt it...I still suffer the same symptoms as every one else." Her head hung low. "We thought we had a cure..."
"And?"
"We tried it on stages one through four, and it made it worse. I feel so horrible for what I am doing to these patients! Children are dying and there is nothing I can do!" Her voice cracked and she knelt on deck, shuddering back and forth between hacking coughs and dry sobs.
"You're doing all you can, don't be too hard on yourself." He drew her close, lack of sleep evident on both their faces. "You'll find it, I know you will." She wiped her eyes.
"I'm s, sorry, I don't know what came over me..."
"I'm here for you, now go find that cure."
"What if I can't?" The orange-eye was surprised. He had never seen Shiroi act this way before, she was like a child, scared and alone, lost in a world of despair.
"You will! Before the four weeks are even up! I'll have to reprogram the ship to send us home early!" He wheezed. "I have to finish repairing this control center, and then I'll come and help."
"Thanks Tegin..." The white-eye whispered, heading back in the direction she had come from.
"She'll find it, I know she will...Ivy, I hope you're all right."
"Does anyone know how they are doing?" The green-eye paced back and forth with Red following her nervously.
"The medical staff told us that it was best to keep radio silence through out this whole thing. Did your test come back?"
"I'm fine, you too...Our armor protected us from skin to skin contact."
"I miss them."
"You? The almighty Red?" His head hung and he slumped onto a green couch.
"I am no longer almighty as you say, and you know it Vee...And yes, I miss Tegin, for all he did for you, for us all...If he hadn't been there...I shudder to think what would have happened to you..."
"Red?"
"I miss Pur...I hate myself! How could I have done that? How? He was, he was my best friend and I turned around and slaughtered him! In cold blood...if he was still around I bet none of this would have happened...I would bet my pathetic life on it..."
"Red?" Ivy worried over him. He grew thinner every day, more and more despondent. She knew how much he had cared for the other Tallest; they had been like brothers. And he had betrayed the trust that came with that friendship.
"I should have gone with them to help...I could die in peace knowing I had done something to further the prosperity of the planet...instead of sitting here useless, wasting space..."
"No! No you will never think that again!" He looked up, surprise evident on his gaunt features. "Never! Do you hear me? If I ever hear those words come out of your mouth again!" The threat hung in the air and tears coursed down her face. She had lost two loved ones; she would not lose another.
"I'm sorry Vee...please don't cry, I'll never say it again, I promise..." He pulled her into his arms. "I should have been more thoughtful, not so selfish, stop crying..."
"You s, stupid S, Soldier..." She cried, beating his armor weakly with her hand, making him smile, she would be all right now.
Another week, more failures. They were beginning to become predictable and even Tegin was starting to lose hope. The prolonged work and space environment seemed to be taking a heavy toll and causing the symptoms to appear more rapidly. He himself was beginning to feel stage two. Tegin had taken over the burials but he felt that he wouldn't have to for long. Soon he himself would become a test subject. Even Shiroi's perceived resistance had been short lived and she had slipped beneath the waters of stage one.
"You look terrible." She said quietly, sidling up next to him as he ejected another container of ashes into space.
"Thanks...good day to you too..." he wiped a gloved hand across his forehead to stay the sweat threatening to trickle into his eyes. "How do you feel?"
"As well as can be expected..." she paused, "we think we may have found one, we're all really excited about this, but we can't get our hopes up too high..." and we only have two weeks, were the unspoken words. "We lose more and more every day..."
"I know, I'm the one who takes care of them...poor souls..." the orange-eye watched the grey box drift farther away. "Have you tested it yet?"
"Yes on levels two through three, their the only ones we have left...it seems to help them somewhat, but a total cure, we don't know." Her face turned pale as Tegin lurched forward, slumping against the metal walls in a violent coughing fit. "Are you all right?" She yelped worriedly. He nodded and continued to cough.
"I...think...I'm just at stage two..." he gasped, breathing raspy and painful.
"Just at? Why didn't you tell me?" She helped him shakily to his feet. "I could have given you something to help...let's get you to the sick bay." The white-eye tugged him along but he stopped her.
"No, I'll be fine, I've been like this for a while now, focus on the others and finding a cure..." he looked weakly at his gloves, they were stained with the rose colored liquid. "Go, I have more Irkens to take care of..." he gestured to a stack of crates.
"But-"
"Find the cure, Irk is counting on you..." he told her, launching another box decorated with Irken burial symbols and watching her walk away. "...I'm counting one you..."