Chapter Four- Myll
Isaiah 13:8- "Terror will seize them, pain and anguish will grip them.."
The small planet of Diresh was unremarkable in many ways. It was a grassy plain world, flat and empty. It had no native inhabitants except for animals, a fact that surprised the people who had discovered the world, for its soil was very fertile and capable of supporting many crops, hence being an ideal world for humans to live and farm on.
So eventually fugitives and adventurers had began to settle Diresh, setting up colonies that worked together to build homes and farm land.
This system worked well for all those involved, and so many whom had no homes begun to flock to the planet, such as escaped slaves and criminals.
One of who was Tesian Hamani. She had been tried and convicted as a Religious Offender on Thaera, sold to Kovan, and rescued there by the Slave Liberation Front. She had then considered joining the SLF, but had felt that that was not where she belonged, and instead had ended up on Diresh.
In retrospect, that had been the right thing to do. She had joined a colony of religious criminals like herself, and there had married a wonderful man and settled into a life that fulfilled and contented her.
Usually. But today. today something was different.
Today? No, this unsettling feeling had started a while ago, and it persisted. Was it God? Was He trying to tell her something?
*God?* She called out, looking across the flat prairies to the setting sun. *What is it?*
She heard His reply. *Be prepared, for unto you I will send My answer to cries for deliverance.*
*Deliverance? From what?*
*Deliverance not unto you, but unto those who have upheld My word and have done what is right in My sight. For a fortnight they have been handed to evil, but they will be delivered by My hand.*
*Your answer to cries to deliverance? What is Your answer?*
The voice pulled away but Tesian heard its fading echo. *A family of Mine. Protect them, daughter. Do not let harm come unto them.*
"I won't, Lord. But tell me more. Who am I to protect? Who, Lord? Who is this family that will deliver Your people?"
She received no answer, only a *Protect them*, the words sounding distant and far away, like they had come from a great distance.
**
Over the next few days, Tielle and Chayden spent their time looking over possible planets to go to, as well as watching the newsholos extremely closely.
Hidon was the top story of most newcasts, and became even more so as reports of an epidemic came. Supposedly this illness had one of ten Hidonians sick and lying unconscious in medwards all around the planet.
The medics would be doing as much as they could, Tielle knew, but with the Farearian invasion, Hidon would not be getting its medical supplies to properly treat the ten percent of the population that was ill.
King Partini's condition worsened, and Tielle grew weary of watching the depressing accounts, finally just refusing to pay attention to the newsholos. Instead she spent all her time looking at planets.
Sighing, she blinked bleary eyes and sipped her drink, trying to keep herself awake to look at the maps. Sleep brought only nightmares -about Hidon, about Fareari, about her parents, about Arilana, about all her other deceased siblings, about everything- and so she avoided going to bed and instead used her time to search for a planet.
Shayni? No, it was too populated and prosperous. Chayden had a price on his head and would too easily be found there.
Okay, what about the Twins, Sab Kaal and Sab Tahn, just past Shayni? Both were small worlds, generally ignored by the rest of the galaxy.
But they were on the Quonan Trade Spine. Tielle sighed. Any planet on a major trade route like the Quonan Trade Spine just generated too much traffic and even if Sab Kaal or Sab Tahn didn't care about the outside galaxy, people coming to trade from Ratidu, Matill or Quona did, and they would surely recognize Chayden or Tielle.
Tielle closed her eyes for just a moment. Was there a planet perfect for her and Chayden's purposes? She was beginning to doubt it. They'd looked at hundreds of planets, and none of them had been suitable. Would any of the next hundred be any better?
The princess aroused herself from her bout of pessimism and opened her eyes. Sighing, she keyed in the command to move the map's focus, farther out on the edge of the galaxy.
And there she saw Diresh. She clicked on the planet and scanned its stats and history, sitting a little straighter when she realized what she had found.
"Hey Chayden! Wake up! I've found it!"
**
King Faihn sat in the Hidonian throne room, admiring the fine architecture and craftsmanship of the ornately decorated room. It was really a wonder, this planet. Too bad it was plagued with a nasty virus that none of his specialists seemed to be able to identify.
The medics claimed that they could not identify the disease because of its widespread symptoms. Some people lost their hearing; others got flu-like symptoms. Some became extremely uncoordinated; others' skin became red and painful, almost like sunburn. There was just no common thread to this disease, except for the fact that eventually all its victims went into a coma.
That caused a frown to mar the king's features. Really, he had enough to deal with a renegade son, escaped captive princess, recently invaded planet and disgruntled former royals of that planet without adding a mysterious illness to the list.
But the illness *had* proved effective for shutting Partini up. Faihn no longer had to deal with that annoyance, so perhaps he should be thankful.
But it was disconcerting to know that this disease could infect him. So far his specialists didn't even know how it was transmitted, making avoiding it a challenge. Was it spread through air? Fluids? Nobody knew.
"Your Highness," a medical specialist approached the throne.
"Yes?"
"As you know, we've been monitoring the k-, uh, Partini Satine, as he was one of the first known cases of this illness. And when I say monitoring, I mean monitoring *everything*. Everything from brain activity to body temperature to eyelid movement. We'd be counting the number of sneezes he sneezed if these patients made any sort of movement once they're comatose. We are monitoring everything, and we've found something disturbing."
Faihn leaned forward. The discovery may be disturbing, but it would be the first bit of progress they'd made in all this time, working around the clock. "Yes? What is it?"
The young medic held out a chart that Faihn didn't understand. "We've been monitoring Satine's brain activity since he fell ill, a week ago. And very, very slowly, less and less brainwaves have been transmitted from the brain to the rest of the body. Why?" The medic pointed at his chart, brimming with excitement at having made the discovery. "If you look here, in the brain stem and farther up, in the cerebellum, the area that controls coordination, and medulla oblongata, which controls swallowing, breathing, heartbeat and other such functions, these areas are darker than the rest of the brain." The medic looked up from his chart and looked at Faihn. "We believe that is the virus itself, Your Highness. It directly attacks and kills brain cells.
"This accounts for the different symptoms of the victims. This virus doesn't always start to grow in one spot, and so it causes varying symptoms in each victim, depending on where it starts to grow. In Satine's case, it started in the brain stem, causing him to lose consciousness without any warning. Then it moved into the cerebellum and the medulla oblongata, and when it moved into the medulla oblongata, we started to notice decreased brain activity, because it is usually so active, making sure that the body breathes, swallows and such."
"So what can you do with this information? Can you stop the virus? Vaccinate against it? Prevent it from growing?"
The medic shook his head. "No, Your Highness, we can't. We don't know anything else about this disease, but this news is very disturbing and shows that we are dealing with a very deadly epidemic."
"It does?" The disease didn't sound that bad to him. Just cut it out or radiate it, or something.
The medic's excitement was replaced by a sense of fear. "It shows that this disease is deadly for two reasons. One is that some who have this virus may not know it if it attacks, say, an elderly woman in the region that controls hearing. She's already old and can't hear very well, so family will just think that her hearing is getting worse, until the virus spreads to attack sensory brain tissue, causing the woman's senses of taste, touch, warmth and coolness to become nonexistent. From there it might spread to the region that controls the woman's hands and fingers, so that she can't move them. And what if the family just thinks it's arthritis and comes to get treatment for arthritis, when really it's our mysterious illness, Myll."
"Myll?"
"What the medics are calling it for lack of a better name. First part of mysterious and illness combined."
"I see." Faihn didn't really care what the virus was called, he just wanted it cured! But he didn't say that. Instead he asked, "What is the other reason that this disease is so frightening?"
The medic's sense of fear increased so much that Faihn shut off his sense that let him feel others' emotions. "The other reason that this is a very disturbing disease is that it cannot be stopped. We can't stop it from killing brain cells and tissue. There is nothing we can do."
Faihn waited for the rest as the young man swallowed and breathed heavily. *Nothing wrong with *his* medulla oblongata,* the king thought scornfully.
"There is nothing we can do," the medic continued, "to stop Myll from killing the brain tissue, and once it is killed, it will not grow back.
"Any region of the brain that Myll attacks will not recover."
**
Okay, I'd really like some reviews for this story. I know it's pretty early in the story and there's not that much to review, but please give me some feedback! I'd love to hear your comments and constructive criticism!
The small planet of Diresh was unremarkable in many ways. It was a grassy plain world, flat and empty. It had no native inhabitants except for animals, a fact that surprised the people who had discovered the world, for its soil was very fertile and capable of supporting many crops, hence being an ideal world for humans to live and farm on.
So eventually fugitives and adventurers had began to settle Diresh, setting up colonies that worked together to build homes and farm land.
This system worked well for all those involved, and so many whom had no homes begun to flock to the planet, such as escaped slaves and criminals.
One of who was Tesian Hamani. She had been tried and convicted as a Religious Offender on Thaera, sold to Kovan, and rescued there by the Slave Liberation Front. She had then considered joining the SLF, but had felt that that was not where she belonged, and instead had ended up on Diresh.
In retrospect, that had been the right thing to do. She had joined a colony of religious criminals like herself, and there had married a wonderful man and settled into a life that fulfilled and contented her.
Usually. But today. today something was different.
Today? No, this unsettling feeling had started a while ago, and it persisted. Was it God? Was He trying to tell her something?
*God?* She called out, looking across the flat prairies to the setting sun. *What is it?*
She heard His reply. *Be prepared, for unto you I will send My answer to cries for deliverance.*
*Deliverance? From what?*
*Deliverance not unto you, but unto those who have upheld My word and have done what is right in My sight. For a fortnight they have been handed to evil, but they will be delivered by My hand.*
*Your answer to cries to deliverance? What is Your answer?*
The voice pulled away but Tesian heard its fading echo. *A family of Mine. Protect them, daughter. Do not let harm come unto them.*
"I won't, Lord. But tell me more. Who am I to protect? Who, Lord? Who is this family that will deliver Your people?"
She received no answer, only a *Protect them*, the words sounding distant and far away, like they had come from a great distance.
**
Over the next few days, Tielle and Chayden spent their time looking over possible planets to go to, as well as watching the newsholos extremely closely.
Hidon was the top story of most newcasts, and became even more so as reports of an epidemic came. Supposedly this illness had one of ten Hidonians sick and lying unconscious in medwards all around the planet.
The medics would be doing as much as they could, Tielle knew, but with the Farearian invasion, Hidon would not be getting its medical supplies to properly treat the ten percent of the population that was ill.
King Partini's condition worsened, and Tielle grew weary of watching the depressing accounts, finally just refusing to pay attention to the newsholos. Instead she spent all her time looking at planets.
Sighing, she blinked bleary eyes and sipped her drink, trying to keep herself awake to look at the maps. Sleep brought only nightmares -about Hidon, about Fareari, about her parents, about Arilana, about all her other deceased siblings, about everything- and so she avoided going to bed and instead used her time to search for a planet.
Shayni? No, it was too populated and prosperous. Chayden had a price on his head and would too easily be found there.
Okay, what about the Twins, Sab Kaal and Sab Tahn, just past Shayni? Both were small worlds, generally ignored by the rest of the galaxy.
But they were on the Quonan Trade Spine. Tielle sighed. Any planet on a major trade route like the Quonan Trade Spine just generated too much traffic and even if Sab Kaal or Sab Tahn didn't care about the outside galaxy, people coming to trade from Ratidu, Matill or Quona did, and they would surely recognize Chayden or Tielle.
Tielle closed her eyes for just a moment. Was there a planet perfect for her and Chayden's purposes? She was beginning to doubt it. They'd looked at hundreds of planets, and none of them had been suitable. Would any of the next hundred be any better?
The princess aroused herself from her bout of pessimism and opened her eyes. Sighing, she keyed in the command to move the map's focus, farther out on the edge of the galaxy.
And there she saw Diresh. She clicked on the planet and scanned its stats and history, sitting a little straighter when she realized what she had found.
"Hey Chayden! Wake up! I've found it!"
**
King Faihn sat in the Hidonian throne room, admiring the fine architecture and craftsmanship of the ornately decorated room. It was really a wonder, this planet. Too bad it was plagued with a nasty virus that none of his specialists seemed to be able to identify.
The medics claimed that they could not identify the disease because of its widespread symptoms. Some people lost their hearing; others got flu-like symptoms. Some became extremely uncoordinated; others' skin became red and painful, almost like sunburn. There was just no common thread to this disease, except for the fact that eventually all its victims went into a coma.
That caused a frown to mar the king's features. Really, he had enough to deal with a renegade son, escaped captive princess, recently invaded planet and disgruntled former royals of that planet without adding a mysterious illness to the list.
But the illness *had* proved effective for shutting Partini up. Faihn no longer had to deal with that annoyance, so perhaps he should be thankful.
But it was disconcerting to know that this disease could infect him. So far his specialists didn't even know how it was transmitted, making avoiding it a challenge. Was it spread through air? Fluids? Nobody knew.
"Your Highness," a medical specialist approached the throne.
"Yes?"
"As you know, we've been monitoring the k-, uh, Partini Satine, as he was one of the first known cases of this illness. And when I say monitoring, I mean monitoring *everything*. Everything from brain activity to body temperature to eyelid movement. We'd be counting the number of sneezes he sneezed if these patients made any sort of movement once they're comatose. We are monitoring everything, and we've found something disturbing."
Faihn leaned forward. The discovery may be disturbing, but it would be the first bit of progress they'd made in all this time, working around the clock. "Yes? What is it?"
The young medic held out a chart that Faihn didn't understand. "We've been monitoring Satine's brain activity since he fell ill, a week ago. And very, very slowly, less and less brainwaves have been transmitted from the brain to the rest of the body. Why?" The medic pointed at his chart, brimming with excitement at having made the discovery. "If you look here, in the brain stem and farther up, in the cerebellum, the area that controls coordination, and medulla oblongata, which controls swallowing, breathing, heartbeat and other such functions, these areas are darker than the rest of the brain." The medic looked up from his chart and looked at Faihn. "We believe that is the virus itself, Your Highness. It directly attacks and kills brain cells.
"This accounts for the different symptoms of the victims. This virus doesn't always start to grow in one spot, and so it causes varying symptoms in each victim, depending on where it starts to grow. In Satine's case, it started in the brain stem, causing him to lose consciousness without any warning. Then it moved into the cerebellum and the medulla oblongata, and when it moved into the medulla oblongata, we started to notice decreased brain activity, because it is usually so active, making sure that the body breathes, swallows and such."
"So what can you do with this information? Can you stop the virus? Vaccinate against it? Prevent it from growing?"
The medic shook his head. "No, Your Highness, we can't. We don't know anything else about this disease, but this news is very disturbing and shows that we are dealing with a very deadly epidemic."
"It does?" The disease didn't sound that bad to him. Just cut it out or radiate it, or something.
The medic's excitement was replaced by a sense of fear. "It shows that this disease is deadly for two reasons. One is that some who have this virus may not know it if it attacks, say, an elderly woman in the region that controls hearing. She's already old and can't hear very well, so family will just think that her hearing is getting worse, until the virus spreads to attack sensory brain tissue, causing the woman's senses of taste, touch, warmth and coolness to become nonexistent. From there it might spread to the region that controls the woman's hands and fingers, so that she can't move them. And what if the family just thinks it's arthritis and comes to get treatment for arthritis, when really it's our mysterious illness, Myll."
"Myll?"
"What the medics are calling it for lack of a better name. First part of mysterious and illness combined."
"I see." Faihn didn't really care what the virus was called, he just wanted it cured! But he didn't say that. Instead he asked, "What is the other reason that this disease is so frightening?"
The medic's sense of fear increased so much that Faihn shut off his sense that let him feel others' emotions. "The other reason that this is a very disturbing disease is that it cannot be stopped. We can't stop it from killing brain cells and tissue. There is nothing we can do."
Faihn waited for the rest as the young man swallowed and breathed heavily. *Nothing wrong with *his* medulla oblongata,* the king thought scornfully.
"There is nothing we can do," the medic continued, "to stop Myll from killing the brain tissue, and once it is killed, it will not grow back.
"Any region of the brain that Myll attacks will not recover."
**
Okay, I'd really like some reviews for this story. I know it's pretty early in the story and there's not that much to review, but please give me some feedback! I'd love to hear your comments and constructive criticism!
