The road to nowhere may end empty and in some ways that can be devastating. The road to devastation is altogether different. It can cause the blood in any being's body to run cold and icy. Their camp was on the eight mile from the village, just outside the seven mile quarantine radius. They were on mile two of the quarantine zone, six miles from base and rapidly approaching ground zero. Within a short moment's time, they would be at the epicenter where a biological bomb went off. The problem was that they had no clue where or what the bomb was. For all they knew, they could be walking up to their necks in the pathogen particles. That wasn't a happy thought.
"What do they honestly expect us to find?" Siera sighed forcefully, as if her breath reminded her that she was still alive.
"Changes." Eulias answered, the Salarian cautiously taking in his surroundings with his eyes.
"Right." Siera muttered. In some cases, biological particles just kept on growing on whatever they lived on. Just like moss consumes bread or fungi grows on rocks, there was a possibility that whatever the contagion was, it could be growing somewhere in the village and was unnoticed by the initial search teams.
"Well...we're here." Siera stated quietly when they reached the first forlorn buildings right on the outskirt of the village. The Salarian and Asari stared at the barren sight in front of them. When one studies the dangers of pathology as much as these two did, they may start to realize just how helpless large organisms are to an unknown pathogen. What was the incubation period? How did it multiply, what were its vectors? How could it be transmitted? Where was it hiding? Did they already have it and in fact were just living off borrowed time, a biological bomb ticking off in them to the countdown of the pathogen's incubation period? Even the barren dust seemed to become particles of devastating contagions if they let their mind brood on it too much.
"All right, take this cautiously. You never know what might have tried to take up residence here while we we're gone." Eulias stated, discreetly retrieving his Striker pistol.
"Do you really think that'll be necessary?" Siera asked.
"We're both still alive and I've said the same thing for every similar situation we've had to walk into."
"That's because every previous situation turned out in you not needing your pistol." Siera muttered.
"Shut up. There's always a first time." Eulias retorted, leading the way towards the nearest house.
The Salarian entered first, keeping his pistol handy although he saw no reason to be edgy. The room appeared to be in the same disorder they left it. Siera was leafing through the files on her omni-tool, comparing what she saw to the image the team took of the same house when they first processed the site.
"Nothing out of place." the Asari reported.
"Good, lets continue."
And so the process went, going about, searching each and every house, each being found in the same sad state. Even ultra modern homes made of alloys and composites are not immune to the laws of entropy. When a disease strikes and the bodies are removed, everything starts to return back to the state it was in. Disorder.
"Hmm, nothing out of the ordinary. We were given no recommendations to take tests or samples either." Eulias announced as soon as they finished.
"I concur...wait, Eulias..." Siera trailed off, looking towards the fields next to the village.
"What? What is it that you see?" the Salarian asked.
"Look at that, that definitely wasn't there before..." Siera observed.
"You're a little taller than me, Siera. I can't see what you're talking about."
"That, out there. In the fields."
--
"A mind is a terrible thing to waste," or so the Human saying went. Every other race would have agreed to that as well. Usually, the saying was used in context of further education or to use one's own given intellect more skillfully. Harrvok and Pelona found that there was yet another way that saying could be used. This was a little more literal.
"Well...that's...pretty blatant." Pelona observed, her eyebrows rising above her small wireframe glasses.
"Normally we need an MRI or microscope to see the damage but this just jumps right out at you." Harrvok added.
There on the table laid the freed brain of the human female they had dissected. At first, it appeared like any other central nervous organ. It had the usual brain lobes, the normal color, the spidery scattering of blood vessels which supplied precious oxygen to the ravenous brain cells. However, there was one major flaw to the brain. Harrvok painted quite the picture with his metallic voice.
"It looks like something ravaged it, like a bunch of insects were left to eat what they wanted of it."
Whole sections of the brain were simply gone, eaten out. There seemed to be no system or order to the destruction. Pelona found a pen and pointed at the places that had simply disintegrated, as if eaten by some cranial worm. Using her knowledge of general biology, she traced the path of destruction.
"The center of language was hit, causing a slurring of speech. Large sections of the cerebrum are gone which would have hindered memory, learning and motor control. This particular section of the cerebellum indicates that she was probably going blind during her final hours. The damage goes into the brain stem..."
"Where she would have died when whatever did this hit the areas that deal with involuntary actions, such as breathing and heart beat." Harrvok finished for his assistant. Pelona nodded sadly.
"Yeah..." she said softly.
"Cause of death was probably respiratory or cardiovascular failure. There could have been other aggravations from the other ailments she was suffering." Harrvok muttered, the Turian writing down the report in a data pad.
"I'll make arrangements for these bodies to be examined with an MRI. We'll probably have to do less cutting that way." Pelona announced, guessing that all of the other bodies would yield the similar if not the same results.
"We still have one problem." the Turian stated.
"What's that?" the Asari examiner asked.
"We still don't know what exactly did this."
"That's why we start taking samples." Pelona replied.
--
There is only so many hours someone can work before they grow tired. Any organism finds that it must replenish itself at some point. After returning their samples, cleaning the equipment and putting away everything, Pelona and Harrvok walked into the mess hall. Both were weary from the day's work. The Turian was just glad to be out of that place. Pelona meanwhile simply wanted to collapse and not think about what they were dealing with. The disinfecting showers that were meant to rid them of all contaminants after they left the lab left a residual smell on her. She realized she was going to be too tired to take an actual shower.
The two researchers shared a quiet meal together, both not saying much. Harrvok was starting to realize that his mood was at least getting better. He wondered why he didn't just become a regular civilian doctor after he did his time serving as a battlefield medic. Yes, he was offered this position and it was interesting when he first signed on but now it just discouraged him, always showing him death and never giving him a chance to preserve or better the living. Why did he stay here then? The Turian barely let that thought of his mind when he noticed Pelona leaving abruptly. His eyes narrowed. Something was wrong.
Pelona also was not in good spirit as she walked up the foot of the hill that overlooked the camp. About halfway up she simply sat down and tried to watch the dimming orange that was the sunset. It was at least calming but it did not sooth a gnawing pain inside her. What was the point? She spent a hundred years studying pathogens and there were always more being found and even more being ruthlessly engineered by military organizations. Sure, she told herself that she was trying to save lives and yet it seemed like her life was empty, just keeping track of vials and samples and slicing up dead organisms.
"You all right?" Harrvok's metallic voice caught her attention as the Turian sat down next to her.
"I guess."
"You guess? What's wrong?"
"I just feel so...useless. I study these things to try and find a cure and when we finally do, there's another twenty more discovered. I've been doing this for a hundred years, Harrvok. A hundred years. Nothing has changed. This wasn't what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to do something...helpful." Pelona sighed, her form sulking.
"But you are doing something helpful." Harrvok replied.
"Yes but...I wanted to make a difference in people's lives. I didn't want to just diagnose stuff so people knew what to avoid." She felt Harrvok place a talon on her shoulder.
"You do make a difference in people's lives."
"You're just saying that." Pelona murmured, still not consoled.
"No I'm not. I know people whose lives you made a difference in. I know people who are honestly grateful to have you in their lives."
"Name one." Pelona sulked, resting her chin on her knees as she clutched her legs. She was surprised to hear Harrvok's uncharacteristically quiet response.
"Me."
Pelona looked at him in a quiet shock. Harrvok looked back at her in a way that she couldn't quite place. Was he scared?
"Harrvok...I...what, what do you see in me?"
"Someone with a good heart. Someone who can listen to others, even those who have no voice left. I see someone who is both strong and vulnerable, someone I want to be there for and...yeah...I mean-" Harrvok's speech suddenly died in his throat when he realized the rhetorical inspiration suddenly went blank. He cleared his throat, trying to stall.
"Ahem...well, er, what I was trying to say is that...well, I really don't know what I'm trying to say. Except, maybe I admire you. No, I do admire you and I really would like to be a close friend." the Turian finally sputtered. Pelona was still silent.
"Please, just say something. The silence is killing me." Harrvok finally pleaded. Pelona finally responded by taking one of his hard talons.
"Thanks, Harrvok. Maybe when we're back on the Citadel we can spend more time with each other."
"I-I'd like that." the Turian muttered. The awkwardly perfect conversation was shattered by the obvious sounds of commotion coming down at the camp.
"What's going on?" Pelona asked. Harrvok strained his ears, trying to listen. Pelona noticed the way his side mandibles twitched. It wasn't a good sign.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Two field agents were sent into the quarantine zone today. They should have returned hours ago and their communication equipment is silent. That means two agents are missing and we have no spare hands to look for them."