Judy Hopps sat before a small grey monitor. "Minerva, please open the autodoc."
"Please verbally state that patient's species, gender, and the nature of the patient's injury."
"Cheetah. Male. Standard physical exam. Please conduct a full body scan, and search specifically for foreign bodies."
"Right away, Miss Hopps. Shall I conduct a blood test?"
"I already have the sample."
"Very good, Miss Hopps."
In front of her, the glass window rose, and the table rotated outward at a ninety-degree angle. Beside her, the patient waited with Bogo by his side. Neither looked happy to be here.
MINERVA, with the professional cordiality of an artificial intelligence, opened a slot in the machine attached to the monitor. "I am ready to receive the blood sample."
Judy slid the tube carefully in the slot. It disappeared with a faint whirring sound. "Administrator Clawhauser, we're ready."
To his credit, Ben didn't hesitate to cross the room and lie down on the table. Bogo went with him, tension radiating from his broad form.
"Please hold still while the physical exam is in progress." MINERVA gently instructed him. Ben did as he was told, lying flat as a board with his tail curled across the foot of the bed. Bogo caressed the cheetah's head as they gazed at each other. "This is it. The last time. I promise."
Once the sensors confirmed he was holding still, MINERVA had the table rotate back the way it had come, pulling Ben away from Bogo's hoof and into the hollow in the wall. The glass window closed over him.
"He's fine." Judy heard Bogo say to himself. "Ben is fine."
Acting Administrator Benjamin Clawhauser had been in quarantine for two weeks, a prisoner of the Company, ever since Bellwether had found out about his close encounter with a 'facehugger.' She'd quickly accepted the term the corps had come up with. It was neither crude nor inaccurate. Fourteen days of scans, tests, and wondering if Ben was to meet the same fate as Hornbull. Nick had once compared his situation unfavorably to that a terminally ill patient. Poor Benji, trapped in a constant state of dread, counting the days until the next test, wondering if this test was the one that sealed his fate. The comparison was unfavorable because in Ben's case, the medical officers in charge of his care didn't care whether he lived or died. They cared about the embryo he was potentially carrying. Yes, Judy knew about the Bioweapons division. It was the worst kept secret in Weyland-Ewetani. It was for that reason that Judy had kept the saliva samples she'd acquired well hidden in case the Company confiscated her work. Which they had. They'd returned the forensic evidence related to Green's murder a few days later. It was currently being collated in the main crime lab.
The scanner passed over him twice, shining his body with a strip of white light. Ben stared at the ceiling within the autodoc. Judy waited for the large screens above the window to reveal the results. The machine by her knees scanned the blood sample. It relentlessly buzzed like the anxiety in her chest.
The Company had released him the day before, once it was forced to accept that the facehugger had failed, and he had no bioweapon to give them. It was Bogo, after the Company had refused to disclose the medical records of Ben's time in quarantine, who'd asked Ben to come to Judy's Crime Lab for one more test. Judy felt the heat of empathy as she remembered Bogo practically begging her to permit the use of MINERVA's autodoc for the test. She'd readily agreed to do the test off the record, fearing for Ben's safety just as much as he was.
The scanner stopped. The wall behind Ben lit up at the same time the monitors did. Bogo took a sharp intake of breath.
Judy left the blood analyzer to continue its work and approached the monitors. They showed the morbid glowing contents of a feline's skull.
"Minerva, could you show the torso area?"
MINERVA did as she was told. Judy studied the black spaces between the ribs carefully. She told MINERVA to change the image to show Ben's organs more clearly.
"Minerva, please slow the full abdominal area."
MINERVA showed the images. Judy examined them carefully. Wordlessly. Within the glass crypt, Ben watched her read the scans.
Judy wiped her eyes. "Not a thing."
It took a moment for Bogo to respond. "Are you sure?"
"Hornbull's parasite emerged within three days after we found him. He was missing for two days. If Clawhauser was carrying, it'd be visible by now. The Company was telling the truth."
She heard Bogo's shuddered sigh and turned to him. He was rubbing his own tired eyes, his slumped form making look uncharacteristically fragile. "I'll believe it when his blood comes through. How much longer, Hopps?"
"Ten minutes as the crow flies."
Bogo grimaced. "Get him out of there."
"Minerva, remove the patient. Send the blood results to the main lab once they're done."
"Yes, Miss Hopps."
Ben stood up from the table before it came to a stop. "Well? What did it say?"
Judy could see the building fear in his eyes and responded quickly. "The scan didn't detect any embryos."
Ben blinked and held a paw to his chest. "Are you sure?"
"Positive. We'll need to see the results of your blood to confirm you're a-ok, but so far as I can see you're not carrying."
"Phew." Ben breathed. "You hear that, Mansa?"
"Sure." Bogo seemed calm, but Judy doubted he was so calm on the inside. "Hopps, lead the way."
They returned to the main crime lab down the grey hall from the medlab. Nick was still there, sitting on a spartan metal chair with a glass of whiskey in one paw and a pistol in the other. He'd insisting on staying here, to watch out for any Company spies or undercover gangsters looking to meddle with the evidence. Judy suspected it had more to do with the possibility of losing one more good mammal to this catastrophe.
The slightly dazed state she found him in lent more credence to that theory. The dressed remains of his ear looked flat and crooked.
"How did it go?" He asked bleakly. Judy was right. He hadn't wanted to be there if the worst happened.
Judy was quick to put him out of his misery. "I still need to check the blood test results, but as far as the scans are concerned, he's not carrying."
"Well, halleluiah."
Judy doubted Nick meant to sound sarcastic, but Bogo was in no mood to tell the difference. "Shut the fuck up, Wilde."
Ben curled his arms around Bogo's. "Mansa, please."
Judy strode to the computer that would contain the blood test results. "Once Minerva analyses the sample, she'll display it on this terminal. She's programmed to only follow my verbal commands, so if you have any questions, I'll have to ask them for you."
She did not enjoy the bleak silence that followed. There'd been too much of it in the days that passed after the tragedy.
Under Bellwether's command the survivors had been placed in a mass quarantine aboard the Avellanos. Once the twenty-four hours of decontamination were over, they were free to wander the ship, but they were not permitted to leave it. A catastrophe had happened. Two alien species of unknown origin had invaded the colony. Mass casualties had ensued. They needed to know how it happened, and who was responsible.
After quarantine, Judy had been taken to a small office aboard the ship every day for a full week. It was a different mammal each time who questioned her on the events that occurred on Rhamnusia. A bovine executive. A lupine security officer. Every day it was someone of a different species and position. On the last day it had been Bellwether herself who'd interrogated her. She'd been cordial in her questions. A little too cordial, perhaps. Throughout the interrogation, she'd never stopped smiling.
In any case, Judy's story never changed no matter how many times she was asked. Why she came to Rhamnusia. Who killed Green. What Carthusia's part was in all of this. Where the creatures had come from. How Hornbull came to be infected. Whether she thought Clawhauser was infected, too. Judy had made it clear that many of her answers were conjecture on her part, based on her own experiences and the evidence given at the time. The session ended the same way each day, with her being sent on her way with a warning to tell no-one of what she'd told them.
It was after the last day of questions that she was granted permission to return to her crime lab to close the case on Green's shooting. Nick was allowed to go with her, with Bogo's authority. He never said it out loud, but Judy knew Bogo had allowed it so she had someone on her side if Bellwether or any corporate stooges came knocking.
She'd found out later that Bogo, Nick, and several of the high-ranking colonists and marines had undergone the same questioning. Completely disregarding the Company's instructions, Bogo had told her and Nick on the third day that Bellwether had been irritated that he hadn't told them about the crashed ship. He'd defended his decision by pointing out that he hadn't known at the time that it had been a ship and not some meteorite, and the crash site had shown no concrete evidence that it had been a ship.
"Commander, have you spoken with Bellwether about… what they're going to tell the public?"
"A terrorist attack by a gang of insane murderers collaborating with Carthusia to design a new illegal substance." Bogo said. "They wanted to pin the blame on me, but our new Administrator negotiated a third option."
"I just pointed out that scapegoating one of the most respected officers in the USCM would alienate the marines under his command, and would make it a lot harder to cover this all up." Ben said, smiling a little bashfully. "I suggested that they get the marines' cooperation in maintaining the cover story in exchange for not being held responsible for the disaster."
Nick took a swig of his whiskey. Bogo scowled at the private's visible intoxication, but didn't scold him.
There was a high pitched series of beeps.
"Minerva's analysis is done." Judy confirmed.
A spike of anxiety deepened her breaths as Judy returned to the terminal. She read the charts. She read Ben's blood chemistry. His platelet count seemed normal. Everything seemed…
Judy frowned. She read the small box of text separated from the rest of the chart.
"Minerva, what is Plagiarus Praepotens?"
She saw Bogo and Ben tense out the corner of her eye.
MINERVA paused, an abnormality that instantly had Judy on edge.
"Unable to clarify."
Judy turned away from the screen to glare at the nearest speaker. "Minerva, why can't you clarify?"
"Archive data related to Plagiarus Praepotens is classified under Special Order 990. Authorized personnel only."
"What Special Order is that?" Bogo snapped.
"Bogo, she only answers to me, remember?" Judy said. "Minerva, what is the special order?"
"I repeat. Authorized personnel only."
"Carrots." Nick said. "Try asking her about Clawhauser's diagnosis."
"Minerva, can you clarify the patient's diagnosis?"
"I can, Miss Hopps. The patient's overall condition is within average parameters. Heart rate is 150 bpm. Weight is 145 pounds. His blood sample did show one anomaly. A latent form of Plagiarus Praepotens was detected. Special Order 990 prohibits me from elaborating on the latent infection."
"Minerva, can you at least tell me the severity of the infection?"
"Viral load is currently 15 copies per milliliter. It does not show any signs of reproducing. I calculate that in this state the infection cannot be transmitted to other hosts. I can clarify no more."
Judy narrowed her eyes. "Out the way, Nick."
Nick pushed himself off the terminal and rolled aside in his chair. Judy pulled up the other one and started typing. She was forced to give up the search after several minutes. "Darnit. Minerva's right. I tried to look it up myself in the archives, and it doesn't even to seem to recognize the words."
"What does it mean by latent infection?" Ben asked. Judy didn't look at him, only needing to hear his voice to know that he was scared.
"It means this infection is in a dormant state. Ben won't feel any symptoms for the time being, or infect anyone else, but since Minerva won't tell us what those symptoms are..."
"Will it… will it wake up at some point?" Ben asked weakly.
Judy swallowed. "Latent pathogens can be reactivated from any intentional medical treatment causing immune system suppression, pathogen infections, malnutrition, stress, or drug side effects."
She heard Ben slowly make his way to the lounge area in the corner and sit down. At the same time, a cold hand punched through her heart as the implications sank in. "So, one bad day at work could turn me into Typhoid Mary. Crud."
Judy wanted to say it would take more than that, but forced herself to hold her tongue. With no way of knowing of the threshold was, there was nothing she could do or say to assure him.
"Clawhauser, did the docs mention anything about this Plagiarism-thingy when you were in quarantine?" Nick asked.
"No. Their blood tests didn't turn up anything weird."
"They probably used a test with a higher threshold." Judy said. "Minerva's tests have a threshold of less than 10 copies. To catch any trace of pathogens in dead bodies before the infection dies. And since Ben obviously isn't dead, they didn't think to use the same test Minerva does."
"It would explain why they let him go at all." Nick said.
Judy rubbed her temple. "We have to tell them. If this pathogen reactivates, there's no telling how many mammals will be exposed when it does."
Ben gave a sharp gasp and started lightly rocking back and forth. Judy wished she was big enough to run over and hug him.
In the corner of the lounge area near Ben, the atmosphere around Bogo was smoldering. "Ben. You stay here with Hopps and Wilde. Bellwether and I need to have a word."
Ben seemed too lost in his own nightmarish world to notice the buffalo make a beeline for the exit. Two corridors down was an umbilical connecting the crime lab to the Vidar.
"Commander, no." Nick said suddenly.
Bogo froze just before the opening door and turned back to Wilde with a face like thunder. "What did you say, Private?"
"Sir, to them, this pathogen is forbidden knowledge. We don't know what they'll do to us if they find out one of us is infected."
Judy bristled despite seeing his point. "Nick, we could have a future pandemic on our hands, we can't not tell someone!"
"The Company's top sheep shows up on Rhamnusia mere hours after an infestation of creatures that infected Clawhauser with this top-secret pathogen? You don't find that at least a little bit dubious?"
No-one answered.
Judy locked down the terminal, leaving everything secure while Minerva continued collating the data, going over countless possibilities and solutions in her head. None of them were ideal. "Corporate crime is a little beyond my pay grade, Nick."
Nick smirked for the first time in days. "Matter of fact, I have a pal on the Vidar who might have some answers."