Sector 3: Cure!?
1455 Words
We quickly got Echo up and put him back in his bed. It took a few minutes for him to reconstitute himself before Matilda opened her big mouth. "Look here, you i***t! I understand the importance of this to you and know you think we doubt your story, however, this is far from the truth. After all, we all remember that tragic day," she said solemnly.
"But! That is no excuse to be moving around in your condition. Are you some kind of stupid? It's like you desire to die. If you die, how are we to help you?" she said angrily.
Echo then turned to look around the room to see the sadness that covered everyone's faces. He then realized just how much they cared. Then Echo spoke saying, "It would seem I was wrong. I apologize for my rashness. I was a bit doubtful of your commitment to this venture. I am terribly sorry."
Just then the Doctor Issiac Ross spoke up, "Its ok Echo. We don't fault you for that. If anything, it was our fault for being so presumptuous. Had we been more open-minded that tragic incident would have never occurred."
Then Lady Vice chimed in, "To lose someone that way is irredeemable. We claim to save lives, yet we allowed not only one but two to...." She couldn't finish her statement before she started crying profusely.
At this moment, the big burly guy responded, "Even I, master of all animal knowledge and many other things. Me, Zen Codex, should have been able to tell the difference between you all and regular Ruffians. They are a doglike race that stands a height of 4 feet tall and have brown fur. However, you Eon Ruffians unlike them have red fur and are slightly taller by half afoot. What pride and dignity my name carries means nothing in the face of blight? I cannot be considered noble at actions such as these, no. I must seek retribution."
Once Codex finished speaking, I then said, "We will beat this thing! Trust us as we are willing to stake our reputations on it. We may be human, but that's what gives us strength. We know we are weak, and we make a lot of mistakes. However, it's our ability to learn and grow from those mistakes that makes us stronger. We will save your people or at least as many as we can. And we will save you."
"See! We got you covered. Besides, we don't need that disease spreading into our dimension. At any rate, I think I may have found a way to at least isolate the mutagen within your body if only temporary. That way you won't die on us," Matilda said with a hopefully yet dissatisfied look on her face.
I looked at her, shocked, saying, "Wait! You succeeded in synthesizing the isolation protein or maybe a --." I was cut short by Lady Vice yelling at Matilda, "I admit you are good in your field of medicinal practice and plants. However, I don't trust you for a second."
"What seems to be the problem, Vice?" said Codex. "We know she's pretty proficient when she's not staring into a mirror."
"I second that point," said Ross. "Besides, if it works then finally have a breakthrough."
"That isn't the point here at all. If she had that; why didn't she say so earlier?" said Lady Vice spitefully.
To which Matilda responded, "It took a while to synthesize, and there's no guarantee it'll work. It seemed effective in my test, but we won't know until it's tested on a live subject. However, like I said before, I don't want to be responsible for another life. This thing could have the opposite effect; it could induce the mutagen and make it worse. Essentially we have a 50/50 shot it'll be based on his will to live and how well his body reacts to it."
"Even if that's the case," I said afterwards. "We should at least let echo decide himself. It's his life. He wanted to die anyway because of all the suffering and pain. However, if there's a chance for his life to be spared, should we not give him the option of choice? Who are we to take that from him after everything he's lost? Are we not partially to blame for his suffering?"
Then for some strange reason, everyone turned and looked at me as if completely surprised. "What ......what did I say? Is everything alright?" I inquired confusingly.
"No, it's just," said Lady Vice.
"It's just that we've never heard anything," said Codex with Issiac cutting him off. "Come from your mouth that wasn't blood related or statistical data."
I didn't even know what to say. Honestly, I felt insulted if anything. Echo saw the irritated look on my face after watching everyone's reaction started laughing joyously. Then he said, "I like you, Mikhail Rose. You have more spirit in you than even I do. I have lived 55 years, but never have I seen such spunk in a youngster, as for the rest of you. I admire your determination. I'm willing to give that concoction ago. If it means I have a chance, I'm willing to try. Besides, if we succeed, how would we get the blasted thing back to my homeworld?"
Then Ross spoke up, "Well shoot he's got the point. We don't know where his homeworld is or how to even get there."
"Well alright then, I'll go get the medication," said Matilda eagerly.
"You'll go get it? Why not have one of the staff going get it for you?" said Lady Vice to Matilda.
Then Codex spoke up, "Have you forgotten already Vice? The only people on the space station are Echo, the five of us, and the station engineers. You know to prevent the disease from spreading to anyone else outside the station."
As we watched her face, we could clearly see she had forgotten as it grew pink in colour, and she attempted to hide in her palms. After a few minutes, Matilda returned with a vial of purple fluid in a test tube. "Okay, since you're only about four-foot-tall give or take like most ruffians, I will give you a suitable amount for your race type," she said cautiously.
We watched that she filled a syringe for 200CC's of the purple fluid and then injected Echo with it. After a while echo said, he started to feel faint as if slightly dizzy. Soon after a few minutes later, he fell asleep. We then left the room but kept an eye on him to monitor his progress and any changes that ensued from the injection. During this time, we continued researching the source of the mutagen. Every now and then I would take a blood sample for testing to see the mutagen's state within Echo.
It had been six months since echo falls asleep at this point and we're starting to panic. At first, everyone wanted to blame Matilda, but we knew it wasn't harmful. At least for the sake that she already had explained the risks. Moreover, he's either dead or in a deep sleep, rather it felt more like he was in a trance if you will.
However, after a while, we started to notice some changes. First was his fur colour we already knew it was red, but it was a kind of faded after a while, it started to regain its full colour and lustre. Next, as we continue to watch him, his face started to fill with life and colour again.
We continue to wait after another couple of weeks, not only was his face bright and filled with life, but his fur was a bright fluorescent Amber colour once more. His tail was strong and stiff in nature. It was then I retook a blood sample for testing and to my surprise... the mutagen, it ....it was gone. Not only that, but it would seem his immune system was way stronger than it was before.
When I saw this, I immediately went and alerted others. Joyously the others rejoined me in the observation room where Echo laid. Immediately everyone started performing a number of examinations on Echo. Though he still sleeps, every test came back negative regarding the mutagen. It was as if it had completely vanished from his body. The damaged cells were repairing themselves. However, any issues that were lost or eaten were never replaced. We may not have found a cure, but it would seem we have found a way to boost his immune system enough to fight back and repair the damaged cells. Now, all we could do is wait for him to awake.
- Writer
