Colided

Chapter 6

Everyone got acquainted with one another and started discussing their research. A scientist from another part of the world that could not make it is on the screen in a video chat. They all walked and occasionally sat down around a big round table. They had been discussing their findings and strategies for two hours.

"So there is hope? There is something we can do?" Dr. Adler stated. He could sense victory around the corner. He dreamt of the day the Cilomina virus pandemic will be swept off the face of the earth. He imagined the satisfying looks on people's faces. He hoped he would be there to witness such a day. Whichever day it was, he hoped it was near. Seeing the elite doctors and himself working effortlessly together gave him a push of motivation.

"These crops have a greenish mold. The sick plants don't decay. They spread."

"I know this is a controversial thing to say in a room full of lifesavers but, we're not God. We all have to face the fact that the virus may have no cure," the second doctor chipped in. "Count yourselves blessed that the virus hasn't extended that much into Barawa as it has here."

"I can't afford to believe that." Dr. Adler muttered in sadness.

"Illnesses like these come and go after it has taken a certain population to the grave. It is a natural occurrence. If you recall the last few decades, the Spanish flu killed more people than the 14th-century Black plague, which was also deadly. Over millions of people lost their lives."

Noticing the tension in his voice, the doctor patted him gently on the back.

Dr. Darren looked at the plant samples Dr. Adler brought immediately, calling the other doctors' attention.

"Is this what you used for your tincture?"

"Yes, I mixed it with other Barawa healing herbs. I have many with healing properties."

"Is there more?"

"Yes, but I keep them in my lab in Barawa."

"We need more samples of this. This particular doesn't grow here. We haven't been able to come up with a medication like yours. We only have an immune boost that may give you a better fighting chance. But it has not worked out."

"I can give you more, but I'd have to go back home."

"How long would it take you to be back?"

"I can't go alone. I need you there, so they believe my new findings and to give them to you." Pain gripped Dr. Adler's heart at the thought of the council laying good on their threat of banishing him.

"What do you mean?"

"I came here when I'm supposed to be locked up in my lab to find the cure. I only have a few weeks, or I will be kicked out of Barawa with my daughter. Once I go back, I can't leave."

"Why don't you come to live here? We could certainly use someone like you in our team."

"Thank you for the offer, but Barawa is my home. I can't turn my back on my people."

"Then we will go with you at once. This plant, mixed with our immunity boost, can help with our research. We might be able to work with this."

"If there is no cure for it here. The cure might just not be on Earth," the scientist on the screen had a ray of hope in his voice.

"What are you saying?" Dr. Adler's curiosity grew.

"That we can't make one with our technology, but with advanced technology, we could."

The scientist on the screen quickly added. "We've been in contact with many worldwide organizations looking for a way to find a cure. There is a team of experts in the United States on a NASA that's working on it with centers of research like ours too."

"Have you heard of planet Helios?" The scientist asked the waited rhetorical question.

"No, I haven't."

The doctor continued, "It is an exoplanet contacting the whole world through video messages. It exists outside our solar system. It is thought they could probably help us."

"If you know about this place, why haven't you approached them for help?" Dr. Adler thought out loud.

"We have, but our technology isn't as advanced to send a message that many light-years away instantly or have the ability to translate alien language completely."

"They already have tried getting in touch with many governments, but getting back to them is beyond our technology at the moment." The scientist on the screen added.

"World and crop health is reaching its elastic limit. We won't have much food to go by, but we have a team that could set up a camp and works together for the cure. We work together to try and c***k it and make contact before anyone else does." the other doctor finished.

"We need everyone's help to figure it out, or we will all die."

"If we leave now in the two vans outside, we can reach Barawa tomorrow afternoon."

Dr. Adler winced at the thought of what he'd face returning home, but he is not the type to cower at challenging times. He returned to Barawa with the group of prodigy doctors and scientists with him. They stopped by the lab and grabbed some samples of his tincture and research studies on their arrival. Then they went to visit the Sultan.

Dr. Adler asked the doctors not to tell him about his visit to the city but to tell them a different version, that it was them that came to their aid.

Alyssa had covered for him, and the Sultan hadn't pressed on seeing him.

He received the visitors warmly, offered them a drink, and then took them out to see their infested crops. Once they got there, they filled him in their plan.

"We are f****d. Alien life? You all coming here?" The sultan retorted.

"Not necessarily. We have a better chance of working in a zone with a percentage of fewer infected. But need the approval to set up camp here of a board of scientists and doctors and continue to work here."

"Fewer infected? Have you looked around?"

"We have, and believe us. You have it better here."

"I don't know about this. We need to be focusing on human trials and blood sample studies. We shouldn't be taking more people in here."

"That won't get us anywhere. We need to all work together. We've tried it all. Earth has tried it all." Dr. Darren urged.

Another one of the doctors barged in. "I know it's a long shot, but it's the only one we have. We have the connections and are willing to set base here."

"I will need to present this to our council and our people first."

"I am afraid we cannot wait here long."

"I cannot make this decision alone."

"We have work to do ourselves and meet with the scientists we will be working with. We will go back to Somalia at once. Broadcast through the radio station when your decision is made, and we will come back here."

"Thank you, doctors, for your time and willingness to help."

Dr. Adler and the Sultan walked back to his lab, discussing his conversations with various other doctors and scientists.

Before the doctors went back to Somalia, they said their goodbyes and told Dr. Adler in secret to consider his offer.

"Sultan, please do me a favor."

"What could I do?"

"I don't care what they decide about me. Or what happens to me. Please always look out for my Alyssa." He was talking about the council but also about the danger he exposed himself to daily. He wasn't sure how things would play out. Nevertheless, he was ready to face death to save lives. Nothing, not even fear of death, would deprive him of doing everything in his power to try fighting the pandemic.

"That is a given. I will always protect my people with my life, doctor."

Dr. Adler felt better after being assured he would be there for his daughter if anything happened to him. He wanted to make Alyssa proud more than anything else, especially because of how worried his daughter had become. He feared he wasn't there for her when she needs him the most. Yet his obsession with the cure and the love for his profession egged him on. Doing what he does best and hoping it won't be rewarded with the worst.