While the crew of the Manessa Kwi ate, the boarding tunnel closed and vanished. Manessa greeted old friends who arrived in space suits with cleaning and sterilization equipment. While they worked, they shared stories with the well-traveled deep-space response ship. The cleaning crew chuckled when they heard the adventures of the brand-new crew of monkey mammals, and promised the ship they wouldn’t breathe a word after leaving.
Ilika explained that the only other door out of the medical quarantine room was actually an airlock. The inner door opened to his pull, and a cart for their dirty dishes stood within, but the door beyond was sealed and locked.
Suddenly lights came on behind the large glass window, and the entire crew gathered to peer at the examining tables and medical equipment within.
A man with gray hair, reading a knowledge pad, strolled into view.
Sata’s eyes lit up. “He’s like us!”
The man looked up. “Is my timing okay? Did you have a relaxing meal?”
When Ilika didn’t immediately answer, Kibi smiled. “Yes, thank you. I’m Kibi, steward of the Manessa Kwi.”
“Greetings, Kibi. I am Dakalio, general healer. You’ve been on two primitive planets with atmosphere, I see.”
“Um . . . yeah,” Sata confirmed. “Sonmatia Three and Four. I’m Sata, the navigator.”
“Welcome to Satamia, all of you!”
NEBADOR Book Six: Star Station 29
The
others
introduced
themselves.
“As you may know, I’m looking for parasites and microbes that are best kept on their home worlds. Step onto the scanner, one at a time.”
Ilika went first to demonstrate. Parts of the machine moved around him and shined dancing beams of light at him in all directions. He stepped down, and the others quickly found the courage to step onto the medical scanner.
“Hmm . . . hmm . . .” the healer muttered as he looked at a display screen they couldn’t see. “Not bad . . . that little thing will be easy . . . hmm . . . Boro, there are two of you.”
The engineer’s face took on a sour expression.
Sata grinned at her friend and cocked her head. “Pregnant?”
Boro turned red.
“Nothing so dramatic,” the healer said, “just an intestinal parasite. It won’t take long to get rid of, but I want to wait until you’ve absorbed your meal, as we’ll have to empty you out.”
Boro became, if anything, even redder.
“Kibi,” the healer continued, “you have a virus I don’t like, so I’ll be giving you some pills.”
“Okay.”
“Um . . .” Mati began, struggling to find the right words. “Can you . . . um
. . . fix my knee? I’ll do anything . . . scrub all the floors on the star station, or anything else you want me to do . . .”
The healer sensed the depth of her feelings. “Mati, dear Mati, you are a starship pilot. You have already earned anything and everything we can do for you. But I’m sorry, Mati, I do not have that skill.”
Mati’s face fell and tears started running down her cheeks.
“But the healer with that ability is in the next room right now. She is very gentle and wise, and is one of the most skillful surgeons in all of Nebador.
Would you like to meet her?”
Mati quickly wiped the tears onto her sleeves and collected herself. “A lady healer? That would be nice. We knew a lady healer in the city we came from.”
“I’ll see if she’s free,” Dakalio said, and left the room.
Mati breathed deeply as she waited. Rini held her hand, and Sata put an
NEBADOR Book Six: Star Station 30
arm around her shoulders.
A minute later, a large, green, gangly insect almost three meters tall entered the room and stepped up to the window, towering over the crew of the Manessa Kwi. Feelers quivered in the air, and claw-like mandibles played around the creature’s mouth. “Hello, Mati. I will be your surgeon.”
Mati’s face turned white, and the world around her went dark.
Rini and Sata caught her.
When Mati awoke, she saw the faces of her beloved Rini, her dear friend Sata, and her captain, all smiling at her. A moment later, Kibi joined them.
“Is the monster gone?”
Sata nodded. “Only problem is, my friend, that monster is the only surgeon around who can fix your knee.”
Mati sighed, sat up, and accepted a cup of water from Rini. “I thought I was okay with people being all shapes and sizes. But . . . it was so big! ”
“After we put you in bed,” Rini said, “we chatted with the surgeon. She’s really nice, and says you can have a friend with you the whole time. Her name’s K’stimla. Did I say that right, Ilika?”
He nodded. “But you have to make the final decision, Mati, and tell surgeon K’stimla yourself, perhaps with a little apology thrown in.”
Mati flopped back down and sighed. “Can I think about it?”
The captain nodded.
Mati looked at her friends. “Where’s Boro?”
Sata chuckled. “He’s in a toilet room, and will be in there for a couple of hours.”
NEBADOR Book Six: Star Station 31
Mati sighed again. “I wish a couple of hours in a toilet room would solve my problem.”
Her friends laughed.
When Boro finally emerged, the rest of the crew was at the table eating.
The engineer held his hands almost a meter apart and said, “It was . . . oh, never mind.”
The others howled with laughter, except Mati, who cracked a smile but otherwise continued brooding.
Sata suppressed her laughter enough to speak. “There’s a fruit salad here for you, Boro.”
“I
have
never felt so empty, even as a slave,” he said, taking a seat and grabbing a spoon.
“But we never got fruit salads!” Kibi reminded him.
Boro nodded, but was already chewing something tasty.
“Healer Dakalio says we should be out of quarantine by tomorrow,” Ilika announced.
“Another healer looked at the scans,” Sata reported, “and found a little something in me, so I’m taking pills now too.”
Boro looked at Mati as he ate, but could tell she hadn’t yet made a decision.
Deep Learning Notes
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, when many people began traveling across the oceans but dangerous diseases were still common, people often had to wait in quarantine for days, sometimes weeks, to see if they showed the symptoms of any diseases, before being released to move about freely at their destinations. In the late 20th century, that inconvenience was largely forgotten as antibiotics conquered most diseases. Today, our antibiotics are ceasing to be effective against some deadly diseases, and the need for quarantines for travelers may return.
NEBADOR Book Six: Star Station 32
Many people have trouble allowing a medical doctor to treat them who isn’t their gender, race, or nationality. How would you feel about a surgeon who isn’t even your species, and not even another mammal?
The intestinal parasite Boro had was probably from class Cestoda, usually called a “tapeworm.”
