Amy quietly left everyone on the bridge, talking to the crew. If she was going to see Prime, she wanted to do it alone.
She hadn’t been feeling well for the last few days, and it had been getting worse. She just didn’t like to see Silian worry about her like that. She walked slowly to the medical room and closed the door when she was alone.
“Prime, what’s wrong with me?” she asked quietly.
“Beginning biological and neuro scans.”
Amy waited as Prime worked, and her mind was racing. If they lived in a world where nanites kept them in optimal condition, then why was she feeling like this?
It had started about three weeks ago. She woke up in the middle of the night, sweating and shivering at the same time, her head pounding and her heart racing.
“Scan complete,” Prime said, and Amy went over to the monitor.
“Are you fucking kidding me?!”
“Prime, where is Amy?” Silian asked, looking around the bridge.
“Medical room,” Prime said.
“Let me know when she leaves,” he said.
He would ask her about it when she was finished. He didn’t want to invade her privacy. His mood was better now. If Amy had gone to the medical room, then Prime had scanned her, and he could stop worrying about her.
It still freaked him out that she died every night. He couldn’t get used to her cold dead body in the bed next to him.
He understood what it was, and Morkai had given her back to him every morning, but it left him very uneasy.
The first time it happened, he had panicked, and she woke up in the medical room. The last few weeks, however, Amy had been awake before him, so it wasn’t so bad.
“Can we get the news from Earth on the screen, please Prime?” Izzy asked.
The large main window at the front of the ship turned black, and several different news reports flicked on. The sound was turned off, but there was no denying what was going on. They could all read.
“How many dead so far?” she asked, her voice catching.
“One hundred thirty-two. Over seventy thousand confirmed infections in hospitals around the world. At this rate of spread, it will kill 97 percent of the population within one year.”
“Oh, my God.” Izzy breathed out.
“By the time we arrive at the planet, the number of dead will be in the thousands. Millions infected,” Prime said.
“What about my mother?” Izzy asked. The screen changed, and Izzy saw her mother’s house. The street around it, now green and the trees full, crawled with soldiers.
“Your mother is not showing signs of the infection. She is staying in her home and following the curfew law.”
“Good. And my brother?” she asked.
The picture changed to Sydney. Large black smoke clouds billowed out from random parts of the city, with buildings on fire and riots everywhere. The picture moved to a small house on the outskirts of town.
“The virus has not affected this part of the world, but the riots are causing a lot of unrest. Your brother’s wife was stabbed in the arm trying to get home from work.
“She is fine, but she is in a hospital in the city. If anyone infected goes into that hospital, she will get sick,” Prime said.
“What about Addison?”
“She is with her father. Your brother has them in the basement of the house. They are safe for now,” Prime said.
“How long until we can leave?”
“A few more hours, and the fleet will be ready,” Mikhlas said.
“Good. I don’t want to waste any time. As soon as we can go, we go.”
She looked around the bridge, and then at Silian.
“Where’s Amy?” she asked.
“She has gone to the medical room,” he said.
“Why?”
“She has not been feeling well the last few days. I convinced her to get a scan.”
“I’m going to go see her,” Izzy said and left. Silian didn’t miss the sadness in her eyes. These were her people. Her race. Watching them die like this would make anyone cry.
“This is not going to be easy. We are heading to a war on three fronts. We need to deal with Kyra, Kasana, as well as the humans. I hope you are ready for a fight, brother,” Mikhlas said to him.
“You and I were built to fight,” Silian said, sadly.
“You are better at strategy than I. How do you suggest we do this?” Mikhlas asked him.
“The most urgent problem is Kyra. We need to begin healing people as soon as possible, but we can only heal those who accept the rule. So, in order for anything to happen, we will need Izzy to announce herself.
“Following that, one of two things will happen. One, they will accept it, and we can continue. Or two, they will resist, and the fighting will begin.
“As Earth does not possess the technology to fight in space, I imagine they will try to attack from the ground. Simply holding our ships far enough away will solve that problem.
“The population is expected to panic, and if we are not welcomed, we will have a fight on the ground.
“The humans have weapons capable of killing us, and to go in unprepared would be reckless. We cannot underestimate them.
“I have watched this race for a while now, and they are capable of things that would give the king’s Old Punisher nightmares.
“They are mostly unpredictable in numbers. If we can get Izzy to convince the leaders of the countries to keep their people in their homes and off the streets, we may have a chance to reach more of them.
“They are more understanding when they are alone. There is some internal tension that may result in the use of their nuclear weapons.
“But that is not an issue. All they will be doing is boosting the power levels in Prime’s nanites when she absorbs the energy.
“I suggest the best way to speak to them is all at once. Have Prime bring the 196 leaders of every territory on Earth into one room.
“Taking them out of their comfort zone may prove to work to our advantage. They are a race that needs plenty of proof to believe. Having them on the ship and showing them the crew should do the trick.”
“Very well. Prime, how long until we can leave?” Mikhlas asked.
“The ships will be ready in thirty minutes. I have calculated the jump-to-energy-output ratio, and only thirty ships can jump at one time.
“Otherwise, the radiation from the wormhole will have adverse effects on the atmospheres in this region. These jumps will have to be timed, one burst every six hours,” she said.
“How many ships will come with us?” he asked.
“I calculated the total number of ships needed for this mission is one thousand. Total number of souls involved, fifty thousand.”
“How many are left to protect the realm?” Mikhlas asked.
“Eleven thousand, six hundred destroyers. Millions of flyers patrolling the borders.”
“Good. Silian, before we leave, I want to speak to the commanders and soldiers of the ships.” Silian nodded and Mikhlas walked off the bridge.
“Prime, is Amy out of the medical room yet?” Silian asked when he was alone.
“Yes. She is with Izzy in the observation room.”
“Is she all right?” he asked, knowing Prime wouldn’t tell him even if she wasn’t. Not unless Amy told her she could.
“Her heart rate is elevated, and her stress levels are high. I cannot tell you anything more,” she said.
Silian let out a sigh. It would be so much easier if Amy was a part of the crew on a ship. As the Doge, he could get that kind of information about anyone, but as Amy was a guest of the Crown, it was privileged information.
Not even Prime could scan her unless she asked her to. She could only monitor her vitals. Silian pushed that aside.
He needed to focus. They had a lot of work ahead of them, and he needed his mind razor-sharp if they stood any chance of doing this without millions of people dying.
Amy left the observation room when Mikhlas came looking for Izzy. She walked slowly back to her room, dreading the thought of Silian waiting for her.
He was going to want to know what Prime told her. She couldn’t tell him. She didn’t know how. Not when they had all of this to deal with. If he knew, he would lose his mind, and they all needed him on top form.
She walked into their room, looked around, and let out a sigh of relief that he wasn’t there. She sat down by the window and looked out. This was bad. Worst timing ever.
“Prime, what am I going to do?” she asked, not really wanting an answer.
“You need to tell Silian. I cannot do that, as this information is privileged to you, but it involves him as well. It will be unfair to keep this information from him,” Prime said.
“You and I both know he will lose it if he knows. I don’t want him distracted. Not now. Not when we have all this coming.”
“Very well. But if the time comes when I deem it is necessary for him to know, I will break protocol and tell him,” Prime said.
The sentinels now went with them everywhere, so the rules didn’t always apply when dealing with this Prime. If she said she would tell him, she would.
“I’m scared, Prime. I don’t know what to expect,” Amy said.
“I will monitor you closely. If there is anything that I determine counterproductive to your health, I will tell you. I am with you in this, Amy. Trust me.”
