Page 59 of May the Stars Have Mercy
Xexis tossed his head back and cackled, moving out of the way. Aphrodite picked up the call and smiled. Vivian was on the other side, head against the desk. Her hair was a mess around her, and she had a smear of blood on her forehead. “Remind me again why I chose medicine?”
“Because you like helping people?” Aphrodite chuckled.
“Fuck people,” Vivian bemoaned, putting her forehead to the desk.
“Tell Vivian I greet her affectionately,” Reevar whispered from the other side of the data pad.
Aphrodite snickered, “Needles, Reevar says hello.”
“Please don’t tell me my big guy got stabbed again, did he?” Vivian whined, sitting up to face the screen. Aphrodite turned her data pad to show Reevar’s face. “Oh! Hey, how are you feeling?”
“I am feeling great, we’re preparing for a hunt.” Reevar puffed out his chest with pride.
“That’s amazing—wait…hunt? Aphrodite, why are you going hunting?” Aphrodite turned the screen back to her face. Vivian stared at her expectantly.
“The pests, we’ve got a lead.” She wasn’t sure how much she could say, no telling who was in the office or nearby. Vivian glared at her before something seemed to click. She gave a giant ‘O’ face then nodded. Aphrodite smiled, “I’ll keep you in touch.”
“And don’t let anyone get stabbed, please, Gears?” Vivian lay her head against the desk.
“Why not? That’s job security for you.” Aphrodite laughed as her friend grumbled into her desk. “Did, uh, did you need something? We’ve gotta get the bird off the ground.”
“Yeah, sorry,” Vivian exhaled, sitting up again. “They had me helping with the autopsy of the human dignitaries. And I found something that you might find helpful, I’m shipping my findings to you now.”
Aphrodite glanced over her shoulder at Buddy as his tentacles lit up and he shivered. A metallic chirp came from him, and a popup window appeared on her data pad. File after file were downloaded. Buddy’s text window in the corner showed a question mark that blinked until suddenly text filled the screen. Vivian spoke at the same time Buddy made the connection.
“Lyssavirus is prevalent in all humans autopsied.” Vivian folded her hands on the desk. “Basically the backbone to rabies, Lyssavirus is what makes them freak out like that and deteriorates them from the outside. I think these pests are infected with an alien strain of Lyssavirus.”
“How? Doesn’t rabies have to be in mammals?” Aphrodite grimaced.
“Well, as far as we know but, remember: we’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.” Vivian shrugged, shifting her data pad. “Look, I’m going to keep looking out, but just consider them zombie adjacent for now. While the human hosts aren’t infected, I don’t like it. Don’t let them bite you and don’t get stabbed. We’ve noticed entry of the pests in through the nasals, but it can get in just as easy through an open wound.”
“Got it, thanks,” Aphrodite grumbled as Vivian waved curtly and hung up the call. Aphrodite set the data pad against the bed and stared at Reevar. He eyed her curiously.
“No one leaves the ship out of their armor,” Xexis ordered. “No one goes anywhere alone.”
Space rabies and shadow creatures that reanimate the dead?Awesome. Aphrodite slid from her bunk and motioned for Buddy to come with her. Xexis caught her by the elbow and pulled her in close. As Rexna and the pilot returned to the command deck to initiate lift off, Aphrodite was led to the laboratory in the belly of the ship. Down a ladder into a tiny space where even she had to hunch over, they stepped into an open area with only one metal table. The trunk that had boarded with them sat beside it. Xexis flipped it open before sitting on the floor next to it. Aphrodite dropped beside him. Her mate pushed the table away from them and set out the items in the trunk. Armor plates.
“I mean it,Aphrodite,you do not leave the ship without armor, and you do not go anywhere alone.” He handed her a platelet.
She nodded, setting it out along the floor beside them. And in the quiet of the empty lab, they started to build a pattern of the platelets. Then the fun began: how to attach them to her body.
The Vroz armor worked in tandem with their brain, but she wasn’t capable of brain surgery on the fly and had no means to attach it. So, the best she had was using the same design mechanics as the suits she was used to using. Finger movements and palm controls. She was hunched over her data pad while Buddy helped Xexis connect wires between the armor. Most of the plates could be magnetic to her like his were, as their simple function was to keep her from being stabbed. It was the thrusters and boots that needed special attention. While she worked on building the exoskeleton magnets to be sewn into her flight suit, Xexis molded the platelets around the parts of her body she didn’t need at the moment.
Which led to her being flat on her belly, stitching thread so thin it should snap with a heavy breath, into the fabric of her flight suit. Thankfully, the Vroz magnetic thread was far more resilient than it looked. Sturdy and didn’t add weight or bulk. It was also specific to the plates, so once she magnetized them together, they would only attract each other. Xexis, on the other hand, was molding platelets to her backside. He’d already molded the ones across the back of her legs and was working on the ones that protected her butt cheeks. As he moved onto the one that would sit in her lower back, she heard the clatter of feet down a ladder.
They both perked up, finding Kiefgr and Grooug stepping toward them cautiously. “Kannatch, Mphronatch, we’ve locked onto Orvian, we’ll be there after a short rest. What’s the plan?”
“Svucka!” Reevar spat as he slid down the ladder, his bulky shoulders nearly clipping the walls. “I remember why I hate hunt vessels.”
“I have plenty of room,” Kiefgr shrugged, stretching to touch the ceiling of the lab.
Reevar smacked Kiefgr upside the back of the head before crouching before Xexis. “Kannatch, the readings from the planet are notideal.”
“What do you mean?” Aphrodite stopped, planting the needle into the fabric for safekeeping.
“No signs of life on the side of the crash.” Reevar spared her an apologetic look.
“That’s fair, I mean, they dropped an entire station on that side. What about the rest of the planet?” Aphrodite tried to shift but Xexis put a hand to her back and pinned her against the floor.
