Page 38 of Moon Tamed

I’d be paid to go camping?

According to Calden and my mother, I suffered from moderate cases of several illnesses, all of which vied for dominance within my body. Some people ‘enjoyed’ one or two days of mild illness before recovering. After two weeks of coughing, sneezing, chills, fever, and general malaise, I managed to escape bed for longer than a few minutes.

Instead of Calden or my mother, I discovered Calden’s father working in the kitchen on a new batch of soup. I eyed my current arch-nemesis warily, longing for something with a bit more substance although aware I couldn’t handle anything other than mild and gentle soups.

I did not need vomiting added to my list of symptoms again, which had been the consequence of my first and last attempt to eat real food.

I sighed, which caught the older man’s attention. “Awake, are you? How are you feeling?”

As I’d sleepwalked several times during my convalescence, I grinned at his inquiring. Sleepwalking me communicated in grunts and other animalistic noises, much to the amusement of my entire family and the Stephans. “A little better. I hope.” I grabbed a stool and sat down. “I’m not ready to test my luck yet.”

“Wise. As I’m sure you’re curious, Calden is at home sleeping. He’s been working too much. While he says caring for you isn’t work, he needed to get some rest. Your mother is enjoying some quiet time at home, as her refugee family has recovered. They are out shopping with your father and brother.”

“Thank you for coming over. I appreciate it. You must be working a lot, too.”

He laughed and shook his head. “Not nearly as much as you might think.”

“Really?”

He smiled. “Really. Things are quiet. The quarantine means we’re sequestered from a lot of the city-state politics, and after the first week, we were mostly finished with the time-sensitive work. I took yesterday and today off. Tomorrow, I’m only available for emergencies. I doubt anything will crop up. For the most part, people are staying home to recover or they’re enjoying some paid time off. The relief funds left over are going towards payouts for everyone. Everyone, no matter age or typical income level, will be receiving an equal cut of the excess. Untaxed, of course. It’s not a lot of money, but it should suffice until the worst blows over.”

“You’ve been busy. Anything I should know?”

Calden’s father nodded. “Assuming you’re well and everything remains calm, a week or two after the quarantine lifts, we’ll be going camping for a week. It’s paid time for you, as you’ll be my emergency contact and will be expected to answer calls. It should be quiet, however, as everyone knows I’m trying to spend some time with my son.”

I’d be paid to go camping? If they kept telling me things I liked, I could see myself considering permanent association with the Hunters of Moonriver. If I could go camping as part of my work? I could deal with the drag and the same old daily crap for a while. “That won’t be a problem, assuming we’re somewhere with reception.”

“I’ll have a satellite phone with me for the trip, although it’ll be only used in case of emergency. Camping is about disconnecting from the world for a while. How are you feeling?”

That question tended to get me into trouble, as I liked to play off my current state. My mother had tattled on me to Calden, and he no longer believed me when I said I was fine, as I had a tendency to say I was fine and then run for the nearest bathroom after convincing him to give me solid food.

I wanted to be fine, but in reality, I had a long way to go to get there.

“I’m doing better than before. I’m not great, but I’m definitely improving. Is everything working out with the quarantine?”

“Honestly? It’s going better than anticipated. Our visitation program with Earth helped. Most families either had someone go to Earth or they’ve hosted someone from Earth. The few with complaints are generally keeping it to themselves, especially after so many of our own came back during the evacuation. It turns out the selfish get a fierce scolding from everyone else, so they have learned to keep their mouths shut. We’re looking at a six-week disruption in total for the quarantine. If it continues for longer than that, we’ll have problems, but most everyone is vaccinated now. Those who couldn’t vaccinate are already sick. By the time the quarantine is lifted, the other city-states will have had enough time to vaccinate. They’re adopting the same rules we have. Those who refuse to vaccinate may do so, but they will be paying their cost of care and will not be prioritized for treatment. Medical exemptions apply, of course.”

I could think of at least four religious groups in Moonriver who believed vaccinations were the work of some devil. “I bet a lot of people got angry over that.”

“That’s a mild way of putting it. They have the right to refuse, however, but they have to pay the consequences for their choices and actions. It’s been a challenge producing sufficient quantity of the vaccines, but nobody is being penalized for supply issues. City-states farther afield are sending vaccines to our neighbors first, and we’re systematically vaccinating based on distance. We’ll have travel restrictions to other city-states until they’re vaccinated, but those will lift quickly. We’re expecting a planetary quarantine period of six months. Ships may land, but they’re here until the quarantine lifts or they do an orbital quarantine and pass health checks.”

“That’s rough but reasonable.” I’d read of quarantine periods lasting years on Earth, and as a general rule, everyone suffered when it happened, although technology made the most difference in quality of life during a quarantine—or a siege.

The Earth had gone through many stormy periods before the volcanoes had finished her off.

I wondered how long it would be before the planet became habitable again—or if she would become habitable again.

“That’s the general consensus, yes. We’re scheduled to receive aid from Alamathea, which should arrive within a week. If it arrives as scheduled, the shipment will consist mostly of vaccinations and medical supplies.”

Like Korsania Minor, Alamathea classified as a preservation planet set some hundred or so years into Earth’s future ahead of us, capable of mass producing products far beyond anything we could. “Are we dropping our tech restrictions?”

“Not quite. The vaccination formula used is the same, and they adapted the final products to match our tech level. They did use their technology to produce it in the quantity we needed in a short period of time, but that’s it. The ship will be launched into our orbit until they pass their health checks, and because their tech is more advanced, they’ll be able to leave quarantine after a period of four weeks in orbit.” Calden’s father brought me a bowl of soup. “Expect a week of recovery until you’re ready to go back to work. That’s the expected average for moderate cases. All rushing will do is lead to a relapse. In a day or two, you’ll be feeling well enough to get bored.”

“How is that a good thing?” I complained.

“I’ll send Calden over with something for you to do,” he promised.

As predicted, boredom kicked in after two days, but I searched for silver linings in the quarantine clouds. Rather than wallow, I read books. I tore through a chunk of my library books, determined to finish them all before I needed to return them. I enjoyed a few enough that I bought copies for my digireader.

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