When the suns rise in the morning, Cleve gets me and Takuto moving. After all the fanfare and buildup, this is the day we’re actually going to enter a Morgan dome. While Cleve readies our simple breakfast, I shave and shrug on my blazer, then attach my new boutonniere. It’s the Progenitor device I found in the prison ship, but it no longer looks quite the same. During my watch last night, I fiddled around with it, and I discovered that with some intention, I could get part of the bronze rod to retract. What spilled out then was a silvery fan of fine filaments. From what I can sense out here in the open, they act as a miasma aggregator. Not on such a large scale as to endanger Cleve and Takuto, but enough to make manipulation a bit easier for me. And the artistry is beautiful as well. Who would have thought that the rod would convert into a fern-like brooch? Maybe that was not the creator’s intent, but that is what I’m using it for.
Cleve starts double checking his gear in preparation for the short hike in. He’s the one in charge of the first aid kit, so I hand over the extra medicines I picked up from Dr. Citali. There’s the miasma blocker injection, as well as the Denthol gum that could help Arx’s breathing. We don’t have a plan worked out yet, but I can imagine a scenario in which I keep someone occupied with conversation while Cleve and Takuto get Arx out of the medical center. Cleve should be prepared to treat them then, just in case.
“Makes sense,” Cleve agrees. But as he puts the medications away, I hear him mutter gloomily, “Assuming Arx is even in this dome.”
“We’re operating from the information we have, that Arx was deemed a likely prospect for experimental treatments of miasma poisoning,” I point out, not letting the pessimistic comment slide. “That work is done in this dome, so this is the place it makes sense to look for them.” I keep my tone lighthearted. I’m not trying to chide Cleve, but I don’t want him to get Takuto down.
“Good luck to us!” Cleve says more brightly.
I notice he’s being careful with his hands as he deals with the first aid kit, so the rashes there must still be bothering him. Now that we’re outside again, in an environment brimming with whatever particles fuel my new abilities, I figure it’s worth another attempt. Cleve agrees to let me try with the comment, “I don’t know that we can afford whatever they’re charging,” and a nod of his head toward the dome.
I laugh with him at that and tell him to hold out his hands. It is definitely much easier to deal with the injury out here than in the prison ship. There are no purple sparkles like the first time I tried this on Cleve when he had bruises from the robot. I suspect this is simply a matter of the concentration of the miasma here compared to there. Fortunately, the low ambient level around us is enough for me to comfortably use, even if we can’t see it. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice the fronds on the brooch rustle as if in a light wind. Soon the inflammation clears, and Cleve’s hands are as good as new.
As much as he hates to, Cleve leaves his rifle in the rover. Our recovered data drives stay there too. “I wish we had some sort of contingency plan for them to get the rover and the drives, in case something happens to us,” he says with a sigh. I don’t mean to make light of his concerns, but I point out that in a world without cell phones and wifi, contingency plans are a lot harder to coordinate. How would Data Haven ever know something had happened to us? Cleve jokingly asks, “How fast can you run, Takuto?”
“Not that fast, Mr. Cleve,” Takuto replies, giving a serious answer to what might have been another challenge of his fitness to be out here with us.
Cleve chuckles at that and shakes his head at himself. “Should’ve taught you how to drive on the way out here,” he murmurs.
“Do you have your data transmission virus all put together?” I ask Takuto. I realize we haven’t discussed this with Cleve yet—I got sidetracked last time I meant to—so I explain, “It’s purpose is just to spread information, getting data about Chiron’s plants and such onto the network and maybe hijacking some advertising services to deliver it.” Nothing like the last virus. We want to educate people about the native biome, rather than directly interfere with attempts to destroy it.
“Okay,” Cleve says, not caring so much about technical stuff.
Takuto left the domes as a young child, and he didn’t have much time at the network node to study up on the API, but he is up to this challenge. Unfortunately, not all the content Marina wanted can fit in due to some character count limits. And the art that can be included doesn’t exactly look professional, at least not what would have passed for that back on Earth. Still, it’s an improvement over what I helped Marina with last time.
Takuto reports that the virus is fully ready to deploy. “If I can get direct access somewhere with admin privileges, it will be simple to get in play.”
I grimace. “I have no idea where to even look for a place like that,” I tell him.
“Well, just keep your eyes open,” he replies encouragingly.
“Can you just plug into billboards or whatever?” Cleve asks.
“Well, well, there are some public terminals,” Takuto stutters out. “Those are mainly for directory information. It’d be really… Well, I mean, I can do it, I imagine. But it would be very difficult to get into the wider networks from there. If you can connect from a place of more privilege, then it should be a little easier to break in. But there’s also the matter of how easy it is to distribute. Like, if there’s already a system in place to broadcast everywhere, that’d be a great thing to tap into.”
“Where’s this virus coming from?” Cleve asks abruptly. “Is this part of our primary mission? Or is this just a side project? Did Roze set you up with this?”
Mission? Like this is some sort of military assignment? “Everything’s a side project, Cleve,” I tell him with what I hope is a disarming smile. “This is Dr. Citali’s side project. Roze doesn’t actually have any projects on this trip.”
“Okay,” Cleve says simply.
But I elaborate further to forestall any problems that Cleve’s internal ranking of “missions” might cause down the road. “Data Haven doesn’t often get operatives inside the domes. And so, since we’re going inside the dome, taking care of this while we’re here would be great. However, rescuing Arx is more important, so if push comes to shove…”
Cleve gives me a swift nod. “All right.”
“Yes! First we have to get Arx,” Takuto says. “And then if Arx is feeling well, maybe they can help us find a place to do this.”
“Is Arx a computery person like you?” I ask.
“I mean, Arx is good at so many things. They’re competent at computers, but they’re really good at… um… getting into places and…” Takuto sighs, wistfulness and pining rolled all together in one breath. “And they’re so good at, like, talking. I could just listen to them for days…” Well, computer skills aside, Arx has the benefit of more recent experience of dome life, so that could prove useful for finding a place to implant this virus.
Cleve is eying our lovestruck teenager rather critically, but it turns out his concerns are—as ever—purely practical. “So maybe do you want to do another check over Takuto to make sure his health is good?” Cleve says, directing the question at me. I’m surprised by that. I have Dr. Citali’s signoff on Takuto’s health, but I’m not a medic myself.
“I-I-I’m ready to go!” Takuto insists. “I’ve got my coughing under control. I can do this!”
“Feel free to check him over and see for yourself,” I welcome Cleve. What’s the point of me just telling him yet again that Takuto is fine?
“Okay,” Cleve agrees. “But then you should see that nothing has… unraveled.”
Ah. He’s worried that what I did to Takuto’s lungs might not be permanent. Even after his quick medical exam, Cleve is still not certain about how well the scrawny teenager will withstand physical exertion. He can listen at Takuto’s chest, but that doesn’t exactly provide the same level of information as a stethoscope. And he’s nervous about the amount of additional miasma he and Takuto may have gotten exposed to. The filter on the rover may not be up to spec. Of course, Cleve views that as his fault, since he’s our mechanic as well as our driver. With a curse and some muttering about getting us all killed, he pulls the tools out of the trunk and begins his rover inspection. He sets the kit down next to the vehicle and pops the trunk, then grabs a wrench and sets to work. I smile when I notice that there are some shiny pebbles at the bottom of the case. So the craw did make a trade with us after all!
The filter is intact, but it was a little dislodged, so Cleve crawls under the rover to secure it better. “That’s not what’s going to kill us,” he mutters, realizing it only happened recently, probably when he drove through the river. Cleve is down there far longer than I expect. Occasional comments and mumbled curses continue to drift out from under the vehicle, along with metallic clangs. There seems to be something related to the alignment that he’s fixing. Whatever he’s doing, it will compensate for some of the extra weight of the backhoe. Maybe make the steering easier? I don’t actually know anything about cars.
While Cleve yanks seaweed from the undercarriage and grumbles to himself, I’m left with the task of medically clearing Takuto. I’ve never tried anything diagnostic with my miasma powers, just healing injuries. And while I’ve been coming to a better understanding of what I can sense about myself, doing this for another person… It’s a new experience, and one I don’t have a good way to explain. So I prevaricate. “I’m going to try to listen to your lungs,” I tell Takuto.
“Sure thing, Mariah!” he says and immediately starts taking unnaturally deep breaths. He’s so earnest!
“I don’t have a stethoscope,” I explain, “so what I’m going to do is put one hand on the top of your chest and one hand on the top of your back. Then if you can just breathe normally, I’ll feel how it goes.” I just want to give him an explanation that makes some sort of sense. In reality, I’m hoping the physical proximity will make it easier for me to see into his lungs with miasma-vision.
There are not high levels of miasma in Takuto’s system. Cleve needn’t be so worried about the rover on that front. But I can sense what Dr. Citali cautioned us about: Takuto’s lungs are not fully healed, and exertion could cause a relapse. I’ve worked on his lungs before, back in Data Haven’s medical center. But this additional look at them—particularly out here where I have a more favorable environment to draw from—it’s enough to give me an idea of how to proceed. I don’t say anything additional to Takuto, I just place my intention on his lungs and allow the power at my disposal to flow there. Deep within him, I move miasma around, encouraging regrowth in atrophied areas of Takuto’s lungs. This close to him, I can hear his breathing clear up, the small hitches finally smoothing out.
As usual, I feel some twinges within me as I work, but not as much as I was braced for. This new brooch is working out just fine. I encourage Takuto to take a few more breaths before I release him. Satisfied, I retract my hands and ask, “Can you jog once or twice around the rover, and then see how you feel?”
“Uh, yeah, sure thing, Mariah!” After the second lap, he asks, “Is this enough? Can we rescue Arx now?” But he keeps going, not slowing his pace at all.
“Okay, okay,” I tell him. “You can stop. But how do your lungs feel now?”
Takuto comes to a halt. “I… um… good. Good, actually! Wow, I didn’t even think about it while I was running. That’s the first time I haven’t had to think about my breathing in a while.”
I lean down to look at Cleve, who’s still stretched out beneath the rover muttering at wrenches. “I’m pretty sure his lungs are clear,” I report.
“Excellent!” Cleve replies happily. He starts wrapping up whatever he was working on.
“What did you do, Mariah?” Takuto asks me when I straighten up.
I let out a long breath, searching around for the right words. “I’m not entirely sure, but I think I was able to stimulate the regrowth of some damaged areas of your lungs.”
“Huh. Neat!” Takuto says after a moment of reflection. “All right, can we—can we get Arx now?”
“Just finishing up,” Cleve calls from under the rover. Takuto waits the few more minutes, antsily checking Datapad++. When Cleve emerges, he is dirty but happy with his adjustments to the axle. Now if we have to make a quick escape or if someone other than him has to drive, the ride won’t be quite so rough.