“Does Mitchell seem different to you? Manipulated?”
Meek stared at Jordan for a wordless moment, then turned his attention back to the remains of his omelet.
As gently as he could, Jordan said, “Harmon, I’ve got to let Nara examine me. Would you go with me?”
“Examine you? What for? Are you ill?”
“It’s just a routine exam. I picked up a bug before we left Earth and she wants to keep an eye on it.”
His eyes narrowing with suspicion, Meek asked, “And why do you want me to accompany you? Are you afraid she’s going to stick you with a needle?”
Longyear suppressed a laugh; de Falla grinned openly.
“Not exactly,” said Jordan. “But I’d appreciate it if you came along with me.”
Meek said nothing, clearly wondering what was behind Jordan’s request.
“Of course,” Jordan said easily, “if you have something more important scheduled for this morning…”
“No,” Meek confessed. “My schedule is rather clear.”
“Then come along with me,” Jordan coaxed. “Please.”
With an exaggerated sigh, Meek said, “Oh very well. If it will make you happy.”
“It might make you happy, too, Harmon,” said Jordan.
By Their Fruits
Nara Yamaguchi looked surprised when Jordan and Meek entered her infirmary. It was in the same tent as the dining area and kitchen, a placement that seemed amusing to several of the team.
Tanya Verishkova joked about the efficiency of having medical help so conveniently close to the robotic cooks in the kitchen. “Potential poisoners,” she called the robots.
Yamaguchi was sitting at her desk, studying medical records, when Jordan and Meek came in. The infirmary was smalclass="underline" her desk was tucked into one corner. Most of the space was taken up by the examination table and the compact array of diagnostic sensors built into an arch over the table.
Looking up from her display screen, she asked, “What can I do for you?”
“I’d like a checkup,” said Jordan.
Clearly puzzled, Yamaguchi said, “Now?”
“Now,” Jordan answered. “And then I’d like you to show Harmon my medical record.”
Her round face took on a troubled frown. “Medical records are private, Jordan. You know that.”
“But you can allow Harmon to see my record if I request it.”
“I suppose so.” Reluctantly.
Nodding toward the examination table, Jordan said, “Let’s do a scan first.”
Meek seemed totally baffled as Jordan removed his shoes, belt, and pocketphone, then lay back on the table for a full-body scan. The astrobiologist folded his arms across his narrow chest and watched, almost suspiciously, as the instruments arching above the table hummed and beeped.
Yamaguchi gestured toward her display screen. “Clean as a whistle, same as the last two times.”
Jordan nodded and said, “Now will you kindly show Harmon my earlier scans?”
“Why do you want this?” Yamaguchi asked.
With a wintry smile, Jordan replied, “To show Harmon the truth.”
There was no other chair in Yamaguchi’s office, so she got up and offered Meek her own. He looked across at Jordan, then folded his lanky body into the little wheeled chair. It rolled slightly away from the desk and Meek reached out his long arms, grasped the edge of the desk, and pulled himself back.
“What am I supposed to be looking for?” he asked Yamaguchi. “I’m an astrobiologist, not a physician.”
“Tell him,” Jordan said, as the image of his first examination, the day they all were revived from cryosleep, appeared on the screen.
Her brows knit in misgiving, Yamaguchi told Meek, “Jordan carried a genetically engineered virus in his lower abdominal tract.” Pointing to the image on the screen, “There it is, false-colored red.”
Meek peered at the screen. “Genetically engineered?”
“I picked it up in Kashmir,” Jordan explained. “During the biowar.”
Startled, Meek exclaimed, “You mean this was one of their killer viruses?”
“A man-made plague. They killed millions with it.” Including my wife, he added silently.
“And you…”
“It was dormant,” Jordan said. “It couldn’t be removed without chopping out half my intestines, it was so completely nestled inside me. The mission medical team decided it would remain dormant, so they cleared me for the trip. They thought that my time in cryosleep might even kill it.”
“But it didn’t,” said Yamaguchi.
“It’s still dormant?” Meek asked, clearly worried.
“It’s dead,” Jordan said. “Dead and gone.”
“How did that happen?”
Jordan nodded to Yamaguchi. She smiled slowly, finally understanding. “The aliens killed it.”
“Adri’s people?”
“Aditi, to be specific,” said Jordan. “When I submitted to a physical exam in the city, she found the virus and destroyed it.”
“Destroyed it? How?”
Yamaguchi was beaming now. “I’ve been talking to their medical staff about that. Apparently they have instrumentation that can detect the molecular vibrational modes of individual strands of DNA. Once they pin down the frequency, they hit the virus with a narrow ultrasound beam of the same frequency. That breaks up the virus and the body’s natural waste removal system flushes it out.”
Meek was gaping now. “An ultrasound beam of one particular frequency? Like a laser, but with sound waves?”
“Exactly,” Yamaguchi said. “This could revolutionize medical practice. It could replace surgery!”
“And it’s ordinary, everyday, routine practice for them,” Jordan added.
Meek looked from Jordan to Yamaguchi and back again, his mouth hanging open, his eyes wide. Suddenly he shot up from the little chair and bolted out of the infirmary.
Yamaguchi looked shocked. Without another word to her, Jordan dashed out of the infirmary and raced after Meek.
The lanky astrobiologist was running past the camp’s tents, out across the open grassy glade, heading for the stately tall trees of the forest. Jordan ran after him. Meek’s long legs galloped across the grass. Jordan was puffing hard, trying to keep up with him. Nobody else seemed to be in sight; everyone else was indoors. Good thing, Jordan thought as he ran after the fleeing Meek. We must look like a pair of buffoons. Or lunatics.
At last Meek reached the trees, slowed down, and finally stopped, gasping as he leaned against one of the tall, straight trunks.
Jordan’s lungs were burning. I haven’t sweated this much in a long time, he realized. He slowed to a trot as he approached Meek.
The astrobiologist looked awfuclass="underline" his face sheened with perspiration, gasping for breath, his eyes haunted.
“Harmon,” Jordan puffed out as he came up to Meek. “What … why did you…”
Meek sank down onto the grass, his back sliding down the tree’s bark. Jordan dropped to his knees beside him, then leaned back into a sitting position.
“Are you … all right, Harmon?”
“No.”
“What’s wrong?”
“The aliens simply destroyed your virus, just like that.” He snapped his fingers.
“That’s right.”
Meek shook his head.
“Don’t you see, Harmon? It’s like Thornberry said, by their fruits you shall know them. They’ve been nothing but helpful to us. They’re not scheming against us. They want to help us!”
“I know,” said Meek, so low that Jordan barely heard him.
“You do?”
“I’m not an idiot,” Meek said, his voice stronger. “I can see what’s going on.”
Jordan pulled out a tissue and mopped at his face. “Then you understand that they’re not a danger to us. That we—”