Second Plague

More hallways. The ship had looked smaller on the outside but space has that effect. After following the loosely hung signs to their destination, they stood outside Doctor Tolan’s lab. The door opened up to reveal a room similar to the one he kept on Illia, down to the dirt and rust clad walls. A young child ran up to them and wrapped their arms around Lore’s legs.
“Dad! They’re here!” They yelled over their shoulder to Tolan who was sat barely a metre away.
“I heard them enter darling. I’m just finishing this report.” True to their word, after crossing their last T, they joined the group. “Glad you’re here. You are the Lore I sent for aren’t you?”
“You sent for a specific Lore?” Lore awkwardly tightened their legs in an attempt to dissuade the child that hung from them.
“Well, yes and no. I sent for a Lore yes but not you specifically. I just needed a Lore with certain skills and they must have thought you two were the best fit.”
“Darling.” Char knelt down to speak to the child eye to eye. “Why don’t you let Lore go so we can all sit together over there.” She pointed to the Lab’s en-suite living area. The child looked up to Lore who was trying not to twitch themselves free and took Char up on her offer. “Thank you.” She smiled.
“To business. As you know the Quatarrians, who have really turned over a new leaf if the legends are to be believed, have decided to help some of their former colonies. The capital colonies on Rexels One through Five are built on Quatarrian ruins so embody a perfect opportunity for some good karma. This whole mess started when they reduced the smog to habitable levels. They scrubbed the atmosphere, they showed the locals how to build better filters and more environmentally conscious drilling equipment to keep the smog to a safe minimum but three days later, our first recorded patient walks into a clinic planet side and dies. His kidneys had shut down which led to a build-up… Anyway, we were expecting an increase in patient numbers because for the first time in three decades, everyone on the planet was breathing the same air without the need for a mask or respirator.” Tolan grabbed their tablet. “This is the day after the smog was cleared. Nothing out of the ordinary. Day two saw a human couple come in with a Rexian cold and day three was when the plague began.” Tolan swiped the graph across to display the current information. The graph had gone from a mole hill to a mountain. “Day four and we’ve got seventy people complaining of various issues but all of them are exhibiting organ failure of some kind. Three days after admission, most of them were dead. It’s been nearly a fortnight and we’ve had to set up triage centres in every settlement in the system and all five planets have their own dedicated orbital lab. But here’s where it gets interesting.” Tolan moved in closer. “There’s nothing to actually link the cases. Before they were admitted, none of the patients knew each other, none of them had crossed paths, even accidentally. Nothing. And after observing the healthy population we’ve found none of the traditional signs of a bacteria or virus that could do this. In fact, the tissue of every victim has been perfectly normal barring the failed organs. Nothing about this makes sense. Especially the fact that you two, like me and the little one, don’t actually have to worry.”
“Why not?” Char was already removing her respirator but Lore waited to learn more.
“The plague doesn’t effect humans or Quatarrians.”
“What about the exemption list species?” Lore chimed in.
“None of the species on that list have visited the system so we have no data on the effect the plague might have on them but if they did then it’s likely they would be spared too.”
“So this plague kills Non-Humans and Non-Quatarrians. How long have we got until there are only Humans and Quatarrians left?”
“If it progresses at the same rate then maybe another fortnight but three weeks is the absolute maximum going off of population density and species diversity. Rexians can survive without their livers so if that fails first they’ll last longer whereas a Torayan is dead without their kidneys. But under a month until they’re all gone.”
“So what do you want us to do?” Lore looked to the graph then to Tolan. What were they expecting them to do?
“I need you two to go down to Rexel Five to calm them down. They are about a day away from moving their riots from the streets to our stations. Look.” Tolan took the tablet back from Lore and tapped quickly across its screen.
“WE DEMAND ACTION. THIS SO CALLED ALLIANCE IS NOTHING BUT A XENOPHOBIC GROUP HELL BENT ON CREATING THEIR OWN PERFECT UNIVERSE!” The Rexian’s lower arms were held behind his back while his upper pair were flailing emotionally to his speech. “Humanity came to our system and raped our lands, took what they wanted and now they’re silencing the witnesses. The human population of Rexel Five is under a hundred but they account for over seventy percent of the outgoing business and trade. They are using Rexel and we must tell them NO!” His face flashed from its resting purple to a violent red. “NO YOU CAN’T REMOVE ANY SPECIES THAT GETS BETWEEN YOU AND ‘YOUR RESOURCES’. NO!” The video ended, pausing on the four armed man slamming his upper fists into his lower palms.
“He seems rather focussed on humanity.” Lore pointed out. Tolan played a second video.
“Many of you have asked: ‘What about the Quatarrians? They’ve been helping us but they’re not sick.’ To that I say: why do you think they’re not getting sick? I’ll tell you for why: It’s because they’re in league with humanity. Quatarri hands built this city and by Quatarri treachery, they’ll get it back. The Quatarrians are nothing but the slimy hitmen Humanity has decided to use in their resource war. We tell our children the stories, remember the old days, they were once one of the greatest powers in the galaxy, ruling the universe from the shadows until humanity came along and turned them into legends. Now humanity has brought them back but kept their power locked away from them. The Quatarrians are just as guilty as humanity, coming into our homes and poisoning our children. NO MORE I SAY!” The video ended in the same way as the first, an angry Rexian basking in his audiences applause.
“So he thinks my people are weapons for hire?” Char was about to crack her knuckles but saw Lore pre-emptively twitch.
“He’s angry. They all are. I needed a Lore and Char who could potentially ask him to rethink his current rhetoric. If he attacks the labs, all hope of a cure is lost.” Tolan had given them their mission, after shaking their hand, they proceeded back to the airlock. The Rexian.