dic Kaul stood in front of the tunnel entrance, waiting as two of his guards opened the heavy tal doors. There was a team of guards surrounding him. They all had body suits on with breathers as a precaution, in the event that whatever nearly killed Aleigha was airborne.
After opening the large tal door and stepping into the tunnel, they stopped, glancing down each direction of the tunnel before closing the tunnel entrance behind them. dic Kaul imdiately stopped, held up his scanner, and scanned the air around them before they proceeded toward the hidden entrance of the tunnel that he was told about by Council Leader Vorik.
Once the scanner had completed its scan, it beeped, and the small screen glowed green.
dic Kaul looked down at the small display. The screen showed there was nothing in the air that was dangerous. It also showed nothing that matched the material that nearly killed Aleigha.
dic Kaul and his escort team headed down the long tunnel. The yellow lighting that lined it glowed dimly as they made their way to the hidden entrance to the tunnel that they were looking for.
dic Kaul kept his scanner on, scanning their surrounding as they made their way to the ladder and the baking flour that was spread on the floor underneath it. He was told that near the entrance where the tunnel led to the do, there should be footprints. He was instructed to follow them when he found them. It would lead him to the ladder where Aleigha had spread flour, to know if anyone had followed her.
The guards flanked him on all sides. In one hand, the guards each held an activated body shield, and in the other, a blaster. They wanted to be prepared in case of an ambush. Since there was a way into the tunnels from outside the do, it was possible that soone had found a way in. They had to be prepared.
One of the guards had a scanner, scanning for life. It would pick up anything from rodents to humans. The small glowing screen would identify what it was picking up if it pinpointed anything alive, so that they wouldn't be surprised. So far, there had been no sign of life.
dic Kaul scanned his surroundings cautiously until they finally reached the area of the floor that had white footprints dusted by the baking flour. It wasn't where Aleigha had dusted the floor, so they knew if anyone ca inside the tunnel. It was tracks leading toward the main door where they entered the do. These were the tracks he was told to follow that would lead him to the bodies.
Kaul and his escorts followed the trail of flour that led out of the tunnels and into the do. It was two sets. dic Kaul knew it was Council Leader Vorik and Keirn's. Aleigha had been carried out of the tunnels by Council Leader Vorik, which was why there were no tracks for her.
The boot's markings in the flour showed the standard tread of armor, confirming that it was Rasian footwear, showing that it was Council Leader Vorik and Keirn who made the tracks in the flour. They were on the right track.
Following the tracks, going deeper in the tunnels, they finally reached the edge of the baking flour that was spread all over the floor. One of the guards gasped, staring at the two bodies, their heads separated and off to the side. The dead eyes stared back at nothing.
dic Kaul scanned the area, his eyes going to the two n with severed heads. "Aleigha does that," he told the guards. "She and her sister both have a habit of taking heads. So does Jada." He told them before his eyes found Steve with his intestines leaking out onto the floor. "That's new," he observed. "I've never known her to do that."
Kaul moved forward, scanning the closest body first with his eyes, then with his handheld dical scanner. It was Eric, the leader of the camp outside the do. His intestines were still safely inside, so he was the easiest to scan. After the scan was complete, he scanned a second ti using the research scanner, then carefully looked at the bodies for any identifying marks that would help him discover what was going on.
The scanner he held in his hand had beeped. He looked at the small glowing screen. "This one was also infected. He would have died if she hadn't killed him herself," he said absently. "His stomach contents are not the cause of the illness, either."
Moving to the second body, dic Kaul scanned him also. First with the dical scanner, then with his research scanner. "This one would have died if Aleigha hadn't killed him also. I don't think it was the food they consud."
As he studied the scanner, dic Kaul's comm link went off. "This is dic Kaul," he answered, a little bit irritated that he was being called during an investigation.
"Sir?" It was dic Renn, who had just completed his dical training. "We have two humans who have collapsed. We scanned them, and it showed they have the sa thing as Aleigha Walker, Sir."
Kaul sucked in a breath, his fears growing. It was a dangerous virus, if that's what it was. "I'm on my way," Kaul stated evenly, quickly packing up his items and rushing through the tunnels to get to the clinic. He didn't know how long ago the two humans had collapsed. Whatever was making them ill moved too quickly. If he didn't get back in ti, they would die.
The guards followed behind him through the tunnels to the door leading into the do. When dic Kaul reached the city, he rushed to the clinic dic Renn was in.
The guards stayed behind at the tunnel entrance and closed and locked the heavy tal door, preventing anyone from escaping into the do if they found out how to get there from outside the do. Two of the guards stayed at the door in the event that others from the camp outside the do had found the hidden entrance.
Rushing into the clinic, dic Kaul went straight to the two human patients, instructing dic Renn on what to do. They used the sa thod he had used on Aleigha.
Pulling the injector off the shelf, dic Kaul and dic Renn siphoned the contaminant out of their bloodstream. The two humans scread in pain as they did. It was a painful process. Both patients were semi-unconscious, not conscious enough to NOT feel the pain of the treatnt, yet not conscious enough to rember once they were fully awake. Aleigha scread also, yet she rembered nothing after her collapse in the tunnels.
Once the contaminants were removed from their bloodstream, they had to quickly shove a feeding tube down their throats to give them high doses of condensed nutrients to help the body heal. Once they finished giving the patients the nutrients, they scanned them again. The scanner showed that there were no longer contaminants in their system. Their patients had fallen unconscious due to the pain and would wake up several hours after their procedure had been completed.
Setting the quarantine bubble around each bed, dic Kaul and dic Renn notified the other three dos on how to treat the patients who had collapsed. There was only one other do with humans, but dic Kaul didn't know if it would infect the other races. It was too soon to tell. So far, it was only humans, but it could spread. He didn't know if it was contagious, so he needed everyone to be prepared.
Imdiately after the treatnt he had done on the two patients, he notified all clinics on what to do if soone collapsed, telling them they had to act quickly or the patient would die.
It was a rushed training that was spread out to all the dos by way of holographic image communications.
dic Kaul had to stand on a large disk that was lit up by a fluorescent green light on the outside of the disk. It recorded an image of him as he explained the procedure in detail. When he was done, he saved the holographic image recording to be replayed if necessary. He sent the training to all clinics in all of the dos.
"There are humans on the ships above the planet," dic Renn reminded Kaul.
dic Kaul sighed, exhausted, then sent the recording to all the clinics in the fleet. Both the Kreq disks and the Rasian fleet received the holographic instruction in the event soone collapsed from an unknown illness.
Once the holographic recording was sent to the ships above the planet and the other dos, reports started to co in that several had already collapsed. They were barely in ti with the information to treat them. Looking at the reports, all the infected had been humans.
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