Arcturus Syndrome Ch. 05

The quadruped stepped forward, reached up, and gave the door a quick, sharp, precisely-aimed jolt. The lock mechanism shattered, and the door swung open.

The quadruped entered first, and the scene drew gasps.

"What exactly was your team doing, Doctor?" That was Dr. Absalom Salvator, a Nobel Prize winner in protein replicator alternatives to RNA.

"My people are all consummate professionals. If you haven't read the briefing materials on side effects of this syndrome, perhaps you could rejoin us later."

He still uttered a disapproving grunt.

Nonetheless, the scene was lurid: Dr. Alvin Young naked, on his bed, his massive erection preserved in a dramatic crystal formation. Dr. Jane Fitzpatrick, even more dramatically overtaken by prismatic crystalline formations, also naked, and slumped in the space between the beds.

The rest of the scene: a cheap motel room converted into an impromptu lab. Tubes, beakers, arrangements of supplies, a microscope on one bedside table.

"Retrieve that cell phone, please," McKinnon instructed. "And have the rover take all the samples we instructed: core samples from both, all major and minor organs."

"And let's gather up samples of all the liquids," added Dr. Rigaud.

"And, needless to say, extensive samples from all the crystal formations," added another, one Dr. Je-Ling Wu, Epidemiology, Stanford.

"Why not bring the corpses back whole?" Kettleman asked.

"Difficulty. Hard to transport, hard to contain. We should be able to get everything we need from samples."

He frowned.

"You don't agree?"

"At the molecular level, sure, but what about structural? What if there are patterns to these crystals, especially interior. What if they have roots? What if they are trying to spell out a message in some alien language?"

"Thank you for thinking outside the box, Doctor. Lieutenant: before we have the bots sample the corpses, let's run all the non-intrusive diagnostics. What do we have? Visible? IR? UV? Sonic? X-Ray?'

"Some of the X-rays will have to be intrusive due to the positioning of the bodies, especially the woman. We also have some magnetic resonance imaging we can do to get detailed structural analysis, but it will require full dismemberment to run parts through the mobile scanner."

"I won't ask why the military has such a thing."

"Best not, ma'am."

"Does that satisfy you, Dr. Kettleman?"

"It'll do."

The gruesome process began.

>>> Philipsburg PA, 15:45

Melissa felt lost.

Dr. McKinnon had stopped taking her calls. The morning had been spent receiving the last flood of under-age-arrivals, and now the gym and many of the classrooms were full. Airdrops had brought various loads of cots, blankets, food, water. They were told not to drink the tap water.

After noon, the airdrops had started adding powdered athletic drinks, with instructions for everyone to add the powders to their water.

At first Melissa was going to abstain. She just didn't trust the government. She didn't like or trust Dr. McKinnon. But she did give it a sample, and was extremely relieved to find that it helped with both her thirst and her headache.

It didn't diminish her... urges... however.

The good news: there were a lot more helpers her age. Most of the recently graduated class from POHS was now there, and they put together teams to make sure all the kids were properly taken care of. Melissa was also glad to have more people her age, besides just Robby and

Janet. She found herself frequently missing Thorvald; nobody seemed to have his particular calming presence. Instead, she had Cody.

Cody had been class president, straight-A student. Head of the swimming team, and always star in the annual musical. He had gotten into Columbia, and was presumably off to New York City in the fall, leaving their small town behind forever. As far as Melissa knew, there were two kinds of girl in their class: those who liked football players, and those who liked Cody.

Her first instinct had been to hand the satellite phone over to him, and let him take charge. But something held her back.

She also found that she had some of the same awkward sensations when he was around. That heat that would flood her body, start her sweating. An ache inside, like there was something hollow deep in her belly. She found herself thirsty, and reaching for her powder-spiked water bottle frequently.

When he had first come in, he had looked ready to take charge, too. He started making improvements to the organization of the kids, planning a rationing system for supplies.

And yet, when Melissa told him that she was handling the phone to the outside, he didn't blink an eye. And even if that could end up a demotion to communications officer, somehow it didn't. When she got a call from McKinnon, Andrea, or Gebre, she would issue instructions, and Cody followed without any suggestion that she wasn't the right person to be in charge.

Melissa found she really liked that sensation.

Once, it almost went off the rails.

That was late morning, after the last call with Dr. McKinnon. They got a list of incoming supplies, as well as instructions for opening the door to the roof, so that the supplies could be dropped more safely there, and the outer doors to the school locked more securely.

"Meet me on the roof," Melissa had told Cody, and he had immediately left off a conversation he was having with what he called Blue Team, and headed for the roof.

When Melissa stepped out onto the gravelly roof, there was a heavy storm brewing. The sun was hidden behind thick, dark clouds. It wasn't raining yet, but it looked like it could at any moment.

"What's up?" Cody asked, looking at her expectantly. Melissa felt a thrill from the eagerness in his eyes.

"We are going to be receiving deliveries here from now on. I wanted to scout it out with you. You've really stepped up, Cody. I'm so glad you're here."

Cody looked her up and down.

"You've really stepped up, Melissa. You're showing qualities I never noticed before."

She glanced down, and found herself a little embarrassed! She had been perspiring a lot, and it had dampened her T-shirt, which was clinging to her in an overly revealing way. Was he making a comment about her breasts? She did feel like they were a little more prominent than usual. A little heavier. Sometimes they did, around her period, but it wasn't time for that.

"You mean like, sweating like a piglet?" she laughed, brushing any other intent aside. And she tried to straighten her shirt out, but somehow that seemed to make it worse.

"You do not look like a piglet, of that I can assure you," Cody said, stepping a little closer.

As he did so, Melissa felt the heat dramatically intensify, and she felt like there was a buzzing in her mind. She remembered Thorvald, and risked a glance at Cody's mid-section. He definitely seemed to be showing signs of arousal also.

When, she wondered, did I start having this effect on guys?

She felt the heat in her face, and was afraid she was blushing.

Melissa ground her teeth together and turned away from Cody. She practically felt his gaze traveling her body, following the contours of her butt.

She began reciting a prayer in the back of her mind.

"So, I guess right here near the door will be fine. There's plenty of space, they should have an easy drop. We just need to ask them to be gentle, we don't want to cause any damage to the school."

Cody cleared his throat. "Ah, right. Yes, that's fine."

And then the rain hit. It was like someone had turned on a faucet.

Melissa shrieked and ran for the door, Cody right behind her.

In the shelter at the top of the stairwell, they looked out as grey rain pelted the roof, creating sudden pools and puddles.

Cody leaned closer, unmistakably looking down at her chest. "Very impressive qualities," he said.

Melissa couldn't help but look down, and was horrified to see that her T-shirt was now nearly transparent, and worse; her nipples were pressing out through both bra and shirt.

"Oh God, I'm going to need to change. This is terrible! Can you go find me something dry, and preferably, uh, heavier than this?"

"Of course," Cody said, and ran off down the stairs.

Melissa sat on the top step, berating herself. She could feel that immoral urge still pulsing through her body. She knew what her body was doing, how it was trying to betray her. She needed to get control of herself.

She reminded herself of one of her father's last teachings before the cancer took him: "Total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation." Melissa knew the dangers she was courting, and vowed to make sure she was never alone with Cody again.

>>> West of Philipsburg, 15:47

"Time to go," Carl tossed Ruth a pack.

The clouds were thick, and promising rain.

"We're going to get wet, and we don't have good gear, so it's going to be cold and miserable."

Ruth had a light jacket on, and shouldered the small backpack, settling it in a way that seemed to press her breasts forward even more prominently, stretching at her jacket. Carl was ready for another round, but this wasn't the time. He saw the flush in her cheeks, and nearly gave in.

"You're really sure about this?" she said. "It all sounds crazy."

"Your, uh, boss is a Himalayan salt monster upstairs, and you think it sounds crazy?"

"Why would the government do something like this? Why here?"

"Ok, that part is speculation, I admit, but who ever heard of anything like this. This isn't Covid, or Ebola, or Bubonic Plague, is it? This is something really, really fucked up. And they're coming for us, sooner or later."

"But one thing," Ruth said. "What if it is a new kind of disease, aren't they right to keep us here? I mean, if we spread it beyond this town, we could cause another pandemic."

"Look, you and I both know it's 100% treatable, right? I'm sure they do too, or will find out soon. Maybe this is even the experiment. To see if we are enterprising enough to figure it out. Maybe it's a psyche experiment."

"Bullshit," Ruth said. "I wish you weren't so completely full of crap. It would make it a lot easier to trust you."

"I never asked you to trust me," Carl said. "And if you want to stay behind, that's fine. Your funeral."

He hiked the pack higher on his shoulders and strode out the door.

"And do you really have to ditch Henry's car?"

"Yeah, the more time they spend looking for the car, the more time we have to get clear."

Ten minutes later, the car was at the bottom of the ravine, covered in branches, rocks, and dirt. Carl and Ruth were trudging upstream in the pouring rain on their way out of Philipsburg.