Silence
Anonymous Me
Anna watched Kato get up from the table and frowned. "No no..." Reaching out she tried to grab his arm. "You sit down." She was getting worried about him and all those long hours. Not to mention the cough. It sounded like those that the Chips had.
He looked down at her. "But your back..."
"It won't do me any good to have a doctor if you run yourself into the ground." Anna peered into his eyes. "You're tired and I know that. I've lived with you for a while now."
Kato chuckles lightly. "Not so tired that'd let you sit there suffering. I'll be right back." He pats her hand and gets the salve and shot from the bedroom. He returned and gently lifted her out of the wheelchair onto an actual chair for easier access to her back. "What did you do today?" He asked to help distract her. He inserted the shot into her lower spine the immediatly rubbed the salve on it and massage the muscle to help the pain from the shot fade quicker.
There was no stopping the man and she knew it. Anna sighed and waited for him to get all the stuff. Wincing a little she felt him begin to lift her from the chair and he had to push her shirt up a little bit. "Went to Star's for a little bit and I found out that pretty much the Chippequoti have a stick up their ass." Wincing again she felt the shot go into her spine. "They are some of the most stuck up and full of themselves, self righteous bastards and they're not even right!"
Kato lowers her shirt and goes to the sink to wash the salve off his hand. "What makes you say that?"
"They got this whole messed up bloodline thing. You marry based on class and basically they think Killian did the worst thing possible marrying or mating with Star. Whatever they would call it." Anna growled a little. "Its just plain stupid if you ask me."
"Hmm, well, you realize there is actual science behind it." Kato sits back down at the table and picks up his roll again, taking a big bite. "If they didn't manage their bloodlines in some fashion, the bones would become so dense it would kill the children before they reached a certain age. Too weak and their immune system fails."
"So do you think that Claire will have problems?" Anna could actually see some of the sense of it and she felt a little bad for encouraging Sooni in a direction that wouldn't be good. "I mean would it work better if they have to breed 'lower' to breed outside of their own kind?"
"That, I do not know. Perhaps...but as you saw with Star, Claire nearly died because her mother's body was not capable of producing the right nutrients. Producing children outside their own race might be far more risky."
Anna sighed. "So they're basically a dying race then. They don't have enough here to choose the appropriate mates and....Well it means that there won't be anymore. Its kinda sad. You know I was just starting to think I might like a few things about the Chippequoti." Once the pain faded out of her back she shifted on the chair a little. "When you're done eating we're going to bed."
"Yes...that is the plan. Unless there is another emergency." Kato sighed, eating slower than his body wanted him to.
"You can't have anymore emergencies." Lowering her head she tried to get a good look at his face. "Kato you're going to get sick if you keep pushing yourself and don't think I haven't noticed that little cough coming on."
Kato smiled kindly at her. "I appreciate your concern. Trust me, I won't go unless I have to." A knock sounded at the door and his expression fell. He patted Anna's shoulder and went to it to door. Shanti stood there looking worried. "I'm sorry, Doctor Kato. I know its late. But...you need to see this." She showed him a data pad. Kato's eyes narrowed. "This isn't right. How many people have been tested? "I've been going around the colony for the last two days taking blood tests. The chips are fine but...I think there's something in the water that the filters aren't getting...or maybe its in the animals...I don't know." "Has Wittick seen this?" "Yes, but he's been so busy trying to help the chippequoti doctor repair the vocal cords. And Dr. Knett only knows the basics of medical. I only noticed it because several people have been coming by complaining of nausea but with no symptoms of the flu." "Coughing?" Kato asked. "A few, but not a majority." Kato sighed. "We need to find out where this virus is stemming from and what sort of anti-biotics we need to use. Also, run the virus through a simulation. I want to know if this..." "I already did, Doctor." Shanti shifted. Kato met her eyes. "Its deadly?" "It could be, but we don't have enough data to know for sure yet." He sighed and nodded. "Ok, well." He handed the datapad back to her. "We'll get to work on this in the morning. Thankyou for being so vigilante, Shanti." The nurse nodded. "Good night, Doctor." Kato returned back to Anna. He wasn't certain if she'd eavesdropped or not but for now he didn't want to worry her. "Just Shanti. She wanted to check some bloodwork by me."
"Really, just some blood work?" Anna raised an eyebrow. She knew he was hiding something, but his work didn't always allow for him to tell her every detail. Patients and doctors had a sort of agreement about not sharing information. "Well it must have been pretty serious to interrupt you at home." She watched as he seemingly ate slower and slower. "Honey, if you're that tired just roll me into the room and you get to bed. I can get myself in the bed if I need to."
Kato sighs and nods. He stands, coughing to the side then lifting her out of her chair and back into the wheelchair. As he rolls her to the bed. As he helps her out of the chair and into the bed he says, "I think I'm going to sleep in the other room tonight. I don't want you too get sick too if this is more than just a tickle in my throat."
Sadly brushing his hair with her fingers she sighed. "And if it really is bad who is going to call the doctor in the morning? Most things are contagious days before the symptoms show. You might as well stay with me."
He tucked her in and stroked her forehead. "Better safe than sorry." The tests from Shanti had him concerned. If did have some sort of strange virus he didn't want to risk infecting her if hadn't already. He grabbed his pillow and a blanket. "Press the button if you need me." He stopped at the door. "I love you, sleep well."
"Ok I love you to." Anna waited till he was out of the room to sit up. Her clothes were still on and he forgot to let her change. It would have to be fine for tonight.
*****************************************************
Witteck came to the office early the next morning. He'd been up half the night studying the virus. There were portions of it that had been familiar and yet it seemed to be new. If that was the case he needed to know who it would affect and how. When the door opened he nodded to Kato. "We might need to quarantine any patients with this virus till I know the extent of it."
"I agree." Kato came and sat across from him. "I'm afraid I may be one of those as well." He coughed again, glad he'd decided to wear a medical mask for the time being. The cough had gotten more painful during the night. "If we havn't started already, we should test everyone. The question is...where are we going to set up the quarantine if there are more than a handful of people infected?"
The older doctor shook his head. He'd been sweating and he was trying to work against the clock before he succumbed to it as well. "We can't test the patients ourselves then till we know if we are presenting early signs or not." Witteck took a vial and drew a little blood from himself. "For starts I'd like to point out that both of us were in close contact with many of the ill. There was no sickness until the Chippequoti arrived." Taking a deep breath he thought for another minute. "I think we'll have to consider in home quarantines if we find more than 50 people that are infected."
Kato nodded approvingly then thought over Wittieck's observation. "You're thinking that this virus could be mutated from the Chippequoti coughing virus? That could be very serious...humans don't have the same sort of immune system as Chippequoti.
"I don't know." Witteck thought for a moment. "There aren't any coincidences, but I think there may be a link." He waited for a few minutes to get his blood test result and grabbed Kato's arm. "Lets see where we're at with you and if you're infected then we need to wait here till the Chippequoti doctor comes in."
Kato sighed and shook his head. "This colony can't run with just two doctors. There are still so many people in need of aid. And I have pregnant woman with gestational diabetes that needs checking on regularly."
"Do you want to risk getting her sick!" Witteck stood up from his place. "We'll have to do our best to find out how many are infected, find out how serious it is and then do what we must. Some illnesses cause mutations and you should know that doctor." The older man sat down and sighed. He knew he had lost his temper and after many days of little sleep it was not surprising though he was disgusted with himself.
Kato blinked. Not once had he ever seen Witteck lose his temper. "I am aware of that. I suppose I was trying to make a point that we need help. Perhaps we should ask Killian to locate a couple more doctors that can help us with this quarantine."
"And how do we know he's not sick?" Witteck sat down again. "We'll make a mass call for everyone to be checked. Those who aren't sick I'll test the virus against it to see if they have an immunity. If there is then we know who will be safe to allow out of the community or to use direct link messaging to instruct them in the care of patients." A slight grin came to his face. "Trusting a man with short term memory loss."
Kato smirked. "Yeah. Probably not the best idea. Maybe we should talk to Star instead...granted she's not infected yet too." He looked up as Shanti came in with the Chippequoti doctor, Quill. She was wearing a mask to protect herself as well. "Dr. Witteck, Dr. Kato...neither of you appear to being doing that well. Is that the reason for this meeting?" Quill asked, sitting across from them. She didn't look to worried about catching whatever they had.
No sooner had they seemed to recognize the problem for what it was when she stepped in. Witteck shrugged. "More or less." The woman smiled and nodded. "I already tested myself after I had the cough. I am immune. Any Chippequoti, which was all of them will be immune. There is no need to seek outside help. I can write directives if need be for the Chippequoti to take care of the humans." She was reluctant as the rest of them to introduce any outside influence at this point. "I believe testing the human population would be beneficial to your kind."
Kato nodded. "As do we." He guestured to Shanti. "Shanti thus far has managed to evade contact with the virus. She can begin helping you, and any other Chips who are willing to help, testing everyone who hasn't been tested yet. Which is how many?"
Shanti looked over at them. "My test group was 25 people. 10 out of the 25 were not yet infected."
Quill smiled. "Good then we'll begin this morning and I will ask you Witteck to return to your home and Kato remain here till Sooni brings Anna to the clinic to be tested." She had half a feeling that Kato had already infected his little woman. Humans were so very delicate.
Seemed that the more they tested the humans the more they found of those who were ill. The Chippequoti doctor listed symptoms of varying stages. It was the same virus, but some of her patients had developed a very strange borderline psychosis response. They were hallucinating. Something that she had thought would have indicated the need for help earlier.
Glancing back into the lab where the other two doctors were geared up and instructing Chippequoti on how to run the tests she noticed an odd look on Kato's face when his Anna came in. Quill cleaned a spot on the little woman's arm and pricked her with a needle before she drew the blood and marked the vial. It was set aside in a box with many other samples. In a few minutes it would go to the back for others to be tested. She suspected that anyone who had been in close contact with the Chips or other humans had been infected. Patients were sent to a waiting room where they would learn if they were infected or not and encouraged not to touch one another. Everyone wore masks until they were ushered home by a Chip that would care for them and all in the household that was infected or until they were deemed well. If they were well they were given a list of symptoms to watch for and sent home.
Since Star and Claire were not full blooded Chippeqouti Killian had to take them into the clinic. Of course they had Claire tested first and the baby wailed all through it and beyond as if someone had tried to murder her. Nervously Killian waited while they drew Star's blood and then he was ushered to the room to wait with them. Nobody knew the full extent just had a list of information that he could barely read. The word hallucinations stuck out and he had trouble reading it, soon as Star said it out loud he knew what it was and he felt sick to his stomach.
Anna saw plenty of familiar faces in the room while she waited. It may have been tempting to wave and say hi, but she didn't feel quite up to it. Instead she waited till a Chippequoti came out with Kato. Sooni was taking them home and it seemed to be indication enough. Glancing over at Kato she winked. "Oh how cute. We get to be sick together."
He looked down at her. "But your back..."
"It won't do me any good to have a doctor if you run yourself into the ground." Anna peered into his eyes. "You're tired and I know that. I've lived with you for a while now."
Kato chuckles lightly. "Not so tired that'd let you sit there suffering. I'll be right back." He pats her hand and gets the salve and shot from the bedroom. He returned and gently lifted her out of the wheelchair onto an actual chair for easier access to her back. "What did you do today?" He asked to help distract her. He inserted the shot into her lower spine the immediatly rubbed the salve on it and massage the muscle to help the pain from the shot fade quicker.
There was no stopping the man and she knew it. Anna sighed and waited for him to get all the stuff. Wincing a little she felt him begin to lift her from the chair and he had to push her shirt up a little bit. "Went to Star's for a little bit and I found out that pretty much the Chippequoti have a stick up their ass." Wincing again she felt the shot go into her spine. "They are some of the most stuck up and full of themselves, self righteous bastards and they're not even right!"
Kato lowers her shirt and goes to the sink to wash the salve off his hand. "What makes you say that?"
"They got this whole messed up bloodline thing. You marry based on class and basically they think Killian did the worst thing possible marrying or mating with Star. Whatever they would call it." Anna growled a little. "Its just plain stupid if you ask me."
"Hmm, well, you realize there is actual science behind it." Kato sits back down at the table and picks up his roll again, taking a big bite. "If they didn't manage their bloodlines in some fashion, the bones would become so dense it would kill the children before they reached a certain age. Too weak and their immune system fails."
"So do you think that Claire will have problems?" Anna could actually see some of the sense of it and she felt a little bad for encouraging Sooni in a direction that wouldn't be good. "I mean would it work better if they have to breed 'lower' to breed outside of their own kind?"
"That, I do not know. Perhaps...but as you saw with Star, Claire nearly died because her mother's body was not capable of producing the right nutrients. Producing children outside their own race might be far more risky."
Anna sighed. "So they're basically a dying race then. They don't have enough here to choose the appropriate mates and....Well it means that there won't be anymore. Its kinda sad. You know I was just starting to think I might like a few things about the Chippequoti." Once the pain faded out of her back she shifted on the chair a little. "When you're done eating we're going to bed."
"Yes...that is the plan. Unless there is another emergency." Kato sighed, eating slower than his body wanted him to.
"You can't have anymore emergencies." Lowering her head she tried to get a good look at his face. "Kato you're going to get sick if you keep pushing yourself and don't think I haven't noticed that little cough coming on."
Kato smiled kindly at her. "I appreciate your concern. Trust me, I won't go unless I have to." A knock sounded at the door and his expression fell. He patted Anna's shoulder and went to it to door. Shanti stood there looking worried. "I'm sorry, Doctor Kato. I know its late. But...you need to see this." She showed him a data pad. Kato's eyes narrowed. "This isn't right. How many people have been tested? "I've been going around the colony for the last two days taking blood tests. The chips are fine but...I think there's something in the water that the filters aren't getting...or maybe its in the animals...I don't know." "Has Wittick seen this?" "Yes, but he's been so busy trying to help the chippequoti doctor repair the vocal cords. And Dr. Knett only knows the basics of medical. I only noticed it because several people have been coming by complaining of nausea but with no symptoms of the flu." "Coughing?" Kato asked. "A few, but not a majority." Kato sighed. "We need to find out where this virus is stemming from and what sort of anti-biotics we need to use. Also, run the virus through a simulation. I want to know if this..." "I already did, Doctor." Shanti shifted. Kato met her eyes. "Its deadly?" "It could be, but we don't have enough data to know for sure yet." He sighed and nodded. "Ok, well." He handed the datapad back to her. "We'll get to work on this in the morning. Thankyou for being so vigilante, Shanti." The nurse nodded. "Good night, Doctor." Kato returned back to Anna. He wasn't certain if she'd eavesdropped or not but for now he didn't want to worry her. "Just Shanti. She wanted to check some bloodwork by me."
"Really, just some blood work?" Anna raised an eyebrow. She knew he was hiding something, but his work didn't always allow for him to tell her every detail. Patients and doctors had a sort of agreement about not sharing information. "Well it must have been pretty serious to interrupt you at home." She watched as he seemingly ate slower and slower. "Honey, if you're that tired just roll me into the room and you get to bed. I can get myself in the bed if I need to."
Kato sighs and nods. He stands, coughing to the side then lifting her out of her chair and back into the wheelchair. As he rolls her to the bed. As he helps her out of the chair and into the bed he says, "I think I'm going to sleep in the other room tonight. I don't want you too get sick too if this is more than just a tickle in my throat."
Sadly brushing his hair with her fingers she sighed. "And if it really is bad who is going to call the doctor in the morning? Most things are contagious days before the symptoms show. You might as well stay with me."
He tucked her in and stroked her forehead. "Better safe than sorry." The tests from Shanti had him concerned. If did have some sort of strange virus he didn't want to risk infecting her if hadn't already. He grabbed his pillow and a blanket. "Press the button if you need me." He stopped at the door. "I love you, sleep well."
"Ok I love you to." Anna waited till he was out of the room to sit up. Her clothes were still on and he forgot to let her change. It would have to be fine for tonight.
*****************************************************
Witteck came to the office early the next morning. He'd been up half the night studying the virus. There were portions of it that had been familiar and yet it seemed to be new. If that was the case he needed to know who it would affect and how. When the door opened he nodded to Kato. "We might need to quarantine any patients with this virus till I know the extent of it."
"I agree." Kato came and sat across from him. "I'm afraid I may be one of those as well." He coughed again, glad he'd decided to wear a medical mask for the time being. The cough had gotten more painful during the night. "If we havn't started already, we should test everyone. The question is...where are we going to set up the quarantine if there are more than a handful of people infected?"
The older doctor shook his head. He'd been sweating and he was trying to work against the clock before he succumbed to it as well. "We can't test the patients ourselves then till we know if we are presenting early signs or not." Witteck took a vial and drew a little blood from himself. "For starts I'd like to point out that both of us were in close contact with many of the ill. There was no sickness until the Chippequoti arrived." Taking a deep breath he thought for another minute. "I think we'll have to consider in home quarantines if we find more than 50 people that are infected."
Kato nodded approvingly then thought over Wittieck's observation. "You're thinking that this virus could be mutated from the Chippequoti coughing virus? That could be very serious...humans don't have the same sort of immune system as Chippequoti.
"I don't know." Witteck thought for a moment. "There aren't any coincidences, but I think there may be a link." He waited for a few minutes to get his blood test result and grabbed Kato's arm. "Lets see where we're at with you and if you're infected then we need to wait here till the Chippequoti doctor comes in."
Kato sighed and shook his head. "This colony can't run with just two doctors. There are still so many people in need of aid. And I have pregnant woman with gestational diabetes that needs checking on regularly."
"Do you want to risk getting her sick!" Witteck stood up from his place. "We'll have to do our best to find out how many are infected, find out how serious it is and then do what we must. Some illnesses cause mutations and you should know that doctor." The older man sat down and sighed. He knew he had lost his temper and after many days of little sleep it was not surprising though he was disgusted with himself.
Kato blinked. Not once had he ever seen Witteck lose his temper. "I am aware of that. I suppose I was trying to make a point that we need help. Perhaps we should ask Killian to locate a couple more doctors that can help us with this quarantine."
"And how do we know he's not sick?" Witteck sat down again. "We'll make a mass call for everyone to be checked. Those who aren't sick I'll test the virus against it to see if they have an immunity. If there is then we know who will be safe to allow out of the community or to use direct link messaging to instruct them in the care of patients." A slight grin came to his face. "Trusting a man with short term memory loss."
Kato smirked. "Yeah. Probably not the best idea. Maybe we should talk to Star instead...granted she's not infected yet too." He looked up as Shanti came in with the Chippequoti doctor, Quill. She was wearing a mask to protect herself as well. "Dr. Witteck, Dr. Kato...neither of you appear to being doing that well. Is that the reason for this meeting?" Quill asked, sitting across from them. She didn't look to worried about catching whatever they had.
No sooner had they seemed to recognize the problem for what it was when she stepped in. Witteck shrugged. "More or less." The woman smiled and nodded. "I already tested myself after I had the cough. I am immune. Any Chippequoti, which was all of them will be immune. There is no need to seek outside help. I can write directives if need be for the Chippequoti to take care of the humans." She was reluctant as the rest of them to introduce any outside influence at this point. "I believe testing the human population would be beneficial to your kind."
Kato nodded. "As do we." He guestured to Shanti. "Shanti thus far has managed to evade contact with the virus. She can begin helping you, and any other Chips who are willing to help, testing everyone who hasn't been tested yet. Which is how many?"
Shanti looked over at them. "My test group was 25 people. 10 out of the 25 were not yet infected."
Quill smiled. "Good then we'll begin this morning and I will ask you Witteck to return to your home and Kato remain here till Sooni brings Anna to the clinic to be tested." She had half a feeling that Kato had already infected his little woman. Humans were so very delicate.
Seemed that the more they tested the humans the more they found of those who were ill. The Chippequoti doctor listed symptoms of varying stages. It was the same virus, but some of her patients had developed a very strange borderline psychosis response. They were hallucinating. Something that she had thought would have indicated the need for help earlier.
Glancing back into the lab where the other two doctors were geared up and instructing Chippequoti on how to run the tests she noticed an odd look on Kato's face when his Anna came in. Quill cleaned a spot on the little woman's arm and pricked her with a needle before she drew the blood and marked the vial. It was set aside in a box with many other samples. In a few minutes it would go to the back for others to be tested. She suspected that anyone who had been in close contact with the Chips or other humans had been infected. Patients were sent to a waiting room where they would learn if they were infected or not and encouraged not to touch one another. Everyone wore masks until they were ushered home by a Chip that would care for them and all in the household that was infected or until they were deemed well. If they were well they were given a list of symptoms to watch for and sent home.
Since Star and Claire were not full blooded Chippeqouti Killian had to take them into the clinic. Of course they had Claire tested first and the baby wailed all through it and beyond as if someone had tried to murder her. Nervously Killian waited while they drew Star's blood and then he was ushered to the room to wait with them. Nobody knew the full extent just had a list of information that he could barely read. The word hallucinations stuck out and he had trouble reading it, soon as Star said it out loud he knew what it was and he felt sick to his stomach.
Anna saw plenty of familiar faces in the room while she waited. It may have been tempting to wave and say hi, but she didn't feel quite up to it. Instead she waited till a Chippequoti came out with Kato. Sooni was taking them home and it seemed to be indication enough. Glancing over at Kato she winked. "Oh how cute. We get to be sick together."
