Defblate
By: Joshua A. Lamborn and Dale Heinold (my uncle, I have his permission)
Captain Bryce entered the surgery. “What’s the problem Killer?”
“Follow me Captain,” replied Mercury “Killer” Robinson – chief surgeon.
Entering into on of the examination rooms the Captain saw one of the engineering crew laying on the table.
“This is Specialist Clark, he’s been in this coma for quite some time. Normally I would call this a normal black gang accident but...”
“Let me guess the diagnosis shows something, shall we say strange.” The Captain interjected.
“That would be an understatement.” Killer handed the Captain an electronic clipboard with the diagnosis report.
Bryce skimmed the report trying to interpret the medical jargon. Near the bottom of the report he read the words – “Defblate Viral Infection.” Captain Bryce sank to the chair near the bed. “Should we be in here? This stuff is highly contagious.”
“I took the precaution of micro-sealing the body and disinfecting the area prior to calling you.”
Bryce was visibly relieved. “How did he get it?”
“Unknown at this point – but we need to find out fast before it effects the entire crew.”
Bryce tapped the console by the bed. A holographic image appeared. “What can I do for you Captain?” The computer-generated face asked.
“Contact Green Team ops. Meeting in ten minutes in surgery. Make the request Extreme Need.”
“Yes sir” the hologram replied and blinked out.
For those few of you still in the dark about the Defblate, it is a highly contagious, highly dangerous, fast acting mutagenic virus. Defblate and the other hundred or so mutagenic viruses had been dredged up by rouge gene-splicing experiments over the past hundred years.
All five Green Team operatives had been eating lunch and lounging about in their shared quarters, when the emerald alarm in their quarters flashed into life, the sudden burst of light was accompanied shriek that was reminiscent of the one that belonged to the squealfrict beast of Alpha Centauri 5. They had been trained for this moment, rushing out the door and toward the surgery wing…
“We need .01 cc of quell blood.” Captain Bryce half-stated, half-demanded.
“Here.” said one of the nurses after several drawn-out moments.
Quell blood is a luminous green color, extracted from a quell, the benign beast of evangel XX, and diluted for medical use the only problem with even diluted quell blood is it was incredibly strog and therefore had to be administered in incredibly small dose, anything bigger could be fatal to the patient.
At that moment the five Green Team ops. came pounding into the surgery wing just as the quell blood was being injected into the patient, the rapid change in the patients body suddenly came to a screeching halt.
“Good, Green Team, prepare for yourselves for injection into the blood-stream.” said Bryce.
Green Team walked sullenly toward the odd, dome-shaped machine that meant they would become terribly diminutive. Green Team had been through this machine several hundred times. Shrinking was one of their least favorite exercises, and, unfortunately, it was their considerably paying job. Several times before they had lost operatives on a mission. Unfortunately, their profession was not one of incredible glamour, no one really wants to get stepped on by a colleague, or eaten by a lunatic paramecium. So they were the last of a dying breed.
They stood inside the dome, ready to destroy a few pacified viruses
“Green Team ready?” They heard Killer inquire amidst bursts of static from they’re headset.
“Sir, Green Team ready, Sir!” the leader, named Jon, answered.
Killer flipped the switch on his wrist-mounted control panel, and watched Green Team slowly shrink to the size of a virus. All eyes turned on to the large silvery screen as it flashed into blazing life. About three fourths of the way through the process the camera zoomed in an inconceivable amount, the number in the corner indicated a one million percent zoom. Green Team was smaller than the smaller than molecules of dirt on the dome’s floor. The camera made another bound in the amount of zoom, the indicator in the corner of the screen indicated a one billion percent zoom as the process was completed.
“How does it feel?” one doctor had asked of them before.
“Like the universe just got that much bigger.” Had always been their answer to those questions; it was pretty well a rule that had gone unspoken that this was to be your standard answer if asked.
Killer walked into the dome with syringe in hand. The Green Team’s uniforms had a reason to be quell green; there they were in a patch of green light on the floor. The suits automatically lit up when shrunken, which, unfortunately meant that the first time they washed the uniforms, they were about as hard to spot in the field as the titanic on land.
Killer laid the syringe on the cold metal floor of the dome. Green Team expertly made their way into the syringe stuffed with their mode of transportation, a Syris NG. A Syris NG’s purpose was to navigate the bloodstream in such a way that didn’t rip it open.
They were injected into the bloodstream and took off. The Syris NG’s engines roared into life as they experienced whiplash from the incredible force that now pressed against them. After a while, the force subsided and they were traveling at a steady pace through the bloodstream.
At this point Killer came through over their headsets, “Continue this way,” he said as a red arrow appeared in what should have been a windshield.
“We copy, Sir!” several of them replied at once.
“Good, we tracked the symptoms origin dead ahead of your position,” he added mater of factly.
At that moment, they approached the spot, the origin of the symptoms; they had seen this several times before, but never as bad as this.
“Sir, we may need a bigger Syris.” Jon said into his headset mic, half telling half pleading Killer.
“Is it that bad?” Killer inquired.
“Sir-“
“Yes, I know, but it has to be done. Good bye gentlemen, it has been an honor working with you.”
Jon flipped the switch labeled PANIC BUTTON on the panel in front of him. They had to stop this virus from spreading throughout this man’s entire body. If this man underwent the full process the entire ship would be doomed, one ‘blate could kill everyone on the ship.
A countdown flashed on the screen 10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1. There was a relatively large explosion. This was not a destructive explosion, unless you were a Defblate viral cell.
Killer watched the monitor; they had lost five brave men that day, but those brave souls had saved those of over a thousand. Or so they think, Killer thought.
Killer ripped the pale white skin off his body. Bryce reached for his gun, but it was too late, the skeletal mass that had been his comrade bore down upon him. Bryce’s last dying words were over an interstellar version of the CV radio, “This is the ‘blate’s bane, en route to the Evangel system, do not board the ship when it lands, there is a ‘bl-“