Jason Halstead - Parasites

“Here, drink this,” she said, setting him down abruptly.

Jeremy fell, his hand landing in a cool puddle of water and splashing it onto his side. He looked at it and licked his lips. He was thirsty, more thirsty than he could ever remember being. The water was little more than a large mud puddle, even though it looked clear and relatively free of debris or bugs. “Bacteria? Diseases?”

“The good kind, drink it and shut up.”

Still he balked. She let out a frustrated sigh and knelt down next to him. She cupped her hand in the water and brought some up to her face, then drank it. “There, see, it’s not going to kill you!”

He stared at her for a moment then rolled himself painfully over and repeated her gesture. Almost as soon as the cool water ran over his lips he felt the pain in the back of his head lessen. He drank it down then stuck his hand back in for more. He repeated the gesture time and again until he lost track of how many times he’d filled his palm. He rolled away from it at last and rubbed his full stomach, marveling at how much better he was already feeling.

“Come on,” Kira said, motioning to him even as she turned to walk away.

Jeremy scowled at her and considered telling her off. A glance up her toned legs changed his mind. He stood up and followed her, not realizing until he’d reached her that he was walking almost without any pain or stiffness. “What was that?” He gasped, coming to a stop.

Kira motioned him closer and this time he followed without hesitation. He tried twisting his neck but the strain persisted there. He let it go and saw that she’d stopped next to Fiona. “Okay, what’s going on?”

“The longer you put it off, the worse your body will feel. You’ve breathed the air and that’s pulled some of this place into you, but it’s only enough to start the changes. Once you take in the water and the food here you’ll start feeling better.”

“Dr. Rice said her blood samples had shown changes…”

“Yes, and it would have happened a lot faster if you hadn’t been drinking bottled water and packaged food.”

“We’d have had to soon, the supply shuttle from the Explorer didn’t show up yet this week. I heard something about the crew getting sick so they were waiting a few days until they felt better,” Fiona said.

“The entire crew?” Jeremy asked. “How could the entire crew get sick?”

Fiona held her arms up. “Beats me. Something about picking a bug from the planet and it spreading around since nobody had any immunities built up to it.”

“So why weren’t we sick?”

“Because you were in contact with Vitalis still,” Kira answered. “It’s not a bug or a bacteria, it’s an improvement. We’ve seen it in ourselves and we saw it in the survivors of the next ship that followed us.”

“What’s going to happen to the people up there?” Fiona asked, glancing up at the sky as though she could see the starship that had brought them.

“I don’t know. Maybe they’ll get better without any more exposure. Maybe they’ll stay the same. Maybe worse.”

“Worse?”

“Maybe,” she said. She glanced away at the others, who were looking back at them with undisguised curiosity. “Look, I can use you Fiona. I’ll need you and your Marines. I’m the best we’ve got at surviving here. It’s because of the life I used to lead — a life I didn’t really know about.”

She paused, noting the confused expressions on Jeremy and the Lance Corporal’s faces. She sighed. “I’m not a psychologist or anything, but I guess I had a couple of personalities. The good girl, me, knew nothing about what the other girl did. I-“

“Wait, you were the good girl?” Jeremy asked.

Kira scowled at him. “You want to hear this or not?”

“Sorry.” He couldn’t stop the smirk that came on his face. As miserable as the past several hours had been, Jeremy found himself feeling a lot better. He felt almost energetic, in fact.

“Emily was the other personality. She controlled me most of the time. She was a bounty hunter and…well, she did other things too. I would wake up in strange places, on new worlds, space stations, or even starships. I’d have a new job and sometimes even felt different, but I never knew what happened. I called them black outs.”

She paused for a moment, her mouth opening and closing a couple of times as she abandoned a few attempts. “I found out about myself on our way to Vitalis. Emily was tired of being who she was. I created her when I was a little girl, but I guess I didn’t need her anymore. So now it’s just me and I’m still learning a few things about myself every now and then.”

“Why tell us?” Fiona asked. Jeremy saw her glance at him and he allowed himself a smile. He had the same question, but he’d already interrupted her once.

“I want you to trust me. At least as much as you can right now. There’s me and then there’s Tarn. He was the First Insertion Special Tactics Marine I’d mentioned. He was our security officer, now he handles security and I handle reconnaissance and hunting, among other things. Tarn’s going to want you and the other Marines to work for him.”

“You guys don’t get along?” Fiona asked.

“He’s gotten a lot better since he got here. We had a few disagreements that got sorted out and now we’ve grown to respect each other.” Kira lightly punched her fist into her palm, indicating exactly how they’d sorted out their disagreements. “I’d like you to work for me instead. You’re loud, slow, and clumsy, but I can get you in shape.”

Jeremy laughed at the open mouthed expression on Fiona’s face. She turned to glare at him, then looked back at Kira. “With a compliment like that, how could I refuse?”

Kira smiled. “Great. Let’s get these folks rounded up, we’ve got a long walk ahead of us. After this valley there’s wide plain, lots of animals on it. Most of them you can see, but there are plenty of smaller ones that can sneak up on us. We’ll stay close together, I know a safer path. Takes a little longer, but with all this noise and stink it’s the best way.”

“Stink?” Fiona asked, flaring her nostrils as she tried to smell what Kira spoke of.

“You don’t smell right yet. Another month or so and you’ll be part of Vitalis. Until then, anything downwind of you will know it.”

“Wow.”

Jeremy nodded in agreement with Fiona. Kira started to turn away but Jeremy spoke up. “Wait!”

She turned back, one eyebrow raised.

“I…um, I just want you to know I didn’t um…” He trailed off, his mind still fighting against the recent memories. He sighed and looked at Fiona, only to find her just as curious as she met his eyes. “All right, I was in the Navy a long time ago. My kid was born with Spartan’s Syndrome and I had to have money to get her the best treatment I could. I stole military supplies and sold them. Made enough to cover what the Navy wouldn’t and when things started going bad for me, I skipped out. Bought a new identity and everything, then took some courses on biology. The last of it I used to bribe my way into being picked for this mission. I knew if I stuck around they’d track me down sooner or later — this way my paycheck could go to Jasmine and I wouldn’t be a disappointment when they found out.”

Fiona stared at him, lips parted again. Kira chuckled and said, “Got that off your chest? Good, now let’s go.”

“Is she really your ex-wife?” Fiona asked. Jeremy caught Kira rolling her eyes.

“Bleigh? Yeah, she found out what I was doing and wouldn’t have a part of it.”

“Smart girl,” Kira commented. Fiona and Jeremy ignored her.

“So you did all of this because of your daughter?” Fiona asked.