[Galaxy Of Fear] - 03(9)
As Tash watched, the five creatures suddenly trembled, and then they split apart, becoming ten organisms. And then twenty, and then forty! They were replicating faster than Tash could count them.
The sixth wriggling creature, the one that hadn’t succeeded in getting inside the floating mass, turned, and with a sudden surge, lunged right at Tash.
“Ah!” Tash jumped back. Then she remembered she was wearing the electroscope. She was looking at the fluid on a small glass plate, magnified thousands of times.
“Startling, isn’t it?” she heard Kavafi say. “Those tiny organisms are what make living beings sick. They invade the body and begin to reproduce, taking over the body’s living cells.”
Tash watched as more of the viruses swam into view. They seemed to be searching for something. “Are they fatal?”
“Sometimes,” the doctor admitted. “But since the virus feeds off its living host, it doesn’t usually want to kill it. Sometimes viruses can live and reproduce inside an animal or person for years, causing all kinds of terrible illnesses.”
Tash removed the electroscope. “How do you get them?
I mean, they’re too small to travel from one place to another.”
The doctor nodded. “Viruses get around in all kinds of ways. Sometimes touching an infected person can give you the virus, or drinking infected water. Some viruses even float through the air.”
A medical droid entered the room carrying a tray that had two needles on it. Kavafi picked up one of the needles. “Hoole, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you and your niece to endure an injection.”
“For what purpose?” the Shi’ido asked. “We are not sick.”
Kavafi shrugged. “Just a precaution. You and your niece may have caught the virus that Zak has, and I want to stop it before it has time to take hold in your system.” He held the needle out toward Hoole.
Hoole stuck one long, thin arm out from beneath his blue robe. Kavafi quickly and expertly stuck the needle into the Shi’ido’s arm and squeezed until all the fluid had been injected.
“Your turn,” he said cheerily to Tash.
“I never catch anything,” she insisted. “I never get sick.”
“Better safe than sorry,” he replied.
Reluctantly Tash held out her arm. She felt a quick prick as the needle poked beneath her skin, then a slight tugging as the fluid was injected into her bloodstream. For a moment the injection felt hot and stinging. Then the pain passed.
“There we are,” Kavafi said cheerily. “Now all your worries are over. I will be right back.”
The minute Kavafi left the room, Tash turned to the Shi’ido and whispered, “Uncle Hoole! I think something’s wrong here!”
Hoole raised his eyebrows. “What?”
“Just before we left the Shroud, I got a message from ForceFlow. He warned us not to come to Gobindi!”
Hoole furrowed his eyebrows. “Tash, I appreciate your concern. But why should we change our plans, based on a warning from a person you have never actually met?”
Tash searched for a reply. “He’s always helped me before.”
Hoole said, “He is meddling in affairs he cannot possibly understand. I cannot permit you to run your life based on mysterious messages sent over the HoloNet.”
“But this is an Imperial base!” Tash argued. “There are stormtroopers here!”
Hoole sighed. “I know how you feel about the Empire, and you have a right to be angry. But you have to understand that the government has officers, soldiers, and fleets of ships all across the galaxy. Most of the time they are just beings going about their daily business. If you think that every time you see stormtroopers you have uncovered a wicked Imperial plot, you will go insane with worry.
You must learn to control your suspicion, or it will control you.”
“But-“
“Tash, please.” Hoole looked at her sternly. “I have known Dr. Kavafi for years. He is a good scientist, dedicated to improving the lives of species-kind. We are in no danger.”
The tone in Hoole’s voice told Tash that she should not continue the argument. She crossed her arms as if to hold in her frustration.
As she did, she felt a small pain in her left arm. She touched the tender spot where she had received the injection. “I think your friend bruised me with that needle,” she muttered.
Dr. Kavafi returned just as Zak moaned loudly in his sleep. Tash reached down and wiped the sweat off his forehead. “Why is he so hot?”
“That’s the human way of fighting off disease. Most viruses cannot take extreme heat, so your body automatically raises its temperature to fight back. “