The walls and the vaulted ceiling of the spacious hospital hall consisted of multiple sleek video panels. They were normally snow white, but once a visitor appeared, they would immediately display panoramic views of all kinds. It could be tall mountains with dark forests at their foot, endless plains stretching beneath cloudless blue skies or ocean waves reaching the shores. Similar panels with exquisite nature views were hardly a rare thing to see on Titanium. However, only here in the total solitude would Lora truly feel as if she had found herself on Earth, where she could hear the real sound of waves crashing or leaves blowing in the wind, and enjoy the warmth of the sun while walking barefoot on the sand.
“Lora Merion?”
The sound of her name jolted her out of the dreamy thoughts about Earth.
“Yes?”
“My name’s Dr Borshchevsky,” said a grey-haired elderly man. “Are you here for patient number sixty-four?”
“Yes… Sixty-four? I thought the wards were empty…”
“Well, ten hours ago we picked up some refugees from Taria. They are sixty-two Tarians and a diplomat from Titanium. They have suffered great stress and a little anoxaemia due to the life support system’s failure on board their spacecraft. They’re going to be fine.”
“But what had happened? Why did they have to flee?”
“I’m sorry, Ms Marion, I was too busy taking care of them and had no time to ask about what had happened on Taria,” answered the tired doctor. “The majority of the doctors are away at a seminar, so we have a shortage of staff.”
“Yes, I understand,” nodded Lora. “Can I help somehow?”
The man shook his head.
“The specialists have been called in and are going to be here in fifteen minutes. So everything is going to be back to normal. As for patient number sixty-four, we have neutralized the preservative without injecting the antidote. The truth is, to identify the chemical substance and devise a neutralization method took more than three hours. That’s why we hadn’t been able to give you any details earlier. Before that, the total scan had shown malnutrition in some regions of his brain. I’ll probably repeat myself by saying it’s malnutrition, not total cessation. So there’s a 70% probability that his nervous system functions will recover after proper treatment.”
“How long will the rehabilitation process take?”
“It’s difficult to trace any improvement in such a short time; however, despite a long coma, he has a very strong immune system. Lucky man! The capsules were well protected from the radiation. Oh, yes, and something else… His blood contains antibodies to a virus unknown to us. I have sent the full report to the Council. This man poses no biological threat to the citizens of Titanium. My colleagues are getting ready to start the autopsy of the second body.”
“Thank you,” Lora touched the middle of her chest with her palm as a sign of sincere gratitude.
“Always happy to help you,” the doctor said smiling, with his palm touching his chest like Lora’s.
Lora left the hall and hastily walked to the teleport. Her next destination was the ‘Unity’ premises, where the Council was located.
Chapter 2
“Aren’t you early today, Lora!” Jean Preqeaux, one of the seven members of the ‘Solar Flotilla’ Council, greeted her.
Smiling, she placed her palms together in front of her chest and bowed slightly.
“How was yesterday’s meeting? Was my report on the Lactians any good?”
