Zion's Children Pt 3

The general had been a fat man once, but now he was a skeletal figure. His skin sagged grotesquely under his chin, and his beige uniform was clearly too big for him. There were dark bags under his eyes, and his over all pallor was almost a match for his uniform. To Byrin, the man looked like death warmed over. He wondered if the man had been ill recently, and if he had been...what had he suffered from?

Looking up from his desk, Hiawithus blinked rapidly as he took the two in. "Only two? I thought Command was sending more! We're not a small colony for Pete's sake!"

"There are two more on the ship still," Byrin volunteered. "They were indisposed and told us to go on ahead of them." Which was true enough. "Sir, I am..."

"I know who you are, Gold," interrupted the general, in a tone that was far from friendly. His tone changed only slightly for the better as he looked at the one woman in the room. "And you by your pips would be Bennett. I've always thought that the Conglomerate was against this outpost, indeed against this very colony since it's uncovering. Now...I know it." The general stood and walked sadly away from his desk to the room's small window. "Gold, I don't care that you are the most brilliant doctor this galaxy has seen in a hundred years...you're only here for show. Once this colony is destroyed by this abominable plague, they will be justified to withdraw this outpost and point to you and say 'We gave it our best, but it just wasn't meant to be'. What a waste. These people are a precious lot and no one cares what happens to them."

"I care, sir," Bennett said softly.

"I don't doubt that you do. I've studied your file, Bennett." For a moment, the general's tone soften. But not for long. "Yours too, Gold." His tone suggested that he was far from impressed with the young doctor. "Jonathan, show them to their lodging and then to the Infirmary. I want them tending to these people at once and I want them working on finding a cure."

"Yes sir," Freeman answered, snapping off a tired salute that his commanding officer didn't even see. He turned and left, clearly expecting the doctor and nurse to follow.

They had no choice but to do exactly that. Byrin glanced down at Bennett, but the nurse wasn't even looking at him. She hadn't looked straight at him since he'd suggested four days into the trip that she share his quarters with him. The woman had acted like she'd never been hit upon before. Byrin sighed at the memory and returned to inspecting the scenery as they left the building.

Not only was the sky here bluer than Earth's, almost purple, but the clouds seemed to have a bluish tint as well. Byrin saw birds gliding on high thermals and wondered what kind they were. The few trees he had seen so far were bare and he wondered if this part of the planet was in its autumn or winter. It seemed too warm to be that time of year, but then he wasn't overly familiar with this planet.

The trio walked across the street, or what served as the main street. Far to the left, Byring could make out what he thought was a glimmer of water, and wondered if they were on the edge of a large lake or small sea. This road had been paved once, but it had clearly been some years since it had been maintained. They walked by several potholes, some of them large. The building they were heading for, just a bit up the road from the general's office, was a large three-story red brick building that boldly claimed that it was "Conglomerate Housing".

"Wait, Conglomerate Housing? But the General's office is in a clapboard building." Byrin often had issues with the style and comfort the Conglomerate insisted on, even in frontier territory, but wondered at the discrepancy. Even if the general was eccentric, it made no sense to him.

"Where would you rather live?" Bennett asked acerbically. "I'd much rather live in comfort and work in hell than the other way around."

Byrin picked up on the biting tone of her voice and winced. Yes, he had discovered a lot about his companions on the trip out here. All three of the women with him disagreed with him on many topics, including a frontier assignment.

As they climbed the steps to the building, Freeman spoke. "Yes, this building and our other office building is rather out of place on this quaint world. And the general's preference does seem odd, but now would not be the time or the place to discuss it."

Freeman saw that they were given their room assignments at the front desk and said he would expect them back in half an hour.

Byrin sighed as the lift doors closed behind Bennett as she got off on the second floor. He was eternally grateful that they'd been assigned to different floors. For a brief moment he wondered where the other two nurses had been assigned.

With an indifferent attitude, he stepped out onto the third floor landing. He took in the Conglomerate decor without a second glance. The colors were the same on a thousand worlds; golden yellow and sage green, often with a dash of navy blue for accent.

The young doctor found his room easily and unlocked it with the pass card he'd been given downstairs. He stood in the doorway for a moment, wondering what he had expected. A small living room greeted him, with a fully furnished kitchenette visible to the right. There were two doors off the the left, presumably entryways for the bedroom and bath. The living room sported a long yellow and green couch with two matching armchairs all around a fetching glass coffee table. There were, of course, various accents of flowers and artwork scattered about. The large window on the wall across from the main doorway looked like a Picture Window, one that could be set to show whatever view from whatever planet you desired if you didn't like the natural view out the window. In the right corner near the window was a workstation complete with desk and computer. If he was of a mind to, Byrin could probably dial up his mother on the Earth/Lunar Colony and let her know that he'd arrived safely.

And the people outside the building were dying.