Patient Zero

By Kurt Heinrich Hyatt

Starpilot Michael Bell, on a mining expedition to the Outer Rim, survives an alien virus outbreak aboard his starfreighter and crash lands it on Hadley’s Planet, a mining outpost within the United Homeworlds. A pandemic soon erupts, killing thousands, and authorities decree Mike is Patient Zero, though he’s immune and not a carrier. He’d also brought back knowledge of the most valuable emeralds ever discovered, and though the virus protects the riches from pilfering, a mad rush to locate the mine ensues. Mike is the only soul who knows where it is, but having sworn to never go back to those horrors, he escapes to Earth with the lovely but bossy Dr. Blanca Marina, a viral researcher on the hunt for a vaccine. Their journey pits them against the mining company, a hybrid breed of lizard-humans, and dogged law enforcement bent on his capture. As the death toll mounts across the Homeworlds, the virus mutates, and Mike succumbs. His only hope for survival lies with Dr. Marina and a cure that’s worse than the disease.

• Language: English
• Publisher: TWB Press
• Release date: Jan 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9781959768050

Book preview

Chapter One

A dense blanket of clouds kissed the wide hull of the IMS Grissom, a five-deck, four-engine Class A Starfreighter, as it descended through the atmosphere of planetoid DBIVX. The crew, anxiously watching the viewscreens, were suddenly flying blind in the thick soup.

How long until we touch down? Captain Carson asked the navigator from his seat at the flight control panel.

Volkov was studying readouts running across a monitor. "Two minutes, 42 seconds, sir. Landing sensors have locked on Grid7, Sector9, 88-12x49, a clearing in the dense jungle big enough for the ship and our equipment. Just stay on the glideslope. We’ll be fine."

Carson had the red trajectory beam square in the crosshairs on his flight screen. An overspeed light began to flash yellow. Slow her down a little, Bell.

Copilot Mike Bell pressed a series of keys to increase the angle of attack and slow the ship’s descent. Tendrils of condensation streaked down the forward viewports. When is Interworld Mining going to name this rock?

They haven’t decided. It’s on the books as DBIVX until someone tells us otherwise. With his palm, he rolled the attitude control ball backward to raise the nose. "If the geoprobe hadn’t indicated a strong possibility of trutonium ore beneath the surface of this clearing, the Company can call it mud for all I care."

I don’t know. Mike futzed with his droopy mustache and kept a keen eye on the altimeter, already passing below four thousand feet. Geoprobes have been known to be wrong, and this is a long way to go for nothing.

Trutonium is worth the risk. If it’s down there, we’re going to find it.

Al Hendrick jumped in. And we’re all going to get rich. The ship’s mechanic knew every fusion reactor in the universe ran on trutonium.

Rich? Only in your dreams, Al, Mike said. The top brass are the ones who will clean up if we find enough trutonium here to warrant a full-scale mining operation. Just be glad you have a job with the Company and not back on Hadley’s Planet, playing wrench jockey at that salvage yard.

Yeah, yeah. I’m a real Company man now, Mike.

Three thousand feet. Mike called out the altitude.

Carson spun the palm ball to starboard to counter a building crosswind and keep the crosshairs on the glideslope to the landing coordinates.

One thousand feet.

Carson pushed the four engine throttles forward. Trutonium fusion engines whined, and the Grissom’s descent slowed. The glideslope crosshairs were locked on solid. Carson’s confidence was high. Drop the landing struts.

Landing struts, Bell acknowledge and keyed in the command. The hull shuddered under the increased drag as the struts lowered into position and locked. Five hundred feet.

I can’t see a damn thing, Carson said.

You’re right on course, Volkov reported.

Two hundred...one hundred...fifty...

Carson goosed the throttles to ninety percent and set the ship down with a bump. The howl of the engines died and a welcomed silence filled the starfreighter.

Mist drifted past the viewports, allowing only sporadic glimpses of the dense foliage in front of the cockpit.

Volkov clapped his hands. Now that’s how you thread the needle, Captain.

Ladies and gentlemen, Carson announced. Welcome to murky DBIVX, the armpit of the universe.

Mike got busy with post-landing chores, fired up the plasma APU, vented the engine bays, and stirred the oxygen tanks.

Carson looked over his shoulder to where Alice Kressa, the Ecologist, was studying screens in her tiny alcove. What’s it like out there, Alice?

The geoprobe readings sent back to the Company were right on the money. Oxygen rich atmosphere, carbon dioxide, nitrogen...ah, unusually high nitrous oxide and methane, probably due to the abundant vegetation, but perfectly breathable air, high humidity and 78 degrees Fahrenheit. Welcome to Florida. She switched her attention to a different screen. Aside from dense forest and flora, no other lifeforms are detected within scanner range. Also...this is interesting. There’s a geometric structure...or some kind of congruent object detected...about three hundred meters out at 220 degrees. I’d like to take a look, sir.

Captain Carson swiveled around in his command chair. Alice, you and Al do a quick reconnaissance of this structure while we get the equipment unloaded.

Geeze, Captain, why me? Hendrick whined. You know how much I hate wandering away from the ship.

You can do your strut and hull inspection when you and Alice get back from your little side trip.

Yeah, fine, we’re on our way. Let’s go, Kressa. The two started off down the corridor toward the lifts to the lower decks.

Carson turned back to the viewports and brooded on the expanse of mist-shrouded jungle. I hope we don’t have to spend a lot of time here. Something about this place gives me the creeps...like any minute now a T-Rex might come crashing out of the tree line.

You’re about as cheerful as an undertaker.

~*~

Inside the lower cargo hold airlock, Kressa and Hendrick watched the hatch hiss open and a ramp slide down. Ladies first. Hendrick grinned behind the clear bubble of his helmet.

Be careful. Don’t trip and break your neck.

They walked down the ramp to a lush carpet of vines and pale grey ferns then looked around the misty forest through rain-splattered faceshields.

Man, Hendrick said. This place reminds me of Costa Rica back on Earth. I remember how the fog would roll in from the ocean and sweep through the jungle so thick you couldn’t see shit.

Hey, maybe if we don’t find enough trutonium worth mining, Interworld could use this place as a vacation destination. She looked at Hendrick who was tugging at the neck lockband of his helmet. What are you doing?

Goddamn thing is too tight. Hey, the atmosphere is breathable. Maybe I could shuck this brain bucket and get a little fresh air.

Don’t be stupid, Al. You don’t know what biohazards might be floating around out here. Keep it on.

All right. Don’t get your panties in a bunch. Let’s get this over with. After trekking a few yards across the clearing, he stopped and stared at several mounds of newly turned earth. Hey, what are these heaps of dirt. Looks like big mole hills.

Who cares? We got a job to do. Try to stay in close visual contact with me. I don’t have time to send out a search party if you get lost in this soup.

I read you loud and clear.

They continued on, into the fog-shrouded jungle, walking through an ominous silence broken only by the crunch of their boots on the forest loam. No insect or bird cries registered on their helmet sensors, only an eerie keening of the wind in fronds high above.

Alice checked the scanner on her wrist. I can read the object, the structure I detected back on the ship. It’s dead ahead.

They pushed their way past a tangle of ghostly white ferns and found an enormous structure made of black stone blocks, looming large in the mist. An arched entryway was overgrown with trees and vines, and a heavily worn stone path led to the gnarl.

Holy bugsquat, Hendrick whispered. You think anyone is home?

Another check of her wrist scanner, then: No lifeforms detected. Let’s check it out.

You really wanna go in there, Alice? It looks like Dracula’s castle.

Hendrick, grow a pair. Come on.

With cautious steps, they picked their way through the archway and entered a cavernous building where they switched on their helmet lights. The searchlight beams revealed a vast grotto in which stood a huge altar at the center, a stone podium topped by a grotesque gargoyle that looked to have been carved from black and smooth obsidian. The dust of countless ages lay thick upon the floor.

I think we’re a little late for Sunday Service, Alice said as she examined the altar. Looks like they forgot to empty the collection plate. She bent over a stone bowl and brushed dust from a heap of green crystals. Picking one up, she held it to the beam of her helmet. It lacked polish but had a defined hexagonal shape with sharp edges.

Hendrick peered at the stone. Crap, that looks like an emerald. The bowl is full of them. Wow, they’re more valuable than diamonds.

More rare, too. Alice stared at the bowl of dusty gems. I think Interworld Mining should forget about looking for trutonium on DBIVX. There must be more of these stones, wherever these came from.

Wow, let’s check for more bowls. Hendrick swiveled his helmet beam around the temple. He froze and sucked in a lungful of metered air. What is that?

Littering the floor and stacked up against walls were the mummified remains of small bodies, seemingly wrapped in ceremonial cloths, though mere rags now and covered in dust. Their large oval heads held sightless eyes in dark sockets that appeared to stare with disapproval at the intruders.

There must be hundreds of them, Alice said. What the hell happened to them? She bent over one of the bodies. I don’t see any signs of trauma, no skull damage or broken limbs, that I can tell. I wonder how they died.

Al shuddered. I wonder who put them here.

Alice scanned the area with her lights. If that’s the case, they might still be here...watching us.

That’s it. I’m outta here. Al executed an about-face and took off running.

Alice held back to fill a pouch in her suit with gems.

Hendrick had lost all interest in the jewels. In his terror-stricken flight to the exit, he tripped over a desiccated body and fell face-first to the stone floor, shattering the clear bubble faceplate on his helmet. Screaming, he skidded into a pile of mummified bodies. Bones and rotting cloth bloomed into a cloud of putrid dust.

Hendrick. Alice ran up and pulled him to a sitting position. Are you all right?

He coughed then gave her a weak grin. Looks like the air is breathable.

You dumb shit. She scowled at him. You’re breathing in all this dust. We better get back to the ship and get you checked out.

Hey, I’m fine, honest. It’s just dust.

You’ve got it all over your suit.

He sneezed, and after unlocking the helmet band, he pulled it off. No reason to be wearing this anymore. Let’s get outta here.

~*~

The automated mining equipment had been unloaded from the Grissom’s hold and was set to work drilling core samples and scooping up earth to load into diagnostic hoppers. The machines squeaked and whined, clattered and whirred. When Kressa and Hendrick walked out of the fog, the latter carrying his shattered helmet, Captain Carson and the crew stared at them with wide eyes and dropped jaws behind their bubbled faceshields.

Carson shouted, What the hell are you doing with your helmet off, Al? His voice was harsh in everyone’s helmet comms.

Alice piped up. He had an accident back at the temple.

What temple?

We found an ancient stone structure that housed mummies, like some sort of burial crypt. Al tripped over a body on the floor and busted his helmet.

What’s that all over his atmosphere suit?

Dust, sir.

It stinks like hell, Al added then started laughing as if that were the funniest thing he’d ever said.

Amid the patter of the relentless rain, the machines continued their mechanical clamoring as Carson rolled his eyes. Get aboard, Hendrick, run your ass through the decontamination chamber and report to sickbay for an Autodoc-scan. I don’t want to see your mug until the medic clears you for duty.

Yes, sir. He danced up the ramp and into the ship, happy as a lark.

All right. Show’s over. Get back to work.

~*~

Gathered about a dining table in the galley, the crew of the Grissom, less Hendrick in sickbay, waited with hot cups of coffee for the Autochef to prepare their evening meal. The air held the aromas of fresh buns and broiling burgers. All the automated mining equipment had been shut down for the night, and everyone was bone tired.

Carson stood, and resting his palms on the table, leaned forward. Okay, Alice. What happened out there today?

She took a sip from her cup and set it down. We found something that Interworld Mining is going to go ape over. She opened her flightsuit pocket, pulled out a handful of crystals, and laid them on the tabletop, much like a dealer would spread out a deck of cards.

The crew gasped in surprise.

Emeralds, I think.

Mike picked one up and set it in his open palm. Could be an emerald. It’s green enough, maybe eighty grams, four hundred carats. I’m no expert gemologist, but I’d say these are quite remarkable. Are there any others out there?"

I left a bunch of them behind.

These mummies, Volkov said. Any idea who they are?

Hundreds of them, maybe dead a thousand years. Most were stacked up against walls, and some were lying on the floor. Could be an ancient civilization’s burial crypt. That’s my best guess.

What killed them?

Who knows? War, drought, famine. Why do most empires fall?

Carson grimaced. If the bodies were stacked, why were some of them lying on the floor?

So Hendrick would have something to trip over, Alice quipped. Why else?

Volkov jumped in. Maybe that’s where they died while they were stacking the bodies.

Alice frowned. Like a plague, maybe?

Maybe.

Mike was still looking at the gems on the table. You should have taken all of them when you came back. Why didn’t you?

"My chickenshit partner lost his nerve and got suddenly homesick for the Grissom, tripped over a mummy and broke his helmet. He’d stirred up so much dust, we had to get out of there."

Carson had lost interest in Hendrick’s misfortune. There must be an ancient emerald mine somewhere in this forest. All we have to do is find it. He glanced at his timeband. It’ll be dark in an hour. Get some rest. At sunup, we’ll head out to locate the mine.

Chapter Two

Night settled around the Grissom, and down the darkened corridors and throughout the cargo bays, the low drone of the idling plasma APU sounded like a sleeping ogre.

Mike, dressed in IM company sweats, slid open the door of his cabin and peered up the corridor. Forward, from the cockpit, light shone where Volkov had the first shift of night watch. Cold deckplates under his bare feet made him shiver as he hustled down the hall and tapped softly on a cabin door. It slid open to reveal Alice Kressa’s smiling face. She wore a flimsy black nightdress through which her nipples could be seen.

Come in, she whispered and stepped aside so he could enter the small berth. I thought you’d never get here. She slid the door closed behind him.

He gathered her in his arms. I had to inventory the emeralds before locking them in the aft cargo hold safe. He grinned at her and held up a green crystal. But I kept one.

I hope the captain didn’t count them first.

I was thinking it would make a great engagement ring. He drew her in tight and kissed her hard.

She kissed him back, then pushed him off and smiled ruefully. You’re forgetting about my husband back on Hadley’s Planet. I think he might object to our betrothal.

So? You have to divorce the bum first. I can wait.

I don’t know, Mike. It’s complicated.

But what about all the times he was getting pussy on the side while you were out on Interworld Mining assignments?

Is that any different than what we’re doing?

Yeah. But I love you. He doesn’t.

Get into my bed. My legs are cold.

They climbed under the covers and nestled together. Soon they were making love, careful as always to restrain gasps of pleasure in order to escape the notice of other crew members sleeping in adjacent cabins.

Happily satisfied, Alice rolled over on her back. That was great, Mike. Let me know when you’re ready for round two.

Greedy girl.

I wish you could stay all night.

My watch shift is coming up pretty soon.

Slam, bam, thank you, ma’am. Is that what I am to you? She reached out and groped him.

A dull thump sounded in the corridor, followed by an agonizing groan.

Alice gasped. Did you hear that?

Mike scrambled out of bed and pulled on his sweats. I had better check. I’m sure others heard the noise, and I don’t want them to find us together.

He stepped out into the corridor to see a crumpled body lying under the dim overhead podlights, naked. Mike’s chest seized with a mix of fear and concern, freezing him in place as his mind grappled with the sight before him.

Carson stepped out from a cabin several doors down. What the hell’s going on out here?

Man down. Mike knelt to the body and turned him over. It was Hendrick. Streams of blood oozed from his nose and the corner of his mouth. Captain, it’s Al...he’s sick or something.

Get him back to sickbay. He hasn’t been cleared for duty...and find out why the hell he’s running around naked. His cabin door slammed shut.

Alice brought a blanket from her room and covered him.

By now, night watch Volkov arrived on scene. He and Mike grabbed Hendrick, now writhing and shuddering, and carried him hammock-style down two decks to sickbay where they strapped him to a gurney.

The medic on duty, Jerry Belcher, hooked him up to the Autodoc. He was fine an hour ago. He attached wires and sensors to Hendrick’s chest and arms.

What is wrong with him? Alice was looking at readouts running across a display.

Diagnostics from the Autodoc are pretty basic. I wish Interworld had assigned us a flight doctor instead of this crummy machine.

Cheap bastards running the Company, Volkov growled.

Wait. Here’s something. Belcher read a printout. Virus unknown. Treatment unknown. Do not transport patient. Quarantine immediately.

Carson entered sickbay, dressed for duty in his IM uniform, and peered at Hendrick, who lay trussed to the gurney, trembling, bleeding out every orifice, and his pallid skin was breaking out in grotesque blisters that undulated as they grew. What kind of crap is this?

I don’t know, Belcher said, but we’re stuck here on this rock until we figure it out.

No, Alice cried. We’ve got to get him to a doctor.

Mike jumped in. The nearest medical facility is on Hadley’s Planet.

Carson frowned. That’s two days away at maximum timephase speed. Jerry, will he make it that long?

Autodoc says quarantine, Captain. It’s too risky to leave DBIVX.

Alice huffed. What does that crummy machine know? This man needs help.

She’s right, Mike said. We can’t stay here and do nothing.

Carson somberly regarded his stricken crewman. All right. At first light, we’ll load up the equipment and head to Hadley’s—

Captain... Belcher moaned and dropped to the deck, his face pale and nose dripping blood. He raised a trembling hand to Carson. We’re. All. Doomed. Then shuddering spasms overtook him. He dropped his arm and passed out while undulating blisters grew on his face.

Autodoc sounded a steady tone. Hendrick had stopped shuddering, and the blisters on his body made little popping sounds as they ejected a slimy green spew.

Shit. Mike pulled Alice back against the bulkhead. We’ve got to get out of this room.

Carson took charge. Mike, kick on the outside floods. We’ll start reloading the equipment right now. Liftoff in twenty—

But the quarantine, sir. This is serious. We all might be infected.

Do you want to get sick out here in the middle of nowhere or in a medical facility where you have half a chance?

I get your point.

Then move it.

They had donned the hermetically sealed atmosphere suits and had no sooner started running equipment up the cargo ramp when the rain intensified to a cold deluge that flooded their already depressed spirits. Alice was guiding a remote controlled soil analyzer when she sagged and grasped the railing for support.

Alice. Mike rushed to her and caught her, and then her trembling body collapsed in his arms. Beyond her clear faceplate he could see the telltale trickle of blood from her nose. Captain, she’s got it too.

Carson’s attention shifted to Volkov who had fallen against a landing strut. Volkov, you okay?

It’s got me too, Captain. He sucked in a ragged breath.

Mike, carrying Alice to the ramp, stopped to check on Volkov and saw a trickle of blood running from one nostril. Holy crap. What are we going to do, captain?

Carson dropped a case of drills and ran to Volkov. Jesus Christ. Then one look at Kressa was enough to make his decision. Forget the equipment. Let’s blast off this rock and get back to Hadley’s Planet before there’s no one left to fly the ship.

Chapter Three

Four blanket-wrapped bodies lay in a small hold of the Grissom, strapped down to pallets like any other cargo. As the ship’s refrigerated storage could not accommodate corpses, Mike had dismantled the heating in this compartment, which allowed the temperature to drop to the near absolute zero cold of outer space and freeze stiff his former crewmates.

The disease or virus they had picked up on DBIVX had acted swiftly. All four had died within hours of each other. So far Mike and the captain had escaped infection. Isolation from each other was not possible in the close quarters of the starfreighter, so they’d decided to remain geared up in their atmosphere suits for the journey back to Hadley’s Planet. Two days ago, Carson had executed the emergency liftoff while Mike performed duties normally delegated to the ship’s mechanic, Hendrick, and navigator, Volkov. Mike had left the cockpit to be sure everything on all five decks was secure for reentry.

He stood alone in the corridor outside the frozen hold, somberly contemplating the four bodies through the bubble of his helmet and the door’s thick viewport. The drone of the engines and the rasp of his own breathing were the only sounds. His gaze wandered to the blanket covering Alice, and he felt hot tears sting his eyes. All they ever had for each other and anything left to be, were suddenly gone due to an invisible killer on an alien rock of untapped riches. Pressing a gloved hand over his suit pouch, he felt the emerald he’d kept for himself and the wedding ring that would never be.

His employers at Interworld Mining would want to know about this valuable find on DBIVX. However, before they could investigate those riches, they would have to isolate this deadly virus that had decimated the crew of the Grissom. A vaccine would have to be developed to ensure the safety of future expeditions. The plan for now: while landing on Hadley’s Planet, they would warn the spaceport authorities and have them quarantine the ship until it could be deemed safe to disembark. Carson elected not to warn them earlier because the ship may not be given clearance to land and could be stuck in orbit, far from any medical assistance.

After a final glance at the bodies, he started walking along the empty passageway toward the cockpit when the ship changed attitude and banged him against the ceiling. What the hell? He scrambled up to the cockpit to find Carson slumped over the flight control panel. The Grissom had come out of timephase flight and was seconds away from entering the atmosphere of Hadley’s Planet. The angle of attack was too steep for orbital insertion. He grabbed the shoulder of Carson’s suit and pulled him upright in the chair. His face was a bloody mess.

Son of a bitch.

Mike strapped himself into the right seat and activated the reentry sequence. Alarms rang out. A quick scan of the instruments told him the ship was traveling at too great a speed for reentry. Shit. He hit the reverse fusion thrusters, which were not much more than steering jets. He knew any radical maneuvers in space would take minutes to execute when he had only seconds.

A new chime sounded, and the control panel lit up in solid yellow and flashing red indicators.

Goddammit. Come on, baby, pull up.

The ship slammed into the upper atmosphere and began to shake violently. More warning lights and alarms emitted from an overhead console. The most concerning was the red light flashing OVERSPEED. Gotta slow this bucket down, he muttered and activated the S-TURN procedure, hoping to use the hull to bleed off airspeed before he became nothing more than a meteor streaking across the sky. The ship’s vibrations became more severe, and all he could see was fiery-orange ionized-air through the viewports.

He looked over at the captain, dead at the wheel. Fine mess you’ve got us in, sir.

The flight computers reported OVERLOAD and disengaged AutoNav, as they could no longer function this far out of the parameters required for reentry. Hull temperature gages were redlined.

Emergency flight procedures came to mind: aviate, navigate, communicate. Aviate and navigate were useless in this falling hunk of iron. So communicate. Mayday, Mayday, he called out on the interspace comm, but the transmission couldn’t get through the ionized air around this fireball. He had to reduce the drag, or the ship would burn up and break apart. He shut off the S-TURN program and nosed her over, now heading nearly straight down. The ship emitted metal-rending sounds as outer layers were ripped off. With reverse thrusters on full power, the ship slowed enough to extinguish the orange fire, dropped lower, and then she broke through a cloud barrier to reveal an arid desert landscape lit by the rising sun. Nice morning to die, he muttered. He didn’t need a rearview mirror to know the ship was laying down a trail of smoke in its wake.

On rocky hillsides and down dry washes below stood the sheds and derricks of Interworld’s mining camps. Lines of railcars snaked between mine heads and carried loads of trutonium ore to Hadley City Spaceport where it would be shipped to fusion reactors on Earth and throughout the Interworld member planets.

The spaceport was coming up fast. He swiveled the main engines to landing configuration and applied full power. This trick brought the nose