But that did not stop the tide of death. The lines of mourners grew sparser and the heaps of the flower-covered dead grew larger until they blanketed the beach near the sand house. The ocean floor was bare of its flowers for as far as the eye could see.
Nakulakai told everyone in Nanahomea's home pod that travel was forbidden, as they would take the death with them to the distant pods. Meanwhile the sickness traveled from them like the ripples on water and for many days they heard reports in the far talk of families sickening and of new bodies on other parts of the crater reef. Nanahomea's old sister Hiilei lived beyond the crater reef with her pod, and Nanahomea sent her a message in the far talk the ocean carried for leagues and leagues, asking after the health of her people and the health of the people near them. At first the news was not so bad, as if the sickness had not reached them or been stopped by the reef, but then the word came, far talked from one pod to the next, that Hiilei's eldest son was sick, and his mate.
Nanahomea was glad that the young ones were not there to see their parents die. How would she get word to her granddaughter, Likilekakua, of the last moments of Keaunini and Haina-kolo? That was when she had the most terrible thought of all, worse than anything that had happened upon LoiLoiKua.
If the Federation officer had brought death to them, might other Federation officers have spread the same death to other peoples in other places? The Federation men were as many as drops in the ocean and had people everywhere. If others among them had the same sickness as Ray Alcalde, they could take it to Maganos Moonbase, where Likilekakua and the other children lived.
Chapter 17
Jaya's grief surprised Khorii a little. People on Vhilliinyar didn't grieve in quite that way, seeing death as a simple transition. It tore at Khorii's heart how hard it was for Jaya to accept her parents' transitions to their next lives. Also, she felt a sneaking suspicion that if something happened to her own parents, even though she knew the acceptable attitude of a Linyaari toward death, she might feel much the same as Jaya did.
And although Jaya seemed to want to grieve by herself, and clearly needed time to adjust to the alterations in her world, to the disappearance of the familiar and the invasion of strangers, it didn't take Khorii's newly developing psychic skills to know that the girl should not be left completely alone.
Standing aside, Khorii returned her attention to the bodies on the deck.
"What are you doing, youngling?" Elviiz asked. "They are, as you have observed, in a moribund state, beyond your help."
"I know," she said, softly, wishing she could adjust his volume control. "But I need to study them for a moment and try to form an image of what the plague looks like, as opposed to other illnesses, so I may identify it if we encounter it again and take preventive measures. Also, we must purify the bodies so that when they are set to rest they won't spread the disease through the flowers if they're buried, through the smoke if they are cremated, or to some curious passerby if they are spaced." She pulled the sheet aside from the unknown man on the deck. His eyes were sunken deep in their sockets, the flesh of his cheeks had collapsed inwardly, and his skin was as waxy as the artificial fruit Auntie Karina decorated her private dining quarters with because the real thing rotted or was eaten too quickly.
The smell of the man's illness, and probably his death, was strong upon him as she touched her horn to his face. She was glad now that they had not known about the plague when they'd found the Blanca. She had been able to imagine the lives that had inhabited the bodies floating around her without having to look at them, and because of the lack of gravity and low levels of oxygen aboard the Blanca, the smell had not been as bad as it was here.
No wonder Captain Becker and the cats had been ill. There had been toxic gas there, as they said, but before the gas, the plague had claimed at least some of those people. Luckily her parents and she had been with the Condors crew and cats when they were stricken. Otherwise . . .
There were stories among the books and vids on the Condor that treated the dead as frightening or malevolent. She could not understand this. The body she touched with her horn was solid to her touch, much more substantial than a hologram of a person, for instance, and yet, also much emptier somehow. There was simply nothing there any longer. No one at home.
Khorii arose feeling a bit dizzy, the spots that swirled and vanished adding to her sense of vertigo. It was almost as if she had been leaning over an unfathomably deep hole and was in danger of falling in herself if she lingered too long on the edge.
She told Elviiz, "Let's notify Maganos Moonbase of our location and that we're decontaminating the ship and-er-personnel so the Mana can dock. I wonder if Mr. Al y Cassidro had considered that the ship could crash into one of the school's bubbles, which would also be bad for everyone's health."
"It would kill everyone," Elviiz corrected her.
"Yes," she said. "Definitely unhealthy."
Elviiz did as she said. Shoshisha had taken over com off duty and did not look very happy about it.
"What are you doing on the com screen, Elviiz?" she demanded, ignoring the information he had automatically imparted when he hailed the Moonbase.
"Communicating with Maganos Moonbase, obviously," he said.
"So-you guys are up there on that supply ship, right?"
Khorii interrupted. It was rude, but Shoshisha was being curious and not helpful. "Shoshisha, Khorii here."
"Oh, really? I thought it was some other student with a horn in the middle of her head."
"Is there another one?" Elviiz asked. "I do not believe there is."
"No, Elviiz. There is not. Shoshisha is being facetious. Shoshisha, we need to speak to the teacher in charge on this shift."
"I'll bet you do. That would be Calla. Just a nan."
It was a bit longer than a nanosecond before Calla Kaczmarek appeared in the com screen, but she was out of breath and red in the face, so she had been hurrying.
"Khorii, Elviiz, where are you? Have you seen Hap or Sesseli? We've been looking all over for you kids."
"That's why I'm calling, Calla. We are aboard the Mana with Jaya."
"All of you?"
"Yes, we took the shuttle. Elviiz and I were going to come alone, but Sesseli and Hap insisted on accompanying us."
"Oh, no! That's terrible. Khorii, you know you can't return now, don't you? Not until the quarantine is over."
"I don't see why not. Elviiz and I are capable of decontaminating the ship so the Moonbase can use the supplies it brought, and Jaya is fine now, except that she grieves for her parents. Mr. Taj died before we arrived. But no one is sick now, and no one will get sick as long as we are here to prevent it."
"Your self-confidence is admirable, dear, but it isn't enough of a guarantee to risk the entire student body if you're wrong."
"Found them!" Shoshisha's voice piped up behind Calla, and in the viewscreen Khorii saw Asha Bates and Phador Al y Cassidro. Someone else was back there, too; she sensed him but didn't see him.
"I am not wrong," Khorii said. "You know my mother can heal and purify-so does the Federation, which is why my parents went to that other planet. My father has the same skills. So do I. It is not a matter of age with us. I can do what I say I can, Calla. I would not boast in such serious circumstances."
Jaya suddenly came to life. "It's true, ma'am! I was sick, too, and she did something to me and I'm not anymore. If your stupid boss had sent her to begin with, my dad might still be alive, too."
"I'm very sorry for your loss, dear, but casting blame does no good. You simply cannot land here. I know you, Khorii, are certain that your special methods can make the ship safe, but what if you are wrong? This is not just any disease. If other students became ill . . ."