Although Jalonzo's first language was Spandard, he spoke excellent Standard as well. When he could not explain something adequately in that language, Elviiz translated for Hap, and did the same for Elviiz when Hap enthusiastically interrupted saying, "It's cool that you don't need cards, Jalonzo, but wouldn't it be fun to make up your own with some really amazing artwork? I can just see San-grojo on a card, all oozy and red, and Kuklukan as a wind dragon with an Aztec-looking face, and Santanina would be beautiful, kind of like a fairy."
"In addition to which, Jalonzo," Elviiz said, "cards or some form of tangible artwork present a marketing opportunity not to be overlooked. Perhaps instead of dice you could employ some more distinctive device?"
"Si", si," Jalonzo said. "Such as throwing bones-maybe shaped like vertebrae or small skulls-ahh, I have it, dice but with holograms of skulls inside them that glow in different colors, the colors representing the magical properties . . ."
"Ahem," Khorii said, clearing her throat and trying not to roll her eyes. "The laboratory is cleared now, Jalonzo."
"Oh, gracias, Khorii," he said, suddenly all of the enthusiasm turned to awkwardness as he looked down at the slender, silver-maned girl. "Uh, how are Aari and Acorna doing? Are their horns back to normal yet?"
She shook her head. "I do not think so."
"What do you mean? Haven't you seen them?"
"No. They wouldn't let me near them. They think they gave the plague to Captain Becker and RK, and they're afraid a variety that can attach to them might be fatal to Linyaari even when their horns are fully functional."
"Extremely unlikely," Jalonzo said in an authoritative tone surprising for one so young, "But I can see why they'd want to be careful. I mean, it makes sense, given, the shape that they were in, that they passed it on to their human-I mean, to susceptible beings of other species, since one was a gatito. But I don't see why that would change the plague."
"But Linyaari have always been able to destroy any illness or heal any injury with our horns," Khorii reminded him. "If those organisms I kept seeing were able to attach themselves to my parents and mutate into something that is immune to our healing abilities, then everyone is really in trouble."
"True, but there are still a few things that we don't know about this plague-like how it infects its victims," Elviiz said. "I have a theory about that that I have been collecting data on ever since this epidemic began. Jalonzo, besides people, what other kinds of animals died here on Paloduro?"
"We lost a lot of cats and dogs and horses and many other kinds of animals here, too. Not all of them, but quite a few. But we noticed something interesting. Lots of people died, and their pets didn't. A lot more feral cats and dogs died than pets, I guess because the pets got good diets and regular visits to the vet and … and a lot of them were neutered," he finished.
"As we were coming down, I saw fields with steers in them, but no cows," Elviiz said.
Jalonzo's brow furrowed as he pondered this information. "Aari, Acorna, naturally," he said, grinning at Khorii, who didn't quite understand his expression. "Is RK? Neutered, I mean?"
"No," she said. "Neither is Khiindi. He got sick, but I healed him."
"But all of the mousers we were carrying to Rushima were," Jaya interjected. She'd been silently watching the boys bat the conversational ball back and forth. Jaya hadn't always been a quiet person. Her mother used to scold her for chattering so much and singing to herself all the time. Losing her parents had made her feel empty of talk or feelings or even sensible thoughts for a while. But listening to the boys was giving her a lot of new ideas, even if she hadn't been able to get a word in edgewise. "Maybe that's why they didn't get the plague."
"Oh, what do you know about it?" Jalonzo said without thinking. Anger flared in Jaya's eyes. The older boy thought fast, needing to backtrack. He didn't want to make her angry. He only wanted to impress her with how smart he was. This new girl was so pretty, and he knew he wasn't especially handsome or athletic or anything.
Khorii was reading everyone's faces and feelings and thoughts effortlessly now as she had not been able to do on the Mana. Maybe her friends were less guarded out in the open, and without Marl to use everything they said against them. "I'm sure Jalonzo didn't mean what he said," she interjected, with a meaningful look at him.
"Uh, no, I'm sorry, Jaya," Jalonzo said, recognizing the opportunity she had handed him. Then his eyes widened, and he nodded and apologized again, this time sincerely. "Really sorry because you're actually right."
"Yes, of course-"Jaya said, then realized he meant more than that she knew which cats were sick and which ones weren't. "You think the neutering had something to do with it? But how could it? None of the people who survived were neutered that I know of, at least."
"No," he said. "Not that. And of course the usual stuff like how healthy they were to begin with made a difference-some of the kids in our group who died had other stuff wrong with them, too. It was part of the reason they got into the game. I'm not sure exactly what the trouble was, but I remember that one of them had a heart problem from birth and there was something wrong with the girl, too. Before the plague, I mean. But when you consider it, we were all exposed because everybody ate the nachos the dead delivery guy brought. And we are all, you know, kids."
"Hormones!" Hap said, snapping his fingers as he got the point. "All of the adults say kids going through puberty are a mess of hormones. Either too active or not active enough-that's probably why I got it, but Sesseli didn't. Jaya's younger than we are, but she's a girl and they-uh-girls are different."
"None of us had been eating well," Jaya said. "There was food, but everyone was too sick to fix it, and the air supply had really become polluted. I'd have had to be made out of plas-sorry, Elviiz, no offense."
"None taken," he said.
Khorii said, "But Elviiz, if it was hormones, why did your father get sick, too? Droids don't … do they?"
"Father had been experimenting," he said. "Making me instilled in him the joys of fatherhood, and he … wished to experience it again. But you know my father, Khorii. He always thinks the organic way is better than the electronic or mechanically engineered, even though I am living proof. . ."
"That's another thing!" Jalonzo said, so excited by his own idea he forgot to ask where Maak intended to find the hormone-enhanced female android necessary to complete his experiment. "It's engineered. The plague I mean. That's how come it selects certain people-or animals-based on hormones."
"You mean someone started it on purpose?" Jaya asked. "Why?"
Before the boys could speak, Sesseli spoke up. "That's easy-peasy" she said. "So that there would only be little kids and grandmas and grandpas, but no moms and dads to take care of them."
"Or teachers to teach them," Khorii continued. "Or police to protect warehouses and valuables . . ."
"Or Federation officials to investigate the plague itself or anything else," Hap finished. "Which is why we're the ones to figure all this out. Everybody who got close enough to study it got zapped. We've already seen how the incubation period varies so some people were infected for a long time before they got sick and died and had a chance to infect other people in the meantime. Or maybe it was their general health again that decided when the disease struck, I don't know."
"It worked really well, too," Jaya said. "Except for people who weren't in the area like Captain Bates or people lucky enough to have Khorii there to save them when they got infected, like you, Hap."