"Not Nothing" - Earth 2 - M (for now, maybe F later)

[SleepingPhlox]

I am not really sure if anyone here might happen to know about this short-lived sci-fi series from forever ago that I only just heard of myself only recently, but I have fallen in love with it recently and could not sleep last night for having this in my head and I had to start writing it out.  So I have tried to make it as friendly as possible, with nothing unexplained that you'd have to watch it to understand and hopefully it can read as a regular fic that isn't too tied to understanding a fandom.  With the added bonus that if I completely screw up the characterisation maybe I can get away with it!   The basic premise is that there are a group of people who were travelling to a new planet to settle and colonise, but their ship crashes on the planet which makes things difficult and crew who had planned to return after the trip are trapped there, and they all travel together to the place where they plan to set up their new settlement.

There is only M for now, I definitely want some contagion but I'm not exactly good at keeping up with my stories so who knows!

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Part 1

When it came to life travelling across the unfamiliar terrain of an alien planet that had not entirely made up its mind if it cared to be colonised or not, the best kind of days were the ones where nothing happened.  Yes, the monotony of doing nothing but trekking across the ever changing landscape during the day, setting up camp at night, and then getting up to do it all over again in the morning did sometimes give rise to grumpiness among the group.  In the absence of any problems to direct their frustrations toward, they had found targets in each other.  Nothing too serious, of course - accusations of someone not doing their fair share of the work, or driving too close to someone else's vehicle, or humming when others desired silence, or being silent when others desired conversation, or breathing too loud, or eating too loud, or someone getting an unfair share of food, or wasting water or…well, there was no shortage of things to snipe at each other about.  The last few days had been a blur of uneventfulness and Nothing.  And as they travelled along in convoy, some driving the all-terrain vehicles they used to move from place to place, others choosing to walk along behind them. But, it was better than peril, danger, or near-death experiences.  Devon Adair could deal with Nothing.  Nothing was good.

The only problem was that, when it came to life travelling across the unfamiliar terrain of an alien planet that had not entirely made up its mind if it cared to be colonised or not, it wasn't just peril, danger, or near-death experiences they had to worry about.  Even the tiniest, most seemingly insignificant thing could disrupt the steady flow of Nothing.

Even a sniffle.

But not just a sniffle, as in one.  There had been one just now, and one a few seconds ago, and one a few seconds before that, and so on in the same pattern all the way back to when they'd started off this morning. They were quick, quiet, and curt little noises, very obviously designed not to be noticed, perhaps even drowned out by the noise of the wheels grinding on dry, packed soil.  But Devon noticed.  And every now and again the sniffles were interrupted by an altogether harder to ignore noise.

"HuhhhRRRtchhghh!"

It was loud and roaring, though strained, as if he was trying desperately to hold it back, or at least keep it quiet, both of which failed miserably.  Devon, one of the walkers of the group, changed her pace so that she was walking beside one of the smaller vehicles, with a single occupant, who wasted no time in fixing her with a look of warning that he was about as inclined to discuss this right now as he was the last time she attempted to bring it up, which had involved the words "Mind your own business" and him nearly rear-ending the vehicle in front of him as he attempted to out-pace her in a huff.  Though he had begun to come around as the group of wildly diverse personalities spent time together and banded together under the realisation that their best chance of survival came from working together, John Danziger wasn't always the easiest person to get along with.

"I wasn't going to say anything," she said airily.  "I was just getting a little bored with nobody to talk to for so long, and I wanted to get your input on when we should stop to set up camp.  That's all."

Danziger grunted, but his face softened.  This, of course, did not surprise Devon in the least, because there was one thing she knew how to do, it was deal with people.  It was an important part of her job after all.  She knew the best ways to get the best results out of each and every member of the group - even if it had been a rocky road figuring some of them out.  And she knew that the best way to pacify Danziger was to give him something to do, something to solve and be useful at. 

"Good," he said, relenting ever so slightly.  "See up ahead where the trees start?  That would be my pick, right at the edge there.  I'm not a fan of stopping out in the open like this."  He sniffed again.

"I agree," Devon replied, which had the effect of softening him further.  "Got room for one more in there?  My feet are getting a little tired."

Danziger's scowl returned.  It was very well known that he preferred to travel on his own.  In silence.  Having to entertain someone and make small talk wasn't really his thing.  And at this moment in time he had even less patience than usual.  But, though he rolled his eyes, he said "Suit yourself.  But I'm not stopping, so if you can get in while the thing's moving, be my gues-"

And she had already grabbed on to a support pole on the side of the vehicle and swung herself up so that she was perched on the ledge next to him.

"Scoot over so I can get in," she said.

"No.  I'm driving this thing.  You want in, you find a way to sit on the other-...hey!  What do you think you're doing?  I can't see! Come on!"

"You said you wanted me to sit on the other side, I'm sitting on the other side," she said haughtily, taking her time stepping over him so that her legs obscured his vision for slightly longer than was strictly necessary.  She plopped herself down onto the seat with an immense sense of self satisfaction.  And it didn't escape her attention that he tried to sneak another sniffle in when he thought she wouldn't notice.

"Huhhh...huhhhGGNNHtchhhghhk!"

That was a little harder to ignore, and he could instantly feel her eyes on him.  The moment her lips parted he interjected with "Don't wanna hear it" before she could get a word out.

"Well, unfortunately, you’re going to hear it.  Whether you like it or not, this is my expedition, and that means I have to think about the well being of everyone in this group."  When Danziger opened his mouth to protest, she cut him off.  "Everyone's health is important, but especially yours.  You're the only one who can repair...well, nearly everything.  We need you."

"Yeah, well..." he grumbled, not really able to make eye contact with her, so he stared intently at the road ahead, though little changed from moment to moment.  He sniffled again as his discomfort at her sudden interest in his well being was evident through every little nuance of his body language.  He racked his brains for the quickest way to get himself out of this conversation, without having to fling himself from the vehicle in desperation which was probably inadvisable, though it did make for an amusing mental image.  He'd call that Plan B.  "Everything is covered in dust and there's all sorts of new plants and stuff that none of us are used to.  Whatever it is will pass."

"Yes but there are also very likely all sorts of new micro-organisms that none of us are used to.  Considering that you're sweating in the middle of winter when you're not even exerting yourself-"

"Look," Danziger snapped, what was left of his patience now all but gone.  "I've had my fair share of bugs in my time...*sniff*... That's what life is like for people like me.  Not the sterile and sanitised life people like you were used to.  I don't worry about stuff like that, and you better get used to it because now that you're stuck here away from the comforts of home, you're probably going to start...see...ing...huhhhRRGGHchhuuu!...a lot more of it."

And there it was.  His distrust of her, his resentment, his reluctance to accept her - they were from two different classes.  Two different worlds - hers of privilege and comfort, his of hardship and uncertainty.  She knew he blamed her for the sins of her social class and in the beginning she would have protested this as unfair, but as time went on, well, all she knew was that things would be different for the settlers on this planet.  All people would be equal, and work together. 

Danziger sniffled again, louder and harder and deeper this time.  There was gathering wetness on the end of his nose, and there wasn't very much he could do about it.  All supplies were scarce, and limited.  Some cloth or something to wipe his nose with just didn't exist.  There was simply nothing to spare.  Reluctantly, for lack of a better option, he drew his sleeve under his nose to deal with the problem at hand.

Devon's first inclination was to snap back at him, but she took a moment to compose her thoughts, and said in a tone that was much more calm than she felt:  "Yes, 'bugs', as you call them, that we know about and understand might be no big deal, but everything here is new.  We don't know what's harmless or dangerous and we just need to be extra careful, you know?  We'll keep going until we stop at the edge of the trees, then once the medical tent is set up, I want you to get checked out."

Danziger grunted, but he didn't outright say no, so she counted that as a victory.  And he could damn well tell she was counting it as a victory too, from the look on her face.  He sighed, rolled his eyes to the heavens and sniffled again.

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Hopefully to be continued...

 

 

[Gallatea]

I really hope you do get to the contagion because this is delicious! I love how you describe this oncoming cold, esp all those sniffles!! Moar, please!

[SleepingPhlox]

13 hours ago, Gallatea said:

I really hope you do get to the contagion because this is delicious! I love how you describe this oncoming cold, esp all those sniffles!! Moar, please!

Thank you and I'm very grateful for your reading because I was worried the obscurity of this fandom would put people off.  Turns out this idea won't leave me alone for now and there are definitely other characters I want to target for some contagion!

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Part 2

Devon shifted uncomfortably as Danziger bent forward with yet another agonisingly strained sneeze, his teeth gritted against the force, his jaw set, and all of those efforts futile.  If there was one thing she had learned about him from sharing this part of the journey with him in his vehicle, it was that if his body was set on ridding itself of an irritant, there was no force that could stand against it.  Not even his own stubbornness, monumental though that was.

"If you have a problem with it, you could always walk," Danziger grumbled, having noticed her slight apparent discomfort and was just a little miffed at it certain that she was, no doubt, finding him disgusting or unpleasant in some way.  But not being privy to her thoughts he couldn't possibly know what was going through her head - that in these close quarters she could feel the muscles in his arms harden and tighten every time his body convulsed with the effort of sneezing, as every sinew in his body tensed with the strain, his knuckles whitening as they tightened against the steering wheel.  She knew he was strong, she'd seen him carrying heavy equipment as if it were nothing, and his steely strength had been forged by the heavy, relentless work of space station maintenance.  But she'd never felt his muscles for herself.  Whyever would she ever have cause to do that?  And she found it distracting, and perplexing that it should be his sneezing of all things that would put her in this position.

"I-I'm fine," she stammered, brushing a lock of hair from her face that the cold winter wind had blown there, turning her gaze to the other side and putting her hands between her legs for warmth maybe, or just for something to do with them.

"You sure about that?" Danziger teased, his already normally deep and gravelly voice having grown slightly more so, and congestion starting to dull some of his consonants.  "You seem kinda...fidgety and jumpy.  Maybe it's not my health we need to be worrying about."

"I just...I just have a lot on my mind, is all," she said, possibly unconvincingly, though it was in fact technically not a lie.  She would very gladly walk to avoid having to be so flustered, just as she gladly walked most days, but she wanted to be here to keep an eye on him.  The foolish man could not be trusted to take care of himself, so he was just going to need to be babysat to make sure he was okay.  And that was that.

He reared back slightly, and the only thing that went through her mind was oh no, not again.

"HuhhhNNGHHyehhtchhghh!"

It took him a second or two to recover from that one, woozily leaning forward to catch his breath before he leaned back with a sigh.  He let his head loll back, his eyes closed, the now abundant moisture around his nostrils glinting in the light from the harsh sun above.  But of course, he could only allow himself a brief moment of indulging his exhaustion and annoyance, and he had to turn his attention back to driving.  Devon found her attention firmly fixed on the passing scenery outside the vehicle.  As for Danziger, he ran his sleeve under his nose yet again, as he had long since resigned himself to doing as his only option.  Not that he'd ever been too proud for such a thing before.  Sometimes what a situation needed was the easiest, quickest solution.

He let out a small sigh afterwards, and sniffled.  Then he raised his hand and touched the back of his fingers to his forehead.  It wasn't the first time he'd done that, it was hard not to notice it.  Just like it was hard not to notice that his forehead was dampened with beads of sweat despite the freezing weather.  That wasn't new, he'd been sweating unusually all day, but it had grown more prominent and noticeable now.  She didn't like worrying, but she couldn't help it now.  He seemed unperturbed by his own symptoms, but what if his complacency came from a false sense of security?  What if it wasn't nothing and they ignored it until it was too late?  What if, what if, what if...

"HehhhNNYUGHtchhhu!"

Her train of thought dissolved and melted away.  Every time his firm upper arms brushed up against hers, that was all she could think about.  She looked at the scenery to distract herself.  Nothing but tundra as far as the eye could see.  She turned her gaze back toward him and that did the exact opposite of distracting her from her worries.  She got a glimpse of his face and couldn't help but notice how exhausted he looked, his eyes slightly glassy.  Little puffs of condensation appeared from his mouth with every short breath he took through lips that remained parted in an effort to breathe now that his nose had become far too stuffed up to be at all reliable.  And it did seem that it took every ounce of his concentration just to keep his eyes on the road.

He really was stubborn to the point of ridiculousness.

"We're making good time, at least," she said, trying to offer him a nugget of comfort that he might actually take.  When Danziger merely sniffled in response and didn't offer any outward sign that he'd paid attention, she offered a hopeful.  "We'll get to the trees within the hour, I think."

"hhhhGGYYYKtchhu!"

"You'll get a chance to rest, finally."

Well that got his attention.  He glared at her with heavy-lidded eyes and attempted a snort of disdain that didn't quite manage to make it past the wall of congestion in his nose.

"Will you knock it off with that nonsense?" he grumbled before he turned what little concentration he had left back to the road in front of him.

Yes, stubborn to the point of ridiculousness.  Devon would have left the vehicle then and there, abandoning him to stew in his own foolishness and misery.  But, she really did need to keep an eye on him.  And she could do that quietly, or she could keep pushing his buttons in an attempt to goad him into admitting...something.  Anything.  Absolutely anything would do, he didn't have anything to gain by being stubborn and she wasn't sure how he thought this would benefit him.

She settled on goading him. 

"Do you think you'll be able to hold up until then?" she asked with feigned innocence.

"Don't see any reason why I wouldn't."

"Oh, I don't know.  You seem a little tired.  And a little off."

He looked at her again, but this time with none of the annoyance that he'd been gracing her with every time she expressed concern for him today.

"We're all a little like that," he said, in a surprisingly reassuring tone of voice.  He had managed to guess, quite correctly, that the irritation in the group as a result of all the Nothing had been worrying her.  But the fact that she worried about him specifically naturally sailed over his head.  "Look, this sort of life isn't easy. It's uncertain and it's rough and we can't get away from each other so there's no privacy, so of course everyone is getting on everyone's nerves.  And not all of us signed up for this, remember.  There are going to be times like this but we're doing our best so don't let it get to you.  All...hehhhNYNGHHtchhu!...right?"

She nodded, and gave him a grateful smile.  He was far wiser than he liked to let people know.  She knew what made people tick when it came to leading them, but he seemed to know how to understand people on a deeper level.  She couldn't help but wonder what he thought of her, did he see anything besides the privileged upper class brat he'd labelled her as early on?

Lost in her own thoughts, she granted him the gift of silence as they rode on toward the camping site.  Silence that he only broke with his own sneezing and sniffling.

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To be continued...

 

[Shamaël]

11 minutes ago, SleepingPhlox said:

I was worried the obscurity of this fandom would put people off

I don't know the fandom but I absolutely LOVE your writing! I don't know why but sneezes + SF = a great mix!

15 minutes ago, SleepingPhlox said:

Her train of thought dissolved and melted away.

... Yes, mine too. 

Thanks for this fic, I'll read the next part(s) with great interest!

PS: If one day you feel up to writing some Star Trek TOS again, please please please do not hesitate! 

[SneezyHolmes]

How am I just now finding this?! While I don't know the fandom beyond what we talked about the other day, I adore your writing and have zero issue thrusting myself into this story full force! Can't wait for more!

[SleepingPhlox]

@Aliena H. I agree, science fiction and sneezes do just go SO well together.  I haven't written anything in such a long while I was starting to think I'd forgotten how but if I do come up with any ideas for Star Trek fics I will definitely write them.  I'll always be a Trekkie at heart, of course!

@SneezyHolmes Thank you for reading it even if you don't know the fandom and I know I can't seem to shut up about it but when you see what I mean about his character I think it will all make sense!

Yeah, so this isn't going to leave my brain alone.  This show has got a hold of me so freaking hard and all my brain is good for is thinking of stuff like this.  Which is great because I never have this kind of momentum with a story!

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3.

Devon's theory that Danziger needed to be babysat at all costs was further proven when they arrived at the site where they planned to set up camp.  She'd left him alone for not more than a few minutes, and he'd managed to disappear.  And she knew for certain that he hadn't made a beeline for Julia's medical tent like he should have either, because Devon had just been talking to her, and Danziger had not made the slightest hint of gracing them with his presence.

"Danziger!" she shouted as she made her way around the bustle of the group unloading the vehicles and setting up their tents.  She wove her way expertly around the hastily bustling bodies eager to finish the task of getting set up, as she turned her head this way and that, trying to take in as much of the area as possible lest she blink and miss him.  "Danziger!"  Where was that foolish man?  "John?"  She accosted a passing person to ask “Have you seen Danziger anywhere?” only to be met by a shake of the head.  Where could he be?  How could he have managed to disappear so thoroughly in such a short space of time?

She heard him before she spotted him, a hefty "HhhrrghSHHHU!" carrying past the noise and din of the surroundings, and she immediately zeroed in on the source of the noise, locking her gaze on him and striding straight for him, with little regard for who or what might be crossing her path.  He seemed entirely unconcerned with her approach, casually continuing his own trajectory, a wrench gripped loosely in one of his hands.

"Danziger!" she scolded as soon as she caught up with him.  "I've been looking all over for you!  Julia's tent isn't fully set up yet but she wants to see you right away.  I think she's a little too excited that she's about to make a new scientific discovery, but I don't care what the reason is, as long as you get seen to quickly.  Hey!  Are you even listening to me?"

"Sorry, Adair.  Do cad do.  I'b afraid by presence has beed requested.  Gotta do some work on one of the vehicles."  He turned around and held up his hands to illustrate that the situation was well and truly out of them, and offered her a blase shrug before turning away again, all without breaking his stride.  Without even having to see her face, he could tell that she was absolutely fuming behind him, though, and he pressed his lips together to hide his smirk of amusement.  She was funny when she was mad.  Kinda cute, too, if he was honest.  Not that he'd ever let her know that.  And okay, he knew that he was being a little immature and that his days of teasing girls should be long behind him.  But it was fun.  And a little harmless fun never hurt anybody.

"There's nothing that can't be done a little later," Devon protested.  

"Oh, no, this is very important," he replied with overly dramatic feigned solemnity, marred by a sniff and a pass of his sleeve under his nose afterward.  "Morgan is driving this one and he has a problem with the...the, uh...the...it was doing a thing..."

"It makes a funny grinding noise when it's turning left," came a voice behind them.  Devon turned to face the direction the voice had come from.  Of course, there was Morgan Martin, looking stressed out as usual, having found something to complain about as usual.  And his wife Bess, who wore an expression of extreme not-being-worried-about-this, coupled with a hint of apology.  Bess, who was as always wide eyed, pretty, and kind, though she would have to be kind to be able to not only put up with a simpering fool like Morgan, but actually love him, Danziger thought.

"Makes a funny grinding noise when it's turning left," Danziger repeated, then knelt down to thrust his head under the vehicle to inspect the turning mechanism.  "Like you said," he called out behind him.  "I'm the only one who can fix pretty much everything."

"Look, it's no big deal," Bess said, biting her lip.  "If there's something you need John to do, we can wait..."

"Wait?  What do you mean, wait?" Morgan interjected.  "Look, that thing is potentially a death trap, and I'm not even supposed to be stuck here on this planet, much less die here."

Devon closed her eyes and took a deep breath, attempting to bolster her reserves of patience.  Dealing with Danziger when he had a mind to be difficult was bad enough, but there was more going on here than she had patience for.  Though she was adept at not showing it, the small little irritations of recent days had been getting to her too, and her frustrations were chipping away at the cracks of her self-control, desperate to find an outlet.

"It's not a deathtrap, Morgan," Devon barked.  "John, come out of there.  Go see Julia, and then if she gives you the all clear you can do all the repairs you want all night long and I won't stop you."

"Just give me a few minutes," he grunted.  "I'm just gonna...huhhhRRTCHggheh!"  There was a sudden dull yet slightly metallic thud and the next noise that Danziger made was a howl of pain.

"Oh my god, is he all right?" Bess exclaimed, as Devon stepped forward and put her hands on Danziger's back as he came crawling out from under the vehicle, wincing in pain and holding the back of his head.

"No, I'm not all right," Danziger growled through pain-gritted teeth, heavy panting interspersed with grunts of distress.  "I hit my head...oh...oh god that hurts...owww..."

"John, move your hand,"  Devon ordered.  "Move your hand and let me see. John!  Let me see!  Oh...oh no...oh, you're bleeding.  All right, come on.  Get up off the ground, you're done here."  She held out her hand to help him up, which much to her relief he took.  Although, also to her relief, he did not pull with the full force of his weight and strength, or they both would have ended up in the dirt. 

"See what happens when you don't listen?" she scolded.  "Now you really do need medical attention.  Sorry Morgan, but your repairs are going to have to wait.  Danziger's probably sick and definitely injured."

"Wait..Danziger's sick?" Morgan said, taking a step back.  "Like, what kind of sick?  The queasy because the road was really bumpy kind or...or..." His voice rose in pitch until it was a comical squeak.  "The contagious kind?"

Danziger glowered at him, with his hand still pressed up against the back of his head, sniffling against the wetness trickling down his nose, trying to contemplate whether or not to aim a sneeze in Morgans direction, preferably right in his face.  He was getting a little tired of people being overly precious about illnesses, and especially being overly precious about him being ill.  It was nothing and he'd had it up to here with people making a big deal out of it.

"You know," Morgan continued, fidgeting with his fingers nervously, his gaze flicking quickly between all the faces now staring straight at him. "Because, he shared his water with me just now and-"

"What?  No I absolutely did not!  You little-"

"And he's been walking around sneezing all over everything." Morgan continued with all the air of a child who was only too happy to report he'd caught one of his peers doing something he would surely get in trouble for.

"Wait," Bess interjected.  "You stole his water, Morgan?  And now if you get sick what am I going to do?  I can't believe you sometimes!"

"Just a little sip," Morgan protested.  "He wouldn't have even noticed it was gone!"

"Everyone just calm down for a second," Devon interrupted, with an air of authority that instantly quieted the bickering.  "First things first.  John, you really do need to learn to cover your mouth when you sneeze.  Especially if you're coming down with something.  And you are coming with me to get medical attention.  Now.  No ifs, ands, or buts.  Morgan, you should know better than to take other people's things by now and it will serve you right if you catch anything.  Bess, if he gets sick we'll move you in with someone else.  Now, you," she grabbed Danziger's arm.  "Julia's tent.  Now.  March."

She grabbed him by the elbow and began to lead him away.  He protested loudly and petulantly that he did not need her to drag him like that and he was an adult fully capable of making his own way.  But she refused to relent, since he had already proven he could not be trusted to look after himself.  Besides, for all his bluster and fuss, he could have easily pulled away, yet he didn't.  As they left they could hear behind them Morgan whimpering that he had very much felt the effects of the bumpy road, and Bess cooing over him sympathetically.  Danziger snorted before tuning out Morgan's irritating voice.  He really didn't like that guy.

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To be continued...

 

[SleepingPhlox]

Aaaand even more!  Can't stop thinking about tormenting these characters.  And I have identified a couple potential targets for some contagion, so it doesn't look like I'm going to stop thinking about them any time soon!

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Part 4

Julia Heller was the expedition’s doctor.  She was young, but capable beyond any of her peers that had the advantage of twice the experience she had.  She could thank her parents and their judicious tweaking of her DNA in the womb for her above average intelligence.  Fortunately for her, though she had been pushed into a career in medicine before she was even an embryo, she enjoyed every moment of being a doctor.

Even when dealing with some of her more…difficult patients.

“It’s about time,” she scolded Danziger as he appeared, Devon still clutching his elbow as if she feared he might make a break for it if she released him.  “Come sit down over here.  How many times have I made it perfectly clear that any aberration in anyone’s health, no matter how insignificant it might appear, needs to be reported immediately?”  She continued to scold him as he took over custody of his elbow from Devon, and guided him to sit on a cot at the back of the tent.  “This planet constantly throws the unexpected at us, the way things work here is like nothing anyone has ever seen before and you refuse to grasp the seriousness of that time and time again.”

She turned around to don her medical glove, a specialised piece of equipment that fit over her hand and forearm that could perform any diagnostic function a doctor could possibly want, and turned back to Danziger.  And only then realised there was something unusual about him.

“Why are you holding your head?” she asked, her voice suddenly slightly soft, and very perplexed.

“It’s bleeding,” he grunted.  “Cut it open when I whacked it off a piece of metal when I was trying to fix a-…a…hahhhGHHHKTchhu!”

Julia nimbly leapt back to avoid the spray that suddenly erupted from his mouth and nose, with a sigh and a tsk of disapproval.  She called out to Devon over her shoulder.

“Could you grab me one of the disinfectant gel pads from the case by the door?”  She turned back and shook her head sympathetically at Danziger.  “You really are a mess today, aren’t you.”

“Yeah, yeah.  Could you just patch me up so I can get on with what I need to do?”

“Have you ever heard the saying ‘patience is a virtue’?” she teased, then nodded a thanks to Devon for handing her the gel pad, which she quickly unwrapped and handed to Danziger.  “Here.  Hold this over the wound.  And just hold still while I get you checked out.”

She ran the glove over various parts of his body, getting a temperature reading from different points, checking his pulse in his neck and wrist, assessing the various systems of his body and, though she had been trained to keep an impeccable poker face so as not to alarm the patient, could not keep herself from tutting in sympathy from time to time.

“So what’s the progdosis, Doc?  Ab I godda bake it?” Danziger said dryly, sarcasm saturating his voice in equal proportions with the congestion.

“Well the good news is that you probably won’t see any lasting damage,” she mused.  “Unless this thing has anything up its sleeve that we haven’t seen yet.  And since I don’t want to rule anything out when we’re dealing with the unknown, I’d like you to to grab a bed and stick around while we do some tests.  And you’re probably going to start feeling worse before you get better.  This seems to be caused by something that is more or less like a virus but since it’s just that bit different from anything your body is used to, your immune system is figuring out what it needs to do.  You’re already starting to feel worse, aren’t you?”

Danziger ran his free hand over his sweaty and pallid face, grumbling something unintelligible, which he seemed to realise bore no resemblance to actual words once it left his mouth, he blinked as if to compose himself and cleared his throat.

“Yeah…I mean a li-” A light cough interrupted him.  “A little.  I guess.”  He sniffled and coughed again.  He wondered if he promised to be ever so good, would they let him slink off and find a quiet place to endure his worsening illness by himself.  Feeling off was bad enough, but having an audience for it was even worse.

“More than just a little, I’d say,” Julia countered.  “Your temperature has gone up by one whole degree since you came in here.”  She put her hand on his head to turn it to have a look at his wound, prying the hand holding the gel pad away from it so she could actually see it.  He was reluctant to let go, reacting by pressing it to his head even harder, before he finally got him to let her look.  The bleeding had stopped, and it looked as if it would heal nicely.  Yet he reached up tenderly and touched the skin around it, wincing, seemingly much more concerned about this minor injury than everything else that was happening in the rest of his entire body.

“Stop fussing with that, now,” she scolded him.  “It’s going to heal quickly, unless you keep poking at it.  Now, I want you to lie down.  I want to look at a few more things, and make sure you rest.  I’ll get Devon to-” She turned around to look over her shoulder to find that nobody else was in the tent with them.  “Oh, where did she go?  I didn’t even hear her leave.”

“Probably doesn’t want to be around all the germs.  She’s been freaking out about that all day.  Or maybe it just felt like all day,” Danziger grumbled, swinging his legs up onto the cot and leaning back.  He still wasn’t on board with this whole resting nonsense, but he did have to admit to feeling a little lousy and tired, and taking a load off while Julia did whatever tests she had in mind, well, he could live with that at least.  He rubbed at his nose with the back of his hand and sniffled.  “Whatever you gotta do, can you…hehhh…hehhRRGHKtchhu!…bake id quick?”  He coughed again, finding his throat increasingly tickly, and he was definitely not keen on that as a development.

Out of the corner of his eye, to his complete surprise, he saw Devon tentatively re-enter the tent.  She looked - well he wasn’t sure how to read the look in her eyes but it looked nervous to him.  Oh god, did she know something he didn’t?  She was clutching something in both of her hands, and he sat himself up slightly to get a better look at it.  Nope, still none the wiser.  Fortunately for his curiosity, she approached his bed so he could get a better look at it.

And he was still none the wiser.  Just looked like a bit of cloth.

“You’re actually lying down,” she said softly.  “It really must be bad.”

“Nah.  Just giving the doc here some time to run some more tests, then I’m outta here and back to work.”

“And you thought he might be on the verge of seeing sense,” Julia joked. “He might not be back on his feet as quickly as he thinks.  But the good news is that it doesn’t seem to be overly serious, he is probably just in for a very unpleasant time. It should be just like a cold, but with everything heightened.  I’d describe it like a super-cold if I had to describe it.  His body just needs time to fight it off.”

Danziger groaned.  As far as descriptions went, that one didn’t exactly fill him with confidence. Still, as far as all the possible things that could go wrong on this weird planet, he should be grateful it wasn’t something worse.  Devon, hearing his groaning, turned her attention to him and pressed the prize she’d clutched in her hands into one of his.  He looked at it curiously.  Now he knew what it was - approximately two thirds of a shirt - but he couldn’t for the life of him figure out the why in this particular situation.

“It’s scrap cloth,” she said, perhaps picking up on his confusion. “Never get rid of anything, isn’t that right?  Anything and everything might come in handy some time.” When he still looked slightly perplexed, she added: “It’s for your nose.”

Oh!  Now it made sense!  And now that it made sense this was perhaps the most wonderful thing he’d ever been gifted with in his entire life.  His nose had gotten even runnier since he’d lay down and he could only imagine it had big plans to get even worse in the near future.  He selected a small corner and wiped his dampened nostrils heartily with it.

“Thank you,” he said with sincere gratitude.  “I really needed-”

He was interrupted by the tent door being shoved open and a very alarmed Bess poking her head in.

“Guys?  There’s a crazy snowstorm coming.  Yale said it looks like it’s going to hit here in a couple of hours.  It’s already getting real windy, we need help getting everything set up and secured before it’s too late.”

Without a second thought, Danziger swung his legs off the cot, stood up, stumbled slightly, and then managed to straighten himself up.

“Wait, John, what are you doing?” Julia demanded.  “I just told you to rest.”

“I’m helping.  Obviously.  I can’t lie on my back when there’s work to be done.”  He sighed, relenting slightly.  “Look, I’ll…hehhhNNGHtchhk!…I’ll come straight back in here when I’m done, you have my word.  I won’t be able to do much recovering if the whole damn camp blows away.”

He didn’t wait for a response, rushing out of the tent as quickly as his wearied body would allow.

_________________________________

To be continued...

 

[Shamaël]

On 8/16/2019 at 10:08 PM, SleepingPhlox said:

I haven't written anything in such a long while I was starting to think I'd forgotten how but if I do come up with any ideas for Star Trek fics I will definitely write them.  I'll always be a Trekkie at heart, of course!

... And I'd be eternally in your debt!

I really love this story so far, the characters and their relations. By the way, are they all from the show or did you add original characters?

20 hours ago, SleepingPhlox said:

“Guys?  There’s a crazy snowstorm coming.  Yale said it looks like it’s going to hit here in a couple of hours.  It’s already getting real windy, we need help getting everything set up and secured before it’s too late.”

I can't wait to read what will happen then...

20 hours ago, SleepingPhlox said:

And I have identified a couple potential targets for some contagion

... and especially THAT specific aspect of your story.

[Gallatea]

Um yes to that contagion!! I'm excited for those targets myself  thank you for another lovely chapter!

[SleepingPhlox]

@Aliena H. Thank you!  They are all characters from the show though I am trying to introduce them as if they were original because I don't think anyone will be familiar with them.

@Gallatea Thank you and the contagion has begun.  Of course this is only the beginning!

And the story, though mostly focussing on Danziger since he's my favourite, is going to be M and F from here on out.

______________________________________________

PART 5

The moment Danziger stepped outside he was forced to bring a hand to his face to shield himself from the harsh wind that was already whipping around the camp.  The cold air wasted no time in stinging the skin on his face and hands and he couldn't help but think that perhaps he should be wearing his thick gloves that had become necessary in this harsh weather.  But any amount of time he spent doing anything else was time he wasn't spending helping and going back to get his gloves was just going to lose him precious time.  So he was just going to have to suck it up and deal.

He saw Alonzo Solace in the near distance struggling with the edge of a tent that seemed determined to catch the wind no matter what.  Alonzo, far older than his appearance suggested thanks to decades spent in cryogenic sleep, once a famed spaceship pilot, contracted to bring the group to the planet, collect his payment, and then be on his merry way, no doubt to charm his way across the galaxy a few more times.  Danziger had had him pegged as nothing more than a pretty boy whose talent for piloting, while admittedly impressive, lent him nothing in the way of any sort of important proper skills, like hard work.  He'd become a little more charitable in  his assessment in the meantime.  Just a little.

He tried to call out to Alonzo, to ask him if he needed some help - the joke being that he obviously did need help, he was fighting a tent and losing horribly.  But his voice caught in his throat and he ended up coughing.  With a deep, thick sniffle, and clearing his throat deeply, he decided that perhaps he'd just go over there and offer his services.  He grabbed a hold of the rope securing the tent, biting back a yelp of pain when it tried to slip out of his hands, resulting in a fairly wicked rope burn, and managed to wrestle the errant fabric into some sort of submission.

"Don't feel bad," he teased Alonzo.  "Some of us are blessed with strength.  Others aren't.  That's just life."

"Yeah, yeah," Alonzo countered.  "I'll just have to make do with my wit, my brains, and my charming good looks-whoa."  As he turned around, whatever teasing retort he'd had on the tip of his tongue vanished into thin air.  "Are you okay?  You look awful.  Maybe you should be paying a visit to the doctor instead of running around out here."

"I've already been.  I'm fihhh-...fihhh-...hehhhNYGHHtchhghehh!...fine."  He sniffled deeply and rubbed his reddening nose with his sleeve.  "And I'm not gonna sit on my backside and let everyone else do all the hard work when there's a storm coming."

"Okay, if you say so," Alonzo said, rolling his eyes.  Out of all the things he'd like to be doing right now, locking horns with an obstinate Danziger wasn't one of them.  So if he said he was fine, he was fine.  Even if he clearly wasn't.  He tossed Danziger a length of spare rope.

"What we just did here, we need to do to all the supports on this tent.  And then all the other supports on all the other tents.  Seems like it works good as a two person job.  So if I hold the supports in place, you secure them as tight as you can.  Sound good?"

"HahhhYSSHHghhkeh!...ugh..."

"I'll take that as a yes," Alonzo joked, clapping Danziger on the back, earning a grunt from the latter, who could have done without that.  His body was already beginning to ache all over and the last thing he needed was anything adding to that.  And to add insult to injury, his body seemed to decide that was all it took to set him off coughing again.  Which everyone in the nearby vicinity took as an invitation to stare at him.  Great.  Just great.

Okay.  What he needed to do was get everything done as quickly as possible and get the hell out of here and back to the med tent to rest.  Even if not so long ago he would have given anything to get the hell out of there but right now it was the lesser of two evils.  And really, getting a bit of rest wouldn’t be so bad.  His body felt utterly lousy.  And it would be nice to get a little bit of warmth back into his bones again.  He had to admit that he could have probably bundled up a bit better before coming outside to this freezing, biting, windy weather.

And yet, somehow, despite shivering uncontrollably, he also felt uncomfortably sweaty.  He reached up and wiped at his forehead with the back of his hand.  How did there have to be so damn many tents?  He aimed yet another sneeze off to the side, let out a long, drawn out sigh as he touched his forehead again, then straightened up his shoulders and got ready to get stuck back in.  The sooner he got it all done the sooner he could rest.  Either that or he’d just fall over and get his rest that way.  Either way worked for him, really.

“Quick!  Help!  Catch it before it blows away!”

Danziger looked up, perplexed, trying to figure out whose voice he’d just heard, where it came from, and what the hell they were shouting about and why.  By the time his brain had managed to process all that information, the loose panel currently riding the wind toward sweet freedom had narrowly missed blowing into him and sailed right past him.  The voice, which had belonged to the person chasing the panel to no avail added a frustrated “What did you just stand there for?”

Finally piecing together what was going on, Danziger broke into a sprint after the errant panel as it cartwheeled along the ground, occasionally becoming entirely airborne like an angry kite.  He didn’t sprint as fast as his tired, increasingly aching body would allow.  No, he pushed past the limitations his fever wanted to impose, forcing his arms and legs to move faster than they would on a healthy day, forcing his burning lungs to suck it up and deal with the fact that they were going to have to continue taking in huge gulps of air rather than succumbing to coughing like they wanted to.  There was no way he was about to be outdone by a damn stupid flimsy flying rectangle.

When he finally began to catch up with it, he gave one final lunge and managed to disupt its trajectory with his hands long enough to grab onto it.  It put up a valiant fight after he had captured it, every inch of it catching the wind and flapping desperately for the freedom it had briefly tasted.  He clung to it as if his life depended on it.  Like hell he was going to lose it again after all he had just gone through.  He panted to catch his breath after the burst of exertion, which his lungs took as an absolute green light to do whatever the hell they wanted.  In this case that was cough.  And cough.  And cough until he was certain he was never going to be able to catch his breath ever again.  All that he had been through in his life and this was how it was going to end.

“Hey, thanks,” he heard a voice say as the panel was snatched out of his hands.  Funny, for what should have been a genuine thank you, it sounded pretty sarcastic.  “That wouldn’t have been necessary if you weren’t spaced out back there, by the way.”

Danziger muttered something rude under his breath.  It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be heard, he just didn’t have the breath to say it any louder right now.  Really, the nerve of some people!  That was a fine way to treat someone who had used his last moments of life to try and help!

The coughing slowed down and he was able to catch his breath again.  It would seem, perhaps, that he had a few more moments of life left in him after all.  Well, then, he would use this new gift of an extended lifespan to trudge miserably back to the camp and finish helping set up.  He looked up at the sky to assess the approaching storm.  The edges were already upon them, making everything suddenly darker than usual.  The body of the storm was something unlike he’d ever seen before - dark, dense, ominously heavy clouds.  Though life on the space stations often left much to be desired, at least living there meant never having to deal with things like this.

“HahhhGHHHyeshhu!”

He sighed, shook his head, and looked around at the camp.  It looked as if everything was as secure as it could possibly get.  He could see the vehicles were being moved to circle around the side of the camp.  Looked as if they were going to be used as a shield against the heavy winds.  Good idea, if they were.  And it seemed the remaining tents had been secured without him.

“Hehh…hehhNNGHHyyetch!…ugh.”

He felt a hand on his arm and he turned to scowl at whoever dared to do such a thing, but softened when he saw it was Bess.  She was far too good-natured for him to have any problems with her.

“Danziger, there you are.  I’ve been looking all over for you,” she scolded gently.  “I’ve been sent to bring you back.  Julia didn’t entirely trust you would come back on your own.”

“I was going to come back,” he grumbled.  “As soon as everything was finished.”  He shrugged his arm in an attempt to shake her from it, but it was to no avail.  “Come on, I don’t need a chaperone.  I’m going back to the tent. See?”

“I know you are.  I’m making sure of it,” she teased, guiding him through the door of the medical tent.  “Here you go, everyone.  The elusive John Danziger has been found again.  Doctor, I will leave him in your capable hands…hihhhtchiii!”

Her eyes widened as she noticed all eyes now on her.  Her curls bounced as she shook her head furiously.  “No,” she protested.  “That wasn’t…I’m not…no.  No way.”

________________________________________________________

To be continued...

[Sierra]

Really enjoying this. You write so well!

It's an interesting extra angle to have someone(s) take ill on another planet, where all they've got is what they've got.