Read Online IGMS Issue 44 by IGMS - Free Book Online

A nurse told Jake to relax, that there was nothing they could do until morning, and that maybe Malia had had a dizzy spell.
    "Even if it's Bruma-related, you'll just have to wait," the nurse said sympathetically. "You might as well do that at home." Her words were simultaneously the truth, a wild understatement, and a curse.
    Jake returned to his manifest and prepared for a long night of senseless worrying. Every other moment he glanced at Malia, but she didn't mention tickling again.
    At ten in the evening, as Jake was contemplating a sleeping pill, a message from Dr. Venus ticked in on the wall com.
    Jake, I got your call that your departure has been moved forward for tomorrow. I'll drop by the launch bay to see you off and discuss that question you mentioned.
    Jake's first reaction was to think that Dr. Venus hadn't heard about Malia. Then he noted that the departure date was wrong. They weren't leaving until the day after tomorrow, and he almost messaged Doctor Venus back to tell him so. Almost. But before he could do anything, a revised departure schedule ticked in, asking them to report to the shuttle bay the next morning.
    It dawned on him that Dr. Venus might very well be sending them a message to get off the station.

    The launch bay dwarfed them all, a huge hall of dull metal and carbon stretching out into space from the meaty part of the Bruma station. It was the first time Jake had seen it since seeing the other colonists off, and he was still impressed by the great empty space allocated just for cargo handling. Four technicians were inspecting one freight shuttle's friction shield, and a threesome of loaders fussed over balance distribution in another. They'd add the Durow family's 74.9 kilogram allowance soon.
    Stu had had a laxative so he'd arrive with a mostly empty diaper. Malia was strutting about in her flight suit as if she owned the world. She would, when they got downside.
If
. She'd mentioned tickling twice in the last hour, and Jake was so afraid that the Bruma were back that his shuttle-suit's biometrics kept ordering him to take deep breaths.
    While they were going over the suit's security routines, Doctor Venus joined them. A young ethnic Chinese man wearing the same outfit as the dock workers shuffled after him with a hesitant, even unfriendly look that made Jake wonder if he'd packed too much. Other than that, the doctor had his full attention.
    "Malia says it tickles," Jake said.
    "In her head," Andrea said. She looked terrified, but she said what Jake had been thinking the whole time. "We need to discuss a brain scan."
    "I'm reasonably certain there's nothing wrong with Malia," Doctor Venus said.
    "How . . . You can't . . .," was all Jake could say.
    As always, Andrea managed a more coherent string of words. "I've picked up enough medical knowledge to know you'd never make a diagnosis without an examination. Why would you skip the scan?"
    "Because Major Blutnikov wouldn't let you leave if he suspected Malia isn't Bruma-free. And trust me, he'd know the minute I started up the MRI-scanner. Fortunately, I happen to know he's otherwise engaged at the clinic today, or he'd be keen to hear about your departure."
    Which explained why they had to go to the shuttle a day early. It didn't explain much of anything else, though.
    "It's her brain we're talking about," Jake said. "As much as I don't want to be stuck here, we can't just leave on the assumption that she's fine. They don't have the equipment down on Blue Two to properly check her out."
    Doctor Venus nodded, firmly but not looking worried. "I can't rule out that there's a Bruma fetus in her head. But I think there's a good chance we're dealing with something else."
    He turned to the young man. "Cai here was the first human host to a Bruma embryo. He has another explanation for what the tickling means. Cai?"
    "It's not tickling," Cai replied in English with distinct Cantonese intonation. "It's the lingering effect of the Bruma. I don't feel