CANAISIS ∞ Chronicle One: The Last Living Ship ∞ 1: A New Mission

36 ∞ Honorary Nilex

A/N: This chapter recognizes DKSandra_BDuran, our second unsolicited reader!

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Day 00007 Mission Nilex

Worry tore through Gareth as he looked at Ayla lying on the bed in the Medical Bay.

«What do we know, Canaisis?» he thought.

«I see nothing physically wrong with her body, Captain. Her brain is behaving in a way I cannot explain. She's both dreaming and remembering, from what I can see in her synaptic nerve firings. What's odd is that she's not drawing on memory, she's adding to it. Other areas of her brain are active, and these areas have never been fully mapped out, not from a medical point of view. Both hemispheres of her brain are firing synapses at a very elevated level, and her brain chemistry is odd, to say the least. She's very far from baseline normal.»

«And we don't have any idea what's causing this?»

«I suspect it's part of their genetic attributes, Captain. I'm seeing remarkable deviations from the standard norm, now that I'm looking.»

«Genetic deviations from radiation, perhaps? That would be no surprise»

«No, Captain. This is subtle, ingenious, and deliberate.»

Gareth glanced upward in surprise at Canaisis' words. Then he picked up Ayla's hand and squeezed it gently, watching her face for any response. "What can we do, Canaisis?" he spoke aloud.

Canaisis answered, her voice floating across the room, "Her synaptic rate of firing is not sustainable. If she doesn't come out of it soon, she might survive, but she will not be the Ayla you know."

He pressed his lips together at that. "Say it plainly, Canaisis. You're talking brain damage."

"Yes, Captain," Canaisis answered softly. "If she wakes up."

"Alright." He sighed and set Ayla's hand down by her side, still holding it, slowly rubbing her knuckles with his thumb. "We need to get to the bottom of this and figure out what triggered it. Did Ahmid answer your hail?"

"Yes, Captain."

"How long before they arrive?"

"Another forty-five seconds at the rate they're running."

He let go of Ayla's hand, straightened his back, and turned to face the door squarely. There was no way to predict how a different culture would react to a situation like this. He didn't think it probable that they'd be violent, but there was no way of knowing.

The forty-five seconds seemed like a very long time. He heard the running steps before Ahmid came through the door. He was breathing hard as he stopped cold, taking in the scene of Ayla on the Med-bay bed and Gareth standing beside it. Two women's heads popped up behind Ahmid's shoulders.

Ahmid stepped closer. "What happened, Captain?"

"I don't know. Canaisis alerted me, and I found her in the Garden. She was barely alert, but lost consciousness almost immediately. I brought her here for treatment and had you hailed to come."

Ahmid looked at Gareth speaking while his footsteps brought him to the other side of the bed with the women on his heels. Ahmid looked at Ayla's face, then took her hand and closed his eyes. Lina and Nura stood behind him and placed a hand on his shoulders.

Gareth watched the Nilex group and glanced at Ayla several times, waiting. Ahmid still had his eyes closed, but Lina and Nura looked down at the floor as if concentrating.