The hand that heals

[TheJarl]

The guard looks at the photo.

"But... damned, I saw that man.."

He grabs his mobile Comm. Device and scans the picture.

"This is the man we are looking for man. And I know he is here...somewhere"

---

[rewritable]

"Where did you see him? Probably he hasn't ventured too far from there?"

John hesitated for a second, then added:"When we find him, please don't shoot at him straight away, ok? I think he owes everyone a whole load of answers"

---

[TheJarl]

The guard's eyes widen.

"The... the medbay... he's there!"

he grabs his comm. again. "Everyone to the medbay!"

He gestures at John to come with him

"Quickly, let's go!"

---

[rewritable]

John followed the guard through the hallways to medbay.

Most of the patients were still there, some outside the bay's door. The person they were looking for was not among them.

"He should be inside, then", John whispered to the guard, "Be careful, we know nothing of his intentions"

They carefully sneaked closer and finally took positions on both sides of the door.

---

[TheJarl]

The guard nodded.

"Luckily... he doesn't know of our intentions either"

He held his gun firmly in his left hand and with his right hand he slowly opened the door and walked in. His eyes shifted from left to right in search of the man.

"Do you see him somewhere?"

---

[rewritable]

"No, I don't, not from here.... Wait!"

On the other side of the room a man they had seen in the image and knew by the name Andrew Ross stood up holding an inhaler in hand. He started walking towards the medbay door, but didn't even glanced towards it. Instead, all his attention was paid to the inhaler, the man was turning it in his hands and inspecting it from every side as he slowly went to the door. He was mumbling something quietly and seemed to be thinking or trying to remember something.

Andrew noticed John and the guard only in few footsteps from them. He looked up and looked in the eyes of both men. After a silent pause he shrugged and finally spoke: "Looking for me, eh? All right, I believe I owe you a few answers..."

---

[TheJarl]

The Guard pointed his gun at Andrew.

"Don't try to trick us, understood?

Now, you are right you do demand us some answers, but we aren't going to do that here"

He grabbed his comm. unit again.

"Guards Smith, Ross, and Johnson get to the Medbay. Doctor Whitesun, you as well, sir."

He puts away the unit and looked at John.

"Sir, when the others have arrived I think we could use an office or something."

---

[rewritable]

"Definitely, we can use..." John started but was interrupted by Mr. Ross,

"I suggest Small Conference Room No.3 on deck 2. Whatever questions you ask, you would want to go there anyway once you've heard the answers, so we can just save everyone the bloody time and go there straight away instead of walking around as a bunch of sleepwalkers."

John glanced at Guard and shrugged, "Well, that is a medium sized room near bow. Might as well..."

"Oh, by the way," Andrew held up the inhaler slowly, not to provoke the Guard who still had him at the gunpoint, "Do these things come in smaller sizes?"

---

[TheJarl]

The guard frowned.

"You, sir... are odd, but yes we got them in different sizes, we have them stored in our makeshift hospital

We'll get them later, we have more important matters first"

The three guards and the doctor arrive at their position.

The guard speaks again "Very well... let's move"

---

[rewritable]

"Weird, eh? I hear that a lot. Interesting why?", Andrew shrugged.

John took a step back and turned around, "I'll show the way. Keep an eye on Mr. Ross"

To the Conference Room they walked in silence. One could notice that Andrew was struggling to keep the steady step, he staggered a few times and once even bumped into a guard walking right next to him. In a convenient moment John glanced back and took a look at man's face - his eyes were red as if he hadn't slept for a good while.

The door to the room was closed. John swept his access card in front of keypad's scanner, instead of an expected click a red light blinked thrice.

"Oh, I forgot, use a code, it's now 2-1-4-7" Andrew's voice from behind made John jump from surprise.

Frial dialed the code angrily and cast a cold glance at their guest. Ross just made his usual shrug and muttered something about ridiculous security systems.

The door slid open and revealed a very ordinary business-like room with an oval table in its center. The worn-out suitcases and a rectangular cloth-covered box in one corner looked very out of place.

As the seven men walked inside the room, something moved inside the box causing the cloth to slip away. It turned out to be a small cage, containing a small rat-like animal, which was now looking at them with unhidden curiosity.



"Meet Sam. You might say he is, erm, patient zero, that was the correct term I think" Andrew spoke to doctor, "Now, how about we sit down somewhere. I don't know about you but I'm damn tired and the story is too long to be told standing here"

---