Legends of Amacia The Awakening

Shebat Crisis

Three minutes later, Hanna laid Selina down on an empty table in the Healer. A gasping moan of pain escaped Selina’s lips. “Oh, god,” she cried with her eyes clenched shut, tears of pain gushing. “It hurts...so...much to...breathe. I...can’t...breathe!”

The Healer immediately activated, scanning Selina while instantly putting her to sleep. Hanna held her hand, feeling completely helpless as the premonition flared to the front of her mind. At the same time, she felt the pain compounding in Selina from their link, making her groan and lean heavily against the table. “I know...your...pain,” Hanna whispered. “Just hang...on, sis; help is...coming.”

Two minutes later, Enoch rushed in with Kida, Emma, Nathanael, Electra, Nemesis, Magnus, Horace, Amelia, Arabella, and Dr. Drew. “Hanna!” Enoch called out, running to her side. “You said Selina was in trouble.” When Enoch saw Selina’s ashen complexion and a large knot on her lower right chest beneath her breast, he gasped in dismay.

“Let me in,” Nemesis ordered, moving up to the opposite side of the table with Magnus and Horace. Everyone else gathered around with Arabella, Drew, Nathanael, and Amelia standing on the same side of the table as Hanna.

“Let’s give them space, Hanna,” Enoch said softly, starting to pull her away from the table.

“No, let Hanna stay,” Nemesis ordered, leaning over Selina, seeing the knot. “Selina and Hanna are connected in ways you can’t comprehend. We may need Hanna’s help to save her.”

“Okay,” Enoch conceded, standing behind Hanna, steadying her.

“What do you see, Nemesis?” Horace asked intensely, checking her vitals physically, along with her eyes.

Nemesis scanned Selina from head to toe with his cyborg eye down to the cellular level, paying close attention to the knot on her chest. “Oh, dear,” he growled with dismay. “She’s definitely been infected by a shebat. Do you see it, Magnus?”

“I do,” Magnus replied after scanning Selina. “It’s also in almost the same location on her as I found on Hanna. Whatever you do, do not administer any kind of electric shock. It will energize the beast. We’re fortunate that it’s not moving yet, but it is nearly to Phase 3.”

“I see that,” Nemesis agreed.

“What do we do?” Enoch asked. “We must get it out of her before it starts moving.”

“That we will,” Horace stated. “But it’s going to be a delicate operation.”

“That it will,” Nemesis agreed. “It has to be surgically removed before it energizes. You did this with Hanna, Magnus. What did you do?”

“I grabbed it because it started to move,” Magnus reported. “I cut it out with my machine fingers while Amelia used her healing ability to stabilize Hanna’s condition. Between the two of us, we successfully removed it from Hanna’s chest. I cauterized the incision to stop the hemorrhaging and to kill anything else that may infect her. We barely succeeded. Amelia took a big hit doing it too. It took her several days to recover from the energy drain.”

“That’s right,” Amelia stated with worried look on her face. “I put my head on the block that day and paid a hefty price. But I never regretted it, and I’ll do it again. Selina and Hannibal helped me to remember who I am. I owe them.”

“I know you do,” Enoch stated.

“Okay,” Horace stated. “It seems this healing machine is keeping her stable, so we may not need you, Amelia. But since Magnus did this operation before, I suggest we let him do it this time. But I want both of you to double check your scans of her. When scanning, pulse your scan wavelength a half cycle higher in the near gamma while doing it.”

“Why?” Magnus asked.

“If this is what I think it is, Ahriaman may have infected Selina with the new gen shebats,” Horace declared. “They have the ability to shield themselves from detection even down to the microscopic levels. The only way to see them in Phase 1 and early Phase 2 is by pulsing the scans. They’re not programmed to deal with a pulse scan. Do it. If you find any, she’ll need the shebat antitoxin. Nemesis has the ability to produce it.”

“Very well,” Nemesis stated, scanning Selina again with Magnus, using the new scan mode. While scanning Selina, Nemesis stated, “It might be a good idea to check Hanna again too. The shebat that infected her may have been the new gen too.”

“An excellent idea,” Enoch agreed. “What do you think, Hanna?”

“Sure,” Hanna replied through the haze of pain as she continued holding Selina’s hand. “I’m...game. Can’t you guys...give her something...for the pain? Even in her unconscious state, I can...feel her pain. It’s...excruciating.”

“We dare not,” Horace stated severely. “Even a sedative may activate the full Phase 3 of the shebat. What are you seeing, Nemesis, Magnus?”

“I’m seeing not only the major infestation in her chest, but I’m seeing several smaller Phase 2 infestations throughout her body. It’s not just in her lungs, but in her intestines, kidneys, and lower spine. The ones around her lower spine are actually putting pressure on her spinal cord. We have to purge her of these foul beasts.”

“Fate be merciful,” Amelia gasped in horror. “She’s eaten up with them? How can we deal with so many? Just helping with one nearly put my lights out.”

Tears spilled out of Hanna’s eyes as she realized how accurate her premonition had been. “I knew it,” she sobbed. “Selina’s in grave danger and I’m powerless to help her. I’m going to lose her again.”

“No, you aren’t,” Nemesis stated resolutely, reaching over and putting his machine hand on Hanna’s shoulder. “We’re going to save her. By you calling us when you did, you may have saved her life. This is not going to end badly for either of you, but it’s not going to be easy either. Trust us and your god, and both of you will get through this.”

“Nemesis, scan Hanna,” Horace ordered. “If she’s still infested, the stress of shared pain with Selina may trigger them.”

“Got it,” Nemesis answered, scanning Hanna from head to toe. A dismayed growl escaped his bear lips. “Oh, boy...this is not good,” he declared bluntly.

“What?” Hanna asked, an icy chill racing down her spine.

“With the new scan parameters Horace told us to use I see several early Phase 2 infestations in you, Hanna. They’re clustered around your lungs and upper spine. Fortunately, they haven’t moved to your brain.”

“Oh, no,” Kida cried in horror. “This can’t be! Magnus swore she was clear and the healer never picked up on anything like that.”

“That I did,” Magnus admitted. “But I didn’t know they used the latest gen shebats either. Neither did I know about the pulse scans. The Cadre never told us.”

“That’s because the pulse scan is a trade secret,” Horace stated grimly. “Only high level Cadre like me knew of it. I suspect this new growth of shebats may have been triggered by Hanna’s raid. The stress of going head to head with the Emperor may have set them off. Nemesis, do you have strong doses of the shebat antitoxin ready?”

“Not quite,” Nemesis stated. “I didn’t anticipate having to give both Selina and Hanna the antitoxin. I have enough for Selina, but not for Hanna. It’s going to take a couple hours to synthesize another dose.”

“Selina should be your primary concern,” Hanna hissed in pain. “I’m not in as dire a condition as she is. I can wait.”

“But not for long,” Horace stated. “Now that we know you’re still infested, I insist that you make use of the Healer. The telepathic pain you’re feeling could accelerate the growth of the shebats.”

“Horace is right,” Nemesis stated. “Come over here. We have an empty table here. Lie down and trust us. We will get both you and Selina through this crisis.”

“Come on,” Enoch urged gently, getting Hanna to release Selina’s hand. “Nemesis and Horace know what to do. They’ll save Selina and purge both of you of these little beasts. You can watch everything they do from this unit.” With tears of pain and sorrow dripping, Hanna let go of Selina and allowed Enoch to guide her to the empty healer table next to Selina behind Nemesis.

Helping Hanna lie down on the table, Enoch cooed, “That’s it, little sister. Just relax. We’ve got this.” The healer instantly scanned Hanna and sedated her when it discovered she was in extreme pain.

Just before passing out in the beam, Hanna pleaded, “Save Selina. Please, save her.”

“We will,” Enoch answered, patting her on the hand gently. “You can trust us.” Turning back to Nemesis, he insisted, “The clock is ticking, gentlemen. If you plan on doing something, now is the time to do it.”

“Wait,” Josephine called out as she walked in with Andrew. Wearing a tan knee-length halter-top dress and sandals, she made her way to the tables with Andrew helping her walk. “Don’t do anything yet,” she insisted.

“Josephine, what are you doing here?” Nemesis asked. “Shouldn’t you be resting?”

“Word came to me that Selina may be infested with shebats,” Josephine stated as she stopped beside Selina’s table. “I might be of some help.” She instantly saw the large lump on Selina’s lower chest and asked, “Have any scans been made? That lump looks very suspicious to me.”

“I had both Nemesis and Magnus did pulse scans in the near gamma to see if Selina and Hanna were infested,” Horace reported. “They are, and Selina is critical. The lump is borderline Phase 3 and she has several other Phase 2 infestations in her kidneys, intestines, and lower spine. The ones around her lower spine are putting pressure on her spinal cord.”

“This is not good,” Josephine replied, scanning with her cybernetic eye to see for herself. “What about Hanna? How bad is she infected?”

“Phase 1 and early Phase 2 in her lungs and around her upper spine,” Nemesis stated. “We suspect they may have been triggered with the stress of the raid. No one noticed it because we didn’t know to scan for the shebats with the pulse gamma scan. She insisted that we take care of Selina first, and I must agree. We need to do something. Magnus was about to surgically remove the large infestation on her lungs when you came in. Why did you tell us to wait? Time is running out for Selina. The shebat in her chest is on the verge of going Phase 3. We have to remove it before it starts to move.”

“Mmmm hmm,” Josephine murmured, scanning Selina closely while leaning over her. “Did you know that these are seventh gen shebats infesting her?”

“Seventh gen?” Horace asked with horror. “No. I suspected Ahriaman may have used a newer model, but not the seventh gen. This is very bad.”

“What do you mean?” Drew asked from his position near Selina’s head.

Josephine looked up at Drew, saying, “It means we are all in grave danger. Seven gen shebats have a blast radius of a league when they explode. It vaporizes everything within a thousand cubits of the victim and burns everything else to ashes. Even worse, the blast will spread millions of microscopic shebats over a five-league radius. If this shebat explodes, it will take out the Red Tower and kill everything on this island.”

“But that’s not the worst part,” Horace stated grimly. “I’ve seen what seven gen shebats can do before that. They can override a person’s nervous system and turn them into a puppet against their will when they reach full Phase 2. Ahriaman or even the Emperor could technically take physical control of both Selina and Hanna, making them kill themselves or us and there’s not a damned thing they could do about it. Anyone attempting to tamper with or remove them before it completes its life cycle can be infected unless properly protected.”

Arabella paled at the report. “What do we do against such evil?” she asked.

“Never fear, Miss Bishop,” Josephine said confidently. “We can deal with even this. However, I’m going to have to do it. I’ll need Nemesis and Magnus to help me, but I must insist that everyone else leave and seal this chamber. The chance of the shebats getting loose and infecting someone is extremely high.”

“If we could shield this section, would that work?” Enoch asked.

“It would,” Josephine replied. “Can this machine put up an energy shield around certain areas in here?”

Enoch smiled soberly. “Not a problem,” he declared. “The reason I suggested it is because we still have patients making use of the Healer. I’d rather not interrupt them if I could help it.”

“I see your dilemma,” Josephine replied. “If you could shield Hanna and Selina and the area around their tables, we can proceed. But again, I must insist that anyone who isn’t a cyborg be outside the shield. Only we cyborgs have the immunity to the shebats, which are an extreme bio-hazard to normal people and creatures.”

“Do you want me to remain, Josephine?” Horace asked.

“No,” Josephine replied bluntly. “I know you’ve been enhanced, but not to the weaponized level that Nemesis, Magnus, and I are. But you’re welcome to watch from outside the shield with the others and provide input if we require it.”

“Okay,” Horace stated, moving back with everyone as Enoch walked to the Healer’s main control console.

“Is everyone clear?” Enoch called out. When everyone answered to the affirmative, he stated, “All right; I’m engaging the bio-hazard shield around you guys. Nothing will get out without my say so.” A hum arose in the Healing chamber as a transparent energy shield rose from the floor to the ceiling around the tables with Hanna and Selina. It provided enough room for Josephine, Magnus, and Nemesis to move around the tables easily. Every so often, the shield would pulse as it hummed. “Shield is engaged, Josephine,” Enoch stated. “You’re completely isolated now. The healer will now sterilize everything inside the shield. Don’t move. It won’t damage you.”

A red beam shot from the main crystal of the machine, sweeping the entire area. Josephine, Nemesis, and Magnus felt a pleasantly warmth to the beam as it completely decontaminated them. “There,” Enoch reported. “Sterilization procedure is complete. You can now proceed with the operation. Sterile air will be circulated inside the shield.”

“Is there any danger in touching the shield?” Magnus asked.

“No, sir,” Enoch stated, “You will not be harmed by touching the shield, but it will destroy anything of a viral or bacteriological nature that comes in contact with it. I may even be able to fine-tune the shield to destroy the shebats if I had a way to identify them.”

“I can do that,” Horace stated. “I know the energy signatures for the shebats, even the seventh gen ones. Just show me where to input the information. Does this machine have a download port?”

“Right here,” Enoch stated, pointing to a plug-in port on the surface of the console.

When Horace grabbed the skin of his forearm and peeled it off like a glove, eyes grew wide and gasps escaped everyone’s lips. “You’re a cyborg,” Andrew breathed in amazement, seeing Horace’s machine arm.

“You heard Josephine,” Horace replied with a wry smile, laying the skin glove on the console. “Yes, I am a cyborg, but nothing like Nemesis or Magnus. I was enhanced with this machine arm shortly after I became a Cadre Wizard. There was an accident and I lost my arm and part of my shoulder. They replaced it with this gizmo. It did prove useful, allowing me more efficient access to the Cadre computers. When they did this to me, they also enhanced my brain by adding mechanized memory to it so I could do my job with more ease. I was one of the top researcher and cybernetics experts in the Cadre, you know. Now, let’s see if this works.” He pushed the index finger of his machine hand into the port and the console lit up, showing a list of files on the display. “Excellent,” Horace chimed. “Enoch, do you see the file name 7Xshebat356?”

“Yes,” Enoch stated.

“That’s the file containing the information on every generation of shebat the Emperor has developed,” Horace stated. “It has their structure, energy signatures, weaknesses...everything. It even has information on how to deactivate and destroy them. Where do I enter the password?”

“Use the holographic interface here,” Enoch stated, pointing to a holographic keyboard and display hovering just above the control panel. “It’s much like the control units inside Josephine’s core.”

“Right,” Horace stated. With his other hand, he highlighted the file and entered the password. In seconds, the information downloaded into the healer. Once it finished, he closed the list and pulled his machine finger out of the console. “That should do it,” Horace declared while putting the skin glove back on. “Now your healing machine should be able to scan for and identify any known shebat, and possibly counteract them.”

“Excellent,” Enoch replied, activating the new information with the console. “This is a god-send. I never believed I’d have access to such critical information. Now, we’ll be able to counteract one of the Emperor’s deadliest weapons. Look, it’s already identifying the shebat clusters in both Hanna and Selina.”

“Don’t let it try to remove them yet,” Josephine called out as she hovered over Selina. “The seventh gen shebats are designed to go on the warpath if anything other than the Emperor or Ahriaman tries to remove them. We are very fortunate that my 1st Age cybernetics can counteract these little monsters, which are very crude compared to my nano-machines. The Emperor downloaded the deactivation codes into my matrix when they first started using them. Are you ready, gentlemen?”

“Whenever you’re ready, Josephine,” Magnus replied.

“Are you sure you’re ready to try this?” Nemesis asked pointedly. “We haven’t had a chance to really test that patch of yours under field conditions.”

“Now is as good a time as any,” Josephine stated. “Besides, I’m the only one who can do this. I want both of you to stand ready to restrain her if she starts to react to the treatment.”

“We’re ready when you are,” Nemesis stated.

“Do you think you’ll need to restrain Selina?” Enoch asked.

“It’s a high likelihood,” Josephine replied, continuing to scan Selina with her cyborg eye. “Removal of shebats can cause the body to react violently by reflex. Does this machine have restraints?”

“Of course,” Enoch stated. “I’ll set the restraints on Selina.” His fingers danced across the holographic interface of the healer, activating the restraints. Bands wrapped around Selina’s arms and legs at several levels while a large band pinned her midsection to the table.

“Don’t use the torso restraint,” Josephine ordered. “It’s not needed. The arm and leg restraints should do fine.”

“Okay,” Enoch stated, retracting the torso restraint from the control panel. “I’ll restrain Hanna too while I’m at it.”

“That may be a good idea given Hanna’s apparent ability to share pain with Selina,” Josephine stated. “Do it.”

In seconds, Enoch had the healer restraining Hanna in a similar manner to Selina. “Already done,” Enoch announced. “You may start whenever you’re ready, Josephine.”

“Right,” Josephine replied. “Nemesis, do you have enough antitoxin to seventh gen shebats to give to Selina?”

“Just a moment; let me check,” Nemesis replied, doing an internal check. “I do now. But I don’t have enough to give to Hanna too.”

“Selina is our primary concern here,” Josephine stated. “She has a borderline Phase 3 infestation. When I tell you, administer a full dose of the antitoxin directly into her heart.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Nemesis rumbled.

“Monitor her vitals, Enoch,” Josephine ordered. “And let me know if she starts to react in any way.”

“Yes, Josephine,” Enoch answered, bringing up Selina’s vitals on the main monitor. “We’re ready here. She’s unconscious because of the Healer, but her pain level is extremely high. Her blood pressure is slowly rising, as is her pulse. Her brain activity is at an abnormally high level. And now that Horace has provided us with the information on the shebats, the Healer has identified them as a foreign agent. It wants to remove them, but I’m restraining it because you said not to let it.”

“I said that because the shebats haven’t been deactivated yet,” Josephine stated, “Only by hitting it with the proper signal will it not attack when we start to remove them. This is going to be delicate. I’ve never tried to do this without the mainframe backups. I hope it works.”

“We believe in you, Jo,” Andrew called out in support.

“Yes, we do,” Arabella agreed.

“Ready, guys?” Josephine asked Nemesis and Magnus.

“Ready when you are,” Nemesis stated. “Take it slow. Don’t try to do too much at once.”

“Sound advice,” Josephine said, taking hold of Selina’s hands with her organic hands. “Here we go.”