EUe balanced himself on the perch-seat on the roof of his nest, watching as the scientists rifled through the rubble in search of survivors. He'd wanted to help, but they'd insisted he keep his distance from them. They wanted him to stay away, if only to slow the progression of his own illness, even though EUe was certain it was only a matter of time before he, too, fell sick. Still, he honored the request, despite his desire to help. Many of the scientists had known each other before they signed up for the research expedition. He didn't want to force himself into the situation when they were obviously grieving. Besides, the break gave him the opportunity to double check that he'd put out all the fires triggered by the drone's heat ray.
lU-twO was looking at one of the corpses on the ground. Black ooze and green dust intermixed with the dead scientist's dark, curdled blood. lU-twO looked up with a mournful coo, his eyes glistening in the early dawn. The resolve in lU-twO's eyes starkly contrasted with his ailing body. His feathers had begun to fall off, while those that remained were losing their color. His gorget seemed more brown than red, and it barely iridesced when he moved. Behind him, the laboratory's shattered, roofless walls were broken eggshells pressing against the sky.
lU-twO gave numb glances to the assembled twEfE. "My brother is dead," he said.
Some of the crowd watched from their nests' roof perches, like EUe, in clear view of the dawn rising over the coast. Others lingered in the doorways, almost too weak to stand.
"Uwen-ka's condition was even worse than my own," lU-twO said. "I asked him to rest, but he insisted that we continue the work." He lowered his head. "I think he knew his time was growing short. He… he was starting to lose his memories. I don't understand why. He…" but then lU-twO stopped himself. His tongue darted out the tip of his beak and licked the edges. Ulcers were eating away at his tongue.
EUe cringed at the sight, wondering if he was looking at his own future.
Coughing, lU-twO tried to clear his throat. "There's only one reason the drone attacked us: it knew we were infected. We had kweU-kE working on the drone earlier today," he added, referring to the scientist who'd been electrocuted by the ring wall's security communions. "He'd only recently started to show symptoms. Tellingly, his presence didn't trigger the drone's defense mechanism." lU-twO glanced down at his brother. "But… ours did."
Murmurs rippled across the camp.
lU-twO leaned against the side of the ruined laboratory, exhausted. "Even in death, my brother still managed to impress. He wanted proof. Well, he got it."
Or, rather, EUe thought, the proof got him.
lU-twO looked up at the Gatherer. "The aliens are here to wage war against the fungus. The drone attacked us because it sensed its target inside our bodies."
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One of the miserably sick scientists whose nests had been destroyed hobbled out into the open and pointed his finger up at EUe.
"It didn't attack the Gatherer!" he said, coughing up goo. He turned to lU-twO. "EUe was right there, lU-twO , but it fired at you, not him!"
More than one head turned at those words.
"That can't be!"
"Is it true?"
Stumbling and hobbling, they gathered on the path beside EUe's nest and looked up at him like excited chicks. The researchers lowered their second eyelids, scrutinizing every inch of EUe's body.
"That's not possible," one muttered.
Another staggered back in shock. "I… I don't understand."
"What's not possible?" EUe asked.
"You're not sick."
Off to the side, up on her balcony, tlE-la gasped. "What?"
lU-twO shook his head. "ekEaka is right. It's been too long." He looked over to EUe. "You should be sick by now."
"I don't think I am."
"Why aren't you sick?" one of the scientists demanded. Feathers wafted off him as he spread his wings in anger.
"I—"
"—Why aren't you sick?" tlE-la coughed hideously. Her eyes bulged in her sockets.
"I…" EUe's feathers stood up on end. He muttered. "I'm not sick…" He could hardly believe the words.
Could it be true?
No, it had to be.
He let himself think aloud. "I was the bigger threat. The drone had a clear shot at me; it could have fired. But… it didn't."
Instead, it had attacked its preferred target.
EUe lowered his head and cooed in shame. "Everyone… I'm so sorry, I should have noticed. I just got caught up in the work."
lU-twO's body scrunched up as he coughed. He clutched his stomach in agony and shuddered.
The astrophysicist's whimpers made EUe think of Uka-yen, and how he'd failed to help the old bird at the end.
Wings fluttering, EUe flew toward lU-twO to help, but the astrophysicist stuck out his arm and shook his head.
"No—stay… stay back. We don't know what's kept you free from infection."
EUe fluttered back, to his perch.
Could it have been the scan?
"It… scanned me," he said.
"What?" a scientist asked.
EUe told them about what had happened, about the green beam that Vyx had passed over his body.
tlE-la coughed. "That has to be it."
"But it only scanned me once."
"Maybe it made you immune?" she suggested. "Or, perhaps, it's been doing this to you the whole time."
lU-twO pressed his hand against the wall of his nest, barely able to stand any longer. "Could the cure be as simple as staying inside the Impactors?"
Several scientists shook out their wings and flew—or tried to, at any rate. Everyone who did failed.
One of them… Gods… one of their wings just sloughed off their back.
The poor female screamed.
"What are you doing?" lU-twO barked. "They'll kill you—or worse, you'll infect them!"
"If it's just a matter of getting you scanned," EUe said, clenching his toes around the perch, "I can take you inside. It can cure you—all of you! You don't need to die!" His wings stood up on end.
"You've been in there for days, EUe," tlE-la said. "We might not live long enough for the cure to take effect."
"If the cure is in Vyx," lU-twO said, "you have to find a way to bring it outside. That's the only way to stop this."
"We need you, EUe," tlE-la said. "The world needs you."
The mathematician's words hit EUe like a hailstone to his skull. "tlE-la," he said, wings aflutter, "you're a genius!" Leaping off the perch, he flew off, his mind as abuzz as his wings, the wind rushing through his feathers. "Vyx will save us, I just know it! Just hold on a little longer, everybody! I'll save you all, I promise!"
Their salvation was at hand; EUe could taste it.
He swallowed hard as he flew the short distance to Vyx. There was no time to waste. He could sleep when he was dead, or when the world was safe.
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