"Psst, wake up Barney!"
Barney in his nice cozy prison cell was shaken unceremoniously.
"Wha...? Koimizu? When did you get back?"
"An hour ago. Not sure if I was seen, though. So you got arrested."
"Evidently. The robot guards did not find me, but there were some cyborgs I had not counted on patrolling the port."
"The lab has figured out why you're immune. Your muscle tissue isn't normal. And I also know you could've mulched the cyborgs, if you had wanted to."
"Probably, but they still are human. Well parts of them are. You know I was once in the army. And I guess you know I'm stronger than most people."
"Stronger? That's an understatement. I saw you drag a ten ton containment cell around once, so the plague victim inside could see the sun rise one last time. Yes, I saw that. You thought my back was turned, didn't you."
"Oh. Well, my comrades and I were subjected to an intense biotech restructuring. The hope was to create super soldiers without cyber enhancements. The project leaders had forgotten one thing, though. Every weapon is double edged."
"Even one edged blades?"
"Especially one edged blades. You are convinced the cutting edge is turned towards your enemy when it is actually at your own throat. The same thing happened with the program. Much of our muscle tissue was heavily modified," said Barney.
"So that's why they're not normal. The virus ignores your modified tissue, and you don't have enough normal tissue for it to weaken you," said Koimizu.
"Yes. Also organs such as our hearts and lungs were enhanced, so even those are resistant. And on top of everything, our nerve cells, ligaments and bones were also modified to make us faster and more durable," said Barney.
"So what happened? To the program and your comrades?"
"Some of the drugs used in the procedure made us guinea pigs quite... undisciplined. Not a good trait for a soldier. A chemical... accident... burned down the labs and the officer barracks. All the data was destroyed, and the technicians and officers were... killed. Due to the... stress... this caused us, we were honorably dismissed."
Koimizu gently took Barney's head between her hands and looked into the face of a beast.
Frowning brows over vacant eyes seeing a hidden past, a lip curled back in a snarl, a fang glinting menacingly in the dusky half light of the cell.
"So you became a weapon that hates itself," whispered Koimizu, "and I am heir to your power..."
Barney shuddered, locking hated memories back into the hidden recesses of his mind.
"Wha...?" said Barney, his eyes wide.
Koimizu waved a hand towards the bent steel bars that were once the cell door.
"At first I thought the delanium had given me that strength. But all they did was remake me using your modified cells as a blueprint, not knowing better."
"So you found the delanium mineral?"
She reached into her décolleté and pulled out a small smooth nutmeg sized stone that glowed softly blue.
"This is Arenaima. That's the best I can say it.
Barney took the stone slowly, and held it gently in his palm. A smile grew on his face as he recognized the delanium, then faded as he raised his eyebrows.
"It has a name?" asked Barney.
"I thought you knew the delanium are sentient."
Barney shook his head.
"Well, then you probably don't know that delanium generally come in pairs. Guess where Devinog, Arenaima's companion is."
Barney bent his head as if listening to something, then smirked and pointed at a point two inches above Koimizu's solar plexus.
"Admirable. You have implanted it. Good thing you have that robotic medical bay on the flitzer," said Barney.
"Cheaters," said Koimizu, pouting at the delanium in Barney's palm.
Barney grinned and Koimizu saw the blue fairy shape of Arenaima smile sheepishly.
"I take it you have entered a mutual symbiosis with your delanium. Sorry, I mean Devinog. What are the benefits?"
"Many, for both of us. Devinog uses my excess energy, and in return helps repair damaged cells and even, I think, my bones, ligaments and cartilage. And, with another mind implanted in me, I'll never be lonely, which in a way is comforting."
Especially if I ever get locked in a closet again, thought Koimizu wryly.
"Ah, that does seem to void privacy, or not?"
"No, not really. Delanium aren't human, so I think our ego underplays their presence. Just like always having a pet along, wherever one goes. And Arenaima has already accepted you. So, will you let her be part of you?"
Barney looked intently at Arenaima, nestled in his palm. Koimizu saw his decision in his eyes.
The next morning the guards coming to take the day shift were shocked to find all the doors from outside to the center cell smashed wide open.
And they were further puzzled that instead of missing prisoners, they had actually gained one.
Koimizu was snoring softly in the bunk above Barney's, an arm hanging down over the side.
Her fingertips lightly touched his bandaged solar plexus that now radiated a slight blue glow.
"There is no cure for the virus." said Koimizu.
A low buzzing started and grew in intensity from all sides of the court room.
"There is no need for a cure!" continued Koimizu unperturbed.
Shocked voices demanded that Koimizu should be thrown into space, without the comfort of being in a ship.
Others demanded she be exposed to the plaque.
Admiral Grimbane, acting judge, banged his metal fist on the desk.
"Quiet! Or I'll have this court roomed!"
The mob slowly quieted down, and Koimizu continued.
"To those that think I should be given the plaque, I've already had it, thank you. It isn't the virus that actually kills its host. That is the main mistake we made. After seventy-eight hours the virus actually dies out! But due to the way the virus works, the victim is usually so weak, it has no chance in recuperating."
"And how do you think we can stop the plaque?" asked Admiral Grimbane.
Koimizu swept her gaze around the room full of government officials with a sprinkling of navy and army.
She felt a drop of sweat run down her temple.
Koimizu let her eyes rest on Barney.
Her Barney.
He gave her an encouraging grin, and Koimizu took a deep breath.
"Well, this is what we are going to do..." said Koimizu, launching into a highly technical monologue she had prepared with the help of the delanium.
Koimizu and Barney were sitting at a field table in a hangar on the space port, Koimizu's flitzer humming gently behind them.
"A hundred delanium agreed to come along. They've enough energy from the running engine to survive on, but they're complaining that it tastes pretty awful. Like our nurtipacks," said Koimizu.
"Then it is lucky for them that our government gave the go ahead so quickly. Ah, here come the first candidates," said Barney.
Not a word had passed their lips.
Through Devinog and Arenaima, the four had discovered a form of communication that Koimizu only hesitantly called telepathy.
Sometimes it wasn't even clear who had thought what.
While their humans were asleep, the two delanium would exchange data all night, comparing notes on carbon based life.
The first two candidates were now standing just inside the hanger, looking around with wide eyes.
They had already been extensively screened by specialists from the government, navy, and army.
"Ah, we were told to ask for Dr. Stonewraith? My wife, Laina. And I'm George," said the man.
Koimizu nodded and introduced Barney.
"We heard you'll only choose couples who are very close. Is that true?" asked Laina.
"Yes. The delanium we have here are all married pairs. Obviously we don't want to split them up. And, there are other things to consider..." said Koimizu, motioning the two to sit.
"Now, which of you has a medically oriented background? You see, we are trying to find hosts that can heal plague victims," said Barney.
"Well, I'm a microbiologist and George here is a physicist, but we've been teaching ourselves what the other knows," said Laina.
"Ah, very good," said Barney before disappearing into the flitzer's airlock.
"And we were told we'll be immune to the plague," said George.
"Quite right. After an initial but necessary... restructuring of muscle tissue," said Koimizu.
Barney returned a glowing delanium in each hand.
"Only if each of you accepts the other three fully, with no jealousy or other negative emotions will symbiosis be effective. You may now physically be two separate humans, but to be in symbiosis with one delanium is to be part of its mate, and in extension its mate's host. The borders of your minds will sometimes seem to meld into one mind," said Barney.
Laina and Goerge stared at Barney with blank faces.
Koimizu stifled a giggle as Barney looked almost pleadingly at her.
"I was afraid it would not be easy to explain. Here, each of you take a delanium. Do not drop them, they are quite warm," said Barney.
Koimizu and Barney watched as the two humans stared at the delanium in their palms, their faces slowly changing from puzzlement to amazement to joy.
And they knew the first two delanium had found themselves hosts.
Three months later, all delanium had found a carbon based shell to live with, and the plague was slowly being rooted out.
Forty-nine years after the time of the plague Barney was sitting in the shade of two tall oak trees, grinning.
He sported only a few silver hairs more than the day Koimizu had first seen him.
Nestled in his outstretched hand was a small crop of acorns.
"Look, the first ones. I told you we would one day have trees. And oak trees, no less!"
"Yes, but you cheated. You placed delanium into symbiosis with the oak trees."
"Ah, but remember what I told you about the symbiosis the oak trees on old earth went in with certain fungi? Is this so different? And what would the poor delanium have done, anyhow. After their hosts died saving the space city from a meltdown, they would never have accepted another human..."
"No, no, I guess not. It has worked out for the best, hasn't it," said Koimizu, hugging her husband.
"And there are trees on Curatos-IV," murmured Dr. Koimizu Stonewraith.
THE END... for now.
