II: All the Medicine in the World

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Terran Intelligence Dispatch: 08/09/2175

Ambience Information Network-Terran Internal Intelligence Commission: Ambience host lost in Jimeso raid. TIIC and Ambience operators must locate and retrieve missing host at all costs. End Dispatch.



08/09/2175 0200 EST: Transmission Sent Alpha Ceti 3 Warp Gate: O Alpha Ceti 3: 08/09/2175 0201 EST: Transmission Received Terran Interstellar Authority

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Ten Grushan interstellar ballistic missiles detected inbound at high warp speeds to Alpha Ceti jump gate. Probable point of origin is Yveran. Countermeasures are active.

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08/09/2175 0305 EST: Transmission Sent Mars Military Operations Headquarters: O Mars, Sol System: 08/09/2175 0305 EST: Transmission Received Terran Interstellar Authority

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Grushan ISBM's have destroyed Mars warp gate. Four of twelve were intercepted in flight. Three detonated. The rest changed course to strike Earth jump gate. An additional fifth missile was destroyed as they left Mars defense grid.

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Terran Intelligence Dispatch: 08/09/2175 0401 Local Time

Ambience Information Network-Terran Internal Intelligence Commission: Subject in Kinshasa, Congo witnessed the launch of a small aircraft on the outskirts of Kinshasa. Aircraft was powered by unidentified thrust method, possible vertical landing-take-off technology similar to Terran fighter craft. Object fit no known aircraft configuration. Aircraft then disappeared from visual spectrum. No further confirmation of aircraft in area. End Dispatch.



Personal Journal: William Aucaman

08/09/2175

Adrian left sometime during the night. I was asleep in the next room, so I don't know when exactly, but when I woke up he was gone. I asked when they had left, but no one was able to answer me. I ran into Arya Kumar and asked him; he couldn't tell me when they had left, but he did tell me that the Troy's contact with the offworld had been compromised and the Grushan hadn't been told about the shuttle or our plan. Then there had been an attack on Terran warp gates; the gates in Alpha Ceti, Mars, Procyon and Wolf 359 had all been destroyed by long range tactical missiles. By some absurdly good luck, the Earth gate survived, and Mwangi and the others decided to jump immediately. So they're gone. I don't know how we'll know if they make it; it may be that we won't know until the war is over. And what about Mom and Dad? They were taken into custody by the Hegemony as we left. I don't know if they're even alive right now. And if they were taken into custody, I can't see why they wouldn't arrest my extended family as well; they were never terribly good Hegemony citizens either, and we're minorities besides. If Adrian doesn't make it to Yveran, I might be the last member of my family alive. I don't know what I'll do then.

For the short term, though, I think that I can do some good for the dissidents. Since the war declaration, I've seen a lot going on in Kinshasa, at least in the handful of times they have let me leave the apartment complex that they're housing Cynthia and me in. From what exploration Cynthia and I have done, it looks like the Congolese are getting ready for war in their city. It's mostly minor things, like reinforcing structures with sandbags and steel beams, but I see a lot of men in the streets leaving town with packs over their shoulders, some in uniform. They don't look like any Hegemony uniforms I've seen either; all uniforms look more or less the same, but the African armed forces seem to have developed their own particular style over the years, baggier and slightly more ornate, though I suspect that their combat garb will be very similar to American Hegemony garb. I'm not really old enough to enlist, but if Congo or the other African Confederacy nations are invaded, as they seem to expect, they might be able to use me in some capacity.

Olivia has been doing better in the last couple of days. The doctors have stabilized her condition and she's been sleeping peacefully. She's being fed intravenously because she's severely malnourished; I think that the creature was only giving her water enough to survive. The doctors think that she's been cut open a lot; they don't know the whole story, because dissident leadership has been keeping this matter under wraps, but they wonder what sort of monster would have done it. I can't tell them that I know. I wonder if it was studying her the way we study frogs in high school. It doesn't bare thinking about.



08/09/2175 1201 EST: Transmission Sent Earth Defense Grid: O Earth, Sol System: 08/09/2175 1201 EST: Transmission Received Terran Interstellar Authority

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Grushan ISBM's have broken through Terran point defense grid and have destroyed Earth warp gate.

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Personal Journal: William Aucaman

08/10/2175

Cynthia woke me up pretty early this morning. I'm afraid that I was a bit grumpy with her; my sleep has been pretty erratic of late, and I wasn't happy with the interruption. But I forgave her a little when she told me why.

She's been having sleeping troubles too, it turns out. I don't suppose I should be surprised; her sister's still comatose, and she's been getting worse again for the past couple of days. Plus, she had that thing in her head too; not the same way as I did, but it was definitely there. In any case, she had a brainwave while we were sleeping. She realized suddenly that the Grushan might have technology that can wake her sister up or make her better. It's a good thought; the Grushan were spacefaring long before humans were, so it's not impossible that they have better medical technology. At least I thought so. And, since the Grushan ambassador and his staff are in Kinshasa, she thought it might pay off to ask him for assistance.

I thought it was worth a shot. We weren't completely sure where the ambassador was staying, but I thought that there was a good chance that Theresa Mwangi would know. I've heard good things about Ms. Mwangi, so I was fairly confident that she'd be willing to speak to them on our behalf. So we asked for an escort to the capital; Ms. Mwangi doesn't want us traveling without an escort, since we're technically still wanted by the Hegemony for terrorism. And the Zaha-Katchem for killing one of their number.

Kinshasa really caught all of us by surprise. Adrian and I knew that most of the images from in and around Africa are about a century old. The Hegemony likes people to think that Africa is still a starving continent in need of constant aid. In parts, I understand that it is; Ms. Mwangi spends most of her day helping the poor in Congo, Cameroon, Uganda and other nearby countries where the rural communities still struggle to make a decent day's work. But that's largely rural areas, and China, Latin America, and the Middle Eastern provinces have the same problem. The Hegemony would like us to believe that those regions are better off because they don't house the world's largest dissident movement. But I haven't seen many pictures of modern African cities, and Kinshasa was very impressive. Most of its expansion happened after first contact, and they used a lot of brand new technology. I guess that independent Grushan corporations sold it to them. One could hardly expect Terran corporations to sell cutting edge technology to African nations in any century, after all.

In any case, Kinshasa is one of the most spectacular scenes I've ever seen; it has very few roads and skyscrapers like American cities do, and the buildings are mostly spaced out from each other. It leaves a lot of room for walking and bike paths; I saw more people biking in Kinshasa than I have ever seen in my life. The buildings themselves that I saw were an odd combination of traditional houses, like the block housing that Cynthia used to live in, and dug out caves and tunnels. Earthen houses were almost more common than traditional houses. It reminded me of Hobbiton in some ways. The tall buildings have twisting wire frames, wide open roofs, cascading terraces, and they were overgrown from top to bottom with gardens and plants of all kinds. The earth houses themselves had gardens growing on top of them, and hardwood trees for shade, and all kinds of jungle plants and flowers that I'm sure would have been cut down for Hegemony housing development projects. It was one of the most amazing cities I have ever seen. If I'd known that African had such treasures, I would have come a lot sooner and never left. As a conservation worker, it's almost heartbreaking to know that such a place exists and the whole world has put it out of sight and out of mind.

We made it to the capital building without incident. The secret service guards escorted us into the building and had us wait in a committee chamber while they tried to find someone who could find either Ms. Mwangi or the Grushan ambassador.

We waited for a while before the door opened, and the ambassador actually walked in. He was handed us translators that had, thankfully, been fitted to human anatomy. He had decided to meet with us there rather than taking us back to his office, which is apparently fairly close to Ms. Mwangi's. In any case, as he says, "secrecy is still of high importance. If the Hegemony were to discover your presence, there would be no end to trouble here. It was perhaps ill-advised for you to come here. But I will forgive you." Then he asked us what the Grushan Federation could do for us.

Cynthia spoke up quickly. "I want you to get Grushan medicine to help my sister recover." She went on to explain that Olivia had been comatose for the past few weeks. Ambassador Dumarith seemed concerned, although I should say that I am no expert in reading Grushan expressions. But he was unsure how he could help.

"My people have very advanced medicine, but much of it has already been acquired by the Hegemony and especially by the African Union," he explained. "Much of the rest has been proven ineffective for humans by Terran and Grushan funded research. And none of my medics are at all experts in human biology. I'm sorry; I wish I could help, but I don't see what I can do."

"There's no medicine at all that could help her?" Cynthia asked, and I heard her voice starting to break. This was probably her last hope after all. Sadly, the ambassador shook his head and said no.

"If medicine that you have has not saved your sister, I am afraid that Grushan medicine can do no different. I truly wish that I could be of some assistance; your if your sister could be aided by technology, that could greatly inform us against our enemy. But, I do not know that medical technology will hold the key to her salvation. I am sorry." He shook his head again.

"Isn't there anything that can be done to save her?" Cynthia said. She was doing everything that she could to hold back tears. "Billy woke up. She can too."

The ambassador looked at me then. He has weirdly human eyes for someone who looks like a dinosaur, and I'll have to admit I was a little startled by the realization. The funny thing was though, I could see in his eye that he had an idea. "I had forgotten that you also have been in the sleep that the Zaha-Katchem bring. How did you wake up?"

I couldn't answer, because I couldn't remember. All I remember is waking up to see the Congolese doctors looking at me and panicking because I hadn't realized that I'd actually woken up. I told him that. He asked me to describe the dream that I had while I was asleep, which I didn't explain to the council before. I told him as much as I could; there were some details which I left out because they were too horrible. But he seemed interested anyway; he asked a lot of questions, especially about the Zaha-Katchem voices and the dragon that was always in the background. When I finished, he thought about it for a little while.

"I do not wish to give you false hope. But there may be a way to help. Do you believe in any gods, Ms. Mattingly?" he asked. Cynthia said no. "There is a Grushan mystic currently staying in the Earth city of Rome. He is called Rorith. He traveled to Earth several years ago to study Terran religion and coordinate with Terran religious leaders. He comes from Hezheran, my own home world, and on that world, he was known for performing some mysterious feats of healing. The shrine of Mozhemarizh that he founded has also been known for healing works since his departure for Earth. I am sure Earth has many of its own such people and places; however, since I know this one, perhaps it would be advantageous to seek his guidance in this matter. If this young man's account is true, this problem may be a one that is more suited to his abilities than to the medical professionals. If you like, I may contact him."

Cynthia didn't really seem sure about this arrangement. I'm not surprised; the Hegemony's never been fond of the idea of mystics, and she's had a lot of exposure to their way of thinking. So she hesitated.

"I'm not sure about mystics," she said.

"Neither am I," said the ambassador. "But, if his reputation is true, he may be able to help. My ambassadorial duties have been somewhat diminished of late, so I am able to contact him immediately and arrange transport to Kinshasa. Shall I do so?"

Cynthia hesitated for a moment. She turned and looked at me, I think searching for guidance. I personally have difficulties with mystics myself, so I wasn't sure how to respond. I mean, I do believe in God, or a god anyway. I just don't trust anyone who claims to have powers that only he really has. So I shrugged sort of helplessly. It was her sister, so it was her call. I guess that she got the message.

"Fine," she said. "Contact him. Please."

"I will," Dumarith replied. "I hope to God that his reputation is true." And with that, he gave a short bow and left.

When he was gone, Cynthia looked at me and started crying. I was surprised and asked her what was wrong. "I just trusted my sister to a Grushan witch-doctor, that's what's wrong," she said.

I didn't know what to say. I ended up just walking over and giving her a hug and she sort of cried on my shoulder for a while. I think it was as good a call as any, and I told her that after a while. I think...or at least I hope...that it helped.

After that we went back to the hospital. Olivia's doing no better than she was before. In fact, she seems to be getting worse, although the doctors can't say why. I suppose that this Rorith might be the last hope we have at this point.

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