Meyvn Akana Xiou

Does this have anything to do with blasting my lifeless body into space????!!!!! Because I am SO angry about that and plan on haunting you all to madness! :D

"Kian. Bring your sister into the house. Dinner is ready." Anona stood in the doorway, watching as her son ran across the play area to fetch his younger sister Anki. Anki was sluggish about responding, but she hated being pulled away from her play time with the other children. Finally, the two of them started down the short path to their house and Anona slipped back inside to bring the food to the table. Normally, she would wait for her husband to come home from working at the hospital, but with the recent outbreak of illness, he was in the laboratory more often than he was home. He had left early that morning after only sleeping a few hours. Anona was worried that he might be working himself too hard. He had hardly eaten anything over the past few days and slept uneasily. It was not uncommon, however, as he often became overly engrossed in his work until he solved a particular problem. Anona glanced up as the door opened and her two younglings entered. Kian was flushed, probably from running too much. Anki was dragging her feet, her shoulder slumped. The girl was prone to fits when she did not have her way and was infamous for brooding. Anona had yet to come up with a way to break her of the habit. Perhaps she would grow out of it as she aged. Anona felt her pounding headache worsen as her daughter flopped into a chair sullenly. "Anki. No pouting. You've had all day to play and have done nothing but sit in the grass with your doll. Perhaps tomorrow you will make an effort to play the games the other children wish to play. Sit down and eat." She took her own place at the table and began dishing food out onto their plates as they both sat down. Kian stared at his food and wrinkled his nose. "We had this last night. Can't we have something different tonight?" "When it is gone, then we'll have something different, but I'm not going to waste food just because you don't want to eat it two nights in a row." Anona sighed as he continued to prod the meat with his fork. "Just eat it. We'll have something different tomorrow. Finish your plate and you may have some of the sweet melon that you love so much." "I'm not hungry." Anona frowned at that, eyeing her son. Kian was always craving sweets to the point where she had to hide them from him. For him to give up the chance for a bowl of melon was a rare occurrence. Still frowning, she glanced to where her daughter sat. Anki was slumped in her chair and hadn't touched her food, either. "What has gotten into the two of you? If you've gotten sunstroke, you are staying inside tomorrow, no matter how much you complain." "I hurt," Anki moaned, clutching her stomach as a fit of coughing struck her. A moment later, she'd fallen to the floor and was vomiting violently. Anona rushed to help her daughter and found her son becoming sick as well. The two of them writhed on the floor, moaning in between bouts. Frantic, Anona fumbled with her communication unit, pressing the incorrect sequence several times before her numbed fingers managed to work. "Help!" she screamed into the unit as the emergency channel was answered by the hospital staff. "My children have become extremely ill. They have the disease. Send someone, please!" "All of our emergency units are in the field, bringing in other sick people. We'll get to you as soon as we can." "Hurry, please! I don't know what to do. Find my husband. He works there!" "We'll see what we can do. All of our doctors are in quarantine at the moment. We'll get to you as soon as we can. I cannot stay on this channel as I have other emergency calls incoming. Be patient and we will be there to help you shortly." Anona stared at the screen as it went dark, unable to believe what she was hearing. Scrambling to her feet, she gathered up her children in her arms, thankful they had stopped throwing up. They were both bleeding from their mouths and noses, however, and were too weak to do more than open their eyes. "Don't worry dear ones. We're going to get you help." Lifting a child in each arm, Anona stood and headed for the door, ignoring her pounding headache that threatened to split her skull in two. As she reached the door and struggled to open it, a wave of dizziness hit her and she staggered, falling painfully to one knee. Forcing herself to stand, she shuffled forward a few steps and sagged against the doorway. "Help!" she called weakly, catching the attention of several passing by. "Help us, please! My children are sick and need medical attention. Help us to the facility..." Unable to stand any longer, she staggered backward and fell to the floor, still holding her children. Vaguely she recognized faces as they appeared in her field of vision, though the forms were blurred. Her headache blinded her to the point where it hurt to open her eyes. As though she were listening from far away, she heard their oddly muffled voices. "They are bleeding from their eyes! It is the plague!" "The Council was right! The plague! It is spreading!" "Don't touch them! You will catch it! Everybody get out!" "They are going to infect everyone here! We must do something!" "Burn the house! Burn out the infection!" It took Anona a few moments to register what they were saying. She released her children and struggled to sit up, but another wave of dizziness hit her and her abdomen began to cramp. As her stomach released its contents, she vaguely heard the roar of crackling wood as her house went up in flames around her. Black smoke filled the air and threatened to suffocate her as she gasped for breath. Her children lay on the floor where she'd dropped them, unable to move except to cough. She crawled to them and curled about them, holding them close as the house began to fall apart around them. When the first tongues of flame licked at their bodies, they could do nothing but scream. And then they screamed no more. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The decontamination procedures are not working," the young doctor sighed. "I have seventy cases now of infected patients and two thirds of those are medical personnel." "Two thirds?! These people have been going home every evening to their families! And they've been unknowingly infected?" "Yes. We thought the decontamination was enough, but the disease has become airborne. Or was airborne from the beginning. At this point, we're still not sure. Infection takes place minutes after coming into physical contact. Once a subject starts coughing, they will infect anyone in the immediate vicinity." "I thought all of our doctors were instructed to wear breathing devices," the government official scowled. "Masks, yes. But the virus is microscopic and slips through the filters. All non-infected personnel are now wearing full suits and enclosed breathing machines. We've set aside an entire wing to quarantine our staff to keep them from spreading the disease to the public, but the damage has already been done. We are getting more cases every hour." "And no cure in sight?" "None. We've tried everything in our power and nothing works. Our only hope is that Doctor Xiou is successful." "Xiou?! She left with the aliens! She abandoned us to save herself." "You shouldn't believe everything you hear. The Council is spreading rumors to rile the public. Yes, she went with them, but she also left us word that she went to find a cure. Their technology is superior to our own and they offered to help us." "Why would the Council spread rumors?" "To take the focus off of the disease and give the people something to protest. There have been... incidents... and panic. And the Council is doing nothing to calm the public. They are hiding something, obviously." "What would they have to hide?" "What do you think? This disease is not a naturally occurring virus. It has been tailored to target our genetic code and do as much damage as quickly as possible." "Then the aliens are responsible!" "Are you stupid?! If they designed it, why would they visit us before it had eradicated us?" "To gloat? To check on the progress of the disease? To kidnap one of our most promising doctors to keep us from finding a cure?! Any number of reasons!" "With such a paranoid outlook, I'm not surprised you were voted in as magistrate. Do you hear yourself? Do you know how ridiculous that sounds? These people are far beyond us in capability. Why would they want our world?! What could we possibly have to tempt them?" "Who knows? Who cares? All I know is that the Council gave the order to attack them. Soon, they will be obliterated!" "For your sake, I hope you are wrong." "What do you mean?" "At this point, we'll be lucky if we can contain this disease to those that have been infected. We have no way to cure those that are already dying. And those that are not lucky enough to make it to the hosptial are being murdered in fear by their neighbors. The fools don't realize that they could already be carrying the disease without showing symptoms." "So what are we to do?" "Nothing. We can do nothing but wait and watch and hope for a miracle. Doctor Xiou and our alien visitors are the only hope we have left..." "Then we are doomed." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meyvn had forgotten where she was. When she finally opened her eyes, she did not recognize anything. The strange shapes, blinking lights, and odd colors seemed like some forgotten nightmare. The surface beneath her was cold and unyielding, but she was not yet willing to move. Her face pressed against the surface and the cold metal was slowly easing away the pain in her aching temples. One arm dangled off the side and as far as she knew, it could have ceased to exist. She attempted to move her fingers and felt the tingling sensation of blood rushing through the limb as her circulation was restored. The smell of bile and vomit and blood was strong in her nose and make her choke as she attempted a deep breath. The noise brought two shadows into her field of vision and she blinked, trying to force them to merge into something recognizable. When the figures finally cooperated and materialized into Sendai and TroNoQ, she jerked back as the reality of the situation came rushing to her mind. She felt herself losing consciousness again, and was willing to surrender to the darkness, but a sharp slap against her cheek brought her back to her senses. "Mmmmm?" She blinked, the fuzzy picture clarifying after a few moments of effort. "I'm still here, so I'm assuming it worked? Thank you," she breathed, without waiting for an answer. "Now go save the others..." This time, no amount of slapping could stop her from slipping away. She was alive, but only just. The tiny alien machines coursing through her bloodstream were doing what they could to reverse the process, but there was still much damage to correct. Blissfully unaware, Meyvn drifted through a dream world of disembodied hands holding pink lollipops where everyone danced all the time and no one ever died.