CHAPTER.

44.

ZOE ALAKIS.

A private ship flew into the Pergamus system, disregarding the warning transmissions from the guardian stations. No one had invited the vessel, and the pilot refused to give his name. He demanded to speak with Zoe Alakis in person.

That was always a bad sign.

Her security ships scrambled from the orbital picket lines. Ground-based defenses tracked the incoming blip. From her sterile central dome, Zoe triggered the standard lockdown procedures that sealed her groundside facilities and Orbiting Research Spheres. Incineration protocols and complete data-wipes were placed on hair-trigger standby. She would not allow any of her work or stockpiles to get loose. With all the valuable-and often dangerous-medical specimens in her numerous laboratories, Zoe maintained enough security to drive off an army. They could handle one annoying intruder.

When Tom Rom appeared on her private screen, Zoe felt the sense of relief that he always brought. He had just returned from the Klikiss ruins on Eljiid with the royal jelly samples, and he remained on Pergamus, awaiting his next assignment. "Do I need to solve this problem, Zoe? I can chase away the ship-destroy it, if necessary. The cleanup would take extra work, but it's still manageable."

The fact that Tom Rom had offered Zoe the choice was in itself calming. "Not just yet. We don't want to initiate an outside investigation. There's no telling how many people knew this man was coming here."

Tom Rom looked neither pleased nor disappointed. "I am here. Let me know what you need."

Two security ships launched from orbit, while three other defenders rose from the surface to intercept the small ship. The stranger flitted around the satellite stations, dodging pursuit. He kept transmitting, sounding more desperate. "I need to speak to Zoe Alakis. My name is James Duggan. My wife is Andrea-Andrea Duggan. Maybe you've heard of her? She's an artist, quite well known." On the screen, his young face looked gaunt, and beard stubble covered his cheeks. "Dammit, why won't you respond?"

"Mr. Duggan, you are not authorized here," said one of her security pilots. "Pergamus is a private facility. If you do not depart immediately, we will consider you dangerous and defend ourselves with lethal force."

Duggan's eyes widened, but he was so determined that the threat barely made him flinch. "I just want to talk. I need to speak with Ms. Alakis."

On the private channel, Tom Rom said, "I'm ready anytime, Zoe. Waiting."

She hated how this intrusion would distract her researchers from their important work. She didn't need to be reminded that Pergamus was vulnerable. "Let me try one more thing." Zoe adjusted her chair, glanced at her reflection, then activated the transmit function. "Mr. Duggan, this is Zoe Alakis. I don't know you. I don't wish to speak with you. I don't want you here. Please leave."

Duggan leaned closer to the screen as intense as if no one else existed but the two of them. Zoe felt a chill. "I've got nowhere else to go," he said. "You're my only chance-my wife's only chance. She has ... she has Heidegger's Syndrome, in its final stages."

Zoe's expression hardened. So that's what it was. "If she's in the final stages of Heidegger's, then it is incurable. Go home. Be with your wife, comfort her."

"She's already nearly blind, the degeneration of the optic nerve was the worst for her. She's an artist, a laser artist. She's famous. You must've seen her work."

"I don't look at art, Mr. Duggan. I don't leave Pergamus. We have too much work to do here."

"It's Heidegger's! I know you're researching it. I know you have a cure."

"Heidegger's Syndrome is incurable. You can read that anywhere."

"You have a cure," he insisted. "You can help my wife."

"I could help a lot of people ... and if I did, there would still be more who need it, and even more after that." Her work was too important to let herself plunge into that quagmire.

The pathetic man had let himself and his wife fall into this trap. The universe was not a fair place, and it wasn't her job to rectify injustices. She didn't like him, didn't like that he had intruded here, didn't like how he assumed that after all her years of effort, all her expenses, all the trial and error, all the extreme measures she had taken in the pursuit of a cure for Heidegger's, while her own father degenerated ... that she would just give it to this man because he was sad and desperate? She felt no sympathy for him whatsoever.

"If I had a cure for Heidegger's Syndrome, Mr. Duggan, then it would be my cure. I developed it. I tested it. I keep it. I don't have to share." No one had bothered to help when her father needed it. She had learned much about human nature.

"I can pay you," Duggan said. "My wife can create original masterpieces if she gets her sight back."

Zoe rolled her eyes. Even after intensive treatment, the chances of repairing the damage to the woman's optic nerve were minuscule. And what use did Zoe have for artwork anyway? There were too many threats in the universe, too many germs, too many dangers to watch out for at every turn. She had no desire to cover up the risks with pretty pictures.

"You miss the point, Mr. Duggan. If you don't leave now, I am within my rights to have Pergamus security destroy you. I have a full record of this conversation. You have been warned several times. You are trespassing."

Duggan reeked of nave disbelief. His voice was hoarse. "You're not human. How can you do this?"

"You don't know what I am, or what I've been through."

She switched over to Tom Rom's private channel. "Encourage him to depart with all due speed." Then, as a last kindness she added, "But don't harm him, don't destroy his ship. Let him go back to his wife."

After looking at her for a long moment, Tom Rom acknowledged and switched off. Zoe was sure he understood her justifications, though it had taken her a while to figure it out for herself.

James Duggan reminded Zoe of what she had been like years ago. At one time she had been desperate too, willing to do anything to cure her father as his Heidegger's progressed on Vaconda. No one had rescued her then. In those last months, she had been forced to watch the awful worsening of his symptoms, even though Tom Rom had done his best to help....

For Adam Alakis, the course of the disease manifested differently from Andrea Duggan's symptoms. His sympathetic nerves had suffered the worst damage, making it harder and harder for him to breathe, making his heart forget how to beat.

He lost the ability to control the muscles of his throat, so he couldn't even swallow his food; Zoe had to hook him up to intravenous nutrient drips in the forest watchtower. Even when he did manage to breathe, he couldn't control his voice. Unable to speak or write for the last few months, he communicated with his daughter only through longing, hopeless looks; his unexpressed thoughts piled up like drifts of old gray snow that refused to melt. She'd been nineteen.

Zoe refused to believe there was no cure for Heidegger's. In their watchstation above the lichentree forests, with the droning symphony of insect songs and the trill of reptile-birds, she used to sit in the window enclosure. She propped her father in his comfortable chair, adjusted the nutrient drip, and let him stare out at the undulating lichentree colors. Tendrils of orchid vines broke off in strong breezes and drifted across the treetops before they dropped into the underbrush and tapped into other plant systems.

While her father faded, day by day over the course of five long years, Zoe made it her cause to understand everything known about Heidegger's. The Alakis watchstation library had a wealth of medical records, as well as all the data the Vaconda teams had collected for decades on the pharmaceutical possibilities of native insects, flowers, spores, and poisonous saps.

Heidegger's was a rare disease, with fewer than a thousand recorded cases across the Terran Hanseatic League. Zoe did discover several recent studies, and a medical research team on New Portugal that had made interesting progress. A few obscure research papers suggested promising data, but that research had never been pursued-Zoe didn't know why. She found it maddening. If that research team had simply followed up with trials, they could have had a test treatment by now, something that Zoe's ailing father could try.

She sent pleas to the research teams, begging them to release anything they had-unpublished studies, unverified experiments. But she was just a teenaged girl, and she received no response. At the time, the hydrogues had launched their war across the Spiral Arm, and the entire Hansa was in turmoil. Hydrogue warglobes were attacking numerous planets, the Ildiran Empire was reeling-and nobody cared about a lone biological researcher and his daughter on a small wilderness planet.

As Adam's health failed, Tom Rom dismissed the few remaining volunteers on Vaconda, who were glad to get away. But he stayed, as he always did. After Zoe told him about the abandoned Heidegger's research she had found, Tom Rom looked at Adam, then gave a brisk nod to Zoe. "I'll go find them, retrieve their data, and interview them to see if they can offer any hope." He left the two alone in the watchstation.

Zoe wished she could take her father away to some kind of hospice, where he would receive the care he needed as his health failed, but Adam refused to leave Vaconda. With great effort he managed to make his answer clear: no. She knew his reasons. He had spent many years here, and his wife had died here. He knew full well that no one could help him-in fact, he seemed to accept that fact long before his daughter did.

Zoe was frightened and frustrated by her inability to do anything except care for him. How was it possible that human intelligence and science could be defeated by some mindless germ?

While they were alone in the vast planetary wilderness, she read aloud to her father, played his favorite music, talked about how she would find a cure for Heidegger's Syndrome-and not stop there. She would cure many other medical conditions too. She waited for Tom Rom to come back from New Portugal.

He was gone for a month, and he returned at last with a disappointed expression and a pack of data that amounted to little. "There was not much progress, Zoe. The experiments were incomplete and inconclusive."

Her voice cracked as she felt her last hopes slipping through her fingers. "So you spoke to the research teams, then? Did they run into some difficulties? Maybe we can work-"

"I brought you all the results they had," Tom Rom said. "From early indications, I have no doubt that they could have developed a cure, or at least an effective treatment, but they never bothered to pursue it, because Heidegger's is so rare. The work did not meet their cost-benefit requirements."

Zoe was disgusted. "It shouldn't be an either-or! They should find cures for everything."

"They claimed they didn't have enough resources. They had to pick and choose." He narrowed his eyes. "It boils down to money. They work on whatever they can get funding for. Everyone else is out of luck."

From his seat by the watchstation windows, Adam Alakis could hear the two of them, though he could not respond.

"It's not fair." Her throat felt raw, her face hot with rage.

Tom Rom hesitated a long moment, then wrapped his arm around her. He felt as sturdy as a tree. "You're right, it's not fair. Other people are selfish. They don't care about you unless it benefits them somehow."

Zoe watched her father who sat in his chair facing the sunset. As colors deepened in the sky and the taller lichentrees began blooming with the twilight, he was trembling. A single tear leaked out of the corner of his eye and trickled down his cheek.

CHAPTER.

45.

TOM ROM.

Rest only made him restless, and after a week of being back at Pergamus, Tom Rom was anxious to go out on another mission for Zoe.

James Duggan's desperate demand for access to the Heidegger's cure had unsettled many of the researchers. From his offices, Tom Rom tapped into their private conversations and eavesdropped on their laboratory chatter. He found it disturbing.

Some of the scientists went back to their work as usual, but several grumbled about the terms of their contracts. By now, Tom Rom knew that idealistic medical researchers, and humans in general, would rationalize ways to do what they wanted, to change the terms of their promises. To him, that was like breaking the backbone of a moral code. He didn't understand why anyone would prefer chaos and uncertainty to clear-cut, black-and-white stability.

Zoe never shared her cures, her library, her information. Never. Tom Rom understood that. If she decided to make an exception because of James Duggan's sad story, then she would have to make decisions on anyone else who asked for information or treatment or cures. It was only a matter of degree. Even if she had given the Heidegger's cure to save one blind artist, she couldn't possibly help all the sick. That had never been Zoe's goal. What would be the point? Anyone who called her selfish and ruthless simply didn't understand her.

Now, Tom Rom entered the main Pergamus infirmary dome for his scheduled medical inspection. He had a complete workup each month and another physical examination before he left on any mission. He underwent a full body scan, 3-D muscle map, blood tests, saliva tests, DNA scan, heart monitoring, pulmonary function workup, circulatory tests, dental and vision exams-whatever the doctors wanted to do to him. Zoe's face appeared on the screen, watching him, always watching him. That didn't bother Tom Rom; rather, it made him feel secure.

"We have to keep you healthy, Tom. No surprises, no disease, no malfunction, no degeneration. You expose yourself to so much out there for me. You know how much I appreciate it."

"I do it for you, Zoe. That's enough."

If he ever did contract some exotic malady, he knew she would move planetary systems to treat him, bankrupt herself to fund a cure. He didn't believe he deserved it, but Zoe did, and he wouldn't disagree with her.

As the doctors prodded and scanned him, he ignored them and spoke to Zoe instead. "Any new findings on the Klikiss royal jelly I delivered?"

"It's an interesting substance, unusual biochemistry. We don't quite know what to do with it, yet. Three teams are still running analyses."

Tom Rom focused on her face on the screen so he could ignore the sting of a deep lymph needle. He didn't measure what obtaining that royal jelly had cost, didn't consider the blood price of the annoying camp administrator. If the man had minded his own business, he wouldn't have had to die. Tom Rom never sought out violence, but when someone got in his way, he did what was necessary. "Where would you like me to go next?"

Zoe brightened, although he knew she didn't want him to go so soon. One of Tom Rom's greatest rewards for the risks he took was the pure joy Zoe expressed whenever he returned. If he hadn't had any other reasons driving him, that alone would have made it all worthwhile. Zoe's voice broke into his thoughts. "Several possibilities, but we'll start with this one. Rumors of a brain parasite on Ramah that causes rapturous hallucinations. I'll transmit the files."

The planet sounded familiar. "Ramah was the home of the madman who claimed to have found heaven in the Klikiss royal jelly."

"He may have suffered from the parasite himself," Zoe said, "but the royal jelly controlled it. We would need specimens to understand better."

Tom Rom listened. "Obtaining tissue samples as well as an intact and viable brain parasite may be difficult. And it would raise questions." His lips curved in a faint smile. "But I'll get you one."

"Be careful," she said.

"I will be-always."

When Adam Alakis was dying, Tom Rom had hated to leave young Zoe alone, but it was pointless for them both to stay on Vaconda just to wait. And wait. Zoe kept herself awake by consuming high levels of jungle stimulants in order to keep researching the disease. She slept only two hours a night for weeks at a time.

After all the time Zoe, Adam, and Tom Rom had spent trudging through the lichentree forests, studying the underbrush, testing leaves, berries, roots, and fungi, Zoe was convinced there must be some option for a cure on Vaconda. No one knew how her father had contracted the extremely rare disease. Armed with his tissue samples and blood tests, she refused to give up hope, insisting there was a miracle solution hidden in the biological reservoir, somewhere.

Tom Rom knew that the likeliest source for a cure lay in the work of the original research team that had made progress investigating Heidegger's Syndrome. He vowed to help Adam Alakis. More important, he wanted to save poor Zoe from the looming tragedy.

So he left her at the watchstation to take care of Adam and flew off to the university laboratory on New Portugal, where he hunted down the members of the research team, now dispersed. He wanted to ask why they had made reasonable progress, then lost interest and devoted their work to other things. Personally, Tom Rom hated to leave a job unfinished.

Hydrogues were attacking numerous planets, but he didn't care about that. New Portugal was isolated, frightened by the war, waiting for the next announcement that another planet had been devastated by the alien warglobes.

When he found the university researchers, he asked polite questions, then was forced to interrogate them more vigorously. He began by being reasonable, asking them to cancel their other projects and relaunch their work on Heidegger's Syndrome with the goal of finding a treatment. But the researchers refused, unmoved by the plight of Adam Alakis. They were dismissive of Tom Rom-which only made their situation worse. They didn't understand how determined he was.

So, he made up his mind to kidnap the researchers and drag them back to Vaconda where he would force them to continue their research at the facilities in the forest watchstation. Adam Alakis already had the medical equipment any scientific team could want, and Tom Rom would provide anything else they required-provided they did the work he asked.

After they turned down his initial request, he lured the researchers to an empty laboratory late at night, locked the doors, increased the illumination. He identified the scientists by their names and tied them to chairs, where they were unable to move. Tom Rom asked them about the Heidegger's research protocol they had developed, the results they had achieved.

He spent hours getting details from them, using intimidation when possible, pain when necessary. Baffled and terrified, the researchers tried to lie to him, but Tom Rom was not merely a thug-he understood their work from first principles.

Soon, it became quite clear that even if he dragged them to Vaconda and forced them to treat Adam Alakis, their work was only at a preliminary stage. Any possible cure was still years away.

"There were promising avenues," admitted one of the researchers, a stocky, square-jawed woman. "But Heidegger's is an orphan disease. The cure wouldn't benefit enough people. It's not worth the time and effort-"

So Tom Rom killed them all. The violence resulted from a flash of uncontrolled anger, and over the years Tom Rom had come to regret the lapse. As he looked down at their silent, cooling bodies, he muttered, "What do you think of the cost now?" They had made judgments about the value of saving other people's lives, so he judged them. Then he departed.

The news of some horrific defeat of the Earth Defense Forces swept across New Portugal, frightening the population. He cleaned up the site of the crime as best he could, but he wasn't worried about being pursued. No records of his identity were in any database, and with the Spiral Arm embroiled in a genocidal war, a small crime like this was not likely to be solved. Ironically, he thought, it would not be cost effective.

He never told Zoe what he'd done, simply reported that the research was incomplete and that the scientific team could not help. He did not want to burden her with the unpleasant knowledge. Over the years, though, Tom Rom realized that Zoe Alakis could have handled it well....

Much, much later, with her sophisticated Pergamus facilities, unlimited funding, and the best researchers she could possibly hire, they had indeed found a cure for Heidegger's Syndrome. They catalogued the symptoms, causes, and treatments-but during the work Tom Rom had uncovered an even more burdensome secret, one that he could never allow Zoe to learn. A private analysis showed that he was a Heidegger's carrier. He was not affected by the disease, showed no symptoms, and according to the most reliable statistical indicators, the chances of him infecting anyone was practically zero. Practically.

Given all the time he had spent with Adam Alakis on Vaconda, he had to be the one responsible. Tom Rom treated himself as soon as the cure was available, purged all trace of the disease from his body. But Zoe didn't know, nor could she ever know.

As soon as the Pergamus doctors proclaimed him healthy and fit for duty, he headed out to find a sample of the Ramah brain parasite. He did enjoy being on Pergamus close to Zoe, especially the rare times when she allowed him past all the sterilization precautions so they could talk face-to-face like two normal people.