Chapter 49

Aina time: 2:40 AM, day 286 of 1449

Earth time: 2:21 AM Eastern Standard Time, Sunday, July 19, 2043

Jennifer opened her eyes, feeling very groggy. She realized several people were in her hospital room with her, and she shivered as she realized some of them were male. She forced herself fully awake, and looked around. There was only Dr. Ker with her now. "Dr. Mayoni will be here in just a second," Ker said quietly, and then she looked at some monitors. Jennifer looked at her arm band. She had one red and three yellow lights.

"Jennifer..." It was Dr. Mayoni.

Jennifer blinked her eyes awake and glanced at the clock, 2:46 AM. She had only drifted for a few minutes. "Hi Doctor. What the hell is happening to me?"

"Things have gotten... complicated."

"Like how? I thought I was getting better. I had two blue lights, even a green."

"I know. And then you collapsed to red-four. We almost lost you."

"My stomach feels okay."

Mayoni nodded. "It's not that. The auto-destruct code... It's mutating."

"What? Oh... Oh shit! What's it doing?"

"It came very close to activating another part of the plague complex. It tried to flood your body with SCI, the super carcinogen initiators."

"Oh... Adaptive little bugger, isn't it?"

Mayoni smiled. "That's the spirit. We can still whip this thing! I have some good news for you too, about Lynda. She hasn't needed the extract now in six hours. It's really, really encouraging."

"That is good news." Jennifer sighed. "How come the destruct code is mutating in me but not Lynda?"

"I don't know. The human immune system is such a piece of work! We might not ever know. A strong possibility is the radiation damage you had. Yours was more severe than Lynda's. I repaired as much as I could. But I'm not the Spirit..."

"So what now?"

"There are different boosters in your arm monitor now, working with the extract to shield you against SCI activation. I think I know how to do this. I'll be tuning the algorithms over the next few days."

"Oh... No more sleep for you again, huh?"

"It's an honor to help you Jennifer."

"You know, you're so amazing. You really believe that, don't you?"

"Of course."

"I read your biography, a few days ago. Well, just a part of it... You're more of a research scientist than a doctor, aren't you?"

Mayoni sighed. "They are both my passions. When I was young, I focused on being a doctor. I was an Ob-gyn. But I didn't count on the tears..."

"Huh? Oh... Wait! Are you crying for me?!"

Mayoni nodded. "Va'an told me about your lunch date. Remember what Marcus sang to you?"

"Yes. I'll never forget."

"The next verse of the Spirit song goes like this..." Mayoni sang in a quiet voice.

When she was finished, Jennifer whispered, "That was lovely. What does it mean?"

"The Spirit song reminds us that no one deserves to die unwept... I can put off the tears at work, focus on my job, be all business. But later, in my dreams..."

Jennifer was quiet for a long while. "Look," she said at last. "The sunrise!"

Mayoni glanced at the window and nodded. "Still lots of time for you to sleep though. It's only 3 AM."

"Mayoni, the Spirit song... What is it?"

"It's our creed, our tenets, our worship... all coming together in one song. It has five parts, a core and then a different piece for each of the four seasons. We sing the core and a season part at each festival. For great occasions, the tribe sings the entire song. It takes about two hours. We did it when we accepted the Paleo into our tribe, again when we adopted our constitution... The two parts you heard are from the core..." Mayoni yawned.

"You sang a religious song when you formed your government? Don't you believe in the separation of Church and State? You know, no religion in government."

"Ha! Even the defunct U.S. Constitution never called for that. It just prohibited the government from establishing a church. Don't you see the difference, between separating an officially supported church from the government, compared to trying to separate your Spirit and your principles from your government? We're not a theocracy Jennifer. There are no government clerics, there's no ruling priesthood. We do recognize the difference between secular power and sacred power." Mayoni yawned again.

Jennifer nodded her understanding, and then said, "Doctor, I prescribe sleep for you, at once!"

Mayoni nodded back, and got up to leave. "For you too Jennifer. Pleasant dreams. I love you."

Jennifer felt a wave of emotions, her desire to express finally overcoming her shyness and WFM training. "I love you too Mayoni... And I haven't said that to anybody in many years."

Mayoni smiled and left the room.

Aina time: 10:06 AM, day 286 of 1449

Earth time: 9:47 AM Eastern Standard Time, Sunday, July 19, 2043

Jennifer opened her eyes and looked around her room. Lynda was sitting in the lounge chair by the window, engrossed in Jane Austen. Jennifer glanced at her own arm and sighed, still one red and three yellows. "Hi!" she said.