Chapter 9

Amanda woke up falling. She shrieked and flailed her arms trying to get her bearings, but she hit her head against the nightstand and barely managed not to crash on the floor. She hurt her knees on the thin carpet, and felt her heart racing in her chest. For a few seconds, she knelt on the floor wondering what had just happened, until she remembered the previous night and how Laura had invited her to sleep by her. She turn on the light through her comm, and was about to ask her roommate for an explanation when she realised Laura wasn't looking well. Feeling older than her years, she got up, and looked closer at her roommate. She seemed asleep, in spite of all the racket, and little tremmours ran through her body. Amanda, unsure of what to do, decided she'd better wake her. When she touched Laura's shoulder, about to shake her, she realised she was very hot, and began to worry. A touch on her forehead suggested she had a temperature.

"Laura?" she called. "Are you alright?" Her voice shook a little. Her roommate didn't seem to react at all, and Amanda grew more alarmed. She'd noticed Laura was easy to wake before. "Laura," she said, louder, "you're scaring me now. Please wake up?"

Before deciding whether to try harder to wake her up, Amanda checked the time. It could be that it was still very early. In fact, though, it was Laura's usual waking hour. She shook her roommate, who began to moan, but didn't wake up. After some hard shoves and calling out her name didn't work, she pondered using a glass of water, but she was worried about her roommate's body temperature. It could give her quite a shock. Running out of ideas, she slapped Laura, though she felt such an almost physical reluctance to hurt that placid face that it was hardly a smack at all. Still, her roommate began to moan and move her limbs with more apparent purpose, and She waited for a few seconds for her to wake up fully.

"What is happening? It is so hot! Why are you standing there by my bed?" asked Laura, sounding confused. "Is it time to wake up, or something?"

"It's your usual time, Laura. I must say you don't look very well. It took a lot of work to wake you up."

"I feel like something's been tearing up all my muscles. My whole body hurts, and I still have a headache. How did you know to wake me now? You're not usually up so early."

"I think you must have been startled by the alarm, maybe. Anyway, you threw me off the bed."

"I did what? Oh, we slept ... together. It must be as you say", she said, beginning to get up. "Please, get me a glass of water? I'm parched. My mouth's completely dry."

Amanda was getting worried. It wasn't like her roommate to ask for help, and it was obvious just getting up from bed was proving a challenge. She went to the sink and filled up a glass, still naked and barefoot, and looking at the mirror she saw a bump on the side of her head, where she'd hit the nightstand. It wasn't a very good start for the day. She gave Laura, still sitting on her bed, the glass, and she noticed she spilled a bit of water as her hands trembled.

"This water is so cold", said Laura, drinking small sips. "I felt I was burning, and now I'm freezing." Amanda was standing close to Laura, ready to help, but she was not quick enough. The glass slipped from Laura's fingers, spilling some of the water on Laura's bare feet, making her yell. "What on earth is wrong with me!" she whined. But Laura, thought Amanda, never whined.

"Calm down, Laura", said Amanda. "I think you must be ill. I'll deal with the water." Laura, whose feet got wet, looked confused. She lifted her legs off the floor, shifted herself on the bed, shifted back, and ended up deciding to lie back down. Amanda got a towel, and as she was about to dry the floor, realised Laura's feet and lower legs were still wet. "Want me to dry you?"

"Yes, please", said Laura, shivering. "I think you're right. I'm not feeling well. It feels like I have a furnace inside me, but I'm also freezing. Could it perhaps be the food? Are you feeling well yourself?"

"Well enough", said Amanda, rapping Laura's foot in the towel and pressing it dry. "I think you had this headache before we went out, though. Do you have a lab slot today?" Amanda dried Laura's other foot, making her roommate sigh.

"Hmm, thank you for that. Now I just feel rather cold, instead of unbearably icy", said Laura, tucking herself under the bedclothes. "I have a slot, yes. If I forego breakfast ... I think I can rest for an hour or two and still make it, perhaps." As Amanda went to drop the towel in the laundry basket, Laura gasped. "What's that on your head?"

Amanda took in air, but instead of sighing gave a little laugh. It was a fragile thing. "I told you. I woke up falling off the bed and hitting my head on your nightstand. I've known better ways of waking up, I must say", she said. "You know what? I don't think you should be going to the lab today. You're unwell and--"

"Sorry about your head. I was asleep." Laura laughed. "It must have been funny to see though. I'll go to the lab, don't worry. This must be temporary. Maybe a bit of warmth and rest will fix it. Now that we sorted ourselves out, I'm even more impatient to get the data I need, and I can hardly do that lying in bed in my room. My body will just have to wait."

"Well, it's your call. I'll be around doing some work if you need me. I don't think I can fall back asleep now", said Amanda. She put some clothes and slippers on, sat at her desk, and began to read all the documents she had now access to as part of Laura's workgroup.

She meant to make a meaningful contribution beyond her work with the rings, and she needed to know what Laura was up to in order to determine what modifications the ringss would require to become useful. She wasn't looking forward to trying to fit in more sensors, but she thought it might be possible to use multi-purpose systems to avoid having to remove some of the capabilities she'd designed in already. As she read and took notes, she kept an eye on her roommate, checking she was alright from time to time. Laura had been working so hard it wouldn't have surprised her if she'd overtaxed her body beyond what it could take. She needed to take care of her now, as a roommate, a groupmate, a friend, and, perhaps, something else. It certainly had looked that way the previous night.

As time passed, Amanda came to the conclusion that her roommate wasn't going to make it on time for her lab session. Even someone as driven as Laura had to take a break now and then to deal with the demands of her body, she thought; but she'd better wake her up so she could warn the lab, free the slot, and maybe reschedule with her subjects. She wasn't going to be pleased, though, and Amanda didn't look forward to it.

"Laura", she called. "It's time. If you're not going to the lab you need to let them know now."

Laura seemed not to respond to Amanda's call at all. She didn't even change her position. This was unusual, and Amanda was starting to get concerned.

"Laura?" She approached her bed and started shaking her again. "Wake up, come on. You need to call in sick."

A few attempts later, Amanda realised something wasn't right. It shouldn't be so hard to wake someone up, even when they're tired and ill. After some seconds of thought, she decided it would be best to call medical services and cancel her lab slots.

"My roommate isn't getting up", she said through her comm to the medical personnel.

"Is that a medical issue? Have you tried waking her up?" replied the voice of a middle age woman.

"She won't wake up. I don't know her exact temperature but she must have a fever, too. she was complaining about a headache yesterday, and today I managed to wake her up briefly, and she said she was feeling sore and cold."

"Let me take a look at her. Can you focus your comm on her face?"

"Sure", said Amanda, as she shifted her comm. "Is that alright?"

"Hmm, it doesn't look like much, but we'll send someone just in case. Can you stay with her for ten minutes?"

"I'll stay with her, no problem. I need to cancel her lab slots anyway."

"You do that. We'll be around shortly. Please don't leave your room, ok?"

"Of course. Until soon."

She tried closing down Laura's slots, but she didn't have enough authorisation, which, she thought, made sense. Otherwise roommates could cause quite a few problems. However, in this instance Laura was unable to do it herself. She was about to comm faculty services when someone knocked firmly on her door.

"Medical services", said the same voice that had talked to Amanda through the comm.

Amanda opened the door and was surprised to see a woman in a biohazard suit carrying quite a lot of equipment. She invited her in, and was about to ask her what was going on.

"I'm Julia, you're ... Amanda, is it?" asked the medic.

"That's right. Here's my roommate, Laura", she said. "What's going on?"

"I'm hoping it's just unnecessary caution. Give me a minute and I'll let you know."

She began to unfold the instruments of her trade from her kit.

"I'm certified for basic nursing", said Amanda. "Do you need any help?"

"Not yet, but if that's so I may need it later, so I'll ask you to stay while I examine your roommate. What's your specialism?"

"Biotech", said Amanda. She thought she saw a flash of anger on Julia's face, and a sensor dropped from her hands. How odd, she thought.

"I see. Well, in that case I will see if I can do without you. Still, I want you to stand by just in case", said Julia, uncovering Laura's body and placing sensors all over her. "She's hot. You were right to call us", she said, grudgingly. She took a sample of blood and placed it on a checker. A few seconds later, it began to beep.

"I'm afraid I have bad news for you", said Julia, and Amanda's heart jumped in her chest.

"What's wrong with her?" she asked.

"It's an artificial agent. She's infected, and you're her roommate, so you may be too. I'm going to have to get some of your blood, please."

"What ... what does it do? she asked, offering her hand for the blood sample.

"I didn't design it", replied Julia. "That's your job." She took Amanda's hand, and with a quick prick she got her blood, which went into the same checker. "I'm sorry," said Julia, "but this stuff is distressing to me. I can't tell you everything it does, but it causes loss of temperature control, so very high fever and low body temperature, temporary unconsciousness, muscle spasms, and, from what patients report, pretty disturbing nightmares."

"That seems fairly benign for a bioagent. Can it be cured?"

"I'm afraid not", she said, looking at the checker. "You're fine, though; it's only your roommate. She's going to spend her next week in bed. It is important for her temperature to be stabilised, or she could be in real trouble. Even more trouble. Unfortunately I can't justify moving her or sending someone to keep track of her, but we do have a stabilisation technique. I'll have to restrain her, though."

"Is that absolutely necessary?"

"Well, I'm going to place several elements on her to track the temperature on her blood and raise it or lower it as necessary, but if she thrashes around, and she will, she's going to hurt herself and maybe disconnect them."

"What about hydration and food?"

"I brought a hydration system. Hypodermoglysis will do for the time she needs. However ... it's not going to be any fun to be around her, and, in any case, I can't let you go in and out of the room. This agent is relatively safe, most people's immune patches deal with it fine, but it can still be transmited and you could easily become a carrier, even if you're not one now. I'm afraid we'll have to set you up on a temporary room for the next week."