Shoshone Station: The Galactic Consortium season 2

Episode Six: Africa #15

Jake and his companions took two more trips to the same region, bringing more purification units, a load of shelters, and several other pieces of equipment. On the second trip, his truck carried a large archway that they set up at the entrance to a village. After the engineer set the arch in place, a healer set up some arcane equipment inside the arch.

"You might want to walk through before heading home," the healer advised.

"What does it do?" he asked.

"Deactivates viruses. They are usually built into the walls of stations and cities back home at intervals, to keep epidemics from spreading. You walk through, and if you have the designated virus, it is deactivated, and the information is relayed to Medical for study purposes."

Jake nodded thoughtfully and then walked under the arch. He felt nothing. "So what virus is it supposed to deactivate?"

"Ebola. Been a couple cases locally. Don't want that to spread."

Jake startled. "Ebola?" That was a killer plague. He'd seen it on the news. People died of Ebola. "Do I have it?"

The healer laughed. "Not anymore." She tapped the arch and walked away.

Abioya came running over from the truck. Jack wondered if he had heard, but before he could ask, Abioya jumped back and forth under the arch a half dozen times. "Just in case," he said and headed back toward the truck. Jake laughed and followed him.

Jake had driven them down, so Abioya drove them back. He had a couple of bottles of iced tea in the cab waiting. He pushed the passenger seat back as far as it would go and put his feet up. He felt like that veteran, Harrish, on his first trip out. Had he become a veteran in less than two weeks? It seemed like it.

He watched the world roll by. Afternoon was turning toward evening, and it would be after nightfall before they got back to base, but neither of them were worried about that.

Instead, Jake pondered his reluctance to talk to his mom. What was behind it? Was he like his dad, just running away? He feared that at times. But then he thought of Abioya and his mother. Abioya talked about going home, a stack of cash in his hand and giving it to his Mom, telling her to get herself something nice. He liked that thought. So maybe that was his problem—pride. He wanted to have something to show for his trip before he went back, before he admitted where he'd gone.

But could he just go home? It was long trip, several hours by hopper to Shoshone and then another four-hour drive to Wyoming. He glanced over at Abioya. He must have the same problem. How far had he come? Almost a full day.