Part 1 Yvonne

"Doctor, she's dead," one of the nurses told him for the eighth time during the last hour.

She was right. Yvonne Lafayette was lying on Pierre's operation table, her skull open and her brain already swelling. She hadn't shown any signs of life for two hours now, despite Lafayette's wild attempts to revive her.

"We need you to announce the time of death," the nurse told him gently, but he wasn't listening.
"Ten cc's of adrenaline!" he ordered again. This time nobody moved. He looked around his team of two doctors and three technicians but all their faces showed the same amount of determination, laced with sympathy.

Lafayette turned to look down at his wife and made a move as if he wanted to inject her himself. But he stopped and slowly sank to his knees instead, lowering his head.

"Doctor, time of death, please," the nurse repeated softly.

He looked up at her and opened his mouth but not a sound escaped it.

"Time of death, fifteen oh eight," one of the other doctors made the announcement for him.

While they all made their way out of the operation ward, the nurse came up to Lafayette, still on his knees, and helped him up. He allowed her to lead him out to the dressing room but then she had to help him wash his hands and change his clothes.

* * *

Pierre Lafayette never attended his wife's funeral. At that time, he was locked away in a mental hospital on the central planet of the system. He had to be fed and washed, showing no signs of understanding what was happening around him. When left alone, he'd sit or lie and stare at something in front of him that only he could see.

THE WHOLE STORY CAN BE FOUND HERE: Yvonne

Part 2 The Kid

"Sir! Mister Lafayette!"

A shout woke him up. Lafayette sat up, immediately alert. Although deeply shaken from his dream, he still managed to remember who the little boy shaking his arm was.

"What..." he stuttered. "What happened?"
"You were screaming..."
"I was?" Pierre blinked his eyes, trying to get rid of the image of Yvonne's face. "Yeah, I guess I was..." he said quietly. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."
"You had a bad dream?"
"Yeah. They happen to everyone sometimes, don't they?" He shook his head helplessly.
"Mom told me the best way to get rid of the nightmares is to talk about them." David took his blanket and moved back to Pierre's side, covering them both. "You can tell me, if you want."

Lafayette looked at the kid, stunned. He'd never expect such a level of maturity from someone that young. Than again, the boy had been through enough...

"Thank you, son," he smiled at him sadly. "Your Mom was a wise woman. In my case, I don't think it'd help much, though." He looked around. It was still the middle of the night. "Go back to sleep, David," he added, moving slightly away. "I'll do my best not to wake you up before dawn..."
The boy insisted. "It won't hurt to try, will it?" he asked. "Talking about your monsters might just chase them away..."

Lafayette sighed, adjusting the blanket and reclining back on the ground. The boy laid beside him, his head propped on his hand.

"All right. You see... I lost someone, too. It was a few years ago but it still hurts."
"Your child?"
"No, I never had children. My wife..."
"Why do you scream, then? If you loved her?"
"I did," Pierre shook his head, fighting the tears that suddenly started building up in his throat. "I loved her more than anyone else in my life. It's just that... what I dream about is her dying, you know? I never see her alive. I never dream about the times we had together..."
"Then perhaps you should think about these times more often? If you're concentrating on the moment of her death, it won't go away..."
"How do you know so much about it?"

The boy looked at him thoughtfully. "I used to wake up at nights, too. I saw a Cyborg with my Mom's face coming to get me..." David's voice trembled. "I was scared... but then, I tried to remember how she used to read me stories, how she cooked, how we went for walks together..." He couldn't speak anymore. Finally, emotions took the better of him and he started sobbing helplessly.

Pierre watched him for a moment and then reached out and held the boy tight, putting his head on his shoulder.

"You're a very brave kid," he whispered into his ear, stroking his back. They laid cuddled up together, each deep in their own thoughts. Neither of them noticed when they finally fell asleep in each other's embrace.

THE WHOLE STORY CAN BE FOUND HERE: The Kid

Part 3 Epidemy

All the blood samples run through the entire Alliance medical database revealed nothing. No known virus, no bacteria, no nothing.

"It must be some local mutation," muttered Lafayette six hours later, still busy with the simulations.

"Does this mean you can't help us?" asked Sarah who, unable to help him much, just sat at the back and watched what he was doing.

Pierre raised his head and looked at her with tired eyes. "I didn't say that. My second specialty was in genetics. I'm a little… out of date with my knowledge but we can still try. I'll need more samples," he added, rubbing his forehead.

"Shouldn't you see the sick yourself? I may have missed…"

"No!" he protested vehemently. "I won't need that," he added quieter, seeing a startled look on Sarah's face. "You just go and bring me more blood to test. And then you'll tell me all about the first cases. If we know who got sick first, we may be able to deduct the primary source."

When the girl left, he sat heavily on the chair and buried his head in his hands. Getting back to medical research was hard enough. He didn't think he could force himself to actually look at those people. But Sarah was right. At some point, he will probably have to. The image of Yvonne, dead, on his table, made him shake all over. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists, trying to regain his composure. He didn't have time to fall apart right now…

When Sarah got back with more samples, a couple of hours later, she found him back at work.

"Perhaps you should eat something?" she asked.

"I'm not hungry," he shot at her, taking the test tubes.

"But you definitely need to rest," Sarah said, looking at his face.

"Not tired," he told her impatiently.

"Doctor Lafayette…"

Pierre winced. Not this title… "Please," he said softly. "Just call me Pierre."

"Pierre… there are five more cases," she replied. "And two of our nurses got sick, too."

He stopped to look at her. "You have qualified nurses?"

"No…" she shook her head. "Just volunteers."

"What kind of precautions are you using?"

"Uhm…" she hesitated.

"Masks? Gloves? Antiseptics?"

"We don't…"

"You should have told me that at once!" he shouted, jumping up to his feet. "Give me your own blood to test and, in the meantime, I'll get the basics for you. How many people are now taking care of the sick?"

"Three…"

"For over a hundred people?" He cast her a surprised glance.

"We can't do much anyway… People are scared…"

"I see. Okay, I'll give you some equipment and you go and look for more volunteers. Anything they can do, change sheets, provide water and food… Oh yeah," he realized. "What's your basic diet?"

"We grow our own food…"

"Of course you do. I'll need samples to test. And water." He moved over to the converter and started tapping in the commands. "Why are you standing there?" He looked at her over his shoulder. "Draw your blood!"

"Right!"

"Oh, and one more thing," he stopped her before she left. "Sarah, tell me, about your people?"

"Yes?"

"Do they just choose to live away from civilization or… are they afraid of it?"

"Pierre," her tone of voice revealed that she was a little hurt. "We may be leading primitive life but we aren't primitive!" She told him proudly. "We're still the Human Alliance citizens!"


THE WHOLE STORY CAN BE FOUND HERE: Epidemy