This is short tale is the tragic explanation of why Amelia never found out she was a Princess.
Not thinking about what he was doing,
Jim spun the knife round in his hand before setting it down next to
the sink. His daughter's packed lunch was made and he did not need to
make one for himself, he was heading over to the Smithson's holding
and Janet always laid on food when he went there. She said he
appreciated her cooking more than her husband did, but Jim was sure
she enjoyed cooking for anyone who ventured to their isolated
farmstead.
He glanced up at the clock and sighed.
“Amelia! It's to get up, you'll be late for school!”
There was no reply.
He took a deep breath and counted to
three. She was a sweet girl but at a very pretentious twelve years
old she was testing her limits and her parent's patience more and
more. “Amelia! I'm not kidding around! Get up now!”
Normally Anoushka would get her out of
bed, Jim's wife had a knack of getting their little girl to do what
was needed and knowing when to bribe and when to threaten. Jim was
forever getting an earful when he got it the wrong way round. This
morning Anoushka had been called to work early; it was foaling time
and all the vet's were on every hour God sent doing their best for
the local farmers.
There was still no answer from
upstairs.
Grumbling to himself and asking why he
had ever left the Army to take his little dysfunctional family to the
sticks he left the kitchen and ascended the creaky wooden stairs to
venture into his daughter's ever messy room.
Amelia was still in bed, her duvet
pulled tight around her despite the summer heat.
Jim opened his mouth to berate her but
something was not right.
Sluggishly opening reluctant eyes,
Amelia looked up. “Daddy, I don't feel well. It's too cold.” she
spoke in a small voice.
He sat down on the edge of the bed and
laid a hand on her forehead. “You're burning up.” Annoyance gave
way abruptly to concern. “I'm going to call the Doctor. You stay in
bed.”
“Daddy,” Amelia pleaded as he
stood. “Don't go.”
“I'll only be gone for a minute, I'll
be right back when I'm off the phone.” he ran a gentle hand down
her cheek before going back down the stairs to find the phone.
It should have been in it's cradle on
the table next to the sofa but it never was, it was always just
thrown where ever when a call was ended. Eventually Jim found it
under a cushion and he was growling as he called for the surgery to
be dialled.
“I'm sorry, Jim, Dr Hart is very busy
today.” the secretary was genuinely apologetic, she did not know
Jim very well but she went to the same painting class as Anoushka
every Thursday night.
“I don't care how busy he is.
Amelia's laid up in bed with a fever but she's complaining she's
cold. I'm not an expert but I know that's not a good thing.”
“I'll call him and see where he is.
Do you want me to get another Doctor to call in if he's not
available?”
Jim hesitated. He trusted Dr Hart, the
man was ex-military as well, and they usually would insist on only
him treating their little troublemaker, but this time she really did
look very ill. “ Yes, please.”
“I'll call you back when I have an
appointment for you.”
“Thank you.” Carefully, Jim
replaced the phone back on it's cradle and walked into the kitchen to
get a glass of water to take up to Amelia. He had taken the glass
from the cupboard and filled it under the tap before shaking his head
and going back to the phone. Anoushka would only get angry with him
if he did not at least call her to say Amelia was ill. There was
nothing she could in the middle of a field but if she was kept
informed she was part of the team.
He dialled three times and on each
occasion was left listening to the answer phone message. On the last
attempt he asked his darling wife to call when she got a minute.
Then there was a knock at the front
door.
Amelia's water was set back down and
Jim strode to the front door, glancing as he always did up at the
framed photograph on the hall of him with Anoushka and a two week old
Amelia. It was taken the day they got her, the very day she was first
handed to them by a mother who could not care for her own child. They
had never made a secret of Amelia's adoption, but at the same time
they did not make an issue of it, no matter how she came into the
universe, she was their daughter and they loved her. It was a
photograph that never failed to stir emotion.
He opened the door and his jaw dropped.
“Hart?” he stuttered. “What's going on?”
At his door Dr Hart was barely
recognisable under a yellow clean suit and mask. “A contagion's
been brought planet side. Your wife fell ill at work and she's been
moved to an isolation wing at the hospital but we need to run some
tests on you and your daughter.”
It took a moment for Jim to process
what he had just been told. “Amelia's upstairs, but she's not
well.”
The masked men behind Dr Hart started
to move forward but were stopped. “Jim, bring her down and we'll
take you both to the hospital.”
Doing his best to stay calm and
unflustered, Jim gently lifted Amelia out of her bed and let them
both be loaded into an ambulance.
He asked everyone what had happened to
his wife, how ill she was and what was wrong with her, but there were
no answers.
The hour long ride to the hospital
seemed like an eternity holding Amelia's hand as the carefully
protected paramedics took blood samples and did what little they
could to make them comfortable.
Jim did his best to keep Amelia calm
but she knew something was very wrong and he was far from calm
himself.
He was determined to not be separated
from his daughter, but the moment they arrived she was sent one way
and he another. He was only just able to grab Hart before the Doctor
too disappeared through the door.
“Jim, I know you're worried, but you
have to let me go.” Hart tried unsuccessfully to shake the broad
man from his isolation suit.
“Not until you tell me how bad this
is.”
“Jim,”
“Honestly, I need to know.”
“I'm sorry, Jim,” Hart was
genuinely upset. Whatever this contagion was, it had already claimed
it's first victims and even the healthy were falling victim to it in
a frighteningly short time. “I really am.”
Jim swore. “I need a secure line, top
priority.”
“What are you talking about?” Hart
frowned. Jim was a good man, a jack of all trades who could be relied
upon to fix just about anything you gave him, he had been a military
engineer and a good one by the sounds of it but that was all.
“Major Andrew Hart,” Jim barked.
“I'm invoking a Delta Echo emergency, get me an outside line now.”
“What the hell are you talking about?
You can't do that, you don't have that authority and there's no Delta
here.” Hart was alarmed. A Delta Echo emergency was a Royal in
danger, a code that anyone and everyone had to respond to. What was
his old associate playing at?
Jim yanked the Doctor to the side of
the corridor and pushed his face up to the man's visor. “I an
Imperium Sleeper, so is Anoushka, figure it out.”
“But that- That's impossible.”
“Get me a secure line and I'll prove
it.”
“If you're lying, you'll go to
prison.”
“Do it, Hart, now.”
It took Hart only a few minutes to gain
access to a terminal and Jim sat himself in front of it.
“It's only a local terminal, you'll
need a hook up for an off world call, that'll take a while.” Hart
warned.
Jim snorted as he typed the emergency
user code and password he had fortunately never before needed. “You
think so? You should have told me how bad it was before we left home,
I could had a team on the way by now.”
Hart stayed silent, he was not
convinced Jim had not lost his mind, but it was giving him something
to concentrate on that was not panicking over his wife and child.
It took only three minutes for a connection to be made, a record time
that made Hart start to wonder if there was something to Jim's words.
The woman who appeared on screen was in uniform. “Authentication,
please, sir.”
“I'm out of location,” Jim shook his head. “I don't have the
software.”
“Personal Code, please, sir.” the request was changed.
“73829 Kappa Omega. I have a Delta Indigo one three situation.”
as he spoke, Jim raised a hand to his brow, wiping off a fresh sheen
of sweat.
The woman on screen blinked and her eyes widened even as her calm
tone did not change. “Yes, sir, transferring you now.”
It took another minute, synchronising the communications always took
time but on such a high importance link enough power was put into the
process to make it rapid as possible. During that time Jim again
wiped his face and shook his head irritably as he realised he was
suddenly feeling so drained of energy. What was wrong with him? He
needed more information.
“Hart, what's going on outside? I need to know to report it.”
“Two days ago a man walked into the emergency room and collapsed.
He was our first patient, we don't know how he got it but he had only
just arrived planet side. Yesterday it all went crazy and now we have
a full epidemic on our hands with nothing to treat it it.”
“How potent is it?”
Hart did not want to answer but he knew he had to. “Currently 80%
mortality rate.”
This time the uniform worn was a reassuringly familiar one, it was
distinctive and worn by the men and women in Jim and Anoushka's
regiment.
“What's your emergency, sir?” the man asking knew exactly who he
was talking, there was no need for introductions.
“Unknown contagion. Indigo three is condition unknown, in hospital,
KO1 same and,” Jim shook his head again. “I think it's got me
too. It's serious and deadly. Medical and security response
required.”
“Logged. It's on it's way.”
Another face appeared abruptly. It belonged to a man in the same
uniform and he looked out of breath, as though he had been running.
He had. The emergency code had been raised and when all hell was
breaking loose with the other Indigos this could only mean the worst
trouble. “What's happening, James?”
Jim's shoulders dropped. “Colonel, it's bad. Amy's seriously ill,
Noosh is too, something's just arrived on planet. I'm in a hospital
that's like a war zone, two days ago it was situation normal, now
it's bedlam, this isn't right. And I,” Jim reached out behind him,
grabbing at Hart and tugging him forward. “I don't know how long
I'm going to be functioning. Colonel Meakes, this is Doctor Hart,
Major retired. He's been treating Amy since we came here, he's good,
I trust him.”
Colonel Meakes looked at the man beside Jim but could make out little
behind the hazard suit. “Are you aware of who and what Amy is?”
“Jim said Indigo,” Hart said slowly. “I know what that means.”
“Good. If Jim is down when aide arrives they'll be directed to you.
You've just been reactivated, Major.”
Hart was not sure how he felt about that, he had retired many years
ago, but if it was all true, if Amy was indeed a Princess then it was
clear what he had to do. “Yes, sir.”
Jim realised the world around him was swimming. “I think I'm
already down. Sorry, Colonel, I never figured on having to fight off
a virus.”
“It's not something you were trained for.” Meakes acknowledged
softly. “Do your best, that's all I ever ask.”
“Will do, sir.”
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