142 Gut Evidence

Despite my weak state, with a great effort, I got out of the bed in an attempt to sneak out of the medical bay. The only thing I hadn't taken into account was the fact that I was connected to countless medical equipment via cables or pipes. As soon as I got up, I heard a lot of stuff crashing behind me.

The doctor turned around. It was too late now, I had failed...

"Commander!"

While the doctor was coming to help me, I disconnected everything from my body with no medical procedure whatsoever. And at the excellent moment, just when the doctor came by, I punched him at full strength.

"Well, I'm already feeling much better..." I said.

"Commander, calm down!" screamed the doctor. "Calm down! Whatever your problem is, we can... we can just talk."

"Tell me who you are working for, then!"

"What do you mean? I'm serving the Confederation, sir!" he said. His tone had changed.

"Of course you are serving the Confederation." I said. "Simply tell me who poisoned the water reserves, and we will be merciful on your poor soul."

"I-I-What?" he said. "I'm just a doctor, I wouldn't know who poisoned whom - my job is to cure!"

"Well, doc; we can talk more once the marines come here."

The doctor suddenly grabbed something and threw it at me. A flying scalpel cut my face just below my right eye. I was lucky that his aim wasn't very good, and the scar wasn't hurting at all.

In response, I kicked the hospital bed towards him, which was enough to pin him to the floor for a short moment. I took advantage of that and ran out of the medical bay, to contact the marines.

"Send a marine team to the medbay to report directly to the commanding officer. ASAP."

"The CO? I-I mean, yes sir! We are on our way - we will be there within one minute."

Someone pulled me from behind and pushed me against the corridor's wall. I instinctively headbutted him, which was enough to make him release me. This was about to turn into a fight of medical and military knowledge; our talent on creative ways to kill people.

Just at that moment, the marines arrived. One of them, having witnessed our fight, shot the doctor in the chest with no warning at all. The doctor fell unconscious to the floor.

"Commander, are you alright?" he asked.

"More or less." I said. At that moment, the remainder of the marine force arrived.

"You are alive!" one of them said. "...out of coma!"

"I'm alive and well, thank you." I said. Having heard the noise, the doctor who had left me earlier came back to the scene. Marines all raised their rifles.

"It is okay, he isn't a threat." I said.

"What the hell is going on here?" asked the doctor.

"Doctor..." I said. "Your friend here is an infiltrator. I'm disappointed by your inability to notice."

"What? An infiltrator!?"

"We have been infiltrated, and I believe he is not the only one." I said.

"Wh- wait... How did we come to this conclusion?" he asked.

"The doctor was attacking the commander." said one of the marines.

"That isn't the case, I attacked him first, technically." I said. "However, I am fairly certain that if I didn't, I would've been killed a few moments later."

"Wait, wait, wait, slow down; I don't understand." said the doctor. "He tried so hard to cure you! I am a doctor myself, I watched the whole process."

"He did not think I would actually make it, so in order to look innocent, he helped out." I said. "Doctor... I have artificial neurons in my body. They are not vital for survival, and they can not be placed without the patient's consent. You know that."

"I thought-"

"He deceived you, and now I have them in my nervous system, without consent. Combined with the electronic equipment, he was weakening my control over my own body. The moment I was disconnected, I was free." I said.

"This could be something similar to a reverse-placebo effect." said the doctor. "It is patient psychology, it-it-it doesn't mean the doctor actually did anything bad to you."

"And please remember the moment I woke up." I continued. "You were both in shock... However, while you tried to inform me of the situation, he instantly tried to search my memories of past events just before the incident, even though that would've been of no medical use at that point. He was trying to see if I could remember any detail that could've made him look suspicious."

"Maybe he was just trying to, you know, check for any memory losses." the doctor argued.

"Let's suppose he was..." I said. "While forcing me to recall my memories, he made no efforts to tell any details about the incident that could help me recall something. Only you did, not him."

"..."

"Also, once he was sure that I could not remember anything to be suspicious of, he wanted me to go back to rest; but he told you that he would brief me on the recent events while you were gone. There is a clear contradiction here."

"I guess I agree that there is a contradiction..." he said. "But he might simply be out of his mind for a moment - this is not a proof."

"And besides, you said that no alarms were set off by the poisoned water. I agree that it could've been a simple malfunction; but it raises suspicion nonetheless." I said.

"Commander, Mr. President; with respect..." said the doctor. "All you are saying does raise suspicion, but none of them are proof. You just killed someone without-"

"He was shot with a stun charge." said the marine who shot him. "He is not dead."

"You want solid proof?" I said. "Do you remember that... he said the admiral has ordered him to inform me of the recent events?"

"Yes, I remember that exact sentence." he said.

"Well, let's ask the admiral if she actually ordered him that; or if he was simply trying to send you away to kill me when we were left alone. Would that be enough evidence?"

He thought about it for a while.

"I guess it would be."

"Come with me." I said. "All of you."

I ordered Admiral Mei to meet us in the rear crew habitat. While she was on her way; me, the doctor and two marines took a lift. Rest of the marine team was waiting for the other doctor to wake up.

"Good morning, commander." she said. "Finally got your lazy head out of the bed, huh? Took you long enough... I almost thought you were leaving the fleet in my hands."

"I'm happy to see you as well." I said. "We won't take long here, just one simple question... Admiral, did you order any of our doctors to brief me on the recent events in case I wake up from coma?"

She looked into my eyes in silence for a while, as if she was waiting for my instructions to speak. I didn't understand why she hesitated so much, but I secretly gestured her to answer 'no'.

"No, I did not." she answered.

"See, doctor?" I said. "It is not very hard to lie."

"I... I just didn't think that he would do something like that." he said. "I can't believe it!"

"I know how you feel." I said. "For how long were you working together?"

"For about a year." he said. "Since we brought him aboard near Makemake."

"Looks like one year isn't enough to get to really know someone." I said.

"What is going on here exactly?" asked Mei. "What did I miss?"

"I will tell all about you." I said.

"Commander..." said the doctor. "Do you have any idea why he could've done something so sinister?"

"Not the absolute truth, but I do have a theory."