Quarantine Blues

General Maddox looked at the two young officers through the viewing pane. He watched several doctors in environmental suits examine and perform numerous tests on the nearly lifeless bodies of the victims.

Surrounding the beds were IVs, probes, and medical equipment that beeped consistently.

One of the doctors shook his head and then walked out of the quarantined area. He walked into the observation area with General Maddox and pulled off his helmet.

"So, what is it doc?" General Maddox asked.

"It's nothing we can find or see," the doctor said with concern.

"What's not to see?!? I have two young men lying in a coma and completely shriveled up! I can see that very plainly!"

Unfazed, the doctor replied, "I mean exactly what I said. They're not infected with anything and they have no external injuries. Their brainwaves are nearly flat, but nothing is hindering them. It's like they've just given up on living."

General Maddox spoke plainly and asked, "So what can we do?"

"I think they'll wake up if they get the right external stimulus, like how the princess always wakes up with a kiss from the prince."

"Well, we're fresh out of princes and princesses."

The doctor rolled his eyes and said, "Obviously, but I mean, let's start with family and friends. We need to find out what can cure this before it happens again."

"So do you think this is contagious?" General Maddox asked with concern.

"No, I think someone or something did this. If it came from Planet Aquillane, then the vacuum of space doesn't bother it. Even if we quarantine the ship, it could still get to City 8. I do not think a quarantine will help, but this is all speculation. We don't even know if it will only affect humans. Maybe Zentradi are unaffected?"

"So you're not just saying that because you want off the ship?"

"...of course not," the doctor said while avoiding General Maddox's eyes.

"I understand. Send me the report as soon as you can. We're going to want to work with City 8 and possibly Macross 10." General Maddox turned to leave the viewing room and head back to his office.

Once General Maddox left, the doctor breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I can't imagine being stuck in quarantine if it was a disease. Now we just need to find their stimulus."

The doctor flipped open his comm and looked fondly at the ticket vouchers in his mailbox, "Now, I just need the courage to ask her out."

__________

Dirk froze in place after his loud proclamation about receiving front-row tickets for the Night Ravens. He realized that announcing it out loud like that would make him an ass if he didn't invite Alek and Louis along.

"Not my thing," Alek said from above.

Dirk waited for a moment to see if Louis would say anything.

"Yeah, I'd love to go!" Louis said enthusiastically.

Dirk started considering leaving Roy, Lyle, or Oscar out since he only had four tickets.

Louis continued, "...But I am guessing it is at Macross 10's City 10, and I really don't feel like going there. You'll have to find someone else."

Dirk did his best to hide his relief. He really wanted to go with his bandmates. Four tickets would've been perfect for a double date, but he didn't have anyone to go with if that were the case.

Dirk toyed with the idea, but neither Roy nor Lyle were seeing anyone, and Oscar was entirely out of the question because he was too good-looking!

"Come to think of it, I've never seen Oscar with anyone," Dirk thought.

The intercom buzzed, and Dirk walked over to see who was at the door.

Helena's face appeared on the screen with Elise right behind her.

Elise tilted her head to look directly into the camera and said, "Lieutenant Millo, I see you are stuck here as well. Permission to enter?"

Behind Helena, Elise smiled and waved at the camera.

Dirk pushed the green button to open the door, and Helena and Elise entered Dirk's and Alek's quarters.

Elise's smile faded slightly when she saw her brother, "Oh, thought you would be in your quarters."

Louis smiled and then replied, "I was, but I was the only one that didn't get out in time so I came here."

Helena nodded and said, "Indeed, because of our short meeting with General Maddox, I was late and the only one left in my cabin. I picked up Elise when I saw her sitting right outside Di-."

Before she could finish, Elise covered Helena's mouth and dragged her towards Dirk's bunk, saying, "Helena, sweetie, you seem tired. Come here and sit with me."

Helena allowed herself to be pulled down next to Elise, then glared at her.

"So, any word about what happened?" Helena asked.

Helena and Elise jumped in surprise when a magazine plopped onto the nightstand next to them. They both looked up to find the source and saw Alek's head poking out of his bunk.

"Vampires," Alek plainly said while pointing at the magazine's cover.

Helena and Elise exchanged glances with Dirk and Louis.

Alek never talked much, so they didn't know anything about his interests. Hearing him bring up Vampires adamantly made them think he might enjoy the occult.

Helena picked up the magazine and sifted through a few pages. She remembered something about another Macross fleet coming across vampires and said, "I remember something about vampires on another Macross fleet, but I was only seven or eight-years-old."

Dirk stifled a grin and said, "Well, it's 2060 right now, so when you were seven, wouldn't that be-"

Helena cut him off and said sternly, "Don't even try to make an age joke when you're only two years younger than me."

Dirk stopped when Helena called him out before he could finish his joke and said, "At least let me finish the joke next time."

"You should be nice and let him finish," Elise said teasingly.

"He can finish by himself if he must..." Helena said sternly.

Elise grinned almost from ear to ear while Louis and Dirk both looked away, pretending not to have heard a thing.

"What?" Helena said, confused by their response.

Elise leaned in to whisper to Helena, but Louis interrupted and shouted, "Don't tell her!"

Helena wasn't completely oblivious to those sorts of things, but once she realized what she had said, she buried her face in her hands while it turned bright red.

Elise smiled in victory, held up a hand, then said, "Baited her."

Dirk couldn't resist and gave Elise a high-five. Louis didn't want to encourage Elise, but it was funny, so he also gave her a high-five.

A moment later, the all-clear alert signaled throughout the ship. Everyone checked their comms and saw they would return to City 8 and could leave after a quick scan.

Without waiting, Dirk, Helena, Louis, and Elise hurriedly left the crew quarters and headed towards the docking bay to return to City 8.

Back in quarters, Alek's hand was still sticking out from the top bunk, waiting for a high-five.

__________

After his second helping of spiritia, Illuzo had more than enough energy to travel invisibly through space to where he was detecting even more spiritia.

"Oh, this looks like an entire colony for the children of the protoculture!"

Illuzo entered effortlessly through City 8's dome in his energy form and found an empty park area to look around. He had already spent half of the spiritia he collected staying invisible, so he chose to return to his bodily form and perched in a tree.

"This will do for now," Illuzo said to himself. He saw animals of various shapes and sizes and felt his small body would fit in with the rest. Illuzo noticed a black cat prowling by a pond and thought it fit his form well.

When the cat stopped to take a drink of water, Illuzo flew up behind it and sunk his body inside of the cat to make a copy.

"This will be far more efficient to maintain than that human thing," Illuzo thought.

The black cat's ear perked up when Iluzo popped back out of the cat's body. The black cat hissed and ran away when it saw an identical black cat suddenly appear next to it.

"That thing only had thoughts of eating and napping... it must be the offspring of royalty!" Illuzo thought to himself. Images of a fluffy cat bed entered his mind, and he couldn't help but want one.

"I need a servant or even a thrall," Illuzo said to himself. He wanted spiritia but wasn't dumb enough to just take it blindly.

Illuzo used his cat form to walk down a stone path and saw a man and a woman sitting on a wooden bench. He watched as the man pulled a small box out of his pocket and fumbled it to the ground.

"Oh... Jack, please don't..." the woman said sympathetically.

"But Rose... I love you!" the man said.

Illuzo pulled out some popcorn and continued to watch.

"It will never work, we're from two different worlds, Jack!"

"But Rose, you love me too! We can make it work!"

Illuzo yawned.

"My family will never allow it. I'm already being pressured to marry someone else."

"Then we can run away! Far away!"

Rose finally calmed down and said, "Look, I'm sorry, Jack, but you were thinking about proposing to me after the third date? I was trying to give you an easy way out. Just leave me alone!" She walked away from the park bench and left Jack behind.

Jack sat dejected on the bench. He knew the third date was too soon, but he thought it was true love! "I'll never find true love!"

Illuzo felt strong desires from Jack, and his eyes lit up with excitement. He floated up behind the man and perched next to him on the back of the bench.

"Do you want her back?" Illuzo whispered.

Jack jumped when he heard the voice because he thought he was alone. He turned to see a black cat and thought someone was playing a prank on him.

"Ha ha, very funny. You have a twisted sense of humor whoever you are."

"So you don't?"

Jack swung his arm at the black cat, "I must be dreaming if I'm seeing talking cats."

Illuzo squealed, then cackled, "You won't take my deal? Then become my meal!"