Science fiction; Short stories; Sick -- Fiction; Space flight to Mars -- Fiction; Space ships -- Fiction
Aréchaga fed tape into the receiver and played it back slowly. There
was background noise for a minute then, "ETV One. Read you loud and
clear." There was a pause; then a familiar voice came in, "Glad to hear
from you, boys. Thule and Kergeulen stations tracked you for several
hours. Best shot so far. Less than two seconds of corrective firing,"
the general said proudly.
* * * * *
Hagstrom and van den Burg returned to their books. Aréchaga snapped off
the player and went into the pantry. The light dimmed and brightened as
the spin exposed and occulted its accumulator. He filed the information
subconsciously for his revision list and glared at the provisions.
Shelves were filled--meats, vegetables, fruits, all held in place by
elastic netting. The skin-tight plastic was invisible in the dim light.
Aréchaga began to feel prickly as the lack of ventilation wrapped him
in a layer of steam. All that food right out in the open and no flies.
It just isn't right, he thought. He shrugged and picked out three
apples.
"Keep the doctor away?" he asked as he swam back into the control room.
Hagstrom nodded and caught one.
"Thanks, I'm not hungry," van den Burg said. He put his book under the
net and began taking his own pulse.
"Something wrong?" Aréchaga asked.
"Must have been something I ate," he grunted.
Hagstrom eyed his half-eaten apple with distaste. "I must have eaten
some too." He threw the apple into the disposal and belched. Aréchaga
looked at him worriedly.
Two days passed. Hagstrom and van den Burg sampled food fretfully.
Aréchaga evacuated the disposal twice in six hours and watched them
worriedly. "Are you guys thinking the same thing I am?" he asked.
Van den Burg stared for a moment. "Looks that way, doesn't it?"
Hagstrom started to say something, then dived for a bag and vomited.
In a moment he wiped his mouth and turned a pale face toward Aréchaga.
"This is how it started with the others, isn't it?" he said.
Aréchaga began talking into the recorder. He killed spin long enough
to squirt. In a few minutes the razzy speaker again made them part
of Earth. "--and hope for the best," the general was saying. "Maybe
you'll adjust after a few days." The voice faded into background noise
and Aréchaga turned off the player.
"Any ideas?" he asked. "You know as much medicine as I do."
Van den Burg and Hagstrom shook their heads listlessly.
"There's got to be a reason," Aréchaga insisted. "How do you feel?"
"Hungry. Like I hadn't eaten for two weeks."
"The same," Hagstrom said. "Every time I eat it lays like a ton of
lead. I guess we just aren't made for zero grav."
"Doesn't seem to be hitting me as quickly as it did you two," Aréchaga
mused. "Can I get you anything?" They shook their heads. He went into
the library and began skimming through the medical spools.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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