"Okay. No worries. We'll get you admitted right away, just cooperate with enforcers and everything will be fine." the woman said then raised her hand and waved over a few enforcers.
"Couldn't we just give you it? None of us are showing symptoms... Have people shown symptoms?" Selene asked nervously as the enforcers approached.
"Again don't worry—it's just protocol."
Dad scoffed at that.
The enforcers were dressed in black plated armor that conformed to their bodies. Custom made. The police in town never really wore that stuff, but she's seen it before. Their footsteps were heavy and they wore visored helmets that concealed their faces. They stewarded them ahead of the line along with the doctor.
One of the enforcers went towards a closed hangar with the 'specimen'.
They were led beneath a long tent that had many vibrant purple lights and misters that sprayed them as they walked through. It was all moving so fast now. Selene was craving her quiet moments in the field.
Then led down isles of tents to an empty one. "How old are you?" the doctor asked Selene. "...19."
The doctor wrote something down on her clipboard. "Okay, well my colleagues will survey your family. I'm going to have to ask you to come with me."
"We stay together." dad said gritting through his teeth.
"She's an adult, it's protocol." she seemed unbothered by the hostility dad was giving off.
"Screw your damn protocol!"
A nearby enforcer who was standing at attention looked towards them. Then took a few steps before the doctor raised a hand.
"What do you think? Will you be fine without your parents for a bit?" the doctor asked Selene.
Selene rolled her eyes.
"I'll be fine, dad. I'm not a kid anymore."
Mom put a hand on his arm and gave him a reassuring look which made him unwind a bit.
"Says you." Camden said. Selene stuck the tip of her tongue out at him in response.
He did it back.
And so a competition of who could make the most petty facial expression began.
The doctor chuckled. "Okay, okay." she stepped between them and knelt down to be eye level with Camden.
"You can still text each other, maybe even facetime later. We just need to separate adults to ensure the data is valid. Reduce variables. Complex doctor stuff."
"How long will it take?"
"Just a few days. A week tops. You have my word on that." the doctor told him and stood up. At that two different doctors approached.
"Dr. Duran here will look after you and your mother. Your father will go with Dr. Fisher. We'll run some tests, and allow you to text or call each other whenever possible so you know that everything is alright."
She made an awkward face as if to say this was the point we were supposed to say our goodbyes. Looking off towards her colleagues and other tents.
"We'll see you in a bit hun, behave yourself." mom said stood on her toes and kissed dad on the cheek. "And that goes double for you Selene." she smiled.
"Sure. We'll see what happens." dad said.
"I'll text you..." Selene told them both. And from there they all went in separate directions. Casting backwards glances as they did. Something about the moment felt... Off. She was having one of her premonitions. It was a weird sense of deja'vu.
Dr. Halsy took Selene to a self contained tent. There was a table of monitors and multiple keyboards. A tangle of wire and electronics. A hospital bed hidden behind a aluminum divider and folding chairs. Rolling cabinets.
Halsy guided Selene to the bed and gestured for her to sit while she sat on the edge of the desk.
"We'll run a quick physical first. Then check your blood, and ask you some questions regarding what you've experienced. First, could you tell me your name?" she pulled a pen from the sleeve of her tablet.
"Selene Carrington...", Selene answered. "Selene Carrington. Age 19, inhabitant of the agricultural colony Endolon in the Joaquin system..." she began to mumble off as she checked boxes and wrote things on her tablet.
The doctor pinched her with some device that took her blood, a cotton swab for saliva, some hair strands, checked her hears, ran various handheld machines over her body that x-rayed her and who knows what else.
It was a quick non-invasive process as promised.
"Okaay, now that's over with time for the interview portion. How often do you leave the colony?"
Selene turned her head to the side confused. "Do you mean like the planet?"
"Outside the colony in general. But yes the planet too. For example do you take walks in the fields? I know it's a popular pass time for some people on this world. Makes a core worlder like me jealous if I'm being honest."
"Yeah, sometimes. People just come and go. Never been off-world though..."
"Kay. So your family came in with a specimen intact. That's rare. What exactly happened?"
"My dad is a bit of an environmentalist. He likes animals. Even the creepy kind. That's why when my baby brother Camden found the... Thing. It didn't freak him out. They watch nature documentaries together and stuff."
"He touched it?"
"Yes. Held it by the pincher things. But it didn't hurt him. It didn't really seem bothered by it actually."
"Interesting." the Dr. Halsy wrote something else down on the pad. "What did it look like? You mentioned 'pinchers'?"
"Yeah, you know earwigs?"
The doctor nodded.
"Like that, but big. Like 12 inches long. Maybe longer. Thick too. Like a roll of coins. With lots of legs, antenna, and it was purple. And brown. With a weird pattern. Like those ink splotches psychologists use in movies."
Halsy gave an impressed nod then. "Quite the description."
"I draw. It helps to visualize things."
Plus talking seemed to help alleviate some of the stress she was feeling. Dr. Halsy seemed easy to talk to but... Her doctor vibes didn't exactly make Selene feel that everything would be alright. It was as if she was working up to telling a cancer patient the bad news.
"Did anyone else touch it?"
"Our dog Tywin might've. You could ask Camden."
"But you handled the container it was in?"
Jeez, they were really getting into specifics here.
"My parents did..?"
"How close would you say you've been to it yourself?"
"Like arms length."
"Have you touched your brother at all since?"
"Uhm... No?"
"Hmm... And none of you have been sick, or feeling differently than usual?"
"Nope. Same old same old."
Dr. Halsy let out a sigh then typed a few keys on the keyboard at her desk. A printer shot out a laminated card with Selenes ID picture on it with a big letter A on it. The card was green.
"So Your physical came back very normal. At the moment you're a class 'A' quarantined patient. Given if what you say is true, and we have no reason to believe it isn't—you'll likely be released in 3 days."
This is when the expected shift in her demeanor happened. She gave Selene a sheepish look.
"I'll be honest with you... Your parents will likely be contained to 5 days. And your brother? Well... Since he actually touched it, he'll likely be held for longer."
"H-how long?" Selene asked hesitantly.
"Hard to say. He's been directly exposed to a largely unknown species capable of surviving the vacuum of space. Your family was right to come in to be seen. And bringing us a live specimen? That does so much to speed this process along. Your family will likely see a payment for that. After." The doctor kept speaking once she noticed Selene was beginning to stare off into the distance.
"—It's likely nothing to worry about. We just have to know before we know for sure, right? The longer we keep your brother the more sure we can be that he'll be alright. We'll study the specimens we have and see how they react to human biology. If those test come back clean your brother could be released as soon as the end of the month."
"A month!?" Selene blurted out.
"A month isn't as long as you'd think Selene. You'll be able to visit him, and call him whenever you'd like... Here."
She handed Selene the green card. She took it. "I'm sorry Selene, sometimes unfortunate things happen. But it could be worse. If everything goes well then you can chalk this up to a month of something annoying happening."
"And if it doesn't go well?"
The Doctor gave her a stern expression then.
"You'd be glad we're here."