Doru,
Merry and Stjarna walked out of the room and down the hall. Merry wanted nothing more than to stay by the
Doctor’s side, but now that she knew the cure, she had to find a way to help
everyone.
“Do you have more inciver?” Doru
asked.
Merry held up the tiny vial and
looked at it, “Not much. I’ve only got
enough for one more dose like I gave the Doctor.”
Stjarna began to get fussy. “I think she is hungry,” Merry said. "Can we take her back to the school? I guess they would have food for her there.”
Doru nodded, “Yes, we can take her
back.”
He and Merry went outside. The sky was purple. It was almost night. They climbed into a waiting carriage. It
seemed to Merry that the carriage service was like that of a taxi service on
Earth. They went back to the
school. The ride was not long, but
Stjarna had fallen asleep in Merry’s arms by the time they arrived.
Carefully Merry carried the sleeping
child into the school and back to the room she had originally run out of. The care taker of the room strode over to
Merry and they gently transferred Stjarna from Merry’s arms to the caretaker. Merry kissed the child’s face. They quietly said good bye and Merry went
back out to the waiting carriage.
She sat down next to Doru. “What do
we do now?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “We know that inciver is indeed the cure we
seek, but we still don’t have any.”
Merry sighed, “If the Doctor was
well, I could have him take me home. I
have lots of ginger there, but I’m afraid that by the time he is well, many
more of your people will have died.”
The carriage drove along the
road. Merry watched the landscape in the
dark. Lights were shining from
buildings. A street lamp lit up a small
garden in someone’s yard. It gave Merry
an idea.
“Do you have a garden? An arboretum of some sort?” Merry hoped the
words would translate.
“Yes we do,” Doru said.
“Let’s go there and look for an
inciver plant. You were looking for the
root and not the plant. Maybe you have
lots of it, but you didn’t know.”
Doru told the carriage driver to go
to the public gardens. The driver turned
down a new street.
“But I still don’t know what the
plant looks like,” Doru said.
“I do,” Merry replied.
Doru told the driver to go
faster. Several minutes later they were
standing in front of a large glass domed building. By now it was very dark. There were few lights in the garden. Doru gave Merry a torch. This was going to be very difficult.
The deep dreamless unconscious sleep the
Doctor had been in slowly started to lift.
More and more the Doctor became aware of his thoughts and the heavy feel
of his body. He listened to the rhythmic
beatings of his hearts. He became aware
of an unusual taste in his mouth. Slowly
he opened his eyes and looked around.
The room was dark. He tried to
sit up, but a wave of nausea and dizziness washed over him. He lay back down.
He tried to remember what had
happened and how he got there. He
remembered a child and a woman. He
remembered the woman holding his arm.
The taste in his mouth became more distinct. It was familiar. What was it?
A voice. There had been a kind
voice telling him he’d be alright. The
voice had been soothing and reassuring.
He let his body relax. Everything
was going to be alright.
*************
The search was slow going in the
dark. Merry had completely lost track of
time, but she was sure they had been out there for a long time. The gardens had been closed when they
arrived, but Doru used a pass card to get in.
He spoke with the security guard when they had arrived and explained the
situation. The guard had let them
through without a fuss, but he was keeping a close eye on Merry.
Merry’s legs were starting to
ache. The night was growing cooler and
while the jeans and t-shirt she had on had been fine during the day, it wasn’t
enough for the chilly night air.
Merry’s torch light passed over a
couple of plants. “Ginger!” Merry cried.
She ran to the cluster of plants, ready to dig one of the them up.
“Freeze!” a voice called behind
Merry.
She stopped in her tracks and turned
to see the guard had a gun pointed right at her. She slowly lifted her hands in the air. “But it’s ginger. It is inciver.
This is the plant we are looking for!”
She turned to Doru, “Why won’t he let me near that plant?”
“It is the sacred plant. No one can touch it. The penalty for destroying the sacred plant
is death,” Doru explained.
Merry was angry, “What?”
“Long ago, our ancestors planted
those sacred plants. We were told they
were to never be destroyed because if the plant was destroyed, we would die,”
Doru said.
“You are going to die if you don’t
dig up this plant,” Merry pleaded.
The guard pulled out at communicator
from his pocket. “Get the Mayor to the city
gardens right away. We have a stranger
here that is threatening the sacred plant.”
“I’m not a vandal!” Merry
shouted. “I don’t want to destroy your
plant for no reason. I don’t want to
destroy it at all. I want to dig it up
to get to the root.”
The guard took a step closer to
Merry and held his gun in her face, “Quiet Human!” he shouted.
Merry stood with her hands in the
air. She was breathing hard in
anger. Their people were dying and they
wouldn’t let her dig up the one plant that could cure them all. It was only a matter of minutes before Merry
heard a siren and carriages pulling up in front of the garden. A dozen people ran into the gardens and right
up to Merry. Two large men grabbed her
by the arms and pushed her down to her knees.
Several other men raised guns at her.
Merry kept very still. She was
frightened. She wished the Doctor was
there with her. He’d know what to do.
The Mayor stood in front of
Merry. He was dressed in a night
robe. He did not look at all happy to be
out in the cold and dark and deal with a human intruder. “What is the meaning of this, Human?” he
bellowed.
Merry’s voice trembled, “Mayor, it
is inciver. Your sacred plant is
inciver. It is the cure to your plague.”
The Mayor looked over Merry’s
shoulder at the plant. “That is not the
plant. I’ve seen a picture of the
inciver and that is not it.”
“What you’ve seen,” Merry began, “is
the root. It is the part of the plant
that is under the ground. The root is
what you need to cure your people!”
The Mayor and Doru exchanged
glances.
“Where is the Doctor?” the Mayor
demanded.
“He got sick, Mayor,” Doru
explained. “The Doctor picked up the
virus after arriving here. It seems his
species is quite susceptible to the plague and within an hour of the first
symptom, he was almost dead. Merry
realized the inciver plant is a common plant on her home planet. She had a tiny amount of inciver powder with
her. She gave it to the Doctor, who was
at death’s door, and it helped him. His
health began to restore immediately.”
“This powder,” the Mayor yelled,
“what is it?”
“On Earth, it is called ginger, but
it is the same as your inciver plant.”
Merry’s voice sounded calmer and cooler than she actually felt. “The tiny amount I had helped the
Doctor. Think of what this plant has to
offer your people – a cure!”
The Mayor and Doru exchanged glances
again. Merry couldn’t tell what they
were thinking.
“Look Mayor, what is this plants’
proper name?” Merry asked.
“It is the sacred plant,” he
answered.
“Why is it called that? Why doesn’t it have a proper name?”
The Mayor looked calm, but his voice
was showing hints at his anger, “It has no other name. It needs no other name. It is the sacred plant. Our ancestors told us that the day this plant
is destroyed our people would die. No
one is allowed to touch it.”
“Sir, your ancestors said this
because they knew that if a plague like this one they experience returned, the
inciver would be the cure you would need.
Without the inciver, your sacred plant, your people will die!”
The Mayor took several steps towards
Merry. “You seem to know an awful lot
about our past, Human. It makes me
wonder who you and the Doctor really are.
Perhaps my father was deceived by the Doctor and he is here not to help,
but to…”
“No!” Merry shouted, interrupting
the Mayor.
Doru quickly approached the Mayor,
“Sir,” he said, “Merry knows a little of our history because I told her. We are here because I brought her. She felt certain that she could find inciver
in our gardens. I had no idea it would
turn out to be the sacred plant. Do not
punish her.”
“So I need to punish you?” the Mayor
sneered at Doru.
“Sir, I’m only doing my job. My own family has died from this plague. I’m trying to find a cure,” Doru pleaded.
The Mayor turned to Doru. Merry could see that Doru was in big
trouble. Her mind was working fast. She had to help. Hundreds of children were orphans, hundreds
more of the people were dying. The
Doctor had only just escaped death. She
couldn’t let Doru or anyone else suffer and die.
“I offer you a proposition!” Merry
shouted.
The Mayor turned back to her. “A
proposition you say? Well, let’s hear
it.”
Merry took a deep breath, “Let me dig up
one of the plants. If it is inciver,
Doru will prepare it and give it to your sick.
If it cures the people, you let me go.
If it does not, I will accept death as a penalty for digging up the
sacred plant. My life will be yours and
you will have your justice. Come on,”
Merry pleaded, “It is the death of one plant or the death of your entire
civilization!”
The Mayor stood quite still. He considered her offer. Finally he spoke in a voice barely above a
whisper, “Get her a shovel.”
Merry’s breath returned to normal. Her guards released their tight grips on her
shoulders. She was handed a spade. Slowly Merry approached the plants. She knelt down alongside the closest ginger
plant. She could smell the fragrance of
the familiar plant. She knew she had the
right one. Carefully she grasped the
plant with her left hand and with the spade in her right, she dug around the
base of the plant. Despite the coldness
of the night, she could feel beads of sweat running down her face. The plant was beginning to loosen from the
soil. After several moments, Merry pulled the plant from the ground. A large ginger root hung below the leaves of
the plant.
She held it up for Doru and the Mayor to
see. They shined their torch lights on
it. Doru approached the plant and Merry. He looked over the root. “This is it!” he cried out. “It looks just like the picture.” He grabbed the plant from Merry and ran out
the garden doors.
Merry tried to run after him, but her
guards grabbed her by the arms again and held her back. The Mayor turned to look at her. “Put the human in the cell. She will wait there until the cure begins to
work… if it does.” The Mayor sneered his
teeth at her. He turned on his heels and
walked away. The two guards pushed Merry
to the door. They roughly pushed her
into a caged carriage and drove off in the opposite direction that everyone
else had just gone. When they arrived,
they pulled her out and practically dragged her into the jail. Down a dark hall in the basement of the
building were rows and rows of doors.
One of the guards opened one of the doors. The other guard shoved her in. She fell to the hard floor, heard the door
close and a loud click. She was locked
in.
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 6
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