Chapter Text
Petra was leaning against the wall by the guestroom door, firmly seated on the floor. She looked up as Aiden and Ivor walked over. "Nothing yet," she said.
Shortly after cleaning Lukas up, it was unfortunately decided to close the door in hopes of preventing further infection. Jesse, who had the most likely chance of getting sick next, since he had been the one carry Lukas, remained on the other side. Petra acted as a communications relay, whatever Jesse needed, she fetched. But as of the past hour all had been quiet.
Aiden knocked on the wall, "Jesse?"
"Hmm?' came the tired response from the other side of the wood door.
"Everything okay?"
"He's asleep."
"How are you?"
"I'm fine."
Everyone frowned, and Jesse sensing the pause, added, "Guys I'm fine. I'm not showing any signs yet."
"What are we dealing with now exactly?" Petra asked.
Ivor pulled up a chair while Aiden placed himself on the floor. The old man let a great sigh, "Going off of Lukas's symptoms before he started to - erm - lose his stomach contents, and based off of Jesse's descriptions; I am extremely certain Lukas has contracted the Coughing Plague."
Petra's expression was surprised, and Aiden was equally dumbfounded. The Coughing Plague wasn't something unknown back at home. It had appeared a few times during the history of their world, causing catastrophic damage each time. But as time itself progressed, and the people moved forward; the sickness became as dangerous as the flu. Now simply known as the Coughing Sickness, catching it was rare, but it was easily treatable, only lethal if no action was taken to cure it.
A few people in Aiden's former social life had it once, but it never got past a rash and a particularly nasty cough that could make you lose some blood. It never, never, got to vomiting.
"Ivor that can't be right, I've never seen a cold get this bad, " Petra stated what Aiden was thinking.
"It's a more primitive strand," Ivor explained, "One that we haven't been exposed to in a long time since the strain evolved to fight our own evolving immune system."
"Okay what are the signs?"
"Well, rash around the throat, and continuous coughing. Both of which Lukas showed signs for-"
"But what about the vomiting," Aiden cut in.
"In my studies I was able to come across old documents of the disease. In our modern time -the reason it's dangerous to us now - is if the coughing isn't contained the lack of oxygen will eventually cause the victim to pass out and suffocate."
"But he's not coughing as much anymore," Jesse said, "He's just...having a hard time breathing."
"I believe the reason this one is so aggressive," Ivor replied; "Besides being a primitive strain, is it came from the parasite that carried it in the first place. The first recorded wave of the plague in our history came from the jungle. Historians believe that certain insects - carrying the strain - would bury into fruits of the jungle. People would eat them and then -"
Jesse cursed, "The jungle world! We ate those mangos! Lukas must have come across it then."
"But that was doors ago," Petra argued, "At least a week had gone by since then."
"He started showing the rash a few days after, while we were in those cotton fields. Remember? We thought he was allergic to them."
"Okay so we know what it is," Aiden said, "How much time does he...how long?"
"A week, at best."
"What!"
Ivor sighed, "If I had caught onto the signs sooner..." He looked hard at Aiden, "The only reason it took so long, is our immunity is incredibly strong. That's the only reason Lukas has lasted this long and will last longer than most."
"What signs should we be looking for?" Jesse asked.
"Well, vomiting," Ivor answered, "Then he'll have extreme difficulty breathing, body spasms, he fall into a comatose state, and then his vitals will all start shutting down. Then it..." he paused, "This particular strain is dangerous and aggressive, if it gets to the people of Sky City-"
"They'll be wiped out," Petra finished.
Aiden looked towards the front door, trying hard not to imagine a deadly primeval plague tearing through the growing village. "Wait..." he looked to Ivor."Isn't there a known cure for it?"
Ivor leaned back in the chair, "Yes...That's part of the problem I'm afraid."