Chapter 3.14: Spreading

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From Leo's diary

Time went on so quickly, we are so busy with our jobs, school, and everything else, that it was Luke's birthday in no time.

At this point he's almost as tall as me! Even if he continues to look more like Claire than me, in my opinion.

Orion: I know you're picky when it comes to books, but I'm sure you're going to like our present a lot!

Luke: (sceptical) Really?

Luke didn't appear impressed at first, he read tons of books among the ones we bought him over the years and the ones at the local library, but they all seemed so boring and repetitive to him. There was only one topic he was really interested in, he asked his uncle about it so long ago that he didn't even hope anymore to receive anything interesting from him. Instead...

Orion: I would bet so! What I have here is called "The Story of Sixam", it's one of the first parts of the archives Silas translated from the old Sixam language! I wanted to give this to you earlier, but then someone pointed out that it contained a bit too many planetary wars and such, you know... We actually have some more paragraphs here and there, we just didn't have the patience to put them in chronological order yet...

Luke: ...

Luke was speechless with happiness, thanked his uncle and rushed to his room to read that book, ignoring the party and the rest of us.

I don't think we needed any further proof to demonstrate it, but it's clear to anyone by now that he really likes reading, when he finds something that interests him for real I mean.

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A few nights later, Claire was invited to a club near our place by some of her supporters. Maintaining good relationships is important in her job, so we accepted without much thought.

Leo : Well, at this point it's quite clear that hair is becoming quite of a trend among aliens too...

Claire: Why don't you try it too? I think it would suit you a lot!

Leo: Bah, I'm not sure about it...

We were having a good time, until we were suddenly distracted by something happening in the middle of the dance floor.

Out of the blue, a girl had started coughing violently. As I stood to go help her, I couldn't avoid thinking that she reminded me so much of when...

Leo: ... That's not possible, not here!

Claire:  They look just like that guy at your brother's house...

Leo: (alarmed) It seems to be the same contamination, yes. But how did it get here, there are hundreds of miles between here and Strangerville! The spores can't have travelled this far!

Claire: But then what else could have happened?

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First, I picked up the phone and reported the incident to my colleagues. Then I made a second call, without much thought, directed to my brother Orion: he seemed as baffled as I was by what I saw, also considering that no other strange events were recorded during those months. 

Long story short, he couldn't explain how the contamination had reached Windenburg, nor did Silas who had soon joined the call on the other side.

Captain: ... considering that you have dealt already with those contaminated people and everything, I repute you the most suited person for this investigation. I entrust you with the case, finding the source of these contaminations has priority over any other task.

Leo: Yes, sir.

And this is how I ended up thinking in front of a new map of evidence. Several samples of air had been taken all around Windenburg, but no trace of those spores had been found. The reported contaminated people had disappeared quickly, and we couldn't interrogate anyone either. Also the people I and Claire saw at the club were brought to the hospital and could soon leave, so that I was not on duty I couldn't take custody nor arrest any of them.

So we were back to the point of not having any clue, nor real hypotheses about how it might have happened. How is it that my work always turns out to be so difficult, I wonder?

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