71.
"Colony Four Fever?" he asked. "But how? How did he come in contact with it, and hasn't he been vaccinated?"
The doctor took Red Stone's medical card and put it in the readout. Sure enough, the records showed he had been vaccinated against the disease.
"Defective serum?" asked North.
The doctor looked horrified at that thought.
"You'd better call it in," he said, "while I start this treatment."
North went to the communicator and called the Commandant's office. The young officer on the desk answered.
"I have to speak with the Commandant immediately," North told him, "It's an emergency!"
"He's in conference," explained the officer. "You'll have to wait, cadet."
"Listen, mister!" snapped North, "Do you know what the word emergency means? Put me through, now!"
The young officer looked angry. "It had better be important," he said. A few minutes later the Commandant appeared on the screen.
"What is it, North?" he asked.
"Sir," North began, "we have a case of Colony Four Fever on Academy, and an apparent vaccine failure. I thought you should be advised immediately."
The Commandant looked startled and reached for an intercom switch. Over a loud speaker nearby his voice boomed.
"This is the Commandant. All officer's leaves are canceled, and all cadets are to return to their quarters immediately! We are under a state of quarantine!"
With this done, the Commandant returned his attentions to North.
"North, C-4 spreads like fire. Can I speak with the doctor there?"
North stepped aside and the doctor took over the viewer.
"Are you sure?" asked the Commandant.
"Positive," replied the doctor, "and whatever caused the infection he had to have come in contact with it within the passed twenty-four hours."
Something was kicking at the back of North's brain. Suddenly what was bothering him came into his mind. He went over to Red Stone and asked him, "Did you go into the cargo pod we were carrying yesterday?"
"Yes, sir," the groggy cadet answered.
"What was in it?" asked North.
"Some kind of fruit, sir," answered the cadet. "I've never seen it before."