Synth

The first two things TO noticed in the dormitories was the sound and the smell. There was a strange, haphazard whistling coming from all over the place at chaotic tones and pitches, and it made TO’s ears twitch as they tried to focus but got confused. Thankfully, after a moment of that strange noise the translators seemed to pick up on that as a sound to be filtered out, and soon the noise faded. The smell was far more distracting. It wasn’t bad, not really, but it had a sickly sweet quality to it; like honey mixed with sugar. They sniffed deeply as they looked around to see what the smell was but they couldn’t see anything that might explain it.

What they saw was about half the civilians in the dorms with masks over their faces. TO’s ears instantly dropped and they covered their own mouth and nose. Yes, they had been vaccinated against most diseases in the galaxy, and synths were resistant to most others, but all it took was the wrong mutation and all that resistance could prove useless.

DH! Was DH ok!? Did they have a way to protect themself from inhaling anything? Would they think to be careful, or would they rely on their immunity? They rushed towards the back of the dorm, stopping once to ask a civilian if they had seen DH and Goretta. The civilian pointed to a place in the back that had been sectioned off with sheets to make a small, private area. TO rushed past and pushed through the sheets in their desperation to find DH and make sure their mate was ok. Beyond the sheets were a handful of tables which were currently being used as medical beds. Several civilians sat up, tissues over their noses and a glass of some strange blue-green juice in their hands. At the far end, TO could see DH bend over a table, working.

“DH!” They rushed up, hand still over their face and mouth as they kept as far away from the civilians on the tables as they could. When they approached, DH’s ears twitched.

“Careful, TO.” DH said, “Don’t startle me; this is delicate!”

TO slowed and approached their mate from the side to see what they were doing. They were leaning over a scaled civilian who had an enormous nose and short stubby legs. The civilian’s nose drew most of TO’s attention as DH was a few inches away from it, a pair of long tweezers already deep inside. To their horror, they noticed that DH wasn’t wearing anything over their mouth or nose. “DH, don’t you have a mask or something?” They asked in synth-speak “You could wear your helmet. We can disable the translation stuff, and that’ll at least filter the air and-“

“No need.” DH said, “This isn't something that can affect us.”

“How do you know?” TO asked, “What if it’s some weird bacteria or virus that’s mutated? If it mutated the wrong way, we wouldn’t have any immunity to it-“

“It’s not a virus.” DH said, their ears twitching in amusement, “And it’s not bacteria.”

Before TO could ask DH how they knew that and demand more information, the tweezers suddenly twitched in their mate’s hands. The civilian whimpered as DH slowly drew the tweezers out.

“It’s awful, I know.” DH said, forcing an artificially soothing tone to their carefully spoken Galactic Common as their ears dipped down in sympathy. “It’s almost done though.” A moment later, they pulled a tiny cluster of what looked like orb-capped mushrooms from the civilian's nose. TO could only watch in absolute confusion as they dropped the tiny mushrooms into a plastic bowl by their side and gave the civilian a tissue. “Now sit up and hold that to your nose for a bit. You might get a nosebleed. We’ll get you to drink a little something to suppress that from growing back, and you should wear a mask for the rest of the day, but you should be fine.”

The civilian took the offered tissue and sat up, pinching their wide nose with the tissue. “Y’ sure?” They asked, their oddly deep voice distorted by their blocked nose.

“Oh, yes.” DH said as they picked up the bowl, “These things have shallow roots–mycelium–and it looks like I got everything, but even if I missed something, the juice I’m going to give you is going to keep it from growing back.”

TO leaned over to see the tiny mushroom better. It looked like tiny little stalks with purple orbs on top. As TO got a little closer that sickly sweet smell got even stronger. They recoiled in fear, clasping their hands over their face more tightly.

“You're fine.” DH said without even looking up as they poured a glass of that blue-green juice, handing it to the patient with a quick smile “And you’ll be fine, just drink that and keep that tissue over your nose for a few more minutes.”

“Sure.” The civilian said, eying the drink, “does it taste awful?”

“No, but even if it did, you won’t be able to taste much for a day or so. That’ll wear off though, so don’t worry about it.” They stood up, activated their chip, and strode towards the back, “Come with me, TO.” DH said, “I’ll just update these notes first.”

TO didn’t know what notes DH was updating, but as they walked behind their mate, it suddenly struck them by how different they seemed. Here, among the sick civilians, they walked with a strange sense of purpose. Their eyes were sharp and keen as they put information onto the screen hovering before them, and though their ears were tense with focus, they rested high around their face, The old lab coat which Goretta had grabbed and altered to accommodate DH’s wings fluttered around them as they walked at such a clipped pace through the small sectioned off area.

They seemed so in control and focused; like they had everything together and could handle anything that came at them. TO wasn’t even aware of the way their ears flicked and twitched as they watched them.

DH led them into a closet near the back. The door was long gone and only another old sheet covered the entrance. As soon as they were inside, DH turned, took TO’s hand from their face, held their chin with their other hand, and kissed them deeply. Still being thrown by the rather visceral image of DH pulling a small cluster of mushrooms from someone’s nose, TO could only give a stifled ‘mmmph.’ Before they calmed down and leaned into the kiss, their hand was clutching the back of their mate’s neck. It took all their self control to keep their fingers away from DH’s flushed, twitching ears.

“That was unexpected.” TO whispered when DH finally pulled away from them.

“S-sorry.” DH said, their own ears dipping a little. “I saw your ears when you were watching me there… and I couldn’t help it.”

TO recalled how they had been gazing at their mate, and their ears suddenly dipped and flushed. “I- I couldn’t help it! I always look at you like that!” They huffed and looked away, “Got us in trouble..”

“It’s not that.” DH said softly. “It was different this time.”

“Anyway.” TO said, “What was the emergency!? Why did you pull mushrooms from a person's nose? And why does the whole place smell like it’s been doused in pure sugar?”

DH sighed and sat atop a crate in the corner. “Right. The emergency.” DH said. “Well, it was an emergency in that Goretta needed a lot of help. Half the people in the dorm had those mushrooms in their nose.”

TO shuddered. “How?”

“Goretta thinks the spores were probably dormant down here.” DH said as they looked around the stone wall. “All the people suddenly here, the activity, heat and sweat and just the moisture from everyone’s breath probably activated the spores and well… here we are.” They shrugged, “Pulling mushroom clusters from people’s noses.”

“… why are they in people's noses though?” TO asked. “And why do you think we’re immune?”

DH smiled at them, “The nose is a warm, moist environment with easy access to blood, which they need to grow. If they go further inside the body the spores won’t spread and if they’re nearer to the nostrils, then it’s too easy to blow them out. It only affects a certain branch of blood types which is pretty common here, but we don’t have it. Goretta does though, so she had to drink some of that juice. Apparently, it’s got an enzyme in it that keeps the mushrooms from settling in the nasal cavity.”

“I see.”

“So… yeah, this morning half the civilians woke up with their noses whistling through clusters of mushrooms and that sickly smell was everywhere.” They looked up sheepishly at TO, “You probably could have helped, but there have been a few nosebleeds so it’s probably best that you weren’t here.”

“I probably could have handled a nosebleed or two.” TO muttered, trying to ignore the way their ears dipped as they spoke,”

“How was Tham?” DH asked, their ears suddenly tensing, “Did he talk to you?”

“Tham is…Ok.” TO said, “He and Jason were closer than I thought they were, and I suppose hearing just how he died was a lot today.”

“And I guess hearing that a synth killed him didn’t help.” DH said. “I’m surprised he was willing to speak with you.“

“Well… we’re not really synths, are we?”

“At the very least I’m not a very good one.” DH said, “But you know, when I’m walking around and helping people here… I feel like MO-6 when I do this!”

It had been a while since TO had thought of the old medical officer, but now that they recalled them, TO knew what it was about DH that seemed so different. MO-6 had seemed somehow apart from them back in training. They had been a fully grown, competent synth who had finished all their training and ended up running the med bay in the training center. Sure, Flit had been a Retiree, and Snout was an officer as well, but TO had gotten to know them on a personal level. MO-6, despite being relatively understanding and friendly, had never really let TO see any personal side to them and therefore had seemed beyond them somehow.

When they were walking to the closet, DH somehow had that same feeling to them.

“TO?” DH frowned, “What is it?”

“Nothing.” TO said, shaking themself out of their thoughts. “But… anyway, yes, Tham spoke to me. He’ll be fine.”

“Well, good for him.” DH said, their ears flicking back. After a moment, they sighed, “And… good for you. It’ll help Pearla anyway I suppose.” They smiled up at TO, “Aside from that, what brings you back here?”

“I had to check on you!” TO said, “I had to check on the medical emergency!”

“Well, things are calming down now.” DH said, “Goretta is getting a few more people sorted out, but really the emergency was that once those mushrooms pop up, It’s important to get them out as soon as possible otherwise the patient needs surgery.”

TO’s ears dropped again, and the mention of surgery made their stomach lunge. “Is it ok for you to take a break to talk to me then?”

“She was my last patient, and Goretta has the last few, otherwise I’d ask you to help.”

TO sighed and leaned against the shelves. DH was fine, and the medical emergency was really a non-emergency.

“I guess you have to take off now.” DH said as their ears sank down, “You’re really busy…”

“I have a lot to do.” TO said, “But… What I need to do now, I can easily do here.”

DH’s ears perked up, “Really?” They asked, “It’s not a problem?”

TO smiled, their heart warming as they saw their mate’s excitement.

“Not in the least.”