THE FIGHT OF MEN

Tempéra is suddenly awakened by Gaëlle crying in the middle of the night. First, he thinks it is another one of his frequent nightmares and doesn't react right away. Lying like a corpse, heavy and inert on his bed, he contemplates the cries Gaëlle is crying for him in his dream. Then, he hears her crying again. She is calling him. Tempéra jumps out of bed in alarm to head for the little girl's bedroom. Their flat is very small; in a few steps he has already crossed the corridor which separates his bedroom from Gaëlle's. He switches on the light.

Gaëlle bends over in pain on her bed, her face sweating, stains of blood on her pillow. Tempéra leans over to calm her down. Where does the blood come from? Her skin, her mouth, her nose, her ears, he inspects every hole in the little girl's face to determine from where she has been bleeding. Her eyes? Why the eyes? Tempéra wonders as he goes through all the plausible explanations in his head. He must ask for help. He takes Gaëlle in his arms to put her gently on his shoulder. Suddenly, he feels a warm liquid dripping down his bare back. The little girl has just vomited on him, but she's no longer crying. Her exhausted little body rests like a sandbag on Tempéra's shoulder as he rushes to the front door for help, but where? Athena!

"Athena!" Tempéra shouts, stopping short in front of the front door of the apartment.

The hologram appears in front of him.

"Professor Akheeli, I was about to call you," the hologram says in a calm voice. "The Supreme Goddess isn't feeling very well."

"My daughter's sick," Tempéra whispers.

"I know," Athena retorts calmly. "So is the Supreme Goddess as well as three other members of the team."

Tempéra feels a great shiver running through his whole body.

"Let me get changed quickly," he says obediently. His role is to serve and provide for the needs of others, not his own.

Tempéra goes back to his bedroom, lays Gaëlle gently on his bed; she seems deeply asleep now; he goes to the bathroom to quickly wipe the vomit slurry on his back with a wet towel before putting on his trousers, a shirt, his white scrub, his socks and work shoes. Finally, he puts a large clean towel on his shoulder, wipes Gaëlle's lips with a tissue, then lays her back on the towel over his shoulder as gently as possible so as not to wake her up. He returns to the front door with the determined and sad gaze of a soldier heading to the battlefield.

***

Tempéra goes through the first metallic door, which gives access to the glass doors of the laboratory. Followed closely by Athena, he finds the team standing in a circle several metres apart from each other, their eyes serious, for some red, their faces hardened by what they have just discovered. They are all wearing a surgical facemask covering the entire lower part of their face. In a fraction of a second, Tempéra has already figured out what happened. They suspect a viral infection following the implantation of the gene in the Supreme Goddess. Some, but perhaps not all, have already been infected. The lab and everyone who worked there during the gene implantation should be quarantined without further delay.

"How are you Professor Akheeli?" One of his teammates asks when he sees him arrive. The man's voice resounds under his facemask as if inside a cellar.

"I'm fine, it's my daughter, she hasn't been well," Tempéra replies, continuing to walk towards the group.

"Don't move!" The man continues, waving his hand to stop the professor in his tracks.

"Athena, close the lab doors and don't open them under any circumstances until further notice," the man begins in a deep voice without taking his eyes off Tempéra.

"Let the Elders and all our headquarters around the world know so that they can help us find an antidote as soon as possible. We will need food, mattresses, sheets and blankets, towels to accommodate us during the quarantine," he stops to turn to the small circle of scientists behind him before turning back to Tempéra who remains planted with his mouth agape, panting heart, and his legs feeling weak.

Would you believe me if I told you that this story was written in February 2017