But Hamish did not sleep either.
He lay in the next bed with his fluid line in his arm, and every time Tilo woke, frightened and confused, Hamish was there talking to him.
It’s the fever, Hamish told him sometime in the small hours.
Feels like the end of the world, doesn’t it?
Like you’re burning up from the inside, but that’s good, mate.
That’s your body fighting.
That’s the good stuff in your blood doing its job.
You’ve got a bit of me in there now giving it a hand.
Tilo laughed weakly.
A bit of you.
Best bit too, the stubborn bit.
Hamish shifted on his pillow.
My sister says I’m the most stubborn bloke in Queensland.
Reckon you’ll be stubborn now too.
Sorry about that.
Side effect.
My mother said Tilo after a while will want to thank you.
She is on Lira.
She does not know yet.
Then you ring her in the morning and tell her you’re all right, said Hamish.
That’s the first thing.
Before anything else, mums need to know their kids are all right, no matter how old the kids are.
Tilo did.
In the morning when the fever had broken and the sun of the gas giant was rising pale gold across the station viewports, he called his mother on Lira and Sepha, passing the door, heard the long, tearful, joyful conversation and heard Tilo say several times, No, mother, a human.
Yes, a human.
He gave me his blood.
No, I do not know why.
I think it is simply what they do.
Over the following days, the medical bay became the most visited place on Meridian Exchange.
The dock workers came first with flowers from the station’s hydroponic gardens, then the cargo crews, then residents Sepha had never met from a dozen species who had heard the story and wanted to see the human for themselves.
Some of them brought food.
A Senari family brought a basket of sweet pastries.
A pair of old Dravic miners brought a bottle of something strong and illegal in medical areas, which Sepha confiscated and which Hamish mourned loudly.
On the third day, administrator Hravac came alone without security and stood awkwardly at the foot of Hamish’s bed.
I wish to lock you in a room, he said.
I was wrong.
I apologize.
Mate, you were looking after your people, said Hamish.
Can’t fault you for that.
