The Disease

the Disease is a short story by F-22 "raptor" ace. It was posted from July 1th 2017 to December 8th 2022 and can be read here. It covers Hans Donitz' death from Shelton's disease and his sons' attempts to discover why he died. 
==Synopsis==
Ten years after the end of Disruptive Selection, Hans and his son Werner have moved into the desert settlement that initially sent the terrorists that invaded Pelvanida. Werner is serving as their leader now that Hans has grown too old, and has also started a relationship with Pomson, the daughter of the former leader. Werner shows Pomson a newspaper detailing Shelton's recent unexpected death. Pomson is uninterested in anything to do with Werner's former friends, so the two visit the dining hall and wait for the chef to finish tonight's dinner. After some time, they're urgently summoned by the doctor's assistant because Hans has fallen unconscious. The doctor somberly informs them that Hans has died, just as suddenly as Shelton, and Pomson comforts Werner.
A few days later, Werner contacts James Zanasiu because he suspects that the Einstein-Rosen Bridge had something to do with Hans', Rudyard's, and Oscar's deaths. James agrees that he and Yuri Kerzach will meet with Werner to discuss his trepidation. Werner brings Pomson to the meeting, which occurs in Los Angeles. At the airport lounge, they briefly meet Joey, who is now a bartender. James arrives, and after some strained smalltalk, during which James mentions that Kerzach will arrive late tonight, the three agree to relocate to a hotel and save the serious conversation for after everyone's rested.
At the hotel, Werner goes to bed early and awakens to find James and Pomson maintaining a pleasant conversation, which relieves him since they'd been at each other's throats before. Pomson affirms that she's cooperating for Werner's sake, and privately confesses she's been waiting for him to propose to her. Werner promises to do so once he's purchased a ring. When James rejoins the conversation, the three talk about their family histories; Werner mentions his grandfather and three grand-uncles fought for the Nazis in WWII. James mentions his grandfather worked on the atom bomb, and Pomson recalls that her father knew nothing about his parents. After James gets a call that Kerzach is on his way, Agent Whittaker knocks on the door and introduces himself.
Whittaker warns the group that the government is suspicious about three prominent Pelvanida scientists meeting back up in secret, not the least of which because one of them brought a relative of the terrorists with him. After his subtle threat that the group is being watched, he leaves just before Kerzach arrives. The group searches through Shelton's notes but fail to find anything that would explain the brain hemorrhages, until Werner thinks to test a vial of Shelton's blood with prinophalyne and makes the connection between the disease and anti-matter.
The quartet test themselves, noting that everyone but Pomson is infected, and make the connection that it has to do with those who have jumped through an Einstein-Rosen Bridge. They remember how Steven's book detailed that Sophie Donitz inherited the disease from her parents, and make the connection that the upcoming bridge network is a massive health hazard for the entirety of humanity. They devise the plan to send someone through the bridge to grab the cure from the future, but disagree on who it should be. James and Pomson both want to be the one who makes the jump, with the latter arguing it was her opportunity to make amends for her father's past crimes. When Werner sides with James, noting that she'd be infecting herself for a plan that wasn't guaranteed to work, she breaks up with them and leaves the hotel, where Whittaker flags her down and offers her a proposition.
Later, Werner reconnects with James and Kerzach at Carson City Camp, where both note that they tested their sons and can confirm the disease is genetic. Under Molby's supervision, James is sent into the bridge, and Werner returns home to the desert settlement, reading The Complete Works of William Shakespeare while still clearly affected by having lost Pomson's love.
In an epilogue scene, James emerges from the Einstein-Rosen bridge in Tenant's Way eleven years later, where Cimarron and Malte Kerzach are waiting and relieved to see the plan worked. Malte takes James to Carson City Camp, now commanded by Mitchell Crota, who gives him a holotape of Werner Donitz, who was killed by Pomson before James returned. Werner asks him to forgive Pomson for what she did, and that he's honored to have been James' friend.
Meanwhile, Pomson is incarcerated in the base jail. While grappling with her conflicting emotions, she witnesses hallucinations of her father (who chastizes her and calls her a failure) and Werner (who defends her and assures her she can become good). The pair disappears as James arrives, coolly informs her about Werner's plan succeeding, and tells her to stay away from his family unless she redeems herself. He also leaves a second holotape for her, as Werner asked him to do.
On this holotape, written by a Werner who thought he would soon die of Shelton's disease, he apologizes for not siding with her when choosing who should jump through the bridge. He asks her to live a better life without him and that he always loved her. The hallucinations reappear, but this time Pomson finds the conviction to side with Werner's faith in her future. Crota arrives, and she agrees to take the plea deal for her actions.
After Crota leaves, Pomson apologizes out loud to Werner. Unseen by her, Werner's spirit is standing outside her cell and forgives her, before the spectre of death takes him away.
==Characters==
*Werner Donitz
*Hans Donitz
*Pomson
*chef
*doctor's assistant
*doctor
*Max
*Joey
*James Zanasiu
*Receptionist
*Whittaker
*Jake Moby
*Mitchell Crota
*Cimarron
*Malte Kerzach
*Death
*Halsey (hallucination)
*Rudyard Shelton (mentioned only)
*Oscar Shelton (mentioned only)
*Yuri Kerzach (mentioned only)
*Erik Varma-Zanasiu (mentioned only)
*James Zanasiu Jr (mentioned only)
*Florence Brennan (mentioned only)
*Shakespeare clone (mentioned only)
*Rudolf Donitz (mentioned only)
*Walter Donitz (mentioned only)
*Friedrich Donitz (mentioned only)
*Joachim Donitz (mentioned only)
*James Zanasiu's grandfather (mentioned only)
*Pomson's mother (mentioned only)
==Trivia==
*This is the first new Darwin's Soldiers story posted in over three years, since the publication of Byte Me in May 2014. This is also the first story written by f-22 "raptor" ace.
*With this story's publication, Mirumoto_Kenjiro and Lbt/cty lover become the only two authors from the original role-play who haven't written a story.
*This is the only story whose title has the first word uncapitalized.
*This story is Joey's first appearance in over 9 years, his only previous appearance being in the first roleplay. This is the second-longest real-world gap between character appearances, behind only the Shakespeare clone.
*This story easily broke the record for longest time taken to be fully posted, with almost 5½ years from the first to the last post. The record was previously held by Ground One with a mere 10 months.
Category:Stories
Category:Real-world articles