Her Voice: Chapter One

Dedicated to Sarah. May your voice always guide me home.

Table of Contents:

• Chapter Two
• Chapter Three
• Chapter Four
• Chapter Five

Day 0:

Doctor Felix Goodman sat in a leather chair, fidgeting with a small tear in the cushion on the right side. He wasn’t sure why he was nervous; he had been on television before. Public speaking was never an issue for him, and yet, this felt different.

The lights above came on, radiating heat almost instantly. Across from him, the host shooed away her makeup team.

A voice called out from behind the cameras to the Doctor’s right.

“We are live in three, two…”

The host smiled. “Hello! I’m Sarah Richards, and welcome back to Channel Nine news.”

She turned to face the doctor. He placed his hands in his lap, trying to focus.

“I’m here with Doctor Felix Goodman from the Blue Skies Clinic and research center. Doctor, thank you for joining us today, I know you’re quite busy.”

“Of course, Sarah, happy to be here.”

“So, doctor, I’ll get right to it. What is this Lingua disease and how did it start?”

The doctor cocked his head, his eyebrows furrowed.

“We don’t know how it started, but we are learning more about how it spreads. The closest comparison we can make is CJD, or Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. It seems to be some form of prion, though we believe it’s transmitted through sound. Language, specifically. We believe it to be causing some form of Aphasia.”

The host laughed. “Doctor, I’m afraid you’re going to have to simplify it further. I failed out of medical school back in college.”

The doctor forced a fake laugh but nodded all the same.

“Sure, sorry. Aphasia is a language disorder. It affects your ability to speak and to understand others. Some cases of CJD have resulted in Aphasia-like symptoms in the English language, but it’s rare, and never on this kind of scale.”

Sarah glanced quickly down at her notes.

“It’s clear based on early reports that the Lingua disease affects a person’s ability to communicate. In fact, it almost seems to overwrite their native language with something new. Is that correct?”

“Yes, although it would be a stretch to call the sounds they make language. It’s more of a vector. We believe it could be a combination of frequency and pronunciation. Our early research indicates that Lingua mutates a part of the brain, specifically Broca’s area in the frontal lobe of the dominant hemisphere.”

Sarah nodded. “And what does it do to the brain, exactly?”

“It seems to activate a latent form of expression that was phased out over the course of our evolution, but remained dormant nonetheless. Once activated, it leverages our vocal cords in a novel way to spread the disease,” the doctor said.

“So, you’re saying this disease has infected others before?”

“We believe so, yes.”

“When?”

“About 40,000 years ago. We know that the prior species to Homo sapiens, the Neanderthals, were wiped out, but until now we didn’t know what caused our species to become the dominant apex predator on Earth.”

“And, you believe that this Lingua disease was the reason for that?”

“It seems plausible, yes.”

“If that’s the case, then how did homo sapiens survive?”

The doctor shrugged. “That’s not really my area of expertise.”

“Humor me.”

“Okay, well, it’s possible that we found some sort of way to adapt. Some way of preventing the spread of the disease long enough for the hosts, in this case the neanderthals, to die out.”

“Well, I guess that leaves one final question, doctor.”

The two stared each other down. Neither one wanted to broach the next subject.

“Do you believe the Lingua disease is a threat to humanity?”

The doctor sighed. “Humans have spent millennia convincing ourselves that Earth is our planet. That our reign will never end. Lingua is a reminder that we are merely guests here.”

“Please answer the question, doctor.”

“Yes. I believe the Lingua disease could spell doom for the entire human race.”

Sarah tried to fake a smile but couldn’t.

“Thank you for your time, doctor.”

***

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