The conference hall for the Galactic Assembly hall was awash in chaos. Captain Vir sat wide eyed next to krill (temporary representative of earth while the ambassador was away). The Assembly members argued over each other raised voices becoming even more agitated than the ones before.

"ORDER, ORDER I SAY" A loud hammering broke through the noise, and the gathered assembly took to their seats eyes wide with fright.

The chairwoman folded her posterior appendages to the front, "I will have order. Panic will do nothing for us. As it seems, the Gromm's home world has been overrun by a virulent plague. Unfortunately, we are not sure of the exact nature of the disease. Before their scientists could come to us with their discovery all communications had gone dark..... We fear we may have lost them."

"That's not right." The entire assembly hall turned to look at the human. Krill sunk behind the desk in embarrassment.

"You have something to say, human?"

Captain Vir looked awkwardly down at the desk for a moment before taking a deep breath and standing up, "Well aren't you going to send someone. The CDC or a hazmat team, you can't just leave them to die out there, can you? Not if there is soemthing that can be done." The entire hall rumbled with assent to the human's words.

The chairwoman leaned back eyeing the human, "Tell me than, what makes you qualified to make such suggestions." The hall grumbled again

"Well, I come from a world that has had a ton of plagues and diseases as you know, the black plague, Spanish influenza, smallpox, bird flu to name a few. And every time that happened, someone came in to help. Take Ebola as an example, a hemorrhagic fever originating near the Ebola River that, as the name suggests, causes massive internal bleeding with fever. It is so contagious that you can catch it through contact with bodily fluids, from dead bodies, and (After a particular mutation) through contact with the air. It has somewhere between a 50-90% fatality rate without treatment. And despite that, when outbreaks happen we don't just leave those people to die. Volunteer doctors and nurses went in with hazmat suits to take care of those people. Some of them died, some of them caught the disease, and others saved a lot of lives."

The room was surprisingly quiet. Krill was surprised too, they knew humans to be a warlike species, but they hadn't known them to be so.... Caring. To risk death to help those who may not be saved?

"A touching story, Captain, but how does that help us?"

Captain Vir crossed his arms, "If I can contact Earth, and find someone who is willing to help, I will personally fly them in myself to provide security."

***

"Why did you agree to this?" Krill wondered uneasily watching as the captain and the rest of the volunteer medical team began strapping on their hazmat uniforms. Behind his clear plastic mask, the captain grinned fogging up the glass face, "Because, someone's gotta do it, and besides, humans have the best immune systems this side of the galaxy."

Krill grumbled slightly, "Maybe to earth diseases, which are disgusting, but not to alien diseases."

"I thought you were a surgeon, not an infectious disease specialist."

"I still went to medical school." Krill grumbled, "Now remember captain, stay safe, and keep clean. Make sure to follow any and all decontamination procedures. Don't touch anything if you don't have to. Keep your feed on, so that I can see what's going on. Maybe I can help. Also, remember to keep you-"

"Respirator on and gloves on at all times, yes Krill, I'm not stupid. I don't want to die either." Next to him, the other volunteers from his crew were strapping on their weapons making ready for entry.

Krill was still nervous watching them board the shuttle, and, through the cameras, their descent towards the Gromm homeworld. All around the world other crews would be doing the same thing.

***

"Approaching the first settlement at about 23% west. There seems to be no signs of life thus far." Krill watched as the captain stepped around a strange plant and continued walking as he narrated for them. The feed wasn't great, so it would be a help. "No movement, no alarms, nothing." They moved over a rise and made their way down another hill reaching the settlement in about twenty minutes, having parked themselves at a good distance from the settlement. "Looks like we have our first body." The captain said grimly crouching down and peering with his helmet cam at the shriveled corps dried into a husk under the sun. "This thing looks F***ing mummified." The captain mumbled walking in a wide circle around the body to get it from all angles.

Krill had to agree with the captain's assessment. The average Gromm was about three times the size of that body, with considerable mucus tissue covering most of its body. If it had died out in the sun, It was likely it had just dehydrated there.

One of the medical team began taking samples from the corpse as the rest moved closer to one of the buildings. Captain Vir took point next to the rest of his team protecting the medical staff as they softly shoved the door open.

Every human within sight left of a collective gasp.

"Ewwww f***ing disgusting." One of them muttered. The captain made a noise in the back of his throat before, "Oh shit, I... Don't know if you can all see, but the room is, absolutely..... Covered in slime." With the medical team, they ventured into the room. It was dark enough Krill had trouble seeing, but the captain's narration kept him aware, "There are at least 10, maybe 12 bodies in here all resting in pools of slime. It looks like it's splattered the walls, there is even some on the ceiling. I can feel it through my boots." He crouched down next to one of the bodies and ran a quick scan, "This one appears to be dead." Krill squirmed a little in his seat at the disgusting sight, bulging eyes and a flaccid expression like the creature had just been deflated somehow.

"I GOT A LIVE ONE" Someone called.

The captain turned his helmet to look, and they all rushed over to a body in the corner. The creature was barely alive, eyes rolling against its chapped skin, "Water." It pleaded. Someone, heading the plea left the room and came in with a bucket filled to the brim with water. The creature had no real mouth to drink like a human, so, instead, they dumped the bucket of water over the creature's deflated form. Immediately, it began to look better, perking up and swelling to a proper size. It took a gasping breath, but seemed to sick to do much more than that. Immediately it began oozing at a furious pace.

"What the hell." The captain muttered. Krill pressed closer to the screen. He had never seen anything like it. The average Gromm didn't produce more than a quart of slime per day, but it was quickly loosing water even as they watched.

The humans began immediate procedure in helping the creature filling another tub full of water, and then dumping the Gromm into it covering themselves in slime during the process. The idea seemed to be working, though it would only be a temporary solution.

They continued on from there going from house to house, finding many dead, some still clinging to life, and all in need of water. Captain Vir kept track of everything he saw and everything the medical professionals pointed out. He went into most of the houses first and cleared each room before allowing others to follow him.

They were taking a look at one of the bodies when it happened. It was dark, and eerie, the house appeared to have been painted in the slime. No lights were on, and there were few windows. Captain Vir was scanning one of the subjects when it happened. The Gromm sat up and made a horrible screeching noise.

Vir leaped back, and tipped over something.

Krill heard the tearing. And then the cursing. "F**k, it's inside my suit f**K." The feed cut out."

***

Krill sat at the consul shaking, body racked with panic. It was sure the captain's suit had been breached, and he had been exposed to the pathogen. Second hands reported that he had been quarantined and was being observed..... Symptoms had already begun to appear, though the specifics were kept to a minimum.

Just then the camera turned on, and the captain appeared in the feed. He was smiling, but looked shaky. The plastic of the tent around him revealed a single entrance, a bed, a bucket, and a few other supplies, "Well..... I've been exposed to whatever this thing is. Whatever it is its fast acting." He reached up to wipe his eyes, "About three hours after exposure, my nose started to run, and my eyes started to water." He swallowed and wiped his mouth, "I'm not feeling anything else, no fever, no nausea, no sore throat, so perhaps it won't be that bad. I'll keep you updated.

***

Krill sat, furiously examining the samples that he had been given trying to figure out what exactly the pathogen's purpose was. He wasn't an expert in this area, but he knew enough that he thought it might help.

Behind him, the feed clicked on. The captain sat there looking an absolute mess. He was sniffling and wiping at his face every few seconds. His hair was disheveled, and his clothes were damp, "So.... It's getting worse. Uh," he wiped at his face, arm coming away covered in stringy slime. "It's like, I was sprayed with CS gas, or ate a ghost pepper without the burning...." Tears trickled down his face in a steady stream, and as he spoke, it sounded like he was trying to speak past a mouthful of water, "I'm covered in my own." He swallowed, "Slime. The medical team has been using me for its samples. The rest of the Gromm appear to be stabilizing. As long as you keep them in water, they seem alright, but we keep having to refill the water because they use it so fast. A few others are showing signs of improvement, thousands more have died." He wiped at his face again, "And I have run out of tissues for the tenth time now....."

***

The captain leaned against the edge of the frame. His cheeks were sunken his eyes were ringed with bags. He was no longer wearing his soaked shirt. He wiped at his face in vein, "Well, we have a name for it Viral Hyperactive Ectomucsacytosis, I just call it 'The Slime." He leaned over and spit into the bucket, "Which means that it's a virus that causes hyperactivity in the exterior mucus membranes. So on the Gromm, who have mucus membranes covering their bodies, it's almost a death sentence. They produce mucus until they have no water left to do so, and then they dry up. For humans it also attacks exterior mucus membranes." He wiped at his head, "Luckily it doesn't seem to affect the lugs or the intestines, but" He motioned to himself, "As you can see, it attacks the eyes, the nose, the mouth and...... well there are a few other places, but I'll let you use whatever medical knowledge you have to guess those....." He sighed, "I've stopped wearing clothes, because I have nothing dry left."

He held up his arm, "As you might know, saliva and other mucus is about 90% water, so I am excessively dehydrated. They've started a wide boar IV on me just to keep up with the water loss." He sighed, "I haven't peed in almost 24 hours. I'm dizzy, and keep forgetting what I'm supposed to say. Since they gave me the IV I've been feeling a little better." He sighed again, "My skin is dry, I feel cold, and they are worried about organ failure if I continue to loose water. Oh, also I have a massive headache."

***

Captain Vir stepped aboard the ship two weeks later wearing dry clothes and looking relatively chipper. The planetary crisis for the Gromm had been reduced by the brave humans who had volunteered to come and aid those that were left alive. Millions had died in the plague, but with excessive amounts of water, the Virus had run its course. Anyone and everyone who received sufficient care during that time survived and recovered including Captain VIr.

Certain settlements had figured this trick out before their brethren and had taken to the water as soon as the outbreak had shown the symptoms that it did. They found other settlements that had not been touched by the plague, but they were often far outside city limits and had no real way to contact anyone. Many of the Gromm would remain permanently affected by the disease causing a dysregulation of their usual slime production.

Disease free, Vir was back to his normal self, and had decided that your average runny nose was nothing compared to "The slime". A runny nose didn't usually cause dehydration, organ failure, headache, and muscle cramps.

Krill, to himself, was very impressed with the humans. It hadn't taken very long for Vir to find his volunteers, and no one had through twice about helping an entirely different race. They had come in on the hundreds, and had saved an entire planet from the brink of extinction risking their own lives in the process. At least 25 humans out of the hundreds sent had been infected, and all had survived without continuing issue.

Humans are a strange race, bred in war and shaped by pain, and so they fear nothing. They don't fear sickness, or death, but they believe in survival. This idea is engrained so deeply that, even against logic, they will risk their own lives to lift up the lives of others.

No other race sent volunteer envoys onto the face of the Gromm planet, no other species suffered the sickness. It was humans, and humans aloe willing to risk death to save a species not their own.