To Earth and Back

by William Boardman

  “What will happen?” Adie asked, somewhat concerned. “Does it hurt?”

  “Well, a small clear cylinder will come down from that panel up there and stop a few inches from your face. Of course, you’ll need to open your eye again. Next you will see several little specks of light for a fraction of a second, and that’s it. I’ll ask you to close your eye, and we’ll do some tissue stimulation like we did on your head. Then, after a minute or so, you can open your eye and see the difference. You have nothing to fear. It never misses.” Katie paused for a moment, and added, “So I guess this is where I find out how much you trust me.”

  Adie smiled. “I trust you. It just sounds too good to be true.”

  “Well, you won’t be disappointed...that I guarantee.”

  Two minutes later the procedure was over, and tissue stimulation began. “Okay,” Katie said, “a little stimulation, and we’ll see what you can see. And while we’re waiting, if it’s all right, I need to take your measurements for some clothes, assuming you don’t want to walk around in that towel.”

  “Oh, yes—thank you.”

  “Then put your hands to your sides.” Katie took the reading and called Jack on the com-link. “Jack, what type of outfit for Adie?”

  “Stand-by, I’ll ask Doc Maran.” After a moment, Jack said, “VIP should do the trick.”

  “Of course, thanks.” Katie sent the data to the cyclic. “Okay, Jack, it should be ready. Would you ask the Doc to pass it to me?” Katie dismissed the barrier just long enough to receive the uniform. “Adie, I think we’re ready. Open your eye and tell me what you think.”

  Adie blinked once and turned to see Katie with astonishing clarity. “Oh, my gosh! You’re beautiful.”

  Katie flushed. “Stop it now,” she said, embarrassed.

  “No, you’re beautiful. Your skin...it’s flawless, and your eyes...your eyes are like—green crystal.” She looked around at the instrumentation. “Everything is so clear. Thank you,” she said, taking Katie's hand and squeezing. “Thank you.”

  “My pleasure,” Katie said. “Listen, you’re fine now. Why don’t you hop down?”

  Adie sat up, turned, and slipped off the gurney.

  “Would you like for me to step out while you dress?” Katie asked.

  “I would prefer that you stay, if you don’t mind. I’m afraid I might put something on wrong. Anyway, we’re just girls here.” Adie untucked the towel and laid it on the gurney.

  “My goodness, Adie, how blessed you are.”

  The comment drew a smile. “Not enough to attract a husband, I’m afraid.”

  “Well, there’s just no accounting for taste.”

  “I think it has more to do with religion and a bad eye than taste. Anyway, are these the underclothes?”

  Minutes later, Adie was dressed in the metallic gold uniform of a VIP.

  “This is really something,” Adie said. “The underthings fit like a glove...soooo comfortable.”

  With an affirming nod, Katie said, “Listen, before I remove the barrier, we need to discuss a few things I found during the examination. Is that all right?”

  “Of course, but I think I know what you’re going to say.”

  Katie glanced up at the display. “Well, aside from the diabetes and the obvious loss of vision in the one eye, I noticed an incision on your right breast. So, I assume you’re aware of the cancer.”

  Adie gave a melancholy nod.

  “You also have decay in several of your teeth and a couple of other things. But concerning the cancer, it’s spread to three lymph nodes under your right arm and you—” The com-link on Katie's wrist lit up and emitted a tone. “Yes, Jack?”

  “Brooke needs your help for a minute. Can you come out?”

  CHAPTER 33

  Katie apologized to Adie for the interruption, dismissed the barrier, and moved across the cabin to assist Brooke.

  Walt stepped back to keep Adie company. “Feeling better?” he asked.

  Adie was stunned by the overwhelming array of alien technology, now in perfect focus. “Yes, I’m sorry, what did you say?”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Oh—yes, I’m very okay. Katie fixed my eye,” Adie said, still taking everything in. “It’s so amazing, all these things—all the little lights…. Katie told me where you’re from. I have so many questions, I don’t know what to ask first.”

  “And we’ll be happy to answer everything we can, but for the moment, we’re trying to solve a little problem.” Walt turned to Brooke. “How’s he doing?”

  Brooke, now finished with the second transfusion, moved to the med console before responding. “He’s improving.”

  With Brooke out of the way, Adie now enjoyed a clear view of Ari, prone and unconscious on the gurney—covered from the waist down. His strikingly handsome face and lean yet powerful musculature drew her attention like a magnet.

  “Doc,” Jack said, “the ops controller needs to bend your ear for a moment.”

  Walt excused himself and walked over to Jack’s console.

  Brooke shifted her attention to Adie. “And how are you doing, honey?”

  “I’m fine, thank you,” Adie answered, still fixed on Ari. “What happened to him?”

  Brooke grinned, reached down to the seat beside her, and held up Ari’s helmet. “Well, honey, you happened to him.”

  Adie realized she’d been staring and quickly diverted to Brooke. The sight of the helmet snapped her back to reality, and she covered her mouth in shock. “Oh, my gosh! That was him! I thought he was going to kill me!”

  “Yeah, sometimes he has that effect on people,” Brooke kidded, “but believe me, honey, that was the farthest thing from his mind.”

  “He was big and scary. I thought he was part of the attack,” Adie said, a little defensive. “But he just walked up to me. He didn’t even defend himself. Who would do that? Was he crazy?”

  “No, honey, I’m afraid it’s worse than that,” Brooke said. “He thinks you’re his girlfriend.”

  Adie turned her head in disbelief, and murmured, “I should be so lucky.”

  “What’s that, sweetie?” Brooke asked, smiling.

  Adie looked at Brooke and reluctantly repeated, “I said, I should be so lucky.”

  Brooke, taken by Adie’s honesty, said, “What is it they say on Earth? ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder’? Anyway, don’t worry, it wasn’t you who hurt him.”

  Walt finished speaking with the controller. Then, after a short dialog with Jack, he joined Brooke at Ari’s gurney. “What do you think? Any chance of getting him up and walking by the time we get back?”

  Brooke glanced down at Ari, then back at Walt. “We need to remove those bullets first. Once that’s done, I can clean the wounds and start tissue stimulation. Ops cleared our request for Earth gravity from the launch bay to the quarters; that’s providing things go the way we hope,” she said, glancing briefly at Adie. “He’s strong. With the lower gravity—yeah, he could do it. But there’s not much chance of that as long as those bullets stay where they are.”

  “But can’t you remove them?” Walt asked. “If you can’t, there’s going to be some explaining to do.”

  “I might be able to remove one,” Brooke said, “but the other one is pretty deep and very close to an artery. We really need a surgeon and an operating room. I’m not a surgeon, and honestly, we really shouldn’t risk it. If we nick that artery, we could lose him.”

  “But they call you Doc,” Adie said, looking at Walt. “Aren’t you a doctor?”

  “Yes, but not that kind; I’m a psychologist.”

  “So where was he hit?” Adie asked.

  “His shoulder blade and upper thigh,” Brooke replied.

  Merrick, having taken everything in, could hold his peace no longer. “Adie, you haven’t had any experience with this kind of thing, have you?”

  Everyone looked at Merrick, dumbfounded by the question.

  After a brief pause, Adie replied. “Yes, I
can do it. I did it maybe seven or eight times during the war.”

  All eyes snapped back to Adie.

  “You’re kidding,” Katie said, astonished.

  “The truth,” Adie said. “Remember, we promised to tell the truth.”

  “Amazing,” Brooke said.

  Adie moved across the cabin. “Can I see the wounds?”

  “We have a few things to do first,” Brooke said. “Katie, why don’t you help our new Doc wash up while I prepare a few things. Oh...and we need some scrubs.”

  Katie ordered the scrubs, retrieved them from the cyclic, and motioned for Adie to join her at the relief station. Then addressing the interface, she said, “Conrad, let’s have the lavatory barrier, please.” A barrier formed around them, and the cosmetic barrier dismissed, exposing the relief station fixtures.

  “That is so impressive,” Adie said, referring to the barriers.

  After giving a few instructions on the use of the unfamiliar equipment, Katie slipped back out into the cabin. She handed Brooke a set of scrubs, smiled, and said, “She needs a minute.”

  Brooke had moved Ari’s gurney out from the wall, along with its overhead panel. A small table, now extending from the head of the gurney, held the medical instruments and dressing material.

  After a moment, the lavatory barrier dismissed, revealing Adie in scrubs.

  “Conrad’s a very helpful guy, huh?” Katie said.

  “Yes, he is,” Adie replied.

  The two nurses took their turns at the washbasin, then all three gathered at Ari’s gurney. Katie stood at the instrument table, and Brooke and Adie positioned themselves next to Ari, facing the med display.

  “Fortunately, Dr. Stratford brought nearly everything we might need,” Brooke said to Adie, “as you can see on the table over there.”

  Confused, Adie stepped back and looked at Brooke. “Dr. Stratford? I thought you said we didn’t have a doctor.”

  Walt fielded the question. “Well, then, Miss Behr, let me introduce you to Dr. Ariel Stratford, our senior medical officer and the finest surgeon you will ever know.” He extended his hand toward Ari.

  Adie took another step back and looked at Ari. “What on Earth? How can that be? He’s my age.” She looked at Katie for confirmation.

  “He’s thirty-eight,” Katie said.

  “But he looks so young!” Adie said, straining to make sense of it. “Well, that’s another question for later, I guess.” She stepped back to the gurney. “We should probably get going.”

  Brooke pointed to the upper body scan on the left half of the display and zoomed in to show Ari’s shoulder blade. “There’s the bullet. It’s fairly shallow, maybe a half inch deep.”

  “All right,” Adie said, taking an extended look. “Do we have some forceps or something?”

  “Three sizes,” Brooke said. Katie pointed them out on the table.

  “Oh, okay. Then can I look at his shoulder?”

  Brooke carefully removed the pressure bandage, and the wound started to seep.

  After a brief survey of the medical instruments, Adie said, “Pass those short ones, please.” Receiving the forceps from Katie, she closed them and carefully inserted the tip into the bullet hole. “I feel it. It’s not deep.” She backed the forceps out slightly, opened them slowly, clamped down, and extracted the bullet.

  “Very nice,” Brooke said, impressed with Adie’s no nonsense approach.

  “I need to clean that and put on another dressing,” Adie said, passing the forceps and bullet to Katie.

  “Don’t worry about that, honey,” Brooke said. “I’ll get to that in a moment. For now, why don’t you stand clear so I can rotate the gurney and get you closer to that other wound.” After aligning the gurney in the opposite direction and turning Ari’s head to face inboard, she began to clean his shoulder wound.

  Adie tried to make sense of the med display. “How is...I don’t...the picture of his leg wound seems backwards or something,” she said. “Can it face the same way as him?”

  “Oh, good grief! Sorry, honey.” Brooke reached up and touched an icon on the display, reversing the image.

  “Oh, I see,” Adie said. “Okay, can we see it from the side?”

  Brooke finished dressing the shoulder wound and initiated tissue stimulation. “All right, I’ll get that for you,” she said, replacing the image of Ari’s shoulder with a side view of his leg wound.

  “There we go,” Adie said. “What amazing pictures—boy, that is deep.”

  Brooke pointed to the artery. “It looks like the bullet just missed it and stopped about an inch beyond.”

  Adie paused for a second. “I see what you mean...A little tricky, I think.” Turning to Katie, she said, “Can I look at those long ones there?”

  Katie passed her the extended forceps.

  “Oh, my, these are very nice. I like the way the jaws are so thin, and the outer edges round over a little at the end. If these won’t work, nothing will.”

  Brooke touched Adie on the arm. “Honey, if you don’t think you can do this, or you don’t feel comfortable, no one will think the worse if you say ‘no.’”

  Adie studied the display. “I think if I turn the forceps this way when I go in, it should work.”

  Brooke nodded. “Seems like the best bet.”

  Everyone’s nerves were on edge. Even Merrick and Jack had stopped working their consoles to monitor the situation.

  Brooke folded down the sheet, exposing Ari’s upper leg and buttocks.

  “He has kind of a nice bottom, doesn’t he?” Adie said, in a matter-of-fact way.

  No one missed the comment, but everyone held their tongue—except Brooke, who smiled, and said, “Well now, that’s not very professional.”

  Adie thought for a moment and calmly replied, “Well, I’m not a doctor.”

  The cabin erupted in laughter.

  “What a classy answer,” Jack said. “You’re okay, Adie Behr.”

  “Good one, Adie,” Katie added.

  Adie, a little red in the face, slowly regained her composure. “I’m sorry. Sometimes I say stupid things when I’m nervous. I guess I thought it might help.”

  “And it did, honey,” Brooke said. “Good thinking...you ready now?”

  “Yes, I’m ready.”

  Brooke removed the bandage, and Adie moved in. She positioned the closed jaws of the forceps directly over the bullet hole and used her left hand to guide them in. Watching the forceps’ descent on the display, she slowed her progress as she passed the artery. A moment later she made contact with the bullet.

  “I’m going to back out a little and open the jaws to grab it,” she said. “It doesn’t look like it has any sharp edges like the other one. I think that one may have bounced off something before it hit him. Just to be safe, though, when I bring it out, I’m going to press the bullet against the side away from the artery.”

  Brooke nodded. “You’re doing fine, honey. Go ahead now, bring it out.”

  Concentrating on the display, Adie opened the jaws and latched onto the bullet. “I have it,” she said calmly. When she had cleared the artery, she accelerated the withdrawal until the bullet emerged from the hole. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and Adie once again looked up at the display. “Can we make that sideways picture bigger?”

  Brooke altered the display to show a full screen side view and then zoomed in. “What are we looking for, sweetie?”

  “Sometimes the bullet cuts off a little piece of clothing and drags it into the wound…. It looks clean, though.”

  “I don’t see anything either,” Brooke said.

  “Okay,” Adie said. “That’s it…. I think I need to sit down.”

  “Sure...we’ll take it from here,” Brooke said as Adie humbly bowed to the crew’s applause. “And honey…a magnificent job.”

  CHAPTER 34

  Somewhat fatigued, Adie followed Walt forward and sat down at the med console. Walt swiveled the command seat to face her. “Well, young l
ady, it seems we’re all in your debt, especially that man on the gurney over there.”

  Adie took a moment to recover, and said, “I think God teaches us skills as we grow up. It would be sinful not to use them, especially when someone needs help.”

  “An admirable philosophy,” Walt said, trying to sense her state of mind. “Listen, we have some time now. Why don’t we address some of your questions?”

  Brooke finished dressing Ari’s leg wound and initiated full-body stimulation, bathing him in blue light. She then turned to Walt. “Okay, he’s stabilized and on his own. We gave him the two units of blood, but he lost a fair amount during the extractions. The bleeding has stopped, so we just need to watch him for a while and hope the stimulation produces enough new blood cells to bring him around.”

  “Thanks, Brooke,” Walt said, turning back to Adie. “I’m sorry, Adie, you go ahead now.”

  “Well, first I want to thank everyone for saving me and for being so kind. You healed the bump on my head and you fixed my eye…. Katie said I can trust everyone, and I do. And I want you to know that you can trust me.”

  “Well, that’s a good place to start,” Walt said, feeling encouraged.

  “All of this,” Adie said, referring to the instrumentation, “it’s so hard for me to believe, yet I can see it, I’ve touched it, and I’ve experienced it. Even so, I feel like my mind and my senses are fighting each other.”

  “Believe me, I understand. It’s a lot to take in. And who could fault you for having doubts? I would be more concerned if you just accepted everything without question. But maybe you can think of something—a way we can help you understand—put your mind at ease.”

  After some thought, Adie asked, “Do you have a family?”

  Moved by the brilliance of her simple question, Walt smiled, and said, “I’m not married, if that’s what you mean, but I do have a family back on Marcova. Would you like to see an image of them?”

  “Oh, yes. Can I?”

  Walt detached the tablet from his hip and brought up a family portrait. “This was recorded in my parents’ home a few days before we left Marcova. That’s me and my older sister Mara, and these are my parents.”

  The image showed Walt’s family in front of a large, curved picture window with other homes clearly visible in the background.