Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins

by Randolph Lalonde

  “We can, why?”

  “We're about a hundred or so meters up from the deck, and I left my ladder in my quarters.”

  “So you want me to turn the gravity in that section off?”

  “Do it in the entire storage area!” Oz interjected. “I can get the drop on all three of them if you shut it down right now.”

  “We're ready, go!” Minh added.

  “All right shutting gravity-- Wait a minute.” Jason stopped for a moment. “Captain, are you all right? I have a reading here that your suit's administering enough pain meds to knock out a stim freak.”

  I had just realized that I couldn't move my legs, and was pulling myself towards the hatchway with my arms. The pain meds had my head fogged up. Somehow I thought I wouldn't be drawing attention to myself. “I'll be fine,” I was still clear enough to formulate a plan, and through the corner of the open hatch I could see a number of anti-gravity loader trucks right below us. “Just get us to one of those loader trucks and we'll pick everyone up.” It felt like I was talking through a mouthful of cotton, but I was sure everyone understood me.

  “You're not fine. I'm seeing heat damage across your lower torso.” Jason interjected.

  Instead of wasting time by pulling up my status on her command unit, Ayan looked at my unit, which was already displaying everything she needed to know. She looked for a second and pulled one of my arms around her shoulders. “Hit it Jason! Drop all the gravity in this section! We're getting out of here!”

  Ayan waited for a few seconds before the gravitational hold on us released. She put my arms around her neck and I held on as she manoeuvred us through the open hatch and pushed off.

  The storage area was huge, at least a couple square kilometres. How Minh and Oz could be trapped there along with a small freighter crew made perfect sense upon seeing the sheer size and complexity of it. There were thousands of standard shipping containers along with just as many non-standard ones, a couple smaller cargo hauling units and dozens of vehicles for moving them around.

  As we were just getting to the loader truck there was a massive, white decompression explosion about a kilometre ahead. Ayan grabbed onto one of the rails alongside the loader and I held fast to her. The shock wave was greatly diminished by the time it hit us a second later because there were a number of storage containers in the way that dissipated the blast, thankfully.

  “Three down!” Oz cheered. “Now come pick us up!”

  “Nice. Nearly flattened us out here,” Minh said dryly.

  “Anyone caught in the open when that blew?” Oz asked.

  “Nope. Just mildly concussed one of our new friends. I think you owe him a drink.”

  Ayan opened the door to the loader's cab, there was room for one and empty space. I pulled myself inside and she directed my legs. “I'll be fine, really,” I said as I settled into the cramped space, it was just large enough for me to sit in with my knees drawn up half way to my chest. I remember thanking whoever invented the pain medication I was on for making that position possible.

  “Hang on, we'll get out of this and have you in medical,” Ayan whispered.

  The loader lurched forward as Ayan started its engines. She looked at her command unit to verify everyone's location before hitting the accelerator. From that point everything was a blur. There was some small weapons fire, which didn't affect the loader's heavy frame, and next Minh along with three crew members climbed into the back of the loader. We picked up Oz a few moments later, I remember him climbing into the cab and somehow bracing himself inside so he could take a better look at my command unit.

  I winced as he touched several spots on my torso, applying gentle pressure then releasing and watching my command unit at the same time. He and Doctor Anderson were exchanging information, that much I know, but the levels of medication administered by my suit were so high that I barely understood what was going on.

  I do remember one thing clearly. Oz leaning down close so he blocked out everything else. “Sorry Captain, I've got to put you out until we can get you back to the infirmary. Doctor's orders.”

  I remember a wave of euphoria engulfing me and everything just faded away.

  Chapter 7

  A Real (Short) Trip

  My perception was completely distorted as my eyes opened to slits. I saw Ayan's face through a gauzy, hazy reality and smiled. “Hey there,” I heard myself say dopily.

  Oz's face came down right beside hers, his toothy, piano key grin spread wide across his face. “Hey! How's our action hero Captain feeling?”

  I tried to sit up but couldn't move my head more than a millimetre. “Why can't I move?”

  Ayan caressed my face. “Doctor Anderson has you in a restraining field. You're awake so he can check on your brain and upper nervous system functions.”

  “That one shot you took nearly cooked your spine, and it got a couple organs. Moving would be bad while things are still setting,” Oz added.

  “Everyone out okay?”

  “We made it onto the freighter, and as soon as Minh's flyboys came out of the shadows and the bounty hunters saw all those fighters, they bugged out. After that we circled it back round so we could get you to First Light medical.”

  “How's the ship?” I asked, my mouth was so dry it was sticky. “Thirsty,” I said a little hoarsely.

  Ayan held a straw up to my lips. “The refit is almost finished. I have final inspections in half an hour,” she said with a smile.

  “Doc fix you up?”

  “Yes, I'm fine now. Back to work for me now that I'm eating and sleeping normally. We just need our Captain back.”

  “I missed all the fun.”

  Minh came into view. He seemed to me like some kind of chimpanzee just then. “You've been out for two days Jonas, but we've managed.”

  “Hehe, monkey.” I chuckled.

  “You were in and out of surgery for hours at a time,” Ayan said. “But they managed to repair most of the nerve damage, transplant new organs. You can't move while you're regenerating so they have to keep you sedated.”

  “Did he just say monkey?” Oz asked Minh.

  “Oh yeah, they have him drugged up good,” he replied.

  I pushed the straw out of my mouth with my tongue. “I'll be okay!”

  The Doctor seemed to just magically appear behind them then. Oz and Minh went away. “You'll be as good as new. Next time you wake up you'll be able to carry Ayan out of here. Even Oz if you'd like.” He was holding an injector, it looked huge, a bit like a gun.

  My eyes went wide but before I could panic Ayan came back into view, smiled and lightly brushed her lips against mine. “I'll see you when you wake up, luv,” she whispered.

  There was a fresh surge of euphoria, and the rational part of my brain was aware that Doc had just injected me with the next round of sedatives. I wasn't so much listening to the rational part of my brain though, I felt so good, and sleepy.

  Minh popped into view and waved. “Sweet dreams!” He said quickly.

  “Monkey...” I felt my mouth sound out as my eyelids fell closed.

  Chapter 8

  A Complicated Recovery

  The next time I woke up in medical, the effects of the sedatives and painkillers had gone, and so had any evidence of injury. I was still in a recovery bed, but my usual instinct to roll over and go back to sleep was absent. I had no idea what time it was, whether we were still in dry dock, what the condition of the crew was. I felt completely detached.

  I sat up, checked my darkened surroundings and couldn't really ascertain much. “Lights at fifty percent,” I quietly ordered the computer. The dimmed lights came on as my feet touched the sterilized flooring. Before long I was putting on my uniform while I looked at my medical status display at the foot of the bed.

  The shot one of the bounty hunters hit me with had so much radiant heat that my suit couldn't prevent all of it from going through. It actually did burn right to the spinal cord, causing complete lower body paralysis. The surr
ounding organs were so badly damaged they had to be replaced with grown implants. My recovery had gone well, and if anything I was healthier than before. Three days had passed.

  Doctor Anderson and two other surgeons had worked on me, stimulating replacement nerve growth, extracting necrotic tissue and replacing it with new stock. My body hadn't rejected any of the new material and according to my chart I was all healed up. I took a moment to look at Ayan's medical records, and could only see the most basic information. I was only checking because I was concerned, but seeing that the bulk of the information was blocked raised suspicion. I picked up my arm command unit and started to put it on. “Recall last bioscan of Ayan recorded on this unit and diagnose please,” I requested.

  “Indication of diabetes, ninety six point three percent certainty. Current ship records indicate this has been treated successfully.”

  “Was this a result of another health condition?”

  “For more information on this crew member's condition, please speak with First Light Medical. Records are restricted to Doctor Anderson and treating physicians only.”

  I shook my head, knowing that if I wanted to pull up anyone's full medical history I could. The fact that Ayan's was locked out meant that there was something else wrong with her, or some kind of information that was sensitive. The more I tried to uncover what it was, the worse I felt about it. Asking her was the right thing to do, I knew that, but I was afraid of the answer.

  I was just making sure that my command unit was sitting properly on my left arm when a nurse came into the room. "Captain! You shouldn't be up for another-”

  "I read my chart. Looks like I healed up just fine and I feel like I've slept a week,” I said as I walked right past her and towards the exit. “But sir, Doctor Anderson hasn't cleared you.”

  “I'm clearing myself. Send him to Observation two if he wants to see his handiwork in person.”

  “Main Medical lockdown,” the nurse said. The doorway into medical closed and I could hear the hard lock drop into place. I could defeat the security with my command code, but senior staff would be alerted. The lockdown procedure for main medical was in place in case there was a biological emergency of any kind, so ranking medical and command staff could contain it. I turned slowly back to the nurse who had trapped me in.

  She stood there with her arms crossed. By any standards she was a small woman, but with the authority she was exuding she may as well have been three metres tall. “I can have Doctor Anderson here in a few minutes, sir. You're not leaving until he clears you. Now, please follow me back to your room,” she directed.

  As I sat on the bed waiting I sent messages to the entire senior staff, who were just set to begin their shifts in two hours. I needed an update on the ship, and I thought there would be no better time for a meeting.

  Doctor Anderson entered the room after about fifteen minutes. “I'm glad to see you on your feet. Too bad I just finished my morning jog.”

  “I don't think I'll have time. Looks like I have a lot to catch up on.”

  “You do. I just got your message, meeting in observation two. Good idea.”

  “So, what's the verdict? Am I going to live?” I asked.

  Doc smiled and scanned my chart. “Looks like it, all the new material took just fine and your nerves have mostly recovered. Some of them found new pathways instead of using the originally established ones, but that's normal. I'd tell you to take it easy for a few days, but you need to do the exact opposite now that we're sure there has been no rejection and that you're all rested up.

  “Engage in as much physical activity as you can so you can re-train your body. We had to rebuild a critical part of your nervous system, and post operation stimulation rehabilitation isn't the same as exercise. As soon as you discover something doesn't feel right, or you find a problem -- even if you think it's completely unrelated -- inform medical right away.”

  “If those are the conditions of my release, then I accept.”

  “I hear Nurse Darya trapped you here,” he said with a smile.

  “She's good. She's really good,” I affirmed, nodding. “But I knew that you could have had me on my feet four or five hours ago.”

  “I was hoping you'd get a little more sleep before starting out for the day. Captains, especially ones that are well connected to their crew, tend to over extend themselves.”

  “Speaking of being well connected, I'm wondering if there's anything I need to know about Ayan. I hear she reports to medical for regular treatments, she hasn't told me what for.”

  “Is this a personal or professional concern Jonas?”

  “Both. I need to know that she's fit for duty on and off the ship as a Captain, and personally, I'm worried.”

  “Well, I can say that she's fit for duty, especially after she dragged you out of this most recent situation.”

  “That's after passing out while we were negotiating prices with a parts dealership.”

  I read Doc's concerned look for an instant. There really was something wrong.

  “She didn't tell you. Was it in the medical logs? Something like that should be red flagged,” I pressed.

  “It would be, and there wasn't anything abnormal for the day reported from her command unit or standard uniform transponder. It must have been blocked.”

  “Communications were fine with the ship while we were on station, even from within the support structure of the asteroid. A medical alert should have made it through just fine.”

  “You're right,” Doc said as he looked through the medical logs on his command unit. His was built into his uniform. “There's no record of her having an event. Are you sure she lost consciousness?”

  “I'm sure. Here are the readings my command unit took,” I brought the record up and sent the information to him.

  He reviewed it for a moment and nodded to himself. “Well, these verify that she collapsed due to very low blood sugar.”

  “So she's diabetic.”

  “She was. We treated her and she's fine now. She'll still have to monitor her diet for a few more days while the treatment finishes its work.”

  I thought for a minute quietly.

  “Well, if that's all Captain--”

  “No, it isn't. I only have basic medical training, but I know enough to be sure that this sudden diabetic condition has been caused by something else.”

  “Talk to her about it Jonas. In the meantime I won't give you confidential information that doesn't affect her performance unless you pull rank.”

  “I will, but if something else happens and I don't know how or why, I expect full disclosure.”

  “Under those conditions you'll have it,” Doctor Anderson said quietly before leaving. Instead of continuing the argument, pushing just a little more, I decided to head to observation two.

  The hallways were quiet, and when I reached observation two it was empty. I sat down at the meeting table and thought for a moment as I looked through the three days of reports that I had missed out on. I knew that I could have pulled rank with Doc. I was fully justified in doing so. Ayan had collapsed while on duty. Under those circumstances a medical condition would be disclosed in a report with regard to a crew member's performance shortfall. The fact that Ayan was willing to hide it from Doc made me nervous. She did report for treatment shortly after returning to the ship. I believed she was fine for the moment, but I had to know what was going on, what the root cause of the problem was, even though I was afraid of the answer.

  When Ayan walked in with two spill-proof safety cups with Laura at her side, I was filled with dread. I smiled weakly. The dread wasn't at seeing her. It was over what I knew I had to bring up with her. As a captain and as a what? Companion? Boyfriend? Not lover. And if she was keeping something from me, certainly not confidant. If she couldn't tell me about a long-term problem, how close were we?

  “How are you feeling Captain?” Laura asked cheerily. “So glad to have you back.”

  I tried to shake my personal feelings
, the frustration and concern intermixed with the urge to just dodge the whole situation. “Better than new, Sergeant.”

  Ayan put a mug down on the table in front of me and her smile faded.

  “Can we have the room please?” I asked Laura.

  Somehow she knew something serious was about to happen. She glanced to Ayan, who was staring at me, then looked back to me and nodded. “Yes sir, I'll be in observation one.”

  “Thank you, seal the room once you're outside,” I ordered quietly. I stood and walked to the broad window. Once the door closed I chose my words very carefully and didn't look behind me, where Ayan stood silently. “The doctor cleared me this morning. I asked him how you were in the course of conversation afterwards. He didn't know you collapsed. There was no record of it.”

  I heard her sit down in a chair behind me. I watched as a small towing module drew several new Raze fighters along behind it, the ones we had purchased form Larsen's, I assumed. “I understand why you'd hide something like that from me, but from Doctor Anderson? I gave him my readings from the collapse and he confirmed it was diabetes, which no one should have. It's not like you can develop a sudden case.” I sighed and sat down in the chair next to her so we were facing each other. I couldn't do this as a captain. There was no way I could order her to tell me about it. I just couldn't handle this like some robot officer. She looked stone-faced and ready for me to handle it that way though. “Please tell me what's going on,” I asked her quietly.

  “I've already had that taken care of. It's not affecting my duties. I'm fine.”

  “That's just a symptom of something else. I know you've been getting treatments in medical for something since before we left Freeground. At first they were recorded as bone density enhancements, but afterwards there just wasn't any kind of explanation. I need to know, Ayan.”

  She looked me in the eye and shook her head. “You don't want to know this about me, Jonas,” Her stony expression was dissolving under the pressure of tears.