Delphi City

by Bob Blanton

  She was waiting outside when the ambulance arrived. As they brought the stretcher out, she used a portable scanner to grab the girl’s thumbprint then she examined the girl’s leg. “Oh my, that is serious,” she said.

  “It’s broken,” the ambulance attendant said.

  “No, I don’t think so. All the swelling would make you think so, but I’m sure it’s just a bad sprain; maybe some muscle tearing,” Dr. Sharmila said. “Let’s get her onto the ship, and I’ll be able to tell better after an x-ray.” She signaled for two of the staff to take over the stretcher and thanked the ambulance attendant for being so fast to get the girl to the ship. Liz and company arrived about this time, and the twins piled out of the car and ran over to their mother.

  “Are you going to be able to fix her?” they asked.

  “Of course I am. Why don’t you run up to my office while I take care of her. Then you can come down and visit her. Are you her mother?” she asked the woman who’d accompanied the girl in the ambulance.

  “No, just the neighbor. Her mother is on her way. She should be here in a few minutes.”

  “Why don’t you wait here with Catie and Liz,” Dr. Sharmila said. “They can show you up to the treatment room when her mother arrives. I’ll just go and see what I can do right now.”

  Dr. Sharmila left everyone on the pier while she climbed the gangplank back onto the Virginia Henderson. Once she was out of sight, she ran to catch up to the stretcher that was carrying the little girl. She signaled the two men pushing the stretcher to pause for a moment. Once they were stopped, she injected a painkiller into the little girl’s leg. The girl immediately stopped crying and moaning, settling down into a light sleep.

  “Treatment room four,” she instructed.

  Once in the treatment room, she had them transfer the girl to the bed and asked them to leave. She strapped the girl to the bed, checked her vitals, and reviewed her records before proceeding. She took a quick blood sample and put it into the analyzer that was mounted to the wall of the treatment room. Then she brought an arm with a scanner on it down from overhead, like what is used in a dentist’s office. She strapped a clamp to the girl’s leg above the knee, and one to the leg at the ankle. Then she flicked her eyes up and engaged the imager. She could see the break clearly on her HUD. “Nasty,’’ she thought. She had the clamps pull the two ends apart until she was able to bring the broken bones into alignment. She carefully twisted them until they lined up perfectly. She injected nanites along the broken edge of the bones and let the clamps ease the two ends back together. Then she used another syringe to inject nanites around the pieces of bone that were buried in the leg’s tissue.

  Dr. Sharmila relaxed while she waited for the nanites to do their job. The first set would deposit neutral bone material along the fracture before deactivating themselves so they could be flushed out. The second set would dissolve the bone fragments and let the body expel them. The first injection she’d given the girl had blocked her pain receptor in the area of the break and also had released a mild sedative. After five minutes, she prepared for the last part of the procedure.

  Dr. Sharmila could hear a woman she assumed was the mother talking to the nurse outside the treatment room. She injected the last set of nanites into the girl’s leg. These would deposit neutral muscle and ligament tissue in the various tears around the break. She needed another three minutes before she could complete the treatment. She wanted to do that before the girl’s mother entered the room, but she could hear the voices being raised. Just as she was ready to give up and let the mother in, she listened to her daughters talking to the mother.

  Smiling at how well they distracted the mother with their chatter, each one saying half the words while the other filled in the blanks. Listening to them through the wall, it was almost impossible to tell that more than one person was talking.

  Checking her watch, she prepared the last injection. It was a large syringe of stem cells that had just been manufactured from the blood sample she had taken at the beginning. The stem cells would find the neutral biomaterial and lay the girl’s own DNA into them to restore the injury.

  After giving the injection, she opened the door to the treatment room. The girl’s mother and the woman who’d accompanied the girl to the ship were anxiously waiting while the twins were chattering away.

  “Hello, I’m Dr. Sharmila.”

  “I’m Jenny Marsters,” the mother said. “How is she?”

  “She’ll be fine. She’s going to need to use crutches to get around for a couple of days, but after that, she can work her way back to playing soccer.”

  “They said it was broken.”

  “Oh no, just a bad sprain and some tearing,” Dr. Sharmila said. “I gave her a sedative for the pain, but she should be waking up about now. Why don’t you come in and see her?”

  The mother gasped with relief. “Oh, I was so worried.” She rushed into the room, grasped her daughter’s hand and stroked her hair.

  Her touch woke her daughter up, “Mommy, my leg.”

  “The doctor says it’s going to be just fine. Does it hurt?”

  “Not anymore; you mean, it’s not broken?”

  “That’s right, the doctor says just a couple of days on crutches.”

  “Oh, good. We’re in the playoffs next week. I’ll be able to play, won’t I?”

  “We’ll see. Right now, you need to rest. I’ll go see about taking you home.”

  “Okay,” Sefina said. She was very drowsy and fell back to sleep once her mother left.

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  Catie was sweating and swearing. Liz had just thrown her for the third time, and she hadn’t even seen it coming, and worse than that, they had an audience.

  “Don’t give her any momentum to work with,” Kal hollered. He was openly laughing at her.

  “Maybe you should show me how instead of just laughing at me,” Catie snapped.

  Kal looked at Liz, questioning what she thought about it.

  “Come on mister big mouth,” Liz said. She was bouncing on her toes to keep loose.

  “Okay sister, let’s see what you’ve got,” Kal said.

  Liz just grinned, “this is going to be fun,” she thought. Kal was always making some smart remark about her training and Krav Maga in general. It was like he believed that his Marine hand-to-hand combat was so much better. Well, plenty of times, she had wiped the floor with Marines who had thought that.

  “Okay,” Kal said. “You want me to stand here?” He took the spot on the mat where Catie had been.

  Liz nodded her head and smiled again as Kal held his hand up in front of himself like a boxer, but with his hands open.

  “So, what do I do? Try to hit you or just stare you to death?” he asked.

  “It looks like you’re trying to talk me to death,” Liz shot back.

  Kal laughed, “I was always taught that taking out the opponent without making contact is always the best way.”

  “Come on, smart ass. Just try to hit me,” Liz said.

  Kal walked closer to Liz; when he was within reach, he snapped out a left jab. Liz started to block it and stepped in close to Kal, preparing to throw him, but he wasn’t there. Then her legs shot out from under her, and she landed on her butt. “Oomph.”

  She looked up for Kal, but he was already back where he’d started from.

  “Sorry, I missed,” he said.

  Liz got to her feet with as much dignity as she could manage. “Okay, let’s try that again.”

  Kal moved in and threw a left jab again. Just as Liz blocked it, he hit her with a right cross to the ribs, she deflected it with her elbow, but it still made contact. Kal had already retreated to his starting spot. Catie was just standing there with her mouth open.

  “Again,” Liz shouted.

  Kal moved in once more. He threw a quick left-right combo that Liz easily blocked. He started to rush her, leading with his left. She set up to take the charge when Kal disappeared. Again, she felt her feet
fly out from under her. This time she landed on top of Kal, who had her in a sleeper hold around her neck with his legs wrapped around hers pinning them down. Liz slapped the mat with her hand, tapping out.

  Kal helped her to her feet. “Did I do that right?”

  “You bastard, they didn’t teach you that in the Marines.”

  “No, I’m Hawaiian,” Kal said. “Aikido, eighth Don.”

  Liz was rubbing her butt, although the second time she’d actually landed on top of Kal, he had managed to take her weight on the point of his hip.

  Catie was applauding, “Finally, Liz is the one rubbing her butt! I’m going to take lessons from Kal too. Maybe between the two of you, I’ll learn something.”

  “You’ve been training,” Liz said.

  “Sure, there’s an Aikido Master on the island. I go there twice a week,” Kal said. “It took a while to shake the rust off, but it came back quickly.”

  “Well, I’m properly humbled,” Liz said.

  Kal laughed, “You’ll be ready next time. You’ve slowed down a little, not enough competition.”

  “Well, you should join us in the mornings,” Liz said.

  “I’d be happy to.”

  “Oh boy, I’m going to love not being the only one to be hitting the mat,” Catie said with a giggle.

  “Just remember, you’re the one who’s definitely going to hit the mat,” Liz threatened her.

  Chapter 30

  Pilot Training

  Blake, Catie, and Liz were putting on their wetsuits so they could go to the Sakira. “This would be a lot easier if we could just land the Lynx at the airport,” Liz complained.

  Blake laughed, “Marc would have a heart attack.”

  “The Lynxes almost float,” Catie said.

  “Close but not close enough,” Blake said. “What’s her min surface speed?”

  “Twenty knots,” Catie answered.

  “We could almost jump from the Mea Huli,” Liz said. “Problem would be if we missed.”

  “Why don’t we use the tender from the Mea Huli?” Catie asked.

  “I know your dad pulled that stunt with the wave rider, but he’d have a fit if anyone else tried it.”

  “Not fair.”

  “Fair has nothing to do with reality,” Blake said. “Haven’t you learned that yet?”

  “Yeah, but...”

  “Dive,” Blake said.

  It only took them a minute to swim over and climb into the cargo hold of the Lynx. It took another three minutes before everyone had cycled through the lock into the main cabin.

  “Now we can relax,” Blake said. “Catie, are you going to drive it?”

  “No. Just tell ADI to take us down.”

  “Okay.”

  “Hey, I have an idea,” Catie said.

  “Oh no,” Blake said with mock fear.

  Liz slugged Blake, “Give her a chance. She usually has good ones.”

  “I know, but they typically mean more work for me,” Blake complained.

  “Uncle Blake!” Catie groaned. “This one’s easy.”

  “What do you have?”

  “We could have the Mea Huli pull a dock,” Catie said.

  Blake crinkled his forehead. “A dock?”

  “Yeah, some kind of inflatable thing that the Lynx could drive on top of that would give it enough buoyancy to float. Then we could just walk from the Mea Huli into the airlock.”

  Blake’s eyes floated to the top of his head as he thought about that. “That probably would work. I’ll work with ADI on a design.”

  “Cool.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  The next week when they were going to the Sakira, they wore their regular clothes. Blake had ADI hold the Mea Huli at twenty-two knots as he kicked the dock off of the rear platform. He opened the valve on the air compressor so the dock would fill with air, and five minutes, later it was floating and staying steady behind the Mea Huli.

  “How’s that work?” Liz asked.

  “It has a sea anchor to keep it stable. When the Lynx pops her nose up on it, we’ll close the sea anchor to maximize buoyancy, then we’ll pull it in close.”

  “How does the Lynx get off the dock?”

  “When we’re aboard the Lynx, Kyle will drop the sea anchor and speed up the Mea Huli. That’ll pull the dock down a bit, and the Lynx will slide right off.”

  “This is so cool,” Catie said as she watched the Lynx surface and track behind the Mea Huli. It popped up on the dock, and Blake had the winch pull the dock forward until it was pressed against the Mea Huli. The Lynx just followed behind. Then ADI let the Mea Huli’s speed bleed off until she and the Lynx were coasting along at a sedate five knots.

  “After you,” Blake motioned to Catie to go first.

  Catie scrambled onto the dock and made her way to the forward hatch of the Lynx. It was open since ADI had opened it once the Lynx and Mea Huli were stabilized. She crawled in and waved at Liz and Blake.

  “This is so much more dignified,” Liz said as she followed Catie.

  After the Lynx docked in Flight Bay Two of the Sakira, they had to wait for the thirty minutes it took to drain all the water out. Then they made their way through the lock and up to Flight Bay One. They had to wait until ADI got clearance from Marc for them to enter the flight bay.

  After they made their way into Flight Bay One, Liz said, “If we could dock the Lynx in here, we wouldn’t have to wait for all the water to get pumped out. Just enough that so we could wade to our planes.”

  “That’s clever,” Blake said. “ADI, can we dock the Lynx in here?”

  “No, Cer Blake,” ADI said. “Flight Bay Two is the only one that is allowed to be opened remotely unless we’re under operational status.”

  “Why?”

  “It's protocol,” ADI said.

  “Figures,” Liz said.

  “ADI,” Catie interrupted. “Can we move the Foxes to Flight Bay Two?”

  “If the captain gives permission, I can move them,” ADI said. “How many do you want to move?”

  “Three?” Blake suggested.

  “Why not all four?” Catie asked.

  “We shouldn’t put all our eggs in one basket,” Blake said. “Besides, we only need three; if we get a fourth pilot, we can use the Lynx.”

  “Would we be able to do our training simulations without having to get the captain’s permission?” Catie asked.

  “Yes, only operations in Flight Bay One require the captain to sign off each time,” ADI said.

  “If we bring a dingy,” Catie said, “we can save a bunch of time by only pumping the bay down halfway.”

  “I like the way this girl thinks,” Blake said. “ADI open a comm to Marc.”

  “What’s up?” Marc said. “You guys can’t be through yet.”

  “We’ve come up with a big time-saver,” Blake said. “If you have ADI move three of the Foxes to Bay Two, we can do our simulations without having to ping you. We’ll cut an hour off of the transit time because we won’t have to pump the bay dry.”

  “Who came up with that idea? Catie?” Marc asked.

  “No, Liz thought about docking where the Foxes were; Catie figured out how to work around the constraints.”

  “Okay, ADI, please move the Foxes to Flight Bay Two,” Marc ordered.

  “Only three of them,” Catie interrupted, “and after we’re through for the day.”

  “ADI, when they are through with their training, move three of the Foxes to Flight Bay Two.”

  “Yes, Captain,” ADI replied.

  “When will the new Lynx be ready?” Blake asked.

  “Two weeks,” Catie said. “The shell is done, we’re mounting engines tomorrow, then we’ll build out the cockpit and main cabin. The flight simulator for the Lynx is ready, but it’s nothing like what these babies provide.”

  “Great, what’s the run for today?” Liz asked.

  “Two on one,” Blake said. “We’ll each get to go against the other two. The side with two
will be restricted to F35 specs, lone wolf gets the Fox.”

  “Worst time to down both enemy planes, buys dinner.”

  “You’re on.”

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “Hey, Liz, you have a hot date?” Catie asked. She’d walked into their room as Liz was putting on a little black dress.

  “A certain British gentleman has invited me to dinner at Tamarind House,” Liz said.

  “Oh, fancy place. He must really like you,” Catie said, giggling.

  “We both know what he likes,” Liz said, giggling along with Catie.

  “Well, since you can’t give him that, you’ll have to come up with something else to interest him.”

  Liz picked a throw pillow off the bed and threw it at Catie. Then she picked up her high-heels and walked to the stairs. Catie ran after her and dashed down the stairs. “Guess who is taking Liz to Tamarind House?”

  “Who?” Blake asked.

  “You mean she’s finally got a date!” Kal added.

  “Yes! Some British guy has found her irresistible,” Catie giggled.

  “Just remember we have a training session tomorrow morning,” Liz reminded Catie.

  “Don’t worry, Catie, I’ll protect you,” Kal said.

  “Any helpful hints about dating a spy?” Liz asked.

  “Well, mine asked to borrow my phone. When I lent it to her, she dropped it on the pavement,” Blake said.

  “Did it hurt the pavement?” Kal asked.

  “Not much,” Blake laughed. “Ying Yue was amazed and disappointed that the phone survived.”

  “Sasha got our phones mixed up once,” Kal said. “ADI called me, and Sasha’s like, ‘oh shit, what do I do now?’ as my ring tone is coming from her purse.”

  “What did she do?”

  “She’s pretty good with her hands,” Kal said.

  “I bet she is,” Blake said with a big grin.

  “Yes, she is. She made it look like her bag was sitting on top of my phone. She just handed me my phone like nothing was happening,” Kal said.

  “Liz, you can’t go out like that,” Catie said.

  “Why not?”

  “You need to have some jewelry,” Catie said. “Wait, I’ll get my pearls.”