by Don Chase
A short hallway opened up into a large bright area. There was a round reception desk in the center of the long room with smaller patient rooms branching off of it. “Get in there,” Morris said as he motioned behind the desk.
Burton hurried to get behind the desk and sat at one of the terminals. “You get to work, I’m gonna check out these rooms,” Morris said.
Burton started tapping on the keypad while Marcus hovered behind him staring at the holographic screen. “You do know you don’t have to breathe down my neck right? Why don’t you go help Morris check the rooms?”
“But what if you need me to get into the maintenance system?” Marcus asked.
“It’ll be a few minutes. I’ll let you know when I get there.”
“Oh okay.” Marcus jogged out from behind the desk and went to the first room across from where Morris had trotted off to. He raised his pistol and poked his head around the corner of the room. He swept the pistol from side to side and scanned the room. When he decided it was empty he ducked out. The next three rooms were as empty as the first. On the fourth room he entered the same way and gasped as he found himself staring at an unconscious man on an examination table. He took a step toward the patient and heard whimpering coming from the other side of the table. He pointed the pistol toward the sound and said, “Who’s there? Come out.”
“Please don’t hurt me.” He heard as a man in a white jacket slowly stood up with his hands raised.
“Why would I hurt you?” Marcus asked.
“Aren’t you one of the boarders?”
“No. I’m part of the maintenance crew. Are you okay?”
“Oh, yes, yes I’m okay, especially now that you’re not one of them.”
“Why didn’t you evacuate with the rest?”
“I was going to, but I saw him pass out in the hall as I was packing up to leave and I just couldn’t leave him there, so I brought him in here to at least make sure he was safe enough to travel.”
“Is he?” Marcus looked at the unconscious man. He looked grey and seemed to be sweating even though it was cool in the room.
“I don’t actually know, I can’t seem to find anything wrong with him but he doesn’t look healthy at all, hasn’t regained consciousness and has a very thready pulse. I was about to scan him when I heard gunshots and hid.”
“Oh, that must have been Morris and Grady taking out a couple brutes a little while ago.”
“What exactly is going on here?” Morris asked from the doorway causing Marcus to jump.
“I found a doctor!” Marcus said.
“I see that. Now if you could just lower your voices so the rest of the station doesn’t hear it too.”
“Sorry,” Marcus said hanging his head. “He found this guy passed out in the hall and was trying to make sure he could be moved when they heard you and Grady killing those hounds.”
“Well if he’s still breathing we can get him in the life pod and hope he hangs on until help gets here,” Morris said.
“If it’s safe out there I can put him in the scanner, it won’t take long,” The doctor said.
“We’re kind of on a timetable here,” Morris said.
“If I run him through the scanner I may be able to tell what’s wrong and be able to bring the right equipment and drugs to keep him stable. Otherwise, I don’t think he’ll last until help arrives.”
“We do still have to get into the maintenance database and turn off the gravity stabilizers anyway. He could run the test while I’m turning them off,” Marcus said.
Morris scratched at the back of his neck and thought for a moment. “Yeah that’ll be fine. Just make it quick, both of you.”
“Yes sir!” Marcus said with a smile before he bolted out of the small patient room.
“I’ll get right on it,” the doctor said as he unlocked the gurney and spun it so he could push it out of the room.
“One second doc,” Morris said. “I never got your name.”
“I’m Doctor Pek. I’d shake hands but you did want me to hurry,” Pek said with a smirk as he pushed the examination table past Morris.
Morris grunted as the doctor pushed the table by him. He noticed the patient on the table was sweating and looked rather grey. He followed along behind Doctor Pek toward the scanner room. He caught a glance of Burton tapping away on the keypad as the scanner room door slid open with a soft hiss.
Marcus watched Morris disappear down the hall as he walked behind the nurse’s station desk to check on Burton. “How’re we doing?” he asked.
“I’m just about into the maintenance system,” Burton said as he tapped at the keypad. “Okay, I’m in, it’s your turn.”
Marcus slid into the seat vacated by Burton and examined the screen he was looking at. It didn’t take him long to find the right directory. He opened it up and quickly turned off all of the gravity stabilizers except for the ones in the medical area. “That should do it!”
“Good, go tell Morris we’re all set and see how long they’re going to be,” Burton said.
“Good idea,” Marcus said as he jogged around the end of the desk and made his way down the hallway. Burton slid back into the seat and began tapping away on the keyboard.
Morris stood in the doorway as Doctor Pek strapped the unconscious man to the gurney he was on. “Don’t want him moving around once the scanner starts.”
“So he just collapsed in the hallway?” Morris asked.
“Yeah, he stumbled around the corner and tried to steady himself on the wall. I had been just about to go through the airlock and saw him sliding down the wall on the other side. I went through the airlock and dragged him in here. I checked him out thoroughly but couldn’t find any reason for him to be unconscious, except for the small mark on his neck.”
“On his neck?”
“Yeah, it looks like a small puncture wound. I was thinking maybe someone injected him with something. A poison or virus maybe; His reaction to it isn’t anything like I’ve ever seen before though so I’m kind of stumped.”
“Well hopefully the scanner will help figure it out, but even if it doesn’t, we really need to head back to the pod soon.”
“If your friend is setting up something to slow the boarders down why are we in such a rush?”
“Well, one reason is that some of the boarders can fly and two…” Doctor Pek cut Morris off.
“They can fly?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“Like jet packs or something?”
“No. Like they’re giant bugs and have wings.”
Pek looked up at Morris’ face hoping to see a smile. “You aren’t joking are you?”
“Not even a little bit. I’ve seen them. Giant bugs with wings that fly, no joke.”
“But where do regular pirates find creatures like that?”
“Who said giant grey people that can be shot a dozen times without going down are regular pirates?”
“Giant grey people?”
“And hounds.”
“What are these things?” Pek asked suddenly terrified.
“They’re nothing like us, that’s all I really know,” Morris answered.
“Wait, you said they were grey?”
“Yeah why?” Morris asked. Pek looked at him, then down at the patient who had been turning grey and back to Morris.
“Is he maybe one of them?” Pek asked.
“He isn’t as big as the ones I saw. Maybe you should hurry up with that scan doc.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Pek agreed as he pulled the large scanner over. It rolled into place just a couple inches above the patient.
There was a loud click followed by a soft hum as the machine began its scan. “What was the other reason?” Pek asked.
“Oh nothing too pressing, just that they turned off the safety locks to the reactor core and we’re not really sure how long before it blows. I’d like to not be anywhere near this station when that happens.”
“There’s no safety locks on the reactor core
?”
“Nope.”
“Okay you’re right, we do need to hurry,” Pek said, he had paled visibly.
“The grav stabilizers are all turned off. Well, except for the ones here in the medical area,” Marcus said as he poked his head into the doorway.
Morris looked down at his feet still resting on the floor and smiled at Marcus. “I kind of guessed that last part.”
“Oh true,” Marcus said scratching his head.
Morris chuckled and clapped Marcus on the shoulder as he walked past him and out into the hall. He saw Burton tapping away at terminal at the nurses’ station and wandered over to him. He came up behind the wiry man and peered over his shoulder trying to gauge what could preoccupy Burton so much since he had been told that the gravity plates had already been turned off. His look went from curious to angry quickly as he realized what Burton was doing.
“Take the locks back off,” Morris said as he pressed the barrel of his rifle against the back of Burton’s skull.
“No, once the locks are fixed you can all leave and I’ll just hide here where it has to be safer than floating around out there in space,” Burton said quickly.
“Turn them off now. I’m not leaving you here and I’m not leaving these things alive to wander off to whatever other stations or even worse, planets,” Morris growled.
Burton let out a sigh and began tapping away at the keyboard. After a short time he stopped and said, “Fine they’re off again.”
“They’d better be,” Morris said. He looked around and pulled a long piece of rubber tubing off of one of the pieces of medical equipment stashed behind the counter.
“What are you doing?” Burton asked as he started to get up.
“You sit back down,” Morris said pointing the rifle at the older man again. He wrapped the tubing around Burton and the chair as many times as it would reach before tying it off behind him.
“Wait, you can’t do this. You said you were going to force me to go with you. If you’re going to leave me here at least let me hide!”
“Shut up already. I’m not leaving you here. I just need you to stay still until we’re ready to leave and go back to the pod,” Morris said as he tugged on the tubing that bound Burton before walking toward the exam room.
Marcus was leaning against the wall just inside the exam room watching Doctor Pek stare at the scanner as Morris walked in. “How are we doing in here?” the pilot asked.
“Just about done, why?” Pek asked as he continued to stare at the monitor on the side of the scanner.
“Because it looks like your patient is just about to wake up.” Morris said.
Grady floated along the underside of the pod. “Hey, before I go breaking this lock here, can one of you do me a favor and hit the release button again.”
“Are you sure?” Olivia asked.
“Yeah, I want to see if it’s just the front clamp or both of them.”
“Ah okay, hold on a second.”
Grady stared at the back end of the pod and waited. “How was that?” he heard Olivia ask.
“Terrible. Nothing happened.”
“Oh, and that means?”
“It means that it isn’t the front locking mechanism and it’s something that affects both. I guess it narrows it down a bit for me. I’m gonna check the connections to the station out here. Hopefully it’s something simple.” He maneuvered over to the launch bay that cradled the pod and slid between it and the station. Behind the locks were a tangle of hoses and wires that snaked through the bay and up into the station itself. He found what he thought was the hydraulics hose and followed it back to where it connected to the station. It only took a moment before he let out a low whistle and shook his head. “Okay I’ve found the problem.”
“Please tell me it’s something simple,” Olivia said.
“Actually it should be. The insulation came off of the valve so it’s frozen shut. I’m gonna use my torch to heat it up and see if I can’t jury rig something to hold the insulation in place. We don’t need it to last too long.” Grady fumbled around trying to grab his torch that was attached to the belt of his suit.
“Let me know how it’s going,” Olivia said.
“I will, just don’t hit that release button again until I get back inside,” Grady said.
Chapter 15
His eyes popped open first, they were grey and milky. Then the low growl started causing doctor Pek to leap back away from the examination table. Morris swore and Marcus jumped. The growl turned into a roar and the patient tried to sit up. When he realized he was strapped to the table the roar turned into a howl.
“What’s happening?” Doctor Pek yelled as he ran over to Morris and Marcus.
“I think we figured out what’s wrong with your patient!” Morris said as raised his rifle.
The man on the table had turned greyer, and was still struggling against the restraints that kept him strapped to the table. They were barely holding as he thrashed about. It seemed as if he was getting bigger but Morris thought it may be just his imagination. “Get outside now!” he yelled to the others as he stepped over to the examination table. He sighed and pointed the barrel of his rifle at the patients head before pulling the trigger several times.
Outside Marcus and Pek flinched as they heard the rifle shots. Burton let out a yelp followed by several colorful curse words. “What the hell’s happened?”
“He was one of them,” Marcus said.
“We have to go and I mean now,” Morris said as he came out of the exam room. He started nudging both of them towards the lobby of the medical area.
“Yeah, that was really loud,” Marcus said.
“Gravity or no gravity, I don’t want to be out here in case they heard the shots,” Morris said still herding them toward the hallway that led to the pod.
They had just gotten to the holographic map of the medical area when Pek muttered a curse and stopped in his tracks. “The scans, I need the scans!” he said.
“Why?” Morris asked, sounding impatient.
“They may be able to tell us something important. I mean I have no idea what could possibly do what that was doing to that poor man.”
With a heavy sigh Morris nodded. “Marcus, get him to the pod I’ll be right back,” he said as he turned and jogged back toward the exam room.
As he ran by the desk in the main room he saw Burton still in the chair. “Oh, I forgot you were in the chair, hold on I need to grab the scans.” He ran into the exam room and around the table to the scanner. His eyes went wide as he saw the control pad. He had no idea how to work this machine and it didn’t seem to be very user friendly. He tapped the display and read the prompts. After a minute or so he figured out how to transfer files onto a small portable drive that was already attached to the scanner. He pulled the first ten most recent files he found and muttered curses under his breath as they copied onto the drive. Pulling it out, he ran toward the nurse’s station. “Okay let’s get you untied,” he said before he realized that the chair was now empty and the tubing lay on the floor in a pile. “Bloody hell’s!” he yelled, looking around for signs of Burton.
“HURRY UP! I THINK THEY’RE COMING!” He heard Marcus yell from the outer lobby.
The pilot shook his head and looked around again for Burton. He let out a heavy sigh and said, “Well, you wanted to hide here anyway.” He jogged around the counter and smashed the keyboard with the butt of his rifle and put two rounds into the main drive for good measure.
“I can’t let you turn those locks back on though, sorry,” he said as he jogged back toward Marcus. He saw the younger man standing there looking terrified as he pulled up. “Why are you still here?”
“I was waiting for you in case you needed help.”
“I thought you said they were coming.”
“I heard something loud and I thought it was them. It still may be. Where’s Burton?”
“He got loose and ran off. We need to get back to the pod,” Morris said as he nudge
d Marcus toward the hall leading to the life pod.
“Aren’t we going to go find him?”
“We aren’t. You’re going to give me my pistol back. Then I’m going to get you back to the pod. Then, if it’s safe and we have time I’ll take a look for him. Although I don’t know why I should, he wanted to stay here.”
“Because it’s the right thing to do,” Marcus said as he handed the pistol over to Morris. He smirked as they jogged down the hall toward relative safety.
“Shut up, I knew that already,” Morris grumbled as he holstered his pistol.
Grady grunted as he secured the insulation around the valve cover with a heavy silver tape. He used far more than he thought he had to just to be sure. It had taken what seemed like forever to heat the frozen valve enough that it had opened. He was sure he hadn’t been at this repair job for too long but it seemed like hours. “I’m all set here, I can’t see any reason it shouldn’t work so I’m gonna come back in.”
“Good, Marcus and Morris got back a few minutes ago and they found a new friend,” Olivia said.
“What happened to Burton?” Grady asked as he floated up to the plexisteel window to check the hallway.
“Long story, I’ll explain when you get back,” Olivia answered.
Grady chuckled. Glancing again to make sure the hallway was clear he fingered the controls for the directional jets and started back to the maintenance airlock. It didn’t take long for him to maneuver back and work the control pad to get back inside the station. He decided to just remove the helmet and forego the aggravation of taking off the suit in such a confined space. He panted lightly as he jogged slowly down the maintenance tunnel. As he crossed over out of the medical section his feet left the floor and floated up behind him. He flailed a bit before he figured out what was happening. Growling and grumbling he righted himself as he started to “swim” toward the access panel.
He pulled himself through the access panel and out of the tunnel. He pushed off and maneuvered toward the door. When he wasn’t going fast enough, he smiled and tapped the controls on the belt to activate the jets for a short burst. He soared across the empty room and crashed headlong into the wall near the door. He laughed as he rubbed his sore head.
