“Patient’s name, please?”
“Halbert Fürt.”
“You are his brother, you say?”
“Yes, I am Dietrich Fürt.”
“Ah yes, found it. Thank you. Let’s see, private luxury suite, full rehab regimen… Yes, everything appears to have already been ordered for his care. Doctor Kaeppeler, I see. He’s our best.”
“I would expect nothing less,” replied Diet.
“Insurance?”
“Unnecessary.” Diet pulled out his black Allex card and gave it to the woman.
“Humpf… never saw a black one before.”
“I’d be surprised if you had.”
When all of the necessary paperwork was dealt with, Diet walked back to the ER and found Hal lying in Bay-1, where the intern had indicated they were putting him.
“I’m sorry, sir, but you can’t be in here,” said the nurse on duty at Hal’s bedside.
Diet turned to her and said, “Don’t be ridiculous, my dear, of course I can. Your patient is my brother, Halbert Fürt. I am Dietrich Fürt.”
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry, Mr. Fürt. I was told his family would be arriving later, but I wasn’t expecting you this soon.”
“When will my brother be transferred to the private luxury suite that I ordered for him?”
“Doctor Kaeppeler is going over the preliminary patient evaluation now. We’re just waiting for the order to come down from him to have him transferred.”
“Is my brother stable?”
“Oh yes, all of his vitals are very good.”
“Then transfer my brother to the private luxury suite that I’m paying for immediately, on my orders. Then inform Dr. Kaeppeler where he may find his patient. I will not have my brother subjected to gawkers, here in the ER, for a single moment longer than is absolutely necessary.”
I’m sorry, Mr. Fürt, but hospital rules require us to wait for authorization of the patient’s primary physician, before they can be moved.”
“The hospital has its rules and I have mine. As I’m paying the bills, mine take precedence. Move him now, and if Dr. Kaeppeler has any objections, he should take them up with Dr. Thurgood.”
“You know, Dr. Thurgood?”
“No, my dear… I own Dr. Thurgood.”
* * * *
Diet saw Hal safely ensconced into his private luxury suite, long before Dr. Kaeppeler actually got off his dead ass to order it. He spoke to “Hal” quietly for a few minutes, reassuring him that he would be okay and that these people would take good care of him. He and Hal’s less mobile alter ego would see to it.
A taxi met him as soon as he arrived back down at the hospital entrance, which then whisked him to the TransPlanetary Spacelines terminal at the spaceport. Walking down to the Alliance Spacelines terminal, he then hailed another taxi, which delivered him to the gate outside the hangar where his jumbo spaceliner and Noreen were.
Just as his taxi pulled up to the hangar, Diet saw a catering vehicle marked with the logo of The Beacon restaurant just pulling away. Diet passed through the ring of guards and ran up the ramp, where he closed and resealed the stasis chamber, and then quickly changed back into his grubbies that Noreen had last seen him wearing. He bounded up the winding staircase and arrived, just as Noreen was putting food out on the second and last place setting of gold-plated fine china she’d found in the kitchen area.
When she saw Diet come in through the doorway, Noreen smiled broadly and said, “Now that is great timing, lover!”
“What’s all this?” Diet asked.
“Oh, just a little something I whipped up, while I was waiting for you to get your cute butt back up here,” Noreen replied with a sly grin.
“A little something you whipped up, huh?”
“And here you thought I couldn’t cook,” Noreen pouted sweetly.
“You’re taking credit for all this wonderful-smelling food then?”
“Why shouldn’t I?”
“Noreen, I saw the catering vehicle pull up from the top of the cargo ramp.”
“What’s that got to do with anything? I paid for it this time, so I get the credit!” she laughed.
She wouldn’t let me charge it to the company account, Diet. I swear this woman is almost as stubborn as you.
“You just don’t know me that well yet, Hal,” Noreen cooed. “There is no ‘almost’ to it.”
“Oh God, that tastes wonderful,” Diet said, around his first steaming mouthful. “I was starving.”
“Cook pretty damned good, don’t I?”
Diet laughed, “Hell yes, sweetheart… you can cook for me, anytime!”
* * * *
Noreen spent the night on-board the plane in Diet’s marvelous borrowed bed, where they made slow, sweet love, unhurried by the hectic animal passions that had ruled during their first night together in her apartment. Noreen marveled at what a sweet, gentle lover Diet was, that second night. She also marveled at how incredibly fulfilled and happy she felt, when wrapped in the arms of this unusual man.
The next morning, a lightning bolt of alarm knifed through her when an entirely different crew suddenly arrived and removed the stasis chamber from the cargo bay, loading it onto a large cargo vehicle. After covering it with a tarp, they drove it away toward parts unknown. She found herself suddenly terrified that Diet’s mission on Massa was completed and that he’d be leaving shortly, off on yet another mysterious assignment for the inscrutable baron. With her heart in her throat, Noreen croaked out the great question, the answer to which she felt her future happiness depended.
“So, does this mean you’ll be leaving soon?”
Diet smiled as he took her in his arms and said, “Oh no… You’re not getting rid of me that easily! This just means we’re entering into the next phase of the project. You’re gonna to be stuck with me for the next several months, at least.”
Noreen suddenly felt tears welling, as she was almost physically overcome with such incredible feelings of relief. She couldn’t even speak. Clinging to him tightly, she was suddenly struck by a startling realization.
I love him. Dear God help me, but I’ve fallen ass-over-teakettle for this big lug… and I’m never, ever going to let him go!
* * * *
The Planet Kitty Litter
August 12th, 3865
“This ‘living under a microscope’ all the damned time is really starting to get on my nerves,” said Admiral Ben Stillman to his new ladylove. They were sharing coffee in the Defiant’s officer’s mess, the objects of fleeting glances by the roving stewards and officers coming and going, in and out... more coming in, than going out, when word got passed that the admiral and captain were in there together.
“I know the feeling, Ben,” sighed Dorothy Fletcher. “Ya know, this is a real role reversal for me.”
“How so?”
Dorothy laughed. “I’ve spent most of my life fending off all the slavering dogs that were chasing me, like I was a bitch in heat. Now, when I finally meet a man who makes me want to act like one, we’re both stuck in the middle of a damned three-ring circus!”
Ben chuckled, “Too bad we’ve got such a rapt audience. Makes it hard to let nature take its course and still observe propriety, doesn’t it?”
“Hard isn’t the word for it.”
“It is for me.”
Dorothy spit coffee at that remark. “God, Ben... look what you just made me do!”
“Oops.”
“Anyway, that’s good to hear,” Dorothy continued. “I’d hate to think I’d saved myself all this time for a man who couldn’t perform, when the time came.”
“Oh please, you’re under standing orders to avoid cemeteries because of your penchant for making the dead rise, and we both know it!”
Dorothy giggled. “That’s one of the things I love most about you, Ben, you make me laugh.”
“Not that hard to do, with a face like mine.”
Ben Stillman,” Dorothy scolded. “I happen to like that handsome face
of yours, thank you very much.”
“That reminds me, I think we need to get you back down to the dispensary to get your vision rechecked. Comments like that leads me to believe there was a major mix-up in your records the last time.”
“Now you’re just fishing for compliments, and I’ve already obliged you all that I’m going to this morning, so you might as well quit.”
Ben just smiled and shook his head gently. “I still don’t see how a drop-dead gorgeous woman like you could possibly be attracted to a craggy old goat like me?”
Now it was Dorothy’s turn to shake her head. “I’ve told you before, Ben, although I’m definitely attracted to what’s on the outside, it’s not your looks, but who you are that I find most attractive about you. You’re the physical embodiment of virtually every positive trait that I find most appealing in a man. That plus the fact that you’ve never treated me like just a piece of meat that you wanted to devour.”
“I’ll plead the fifth on that one,” Ben chuckled. “If we ever do end up in bed together, I bet you’ll have me howling at the moon inside of an hour.”
Dorothy grinned, “I certainly hope so. Now, how might we go about arranging one of those moon-howling episodes, anyway? Have you had any ideas?”
“Just one... but it’s a bit extreme. After so short a time together, I hesitate to even mention it.”
“Mention it. I’m desperate to get some alone time with my new man.”
“Well, we both know that Fleet takes a rather dim view of that level of open fraternization between senior officers…”
Dorothy sighed, “Yes, they’d separate us as soon as the word got out and with this crew, that would happen at light-speed.”
“Only one exception that I’ve been able to find in the regs.”
“You mean?”
“Yup, like I said… a bit extreme if all you’re wanting is a quick roll in the hay.”
“I want more than that, Ben. A lot more.”
“Me too, the question is how much more?”
“All there is... all I can get.”
“After only a week?”
“It’s been a lot longer than that for me, Ben. It’s only been a week that we’ve talked about it.”
“Me too. I was so afraid I was gonna get caught stealing glances at you, and get you thinking I was another of those slavering dogs that you hate so much.”
Dorothy laughed. “Well, evidently you were pretty darned sneaky at it, because I was scared to death when I asked you to kiss me that day. I was afraid you wouldn’t want to.”
“I’m ugly, not stupid.”
Dorothy’s features softened and she said, “Oh, Ben... you're not ugly. You’re the most beautiful man I’ve ever known.”
“I think I’d better let you assume the role of the beautiful one in the family. You’re much better suited for it.”
“Family? Did you say, family?”
Ben started, “Isn’t that what we’ve been talking about?”
“Oh God, I hope so!”
Ben grinned and said, “Well, only one thing left to do then.”
With that, Admiral Benjamin Stillman got up, came around the table and right there in front of the stewards, the junior officers, God, and everyone else, he took Captain Fletcher by the hand and got down on one knee and said, “Dorothy Marie Fletcher, I love you. Will you marry me?”
Tears welled in Dorothy Fletcher’s eyes and she lunged for him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and blubbered, “Oh God, Ben, YES. Yes, darling... I’d be very, very happy to marry you. Oh, God!”
Ben swooped her up out of her seat and swung her around, whooping like a madman. In the midst of her tears, Dorothy Fletcher wore the most radiant smile he’d even seen on a human face, as she clung to his neck while seated in his arms. Onlookers gawked with mouths hanging open in disbelief, but they didn’t care.
Ben turned and played to their audience, announced loudly, “WE’RE GETTING MARRIED!”
The cheers were absolutely deafening throughout the officer’s mess. Somebody stood to make a hell of a lot of money on this unexpected development, as the odds against their getting married first had been the longest odds of all.
As Dorothy continued hanging in Ben’s arms, she looked up into the big shit-eating grin that Ben had on his face and whispered. “God, Ben… I am so incredibly happy. The twins and I can’t wait to see you slaver.”
Ben glanced down in unconscious response to her reference… His face had never been quite this close to her magnificent breasts before. “Uh, maybe I should put you down. In this proximity, I’m already feeling myself starting to drool.”
Dorothy laughed and said, “Don’t you dare! I like where I am, just fine.”
With that, Ben turned slowly so they could both bask in the standing ovation that continued all around them.
* * * *
The Alliance Planet Massa, City of Bostin
Late August, 3865
According to Dr. Kaeppeler’s records, his new patient named Halbert Fürt had passed all of his subsequent neurological tests and showed no evidence of having actual brain damage, as been previously diagnosed by physicians on Namshir. The exact physical cause of Mr. Fürt’s obvious malady was as yet unknown, but he was appearing more responsive with each passing day.
Physical therapy technicians worked the muscles of Mr. Fürt’s limbs and applied heat treatments, massage and strength conditioning exercises, and his voluntary movements had become notably more fluid than before. Speech therapists had already initiated voice exercises that targeted vocal intensity, quality and variation. When the forming of actual words was finally achieved, training in control of speech rate, stress/intonation, such as expression of emotion, loudness, articulation and breathing would be initiated as they applied in support of the patient’s voice.
* * * *
Epilogue
Hal never dreamed that manipulating a physical body, and trying to speak intelligibly using lips and vocal cords, could possibly be such incredibly difficult tasks to learn. He impatiently awaited his mobile-self to learn to finally become mobile… frustrated by his current inability to receive an update from his doppelganger, so he might understand exactly what difficulties his analogue was experiencing and why the whole process was taking so damned long. If nothing else, it had been a unique object lesson in the hard fact that theory could never fully account for all of the untold trillions of subtle influences that existed in the physical universe.
These perplexing nuances sometimes algebraically added, creating extreme differences between perception and reality, which explained why things didn’t always work “as designed” in the real world. Obviously, day-to-day existence in the physical universe was going to be a lot more complicated than he’d originally envisioned. Considering the influences of Murphy’s Law and the billions of individual personalities involved, it was no longer any great wonder to him that chaos appeared to be the prevalent force in the universe.
* * * *
To be continued, in Wrath of an Angry God: The third book in the Sentience Trilogy.
An Excerpt from Book-3 of the Sentience trilogy:
Wrath of an Angry God
“Region-Master Drix, I’d like for you to meet my daughter, N’raal. N’raal, this is Drix… newly elevated to Region-Master of the new Region-7 by Supreme-Master Xior, himself.”
Drix found himself very surprised at how stunning Harf’s infamous daughter actually was to look at in person. Despite her young age, N’raal’s temper and cantankerous nature was legend throughout the empire and the subject of no few barracks tales — many of which bawdily suggested that Harf must have been guilty of mating with some particularly vile and vicious beast at some point in his life, to have fathered such an abrasive and churlish creature as N’raal.
From all the stories he’d heard told about her, he’d almost expected a bent old crone that drooled green acid from her muzzle. Instead, she was literally one of the most physically a
ttractive females he’d ever laid eyes upon. So alluring was she to behold, Drix found himself shocked that Harf had encountered such extreme difficulties in arranging a mating for her. One would have thought that someone would have literally leaped at the chance to mate with a female of such exquisite beauty, especially one having such lofty political connections as a Region-Master’s daughter.
N’raal didn’t even glance at Drix, but instead rounded on her father and wailed, “Father, please, must you always parade me around in front of every unmated male that comes into the house, like I’m some prized heifer that you’re wanting to sell?”
“And must you always be so querulous and truculent, N’raal?” her father yelled back at her in obvious exasperation. “Is it too much to ask that you behave civilly and inoffensively towards a guest in our home?”
“I’ve said nothing untoward to this guest of yours, Father. In fact, I’ve said nothing to him at all,” said N’raal. “It’s your incredible presumption that I find intolerable and I will not let it pass, unchallenged.”
“And you couldn’t find a more appropriate time and place to discuss your objections to my behavior, rather than to initiate a screaming match right here in front of my guest?”
“It was your choice of time and place, Father. I wasn’t consulted about my thoughts concerning all that preening and perfuming that you had the servants put me through, now, was I?”
“I am your father and master of this house… I don’t have to consult you first. You’re my daughter and you’ll do as I require, whenever I require it,” Harf thundered.
“You think you can just give orders and then expect me to jump through hoops on command, like one of your pets? I am not one of your pets, Father, and I will not be treated as one!” N’raal screamed at him.
The shouting match between father and daughter continued, as both had quite forgotten about Drix entirely — locked in high volume verbal combat.
Odd how we always seem to expect inner and outer beauty to coincide, don’t we? Harf has been entirely too lenient with this one, by far… She has no discipline, and abides by no rules but her own.
Defying the Prophet: A Military Space Opera (The Sentience Trilogy Book 2) Page 37
