Rescue Branch (Kinsella Universe)

by Gina Marie Wylie

  “I assumed he was damping my expectations, hoping I wouldn’t be unduly disappointed if I failed in my aspirations. Now I find that commanding a ship is the most fulfilling job I’ve ever held in my life... and from what I’ve seen about admirals, I’m not sure I want to do that sort of thing at all.”

  Captain Gilly laughed. “Hold out your arm like I have mine.” Captain Gilly raised his arm like he was going to wave, but his was a little lower than eye level. Captain Cook matched him, and Captain Gilly gently bumped the captain’s stripes on Captain Cook’s arm with his own stripes.

  “Great minds, Captain Cook, know where their bread is buttered.” The two men laughed and shook hands.

  “May I take my leave now, Captain Gilly?”

  “By all means, Captain Cook. For your information the trip back to Ceres is about impressing the Indian government with how nice it is to have a ship like Southern Cross in service -- and to rub something in the noses of certain French officers and politicians.”

  The two men traded salutes, and then Captain Gilly saluted Becky. “God speed, Lieutenant.”

  “Thank you, sir,” she replied.

  A harbor boat took them back to the Southern Cross, and Becky was by far the most junior officer aboard -- and thus the last to enter the ship. To her surprise, Captain Cook was waiting for her in the corridor inside the ship.

  “You looked bushed, Lieutenant. My day started about ten hours ago... how long have you been awake?”

  “I got some sleep on the way in from Ceres, sir.”

  “A pittance. Thirty hours?”

  “About that, sir.”

  “In about four hours we’ll be back out at Ceres; after three fan transitions in that time, your ass will be dragging. But you will have had a couple of more. You are, I’m told, an intelligent officer. Crawl into your bunk, Lieutenant, and sleep until rested. The rest of us will find a way to manage without you for a while.”

  “Sir... I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry about what? You’ve had the duty. Important duty. I can’t believe you are going to start teaching on Ceres of all places while fatigued. Get rested up; get a decent meal inside you. Kick back and listen to some tunes for a while.”

  “I haven’t seen my roommate yet, Captain. I’d hate for the first time we meet all that’s visible is me getting rack time.”

  “We had a half dozen double bunk compartments we were saving up for the science boffins who were yet to join the ship’s company. I had the berthing officer put you and Lieutenant Abbott each in separate compartments. Soon enough, you’ll have a roommate, but not yet. In any case, oddly enough, we run around the clock. It isn’t at all unusual for one person in a compartment to be sleeping while the other has the duty -- or free time. Relax.”

  Becky had time for a stray thought when she put her head down on her pillow. She hoped Anna wouldn’t worry. Then she realized that the odds were she was going to be in free fall at some point. She pulled the netting into place and was asleep almost instantly.

  .

  Chapter 11 -- Ceres is Ruinously Out of Spec

  Becky woke about two in the morning, ship’s time. There were cold cuts and coffee in the wardroom and she helped herself. No one else was around, except a cook’s assistant reading a book behind the steam tables.

  With something to eat in her belly she went to the bridge. Not much was going on there either. The officer of the watch just shrugged. “We’re back in orbit around Ceres. The captain left instructions that if you got up before 0700, to get back to sleep. He wasn’t to be woken except for something in the SOP.”

  Becky nodded and a few minutes later returned to her cabin. She recorded a message for Anna and sent it off. The Fleet had had various policies about messages. Originally, they were supposed to be official business. Now the rule was that within two light seconds of Earth you could have a real, live face-to-face conversation with your family for fifteen minutes a day. You could send taped messages that were as long as you wanted. It was, she thought, a whole lot better than what her father had had to put up with when he was in the Navy -- when they were in port he could pay exorbitant phone charges to speak home for a few minutes -- mostly he’d saved his pay, even if it meant months might pass before anyone heard from him.

  At seven, she was on the bridge when Captain Cook arrived. He nodded to her, checked the log from overnight and then a few minutes later she was detached with her entourage again to return to Ceres. He was of the opinion that the job would be over sooner if they started sooner.

  They suited up and made the trek across to the colony where Mr. Rathi, the engineer, greeted them. He smiled at Becky, and then shook the hands of the others. After a few minutes of pleasantries Becky began go grow concerned. “Is there a problem, Mr. Rathi?”

  He looked around and one of the others nodded. “One minute, Mr. Rathi.”

  “I had a friend give you a little something the other day,” he told Becky. “It was delivered?”

  “What something?”

  “Ah, that something. No doubt Mr. Ramujin told you I was from the government sent to spy on him. Please, my country is rife with corruption. They would never appoint a person they didn’t control to head this colony.”

  A man appeared and handed Mr. Rathi a long box-like object, about a meter long and a few centimeters in the other two dimensions. “Take a look, Lieutenant,” Mr. Rathi told her.

  He moved a slide and Becky could see about a dozen mice inside. Mr. Rathi handed it back to the man, who placed it in the airlock and cycled it.

  “We have to run mice patrols down the corridors every few hours, otherwise they’d eat us out of house and home,” he told her. “Mr. Ramujin was ecstatic that you never felt the need to move away from the lock. You would have asked too many questions.”

  “Questions about what?”

  “What do the mice eat?”

  Becky remembered what Eagle had told her once about fleas. “They eat the same things that we eat,” she answered evenly.

  “And when they get hungry, they’ll chew on anything that even looks like it might be food. Clothes, shoes, books -- wiring.”

  Becky grimaced.

  “Two more things important in the short term. One of stunning importance to you, one of stunning importance to us. We are currently experiencing a cholera epidemic. You need to inform your captain that you and your people have likely been exposed. If you aren’t vaccinated -- now would be a very good time. About one person in ten is down with it. Sick women and children are being ferried home aboard my government’s one shuttle. It holds eight passengers and almost no cargo.”

  “Eight?” Becky gargled.

  “Yes, eight. That’s why I was sad as hell that your people thought of a way to save the colony. All of us want to leave.” He looked around again. “Ramujin is going to be suspicious soon.

  “Lieutenant, we came up here with high hopes. Flights were limited in how many we could bring... most flights are food only. We are down to 1200 calories a day. My wife, Lieutenant, and my two sons were due to come some weeks ago. I told her to fake insanity; that no matter what she did, it would be safer than coming here.”

  He waved around them. “One last tidbit to take back with you to your ship. The air filters in the colony have been shut off; we can’t keep them clean enough to operate. The air is filled with tons of dust. Just walking down a corridor stirs it up. Another tenth of the colony suffers from respiratory problems -- those that have lung problems on top of the cholera are dead. Cholera can’t be spread as an aerosol -- it’s not transmissible that way as it is by body fluids -- but in a closed environment...”

  Becky didn’t bother to glance at her entourage -- they’d been quiet since Mr. Rathi had started talking.

  “Beside fleas, what?” she asked.

  “Lice, bed bugs... the whole gamut of human parasites. There are a number of other organisms as well. They are -- rarer.”

  Ramujin strode down the corridor. “What lies has Rat
hi been spewing?”

  “Does the colony have cholera?” Becky asked.

  “That is classified.”

  “Fleas, lice, bedbugs -- rodents?”

  “That is classified.”

  “You’d have done better lying,” she told him. She turned to the others. “Tog up, people. We’re going back to the shuttle.”

  “You have people to train!” Ramujin shouted.

  “You have people to save,” she told him. “Damned if I know how you can. There’s not a person out here who is going to care even a tiny bit.”

  She went through the airlock, calling ahead to the shuttle pilot.

  “Captain’s on the line, Lieutenant.”

  “Good. Plot a course for the aft Trojans.”

  “Lieutenant?”

  “The aft Trojans. We lift from here and go there at maximum warp, Mr. Sulu.”

  The pilot, who was a Korean-American, grinned. “With the captain’s leave, Lieutenant,” he told her.

  “Get cracking. Under no circumstances are we to dock with another vehicle without my permission.”

  “Southern Cross, Lieutenant?”

  “The cows are probably -- almost certainly -- out of the barn but we will exercise due caution anyway. Get cracking on the transition calculation. We don’t want to hit anything, just get us in radio range.”

  The pilot’s expression was hostile. “Captain Cook, Lieutenant.”

  “Lieutenant Cooper? What’s up?”

  “Sir, you need to get Dr. Skinner and your chief medical officer available as quickly as possible.”

  “Lieutenant Shipman says that you’ve withdrawn your party from the colony.”

  “Sir, those two worthies.”

  “Dr. Skinner will be here in a minute, the chief MO is busy.”

  “Sir, the ship’s crew has been exposed to cholera. Check to see if he’s too busy to discuss that.”

  Captain Cook was silent for a second. “No, he’s not too busy to discuss that. Your party has been exposed?”

  “Captain, everyone aboard Southern Cross has been exposed. That is the most important issue, but there are other contamination issues as well.”

  “What other contamination issues, Lieutenant Cooper?” Dr. Skinner asked.

  “Sir, Ceres is overrun with vermin. Everything from mice to fleas, lice, bed bugs, and probably flying insects. Mr. Ramujin was lying to us about the state of the colony.”

  “This is Dr. Kellerman, Lieutenant,” a new voice interjected. A woman’s voice. “You said cholera.”

  “About a tenth of the colony is down with it. The refugees we transported were almost certainly carrying the disease. Anyone who visited the colony would have been exposed. Plus there are human parasitic insects -- fleas, lice, bed bugs.”

  “Did they say anything about flies?” Dr. Skinner asked.

  “No, sir. I didn’t think to ask.”

  “We found one in the microbiology lab the other day. Killed it, too. Flies are very bad news, Captain. Fleas, lice, bed bugs aren’t much better. Christ! We need a bevy of research soonest! How long can the eggs survive vacuum.”

  “Vacuum, Dr. Skinner?” Captain Cook asked.

  “That is about the only thing that will work to clean them out -- but how long the eggs will survive is a different question than how long the adults will survive.”

  “Captain,” Becky said. “I know I’m just a lieutenant. Sir, with respect, I think Southern Cross should return to Earth at once. I don’t know how vaccination will work after exposure, but we need all the help we can get.”

  Dr. Kellerman added, “Not that effective, but the lieutenant is correct. I suspect we have some people aboard who have been immunized already, but anyone who isn’t -- Captain we stand to lose as many as 5% of the crew if we aren’t careful. Just about everyone who isn’t vaccinated is going to come down with it. Cramped quarters like a ship? You couldn’t ask for worse conditions.”

  “Captain, once again, I know I’m just a lieutenant, but I’d like permission to go to the Aft Trojans. Sir, Eagle was at the colony yesterday. Fourteen hundred men, women and children, sir. If you could gather medical supplies and staff -- they’ll be needing them if he gets sick.”

  “Wait one, Lieutenant,” Captain Cook told her. “Ramujin is on the line.”

  Becky didn’t hear anything for like what seemed forever -- close enough for government work. “I have courses calculated for the Trojans and Southern Cross, Lieutenant,” the pilot reported.

  “We won’t be allowed to dock until further notice, Lieutenant. Adjust to it. Check our consumables; check three more times. Let me know what’s less than 72 hours.”

  “Nothing, Lieutenant -- but nothing is much more than that either.”

  “Then it will behoove you to plot good courses, won’t it?” she asked.

  A moment later Captain Cook was back. “I am stunned at the perfidy of human beings. When pressed, Ramunjin admitted to a ‘few’ cases of cholera. When asked to be specific about the numbers, he eventually owned up to about a hundred -- a tenth of the colony. When I asked about how many sick people we took back to Earth, he said so far as he knows, none. However he puts the number of ill at 10% of those who remain in the colony.

  “We have confirmed fleas, lice and bed bugs are aboard, as well as flies. We have several reports of mice feces, although none of the rodents have been spotted yet. Dr. Kellerman has told me that we must immediately return to Earth, board new crew vaccinated against the disease. She agrees that medical relief should go to the Trojans next. Warn them, Lieutenant.”

  “Aye, aye, sir. We’ll be lifting now, transition in a few.”

  “If anyone gets ill aboard your shuttle, you are authorized to return ASAP to Maunalua.”

  “Yes, sir.” The pilot nodded and she felt the acceleration. “We’re lifting now, sir.”

  She returned to her seat and sat back, trying to relax. She hadn’t thought about free time; the only book she had was Kat’s and she didn’t feel like reading a textbook at the moment. She reflected on Captain Cook’s comment of “perfidy.” How was a colony supposed to take that into account? She made a mental note to talk to Anna about it, and maybe she’d bring it up to Admiral Kinsella the next time they talked “Steph to Becky.”

  There was little warning. Her stomach twinged and she was aware of it. Then it turned inside out, suddenly, abruptly, and along the entire length of her alimentary canal. For an instant she was mortified at what her body had done to her. She’d been three when she was potty-trained and there was nothing in her memory to compare. For an instant she was stunned that her body could produce such quantities of foul-smelling fluids. Then the realization hit her and she was terrified. She had it! Cholera!

  She steadied herself. Anna had had to do this, and she’d been in a far worse situation. Becky had days to get help; Anna had minutes. She spoke up, “Lieutenant Abbott, I appear to have cholera. Inform the pilot we need a quick return to Earth after the Trojans.”

  She closed her eyes and wished the pain from her innards would go away. It was distracting.

  She opened her eyes and Lieutenant Abbott was trying to get her to swallow some water. She started to push his hand away, only to realize her overwhelming thirst.

  She sucked greedily on the fluid, and then looked at Lieutenant Abbott. “How soon to the Trojans? We don’t need to match velocities, just jump, talk to them and head home.”

  He swallowed. Well, Becky thought, she was beyond rank.

  “The pilot is unconscious. You’ve been unconscious for about ten minutes, Lieutenant.”

  Becky took a second to think; she resisted the urge to close her eyes to do that. “Two of you get him back here. Then one of you help me forward. I’ve been bootlegging on piloting.”

  She had no idea how long it took; twice she was sure she was out of it for a time. Lieutenant Abbott was always trying to make her drink something.

  She didn’t bother with precise calculations. The pilot had
opted for safe over speedy... he had wanted to slow to the Trojan orbital velocity before he went there. Becky didn’t care.

  “Fleet Shuttle 37 Delta, declaring an emergency,” she called when she was three light seconds from the habitat. “Get me Eagle.”

  “What’s your emergency? Eagle has the flu, Kat’s looking after him.”

  “Get her. No matter what, get me the most senior leader of the colony still standing.”

  “Say what? I’ll see if Kat will speak to you -- probably not.”

  “Tell her I know what’s ailing her husband and in a couple of days will be ailing her kids.”

  Well, it was blessedly quick. “What, Becky? Eagle has the worst case of the flu ever. I want to be with him.”

  “It’s not the flu, Kat. Ceres has cholera. They didn’t want to tell anyone.”

  “My flight controller says you’re going faster than is safe.”

  “We have it on the shuttle, Kat. The pilot’s down, and I’m just a noob when it comes to flying and I’m sick too. I’m going to point us at Earth, jump and pray.”

  “Wait a second. The doctor is right here, listening. He’s hopping up and down. Are you sure about the cause?”

  “Yes. Like I said, the pilot and I have it. We were both at Ceres a day ahead of the others, at the same time as Eagle and your people. Take a memo, Kat. Shuttles are safe enough -- most of the time. Like aircraft, they need two pilots in case one becomes indisposed.”

  “I’ve told my controllers to track you; you’ll have another pilot there in about ninety minutes.”

  “Kat, we have cholera aboard!”

  “And if Eagle has it, so do we! Listen up girl! I’m sending Eagle up on a medivac. Get him to a hospital -- preferably in orbit -- ASAP. Becky, sweet... I’m going to be with my babies now. Good luck.”

  Becky wanted to cry. She did for a few minutes, but she couldn’t be sure because she passed out again. Gosh, it sure took it out of you! Her dreams were ghastly snippets, mostly of people holding her down and making her drink salty water. She wasn’t sure how much of it was real and how much wasn’t.