Kathia, who had followed some of his thoughts, smiled.
“You, what would you say?”
She had made two small holes in the membrane, inserting two rods, one with a sharp blade, like a tiny scalpel, that she was handling with a practiced dexterity.
“I’ve removed some bone fragments. Now I have to drain and evacuate the hematoma, and proceed with hemostasis. Then I’ll remove the parts of the dural and cortical tissue that are damaged. After that I’ll need your help, Helias. Get ready.”
“To do what?”
“Nothing special. I’ll tell you in a minute. But now go wash your hands.”
Kathia made a third hole, threading in a thin catheter. The blood began to spurt and flow into the reservoir at the other end. Then she started working with the rods again, occasionally replacing them with others and interchanging them. Finally, she drew a sigh of relief and scrutinized what she had done closely. She drew out a new pair of rods, inserted them and worked a little more. Then she looked at Helias.
“Your turn now.”
“Tell me what to do.”
“Spray your hands and hold them around the wound, a few centimeters from the membrane.”
Helias, though far from convinced, obeyed.
“You don’t mean to tell me that…?”
“That what? That you’re about to heal your father? Why not? Isn’t that what you want?”
“Sure, but….”
“But what? You don’t know how to do it? Really? And yet your hands release more energy than you could possibly imagine. And not only the right frequencies. But above all the right interference beats. That’s what counts. Go on. I’m waiting. We have to reconstruct the damaged parts.”
“I…. I… d-don’t know…. What is it I have to do, exactly?”
“You’re asking me? You’re the biologist. I’m only a physician.”
“What? What do you mean? I’m supposed to concentrate on the right cytology? Do a pertinent histological review? Imagine cells, but the right ones, that divide and proliferate? And where do I put the blood vessels? And who remembers what dural tissue is like?”
“No, no. I was joking. But I see that I’ve put you in the right mood. Look.”
A pale blue light seemed to pervade the open wound beneath the membrane. Then it changed color, pulsating.
“All you’ve got to do is save your father. That’s all. You only have to let yourself do it. Isn’t that what you want? He gave you half of your life. Maybe it’s time to return the favor, don’t you think? Who knows his cells and their content better than you, even though you don’t know that you do? Good. I see everything’s clear now. Look.”
While speaking, Kathia had been moving her rods, adroitly as usual.
In the meantime, the professor had entered the room too. He had adjusted the transparency of the outer windows, and now he was standing off by himself, keeping well out of the way. He shied away from looking at the scene, probably not all that thrilled to see blood and an open cranium.
The pilot appeared at the door, but went away immediately when he saw he wasn’t needed.
The ‘operation’ lasted several minutes, during which Helias felt intense heat in his palms. It wasn’t like feeling heat from some outside source, no, more internal, his hands themselves unleashing incandescent energy. And there was a tingling, too, varying in intensity like little electric shocks.
The work was almost done by now. Underneath the blue haze you could just make out the reconstructed cerebral cortex. Next the dura madre was sutured and the bone fracture was repaired, using the fragments that had been removed earlier.
Once the flaps of skin had also been joined back together, Kathia removed the membrane and covered the area with a broad bandage. Then she moved off to the side and began to put away her equipment.
Helias was exhausted, but happy. And filled with a deep peace.
His mother, who had watched the whole operation in wonderstruck silence, had now taken Kathia’s place alongside her husband and, with wordless emotion, stroked his face delicately with the backs of her fingers, her other hand gripping Helias’s.
Coming to, Helias’s father opened his eyes. Helias smiled and a tear wet his mother’s cheek. Kathia smiled too, and then rose and walked toward the professor to consult with him.
“Where am I? What happened?” asked the scientist, looking at his wife. Then, following her glance, he turned his eyes.
“Helias!?”
“Yes. He came to save us. We were attacked, remember?”
“Hi dad.”
“Hi Helias. Yes, now I remember. But what are you doing here? You seem different….”
The voice quavered, and he spoke with difficulty.
“You have to rest now, stay calm. You have to recover from a nasty injury. Mama will tell you all about it. You just have to tell me where the compiler is. We’ll probably have to get out of here any minute, as soon as the guards begin to suspect something. We can’t risk a face-off with them.”
“Who are you with? How many of you are there?”
“There are six of us.”
“Where are the others?”
“Two, or maybe three, are guarding the corridor. Then there’s the professor and Kathia. Unfortunately we don’t have time for introductions.”
“Yes. Get out of here right away. I think there are a lot of them, and they’re well-armed, as well as trained and absolutely ruthless.”
He tried to move an arm, but had to give up.
“Put your hand in the side pocket of my trousers. There’s a small adhesive pocket inside, hidden by the seam.”
Helias did. And found what he was looking for.
“I’ll be right back. I’m going to consult the others.”
Kathia and the professor had joined the pilot in the lab. He was talking to the two prisoners.
“One of you two will come with us. As a prisoner and hostage. We obviously recommend that you do no harm to the two scientists, whom we can’t take with us. You have nothing to gain from it. And if you do, your man will suffer the consequences. Your mission has failed. I repeat, harming them will do you no good. And there’s no doubt that whoever sent you here would punish you for it. They’re much more use to him safe and sound….”
Helias, meanwhile, had shown the compiler to Kathia, who took it and approached the two men, showing them the diskette.
“As you can see, there’s nothing else for you to ask or look for. Anything to say?”
One of them nodded his head. The pilot removed his gag.
“We’re not criminals, even if we’re mercenaries and we don’t think much about whether what we’re ordered to do is a dirty job or not. You can trust us, we won’t hurt them. I command these people. If you want a prisoner, take me.”
Kathia nodded. “He’s sincere.” she said. “Free his legs, so he can walk.”
The pilot leaned over, taking out his knife to cut the tape off the man’s legs. There was a noise in the corridor and Skullet appeared.
“They called me again, alarmed at not hearing from these guys. I told them to wait, but I’m afraid they’re getting suspicious.”
Kathia, frowning again.
Another noise. And Scarface came in.
“They’re coming. I locked the two doors between us, but it won’t take them long to break through.”
“Quick!” cried Kathia to the pilot.
Then she spun around and struck Skullet’s hand, hard, and the weapon he had been aiming at the prisoners clattered to the floor. A twirl, and a kick, and Kathia sent Skullet sprawling.
“What are you doing? I just wanted to put them out of action. They’re animals, don’t you see what they did to the lab director? They don’t deserve any better.”
“From now on you’ll follow orders and do nothing on your own initiative.” answered Kathia.
The man rose, cursing, and collected his weapon.
Kathia turned to the pilot.
“You, the p
rofessor and the prisoner will precede us to the ship. Have the woman in there tell you how to get to it.”
Helias, thrown completely off balance now by everything that had happened, but surprised and amazed too, managed only to blurt out, “Is there anything else you can do that I don’t know about?”.
Kathia looked at him and winked.
“Many things…, my boy.”
A few seconds later, Helias’s mother came into the lab and went up to the mainframe screen. She touched a few points with her fingers and lists appeared. She selected a file and copied it on a diskette, which she handed to Helias.
“Here’s the executable for the password program. The compiler is password-protected. The password is complicated and unknown, but it’s produced by this simple program after entering the correct input string, which is thus a sort of pre-password. The instructions for identifying the pre-password are on this sheet, which only Helias can easily understand. And so the compiler, to be operated, needs both this program and these instructions. I’d advise you to split responsibility for them among yourselves, to make your enemies’ job harder.”
Skullet approached, apparently volunteering. But Kathia, with her most serious look, took the diskette from Helias’s hands and tossed it to Scarface, who was keeping an eye on the corridor from the doorway. She kept the compiler herself and told Helias “You’d better look at those instructions and memorize them. Then destroy the sheet.”.
As Helias read the instructions, his mother came up to him.
Then Scarface said, “I think they’ve broken through the first door, we’d better get out of here right away.”.
Kathia took a chair, closed the door leading to the lab and jammed the chair up against it. Turning to their two escorts, she said, “Tie the prisoner to this chair. Take the tape off his mouth. It’ll gain us a few minutes, if they don’t want to shoot him full of holes and roast him with their lasers.”.
Helias and his mother had gone back into the living quarters and Helias was caressing his father’s face.
“Bye dad. Take care of yourself.”
And he winked at him, to hide a tear.
“Bye mama.” he said, folding her hands in his.
Kathia came in too, followed by the other two, and she bent over the man as if to check his condition.
Helias’s father stared in open-eyed amazement.
“You!? What are you doing here?”
“Dad, it’s the doctor who saved your life. It’s Kathia.”
“Do we know each other? Perhaps you’ve mistaken me for someone else. I don’t think I’ve ever met you before….”
And so saying, Kathia drew a vial from her backpack.
“Sorry, but we’re in a hurry. I’ve got to drug you. It’s much better if they find you asleep and you don’t give them any reason to do you any more harm than they already have.”
And without giving him time to react, she sprayed the vial in his throat.
“Kathia! What does this mean?” asked Helias, stunned.
“Nothing more than what I said.” she answered, serious. “Anyway, in his condition, he needs to sleep and, above all, to avoid getting upset.”
Then she rose and told Skullet, “Go to the other room and check what’s going on.”.
She moved to where Scarface was standing and conferred briefly with him.
In the seconds before falling asleep, the wounded man had found the strength to grip his son’s arm and, fixing him in the eye, whispered “Be careful…. My son….”.
Skullet had come running back.
“They’re at the door.”
And a voice was crying “Don’t shoot! They’ve tied me behind the door, don’t shoot….”.
“Let’s go!” Kathia had said.
“This way, follow the corridor.” Helias’s mother had indicated. “I’ll open the loop for you. And I’ll try to keep them from following you there….”
One last emotional embrace. One last look at the man who lay sleeping. One last look, with a lump in his throat.
Helias turned again toward his mother. He tried to say “Write….”, but his voice failed him. And she, too, bid him farewell with one last look and disappeared through the doorway. But she would write anyway. He knew that already.
Now Kathia was moving down the corridor, going fast. Turning her head around, as if to check that the others were following her, as if to check positions and distances. Helias was next. The other two formed the rearguard.
After the first curve, Kathia turned again, and Helias, a few meters behind, recoiled as he caught the look on her face. Then she outstripped him, and at the next corner he found her facing him, stock-still and eyes that struck fear into his heart. Her arms were outstretched, and the pistol gripped in her meshed fingers was aimed at him.
© Springer International Publishing AG 2017
Massimo VillataThe Dark Arrow of TimeScience and Fictionhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67486-5_10
10. The Pilot and the Prisoner Had Reached the Shuttle
Massimo Villata1
(1)Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino, INAF, Pino Torinese (TO), Italy
Massimo Villata
Email: [email protected]
The pilot and the prisoner had reached the shuttle some time ago, with the panting professor hot on their heels, or nearly. The pilot had inspected the vehicle and checked that the controls were operational. Everything seemed okay. And the professor, by no means unawkwardly, guarded the prisoner, pointing his own weapon at him. Whether he knew how to use it was anybody’s guess.
For their part, everything was ready. But the others weren’t showing up.
The pilot decided to go see why. Given the professor’s obvious misgivings, though, he stopped first to strap the prisoner—whose hands were tied behind his back—to the seat. Grateful, the professor felt he could relax. He even tried to make small talk with the mercenary.
Going back down the corridor, the pilot arrived behind Kathia just as Helias turned the corner and stopped short, shocked. Then Kathia sprang to one side, firing a shot as she lept. Helias threw himself to the other side, and the shot landed in Skullet’s arm, catching him as he too rounded the corner. Before Skullet’s weapon had touched the ground, Kathia, still in mid-air, had swiveled around and was now aiming her gun at the pilot.
“What’s going on here?” cried the pilot, reaching for the pistol.
“Keep out of this—and don’t touch that weapon!” barked Kathia, her voice unrecognizable.
“I demand an explanation!” he bellowed, his glance ricocheting back and forth between Kathia and Skullet.
“You’re no position to demand anything. I’m taking command of the expedition, and you’ll abide by my orders.” said Kathia as she rose.
“By what right?”
“By right of the fact that I’ve got a pistol pointed right at your briefs. It’s not pleasant, you know?”
Skullet, his arm aching, murmured “She’s crazy….”. But a fiery look from Kathia shut him up instantly.
Helias, still up against the wall where he had fallen, was, obviously, stunned and speechless.
Rapidly shifting her aim between the men, Kathia backed up as far as the turn in the corridor.
“Where’s Junas?” she asked, addressing Skullet.
“Dunno…. He was behind me….”
“You’re lying! You shot him…. In the legs. We’ll never be able to drag him along behind us. Come on! Let’s go. You go ahead. I’ve got you in my sights.”
As they walked into the ship, Kathia turned to the professor, who was staring openmouthed at the scene presented by the new arrivals.
“Release the prisoner, we don’t need him anymore.”
The professor did so and the man moved off to the exit, through the airlock and out the armored outer door, which Kathia closed behind him.
While she was thus engaged, she turned her back for a moment on Skullet, who took advantage of the apparent distraction to draw a sma
ll weapon from a concealed holster with his uninjured arm. Uninjured, but not for long. It was immediately put out of action by another sudden shot, again from Kathia’s pistol, its muzzle barely protruding past her armpit as she fired without even aiming, and still half-turned toward the door. Right afterwards, she fell to the floor with a groan, hit by a scatter beam from the pilot’s weapon. She had barely time to fire off a second shot, but only struck Skullet, who went crashing against the wall.
They had ‘passed’ the loop. Cocooned in his helmet, Helias had heard his mother’s voice giving the ‘all clear’ for the passage. And, even without seeing them, he knew that ‘the other themselves’ had passed in back-know at the same time.
Skullet was behind him, passed out. Kathia alongside, also unconscious. The professor behind Kathia. The pilot was where he belonged.
They were flying over Alkenia. After the firefight between Kathia and the others, an icy silence had descended on the ship. No one had dared speak as they heaved the bodies onto the seats and tied them there. The most urgent thing, anyway, was to cross the loop and return to Alkenia.
Now Helias and the professor were looking at each other through their visors, mutually wondering what to do next. The pilot left the cockpit, first shifting to autopilot.
“What are you going to do!?” exclaimed Helias when he saw the pilot bend over Kathia.
“Nothing special. I just have to check something….”
So saying, he began to rifle Kathia’s pockets. When he got to the breast pockets, Helias could barely contain himself.
“Here they are! I knew it….”
“Here’re what?” snarled Helias.
“I hardly think I owe you an explanation…. In any case, here are the two diskettes. The proof that our lovely friend wanted to make fools of us all. She had kept the compiler for herself and pretended to hand the second diskette over to Junas, but she clearly had him give it back to her on the quiet. Then, for some reason, maybe because she ‘read’ that somebody suspected something, or simply to get rid of excess baggage, she thought best to put them out of action before getting to the ship. She probably meant to bump off all three of you. Fortunately I arrived in time to stop her. She couldn’t snuff me yet, as the pilot she still needed me. It’s likely that she would have arrived at the ship alone, with some story about how you had all been captured, or worse, and later, once at our destination, she would have got rid of me and the professor too. She betrayed us all. She was clearly on the other side. Maybe we should prevent her from doing any more damage….”
The Dark Arrow of Time Page 14
