Mark started moving as he groaned then tried to sit up on the stretcher but one of the medics pushed him back down buckling a strap over his chest. “Stay put Mark. You’ll pull out your I.V. We will have you in intensive care in a few minutes and see if we can save your sight.”
“But I can see fine or could before? I can’t see a thing now. What is around my head?” Reaching up to feel his head. “I can’t breathe! Let me the frack up will you. I am fine except for a head ache from you ...”
Slapping his hands away from his face the medic grabbed an oxygen mask, peeled back the dressing enough to place it over the bandage covering his mouth and nose as Mark tried to turn his head away, reaching for the mask. “OK he is a fighter so knock him out before he damages his eyes anymore.”
-----------------------------------
Mark woke up laying in an intensive care bed half undressed. The inside of his mouth tasted sour, his throat was dry and sore, feeling like a large pipe had been stuffed down it. Dr. Wells starred down at him as he sat a long S curved tube to one side into a deep pan with other surgical tools in it as a nurse through something else in it. Mark looked around at a room full of operating equipment, other doctors and nurses putting surgical trays away as they slipped off their gowns. Everything was clear and sharp. In perfect focus. Touching his face around his eyes he could not find the new glasses or even feel them. “Your eyes are fine young man.”
“Yes, I now Doctor Wells. Doctor West talked some sense into me. And thanks for fixing my real eyes. I did not know it would be so easy.” Mark whispered in a horse raspy voice that seemed to get worse with each word.
“I have not touched your eyes son. It is just the anesthesia. Your eyes will return to normal in a few minutes as the muscles regain tension.” Turning to the nurse at the head of the bed. “Now quit wasting my time and get this delinquent out of my surgery.” The Doctor walked out as he finished stripping his gown and gloves. The other older nurses worked putting things away leaving a young nurse with a medics patch on her shoulder and a name tag reading, “Dian”, smiling over at Mark.
It took a half hour in recovery to let the last of the Anastasia wear off before he could leave. By then his eyes had returned to normal making Mark glad when the Medic Dian found his new glasses amongst his things on the counter after handing him his ugly old heavy black framed glasses first (that he had forgotten were in his pocket). He could not believe how terrible his sight was after putting on his old glasses for a few seconds, with most things just out of focus and definitely not as sharp as he looked around for his new glasses. He was suddenly glad to have the new glasses. As soon as Mark put them on his first sight was the crisp clear beautiful face of Dian as she finished checking his vitals one last time.
"I remember seeing you around the school decks. You look even more beautiful close up." Mark could not believe he had said that as he turned red and swallowed hoping that she had not understood his croaking voice.
Turning from putting away the sensor pad she had taken off of him, she looked up at Mark and smiled. "Ok! I remember seeing you around school too. Now those are a lot better looking than the others. I can hardly tell you are wearing anything. Fact is, I like your new glasses Mark. They look like stars wrapped across your eyes. Orbital if you ask me. I really am glad you didn't get your eyes cut out. I hope to see you around sometime." Then left the cubical.
Mark starred after Dian for a couple of seconds as he finished dressing and then walked out through the reception compartment. The medic that had him knocked out down on the truck deck was in the outer office as he left keeping his distance as he apologized. Looking a little embarrassed at not listening and checking a little better before fallowing orders to rush him up to surgery.
The Sergeant at arms did not keep his distance as he met Mark at the hatch not the least bit embarrassed as he clamped a big hand on his shoulder. “Come with me boy. You’re still in trouble though I am glad to find out you are not a complete moron." Mark continued looking around marveling at how sharp everything was compared to his old black framed glasses. Everything looked so different as small normally unnoticed details seamed to jump out at him from everything he looked at. "Now don’t slow down, we are late as it is. The Captain is waiting for you.” The Sergeant pulled Mark along through the sickbay passageways at a good clip.
“Hey Sergeant.” Mark’s raspy voice seamed to get worse as he talked. “I am starving and dying of thirst; can we stop by the mess deck.” His voice degenerated to a croaking whisper. “It is only a couple decks below.” The Sergeant gave Mark a dirty look and kept on walking.
Just outside of Sickbay at the inner hull core's hatch, the Sgt. turned and stopped at the core elevator to the upper decks. The elevator ran through officer country and was off limits to everyone but officers and crew that had business. Especially kids. Mark found himself getting a bit excited at the prospect of actually going to some place on the ship he had only been a couple of times. After 21 years he was finely going to officer country. That is without getting his butt beat as he had when he was 6 and snuck up there to explore. Or the time he had gotten his butt beat for getting even with some kids that had been terrorizing him by leading them up into officers’ country knowing they would get caught along with him. He had not minded or even felt that butt beating as the other kids not used to their prey being able to fight back started screaming with each swat though he knew they really were not getting hurt.
Then come to think of it, he had been caught outright the time Chet and his buddies had chased him into a compartment threatening to kill him because he had actually dared to hit Chet across the face with something they had been beating him with. He had managed to grab his glasses out of Chet's hands and then outran them until they thought they had him cornered in a tank compartment. Only he had found and prepared the tank long before and had disabled the inside controls on the lower hatch they had chased him through and then tripped a rope that had pulled him rapidly up out of their reach to go out a small hatch on the top. Pulling up the rope ladder he had put there for his escape and enjoyed them screaming at him for quite a while before going to dinner with his family. He left them there overnight with the ship having to do a deck by deck search to finally find them the next day when they did not come home the night before.
The Captain seamed to go unusually mild on the back swing of his swats without finishing the allotted number and without the forever lecture afterwards. She had even smiled at him afterwards when she told him she would have liked to have seen their faces trapped in the tank and that it had shown good combat planning on his part. Though he was so scared of the Captain and pissed at being punished, that he had not really noticed. Except now that he was thinking of it, he realized that he had noticed subconsciously under the shame and being pissed. That the Captain had gone light and the brief smile and comment though ignored at the time had gone a long way to dampen his bitterness and he started to read books about how battles were won that taught him to think and plan better tactics and most of all plan better engagements so his tormentors would not know it was him getting even. It would save him from the repercussions of the assholes getting even with him as well, time and time again. Over the years he had gotten good at terrorizing his terrorists.
Then the dread set in even though technically he had not done anything wrong, yet. Especially since he had not gotten the eye implants after all. Thank Godstar he had dodge that bullet and he would still have them in a few days anyway. But he was still in bad trouble or he would not be headed for the Captain's cabin. On the ride up the Sgt. seamed to be watching him, starring a hole through his forehead. Making him even more nervous as he tried his best not to shake or fidget.
Finely the silence got to Mark and he tried to ask the Sgt. How much trouble he was in? But when he opened his mouth only raspy squeaks came out. His throat felt raw like a power saw had been used on it. Embarrassed at the Sgt.’s brief smile at his attempt to talk, Mark grimaced. He felt like
crawling under something to hide as he starred at the wall.
The elevator passed a deck and he noticed several shadowy figures walking into the waiting car on the central platform compartment of that deck through the solid sidewalls of the two elevators. His mouth dropped open. The more he looked the more he could see as an elevator car full of people passed them going down. A snippet of conversation about a gal dating someone she was pissed at did not make sense but the fact that he could hear it made him smile as another elevator car fallowed close behind but with far too many people talking to make anything out until he concentrated on one girl. The snippet still did not make sense but he could understand what she said.
Curiosity overcame his shock and he started concentrating hard on details in his surroundings. Electrical lines and the propulsion motors sitting under each corner of the elevator cars complete with gear trains and controls and the wiring active and dead. It was obvious that he was seeing infrared hot spots and electrically induced magnetic fields as he thought about it but a lot of the details had to be from ships or manufacturers plans and schematics. He quickly found that if he concentrated too hard he would be flooded with way to much information to understand. Mark looked up just in time to see an empty car slide out over in front of them and head down the down elevator tube as they slid into it’s now empty spot at that decks elevator hatch. As the hatch opened Mark croaked. “Wow, what a rush.” He was suddenly too busy to worry about what punishment the Captain decided to dish out to him and why.
“Ya keep smiling moron!” The Sgt. said disgustedly. “You are about to be shit on big time and I am the one that will be doing it as soon as the Captain turns you over to me.”
Grabbing Mark by the scruff of his neck collar he dragged him down the passageway past a secretary sitting at a desk and into the Captain's cabin. “Mr. Collins; for your pleasure as ordered Captain.”
Mark’s friends Jolleen, Tom and all three sets of their parents, the ship's doctor Wells, the School superintendent that was in charge of the whole bus Zoo outing, Mrs. Hastings and several people that looked familiar but he did not know until their names appeared over their heads , were all staring at him. Then he spotted the Chief standing back in the corner stone faced. Here, probably because the Chief (as head of the Engine Rooms and Ship’s Maintenance), was his primary job supervisor. While the Flight Chief next to him was Marks second job supervisor and responsible for the flight Mark had piloted to the Zoo.
Looking back at the Engineering Chief, Mark shook his head sadly. Suddenly a flood of sympathy overwhelmed Mark as a tear came to his eyes. He wanted to go to the Chief and tell him what he had found out about his eyes. To apologize about all the things he had done to make his life harder without realizing it… Then the Captain jerked him back to reality.
“Mr. Mark Collins.” the Captain boomed. “I deliberately refused to let you take time off to go to this quack eye doctor to have your eyes replaced by implants. The problem was I could not stop you from going on your own time so I forced through a pilot's billet for you with the Chief and manufactured an outing to the Zoo we could ill afford. Just to keep you busy and preoccupied and what do you do?” The Captain starred at Mark as she shook her head. “Just what in Gods Star do you have to say for yourself boy?”
“You…Ahg. “Mark rasped several times in attempts to talk as the room came alive around him. The ship's hull slowly disappeared and the Space Port grew in panoramic detail beyond the large viewing ports in the hull. The Captain had a pitcher of water and glasses on the cupboard at the corner of the cabin next to the hull and one of the big ports. Going over Mark pored himself a glass as the hull seamed to open up to show him the pit far below as if the Star Queen’s hull was not there with the ships in the pits around them lite up with hundreds of work lights. He took a slow drink as he looked out over the port seeing details he could not believe. Turning around as someone coughed, the Captain‘s eyes big as gulf ball in disbelief as the contents of her pockets and desk drawers appeared. The blaster in the bottom drawer outlined in red. Mark stepped back away from the edge of the apparent drop off without thinking before walking back to put the Captain‘s desk between him and the edge of the deck again. In front of the Captain with the port stretched out right behind the Captain as he took another drink before sitting the glass down on the Captain’s desk as she stared at him wide eyed in disbelief.
The water seamed to help his throat. “You knew about me wanting implants, sir?” Mark whispered in a rasping voice because he could not think of anything else to say, as busy as he was trying not to see everything in and around the cabin. Then took another drink.
“Hell boy! The whole fucking ship knew about you and your god damn implants. Now tell me what happened. You hijack the ship’s bus to go out to this quack breaking every rule and order that was given to you. But did not get your stupid implants?”
His mind was still too shocked at everything he was seeing. To be scarred or even think that much about what to say so he said the first thing to come to his mind. “Ah Captain I am sorry to disagree with you but I had clearance to go to the Doctors. I filed an emergency amended flight plan from the Zoo. I fallowed ships protocols to the letter.” And then he could not believe he had been so blatant to the ship's Captain even before he was done saying the words.
“What the...” The Captain taped her desk’s computer screen then studied it for a few seconds. “You filed a Medical emergency flight plan and it was automatically approved by the computer. Why were no alarms set off when the emergency request came in? The duty officer should have been notified after the Ship’s A.I. authorized the emergency flight.” Looking away from the executive officer and back at Mark she continued. “That just means you filed a false report which is just as bad son.”
Starting to cringe he suddenly was not in front of the Ship’s Capitan but in front of one of the many bullies around the ship, waiting to get beat up and there was nothing he could say or do to stop it. Knowing he was dead meat, an inner calm seemed to take over. That he might as well have some fun since he couldn’t make it much worse and prove he wasn't scarred of them even though he felt like shitting his pants.
“Actually Captain.” Mark tried to stop himself but then said. “I made that appointment two weeks ago when we landed and started our refitting.” Shit! I am definitely dead meat. He thought to himself... “This was the last chance I would have for at least a year to get my eyes fixed and I had no choice but to file the emergency to make the appointment. For the good of the ship Captain. The book says that medical appointments deemed good for the ship at planet fall can be classed as emergencies for the sole purpose of attendance.”
“So now we have a crapper bulkhead lawyer here do we. Ok son, so tell me why did you not get your implants after going to all the trouble to get there?”
“Well sir.” Mark looked around the cabin trying to think of what to say and stopped on the Chief. “I. ah... I was shown what the Chief really sees and it made me ah…it made me sick. And then a box… Well, the Doctor showed me a pair of enhanced glasses I could get instead. And well. He made me a deal.”
“That was all it took was seeing reality son?” The Captain shook her head chuckling. “Why did some one here not think of that? Doctor Wells says your eyes have not been touched; but your ships bank account has been emptied. Tell me you did not spend the entire account on a pair of glasses. I don’t care how enhanced they are.” Turning to the ships Purser she continued. “John; get this young man's money back from that swindler before we lift. And as for you young man I…”
Mark interrupted the Captain. “No Captain. I got the glasses for free; well almost free.” Mark wanted to pee his pants for interrupting the Captain since he could now see the light at the end of the tunnel. Then in an attempt to get himself out of trouble. “I spent the money on new implants for the Chief.” He burst out before he could think but if the Chief did not get implants there was no possibility he could get them. So he pushed on in
desperation. “Implants that will allow the chief to see as good as new or real eyes. Ah; better in fact. It turns out that the Chiefs Implants where old cheap disposable temps for the dying.” Mark rattled on trying to get as much persuasion in as possible before someone said no. “The Doctor will come here to put them in, in a few days. The Chief will only be off work for a couple of hours if the old nerve grafts are good and only a couple of days if he has to graft new sockets in. With the new enhanced implants, the Chief will actually see better than anyone with normal eyes. Ah that is except maybe me when I get mi…. Ahh I had the doctor order the best implants my money could buy and with a 20 year warranty that….”
“What right do you have buying me new implants?” The Chief practically yelled as he stood up. “I am perfectly happy with the ones I have. They have served me fine for 20 years and I will be damned if some snot nosed orphan kid is going to replace them with equipment that we cannot maintain just because he does not have the sense to take care of himself or is feeling guilty.”
“My God Chief. You’re half blind and you know it." Mark was getting desperate as he saw the chance of getting his implants drop like a meteor. “These new implants will allow….”
“Screw your implants I can see just fine.”
“No you can’t.” Grabbing a magazine off the Captains desk he held it up with the cover facing the Chief. “Read this magazine title Chief. The big 2 inch tall headline print. I won‘t waste time asking you read even the medium sized words let alone the small print.” Mark moved it in a slow random circle.
The Chief looked at the magazine trying to fallow it. After squinting for a few seconds taping his temple, his face grew red and said. “Go screw your damn book! I don’t have to read your stupid small print book.”
“Captain.” Mark turned away from the Chief slapping the magazine down where he had gotten it. “We are headed for the outback and we will need the best every crew member can give the ship if we are going to survive let alone succeed and thrive. The Ship needs the Chief to be his best and for him to be his best he needs these new implants that will allow him to see better than his original eyes.”
Tramp Wars: The Enemy Page 21
