by George Deeb
“What was that?” asked Washington.
Smith looked over at this copilot and shook his head.
“I don't know.”
“It almost sounded like telemetry, but it could have just been noise.” said Washington. “It's gone now.”
“BACK IT UP!” said Smith, excitedly. “Half speed. Retrace our steps exactly. If it was a signal we should be able to catch it again.”
While Smith played with the receiver, Washington brought the Hornet to a stop. He programmed the flight computer to reverse their previous course. The ship pivoted around and began to accelerate.
“Should I notify moon base?” asked Washington.
“Not yet.” replied Smith. “Not until we're sure...” He stopped speaking when the comm became alive again.
Washington again brought the ship to a stop. The audio remained active.
“Can we trian...”
“Already doing it.” said Washington, cutting off the other man. “That is telemetry. Hold on. I want to try to – YES! Bio-data stream from a Ganaphe suit. ITS HER'S! She's alive!”
“What the hell?” shot back Smith.
“What?”
“I'm getting a radar return. There's something larger than a body out there. It's as big as a bus.”
“What have you got?” came the voice over the comm link. “This is Commander Travellor. Report.”
“This is Search-two. We've got her, sir. We found del Rio! We've got radar and telemetry, but the radar signal is strangely big. Transmitting our coordinates to the other search crews now. Heading towards the signal.”
Washington had already maneuvered the ship, and began moving to the radar return. That's when the telemetry stopped.
“Search-two. We are no longer receiving telemetry relay.” said Travellor.
Smith looked down at his comm receivers. The signal was gone. He thumped the panel with his fist, but nothing happened. The radar return remained on the screen.
“Moon base, Search-two. Telemetry has stopped, but we still have a radar return.”
“Proceed with caution.” said Travellor. “If she's floating around out there she has no protection. Without her telemetry you won't know where she is.”
“Understood.” said Smith. “Are the Ganaphe' shuttles on their way? Wait a minute... We've got telemetry again!”
“GOT 'ER!” yelled Washington. “Programming flight computer for her location.”
“Search-two, this is Search-four. Heading to your location.” came a voice over the comm.
“Search-one also on the way.”
“Search-three heading to your location.”
“Search-one, three, and four. Do not overtake Search-two. Stay behind her until we have visual contact.” instructed Travellor. Now that they had found del Rio, he didn't want one of the ships accidentally running into her.
“Commander Travellor, this is Doctor Krather. Del Rio's bio-data indicates serious multiple injuries. Med bay is ready to receive her. You have to get her here as fast as possible.”
“Understood Doctor Krather. Search teams, did you copy the doctor?”
“Affirmative.”
“Copied.”
“Understood.”
“Commander Travellor, this is Search-four. We have visual contact with Search-two. We can retrieve Specialist del Rio when Search-two finds her.”
“Search-two copies Search-four. Glad your with us.”
“Search-one has a visual on two and four.”
“This is Search-three. We have visual contact with the other ships.”
“Lost telemetry again.” said Washington.
“Radar return is solid.” said Smith. “We're getting close. Reducing speed.”
“Search-two, Travellor. Can you see anything yet?”
“Not yet sir, but we should be seeing something soon. Whatever the radar is picking up is not small. Definitely larger than a person.”
“We've got telemetry again. What the hell? All search teams, I show telemetry and radar return coming from same location.” said Washington.
“This is Search-four. We have visual on object ahead of us. Sending coordinates. Object appears to be rectangular and relatively flat. It is rotating.”
“This is Travellor. Search-four take lead on search. Search-two, fall behind Search-four.”
“Search-two falling back. Ready to assist.”
“Commander Travellor, this is Search-four. We have visual contact on Specialist del Rio. She appears to be attached to the rotating object. We are accelerating towards her. Transmitting video link now.”
In the communications center one of the monitors on the wall came on showing video from the front mounted camera of the Ganaphe' shuttle.
“Search-two sending secondary video.” came the voice over the speakers.
A second monitor came alive, showing the viewpoint of the ship behind the Ganaphe' shuttle. The room was crowded now. Travellor saw that Doctor Krather was in the room, as was Grilik Munen, Mersuul, Benua Plessa, and various other personnel from both the Ganaphe' crew and his own people. Their eyes locked onto the monitors. A third monitor came on as another of the search teams arrived on the scene and began transmitting video.
The first monitor showed a close view of the lost access door that had been blown off. It was slowly rotating as it traveled away from the moon. Flattened against it was the form of Technical Specialist Dolores del Rio. She wasn't moving. Travellor thought he could see an indented outline of her body on the door, and he wondered how she could still be alive.
“Medical bay, this is Krather. Are you still receiving telemetry from del Rio?” asked Krather, speaking into her comm badge in a low voice.
“Affirmative, doctor.”
“Send the instrument readouts to the communications center, please.”
“Will do.”
A few seconds later the medical instrument readouts were being displayed on another monitor in the room. Travellor motioned for the doctor to move over to him, and she worked her way through the crowd.
“I can tell she has a pulse, and it seems regular, but I don't understand the other readings.” said Travellor.
“Her blood pressure is dangerously low, and her pulse is slow. Her heart is struggling to pump blood. She's in bad shape. We need to get her back here ASAP.”
“Will she live?”
“You get her to me in time, and I'll keep her alive. HURRY!” she said, and then tapped on her comm badge again. “Surgical team to the operating room. Report any no-shows. Brenda – go wake up doctors Gamala and Dierker. I'll need their help.”
“On my way.” replied a female voice.
“How quickly can you get her here?” Krather asked Travellor, as they watched the door of the Ganaphe' shuttle open to space.
“No more than ten minutes after they get her aboard the shuttle. Stick around doctor. There are no medical personnel on any of those ships. You may need to make an assessment for them.”
“I already have.” she said, as she leaned towards Jibble Delfin. “Can you patch my comm badge to the ships?”
“Yes mam.” he said as he began throwing switches and touching the screen of his console. “You're connected.”
“Search team four, this is Doctor Krather.”
“Doctor Krather, this is Intul Califas piloting search-four.”
Krather pictured Califas in her mind. She had treated him a few days ago for broken bones in his hand. He was second in command of the Orysta, but he had a habit of getting involved with the work of the mining engineers – which meant he got injured like the mining engineers. As thanks for treating him, he shared his last bottle of Ganaphe' wine with her at dinner. Ganaphe' beverages were very rare on the Orysta these days – it was a very nice gesture.
“Intul, I need you to put specialist del Rio in a medical straight jacket before moving her. Then I need to get her back to the Orysta as fast as possible.”
“We will do as you say, doctor. Is there anything els
e?”
“Nothing for now. I'll be waiting for her in medical.”
“Straight jacket?” asked Travellor.
“It's a device that encapsulates a person in a rigid energy field, and completely immobilizes them. We gave it that name, not the Ganaphe'. Intul knows what I mean. It will protect del Rio from further injury while being moved. God, I wish we had them on Earth. I wish we had all the Ganaphe' technology on Earth!” she said.
“We're working on it, doctor.” mumbled Travellor. “We're working on it.”
“That probably saved her life,” Krather said, “being plastered to the door. It kept her body from moving and causing more damage.”
They watched as two men left the Ganaphe' shuttle. One of them had a long, flat metallic object in hand. As the men moved from the open shuttle door to the motionless form, Travellor couldn't help but notice that there was no obvious form of propulsion moving the men through space. This was one of the technological details the Ganaphe' were not allowed to explain. Travellor had his suspicions, and had talked to 361 physicists on Earth about it. They couldn't come up with any explanations, but Travellor suspected that it was connected to some of their other capabilities – the same capabilities he could feel on the bottom of his feet as he stood there.
It didn't take long for them to reach del Rio. The metallic board was placed lengthwise on her, and then they moved away slightly. Del Rio's form shimmered for a second, and then the men picked her up, one on each side. Her body didn't change position at all, like she was frozen stiff. They moved towards the shuttle.
“We have del Rio. We will proceed to the base at maximum speed.” came a voice over the comm.
“That's my cue.” said Krather to Travellor. She tapped her comm badge. “Med bay, this is Krather. Our patient is on the way. I'm heading to you now.” she said as she walked away.
“Prepared and ready.” came the reply.
Travellor watched as the rescue team entered Search-four, and the door closed. The video on the first screen went blank. The video feed from Search-two showed the Ganaphe' shuttle pivoting in place, and accelerating out of view. It would only take them a few minutes to get back and land in Orysta's shuttle bay.
“Search-two – Travellor. Can you tie a rope onto the door and drag it back here? We might be able to learn something from it.”
“Affirmative, Commander. A magnetic grapple should hold onto it.”
“Good. See you when you get back. Very good work, all of you. Travellor out.”
As he turned to leave the room he caught his reflection in the window, and noticed that he seemed to have a lot more gray hairs.
“Good work, Jibble.” he said to Delfin, putting a hand on his shoulder as he went by.
“Thank you Commander.”
6
Farber-Chatwell and Doctor Toisae Blin listened to the figures of Doctor Krather and Anthony Travellor on the video screen in front of them.
“She had a fractured skull with swelling of the brain, seventy-six broken bones, injury to her spleen, kidneys, and liver. Fluid had built up in her lungs, and she had an uncountable amount of ruptured blood vessels. She almost bled to death internally. The list goes on but that gives you an overall picture of her condition.” came the voice of Doctor Krather over the video link. “If it wasn't for the Ganaphe's medical technology she would be dead. Instead she is on the way to healing. Her prognosis is good. She may come out of this with a few minor external scars at most. There may be a long rehabilitation period to overcome some brain damage, but she probably will not lose any mental or physical functionality.”
“When can she be brought back to Earth?” asked Farber-Chatwell.
“We won't be sending her back until after she regains consciousness.” said Travellor, as he watched doctor Blin nod in agreement. “Doctor Blin can explain the details to you sir, but it turns out that by keeping del Rio in a zero gravity room it helps the brain heal faster, and for the relatively short period expected it will have no detrimental effect on her physically.”
“That's excellent news.” said Farber-Chatwell. “Have we determined what caused the explosion?”
“Right now it looks like we had a build up of volatile gas from a leaky compressed gas tank cylinder valve. The gas was lighter than air, so it accumulated at the ceiling above everyone's heads. That section of the base was still under construction so there were no sensors in the area. No one smelled anything until just before the explosion. Should have a final report in a few days.”
“That was excellent work Doctor Krather.” said Blin to her colleague. “No equipment or technology could have saved that girl without your expertise to make use of it.”
“Thank you Doctor Blin.” replied Krather.
“I second that.” said Farber-Chatwell. “Excellent work doctor.”
“Thank you Sir.”
“I'd like you and the Commander to catch the next shuttle to the planet so that I can thank you both personally.”
Travellor started to object but was cut off by Farber-Chatwell.
“No, Commander. No. I know you're busy, and you feel like you have to be on location at this time, but I want you down here. I want you to meet a very important person. He's my counterpart in 361. If anything happened to me he would be the person taking over the operation. He's read every report that's come from moon base, and knows the details of the operation intimately. It's time you both met... and frankly Tony, you look like crap! I'm ordering you to take the next forty-eight hours off duty. Put someone you trust in command there. You and Doctor Krather will be having dinner with myself and Doctor Blin tomorrow night. Doctor Blin is worried you've been overworking yourself, and she wants to have a look at you.”
The last part of his statement was an obvious pretext. They all knew it was. Travellor and Doctor Krather saw Blin's eye widen when she heard Farber-Chatwell say it, but she didn't remark on it.
“That forty-eight starts at this moment, Commander. When we finish our conversation, your next action will be to put your second in command of the base, and then go find a good book or something. Doctor Krather, it will be your responsibility to see that he does so.”
“Yes sir.” said Krather, looking a little nervous about possibly telling the base commander how to spend his time.
“Alright.” said Travellor. “I'll take some down time. I look forward to having dinner with you and Toisae. There are some B movies on the Sci-Fi channel I've been meaning to watch. I love old sci-fi movies. I'm sure I can find one about space aliens taking over Earth's moon.” he said smiling.
“What is a bee movie?” Blin asked Farber-Chatwell, who chuckled at her question.
“It's a cheaply or badly made movie. Some of them can be very funny if you have the right sense of humor.”
“But we have many good movies on the base. Why would you watch one that is not good?” she asked, looking at Travellor.
“It's a cultural thing.” replied Travellor, with a smile. “An acquired taste. I'll try to explain it to you at dinner.”
“Clock's ticking Commander, and you're off it for the next forty-eight.” said Farber-Chatwell.
Travellor sighed. He actually could use a short break, and he had several people who could handle the command position while he was away. Two days. He could give two different people a taste of the job, one day each. Their names came right to mind – Delgadillo and Vargas. He could – no – he WOULD take the time to visit his niece. He missed her, and Skyping wasn't a substitute for giving her a long hug. He had time coming. Maybe he'd take four or five days off and give Delgadillo and Vargas a real taste of the job. 'The hell with it.' he thought. He was going to take a full week. Delgadillo hated paper work, and the base commander's job had a lot of it. Travellor chuckled at the thought of her reaction. She wasn't going to be happy.
7
“Aiiieeeeeee!”
The seven hundred and sixty-seven mile per hour ear piercing sound hit Travellor's eardrums, making them them fe
el close to bursting. In another few seconds he was wrapped in arms and legs, and he couldn't keep from laughing.
“YOU'RE HERE - YOU'RE HERE - YOU'RE HERE !”
He responded to his niece's full body hug by wrapping his arms around her, and kissing her on the cheek. She was growing so fast, but he didn't have any problem carrying her. This was so much better than just seeing her face on a video link.
“Yes I am, sweetie. I've taken three weeks off, and I'm going to spend it all with you.”
