by Jim Rudnick
And he waited, and after a while, he thought it was lunchtime as he heard someone down the corridor handling trays and clanging them as they were passed to other prisoners, but still no guard for him. He yelled down to whoever was down there but received no answers.
So he waited.
After several more hours, he looked up, and standing at the cell door was another guard who was unlocking the cell door. After the door was open, two more came into the cell and applied handcuffs to his hands, which made his right arm twist too much, so they added another set of cuffs to allow some slack in the grip of each arm, and he thanked them for that.
Marching down the corridor to the end of the hallway, he was led out a side corridor instead of the same major corridor that had been used to take him to court a couple of days ago. Heading out of that corridor, they all walked in step almost, and reaching a turn to the right, they slowed and a door ahead opened for them. Down a few steps, Tanner went, and two guards stepped up beside him, each taking an arm in their grasp. As they went across the parking lot toward a police pod, they stopped only for a moment for one of the leading guards to accept a package from a clerk. Then all five of them boarded the pod, and Tanner was seated in the back row of seats, the two guards now sitting beside him.
As the pod moved out from the secure lot, they went through a large gate that opened for them, and the pod driver took them down a side street toward the main freeway that ran through the middle of Neres City. Traffic in the mid-afternoon seemed light, as they settled in the slowest lane, and few cars or other pods went by them.
Above them, the city towers were bright, lit by the afternoon sun. Made to be mostly glass sided, they reflected much of the light back to the streets, which often created shining shimmers along the freeway, but today the pod sailed right through. Along the sides of the freeway, especially on the right side, Tanner saw large green grassy parks. And once in a while, he could see playgrounds with swings in the parks and children playing with each other.
The pod made good time down to the naval base, and it entered via the drive-through gates and went down the length of the base to the large landing pads at the south end. There was a shuttle they were aiming at, and the pod pulled up close to it.
"Let's go, Captain," one of the guards said, and they again took his arms to get him on the shuttle and into his seat.
"I know how to do this, fellows," he said and received a nod from one of the guards.
"Yeah, but you're crazy, right?" was the answer, and Tanner had a feeling the guard thought that might actually be true.
Moments later, the pod was sealed, and it lifted off to go up to the Hospital Ship. The pilot appeared to want to make good time as the shuttle rocketed up to low orbit over Neres.
The shuttle entered the landing port, and then as the force field snapped up behind it, it set down on the landing deck.
Moments later, Tanner was standing off the shuttle as a tall man in a white lab coat, tablet in hand, came over to meet the party.
"Um ... and this is ..." he said as his fingers were scrolling data on the tablet.
"Captain Tanner Scott, up for his ninety days in the rubber room," the guard to Tanner's left said and smiled at the lab coat.
"That is the kind of language that we here consider to be offensive, Officer," the man said and looked at the guard with a degree of hostility.
"This secure area is called the Psychiatric Ward, and that is all it's ever called," he said fiercely.
And he waited. He did nothing but stare at that guard.
The guard looked at Tanner then at the rest of the group of guards, and then he shrugged.
"Sorry ... just trying to be light in tone," he said and held out the package of papers to the man.
"Light in tone, Doctor," the man said and waited.
"Sorry ... yeah, Doctor," the guard said.
"Fine, I take it this is the file on this patient," the doctor said as he took the proffered package.
"Take those cuffs off now," he added and the guards took them all off quickly.
"You're dismissed," the doctor added, touched Tanner on the arm, and then walked off towards a far doorway.
No cuffs, no bullshit—I like this guy, Tanner thought and he followed along.
There were a couple of other Neres Navy shuttles off to one side, as well as an Alex'n shuttle with its typical sphere shape and farther away, a Duchy shuttle too. He wondered what a Duchy shuttle would be doing on the Hospital Ship, but he didn't get to ask as they had reached the door. Waiting for them were a couple more people in white but this time in simple scrubs.
The doctor nodded to them and then half-turned to introduce his new patient.
"Captain Scott—this is Doctor Samuel Etter, your psychiatrist, and this is the one of us that you'll soon learn runs the ship, Nurse Practitioner Madison Harvey—we just call her Maddie," he said as he smiled and all of them took turns to shake his hand.
"And you, Doctor, are ..." Tanner said as he looked at him.
"I am your GP—your general practitioner, Dr. Craig Nelson. I'm the one who in about a half hour will be cutting off that damn arm cast and getting you into a robo-doc for a quick fix of that ulna—the broken bone in your forearm," he said. Not quite as tall as me, Tanner thought, but about my age, glasses, thinning sandy-colored hair, shirt and tie below the lab coat, and a smile still on his face. This is the guy who'd be looking after the body—and the psychiatrist beside him, one Dr. Etter would be stirring things up in my brain. How much fun that will be remains to be seen, Tanner thought as the woman beside him took him by his left arm and said, "You're mine for a while, Captain," and without any further ado, she led him out of the loading dock and down a corridor stretching toward the center of the ship.
"You can just call me Maddie—everyone does," she said as she led their way down the corridor that was a bit cluttered and an amazing shade of azure blue.
Along one side lay dollies that held bins that held God knew what, and if his eyes didn't lie, there were dozens and dozens of dollies. After the string of those dollies, there were large cabinets of some kind, each painted the same bright neon yellow color and each taller than Tanner.
Maddie kept up a running one-sided conversation.
"The Hospital Ship—like it's a ship anymore," she said, "has over 6,000 beds in all, with all nine—rather ten of our own Barony species too. Mostly we're human, but we, of course, have Tarvos pods, Zadra pods, and yes, the new Throth pod too. We treat all our Barony realm planets' native species—plus we also treat all of our armed forces troops too—ex-Duchy citizens, ex-Caliphate citizens—all of them we treat here."
As they moved along, occasionally they went by a set of doors that were closed, but after a few more yards, they came to a major cross-corridor.
Across the way, was a huge area that had one of those moving sidewalks running down the middle of the space. On it were many people in scrubs, some moving patients on gurneys and some carrying files or tablets. As he looked to his left, the sliding walkway disappearing off into the distance surprised Tanner, as he had no idea of the size of the ship. Back in the direction the walkway came from, it too stretched off in the distance as well. Huge viewports that held the blackness of space with a handful of stars that was the usual RIM scenery were above him.
"Look down," Maddie said, pointing out the colored tiles coming out of the same corridor they'd just traveled.
"See the blue? Our corridor—the only corridor off this center part of the ship that is blue? That blue line goes everywhere on this deck level. Find it and follow it, and you'll eventually get to the landing port. Or, as we now have to go to your quarters, they're colored orange. Can you find your quarters?" she said.
Tanner wondered if this was some kind of a test, to see if he was loco, and he cocked his head at her.
"Not my job—I know exactly what you're thinking, and all I gotta do is show you your quarters and get you down to the clinic for Dr. Nelson. Orange," she sa
id and stood off to one side.
Tanner looked down at the floor and its multi-colored tiles stretching off in both directions and said, "Follow me."
He followed the orange tiles as they went to his left and followed the clockwise moving walkway. The same pattern was mirrored right next to the walkway, and he stepped on it and was followed silently by Maddie. The walkway moved at a steady pace but not much faster than a man with purpose could stride, and he looked ahead monitoring the orange tiles. Ahead of him, the orange line moved away at ninety degrees from the edge of the walkway, and he stepped off and followed the orange line up to an escalator that went up and down.
He looked at his nurse practitioner and raised an eyebrow.
"Up" was all she said.
He nodded and took the stairs going up, and they moved up one level. She shook her head. They went up another and another and then one more.
"This one's ours," she said and then turned back toward the outer side of the ship. She led the way down a long corridor with rooms with both open and closed doors. Some held hospital beds with patients, others held nurses' stations, and one even had a small shop with books, magazines, and snacks to buy. About three-quarters of the way down the corridor, she stopped and swiped a card she had taken from her pocket and the door opened.
"This one is yours—please note the number over the doorframe," and Tanner read the E-217 number and knew that'd be home for a few months.
She entered and said, "The Psychiatric Ward AI knows that this one is yours, so the secure panel will let you in or lock up after you too. Standard patient room—you didn't need a hospital bed or a patient panel with O2 and vital recordings. Just a plain room, private bath off to the side and that's it. Clothing is in the closet—new white patient duds is all. No uniforms allowed, Captain," she said and he nodded.
"Five minutes to get yourself changed and cleaned up a bit—I'll meet you back down on A deck—that's the central circular deck that the walkway is on and serves as the major transport area for the ship. Well, to be more correct, the center of the Barony pod. On other pods, it's the same layout, but they tend to name things their own way. Five minutes, Captain," she said and she was gone.
In the bathroom, he stripped off the now tattered and frayed remnants of his Navy uniform and took a thirty-second shower. He dressed quickly into the plain white T-shirt and trousers, put on the white sneakers, and then looked in the mirror.
About six months 'til my fortieth birthday, and I'm in the rubber room while they look me over. He grabbed up the damp towel and mopped his hair one more time, combing it with the fingers of his left hand and then grinning.
Ready, willing, and able—and now to get rid of this cast.
He ignored the drip of water that had gotten in the elbow end of the cast. Getting it taken off in the next hour was a good thing—and then the itch grew worse. He went back to the closet as he'd seen hangers hanging there when he'd gotten the whites to wear, and he pulled down a cheap wire hanger.
Undoing the twisted end, he bent and slowly straightened one side into a long, very skinny wire, and with his left hand, he carefully inserted that end up into the cast beginning at his wrist. He twisted and pushed and twisted and pushed trying to get it up about halfway and—and yes, that was the spot. He pushed and pulled it back and forth easing the itch and then he smiled.
How crazy can one be if you can solve an issue like that, he wondered.
Sighing, he slowly yanked out the hanger, leaving it on the bathroom counter, and he left the room and went out to the escalator to go down to meet Maddie. Time to get this damn cast fixed once and for all ...
####
Up on Deck C, near the far left end of the main corridor, the CPR Cafe was busy today for lunch. Known for having the best food on the Hospital Ship was one thing—but finding room for everyone in an hour or two was another matter. It was owned by an ex-patient, Nathan Ward reminded himself, but that meant doctors got the best seats and tables.
Us, he thought, we research types generally get put at the big communal table and have to sit with and among others.
"Heard enough about the latest vids, the latest tunes, and the latest gossip for a lifetime," he said to himself, "but the food was so good, it was a small price to pay." He nodded to the wave of the hostess who nodded back and said, "Big table for one," to him, and then she turned to the people behind him in the lineup to ask, "For how many?"
He made his way past the deuces and four-tops and the few larger tables that were all full of patrons in scrubs and lab coats and even a military uniform or two as well. He had to pause to let a server go by who had a huge tray of Pad Thai—six steaming plates with those big peanuts and sprouts laid out on top. He smiled. Pad Thai here was excellent; he hoped the cooks had made a lot of the daily special.
At last, he was at the big table, which seated almost twenty diners, and he looked for a row of three seats so he could take the middle one and have an empty seat as a buffer between him and anyone else at the table. No luck, but down at the far end, there was a single seat left empty. “And oh—it was that Navy girl,” he said to himself and smiled. He moved down the long row of diners facing the banquette seats, and at the last one, he stopped. He squeezed his touchstone casino chip. Hey, good luck charm don't fail me now.
Looking down at the woman, he smiled and gently tapped her on her left shoulder.
"Would this seat be free, I wonder?" he said as he smiled down at her, turning on his charm.
She looked up, putting a hand over her mouth as she continued to chew, and nodded to him. The Pad Thai on her plate was too good, he knew, for her to stop eating and speak to him.
He nodded to her, slid in beside her, and picked up the menu. She slid her chair over an inch or two to give him some space. She finished chewing, leaned back a bit, and said, "Try the Pad Thai ... it is so good here!" Her voice was delightful.
As he acknowledged her suggestion with a "thanks," he noted she had blonde hair, was about thirty years old or so, and judging by her uniform, a lieutenant in the Barony Navy. Don't know enough about the various badges and ribbons that appear on display on her chest either, but the chest itself is nice enough to glance at. Her smile was bright and her no-makeup look was refreshing too. He waited for his chance to interrupt her, and when she put down the fork to pick up her large glass of some kind of a blue juice, he cleared his throat and smiled at her.
"I wonder, Lieutenant, if I could ask something a bit unusual?" he asked, and his voice was low so she'd get the impression he was trying to ask something unusual.
She tilted her head to one side and slowly put down the plas-glas. She nodded and waited.
He looked across the table at the other diners, who were close but paying no attention, leaned toward her a bit, and said very quietly, "Does the Pad Thai always come with peanuts?" He smiled even more, and his eyes sparkled as they crinkled up. He burst right out into a full laugh.
She stared at him frozen for a full second. She clapped him on the arm and burst right out into a full-on laugh!
His attempt at humor had somehow worked. Who said research scientists were boring? he wondered, as he laughed right along with her.
When they settled down, he smiled once more and held out his hand to introduce himself.
"Research Associate Nathan Ward—nice to meet you," he said and as she shook his hand, she nodded back.
"Lieutenant Nancy Irving, Barony Navy officer, on the Atlas. Currently here with ear issues," she said.
"I said, I'm Nathan Ward," he said much louder, and they both smiled again, as she picked up her fork.
"Listen, Lieutenant, don't delay, dig right in and—" He stopped as a server had appeared behind her and held up her pad with a look on her face that said, "What do you want?”
He touched the lieutenant on the arm with a single finger to show he was pausing and looked behind her.
"If the special is the Pad Thai, I'll take it. If it's not, I still want Pad Thai. If th
ere is no more, then I'll wait 'til there is some, and some of that blue juice stuff too."
The server nodded and said, "There's lots left, always a big lunchtime seller, eh?" She moved away to put his order in.
The lieutenant looked down at his forefinger that pressed down on her forearm, and he quickly took it off.
"Sorry, I just meant to say that, yes, when my own comes, you'll have to do the talking. Okay?"
She nodded as she placed another forkful of noodles and sprouts into her mouth. Chewing slowly, her eyes narrowed a bit as she looked at him, and then moments later she drank more of that blue juice.
He toyed with his fork, and the server placed his drink between them He spent the next few minutes talking about nothing really. The latest big 3D movie he'd seen up in the theater was a topic, but he honestly couldn't even think of who had been in it. Don't follow the vid world, he added and hoped not knowing the stars of the big movie of the month wouldn't label him as too much of a science geek. He went on about other things like the new Throth ward that was under construction and the scuttlebutt that there were cost over-runs already. He was just trying to fill up some time, and before he knew it, she dropped her fork on her plate and pushed it away from her. She nursed her juice for a moment and then looked at him as the server dropped his heaping plate of Pad Thai in front of him and he picked up his fork.
While he dug into his lunch, he remembered to take smaller forkfuls than he'd do if he wasn't sitting beside such a desirable woman, and he found a chance almost all the time to quickly swallow so he wouldn't talk with a mouth full of food. He kept up his end of the conversation and was glad to know she too hadn't known who starred in that vid movie. She shared that the scuttlebutt on the Throth ward was that it was so dang expensive because they were all children who needed top pediatric healthcare staff. More than 9,000 of them, she had said, and that was surprising until he remembered these children had all been asleep for more than 1,600 years. Geriatric doctors may have been a better choice he offered, and they smiled and chuckled again.
