Of Blood and Angels (The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 3)

by J. Naomi Ay

  Katie came back to space sporting a new stripe on her sleeve, a huge rock on her finger and a new last name but if anybody thought she was going to go easy on them because of that, they were wrong. Katie had zero tolerance for screw ups and anyone working under her command had to be on the top of their game.

  On the plus side though, Dr. Ron came aboard our ship fairly often. He had bucket loads of money and flying off for a day or two to whatever Spacebase we happened to be fueling or stocking at was nothing to him. He'd come aboard with the rest of our supplies and because Katie was obsessive about her duty time, he would often have plenty of extra time to hang around sickbay checking out all his wonderful equipment.

  Jerry and I had loads of advice on how to change this or reprogram that and often he would sit right there and rebuild a tool or reprogram a device just to see if we would like it better this way or that. If we were really in a jam, patient-wise I mean, he would help out even though he wasn't licensed for deep space. He and Jerry came to an understanding of sorts and while I wouldn't call them friends, I could say they worked as amiable colleagues sometimes. Other times, well, if I could hide under a gurney or in the closet I certainly would have.

  As for me, I loved every minute in Ron's presence. He was like this giant truffle or chocolate cake and I was happy just to stand there staring at him and drooling. If I couldn't touch and there was no way I could, I was content just to see him and smell him. I didn’t know if he ever realized how I felt. I think he did because for a while there, whenever he came aboard, he brought me a box of truffles or a piece of chocolate cake. To Jerry he brought a new caliper or microdevice or the latest SdK unreleased gadget of the week. And to Katie, he brought roses, dozens and dozens of white roses.

  Jerry, Geoffrey, Lynne and I were heading to the pub for dinner, passing the windows along the observation deck. We had finished unpacking all the new boxes of supplies and Geoffrey had restocked the storage room. We had only one patient in the bay at that moment and VJ was watching him.

  “Oh, let's watch for a minute,” Lynne said as we pulled away from the Spacebase. She had only been on board for one cruise and was still excited to see things like this. “It's so beautiful, all those lights blinking at us as we drift away.”

  “As we sail away,” Jerry sang off key. “Through the shining sea…”

  “Please, Jerry,” I moaned as Katie's voice came over the com system.

  “Attention all hands,” she announced. “In approximately twenty minutes at 1830, the ship's security personnel will be performing a lock down drill. This drill is only for security personnel; all other crew and passengers may continue their normal activities. The drill will begin at 1830 with three long blasts on the ship's alarm system. The drill will cease at approximately 1840 with three short blasts on the ship's alarm system. Please stay clear of all lock down doorways during this drill. Bridge out.”

  “We better get over to the pub before they lock us in here,” Jerry said.

  “Heaven forbid we have to stand here for an extra ten minutes without a drink in our hands,” I replied.

  “Where are we heading to anyway?” Geoffrey asked.

  “The pub on deck 18,” Jerry reiterated.

  “No, I mean the ship.”

  “Who knows?” I shrugged. “This sector or that sector. This base or that planet. What difference does it make? They all look the same.”

  “Do we ever have any excitement on these cruises?” Geoffrey asked as we headed toward the lift. It was his second cruise too. “Or are they all as boring as the last one?”

  “You should hope you get no excitement,” Jerry lectured. “Excitement for us means sick and dying people.”

  “Or gun fights or damage to the ship,” I added. “Like the time Katie was kidnapped by the Rehnorians.”

  “Or the time the engineering console fell on her head and half of the engineering deck was destroyed,” Jerry nodded.

  “Do you ever have any excitement on this ship that doesn't involve Cmdr. Katie?” Geoffrey smirked.

  Jerry and I looked at each other.

  “Nope.”

  About this time, we walked into the pub. I scanned the place for a booth and spied Dr. Ron sitting all by himself, typing away on his netbook with a beer and a lit cigarette beside him. Two of the barmaids were standing next to his table, probably trying to chat him up.

  “Look Jerry,” I pointed, “did you know he was aboard?”

  “I didn't,” Jerry frowned. “Nice of him to check in with us.” Jerry strode over to Ron’s table and waved the girls off, sitting down instead. The rest of us followed.

  Ron looked up at us with a blank expression.

  “You busy?” Jerry asked and waved for a barmaid to bring him a beer.

  “Yes,” Ron replied. “Quite.”

  “When did y’all get aboard?” I sat down in the booth next him while Geoffrey and Lynne tried to scoot in by Jerry.

  Dr. Ron turned back to his netbook without answering me.

  “Busy means he doesn't have time to talk to us, I guess,” Jerry said a little snippily. “Must be tough having to run such a big company and be the galaxy's best brain surgeon, all at the same time.”

  “Why don't I go find us another table,” I suggested. “Obviously Dr. Ron doesn't want any company right now. You don't have any idea what he's working on Jerry, so don't you go trying to pass judgment.”

  “I'm not passing any judgments,” Jerry replied, taking a long gulp on his bottle of beer. He waved for the girl to bring him another. “I'm just saying, I don't know what the hell he's doing here if he's so busy. Don't you have an office of your own that you could be working in that's more convenient than here?”

  “Well maybe he just wants to have a visit with his wife at the same time,” I cried. “Jerry you sound to me like you've had one too many drinks and as far as I can tell you've only had just one.”

  “Would you please take your conversation elsewhere,” Dr. Ron said and flicked at us with his fingers.

  “Sure, okay, Ron.” Jerry stood up. “Sorry to be bothering you. Hey Caroline, did I ever tell you how I found out about him?” He pointed his thumb at Ron. I rolled my eyes. I had already heard this.

  “How?” Lynne asked with excitement on account of she never heard this before.

  “Well,” Jerry said, drawing it out. “Katie sent me a text. Sorry Jerry, I can't marry you. I'm already married to Ron.”

  “Jerry!” I scolded when all of a sudden there was a horrific thumping noise and the ship lurched to the side.

  “What the hell was that?” Geoffrey and Lynne bolted to their feet and grabbed each other.

  “Did we hit something?” Lynne cried as the alarm claxon started to make a whole bunch of noise. A voice announced that fire and damage assessment teams needed to go the starboard propulsion center on Deck 17. Jerry and I looked at each other and tried to decide if we ought to panic or not. Katie's voice came over the com.

  “Attention all hands.” She sounded very calm, so Jerry drank the rest of his beer and I had a sip of the Strawberry Daiquiri that had arrived in the meantime. The music in the pub stopped as Katie continued speaking. “One of the hazards of space travel at post light speeds is on occasion, we find ourselves passing through an asteroid field. Unfortunately, this time we managed to hit a few of those asteroids and as a result, we have lost our starboard propulsion system. We are currently evaluating the damage and I will update you as soon as we have an idea what we are dealing with. All hands on duty, please stay at your duty stations until otherwise notified. All hands off duty, please stay at your call stations until otherwise notified. All passengers and non-crew personnel please return to your cabins until otherwise notified. The security drill has been cancelled. Bridge out.”

  The lights in the pub turned up bright and the bar maids started to clean up. Dr. Ron snapped shut his netbook and drained his beer.

  “What does this mean?” Lynne looked at me with a terrified face.
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  “It means we're going to limp into a Spacebase that has drydock and you can either go back to the bay and sign in for duty again or stay in your cabin with your cell on in case we need to call you back.” I took one last sip of my Daiquiri and stood up to let Ron out.

  “Doesn't sound like anyone was hurt,” Jerry mumbled into his beer mug. “Probably won't need you. Go home.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “But we will get our share of space chickens. Bunch of folks will be scared and start having all sorts of symptoms all in their heads.”

  “I think I'd rather stay on duty in the bay,” Lynne said.

  “Me too,” Geoffrey nodded. “Come on, I'll walk you back there.”

  “Well, I'm going to take the night off.” Jerry stood up and stretched. His cell chirped.

  “Jerry, we need a medical team down on Deck 17 in the tube to starboard propulsion.” It was Katie speaking quickly. “We've got at least three crew stuck in the tube. Hurry, please.”

  “On my way,” Jerry replied and pointed at me to get my ass going too. I ran back to the bay for the emergency medical kits, yelled to Geoff to bring three gurneys and then headed down to Deck 17.

  The tube was basically a long narrow hallway that ran from the body of the ship to the propulsion chamber on either side of the hull. Apparently, when we hit the asteroid, the starboard one broke off and took with it at least two crew. Three other crew were in the tube which had monitoring stations at various points. When the chamber broke off, an emergency airlock door shut on either side, and right now, four crew were in the process of cutting the hull side door back open.

  “It appears that about fifty feet down the length of the tube just past Station 2, the tube is crushed,” Katie was telling the rescue team. “We have an indication of three crew in that area, possibly trapped by debris. As soon as we get the airlock open, we'll know better.”

  I went to stand by Jerry and handed him his kit. Dr. Ron was on his other side. Katie finished her speech and came over to join us.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked Ron.

  “You have a man in there with a skull fracture and a deep tissue injury,” he replied.

  “We do?” Jerry said. “How do you know that?”

  “What else do we have in there?” Katie pulled Ron towards the hallway. The crew was trying to open the door with old fashion tools that did not emit sparks just in case there was a gas leak. It was taking a long time and making a lot of noise. Jerry and I followed Katie outside.

  “Two others like you said,” Ron replied. “There is a spinal injury which will need to be immobilized before transport. The other one…I do not know what is wrong with the other one. He may be dead.”

  “I've got a pulse on my monitor,” Jerry said and showed us his scanner.

  “Brain dead,” Ron replied and his brow furrowed. “Maybe. No, not yet. I don't know.”

  “How do you know any of this?” Jerry demanded. “You got your own monitor in your head or something?”

  “What about the others?” Katie prodded, ignoring Jerry’s question. “Did we lose two with the chamber?”

  Ron nodded. “Sorry.”

  “Damn,” Katie moaned and put her hand on his arm.

  “Sorry,” Ron said again.

  Katie looked at him strangely.

  “You didn't do this, did you?”

  He looked taken aback.

  “Sorry!” she said quickly. “You just keep apologizing.”

  “I am sorry I cannot save your crew for you,” he replied haughtily and then turned to Jerry. “You will need to work rapidly if you wish to save the other two.”

  “Will you take the skull fracture?” Jerry asked. “I'll start the spinal injury with VJ but I may need some help with that too. I'm no neuro guy.”

  Dr. Ron nodded again. “Of course.”

  There was a shout and the airlock door was broken open. Katie ran off to join the rescue team as they moved in to make sure the walls weren’t going to collapse any further and then Jerry grabbed my arm and pulled me forward.

  Half the ceiling of the tube was smashed in and there were wires and broken pieces of panelling hanging down. Jerry and I ran hunched over to the first crewman who was twisted under the Station 2 console. His legs were at an odd angle from the rest of his body which meant a probable spine injury.

  “Looks like Ron was right about a spinal,” I said, checking the crewman's vitals. I covered him with the emergency blanket as he had gone shocky and waited for Geoff to roll in with the stretcher. Ron was with Geoff and helped transfer the crewman while Jerry and I moved on to the guy who was trapped at Station 3.

  “Sweet Jesus,” Jerry swore. The guy’s head was completely under the console. Blood and brain fluid was seeping out from under there too.

  “Ron!” Jerry yelled. “I need you over here, stat!”

  A moment later, Ron was kneeling beside Jerry, feeling under the console with his hands.

  “Caroline, you get a stretcher ready and we will need some gauze. Jerry, give me your hand. Can you feel this?” Ron said.

  “What is it?”

  “A piece of the console is piercing his skull. I shall break it off and then lift the console out of the way. Make sure the piece stays where it is as you slide him out.”

  “You want that piece to stay in his head?” Jerry asked.

  “We shall remove it in the OR. If we take it out here, we will lose too much tissue with it. Are you ready?”

  “Yeah, are you sure you can lift that by yourself?” Jerry asked, even as Ron picked up the console. Jerry yelled for assistance and two more crew came over and grabbed it from Ron who promptly climbed underneath it and helped Jerry slide the injured crewman out. The doctors lifted him onto the stretcher and I handed Ron the gauze. He taped the piece of fiberglass to the poor guy's head while I strapped his limbs down for transport. VJ arrived to take him away.

  “Prep him, VJ,” Jerry ordered. “But don't do anything else until Ron gets there.”

  “The last one's over here,” Katie said grimly and waved for us to follow her down the remaining distance of the tube.

  The guy was stuck in the airlock. Half his body was lost in space while his upper torso was still with us. Jerry knelt down beside him and checked his pupils and vitals. “He's alive.” Jerry shook his head.

  “Can you do anything?” Katie asked quietly. “We can't open the airlock.”

  “We'd have to cut,” Jerry said. “But then, he wouldn't survive that. There’s not enough left.”

  “Can you try?”

  “Katie, it'll be so painful for him and it probably won't work.” Jerry frowned and then looked to Ron.

  “You have to try,” Katie insisted. We all looked to Ron. He shook his head.

  “We need to get up to surgery. We have two patients we can save,” he said.

  “I'll stay here with him,” I offered and knelt down beside the crewman. I brushed the dust and debris off him and held his hand. His eyes were open but I doubt he was seeing me.

  “Caroline, I need you upstairs,” Jerry said.

  “Somebody needs to be with him,” I replied.

  “Senya?” Katie said. “Can you…please?” She scrunched up her face and swiped at a tear.

  Dr. Ron nodded. He said something but I didn’t understand it. Then he squatted down and waved his hand over the crewman's face. The crewman closed his eyes and his chest rattled with his last breath. I was swiping at my eyes now too and didn’t even realize then that Dr. Ron had just made the poor man die by waving his hand over him.

  “Poor sweet man,” I said.

  “We'll clear the tube then open the airlock,” Katie ordered. “His body can fly off into space. Thanks.” She looked up at Dr. Ron and held his hand as we all headed back out of the tube.

  All of us except Katie headed up to surgery and for the next few hours Lynne and I assisted Dr. Ron with the skull fracture patient. Lynne and I put him in recovery and Ron switched OR's to help Jer
ry, VJ and Geoffrey with the spinal injury. We had our share of space chickens too which kept all of us busy for hours.

  “I guess I like boring cruises better,” Lynne remarked as we were all washing up. All patients were resting quietly by now.

  “At the risk of saying I told you so,” Jerry replied. “I did tell you so.”

  “You did,” Lynne agreed. “And you were right, Doctor.”

  “Hey Ron, I owe you a beer,” Jerry called across the washroom. “Actually, I owe you a few beers. We couldn't have done this without you.”

  “Okay, Jerry,” Ron replied. He was scrubbing his face and hands. It was late and he had a significant five o'clock shadow and even though I was exhausted, I was thinking he was still the hottest doctor around. “Another time. I have to get back to my work.”

  “Doesn't sound like you'll be going anywhere for a few days,” I said. “We are going to be limping into wherever it is we are heading.”

  “Then you may buy me a beer tomorrow or the next day,” Ron replied and because he was not wearing his glasses, his silver eyes flashed which Lynne and I agreed was really very cool. “I will come to check on the patients in the morning. Please ring me if there are any changes, yes?”

  “Good night, Doctor,” Lynne and I called after him.

  “He's dreamy,” Lynne sighed after he had left.

  “Yes, he is,” I agreed.

  The next morning, I was walking down the hall to sickbay with a bagel and a latte in my hands when I heard all sorts of yelling coming through the doors. I started to run, splashing my coffee all over the carpet but just as I reached the bay, the yelling stopped. Inside, I found our two critical patients propped up in their beds and staring at the vid suspended above them. In between them, reclining in one of Jerry's office chairs with his bare feet up on a crash cart was Dr. Ron. He had his netbook open on his lap.