k, Return to the Planet of the Merwomen #15
By John Stevenson
Copyright John Stevenson 2013
“You must have made a mistake?” said Jet in disbelief.
The doctor replied in an affronted tone, “I can assure you there was no mistake; there was nothing that could be done.”
“But… we have the technology, surely there was something you could have tried?”
“There was nothing Mr Black, we surgeons are not miracle workers.”
The shock and anger were abating; now self-pity was overwhelming Jet. “But surely there must have been something…”
Jets voice trailed away; as it did the surgeons indignation eased.
“Mr Black your leg was several times damaged. You’re knee, lower leg bones; ankle, in fact everything below your thigh had been crushed almost to a pulp when the creatures armoured body fell on it. To acecebate that your kneecap had already been shattered by the creatures claw; and if all that wasn’t enough the Beta Keratin of the claw is breeding ground for everything from bacteria to fungi, I truly had no option but to amputate.”
Jet laid back on the gurney in despair.
A few days before being disabled was something that Jet had never given a moments thought to, even though in his days with special op’s the chances were high that would seriously damage some part of his body; and he had: but at the time it was even a greater possibility that he would die; and that was what he was careful not to let happen: seen in the light of such a scenario losing a single limb and to live was an acceptable option; but now he was smack bang in that dilemma: his lower leg had gone, and now it was the end of his life.
There would be no more treks through impossible forests; no more running from Benedicts thugs, in fact there would be no more independent mobility full stop: of course that was if he chose that way to be his future; but the rest of his life in a wheelchair wasn’t the only option; he could get up and try to walk, maybe even to run again; and that’s what he determined he would do.
In the following days of denial he dismissed Indigos suggestion as unnecessary: everything would work out, but he knew that in the dark days he was too steeped in self-pity to listen; but eventually…
“Yes I do, but as I tried to explain he’s…” Indigo stopped for a moment in thought. “Actually; and it’s something I wouldn’t actually ask, but I don’t know if it’s a he or she: its sometimes difficult to tell with aliens?”
Jet didn’t know if it was supposed to be a witticism or a statement of fact, so he gave the slightest of smiles. “Yea; I know what you mean.”
“Well whatever it is, it’s supposed to work miracles.”
“From what I’ve heard of them they’re lizards: regrowing a limb isn’t a miracle to reptilians.”
“There not lizards Jet; maybe they do look a bit like one: and if I were you I’d be careful not to make that kind of comment when one can hear you.”
Jet shrugged. “I’m more worried about ending up with a scaly green leg or with claws instead of toes, rather than getting one upset.” Jet’s reply was supposed to be a joke, but Indigo took him for real.
“That isn’t going to happen Jet; I wouldn’t even suggest… him, if that was even a remote possibility.”
“No; I didn’t think you would.” Jet agreed without adding another smart comment. “So… you’ll make the contact?”
“Actually I already have: I spoke to him when you first… I didn’t won’t to say anything in case it wasn’t possible: there’d have been no point raising your hopes if he could do nothing at all?”
Jet refused the offers to accompany him and set the Tanatalia onto the landing area alone. GeAltKeem was on the boundary between what Jet thought of as the known galaxy and the great unknown beyond; and it was an exception in many ways.
Meeting someone of an alien race on the Galaxy Layby wasn’t particularly unusual, though it wasn’t as common to encounter one on most planets, and on this planet Jet was the alien; and the curious looks that were directed at him weren’t just down to the fact he was walking with crutches.
There was an expectation that when different species met that technology would pass between them, but the needs of the creatures of GeAltKeem were vastly different to what Jet accepted as normal and this set them apart from almost anything he had known. Sometimes it came down to prejudice; sometimes people believed the ways they had evolved over generations were better for no valid reason other than simple pride.
But it wasn’t just racism why people spurned strange alien solutions, as much as pure and simple practicality; aliens by definition of the word were different. The medical establishment Jet was familiar with considered prostheses simply as an aid to continue as before, here on GeAlt keem they thought a little differently.
Jet had directions, but everything was unfamiliar and twice he stopped looking lost; each time of the crosses between a reptile and bird had stopped and pointed the way. It pleased Jet and made him wonder if the places were change would one of GeAltKeem’s citizens get the same helpful response? It made it all the more strange considering there was no way he and the average local could communicate: but his crutches and missing limb probably told them all they needed to know. Communicating was on his mind when he at last faced KeltPic.
“Welcome to GeAltKeem Mr. Black.” KeltPic said in an entirely understandable voice; though in an unusually chirpy way.
“Thanks Mr…” Jet remembered Indigos confusion and wondered if he had made a mistake.
“KeltPic is the normal way my people acknowledge me Mr. Black.”
Jet smiled in an embarrassed way.
“In our society there is no title for an individual, in fact we have no concept of an individual, all our structure is based on family and lineage; I am but a mere part of my heritage.”
It still didn’t make a lot of sense but Jet nodded.
“Neither do we separate the male from the female, again it is family origins.” KeltPic looked at him with beady eyes set towards the side of the head. “My origins are female.”
Jet drew a deep breath; things weren’t going well. “I’m sorry I…”
“No please it is of no consequence; we are in you own vernacular; alien, so our ways are beyond your experience as yours are to most of us.”
“I’m sorry; maybe I’d better say nothing?”
“In that case it will make it harder for me to make any diagnosis.”
The voice had changed and Jet got a strange feeling KeltPic was amused.
“If you would remove your lower tunic; I will make the examination?”
It felt both extremely peculiar; having stubby little stumps touch and press and twist his leg, and at the same time slightly erotic. The weirdest picture came into his mind and he began to wonder if he was so much an alpha male that he could even contemplate what the mental image implied: maybe it told him more about himself than he cared to know. KeltPic saved him from any further speculation as she looked at him.
“It was a swamp monster?’
“Yes.”
“Then you are quite lucky to have just lost the lower part. It isn’t bad hygiene; the swamp monster cultivates bacteria, and even fungi on its fighting claw, luckily for you it appears infection entered into your circulatory system at a point were it was going away from you heart. I’m assuming it was unable to return to your organs due to the return system being severed… or by the intervention of a tourniquet?” KeltPic looked at him enquiringly.
“I was unconscious.”
“As would be expected: whatever the reason that could have sa
ved your life; Infections from swamp monsters are not generally fatal but I have the feeling that your one in particular one didn’t care much for a clean lifestyle?”
Jet was sure it was a joke, but he wasn’t keen to dwell on the experience: after all he was here for future consequences. “So, can you help me?”
“Quite possibly.”
“I want to get back to being normal again.”
“Normal?”
“I don’t want to spend the rest of my life on crutches.”
“What you do with the rest of your life is your choice Mr. Black.”
“I realize that; I just want my leg back.”
“That’s not what we do.”
Jets heart sank. “I was told you could work miracles?”
“Then you were misled; whatever you may have imagine you cannot regrow you limb, but I can do the next best thing.”
Jet sighed. “I want to get something to help me to walk again; to start my life again as close to what it was, as it can ever be.”
KeltPic looked at him. “To just help you walk again? No Mr.
Jet Black – Return to the Planet of the Merwomen #15 Page 1