Queen of the Stars

by Haley R Lawson

  I had started gathering items for the bag. “Yes, sir. They did. I am going to do my best to survive the first week.”

  He seemed like I threw his whole world off its axis and he had no idea what to do with me. He just left to talk to the guy behind the paperwork and I finished stocking our bag. He double checked the bag when he came back and again seemed surprised for some reason. He told me to follow him to our assignment for the rest of the day.

  On our way to the clinic, he said, “Okay, the only reason I made it this long is I was a marine and combat medic. This job is hard. They put you here to punish you, but there are lives at stake here. I don’t care what went on upstairs, I’m your boss now. Do you have any medical training?”

  “I was a certified lifeguard in tenth grade, but otherwise, no, I do not.”

  “What were you on the outside world.”

  “A marine biologist… well I just received my bachelor’s degree when the ship landed.”

  “A biologist, I can work with that. What jobs have you worked here on the ship?”

  “I started as secretary and office keeper to the King and other royals, but I was just let go from a position on the service staff. We cared for the royals.”

  He seemed so confused and said, “What could you possibly have done to get sent down here from up there? These are the literal pits you know.”

  “My uniforms weren’t always clean, I worked past curfew or extra nights, and I saved three royal lives.”

  “You got fired for saving them?”

  “There are very strict rules upstairs. One of which is not to touch or make eye contact with a royal. Their response to my objection that it was a matter of health and safety was: ‘We clean. That is our job. That is all we do. We do not get attached or involved.’”

  “You don’t have to worry about clean uniforms or touching people down here. You will always be dirty. I’m going to warn you against getting attached just because we cannot save everyone, but that happens too. One last question before we go in here, what is your name?”

  “I am Rose.”

  “Okay, consider yourself warned. This is not going to be pretty. We are in the center of the work force right now. We get all kinds of work accidents down here. Just stick with me and we will get through this day.”

  I couldn’t decide if I was afraid of Jackson or just respected him. He was the type that demanded respect. He was a war hero and he looked like one. He just had the hard posture and the trimmed beard. His hair wasn’t buzz cut though. He just had the face of someone who could stand at the gates of hell and just stare without flinching. Apparently, he was already doing that day in and day out for years now. We went in through the broken metal doors of the clinic and I could see why he kept warning me. There were people everywhere and the floors looked like they hadn’t been cleaned in years. Jackson could see the panic on my face as I noticed several men sitting there bleeding.

  “Okay, I want you to put on a pair of gloves. Then, go to the back with the already admitted patients. Just check their vitals and changed their sheets if needed. Most will be able to stand or sit up while you do their sheets. I will come and check on you shortly. You can do this!”

  I walked past the front desk and the receptionist said, “Ma’am, you will have to wait your turn. There are a lot of people here today and we only have one doctor. Don’t make me call security on you.”

  Jackson said, “She’s with me. She’s my new medical trainee. Rose here’s your key card for the door. I’m sorry about that.”

  The receptionist seemed so confused, but just let me go. I started checking vitals. I had done blood pressure for a lab once in college, so I kind of knew what I was doing. The equipment was all very old and the patients were not exactly happy to have a trainee bothering them. I got all of the vitals taken and then moved on to changing dirty sheets. I completely messed up the first bed and the patient had to stand for me. He got really impatient and just sat on a half-made bed. For the next bed, I slid the sheets over half the bed at a time. It worked a lot better and the patient was not as mad.

  While I was moving the patients anyway, I got them new bed pans. I didn’t know where the old ones or the dirty sheets went so, I was just carrying them with me. I got done right as Jackson came to check on me. He saw the bed pans in my hand and said, “Did you do the bed pans too? I was going to work you up to that. If all of that’s done, I can use your help getting some new patients in here… Actually, I should probably get some old patients out, so we have room. Can you get me the master chart from the front desk?”

  I went out to the receptionist and she gave me attitude for interrupting her. She eventually gave me the chart and I returned to Jackson. He looked over the paperwork and said, “Okay, we have five people that are ready to be discharged. Since you were a housekeeper, I need five complete room sets. That means a pillow, two sheets, a blanket, a bed pan and a blank chart. The old linens will go together in the big yellow laundry bin and the bed pans go on the cart. They get wheeled to the end of the main hall where the service elevator is. If you finish all of that before I finish my work, come to the examination room just past the front desk.”

  I went and gathered five new room sets from the clinic supply room. It was a lot easier to clean the beds without a patient in them, although I had to stop on my first one and look at the second to make sure I put everything on correctly. I had really good timing and delivered the carts to the elevator just as the laundry department arrived with a fresh clean supply. I took them back to the supply room and put them away. Once I was done, I went and found the exam room. Jackson was sewing a man’s finger back on.

  I went in and said, “Sir, is there anything I can do in here to help you?”

  “You can go into the waiting room and get my next patient. They all have numbered tags stuck to them. I need number 100.”

  I went out into the waiting room and yelled for patient 100, but no one even flinched. I started walking through the room and found number 100 so violently shaking that he couldn’t speak. There were icicles in his hair and his shirt was a layer of frost. I asked the receptionist if there was a wheelchair or a bed, I could use to move him. The woman literally laughed in my face, so I started to pull patient 100 on his chair towards the room, but he shivered his way onto the floor. The other patients just watched me struggle.

  I got down on the floor with patient 100 and asked him what his name was. He said it was Tommy. I told him I was Rose and asked if he thought he would be able to walk. He told me he thought he could. I put his arm over my shoulder and held him up by his pants. We made our way to the evaluation room. Jackson removed his clothes down to his underwear and wrapped him in a blanket I ran to get. We gradually warmed Tommy up with more layers of blankets until he was able to speak long enough to tell us what happened. His co-workers in the eatery kitchen accidentally locked him in a deep freezer for two hours. We took him to a room and gave him some warm fluids.

  Then Jackson sent me for patient 101. Patient 101 had a piece of metal stuck in his leg and couldn’t put any weight on it. I sat him in the chair that was still in the middle of the room from Tommy. It made a really loud noise on the floor and the handle cracked, but I got him to the evaluation room. Jackson didn’t seem bothered by the chair at all and just focused on removing the metal from the patient. He used a device to seal the wound and sent me for crutches. The man was discharged once I returned with them. Jackson made me check on Tommy before getting the next patient. His temperature was almost back to normal and he seemed so relieved to no longer be shivering. Jackson told me Tommy would be released when his temperature was back to normal.

  I went for patient 102 but got smart this time and put a blanket under the chair so it would slide easier. Patient 102 was unconscious and had burn marks around his eyes and up his arms. I couldn’t understand how these patients were sorted for treatment order. He seemed too critical to be patient 102. I gently tried to wake him, but he couldn’t see, and the
pain was too much for him, so I just pulled him on the chair he was on and used my blanket like a seat belt. I got to Jackson and he put burn cream on the man’s arms and face. He examined his eyes and as gently as he could told the man he would never be able to see again.

  Jackson pulled me into the hall and told me to discharge him. I said, “But he’s in pain and cannot see.”

  “There hasn’t been pain medicine available for months. There’s nothing I can do for him and besides, they are going to… he will never be able to work again. My job is to make them work again. When that’s not possible… just take him out of the clinic please.”

  Chapter 20

  Fighting a war we can’t win

  Iknew what Jackson was trying to tell me but wasn’t going to say. They were going to get rid of him. I didn’t want to know how. The man knew what was coming. He thanked me for trying to help him. I took him to the hall and some men in white uniforms came for him. I thought about the blind man who caught the baby and wondered why this man could not be given a chance as well.

  I went back inside for patient 103. He had inhaled some sort of fumes and was experiencing extreme vertigo. I didn’t know until he stood up and promptly collapsed into my transport chair and onto the floor. Luckily, he landed on the blanket and I was able to pull him to Jackson. He put him on oxygen and just left him on the floor to sleep whatever he inhaled off.

  In total we saw around 250 patients by the close of the clinic. There were still fifty waiting, but they were given the first fifty numbers and told to come back in the morning. There were ten people collected by the white suit guys. Jackson didn’t say anything on our way back to the medical supply building. He told me to restock the bag for the morning. There were twenty-five other doctors, each with their own trainee, and we all looked like we had been hit by a bus. There was only one trainee who had been there for man than two days. He was on day five.

  We all followed him back to the bunks. It was just a bunch of beds in a common room. The doctors even slept in there. No one spoke at all. We all ate a nutrient bar and hit the showers. They were co-ed, but no one was looking up anyway. The new hot water hadn’t reached this deep into the ship yet and since we were all being punished except for the doctors, none of us had hot water. I honestly almost preferred the cold shower after the things that happened today.

  One of the new trainees started crying in the shower and a guard forced him to his bunk before we could do anything. I went to my bunk and laid awake thinking about the people we could have saved.

  Chapter 21

  Tuesday Number 2

  Ididn’t actually remember falling asleep, but apparently, I did. I was awoken by the other people bumping my bed as they got ready for work. The uniforms were in large bins by the door. It took me that long to realize I was the only girl on the floor. I just acted like one of the boys. I wasn’t sure if I was still partnered with Jackson, but he called me to go with him when we picked up the supplies and our assignment. We walked to work in silence. We arrived at a different location, but it was essentially the same as the day before. We treated two hundred patients before going to restock and relocate mid-day. We didn’t have to send anyone to the white coats in the morning.

  Jackson finally spoke to me. “By now, you’ve had to realize you are the only girl on the team. We get them from time to time, but most purposely fail on their first day. Welcome to your second day!”

  I had also noticed it was all male patients we were treating. When I asked Jackson why, he explained, “I mostly get stationed in the workforce clinics. There aren’t any women in these jobs. It would be much harder anyway. Guys I can deal with, but women and children… that’s not for me. That’s Dr. Winston’s field. He apparently cared for the new royal baby the other day. The day his wife had the first baby born to a non-royal on the ship. They live in a private bunk together. He was apparently the King’s brother in law, but the queen sent him to the work force. I do not envy that man!”

  I thought about it and no one besides the royals or the top tier citizens even had time to talk to the other sex. We were all in separate rooms with strict rules and curfews. Jackson saw it on my face and said, “All kids on the ship are being raised together. They are being trained to replace you and me.”

  “What about the richer workers, like the reporters?”

  “The grass isn’t always greener on the other side. Everything they say or do is scripted. They live just like you used to.”

  “What about old people?”

  “You are thinking about your family now. I know that thought train. It’s the same that looped in my mind for my first few days. The old people who could work were put to work and those who could not were either kept from the ship or quickly got put back on earth. It was the same with disabled people.”

  I was so frustrated. That meant that a bunch of people in need of care were left on earth without it.

  He said, “My only thought of comfort was that maybe another country stepped in to care for them.”

  “We can’t land this ship on earth.”

  “The new prince doesn’t get it. He’s too naive. We’ll be shot down before reaching the ground, and if we are not, well there isn’t too much to go back to. I was still a soldier when the landing happened. We responded to the ship, but it was too late to save the land of the free. Anyway, we have to get back to work.”

  We went to yet another clinic. It was a rough second half of the day. Apparently, the decision to land the ship and open its doors had the mechanic department working like crazy and it wasn’t going well. We lost twenty people to the white suits. Jackson treated one of his old friends and went above and beyond to save him, but his leg had to be amputated which meant the white suits took him. He was barely able to look up from his charts for the rest of the day. He still treated more patients than yesterday.

  We headed to the showers and Jackson beat his knuckles bloody on the wall. He was removed from the shower by a guard. The crying man from yesterday was gone along with most of the newer trainees. Even the man who had made it five days was gone. I needed to talk to Alex, but there was zero chance of me actually reaching him. I instead focused on Jackson. I simply sat down with him and hugged him. Tears spilled from his eyes and he said, “We enlisted together. He wanted to be a pilot and I wanted to be a medic. I’m so sick of discarding people, especially people I know. He’s the fifth of my friends I’ve treated. I’ve lost them all. Of course, they’d have the impossible injuries because they were too stubborn to back down from impossible tasks. You should get yourself fired. You don’t deserve to be down here.”

  “I’m stubborn too. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “This job will ruin you. We go crazy and get taken by the white suits. It’s happened to every doctor they’ve brought in here. I’ve been here the longest. I know I’m fighting a losing battle. I know I’m just saving them to end up here again. You should be somewhere you can make a difference!”

  “I tried that and got fired. This is basically my ‘three strikes and you’re out’. I don’t know where they’d put me next, but it would probably be very dangerous. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “If you change your mind, please just tell me. I can get you fired. Don’t make me hand you over too!”

  “I would never do that to you!”

  “We better get some staring at our eye lids done. Thank you Rose.”

  I told him he was welcome and crawled into my bunk. I wanted to know what the white suits did, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask. I wasn’t brave enough, so I spent the night wondering.

  Chapter 22

  Day 3 on the New Job

  While lying awake all night, I realized one way that I might at least be able to get a message to Charlie to give to Alex. I purposely spilled stuff in front of Dr. Winston and passed him a note addressed to Alex and Charlie. It said “Dear Prince Alexander and Prince Charles, this is your royal advisor to the people. I am writing from my new position as a docto
r’s assistant in the work force clinics. I have been gathering information and it has become apparent that it would not be in our best interest as a ship to land on earth. My sources tell me we will be shot from the sky and even if we were to land safely, a former military source informed me there is nothing left of our home country. Also, the mechanics on the ship are killing themselves trying to get this ship ready for a landing. At this rate, there won’t be many left. Much respect, Rose.”

  Winston said, “And how exactly do you expect me to get this near Charlie?”

  “Say you ran a test on the baby, and it came back with bad results. You are a specialist on Ella’s kind.”

  He asked how I ended up down there and I told him it was way too complicated to explain. We went on with our days.

  On our way to work, Jackson confronted me about my conversation with Winston. “I saw you give a note to Winston. What aren’t you telling me about your work with the royals?”

  “Nothing, I was the one who helped Winston save the baby. I was just wondering how he was doing. The note was simply his supply sheet which he dropped when I spilled that cart.”

  “I’m your partner now, I wasn’t asking to get you fired. I was just wondering.”

  “It doesn’t matter what happened before. You told me that, remember?”

  He just let it go. It was another difficult day of injured mechanics. None were lost to white coats in the morning though.

  At lunch, Prince Alexander came to meet with our department. I couldn’t tell if he got my note or just happened to drop by. The others were respectful, but cold and standoffish to Alex. He gave a speech in which he said, “Good afternoon, I am making the rounds to the different departments around the ship. I just wanted to let you all know about some new rules. We now have free hot water. Your hot water chips can be entered for a chance to become a royal. I will be selecting five new royals on Friday morning before the royal dinner. I am working very hard to bridge the relationship between the residents and guests on the ship. I am completely open to suggestions of ways I can improve your department as well as the ship as a whole. Please speak freely, like I am just a friend of yours.”