The man in the doctor’s coat glanced over at the two men who had just entered the room, which was almost too small for three full grown men to stand in without encroaching on each other’s personal space.
“Captain Harris,” The doctor said. “Have you ever seen anything like this before?”
“Like what?” Harris said groggily as he walked up to the side of the bunk and looked in. When he saw the Aurorian woman, his eyes became wide as saucers as he cried out in surprise, “Sweet Jesus! What the hell happened to her?”
“Plasmogeriatric dysplasia,” The doctor responded, “This sometimes happens to Aurorian people, when they travel on our faster than light ships. The engines produce an initial blast of centrinoneutrons…which is harmless to humans, but in Aurorians, on rare occasions, can cause some sort of sentential release of neutrinomutators…which of course, causes plasmogeriatric dysplasia.”
Harris looked perplexed.
The doctor cleared his throat and said, “Our envirostasis methods are not quite good enough to keep an Aurorian’s body from experiencing a rapid aging process during the warp jump. That’s why they usually opt to never travel with us, but I guess she could only afford the ultra-economy class ticket to Ailana.”
“Poor thing,” Harris said with pity as he looked at the frail humanoid lying in the bunk before him. The Aurorian looked as if she was at least one hundred years old. Her skin was transparent, wrinkled and covered with liver spots. She appeared to have no muscle tone, and her hair was white and matted. She was connected to a complicated life support system and a series of small computers that controlled various aspects of the medical apparatus. Dozens of intravenous tubes were inserted, via large needles, into her arms, chest and legs. The tubes led up to a series of clear plastic bags with colored fluids that dripped down the tubes and into her frail body. Oxygen tubes inserted into her nose helped her breath. Harris felt sad and horrified looking at her.
“Her name is Jori Wena,” the doctor said. “She’s an Aurorian archeologist with an advanced Ph.D. in galactic archeology. She’s traveling to Ailana to do some important research. But she won’t be doing any digging there until we treat her for the disorder first.”
“Can she get better?” Harris asked, feeling a bit sympathetic.
“Oh yeah, it’s no problem, we can get her looking like a thirty six year old Aurorian woman again. The warp jump just caused her body to experience rapid aging. But her DNA still has all the plans needed to make a thirty six year old woman’s body. We just have to tap into that. The condition is reversible, all we gotta do is supply the proper nutrients and then slowly do a DNA/RNA telomerase retroprostis, that’s where we set the internal clock back, and have her cells express the proper proteins to make her look the way she used to. But the treatment is pretty labor intensive. Today, people can use this technique to look as young as they want, but most opt not to because it is such as pain in the ass.”
“Interesting,” Said Harris. “But why am I here exactly?”
“We are going to need your help with this since we can’t afford to spare any medical staff for what amounts to a cosmetic procedure.”
“What do I gotta do?” Harris said almost sympathetically.
“Here’s the protocol,” The doctor said as he handed Harris a Ready File. “It’s all there. It will require you to be here about eighteen hours a day.”
“Eighteen hours!” Harris exclaimed, “Don’t you have technicians on board trained to do this sort of thing?”
“Yes, but we don’t want to pay overtime,” The doctor said. “Besides, you’re a qualified field surgeon, and you’re right across the hall.”
Harris seemed a bit nervous. “Sir, I can stitch a laser bolt wound in a temporary fashion until a soldier gets to a hospital, but I ain’t never done anything like this before.” Harris said as he scrolled through the file, “This requires nutrient bag changes, and electrolyte balancing and ardicol administrations and…oh shit.” Harris winced, “Diaper changes?”
“Yes…she has the body of a one hundred year old woman,” The doctor said. “And hopefully, we can at least allow her to have the dignity of not having to lie in her own shit while she travels with us. Come on man, let’s be Moralists about this. We need to help her, and we’re pretty understaffed here. Well, I’ll leave you two alone let you get acquainted, she should be waking up anytime now.”
The doctor gave Harris a pat on the back as he walked out of the room. The steward got a nervous look on his face and proceeded to leave.
“Hey Patrick!” Harris said, “Where are you going?”
“Uh…I have to…get back to the kitchen. I’m a cook and my shift is coming up,” The short, stocky steward said and turned to leave again.
Harris said, “But I might need your help when she wakes up.”
“Oh…trust me, sir…I’ve seen this sort of thing before…you won’t need any help,” Patrick said as he rushed off before Harris could get a word in edge wise. The room was silent, except for the humming sound of the ship’s engines. Harris peered down at the woman in the hospital bed. Her hair was long and white, and looked as if no one had taken care of it for her. Her skin looked as wrinkled as a raisin, her mouth, looked as if it were stuck in a permanent scowl.
“She doesn’t need my help right now,” Harris thought to himself, “I’ll come back later.” He got within two steps of the door, before he heard a loud, bellowing voice behind him.
“HEY ASSHOLE! Where in the hell do you think you’re going?”
Harris felt his heart nearly stop as his eyes flew wide open. He turned around and gave the Aurorian woman a dumbfounded look. “Excuse me?”
“Yeah dinkboy, I’m talking to you! Get over here and sit down!”
Harris did so without even thinking about it. “What would you like me to do for you, ma’am?”
She gave him an evil look as she said, “Grab that remote control you worthless pile of dog shit! I wanna watch T.V.!”
Harris picked up the small black box that was sitting on the night stand, and used his thumb to press a button. The monitor that was installed into the wall at the foot of the bed came to life. A newscaster’s talking head began spewing forth boring political commentary. “Tonight we examine the Aurorian proposed tourist industry that might be developed on Ailana in the near future. Will it create jobs? Will such an enormous investment by Aurorian business interests help save the Ailanian economy? Here to tell us more is Chezui Banka, an Aurorian diplomat who is helping to broker a deal between the Ailanian government and the Aurorian business community.”
The newscaster’s old, wrinkled face was then replaced by the face of a handsome, middle-aged Aurorian man with snow white hair, and soft, milk colored skin. Chezui Banka looked sincere and intelligent as he said, “I can assure you that we are NOT going to allow another form of pseudo-capitalism to worm its way into the pocketbooks of the honest, hardworking Ailanian taxpayer. We Aurorians want to help bring about a fundamental change in the way business…”
“CHANGE IT!” She cried out angrily. Harris immediately pressed the button with his thumb.
On the next channel, a woman in a black dress was saying, “Tonight we explore drug addiction on Ailana. We interview people who use and abuse Cutz, the galaxy’s most notorious narcotic.”
“To hell with that! Change it!”
On the next channel, a young man with spiked hair was saying, “You might have heard about Chief Tipsy, Ailana’s most controversial entertainer…but tonight we interview Ailana’s favorite pop star, Jordan Tache…it’s guaranteed to make you smile.”
Suddenly, the monitor was filled with images of a very large, Ailanian man who was wearing traditional Ailanian clothes, and dancing on a stage in front of what appeared to be thousands of people. The extremely fat Ailanian had long, black dreadlocks that he swung around as he danced and sang while the commentator�
��s voice said, “Chief Tipsy, is a native Ailanian man, who tips the scales at nearly three hundred kilos, and sings about Ailanian freedom, while Jordan Tache is a much more attractive, young man, who sings the kinds of love songs that sell millions of albums…”
“Absolutely not!” She cried out, “Keep pressing that button dinkboy, we got two hundred and sixty nine channels to go!” Harris felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. From the darkness of his mind, a voice whispered, “Why do you let people like this order you around? Aren’t you getting sick of this shit yet?”
He could feel the anger building up. He felt his free hand forming a fist. He clenched his teeth, and then tilted his head to the side slowly, causing his neck vertebrae to give a tension releasing crackle. His eyes glanced around at the room, and examined all the life support machines she was connected to. It wouldn’t take much dismantling on his part, to make one of them stop working just long enough to relieve him of this newly assigned duty. He became fixated on one thought, and only one thought. “What’s the problem? Killing is what I do…besides, what’s one more dead bitch gonna matter when this is all said and done anyway?”
Location: The Morgue at the HanaPaloiFederalBuilding.
Ailanian Standard Time: 1800 Hours.
Audrey and Jack stared into the pale face of the dead man. They both tried not to gag as they looked at the devastating wound that went all the way across the man’s throat. Audrey sighed as she closed her eyes and looked away, realizing that she just couldn’t bear the sight of a man, who had been literally cut from ear to ear.
Jack said, “this guy’s name is William Ward…he’s also from Earth. They found him bled to death on a metal staircase that led to the fleabag motel he was staying in. I just have this strange feeling that we’re missing just one piece of the puzzle, Agent Winters…and I don’t think we’re gonna find it in time to advance Captain Kalapana’s plan here. I’m getting pressure from people in high places to pull the plug on our current investigations and assign all our agents to Operation Shade duty…we need to find some targets and find them soon. I’m afraid investigating these murders, like the Sparks case, is futile.”
“You’re not the only one feeling the heat right now, Jack.” Audrey walked away from the gurney the body was lying on as she said, “I need your help…I need your agents.”
“Why?” Jack looked at her with a bit of distain as he quietly said, “So we can chase our tails some more. People are getting killed in this city and there doesn’t seem to be much we can do about it. Yeah, it would be real nice to find out who is doing this…but I’m not so sure finding who is killing these people is gonna help us bring any major drug dealers to justice. I’m afraid we better get used to the fact that The Military is sending those Special Forces Soldiers and the High Senate is going to be giving us our marching orders real soon since we seem to not be able to get the job done by sticking to Captain Kalapana’s plan.”
“I’m not giving up, Jack…I still think Moke’s plan will work…I just need your help.”
Jack sighed as he said, “Look, there is a part of me that still wants to believe in our Captain’s plan. I’ve still got one ace in the hole…I have one agent, who I’m not pulling from his current assignment, because I am keeping my fingers crossed and rooting for Captain Kalapana in my own way. But I refuse to allow his ego to ruin what should be our overall objective, which should be ridding this planet of scumbag drug dealers. I’m sorry, Audrey, but my patience is running thin, just like the High Senators, who came by my office today. But, because I’m such a reasonable guy…I’ll lend you some of my agents…”
“But Agent Charlie stays where he is?” Audrey asked with suspicious eyes. “I can’t have him?”
“Of course not, he’s my ace in the hole…I wanna be a hero too, Agent Winters,” Jack said with a smile. “Come on Audrey, it’s been a long day…I’ll make it up to ya…I’ll buy ya a beer.”
She smiled warmly at him and said, “You’re driving.”
About fifteen minutes later, Jack and Audrey sat at a mahogany bar sipping cheap beers, eating peanuts and watching the news on a monitor that appeared to have seen better days. Audrey felt a bit of a tingling sensation in her chest as she saw what was on the news. The newscaster was interviewing an Aurorian man, who looked very good in his blue suit. The newscaster said, “So tell me Ambassador Banka, what will it take to convince the Aurorian government to invest in a failing Ailanian economy?”
The handsome Aurorian man had a serious look on his kind face as he said, “it’s going to take commitment, it’s going to take vision…it’s going to take…
Jack sneered as he put his beer down and said, “It’s going to take a whole lot of dead bad guys that’s what.”
Audrey felt the warm feeling in her heart that she had just a minute ago turn into a heartache, “do you really think that guy, Banka, wants all those gang members in the drug cartels to die?”
“No, he doesn’t want them dead,” Jack said calmly, coldly. “But we Ailanians…that’s another story. We’re not planning on killing these drug dealers to satisfy Banka and his circle of government officials and businessmen…we’re doing it because we are sick of them getting to live out their fantasies while we put ours on hold. So many Ailanian people are sick of being punished for being good…while those damned drug dealers…”
Audrey sighed, “I’ll tell you my fantasy…I don’t want to be a part of Operation Shade, Jack…I think we can do better.”
“I understand your feelings,” Jack said with a smile. “But it’s just the way things are…a lot of people will feel better if we do what they think is right, instead of what we know is right.”
“What do you want, Jack?” Audrey said softly, hoping not to appear too emotional.
“I want peace, I also want justice if it’s possible…but mostly I want peace…and it seems as if peace on this planet will not be possible until we use some extreme force to convince a few unpeaceful Ailanian people to stop killing other Ailanian people,” Jack said with a sigh. “I also want my father to be proud of me…I also want to keep my job so I can keep protecting those I love from those who might cause them harm.”
“Do you think what Captain Kalapana is doing…is wrong?”
“I disagree with our Captain…sometimes…on certain issues,” Jack said as he chewed on a peanut. “I am willing to at least give him the benefit of the doubt…for now…or at least until he has proven himself totally incapable of leading us. But I think we gotta stop kidding ourselves, sometimes peace is only achieved through force. The Alliance has given us the muscle and the green light to use it…violence used in a controlled manner could bring us the results we need. And right now, we need a lot less gangs operating on this world so that good people aren’t afraid to leave their homes and actually go apply for the jobs the Aurorians’ money will bring us.”
Audrey sighed and said, “I guess you’re right. But it seems so wrong to do such a thing.”
Jack took another slow drink and then said, “Hey, Audrey…this is gonna sound weird…but do ya ever thing that we are simply just caught up in the middle of something…something that is so big that we just can’t take it all in and quantify it with our agents in the field or with our computer techs and morgue staff at Hana Paloi?”
She gave him a curious, yet friendly look as she said, “what do you mean, Jack?”
“It’s like there is something bigger going on out there…and we are just missing it…it’s like those whales out in the ocean. Sometimes ya can catch a glimpse of their tails…but ya don’t know what they look like under the water…because their just so big, and the water isn’t clear. I mean…have I told you that I’ve been getting anonymous calls from these kooks, who claim that they know how to wake up the prisoners of paradise? Who in the hell are the prisoners of paradise?”
“Do you think it’s that white haired guy we saw
that night Jacob Colombe committed suicide?”
“I don’t know, but I doubt it. This person…these people…he…they just sounded wacked out of their mind,” Jack said with a smile as he shook his head slowly. “It might be that white haired guy…but it could be someone else I’ve never met before. But for all I know, it might be one of those kooks in The Evil trying to deceive me…surely they have something to gain from all this chaos…and they would know how to hack a computer data base and get my phone number. It’s the sort of thing I want to ignore…but something inside of me is telling me that I shouldn’t. Ya know what I mean? It’s just so hard to know for sure…”
He paused and looked a bit frightened as his lips became tight.
She looked at him with soft eyes.
He didn’t catch her glance as he said, “I mean, I get all these daily reports from field agents telling me things about what the gangs are doing…my agents report that they’ve been seeing dozens of gang members going into the jungle, and not coming back again.”
She looked a bit perplexed as she said, “Is that why we can’t find Cutz producers? Is it due to the fact we don’t know where the guys, who bring them their Makani, are ending up at?”
“Sure, I guess…but it’s not just these gang members disappearing that has me wondering if there is something else happening here. And now, that we have all these people being mysteriously murdered…you put that together with the whole Jacob Colombe thing we saw happen…and now phone calls about these…prisoners of paradise, or whatever…and then there was some gobble-de-gook how they fit into some grandiose plan…I dunno. This shit is getting weird, Audrey…all this stuff that’s been happening lately is just so…weird.”
“Jack?” She said as she touched his arm nervously. “I want to talk about something else.”
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