She bounded off the trunk with her hind legs, breaking off a thick limb with her left shoulder in a bruising impact, to clear her way to the next highest limb, where the other wolf was poised in a defensive low voiced snarl, obviously frightened of her, but had nowhere to go. Another fast, powerful claw slash, and the nearly decapitated animal, head attached to its neck by sinew, smacked into the tree trunk in a splatter of blood, and Kit allowed it to fall as she went past.
She slowed, and went gently out onto the limb where an unmoving Ethan lay sprawled on a fork, his legs dangling limply, and she tried to contact him yet again by Comtap. She had tried repeatedly all day, and again as the shuttle made the short trip from the ranch house, but there had been no mental link. The device’s address seemed to be active, but there was nobody home.
From the freshness of the warm carcass of the wolf that he’d killed, he had been awake and active not long ago. She didn’t want to shake him, or allow her mass to overstress the branch supporting him. He’d been shot in the head, and she had no idea what sort of brain damage he may have suffered. She wasn’t going to risk making it worse, unless forced to move him from this tree. His feet were bare, so she lowered her head to make frill contact with a foot stained with a mixture of blood and red clay.
She shuddered with relief when she sensed he was not only alive, but was playing possum, and preparing to kick at her, then rise up to strike her with his fists. He’d been roused by sounds and the tree shaking, and sensed the wolves were closing in on him. He wasn’t going down without a fight. Or at least not without a weakened struggle, since most of the fight was drained from him by loss of blood and his concussion.
“Take it easy brother. I don’t want your dirty toe poked in my eye. I also don’t want you moving much, so stay flat. Bandit gave me some advice about your wound, because you may have brain damage.”
“Kit? Crap, you scared me touching my foot like that. When did you get here? I’ve tried several times to contact you or Bandit, but it’s as if my chip was removed. I must have a concussion. Something hit me in the back of the head, and I’ve lost some blood. Wait, you said brain damage?”
“Brilliant deduction, for a rhinolo turd. You were caught with your pants down and your back turned, shot at close range and left face down in a shower.”
“Ah. The mystery of that soap taste in my mouth is explained.”
Sensing his thoughts, Kit said, “The taste of soap in your mouth was the great mystery you needed to solve when you woke up? With that keen focus on important details, I’m surprised you aren’t already wolf poop. Didn’t you wonder how you got here, and who did it to you?”
“I guess one of the CCA’s hired gunmen snuck up on me and slugged me.”
“And cleverly got you to undress and wash up for him, and then dumped your unconscious but squeaky clean ass down a creek bank? Clearly, the SGA hired a nitwit to work for them.”
“OK. You already have the damn answer, so quit beating around the bush, or tree, and tell me.”
“Does Madigan Brethard ring any bells, such as the hollow one you call your skull?”
“Oh. So I did meet up with her. I can’t remember. I guess I’d take off my pants for her.”
“I don’t have to guess, you did. Now stay still, I have unfinished business below. The other wolves haven’t given up, even with three of them dead.”
She leaped down directly into their midst without climbing down. She roared and swiped at them and impressed them with her massive physical presence, and ran after several of them to prove she could easily catch them if she wished. They scattered and she let them go. She held no animosity for what they had wanted to do, since they were just being predators. She would have killed more of them to keep them away from Ethan if they refused to go, but she decided they would likely return and eat their own dead, once she and Ethan were gone. Most social animals didn’t do that, but when hunts went really bad, and pack members were lost, they sometimes took advantage of the meat.
There was a loud thunderous clap just then, which managed to startle the hell out of both Kit and Ethan. It was the sonic boom of the rapidly decelerating Wanderer, arriving nearby as she had directed Bandit to do. The AI saw which side of the stream they were on, and landed close to the trees. It arrived on the reactionless Normal Space drive, but its passage down through atmosphere had been supersonic until only hard deceleration could prevent cratering into the planet. The hull steamed in the humid air, but following Kit’s instructions, the tough outer stealth coating of the ship’s hull wasn’t damaged.
“Bandit, Ethan is in the tree above me, but I don't think he should do anymore moving than necessary. I need to get him into our med lab, but he’s in a tree, and I can’t carry him properly. Can you fly the shuttle under the trees?”
“The hull is a bit higher than the lowest limbs. I don't know.”
“How precise are your low power lasers? Can you trim away a path through to him and clear limbs from the tree he’s in?”
“The shuttle lasers will be better, operated at your level than from this ship. If you carry away the cut limbs, I can maneuver right up to him.”
“Do that.”
OK, Kit”
It took less than fifteen minutes, and then the open hatch of the shuttle was hovering near Ethan’s head, his body supported on a considerably trimmed down limb. Kit, inside the shuttle, watched carefully as the craft inched sideways and Ethan was gradually enveloped by the open hatch.
“Hold there,” she told the AI, and she stepped close to Ethan and used her mouth to pass him a laser welder for shuttle repair. He aimed at the limb beyond his legs, which dangled over the lip of the hatchway floor. With Kit watching carefully, he burned through the limb as the shuttle rose to support him. After that, it was a slow open hatch flight to an opened main portal of the Wanderer. The cargo hold was large enough to hold the entire shuttle, and when the portal was closed, they were flight worthy.
Bandit lifted the big ship, and gently climbed to a few thousand feet, then flew southwest on the Normal Space drive until reaching Trail’s End. The ship’s stealth, although imperfect in atmosphere, served to keep them unseen when it landed in a field at the edge of town. The onboard med lab was best suited to Ethan’s superconducting metabolism, but Kit couldn’t get him inside it easily because he had passed out again.
Trail’s End had a doctor and an infirmary, which they’d passed on Main Street, but its med labs would be less advanced than the one on the Wanderer, which was also tailored for a Kobani’s nervous system, bones, and musculature. Kit intended to bring help to the ship, not take Ethan to the infirmary, which could kill him. She left the ship as soon as it was down, racing into town, headed for the medical office she recalled seeing.
Luckily, the door was an automatic open system, saving her from using a more damaging method of entry, as she had done at Brethard House. A waiting area and a reception desk was inside, but there wasn’t anyone there. She called out. “Hello! I need a doctor for a man that’s suffered a serious head injury. Please hurry.” She moved towards a side hallway that led from the waiting area, where there appeared to be four rooms for patient treatment.
A female voice from behind a door marked Private at the end of the hall answered. “I’ll be right with you.”
“This is an emergency. It can’t wait.”
“OK. Put the patient in any of the treatment rooms. I’ll be out to register them, and I’ll call the doctor.”
“The patient isn’t with me, I need to take the doctor to him. Where is the doctor, I’ll get him myself.”
“No need for that, he lives right upstairs.” The private door opened, and an older woman, dressed in traditional medical garb came out. She glanced up…, and screamed.
Leaping back, she slammed the door and Kit heard it click as it locked.
Kit tried to explain. “Mam. That blue tiger you saw is me. I’ve been on the local news. I’m an alien visitor from off world. My human friend is
dying, he’s bleeding from a head wound and he was also attacked by range wolves. He lost a lot of blood and needs medical help immediately.”
From behind the door came instructions. “Bring him in here and leave him in exam room one. The doctor will see him there.”
This was exasperating to have to admit, but Kit said, “I can’t move him. I don't have hands so I can only carry him with my mouth. My teeth will poke more holes in him if I do that. He’s just outside of town, nearly behind this clinic. I don't believe he should be moved anyway. He may have brain damage.”
A male voice sounded from behind the door next. “I can’t see you, but Jenny says you’re some sort of giant blue cougar. She doesn’t look drunk, but what are you?”
“Impatient is what I am. Get out here and speak with me or I’ll show you how useless that door is.”
Kit heard yet another male voice. “Sean, who are you and Jenny yelling at through the damned door? Is that a patient? Open the door for God’s sake.”
A loud whisper from the woman said, “It’s a huge blue dyed cougar.”
The new authoritative voice asked her, “Are you delirious? You sure it couldn’t be a blue elephant?”
“I’m not kidding doctor. It’s a giant blue cougar. I swear.”
Kit, barely restraining herself from smashing through the door, confirmed part of the woman’s claim. “I’m from Koban, and I actually am a naturally teal colored, not blue dyed, tiger shaped alien, who has a human friend that has been shot in the head. We have both been on the local news from Cayuga.”
The first man’s voice said. “I saw a news clip. Your name’s Kat, and there was a little blonde girl on your back.”
“The name’s Kit, but if you people don’t come out from behind that door and help my human brother, I’m coming through it to talk you into doing it, and I won’t be happy.”
There was a click, and the door opened an inch or two. Part of a man’s face was visible, peeking through the crack. Kit sat on her haunches, ten feet from the door to appear more patient and peaceful than she felt, and said, “Satisfied the lady isn’t drunk?”
The door opened wider. “I’m Doctor Mertz. I haven’t seen the news stories Sean mentioned. Those sort of non-news Tri-Vid pieces of fluff are too ridiculous to watch. Although, I did hear that you were seen around town yesterday.” The door opened fully. “Where is your friend?”
“He’s on our ship, which is sitting in a field a short distance behind your clinic. He passed out, either from his head wound, or from loss of blood. I need you to go there with me. We have a specialized med lab, specifically built for his unique body, but I can’t safely lift him to place him inside. I also don't know what internal damage he has. I need you to examine him and find that out. Please gather what you need and follow me.”
Mertz stepped through the door, but the nurse, who had to be Jenny, held back. A slender man, dressed in white pants and shirt, looked over her shoulder. He would be Sean.
Mertz said, “I can have Sean, my medical technician here, drive us out in our ambulance to bring the patient here. I have a very good med lab here, and other equipment.”
“Doctor, I don’t want to sound stubborn, but your med lab is not one that can properly repair his damage. He’s a Kobani. He and I have a type of nervous system you have never encountered. Our own med lab is programed for his body type, and it has specially designed nanites to perform internal tissue repair. We need to go there.”
Jenny, calmed by the sedate behaving predator, and reassured it was “tame,” offered to start things rolling for her boss. “I can collect his medical history, if you know that, and verify your insurance for proper payment. We don't accept off world health plans, so you may need cash or local credit.” She cautioned.
Kit waggled her head to show her irritation. “We have credit chits, with thousands of Hub credits between our two accounts. I can pay you. Let’s get going.”
Accustomed to their services frequently going unpaid, by flat broke cowboys who had spent their money on unhealthy pursuits, she wanted proof. “Show me the chits, and let me verify you have the credit to pay for our services. We don't work for free you know.”
Kit rolled her eyes. “Oh my. I left my chit in my other set of fur. You know, the skin that has my pockets, where I also store my fingers and thumbs?”
The sarcasm went over Jenny’s head for a moment, until Mertz and Sean both laughed. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I wasn’t thinking. But you do need to show me proof of your ability to pay, when we get to your ship.”
“Wonderful. I’m so pleased to find that even the medical help on Chisholm is as mercenary as the hired guns we’ve encountered at every turn. If you don’t get your asses moving, you are going to find out what unpleasant mercenary things my brother and I were hired to do here on Chisholm. You might ask Cardwell Brethard just how badly things went for his men, out at his ranch a short time ago, when I employed far less friendly and patient manners than I’m showing you.” Inches more of her white teeth were suddenly exposed, in a less-than-subtle hint.
“Right! Said the doctor. “I’ll grab my emergency bag, and we have more equipment in the ambulance. There’s room in back for you, and we three can fit into the front seat for the drive to your ship.”
“No.” Kit disagreed. “We’re walking. The ship is stealthed. That means invisible, to you nonmilitary people. The ambulance will leave an obvious trail in the tall grass from town, right to where it’s parked. There might be some very unpleasant people looking for me and my brother. The Chisholm Cattleman’s Association wants us dead, and I see no reason to help them find us. Ethan, I call him my brother, was shot in the head from behind in an effort to kill him. We will walk. Now!”
Jenny wouldn’t completely give up. On the way to the ship, she described their normal hourly service rates. For a house call by the doctor, her own services, and for Sean, who was a medical technician. Somehow, Kit managed NOT to disembowel the persistent woman.
Instead, she promised them all generous payment of Hub credits. Sean, satisfied that Kit was intelligent, and that he’d probably get paid, had a comment to offer, and an implied question.
“I heard a story at lunch today, about a large animal that broke into Brethard House and terrorized two of the staff. You also told us you were out at Mr. Brethard’s ranch.”
Kit answered the question he’d been unwilling to ask directly. “That was me, both times. Maddi Brethard shot Ethan in the back of the head in her brothel, paid by someone in the CCA for that, and dumped his body out in the countryside when she fled to her father’s ranch. I went searching for my brother. I found him. Now stop prying into our business and help him. We’re here.” On her Comtap order to Bandit, a portal suddenly opened in the air, fifteen feet above the ground, and a wide metal ramp slid out and settled to the surface for them to climb.
As it happened, the doctor was useful for much more than helping hands to place Ethan in the med lab, and assessing his fluid needs and general status. The doctor told Kit that trying to heal the head injury with a bullet still inside, as she had intended to do, wasn’t a workable plan. It needed to be removed, and that the brain damage might be irreparable, at least by a small town doctor like Mertz. As it was, Ethan was critically low on blood. The doctor used the advanced military quality med lab’s scanning system to locate the bullet.
“I’ll be damned!” He blurted.
“Why, what’s wrong?’ Kit asked, even more worried by that exclamation.
“Not wrong. Good news. The bullet is flattened on the back of his skull. It seems to be the size of a .45 caliber slug, and it should have gone all the way through his brain, forming a gruesome exit wound and killing him instantly. It must have been a defective shell, since even a hollow point would have blown open the back of his head. He’s a lucky man.”
Ethan, being unconscious, couldn’t appreciate the following conversation, although he would be reminded of it later by Kit. Often.
; “I told you. He’s a Kobani,” Kit said, which didn’t mean diddlysquat to the three people from Trail’s End. She explained. “His bones have carbon nanotubes grown into them, and they’re very dense and extremely difficult to break.”
The doctor looked at her, an eyebrow raised. “OK. Flat bullet mystery solved, another presented. The bone I saw through the open wound looked completely normal to me. Why’d you say it was made of carbon nanotubes?”
“I just heard you say to Sean how dark the image of his skull was, in the unusual make of the med-scanner you were using. That darkness isn’t due to it being a different type of scanner as you thought. I think it’s his dense diamond hard head.” Kit uttered several chuffing sounds, the ripper equivalent of belly laughter.
“Can you remove the bullet?” She finally asked.
The doctor raised an eyebrow and looked at his nurse, “Jenny, hand me the shaver and the large tweezers.” He shaved a square of bloody and matted hair from around the entry wound, dabbed at the fresh blood with an absorbent pad, and then used the tweezers to probe as he looked at the scanner for guidance.
“Got you,” he muttered, and pulled the flattened lump of the slug out into the light of day and dropped it with a clank, in a metal bowl. “OK, Jenny, please clean up a bit, stitch the wound, then we’ll seal him into the med lab for a full sanitation treatment, and then let it inject those special nanites we were told about, to repair him.” They had never asked why he was already naked, sunburned on the back, and dirty.
“Sean, make certain all the fluid reservoirs stay topped off from the color-coded containers in their medical stores cabinet. The med lab will sterilize him; finish cleaning his body, close his wounds, and the nanites will repair tissues and accelerate their growth.”
He turned to Kit. “We will replace the lost blood with a temporary artificial substitute, which will be naturally replaced in the next few weeks. However, that red synthblood container will need to be changed in an hour or less, and I think you might be challenged to make that change. Sean here, can stick around and do that for you. I don't think your friend will need more than a day inside.”
Koban Universe 2: Have Genes, Will Travel Page 26