by Bob Blanton
“I know, Virginia Avenel Henderson was the first person to formalize the role of nurses. She defined a nurse’s role as fourteen key tasks that they might perform for the patient. That’s why they named the hospital ship after her.”
“Nice to see you looked it up.”
“I wrote a paper on her for my social studies class this term,” Catie said. “I might as well get the credit if I’m going to get hassled about knowing the material. But really, a whole week?”
“Dr. Metra has already printed Kal’s leg and Blake’s arm and cheek, so it’s just the surgery and the week of recovery in a sterile environment. She says she’ll have them in partial stasis most of the time, so they won’t be missing you that much.”
“Why is she putting them in stasis?”
“She says it will speed up their recovery, and I’m sure she doesn’t want to listen to them complain about how bored they are.”
“But I’ll miss them,” Catie said. “Oh, so Uncle Blake decided to go with a new arm?”
“Talk to him,” Marc said. “He said it would get him back to top form quicker. He wants to start training with Liz on Krav Maga.”
“How’s Dr. Metra going to handle all of the new guys?” Catie asked.
“She’ll print the limbs and such on the Sakira, then do the surgery and recovery on the Virginia Henderson. That lets their families and friends visit during the recovery and eliminates questions like, ‘where is my brother’.”
“That’s good.”
“Now, unless you have something else, I have work to do.”
“So do I,” Catie said. “ADI and I started working on a new design project.”
“What are you designing?”
“It’s a secret,” Catie said. “Probably won’t be anything, but it lets me practice some of the stuff I’m learning.”
“I’m sure you’ll tell me when you’re ready,” Marc said. “Go to it, then.”
◆ ◆ ◆
Blake and Kal had their surgeries on Sunday; Catie waited until Wednesday to go down to visit them-actually, to see them since they would be in stasis. She was really feeling lonely. Liz was very busy this week since Kal was out and she had been busy for the previous two weeks while he’d been gone on a recruiting trip. The flight training with Uncle Blake and Liz and been the only fun thing she’d been able to do during that time. With Kal gone, she and her dad were virtual prisoners, since Liz wouldn’t trust anyone else to guard them.
Catie walked up to the stasis chamber with Blake in it. He was just lying there; it was as if he was asleep. His face did look better now that the heavy scarring on his cheek was gone, but it was a bit strange to see such a smooth chunk of skin surrounded by the scarred skin Dr. Metra was going to have to repair from the inside out. But she had determined that after two treatments, she would be able to use skin grafts to heal the rest of his face, so he’d only look a little weird for a week after he got out of stasis.
Catie laid her head on the stasis chamber next to Blake’s head. She wished that Samantha knew their secret. She was so easy to talk to, but it was hard to talk to her and keep all the secrets they had to hide. It had been easier once Kal and Liz knew, but they were still such a small circle.
“Uncle Blake, I get to do my instrument certification tomorrow,” Catie whispered. “Fred says that Sam can get the exemption for me; I’ll be able to solo next week. I saw that girl you’ve been seeing lately, Elei; she was asking where you were. She’s really cute.”
Catie stroked the glass of the stasis chamber. “Hey, they poured the concrete for the manufacturing plant. They might have the building up by the time you’re back. Daddy’s mad at Liz because she won’t let him just go out to dinner with Sam. She and I have to go with them. We sit at a separate table, but I guess it’s hard to call it a date when your daughter is looking at you.” Catie giggled at the thought. “He’s going to be really happy when Kal comes back. You too, of course.”
“Liz is a little grumpy,” Catie continued. “I wish you were around to lighten up the atmosphere. You’re always so good at that. Fred is grumpy too; I think he’s lonely being stuck in the house with Daddy and me, and Liz, who’s in a bad mood because she’s working all the time.”
Catie kissed the glass, “We’re waiting for you, Uncle Blake; I’m missing you.” She dragged her hand along the glass as she moved to Kal’s stasis chamber. “Kal, we’re missing you too; I hope you like your new legs,” Catie said as she stroked the glass by his face. “Bye, guys.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Hi, Sam,” Catie said as she entered the kitchen. She and Samantha were the only ones in the house. It seemed a little empty with Blake and Kal gone, and with Liz working overtime, handling all the security.
“Oh hi, Catie,” Samantha said. “Do you want to join me for lunch?” Samantha waved one of the takeout menus they kept in the kitchen.
“Sure,” Catie said, “what are you ordering?”
“A salad,” Samantha said. “What do you want?”
“I’ll have a salad too, as long as it comes with plenty of bread.”
“You’re a bad influence on me,” Samantha said. “I don’t burn the calories the way you do.”
“You should come running with Liz and me.”
“Hmm, I’ll think about it.”
Catie called the restaurant and ordered the two salads and extra bread. She sat down at the table and looked at Samantha.
“Do you have a question?” Samantha asked.
“Are you dating my dad?”
“We’re starting to see each other a bit,” Samantha said. “Is that okay with you?”
“I guess,” Catie said. “Didn’t I meet you in Boston?”
“Yes, we did once,” Samantha said. “I was the attorney who helped your dad buy the Mea Huli.”
“Oh, that’s right,” Catie said. “Were you dating then?”
“No, he never asked me out,” Samantha said. “He was still married to your mom when we first met. After the divorce, he was kind of messed up. So even though I liked him, I didn’t ask him out.”
“So, you liked him,” Catie said.
“Sure, he’s a really nice guy, good looking, and he can be a lot of fun to be around,” Samantha said. “But it was the wrong time, I just figured it wasn’t meant to be.”
“Then he invited you down here to be our lawyer.”
“Yes, I’m sure it was just because he remembered that I did a lot of law dealing with governments,” Samantha said. “He didn’t seem interested in me in any other way when I first got here.”
“What changed?”
“We started spending time together at work; we had a few working dinners, and realized we had other things in common besides work. Then one evening, we talked about whether we should try dating and decided to give it a shot.”
Catie nodded, “He seems happier.”
“I’m not sure that’s because of me,” Samantha said. “Things have settled down here, and he’s getting to spend more time with you. And he’s loving what he’s doing with MacKenzie.”
“Uh-huh,” Catie said.
“Are you still okay with us dating? We’re mostly just good friends, so now’s the time to change things if it bothers you.”
“I’m okay with it. I like you, and I can tell Daddy likes you too. I think you make him happy.”
“I’m glad you think so,” Samantha said. “I know you have Liz, but you can talk to me about anything if you want.”
“I’d like that.”
Chapter 22
Board Meeting – Jan 21st
“Hey, Kal, how’s it going?” Liz said as Kal boarded the Mea Huli.
“I’m great, how have you been,” Kal said, giving Liz a hug.
Liz gave Kal a sharp knee in the thigh, “I’ve been great.”
“That wasn’t nice,” Kal whispered in Liz’s ear as he looked at Samantha.
“Well, I owe you a few,” Liz whispered back. “Seems the new legs are working
.”
“And hurting,” Kal whispered as he gave Liz an extra hard squeeze.
“Good morning, Kal,” Samantha said. “You’re looking energetic as usual. How was your week off?”
“Great,” Kal said. “Blake and I got in some fishing and a lot of sack time. But back to the salt mines.”
“Out of the way,” Blake said as he pushed Kal from behind.
“Jet jockeys are such prima donnas,” Kal said as he made his way to one of the lounge chairs.
“Blake, your face,” Samantha cried as she ran over to him.
“Nice, huh,” Blake said.
“I thought they couldn’t fix it,” Samantha said.
“New doctor, new techniques,” Blake said.
“But you still have a lot of scarring on the neck and forehead.”
“Dr. Metra says she can’t cut all my skin off at once,” Blake said. “She’ll be fixing it over the next couple of months. She says I’ll soon be as gorgeous as I ever was.”
“I’m so glad,” Samantha said, tears welling up in her eyes. “And the other scars?”
“She’s fixing everything,” Blake said.
“She just doesn’t know how to fix his mouth,” Marc said as he came down the ladder from the bridge.
“His mouth looks okay to me,” Samantha said with a puzzled look.
“He’s still as big a smart mouth as he ever was,” Marc said. He quickly dodged the punch Blake directed at his shoulder.
“Well, there is that,” Samantha said. “I hear it runs in the family.”
“Okay, let’s settle in and get down to business,” Marc said. “Samantha, you’re up.”
“We have a signed contract with the Cook Island government that covers our export of goods and our employment of the locals. We have to add housing on Arutanga to accommodate the increased population. They expect a lot of islanders to migrate there since it is the closest land base where our workers can live.”
“On my list,” Blake said. “I plan to just use money.”
“Works for me,” Marc said. “How’s our production facility coming?”
“They completed the main part of the building while Kal and I were out fishing,” Blake said. “And just in time; we’ve started putting in the production for the polysteel today. Dr. Zelbar is anxious to get it going, he wants to see it work on a big scale. Dr. Scheele and our manufacturing guy have laid out the process. I’m guessing three to four months before we’re ready to start building the city.”
“Maybe you’ll find ways to speed it up once everything is running,” Marc said.
“We’ll try,” Blake sighed. “Sam got us the approval to go vertical, so I’ve given that to the contractor. He says two weeks.”
“Catie?”
“I’m still waiting on a shell for the Lynx. It sounds like it’s going to be a month at least,” Catie said. “I’m filling out the design submittal for New Zealand so we can get it certified for their airspace. They have a cross agreement with Australia. We’re doing it a little backward, building the plane first, but it might actually go faster. I have no idea what to do with the US and Europe.”
“How are you going to hide that little fusion reactor?” Marc asked.
“It’s tied into the electrical generator from the engines,” Catie said. “The electricity just runs backward when we’re using it. It’s very discreet, we’re using superconductors to hide how much current we can handle. We generate enough power to match the specs when we use fuel, so we won’t show them that we can do the same without using fuel.”
“I’m helping her with government issues,” Samantha said. “I’m working on the contact I’m using to get her licensed to fly. He’s anxious to please; I think he’s hoping to get a position in the jet-building business. We’ll address the US and Europe once we have the New Zealand approval.”
“Fred?”
“Tesla is still hounding us for more batteries. The new space will really help us ramp up production,” Fred said. “I’ve already added space in Rarotonga for assembly.”
“Kal, how’s our labor pool?” Marc asked.
“We’re doing pretty good on hiring; we’ve actually had some people move back from New Zealand to work for us,” Kal said. “They miss home, and now that there are jobs, mama’s cooking looks really good.”
“Glad to hear that,” Marc said. “Are we done?” Marc looked around the table. “I guess we are. Blake, can you wait up?”
“Sure,” Blake said. Blake got up and poured a couple of glasses of scotch while he and Marc waited for the rest of the board to leave. “What’s up?” he asked as he sat back down and pushed a glass over to Marc.
“I wanted to check in with you,” Marc said. “How are you doing?”
“I’m great,” Blake said. “It’s really nice to wake up without any pain.”
“I’m sorry, I should have thought of that before,” Marc said.
“What do you have to be sorry about?”
“Dr. Metra could have treated you for the pain a couple of months ago.”
“Hey, it’s been two years, what’s a couple of months,” Blake said. “I’m just glad to be done with the pills.”
“And the scotch?” Marc asked.
“Now, let’s not get carried away here,” Blake said. “I can cut down, but scotch is good for the soul.”
“I hear you,” Marc said as he took a sip.
“I’m sorry too,” Blake said.
“Why?” Marc asked. He was taken aback a bit; it wasn’t like Blake to apologize for anything, much less for something he wasn’t aware of.
“For leaving this all on your shoulders,” Blake said. “I’m not good at the long-term planning thing, and besides, you don’t work that way.”
“I know, bad habit,” Marc said. “I always have to do it by myself before I bring it out for review. I’m trying to break Catie of that before it becomes indelible.”
“How are you going to do that? Mom could never get you to break the habit.”
“I think she started too late,” Marc said. “Catie needs more friends, people she can talk with about what she’s thinking.”
“She has friends.”
“Who, you, Liz and Kal,” Marc said. “She needs to expand that group. Include a few people her own age.”
“That’s tough. She’s what, three or four years ahead in school?” Blake asked.
“Yes, in the nine months since she started homeschooling, she’s already doing college level in math and science. She’s skipped ahead to senior-level work in all the other course work,” Marc explained.
“That kind of cuts out that avenue for friends,” Blake said. “We’ll have to look out for opportunities as we grow. Something will come up. Until then, the group of us will just have to work on her.”
“Thanks,” Marc said. “She really looks up to you.”
“She has to, I’m tall,” Blake said with a laugh. He downed the rest of his scotch and got up. “Don’t worry too much, and apply some of that to yourself. We’re all here for you as well.”
“I know,” Marc said as he buried himself back in his HUD.
Chapter 23
Linda Sends Help
Marc’s HUD pinged, showing a call coming in from Dr. Metra. “Dr. Metra, how may I help you?” Marc said.
“I have a situation here that really needs your attention,” Dr. Metra said.
“Can you tell me more?”
“A Dr. Sharmila Khanna is here asking for a job.”
“Okay. So, what’s the problem?”
“She is insisting that we treat her daughter.”
“I’m not aware of Alzheimer’s affecting children,” Marc replied.
“Her daughter doesn’t have Alzheimer’s,” Dr. Metra said. “She says she is a colleague of your wife, and that your wife suggested that she bring her daughter here.”
Marc sighed and rubbed his face, “I knew I got off too easy.”
“What?”
“Nothing,
” Marc said. “What does the child have?”
“Muscular Dystrophy,” Dr. Metra said.
“Can you treat it?”
“Probably,” Dr. Metra said. “The girl has an identical twin sister.”
“Who doesn’t have the disease?”
“Correct.”
“Muscular Dystrophy is a genetic disorder, so how is that possible?”
“I assume it was caused by a de novo mutation,” Dr. Metra said.
“A what?”
“A de novo mutation is a spontaneous mutation that occurs early in gestation,” Dr. Metra said. “It’s what drives evolution, but unfortunately they’re not all positive. It is the root cause of many, if not all, genetic diseases.”
“Okay, so when will you know if you can treat it?”
“A few days,” Dr. Metra said. “I’ve already asked MADI to start pulling all the relevant data she can find.”
“MADI?”
“Catie named my medical digital intelligence MADI.”
“Huh,” Marc laughed. “I assume you need me to come over and deal with Dr. Khanna.”
“If you would, please.”
“I’ll be right there.”
“Thank you.”
Marc alerted Kal, telling him that he had to go to the Virginia Henderson. He shook his head with frustration; he wasn’t allowed to go anywhere without Kal. “Security my ass, it’s more like prison.”
Kal met Marc at the front door to their office building in Rarotonga, “I’ll drive,” he said.
They climbed into one of the jeeps that were ubiquitous to Rarotonga. The sheer number of them running around the islands provided anonymity that Kal and Liz preferred. The Virginia Henderson was only a few minutes from the compound.
“Just you?” Marc asked.
“I think we’ll be safe; I’ve got a guy meeting us about halfway.”
Marc shook his head. Ever since Catie had been kidnapped in Portugal, Liz and Kal were especially paranoid. Marc supported the increased security on Catie, but he still thought he could take care of himself, or at least manage with just one bodyguard.
Ten minutes later, Marc and Kal were climbing the ladder onto the Virginia Henderson. It was docked at the end of the commercial docking area. Once in a while, they had to move it. If more than three freighters came in at one time, the third freighter would need the space where Virginia Henderson was usually docked. The Port Authority had been very understanding since they had brought the hospital ship in.