Dora did another scan of Cassie, taking her time, and splinted the broken ankle with a Velcro strap the robot handed her. More used to robotic help she called out what she needed. “You're running a slight fever, Bp is slightly elevated,” Dora said as she worked.
“Meds are wearing off,” Cassie replied, gritting her teeth as Dora gently poked at her right side.
“Couple fractures, mostly hairline. Your spleen is a bit swollen. You lucked out there,” Dora observed. She looked up at her. “The shoulder...”
Nicole called over. “We’ll set it in a moment. Doc here has a pretty good concussion, but no sign of a bleed. Minor swelling so far, we will treat it with meds.”
She looked to Dora, asking if they have this or that, when the robot commented. “One moment Doctor. Accessing...accessing.” Nicole watched it. “Inventory complete. We have four of the five specified medications on hand, and the fifth is in deep freeze. I will get them for you.” Putting action to words the robot backed up and trundled off.
“Well!” Nicole said, and then gave Mitch a wondering look.
He shrugged. “Best money could buy.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I’ll bet it cost a mint.”
He snorted. “I based the androids off of a toy believe it or not. Sure Honda, Toyota, and MIT all had versions, but I went the cheap route.” He shrugged. An android came in and handed him a cup of coffee.
He took a sip. “This one and the smaller version are based off the toy, as the medical and GP robots are based off of a more... Hollywood style.” She cocked her head at him. “I had just started mass production of the androids here before our little jaunt.” He pointed the cup to the retreating robot.
“They are pretty inexpensive to make, we had got the cost down to ten grand each before we left,” Mitch said proudly. Nicole’s right eyebrow lifted at this news. She shook her head and looked over to the returning medical droid. “Don’t worry; when we get things sorted out we should be able to make them for each of the villages. They only have about a day’s worth of energy, but that is pretty good for basic tasks,” Mitch replied. She nodded, picked up a hypo spray from the droids tray, checked the dosage and misted the Doc as she dug into her work.
Janet came in, she told him they had rounded up a few armadillos, but they had a serious problem, insects and scorpions have infested a lot of the furniture. He sighed. “I was afraid of that,” he rumbled. She nodded, washing her hands with her apron, then trying to straighten out the wrinkles she caused.
“The damn scorpions are everywhere, in the ducts, crawlspaces, in the couches, chairs and mattresses. I even killed one in a kitchen cabinet this morning,” Janet said and then shuddered.
Dora looked up alarmed and then glanced down at Cassie’s mattress; Cassie started, and then groaned. “I am so sore I don’t care,” she said. Dora gave the mattress a wary glance then got back to work.
“We only have a handful of the armadillo critters, I guess the rest vamoosed pretty thoroughly when they were evicted,” Janet said.
Mitch sighed. “Yeah, I was afraid of that too.”
Nicole didn’t look up from stitching the head wound. “What are you talking about?”
Janet sighed. “We had a bit of a scorpion problem. We had some armadillo creatures that took care of them, but we didn’t think they were needed so we got rid of them.”
Nicole looked up, then back down. “Oh.” Janet wrung her hands.
Dora sighed. “We found out they were back when they killed four year old Mateo.”
Nicole looked up startled. “Damn, I am sorry to hear that.”
Mitch sighed then got up. “Yeah, me too. Life went on though, we have to learn to live with our mistakes and learn from them.” He got up and hobbled out of the room. Nicole wanted to protest, but Doc grabbed her arm and softly said to let him leave.
Maggie came in looked around for him. “Where’d he go?”
Janet wrung her hands and sighed. “He is okay, just went for a walk.” She wrung her hands again, and then sighed. “I am going to get back to work; do any of you need some dinner?” she asked, turning to business. Doc groaned.
She looked her over. “From the look of Doc here she has lost most of hers, might not be wise to give her anymore for a little while.” She wrinkled her nose. Maggie took a look, wrinkled her nose as well and then offered to go get her a change of clothes.
Mitch ran into Travis in the hallway. Travis was decked out in his usual gear, looking every inch the soldier. “What are you doing up and around, thought you’d be harassing nurses?” Travis asked, eying him.
Mitch snorted. “I am the least banged up, except this bum wing here, scratch, and the twisted knee. Going to go take some Advil, a shower, then go to bed.” Travis gave him a long look. “Thanks for the backup out there, I heard you out doing security,” Mitch said.
Travis shrugged. “Wish we had Tina handy.” Mitch nodded, and then winced.
“Mike needed her at his place after that last accident. Nicole, Dora, and Mags are doing okay. Doc and Cassie are in good hands.” He waved his good hand as he limps off to his room. The Seal snorted and went back to work.
Chapter 20
An insistent knock at his door woke him. He looked up blearily, banged his arm and then swore as pain lanced through him. “Damn! WHAT?”
The knob rattled, then Dora came in. “You okay?” she asked tentatively. She had a stethoscope around her neck like all the medics like to do.
“Yeah. I WAS getting some sleep.” He couldn’t help the reproach in his voice.
She blinked. “Sorry, Doc wanted me to check in on you just in case.” She felt his forehead, then pulled out an instant thermometer and put it in his ear.
“Tell Doc I am fine, just the busted wing remember?” Mitch growled testily. He had a headache now. Dora nodded.
He gave her a long look. “How is Doc doing?”
She sighed. “Nicole has detected some swelling; we are giving her some meds to try to combat it.” He looked concerned. “Cassie is okay, we put her under and reset her shoulder, she will be pretty sore for a few days. I have no idea how her ribs didn’t break totally and chew up her insides.” She shuddered and then continued, “Swelling in her spleen, ankle, and knee are pretty bad, so the ankle cannot be put in a cast yet like your arm.” She motioned with her hand to his bum arm. “Any pain?”
“Yeah, when I banged it a moment ago,” Mitch growled. She smiled.
“Nicole is hoping we will not have to drill a hole in Doc’s skull to relieve the pressure.” She wrinkled her nose, and looked thoroughly worried. “God I hope not. We can’t lose her.”
He patted her arm with his good hand. “Doc is pretty tough,” he said, modulating his voice to a more normal one.
She sniffed, and then nodded, wiping her eyes. “Yeah. But looking so helpless like Mateo...God.” She almost sobbed, fighting tears.
He sighed. “Mateo wasn’t your fault. Remember, you’re a trainee, and it is a long hard learning curve, that can be brutal,” he cautioned gently. She nodded. He brushed a tear from her cheek. “Honey, we are all proud of you and Cassie for sticking with it.” She let out a sigh. “Don’t worry about Doc and Cassie,” Mitch finished.
She nodded. “One question, why didn’t you put airbags in the car?” she demanded.
He shrugged. “There are frontal ones, but they only go off in case of a front end collision. I put them on manual since I was bouncing around so much. I didn’t need an air bag flying up in my face if I brushed a tree or hit a pot hole.”
She snorted. “Good point.” She patted his leg and then left. “Good night,” she replied softly as the door closed.
Travis, Janet, and Maggie came to him the next morning after Nicole finished putting his arm in a cast. “We have found five armadillos,” Maggie reported as she scowled. “I lost four animals during the night, two goats a promising foal and a rabbit. These things are scary; they can slip through cracks, under doors... and are quiet.�
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Janet looked scared. “We killed one early this morning. It went into the boy’s dorm room.” Mitch looked alarmed. “Anne saw one of the cats chase it, it flattened under the door. We got the boys out of there, then stuck one of the armadillos in and shut the door. I peeked when we stopped hearing noises, it was crunching the sucker.”
Maggie sucked in her breath, and then blowed it out. Terror for her son still lingering on her face. “Good.” They all felt relief, but knew it was not going to last for long. “We looked all day yesterday and last night, the other armadillos have left the area.”
Travis nodded. “So we are going spelunking?” He shot a questioning look to Mitch. Mitch nodded. “Thought that was dangerous?” Travis asked.
Mitch nodded. “Yeah, but the hammerheads are on the coasts. Ducky and Mags here aren’t sure if they can tolerate fresh water.”
Mags shook her head. “I think so, but we aren’t sure.” She shrugged. “We can use the scout robots, if we spot a couple armadillos we might be able to lure them out, or herd them out.”
“If the cave is big enough we could send a CAT in,” Mitch mused. Travis nodded. “I would rather stay out; those damn scorpions could drop from above,” Mitch said darkly. Travis gave a wary nod.
Maggie looked concerned at Mitch. He waved, “Don’t worry so much Mags; I have no intention of entering the caves in my condition. I just want to be on hand.”
“And underfoot,” Travis muttered.
“That too,” Mitch dead panned. Travis snorted.
“I have some second gen dragon armor,” Mitch said after a moment of silence. Travis looked up surprised. Mitch smiled. “It is the latest thing. It combines artificial spider silk webbing with the ceramic disk armor. Very light, extremely tough. Of course it doesn’t protect stuff it isn’t over, so they can still sting exposed skin,” he cautioned. Travis nodded.
“Get with Gunny, Paul, Henry, and Piotr. Let’s get this show on the road. I will go pull a CAT in and load up a couple trucks,” Mitch ordered. Travis gave a sharp nod and took off at a trot. “We have a narrow window before hibernation began,” Mitch said, turning to Mags for confirmation
Maggie nodded. “Yeah, that is both a blessing and a curse. The scorpions will go dormant too, unless they get into our warm areas. The ‘dillos will be out. When spring comes the scorpions will be all over us.” Janet shuddered and hugged herself.
The hummers tooled up to the cave mouth and parked in a triangle. An ED stepped off the back of one, then stomped off a few meters and stopped, spread its feet apart and then pivoted left and right. Travis got out. “All clear,” he called.
The others got out of the vehicles and stretched, carefully checking their surroundings with tense looks. Henry grimaced as he tried to itch around the body armor. Gunny looked around warily; he was going to keep an eye on things out here. Mitch keyed his Bluetooth, “Jolie were at cave three no sign of predators.”
“Ten four,” Jolie responded.
They had been at it for a while; this was their third cave so they now had the routine down. The first two had come up dry, they were either to shallow or too small to get inside beyond ten meters. They could hear the scorpions and centipedes, but when they flashed lights around the animals retreated.
Mitch had been worried about running into a denning dire bear or other animal, but after the first year they had become scarce in the area. They were getting a bit gloomy about finding any armadillos. The sun was getting low; they had less than two hours of light.
“I think this is the last one for the night. Let’s get crackin.” Travis ordered as he pulled his rifle out of the rack and checked the safety.
Piotr stretched, and then elbowed Henry to get busy with the scouts. Travis looked on, then out surveying the area around them for signs of trouble. The robots whirred through their post check list, then into the cavern. Henry’s excited cry of “Pay dirt!” made Travis and Mitch turn and approach him and the LCD controller he had in his lap. They looked, watching the feed from the robot as a rather annoyed armadillo family chittered and ran around trying to avoid the interloper in their midst.
Travis nodded. “Piotr, were going to need the cages.” Piotr nodded and got the cages out.
With a bit of fumbling they managed to stretch tarps over the mouth of the cave, pinning the bottoms with rocks and the tops with stakes. The tarps formed a chute, leading to the cages. When they were ready they had Henry push the scout controls to drive it to the back, dodging around the ‘dillos, then turned he flipped the lights on. The ‘dillos scattered, chattering annoyance. One stood on its rear four feet, pawing the air at the intruder. Its whiskered face twitched. The four eyes were closed, it chattered like a machine gun. Henry smiled. “Wakey wakey mate. Sorry bout that, but we need to borrow you.”
Mitch looked over to the image. “I think it is a girl Henry.”
Henry looked again. A baby poked its head out of the marsupial pouch. “Oh right, my bad. All right love; let’s get you and your baby out here so we can have a look at you.”
He fish tailed the robots back and forth, driving the animals to the entrance. A few turned and ran; some tried to stand their ground. When he bumped one it rolled into a ball. “Okay, this will be fun.” He pushed the ball, rolling it down the chute. When the first cage was full they swapped it for an empty. A baby chattered as it got out, but Mitch gave it a smack on the back to make it roll into a ball.
He chuckled as he scooped it up and set it into the empty cage. “Where do you think you're going huh?” Mitch said, pleased with the catch. Travis lugged the first cage back to the bed of one of the trucks. He swore suddenly making the others look up. “One of critters bit me! Are you sure they are worth this?”
Piotr chuckled. “Live with d’em or da scorpions. Besides d’ey make great basketballs and footballs,” Piotr replied.
The Gunny snorted. “Make them an American style football and their okay with me,” he growled. Travis snorted.
Mitch dodged grasping paws from the cage and called for another empty. The third and final cage filled in a few minutes and then they took down the chute and cleaned up.
“What about the ones that got away?” Henry asked.
Mitch shrugged. “Let them find their own litter boxes to play in.” Henry snorted. Mitch clicked the radio. “Jolie, we have a winner, we have...” He looked at Travis as he counted. After a moment the Seal indicated a number. Mitch grinned and hit the transmit key again. “Twenty, no looked like twenty two new additions to the base.”
A squelch of static and then “Roger that. Thank god. We had another one, it killed a cat. Wayne got stung killing it, he is in the infirmary.” The men looked up grimly.
“How is he?” Mitch asked wary.
“Doc Nicole said he is responding well to the antivenin, looked like it was more of a scratch then a full dose. His hand is all swollen though.” They heard her sigh, and then static.
“Ah, roger that base, were glad he will be okay. We’re on our way,” Mitch replied. He nodded at the team as Travis waved his hand over his head.
“Okay, saddle up!” Travis ordered. He watched the robot dock and then racked his rifle and got in.
“Janet said to hurry up, she isn’t holding diner,” Jolie said over the radio. Travis grunted.
“Roger that,” Mitch replied. “Well, you heard the lady, let’s get a moved on!” They returned to base in a much better mood then when they left.
“I said I was sorry.” Mitch looked over the hummer, sighing. It wasn’t his command hummer, but it was essential to the base. Until they repaired it they would have to use the ambulance in its place. Lisa’s scowl made him feel like an errant child under Janet’s eyes though.
“Look, I said I would fix it,” he sighed. The hummer was pretty beat up, all the windows were smashed, body panels battered and torn. The frame was definitely tweaked, and the tires were shredded.
He stepped past the fuming young woman and dug into the tools. Sh
e had gotten a start on repairs, getting the wheels off and the hood was up, obviously she was working on diagnostics still. He attached the chains to the frame straightener then chained the other side down. She just watched him work, her arms crossed over her chest.
It took nearly an hour of careful pulling, pausing, hammering, and pulling to get the frame and rocker panels pulled out and straight. It would have gone faster had he had both hands... or help but he didn't complain. The groaning and occasional pop of the metal was sometimes startling.
He used the trim tool to remove the trim around the windows, then the grommets holding them in.
It took a bit of maneuvering to get the side windows out; his left arm ached after the second one. When he began to struggle with the rear window he felt the slipping end suddenly lift. “Here let me help,” a familiar voice said. Brian pulled the window up and helped him move it away to the recycling pile. A robot would occasionally come in the garage to pick up a load and carry it off to the recycler.
“Do we have replacements?” Brian asked.
Mitch grunted under the strain of the front windshield. “One more of each, going to have to make some this winter.”
Lisa watched them covertly, and eventually sighed in exasperation and dug in. The damage to the engine was minor Mitch found out, a ruptured fuel line, some wiring, and ruptured exhaust. The U joint damage was a bit harder to fix, they had had to call a Donk in to move the truck to the lift to get under it.
Janet came in, grabbed Mitch’s free hand and smacked a sandwich in it. He took a bite, grimaced at the taste of metal, and then mumbled a thank you. He turned but she was already gone. Lisa giggled.
At the end of the day they managed to get most of the damage repaired. Dora came in, took a look at them trying to do minor body repairs and chased them out and off to bed.
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