by Ryk Brown
“I assure you, we are not overly sensitive.”
“Good, good, good,” the doctor replied. “Now, the first order of business is to review your findings. I assume you have brought them with you?”
“Of course,” Doctor Chen replied, handing her data pad to Doctor Symyri.
“Yes, yes, yes,” the elder doctor muttered as he examined the medical information displayed on Doctor Chen’s data pad. “I see, I see,” he said as he scrolled through the pages.
“I’m afraid our scans are not as sophisticated as yours,” Doctor Chen apologized. “We have yet to perfect molecular scanning technology.”
“Of course, of course,” Doctor Symyri replied. He glanced up from the data pad for a moment, looking at Doctor Chen. “A tip for your people…it’s all in the rendering software. The molecular scanning head is a simple device, from an engineering standpoint. But the medical AI is a beast of a program. I never would have been able to perfect this system were it not for the help of the Lisorens. Greatest coders in all the galaxy, they are.” He returned to the data pad, sighing as he read on. “I was afraid of this.”
“Afraid of what?” Doctor Sato wondered.
“These are the most recent scans?”
“Taken twenty-four hours ago,” Doctor Chen replied. “What is the problem?”
“The corinite component that I mentioned before, they are affecting the majority of the tissues in her body.”
“What?” Doctor Chen replied in disbelief. “We didn’t detect any spread.”
“Here, and here,” Doctor Symyri explained. “The slight shift in electrolytes, the increased number of mutated cells…”
“What mutated cells?” Doctor Chen defended. “We detected no mutated cells, only traumatized ones.”
“You have to know what to look for,” Doctor Symyri explained. “Which you could only know after years of experience with a molecular scanner.”
“What are you saying?” Jessica demanded to know.
“The patient must be moved to one of our medical stasis units, immediately. Corinite radiation is not slowed by RMS pods. The body’s reduced metabolic state does impede its spread to some degree, but it does not stop it. This is another reason that I insisted you come,” Doctor Symyri added, looking at Doctor Sato. “It may be difficult to find enough unaffected tissue to successfully clone her most severely damaged organs. Furthermore, the spread of the corinite radiation may cause problems when she is brought out of RMS. She may not survive long enough to transfer her to one of our medical stasis pods.”
“You’re saying she could die?” Jessica asked, looking for confirmation.
“I am,” Doctor Symyri admitted. “But if we do not move her, she will undoubtedly die, and soon.”
“How soon?” Jessica asked.
“I’m guessing weeks,” Doctor Chen said.
“Possibly less,” Doctor Symyri warned. “We must move quickly.”
Doctor Chen sighed, looking at Jessica, then back at Doctor Symyri. “Any chance we can confirm your suspicions using your molecular scanner?”
“To some extent, yes, but your RMS pod will cause some inaccuracies, I’m afraid.”
“So, you can’t verify his opinion,” Jessica said, looking at Doctor Chen.
“No, I suppose, I cannot.”
Jessica looked at Doctor Chen, becoming concerned. “Can you clone her?” she asked Michi. “Like you cloned Nathan?”
“It is possible,” Michi replied, “but we don’t have a scan of her memories and personality. She’d be a clean slate.”
“But you can clone her damaged organs for replantation,” Jessica surmised.
“Yes,” Michi assured her, “even if they are already radiated. I can correct any deformities that are found. But the procedures require either a live, stable patient or a corpse. She would need to survive the resuscitation process.”
Jessica sighed, looking to Doctor Chen again.
“You cannot ask me to make this decision, Jess,” Melei objected. “This is for Nathan to decide.”
“Agreed, but I am asking for your advice, just like Nathan would if he were here.”
Corporal Vasya and Specialist Brill appeared at the observation window, tapping on the glass to get Lieutenant Rezhik’s attention.
“Pardon me a moment,” the lieutenant told Jessica.
Doctor Chen took a slow, deep breath. “If Doctor Symyri’s interpretation of our rudimentary scans is correct…”
“Are they?”
“I assure you, they are,” Doctor Symyri insisted.
“Assume for the moment they are,” Doctor Chen told her. “If we try to save her, she might die. If we do nothing, she will most certainly die. The only thing in question is, when?”
“What happens if we wait?” Jessica wondered.
“Wait for what?” Doctor Symyri asked.
“For a better option,” Jessica replied.
“There is no better option, I’m afraid,” Doctor Symyri insisted.
“Even if there were, it is doubtful she would survive long enough,” Doctor Chen added. “Even if Doctor Symyri’s assumptions are incorrect.”
“They are not assumptions,” Doctor Symyri defended.
“Sensitivities, Doctor?” Melei challenged.
“Quite right, my apologies,” Doctor Symyri replied, dipping his head in acknowledgment of her point.
“Then you think we should wake her and move her to one of his medical pods,” Jessica surmised.
“My recommendation would be that you get Nathan back here, as quickly as possible, so he can make that decision.”
“Very well,” Jessica replied, tapping her comm-set. “Josh, Jess. You copy?”
“A little brok…n, but …copy,” Josh replied over her comm-set.
“Take the Seiki back to the Aurora, and fetch Nathan, ASAP.”
“I thou… he …too busy……come?”
“Don’t give him a choice. Understood?”
“But we……got here!”
“Josh,” Jessica warned.
“On o… way,” he replied, recognizing her tone.
“How long will it take for him to get here?” Doctor Symyri wondered.
“At least eighteen hours,” Jessica replied. “She will survive that long, won’t she?”
“I certainly hope so,” Doctor Symyri replied.
“A moment,” Lieutenant Rezhik asked Jessica, having just returned to the room.
Jessica followed the lieutenant out of the examination room and into the observation chamber, where Vasya and Brill were waiting.
“Nice duds,” Corporal Vasya said, commenting on the medical uniforms that Jessica and the lieutenant were both wearing.
“What’s up?” Jessica asked the corporal.
“This place is a joke,” Vasya reported.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, the security is practically nonexistent. It’s a glass house, with open windows.”
Jessica looked at Brill, who nodded his agreement. “Cameras? Card locks?”
“They have them, yes, but they don’t have any response teams. They just call it in to Sanctuary Security,” Vasya explained.
“What kind of response time?”
“A few minutes, at best, unless someone just happens to be in the area.”
“The card locks take all of five seconds to bypass,” Specialist Brill added.
“What about those?” Jessica wondered, pointing at the small emitters in the upper corners of the room. “Aren’t they stunners?”
“Yeah, but they have to get an activation code from Sanctuary Security Command to use them,” Corporal Vasya replied. “Like I said, a joke.”
“How many m
en would it take to make this facility secure?”
“Well, there are only two entry points, so at least four, and probably another two roaming,” Vasya suggested.
“And another two as backup,” the lieutenant added.
“And at least two shifts,” Brill chimed in.
Jessica sighed. “Can we hack the stunners?”
“Probably,” Specialist Brill replied. “But I’d sure hate to find out in a crisis that security has override capabilities.”
“We could do it with fewer men,” the lieutenant said, “if we were allowed to carry our weapons.”
“At least our sidearms,” Brill added.
“Screw that,” Vasya argued, “I want full combat gear.”
Jessica let out an annoyed chuckle. “That’s not going to happen.” She sighed, thinking, and then looked at the lieutenant. “Can you do it with twelve?”
“If we get to carry,” Lieutenant Rezhik replied. “One on each door, two with the principal, a roamer and a backup; two shifts. And the off-shift needs to be no more than a minute away.”
“Very well,” Jessica replied, tapping her comm-set again. “Josh, Jess. Bring eight more Ghatazhak. Armed.”
“Did you……armed?” Josh asked.
“Yup. Full combat gear. And have them bring gear for the five of us, as well.”
“They’re ……impound it……arrival,” Josh warned.
“Let me worry about that,” Jessica told him.
“Under…od.”
Corporal Vasya smiled. “This ought to be good. Mind if I tag along and observe your negotiating tactics?”
“I work better alone,” Jessica told him. “Besides, you guys need to stay here and keep this place secure.”
“What do we do if someone tries to crash this place in the meantime?” Vasya wondered.
“You’re a Ghatazhak, Kit,” Jessica replied. “Beat the snot out of them.”
* * *
“I don’t know,” Nathan admitted, sipping his tea. “As Connor Tuplo, I met a lot of unsavory characters.”
“Any of them seem like would-be dictators?” Cameron wondered.
“That’s a little strong, isn’t it?”
“You said he was looking to start his own empire, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, I suppose. I just figured he was a common pirate with delusions of grandeur. You’d be surprised how many of those I’ve met over the last five years.”
“Are you going to send Jessica back to interrogate the guy?” Cameron wondered, setting her tea on the dining table in the captain’s mess.
“I don’t think I have much choice,” Nathan admitted with a chuckle. “If I don’t give her permission, she’ll probably go anyway, or kick my ass and then go.”
Cameron took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “You nearly got yourself killed, Nathan.”
“Doesn’t sound to me like it was any safer here.”
“Not much, no,” Cameron agreed.
“I wasn’t really in that much danger, you know,” Nathan insisted.
“How do you figure?”
“The Ghatazhak,” Nathan replied. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say they’re even tougher now than they were before, if that’s even possible.”
“They’re different, that’s for sure,” Cameron agreed. “They’re a bit less rigid, and a bit more like the Corinari were.”
“I think Jessica has been a bad influence on them,” Nathan joked.
“She’s changed, as well.”
“She has. She’s a lot tougher than she was. She’s still unpredictable, but she’s more in control than I remember.”
Cameron paused a moment. “You know, I would have gone, had I been asked.”
“Gone where?” Nathan wondered.
“To rescue you from the Jung.”
“Oh, that. You were injured, Cam. They couldn’t wait.”
“I took command of the Aurora before they rescued you, Nathan. I wasn’t that badly hurt. Part of me is angry that they didn’t ask.”
“Yeah, Vlad feels the same way,” Nathan replied.
“I just thought you should know.”
“I do know, Cam. Believe me, I do. Don’t be mad at Jess for not telling you. She was trying to protect you and Vlad. She honestly didn’t believe they were going to pull it off. She didn’t want to take you guys down with her.”
“The point is, it should have been our choice.”
“Had she asked you, we wouldn’t have the Aurora now, and the Dusahn would have complete control over the Pentaurus sector, with no one to oppose them.”
“She couldn’t have known that at the time,” Cameron argued. “She was acting on instinct.”
“And her instincts were right.”
“That doesn’t mean she was right at the time.”
“It kind of does, Cam,” Nathan argued. “Just accept that her decision was not a selfish one, and leave it at that, okay?”
“Of course,” Cameron replied. “I just wanted you to know.”
“I never doubted it,” Nathan insisted.
“You know, I was unsure about you when you first set foot on this ship again.”
“I know. I would’ve been unsure about me, too.” Nathan cocked his head to one side. “How about now?”
“The jury is still out,” Cameron joked, picking up her tea again. After sipping it, she asked, “So, what’s next?”
“Next, we meet with the military leaders of Rakuen, as well as the industrial leaders of both Rakuen and Neramese, to determine what resources they have, if any, to aid in their defense.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know,” Nathan admitted. “But a bunch of jump missile launchers on the surface is only going to slow the Dusahn down. Stationary targets are easy to pick off.”
“We could put them on some of our flatbed pod haulers,” Cameron suggested. “Jump them around; make them difficult to target.”
“The Dusahn are too good at pursuing jump ships, and the pod haulers don’t have any defenses.”
“Maybe we could put them on the gunships?”
“You couldn’t fit more than a few of them on a Cobra gunship,” Nathan pointed out. “And if the Dusahn attack in force, we’ll be too busy slugging it out with their main ships to play missile frigate. If anything, it would be our job to lure their big ships into kill zones.”
“Could we mount a few on a Gunyoki?” Cameron wondered. “There’s five hundred of them, you know. Even if you only got one on each ship…”
“There’s no way to mount a jump missile on a Gunyoki without interfering with their gungines.”
“Gungines?”
“Josh’s name for their engine nacelles, because they have a big plasma cannon on the front of them.”
“Cute.”
“I’d suggest using Reapers, but with that much weight under their extended wings, their CG would be off, and they wouldn’t be able to maneuver very well.”
“We need combat ships,” Nathan told her. “The question is where to get them.”
* * *
“Being deep in Sanctuary’s core, open space is rather limited,” the steward explained as he led Marcus, Neli, Kyle, and Melanie through the entry foyer into the main living space.
“Limited?” Marcus chuckled. “This room, alone, is large enough to hold our entire ship.”
“No, it’s not,” Neli corrected.
“Near enough.”
“The galley is to the right and is fully stocked. The dining space is to the left and is capable of seating up to fourteen.” The steward continued inside, pausing to turn around to face them as he continued his presentation. “You have corridors on either side leading to your
staterooms, eight on each side for a total of sixteen. Each stateroom has its own attached bathroom and can be configured to sleep one or two. Several of the rooms can be combined to form larger staterooms by retracting the common wall, and, if necessary, additional rooms can be added at either end, bringing the number of staterooms up to sixteen per side, for a total of thirty-two…depending on availability, of course.”
“I’m pretty sure we’ll be fine with sixteen, even with the extra people coming,” Neli explained.
“If not, please do not hesitate to let us know,” the steward insisted.
“What’s out there?” Kyle wondered, pointing to the large, sliding glass doors on the other side of the main living space.
“That is your outdoor terrace,” the steward explained. “As I said, space on this part of Sanctuary is limited, so there is no real courtyard. However, I personally prefer the simulation, as it provides a greater variety of environments for you to enjoy.”
“Environments?” Melanie asked, confused.
“Allow me to demonstrate,” the steward suggested, leading them through the massive, glass doors and out onto the terrace. “Set environment to the forests of Boroden,” he requested aloud. A moment later, the pale blue sky beyond the railing changed to a thick, overgrown forest of deep greens, dark browns, and rusty reds, with hints of turquoise light trickling through from above. Creatures of all kinds could be heard in the distance, and the smell and humidity of a dense forest immediately hit them.
“Wow!” Kyle exclaimed.
“It’s beautiful!” Melanie added. She turned to the steward. “Is it real?”
“No, my dear, but it feels real enough.” The steward noticed Kyle trying to reach out and touch the screens against which the projections were being made. “The screens are just out of reach, at five meters. The projections are three-dimensional. Along with the sounds, smells, and environmental changes, the simulation is quite convincing. Even the animals that wander by seem real and will run away if you startle them.”