Prophet of ConFree (The Prophet of ConFree)

by Marshall S. Thomas

  "That’s pretty good," Saka said. "What does Amen mean?"

  "I don’t know, but Bees always ends her prayers with an Amen."

  "Let’s go to sleep." Ice said. "And I’m not going to sleep alone. I want both of you to join me in the bed."

  "Both of us?" I could hardly believe it.

  "Yes, both of you. I want to sleep with my squadies. No sex, we just sleep. I’m lonely, and I’m sick of sleeping alone in that hellhole hospital and I want both of you beside me."

  And that’s what we did. Ice slept in the center of the bed, and Saka and I were by her sides. Ice held hands with both of us, and drifted off to sleep just like an angel. We slept like children, innocent and carefree.

  At one point I woke up. I thought about the Brights. Yes, it was miraculous, what they had done. Bees said they were angels. Well maybe they were. Maybe the Brights were angels, or maybe the angels were Brights. The answer was probably lost forever in prehistory. But whatever you called them, they were damned formidable folks and could do wonderful – even miraculous – things. But what was a miracle anyway? Maybe it was just technology that was so advanced that it appeared to be magical to primitives like us.

  Δ

  The next morning we had breakfast in the mess hall. Another wonderful meal. It was almost like being in heaven, it was so good. The mess hall was crowded, but we found a table and lingered there over dox when we were through with the meal.

  "Did either of you ever have any weird dreams when you were in the hospital?" I asked.

  "Yeah, that’s what the white coats were always asking me," Ice said. "But they never told me why. Yeah, I had dreams. But I figured it wasn’t any of their damned business, and I didn’t tell them."

  "How about you, Saka?"

  "I had dreams. Really strange dreams. And they were asking me, too. But I just said no. I guess they were keeping me alive, and maybe I owed them. But it sure didn’t feel like it."

  "What were your dreams about, Ice?"

  "Well, the hospital was such a hellhole that the dreams were almost a relief. They were intense but really hard to remember and hard to describe. It was – sometimes – as if I suddenly had this very clear view of the universe, and things that I had always wondered about became very clear, and things that I thought were important would fade away and become meaningless. I would sometimes wake up from these intense dreams, and my skin would be tingling and I would be on the verge of tears, happy tears, and I would be paralyzed with love and peace and joy. Kwan would come to me, his face shining with love, and embrace me, and Bees would be there and kiss me on the forehead and – well, you would be there, Prophet, and you would reach out and make the cross of the Legion over my face. Then I’d wake up crying with grief because I was in that damned hospital. Sometimes they’d wake me in the middle of the night to give me my sleeping pill and they’d interrupt a wonderful dream. It’s no wonder I hated them." She paused to brush away a tear.

  "I’ve changed, Prophet. I’ve really changed. Last night I found myself waking up. Prophet, you were snoring to raise the roof, and I thought it was the most wonderful sound I’d ever heard. And Saka and you were still holding my hands. I never felt more safe or happy or blessed. I thought they love me, and I love them. You know, I love everyone in Delta. I’ll tell you that right now. I used to hate all men, but that’s gone. I know what love is now. Kwan taught me, and you taught me, and Bees taught me."

  "I guess we’d better get back to the cube," I said. "This is getting a bit too intense for me."

  Δ

  "The Director has discussed your report with Dr. Wellesley," Twister informed us. Twister was Snow Leopard's personal assistant, a tall, wiry girl with short reddish hair. She wore the combat cross on her blacks. That was all the identification she needed for me. We were in a Galactic Information conference room, reporting as ordered. "The Director has ordered Dr. Wellesley to respond personally to your report by explaining the actions of his staff to the three of you. The Director views your report with great concern. At the same time, he realizes that the work of the Recovery Hospital on your three cases is critical to our understanding of the Brights and their intervention on Galinta, and he desires that you continue to work with the hospital on that issue." She smiled at us hopefully. We did not respond.

  Doctor Wellesley and Doctor Graham – my own Nurse Grim - entered the room and joined us at the conference table. Nurse Grim sat down. Doctor Well was pale and uneasy. He had evidently just spoken with Director Snow Leopard. He remained standing, and spoke without notes.

  "Troopers Prophet, Saka and Ice," he said. "On behalf of the entire Legion Neurological and Physiological Reconstructive Recovery Hospital, Doctor Graham and I wish to apologize for our most grievous failures in patient care that were made in your cases. These patient care failures were not in our treatment of your injuries, which were exemplary, highly successful and up to the finest standards in advanced medical care. The failures were in our brisk, impersonal and seemingly uncaring treatment of you as individual patients, our disregard of your individual humanity, dignity, wants and needs. Prophet, I read your entire report. I immediately launched an internal investigation. Everyone involved in your three cases read the report. We concluded that everything you wrote was entirely true, and that we were entirely in the wrong. Looking at it from the patient point of view, our treatment of you was unjustified, thoughtless and inhumane. We are devastated by this indictment of our emergency procedures. We have already re-written our patient care regulations to ensure this never happens again."

  He paused for a moment, seemingly trying to get a grip on his emotions. Nurse Grim's face was twitching and she produced a tissue from a pocket and dabbed at her eyes. Her hands were trembling. I'll be damned.

  "There is no defense for what happened. However, I want you to know that we are entirely focused on our patients, on treating them correctly and keeping them alive and nursing them back to health. Our patients are often so badly wounded that they cannot speak, and there is no time to interact with them. Such was the case with Saka and Ice. We have to treat such patients quickly and correctly as there is no time to waste. Their wounds were completely unique, critical and very very serious. We believe our treatment saved their lives. But our behavior during the recovery process was wrong. We can only assure you this will never happen again. The Legion Neurological and Physiological Reconstructive Recovery Hospital accepts full responsibility for its treatment of you."

  He sat down awkwardly, seemingly exhausted, eyes unfocused.

  "Why didn't you tell Ice and Saka that they had been killed in action, and brought back to life by the Brights?" I asked.

  "We wanted them to make a full recovery. Telling them that they had already died once would add considerably to the mental stress they were already suffering. We planned on telling them later – when the recovery process was further along," Doctor Well replied.

  "Why not let Ice and Saka see each other – as they wanted to?"

  "That was a poor decision on our part. Letting patients view other patients or loved ones with severe injuries often results in stress and psychological trauma; that was our thought."

  "All right. How about sharing with us what you observed about the Bright field surgery, as you called it – the healing that resulted from the Bright laying on of hands?"

  "Gladly! We were astounded when we observed the results, and the combat images of the incident and what the Brights did. It may be tempting to call it a miracle but it was a result of advanced science – so advanced we are not sure how they accomplished it. Saka's case was astonishing – an almost fully severed spine, a shattered skull, a head almost completely decapitated, and numerous bones shattered and broken all over the upper chest – injuries leading to instant paralysis and death. And Ice had a shattered skull as well and numerous other injuries that resulted in her death. The Bright soldier healed all those injuries – including death – with his hands, in a few moments. When we examined the patient
s internally and externally we found bones and organs that had been moved into their proper places and reconnected with all severed nerves and blood vessels. The skull and spine were reconnected and all broken bones were rapidly knitting together. Traumatic swelling of the brain was minimized with a series of microchannels to relieve pressure. The spine was bristling with new nerves, a giant forest of new nerves that were growing with amazing speed. A new highway of blood vessels was sprouting in the affected areas, and internal bleeding ceased as the tissue repaired itself. We found extensive evidence of both flash freezing and advanced heat cauterization with no tissue damage. And the hearts – good Lord! They're as healthy as a newborn. Your veins and arteries are obstruction free. This science is – astounding. That's why we were so tightly focused on it."

  "If we learn how the Brights did it," Nurse Grim interrupted, "we'll be able to revive dead soldiers in the field. Heal all their injuries, instantly. It's not a miracle. It's science. We've taken millions of images of your brains, and of all the injuries and the ongoing healing process. We've got enough to work on these issues for years - maybe decades. The goal is to heal the sick and, if we can, heal the dead. That's what we do." She seemed thrilled by the prospect, and proud of her work.

  "And what did you learn from the brainscans? Did you see anything unusual?" I asked.

  "You bet we did!" Doctor Well exclaimed. "Prophet, Ice and Saka. Your brains are no longer normal. There's something in there that we do not yet understand. We have images of the new structures that are similar in all three cases. Again, millions of images. That's why we’ve been asking you about your dreams, especially in view of your vision, Prophet, and its subsequent confirmation. We wondered if Ice and Saka had similar dreams, and visions. Did you?"

  "Sure," Saka said.

  "That's a ten," Ice replied.

  "Why didn’t you tell us?" Doctor Well asked.

  "You were the enemy. Why didn't you tell us the reason you wanted to know? If we thought of you as friendlies, if you told us how important it was, we would have told you."

  "I see. So that was our fault, too. I am depressed by our failures in patient care. This is a hard lesson for us. So – Prophet – please tell me. We all want to know. Do you plan to seek prosecution of our staff members for mistreating wounded soldiers? That would signal the end of the Recovery Hospital."

  "No. Not anymore. You've apologized, you've taken steps to ensure it won’t happen again, and you're doing important work. Twister, please tell the Director we will not seek prosecution."

  "I'm sure he'll be happy to hear that," she said, with a smile.

  "Prophet, it is still critically important that we further investigate this subject," Doctor Well said. "We'd like to continue to meet with you and your comrades."

  "We won't go back to the hospital. If you want to question us about dreams, or whatever, we'll be available to you – here. But there'll be no more IV's, medications, sedation, or brainscans. You already have millions of images, you said that yourself. Twister, can we use a conference room here to have meetings with the hospital doctors?"

  "That will be fine. You can use this room. Just check with me to arrange the appointments, and I'll have the room stocked with dox, tea, cold drinks and snacks."

  "Excellent. Thank you. Doctor Well – uh, Wellesley – we'll be happy to help you, but we do not want this to be an open-ended commitment. We are all anxious to return to our squad. Please draw up a schedule that will allow you to ask your questions and allow us to leave here in as few weeks as possible."

  "Thank you, Prophet. Thank you! I will do that. The work is so important!"

  "We agree the work is important, Doctor," I replied. "I can't say I will recommend a stay in the Recovery Hospital to my friends. But we'll help you."

  "Thank you. Thank you!"

  Chapter 13

  Space-A

  We met with the doctors daily, sometimes more than once a day, and answered all their questions. Other than that, our schedule was free. Then one day I discovered something really interesting. I was in the Director's office, asking Twister how we would eventually get back to Galinta.

  "Well, that depends on when it is that you want to leave," she said, "and what's going there. It can't be scheduled in advance. In your case, you'll have orders but with only three of you, you'll have to go Space-A."

  "Space-A. What's that?"

  "It's Space Available. If the ship has the space for you and you have orders or even leave you can go – but only if there is space available for you. There usually is plenty of space available on starships, but not always in wartime. So to return to Galinta, you'll be hitching a ride on whatever's going your way."

  "What do you mean 'even leave'? You mean you can take leave and hop on a starship?"

  "Well sure, if you're Legion or Fleetcom or any kind of official government traveler. I mean, if you have leave to travel. "

  "Does it have to be official travel?"

  "No, it can be personal travel. As long as your supervisor approves your absence."

  "And it won't cost me anything?"

  "No, it's one of the benefits available to government personnel. That's the whole idea of Space-A. It's free."

  Δ

  From that moment on, I was obsessed. At first, I was so excited I was shaking. Veltros was right in the Crista Cluster, only seven light years from Quaba. And there were endless starships flowing between Quaba and Veltros, all the time. I looked over the shipping schedule and the meeting schedule with the doctors. There was a long weekend with no meeting on Fiday and a rare Offday on Oneday following the weekend. I submitted my leave request to Twister and explained why I wanted it. She approved it with a smile.

  During that week, my mind was not on the meetings, but I tried to be helpful. They asked me whether I had any unusual recent dreams and I said no. But that was not quite accurate. I had experienced one strange dream that was vivid and quite realistic. It had nothing to do with the Brights, though, so I hadn't mentioned it.

  My plan was to take space-A to Veltros, deboard at Providence Starport, walk up to Honeyhair's residence – and say hello. I wanted to surprise her. I hadn't even told her I was in the Cluster so she would not be expecting me at all. All personal commo to and from Galinta was on comdown so we had not heard from the girls in some time, and Honeyhair had no idea where I was.

  The dream I had was probably an outcome of my worries about Honeyhair. In my dream, I approached the door of Honeyhair's residence. Actually it was her parent's residence. I was so excited. I rang the doorbell. Then I could hear someone approaching the door. It opened. A tall, muscular young male stood there, shirtless, in shorts. He had close-cropped blond hair and he was sweating – as if he had just been engaged in…something physical.

  "Yeah? Whattaya want?" he asked, impatiently. It was clear I was interrupting him. He was still breathing hard.

  "I – I'm looking for Sheila Dantos," I said. And my dream ended there. I dreamt that twice, and the events were exactly the same both times. But that's crazy, I thought. Honeyhair lived with her parents. She certainly wouldn’t be shacking up with some young giant in her parents' home. No, that was crazy. I was just too focused on the trip, too worried. Honeyhair wouldn’t cheat on me – would she?

  Δ

  I said goodbye to Ice and Saka, cautioning them to be careful with the doctors. Ice said goodbye with a kiss on the cheek and Saka gave me a big hug. Who could want better comrades than these?

  The transport Star Turtle was a delight. The Legion had taught me to appreciate all the simpler things in life – cold water, tasty food, conditioned air, a warm bed, and above all, dependable, loving friends.

  Relaxing in the roomy main passenger cabin, sipping ice water and reading the Legion Tacmap newsflash on a little d-screen sprouting from the arm rest of my airchair, I thought all was well with the world, for at least a little while. The dream still bothered me, but I decided to forget it. I looked over the main story.


  COMBAT CONTINUES ON GALINTA

  Eden, Galinta – 382/06/14 - From our Legion Tacmap correspondent on Galinta. Following two major tactical victories in Eden and Demon Hill, Allied forces are continuing to pursue, engage and destroy Demon ground and space-air units that show no signs of slowing their ongoing campaign to seize and colonize the Gulf world of Galinta. Legion Hqs has characterized Demon losses as extensive, with hundreds of saucers destroyed and thousands of D soldiers killed. Legion air and ground casualties have been described as moderate. This is Hqs-speak for 'heavy.' The Legion Tacmap sympathizes with our gallant boots and vacheads and with our steadfast allies of the Assidic Confederation and the Biogen People's Solidarity Accord. We pray for victory and urge the home front to support our soldiers. Once our victory on Galinta is complete we urge the ConFree Council to take strong measures against the criminal regimes of the Asumara Holy Commune, the Gulf Union and the Pegal Stelcom, which have refused to take any responsibility for developments in their own sector.

  I turned the device off, depressed. Still fighting! Won't they ever give up? Must we kill them all? And what if we do? What's to prevent them from striking at another world – maybe someplace in the Crista Cluster? They seem to have an inexhaustible supply of saucers and troops. They probably don't, but what do we know? They're invading from another universe, with the Brights pursuing them. It's victory or death for them – right?