027.01
I don’t have a sick-bay aboard Ma-rye-a, so Damion was in the guest room with a dying patient in each bed with nothing more than my first-aid kit. I don’t usually need intensive medical treatment. My medical supplies are geared toward a headache or the flu.
The way Damion explained it was that by the Valarians injecting Daniel with anhydrates, his body was full of what must have felt like small medieval maces floating around inside him.
Targus, on the other hand, almost had his arm torn off.
Damion needed a ship load of painkillers, a well-equipped surgery for Targus and an ultrasound-stimulator to break up the rocks in Daniel’s system. Headache and nausea patches were not going to do the trick.
Coal and Ma-rye-a had their heads together, or at least virtually together, trying to find the quickest route to the best facility for the equipment we needed to save our two friends. Ma-rye-a had already kicked herself into hyper-drive, and was speeding toward a window by a little planet labeled M1743H2, when the Valarians overtook us.
“You will return the prisoner,” Warsy was saying over the front viewport.
“We will not!” I stated in something just short of a shout. “We are equipped to fight and will if the need arises. Back off!”
The Valarian A-Factor was a vivid shade of red. He was not happy. Not even close.
I gave the silent signal to Ma-rye-a to cut the transmission.
“Bet he won’t appreciate that,” Coal said.
“I don’t care what he appreciates or doesn’t. He tortured my friend. Nobody treats my friends like that.” I flopped into my captain’s chair with a major pout on my face. “How soon until the window,” I asked Ma-rye-a.
“Just a matter of moments. Buckle up.”
"Any sigh the Valarians are powering up weapons of any sort?" I asked.
"Nope," Sam piped up. "I think you scared them Cap."
"Yeah, right..." I answer offhandedly.
Coal strapped into his co-pilot’s chair. It is not safe to be moving about during a ride through a window. It is not unheard of to encounter another ship while exiting the window. Sometimes fast, critical maneuvers can mean a solid hit on the head or even a broken bone if you aren’t strapped in.
“Damion, we’re going to jump in 2 minutes,” Ma-rye-a informed the doctor.
“Roger that,” Damion replied. “All three secure down here.”
We jumped and the Valarians followed right behind us, like a tail on a comet.
027.02
The hospital staff on Uli Minor had never seen a Walhmite, so Damion was pulled into surgery to repair Targus’ arm. Not that you could have kept him from his captain’s side. Even though he was exhausted from taking care of his two patients all the way to the facility, he should have rested. He didn’t.
Some technician ran the ultrasonic rock breaker (not its real name – which I can’t pronounce) over Daniel under the guiding eyes of another doctor with headgear on that made him look like a giant fly with multifaceted eyes. After a couple of days of rest and having fluids pumped into him Daniel was still weak, but at least not on the critical unit any longer.
The staff was a bit awed by the three Valarians, Warsy and his two escorts, who followed us in. We were the best entertainment they had ever seen, being an all human colony.
Damion had Targus and Daniel put in the same room so he could keep an eye on them. He was checking Targus’ vitals while he slept soundly after surgery. The doctor had kept him sedated so he wouldn’t move and undo all the detailed vein, muscle, tendon, and tissue repair he had so painstakingly done. He intended to wake Targus up tomorrow. His hope was Coal and Daniel would have it all sorted out by then – the NBs, the angry Valarian counsel, and the Galactic Forces officials that wanted their report in triplicate of what happened on Valaria to upset the counsel so badly they wanted permission to extradite all of us back to Valaria for trial.
Coal was sitting at the side of Daniel’s bed with a ‘hot spot’ booster flat he and Ma-rye-a worked up to give Daniel access to her NET connection to INC. He was trying to determine what went wrong with the NBs.
Warsy and his troop were outside in the hall. Damion having ostracized them hours ago when they got in his way while tending first Targus and then Daniel. He was a doctor, this was a hospital, his word was law! No amount of tentacle waving was getting the Valarians any attention from the hospital staff other than gawking.
I admired the doctor more and more. He was a man to be reckoned with. I almost thought had he been along with us on our trip down to Valaria we could have walked out of there with Daniel without an incident.
Daniel gave out a low moan as he shifted in his propped up position on the bed.
“You okay?” I asked and leaned over to adjust the pillow behind his back. “Can I get you something?”
“I’m fine,” he mumbled without taking his eyes of the screen of his flat. His fingers were gliding across it searching for the illusive virus and hopefully the ‘off switch.’
“The minute I logged on the virus began to cascade through the NBs,” he told Coal.
“You triggered it somehow,” the MT computer officer stated the obvious.
We had already heard Daniel’s story of what happened on Valaria and how he ended up where he did.
“Do you think the trigger was in your flat?” Coal asked.
Daniel stopped abruptly and looked up at the officer. “I hadn’t considered that. My firewall is impenetrable.” At the same time, he looked back down at the flat and starting poking a few more keys. “Damn it!”
“What?” I asked, as Daniel continued sliding informational pop-ups around the screen.
“Shit!” he cursed.
Damion came up behind me and placed his hand on my shoulder. We both could feel the anxiety rolling off Daniel in waves.
“Crap!” Daniel said and hurled the flat across the room where it exploded against the wall with a loud crash.
I jumped back in surprise and landed on Damion’s toe. Damion let out a yell, Coal came to his feet, and Targus slept on in blissful oblivion.
Coal went over to retrieve the device from the floor. “I take it you found out it was your fault?”
“Someone downloaded the trigger into my system. The minute I logged in I tipped it to spread through the whole damn chain of NBs,” Daniel confessed.
“Well, that’s a good thing,” Coal said. He came back to sit at Daniel’s side and started to piece the flat back together. Luckily they are sturdy little machines and can take a lot of abuse. Coal was just popping it back together.
“Right…” Daniel said. Lights were going off. I have seen him like this in the past when some idea dawns on him. He reached over and grabbed the flat from Coal. “I think I know who did it, it’s just a matter of proving it.”
027.03
Dangling from a sheet hanging out of the second story window of Daniel and Targus’ hospital room, I wondered if I had made the right decision. I was on a rescue mission, but it looked like I was the one needing to be rescue at the moment. I have great lower body strength. I could stomp a Tuldavian swamp lizard to death with my spacer boots, but I have no upper body strength. Luckily, Coal thought to tie an occasional knot in the sheets, so I was just cascading from knot to knot. I was losing my grip and concerned that the next one I hit would make my hold break altogether and I would go crashing to ultimately break something and foil our plan for escape. I couldn’t help but ogle the hard ground below.
Our plan was hatched during the day today when Daniel and Coal, putting their two heads together, managed to finally track down the source of the NB virus. The perp was a master at covering his tracks. Daniel was like a dog on a scent. He was certain he knew who it was – there were only a few who had been close enough to hack into his server. He knew it wasn’t me. I have to be shown the way into one of his intricate gift boxes of chocolates. This culprit’s identity was buried very deep. It took three full days of searching to prove it was Matt Milestone A.K.A. Zackary Taylor, Daniel’s gaming buddy.
There had been no further accidents reported from contact of ships with the virus infected NBs since the initial dozen or so. Total body counts was eighty-three, but the problem now was the NB were all deactivated and traffic that normally used them to navigate from planet to planet was at a standstill. Critical supplies were in limbo until something could be done. You didn’t just randomly navigate through space in hyper drive. That would be like Free Riding and wouldn’t end well.
Targus, who was somewhat mobile, but very sore, tried to negotiate with the Valarians, left by Warsy as guards, when he left to consult with the Galactic Officials on the release of Daniel to them for further interrogation. The Valarians were not cooperating in the least. They had their orders to not leave the hallway outside our door. Daniel was to stay put. If Damion, Coal or I left the room we were followed by one of the guards until we returned. I couldn’t out maneuver them. I tried.
So I was escaping out the window to go get my pod, bring it back to the window and pick up Daniel and Coal. We were going to go to Matt/Zack’s home and get the information we needed to put the NBs back online. Targus wanted us to do it. He didn’t want to go through channels and give Zack time to escape in case he was on the move. MT Units are not called mobile for nothing. They can follow a case across any boarders or through any space. With the destruction of his ship, Targus was taking this really personal. Almost having his arm ripped off had only fueled his fervor. Damion and Targus were going to stay to face the Valarians and the wrath of the Galactic Officials when they found out we smuggled Daniel out.
I’d reached the last knot in the end of the sheet and I was still a good eight feet off the ground. I pushed off with my feet, did a twist in the air and hit the ground rolling. I was very pleased I did not break anything. I hustled my butt toward the landing platform and my waiting pod.
I was pleased to see the Valarians did not have the forethought to place a guard on my landing pod. It was just sitting there ready for takeoff.
“Ma-rye-a?” I asked as I slipped into my seat and placed my headphone on.
“Right here, Captain,” she replied.
“I’m headed over to get the guys. Get yourself rived up and ready. We will be there before you know it, provided we don’t run into anything glitchie.”
“Ready and waiting,” Ma-rye-a answered.
I slid the controls back and quietly lifted off the pad. I maneuvered staying low to the ground, just skimming the lawn then lifting a bit to skim over the cars. I was lucky. The area at the back of the hospital, the way the room faced was just a rec area and a large parking lot for in town vehicles. I saw a scooter pull out, but nothing more. No one paid me any mind until I smacked the light post I didn’t see while watching the scooter gal. Hey, it was a nice scooter. I had been thinking of getting one for when I make port. It would be handy not to have to rely on public transit. Some of the places I go don’t have any.
When I smacked the pole I hit it hard enough to bend it, that made the cover above the light tilt and fall on a personal hover craft below, which resulted in the damn thing’s alarm sounding.
I pushed the pod into overdrive and soared up to the window of Daniel and Targus’ room just as the Valarians turned, attracted by the noise out back. I hovered outside the window and dropped the pod’s ramp. My pod it large enough for two human’s comfortably, two humans and a seven foot Realdat makes for a tight fit, but Daniel and Coal made it aboard just as the Valarians came rolling into the room through the door, tentacles waving in frustration.
I smiled and waved back as I pulled up the ramp. By the time they made it to their pod and back to their ship we would be long gone.
I don’t have a sick-bay aboard Ma-rye-a, so Damion was in the guest room with a dying patient in each bed with nothing more than my first-aid kit. I don’t usually need intensive medical treatment. My medical supplies are geared toward a headache or the flu.
The way Damion explained it was that by the Valarians injecting Daniel with anhydrates, his body was full of what must have felt like small medieval maces floating around inside him.
Targus, on the other hand, almost had his arm torn off.
Damion needed a ship load of painkillers, a well-equipped surgery for Targus and an ultrasound-stimulator to break up the rocks in Daniel’s system. Headache and nausea patches were not going to do the trick.
Coal and Ma-rye-a had their heads together, or at least virtually together, trying to find the quickest route to the best facility for the equipment we needed to save our two friends. Ma-rye-a had already kicked herself into hyper-drive, and was speeding toward a window by a little planet labeled M1743H2, when the Valarians overtook us.
“You will return the prisoner,” Warsy was saying over the front viewport.
“We will not!” I stated in something just short of a shout. “We are equipped to fight and will if the need arises. Back off!”
The Valarian A-Factor was a vivid shade of red. He was not happy. Not even close.
I gave the silent signal to Ma-rye-a to cut the transmission.
“Bet he won’t appreciate that,” Coal said.
“I don’t care what he appreciates or doesn’t. He tortured my friend. Nobody treats my friends like that.” I flopped into my captain’s chair with a major pout on my face. “How soon until the window,” I asked Ma-rye-a.
“Just a matter of moments. Buckle up.”
"Any sigh the Valarians are powering up weapons of any sort?" I asked.
"Nope," Sam piped up. "I think you scared them Cap."
"Yeah, right..." I answer offhandedly.
Coal strapped into his co-pilot’s chair. It is not safe to be moving about during a ride through a window. It is not unheard of to encounter another ship while exiting the window. Sometimes fast, critical maneuvers can mean a solid hit on the head or even a broken bone if you aren’t strapped in.
“Damion, we’re going to jump in 2 minutes,” Ma-rye-a informed the doctor.
“Roger that,” Damion replied. “All three secure down here.”
We jumped and the Valarians followed right behind us, like a tail on a comet.
027.02
The hospital staff on Uli Minor had never seen a Walhmite, so Damion was pulled into surgery to repair Targus’ arm. Not that you could have kept him from his captain’s side. Even though he was exhausted from taking care of his two patients all the way to the facility, he should have rested. He didn’t.
Some technician ran the ultrasonic rock breaker (not its real name – which I can’t pronounce) over Daniel under the guiding eyes of another doctor with headgear on that made him look like a giant fly with multifaceted eyes. After a couple of days of rest and having fluids pumped into him Daniel was still weak, but at least not on the critical unit any longer.
The staff was a bit awed by the three Valarians, Warsy and his two escorts, who followed us in. We were the best entertainment they had ever seen, being an all human colony.
Damion had Targus and Daniel put in the same room so he could keep an eye on them. He was checking Targus’ vitals while he slept soundly after surgery. The doctor had kept him sedated so he wouldn’t move and undo all the detailed vein, muscle, tendon, and tissue repair he had so painstakingly done. He intended to wake Targus up tomorrow. His hope was Coal and Daniel would have it all sorted out by then – the NBs, the angry Valarian counsel, and the Galactic Forces officials that wanted their report in triplicate of what happened on Valaria to upset the counsel so badly they wanted permission to extradite all of us back to Valaria for trial.
Coal was sitting at the side of Daniel’s bed with a ‘hot spot’ booster flat he and Ma-rye-a worked up to give Daniel access to her NET connection to INC. He was trying to determine what went wrong with the NBs.
Warsy and his troop were outside in the hall. Damion having ostracized them hours ago when they got in his way while tending first Targus and then Daniel. He was a doctor, this was a hospital, his word was law! No amount of tentacle waving was getting the Valarians any attention from the hospital staff other than gawking.
I admired the doctor more and more. He was a man to be reckoned with. I almost thought had he been along with us on our trip down to Valaria we could have walked out of there with Daniel without an incident.
Daniel gave out a low moan as he shifted in his propped up position on the bed.
“You okay?” I asked and leaned over to adjust the pillow behind his back. “Can I get you something?”
“I’m fine,” he mumbled without taking his eyes of the screen of his flat. His fingers were gliding across it searching for the illusive virus and hopefully the ‘off switch.’
“The minute I logged on the virus began to cascade through the NBs,” he told Coal.
“You triggered it somehow,” the MT computer officer stated the obvious.
We had already heard Daniel’s story of what happened on Valaria and how he ended up where he did.
“Do you think the trigger was in your flat?” Coal asked.
Daniel stopped abruptly and looked up at the officer. “I hadn’t considered that. My firewall is impenetrable.” At the same time, he looked back down at the flat and starting poking a few more keys. “Damn it!”
“What?” I asked, as Daniel continued sliding informational pop-ups around the screen.
“Shit!” he cursed.
Damion came up behind me and placed his hand on my shoulder. We both could feel the anxiety rolling off Daniel in waves.
“Crap!” Daniel said and hurled the flat across the room where it exploded against the wall with a loud crash.
I jumped back in surprise and landed on Damion’s toe. Damion let out a yell, Coal came to his feet, and Targus slept on in blissful oblivion.
Coal went over to retrieve the device from the floor. “I take it you found out it was your fault?”
“Someone downloaded the trigger into my system. The minute I logged in I tipped it to spread through the whole damn chain of NBs,” Daniel confessed.
“Well, that’s a good thing,” Coal said. He came back to sit at Daniel’s side and started to piece the flat back together. Luckily they are sturdy little machines and can take a lot of abuse. Coal was just popping it back together.
“Right…” Daniel said. Lights were going off. I have seen him like this in the past when some idea dawns on him. He reached over and grabbed the flat from Coal. “I think I know who did it, it’s just a matter of proving it.”
027.03
Dangling from a sheet hanging out of the second story window of Daniel and Targus’ hospital room, I wondered if I had made the right decision. I was on a rescue mission, but it looked like I was the one needing to be rescue at the moment. I have great lower body strength. I could stomp a Tuldavian swamp lizard to death with my spacer boots, but I have no upper body strength. Luckily, Coal thought to tie an occasional knot in the sheets, so I was just cascading from knot to knot. I was losing my grip and concerned that the next one I hit would make my hold break altogether and I would go crashing to ultimately break something and foil our plan for escape. I couldn’t help but ogle the hard ground below.
Our plan was hatched during the day today when Daniel and Coal, putting their two heads together, managed to finally track down the source of the NB virus. The perp was a master at covering his tracks. Daniel was like a dog on a scent. He was certain he knew who it was – there were only a few who had been close enough to hack into his server. He knew it wasn’t me. I have to be shown the way into one of his intricate gift boxes of chocolates. This culprit’s identity was buried very deep. It took three full days of searching to prove it was Matt Milestone A.K.A. Zackary Taylor, Daniel’s gaming buddy.
There had been no further accidents reported from contact of ships with the virus infected NBs since the initial dozen or so. Total body counts was eighty-three, but the problem now was the NB were all deactivated and traffic that normally used them to navigate from planet to planet was at a standstill. Critical supplies were in limbo until something could be done. You didn’t just randomly navigate through space in hyper drive. That would be like Free Riding and wouldn’t end well.
Targus, who was somewhat mobile, but very sore, tried to negotiate with the Valarians, left by Warsy as guards, when he left to consult with the Galactic Officials on the release of Daniel to them for further interrogation. The Valarians were not cooperating in the least. They had their orders to not leave the hallway outside our door. Daniel was to stay put. If Damion, Coal or I left the room we were followed by one of the guards until we returned. I couldn’t out maneuver them. I tried.
So I was escaping out the window to go get my pod, bring it back to the window and pick up Daniel and Coal. We were going to go to Matt/Zack’s home and get the information we needed to put the NBs back online. Targus wanted us to do it. He didn’t want to go through channels and give Zack time to escape in case he was on the move. MT Units are not called mobile for nothing. They can follow a case across any boarders or through any space. With the destruction of his ship, Targus was taking this really personal. Almost having his arm ripped off had only fueled his fervor. Damion and Targus were going to stay to face the Valarians and the wrath of the Galactic Officials when they found out we smuggled Daniel out.
I’d reached the last knot in the end of the sheet and I was still a good eight feet off the ground. I pushed off with my feet, did a twist in the air and hit the ground rolling. I was very pleased I did not break anything. I hustled my butt toward the landing platform and my waiting pod.
I was pleased to see the Valarians did not have the forethought to place a guard on my landing pod. It was just sitting there ready for takeoff.
“Ma-rye-a?” I asked as I slipped into my seat and placed my headphone on.
“Right here, Captain,” she replied.
“I’m headed over to get the guys. Get yourself rived up and ready. We will be there before you know it, provided we don’t run into anything glitchie.”
“Ready and waiting,” Ma-rye-a answered.
I slid the controls back and quietly lifted off the pad. I maneuvered staying low to the ground, just skimming the lawn then lifting a bit to skim over the cars. I was lucky. The area at the back of the hospital, the way the room faced was just a rec area and a large parking lot for in town vehicles. I saw a scooter pull out, but nothing more. No one paid me any mind until I smacked the light post I didn’t see while watching the scooter gal. Hey, it was a nice scooter. I had been thinking of getting one for when I make port. It would be handy not to have to rely on public transit. Some of the places I go don’t have any.
When I smacked the pole I hit it hard enough to bend it, that made the cover above the light tilt and fall on a personal hover craft below, which resulted in the damn thing’s alarm sounding.
I pushed the pod into overdrive and soared up to the window of Daniel and Targus’ room just as the Valarians turned, attracted by the noise out back. I hovered outside the window and dropped the pod’s ramp. My pod it large enough for two human’s comfortably, two humans and a seven foot Realdat makes for a tight fit, but Daniel and Coal made it aboard just as the Valarians came rolling into the room through the door, tentacles waving in frustration.
I smiled and waved back as I pulled up the ramp. By the time they made it to their pod and back to their ship we would be long gone.
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