Of Blood and Angels (The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 3) (5 page)

The lights in the pub turned up bright and
the bar maids started to clean up.  Dr. Ron snapped shut his netbook and
drained his beer.

“What does this mean?”  Lynne looked at me
with a terrified face.

“It means we're going to limp into a
Spacebase that has drydock and you can either go back to the bay and sign in
for duty again or stay in your cabin with your cell on in case we need to call
you back.”  I took one last sip of my Daiquiri and stood up to let Ron out.

“Doesn't sound like anyone was hurt,”
Jerry mumbled into his beer mug.  “Probably won't need you.  Go home.”

“Yeah,” I agreed.  “But we will get our
share of space chickens.  Bunch of folks will be scared and start having all
sorts of symptoms all in their heads.”

“I think I'd rather stay on duty in the
bay,” Lynne said. 

“Me too,” Geoffrey nodded.  “Come on, I'll
walk you back there.”

“Well, I'm going to take the night off.” 
Jerry stood up and stretched.  His cell chirped.

“Jerry, we need a medical team down on
Deck 17 in the tube to starboard propulsion.”  It was Katie speaking quickly. 
“We've got at least three crew stuck in the tube.  Hurry, please.”

“On my way,” Jerry replied and pointed at
me to get my ass going too.  I ran back to the bay for the emergency medical
kits, yelled to Geoff to bring three gurneys and then headed down to Deck 17.

The tube was basically a long narrow
hallway that ran from the body of the ship to the propulsion chamber on either
side of the hull.  Apparently, when we hit the asteroid, the starboard one
broke off and took with it at least two crew.  Three other crew were in the
tube which had monitoring stations at various points.  When the chamber broke
off, an emergency airlock door shut on either side, and right now, four crew
were in the process of cutting the hull side door back open.

“It appears that about fifty feet down the
length of the tube just past Station 2, the tube is crushed,” Katie was telling
the rescue team.  “We have an indication of three crew in that area, possibly
trapped by debris.  As soon as we get the airlock open, we'll know better.” 

I went to stand by Jerry and handed him
his kit.  Dr. Ron was on his other side.  Katie finished her speech and came
over to join us.

“What are you doing here?” she asked Ron.

“You have a man in there with a skull
fracture and a deep tissue injury,” he replied.

“We do?” Jerry said.  “How do you know
that?”

“What else do we have in there?”  Katie
pulled Ron towards the hallway.  The crew was trying to open the door with old
fashion tools that did not emit sparks just in case there was a gas leak.  It
was taking a long time and making a lot of noise.  Jerry and I followed Katie
outside.

“Two others like you said,” Ron replied. 
“There is a spinal injury which will need to be immobilized before transport. 
The other one…I do not know what is wrong with the other one.  He may be dead.”

“I've got a pulse on my monitor,” Jerry
said and showed us his scanner.

“Brain dead,” Ron replied and his brow
furrowed.  “Maybe.  No, not yet.  I don't know.”

“How do you know any of this?” Jerry
demanded.  “You got your own monitor in your head or something?”

“What about the others?” Katie prodded,
ignoring Jerry’s question.  “Did we lose two with the chamber?”

Ron nodded.  “Sorry.”

“Damn,” Katie moaned and put her hand on
his arm.

“Sorry,” Ron said again.

Katie looked at him strangely.

“You didn't do this, did you?”

He looked taken aback.

“Sorry!” she said quickly.  “You just keep
apologizing.”

“I am sorry I cannot save your crew for
you,” he replied haughtily and then turned to Jerry.  “You will need to work
rapidly if you wish to save the other two.”

“Will you take the skull fracture?” Jerry
asked.  “I'll start the spinal injury with VJ but I may need some help with that
too.  I'm no neuro guy.”

Dr. Ron nodded again.  “Of course.”

There was a shout and the airlock door was
broken open.  Katie ran off to join the rescue team as they moved in to make
sure the walls weren’t going to collapse any further and then Jerry grabbed my
arm and pulled me forward.

Half the ceiling of the tube was smashed
in and there were wires and broken pieces of panelling hanging down.  Jerry and
I ran hunched over to the first crewman who was twisted under the Station 2
console.  His legs were at an odd angle from the rest of his body which meant a
probable spine injury.

“Looks like Ron was right about a spinal,”
I said, checking the crewman's vitals.  I covered him with the emergency
blanket as he had gone shocky and waited for Geoff to roll in with the
stretcher.  Ron was with Geoff and helped transfer the crewman while Jerry and
I moved on to the guy who was trapped at Station 3.

“Sweet Jesus,” Jerry swore.  The guy’s
head was completely under the console.  Blood and brain fluid was seeping out from
under there too.

“Ron!”  Jerry yelled.  “I need you over
here, stat!”

A moment later, Ron was kneeling beside
Jerry, feeling under the console with his hands.

“Caroline, you get a stretcher ready and
we will need some gauze.  Jerry, give me your hand.  Can you feel this?” Ron
said.

“What is it?”

“A piece of the console is piercing his
skull.  I shall break it off and then lift the console out of the way.  Make
sure the piece stays where it is as you slide him out.”

“You want that piece to stay in his head?”
Jerry asked.

“We shall remove it in the OR.  If we take
it out here, we will lose too much tissue with it.  Are you ready?”

“Yeah, are you sure you can lift that by
yourself?” Jerry asked, even as Ron picked up the console.  Jerry yelled for
assistance and two more crew came over and grabbed it from Ron who promptly
climbed underneath it and helped Jerry slide the injured crewman out.  The
doctors lifted him onto the stretcher and I handed Ron the gauze.  He taped the
piece of fiberglass to the poor guy's head while I strapped his limbs down for
transport.  VJ arrived to take him away.

“Prep him, VJ,” Jerry ordered.  “But don't
do anything else until Ron gets there.”

“The last one's over here,” Katie said
grimly and waved for us to follow her down the remaining distance of the tube.

The guy was stuck in the airlock.  Half
his body was lost in space while his upper torso was still with us.  Jerry
knelt down beside him and checked his pupils and vitals.  “He's alive.”  Jerry
shook his head.

“Can you do anything?” Katie asked
quietly.  “We can't open the airlock.”

“We'd have to cut,” Jerry said.  “But
then, he wouldn't survive that.  There’s not enough left.”

“Can you try?”

“Katie, it'll be so painful for him and it
probably won't work.”  Jerry frowned and then looked to Ron.

“You have to try,” Katie insisted.  We all
looked to Ron.  He shook his head.

“We need to get up to surgery.  We have
two patients we can save,” he said.

“I'll stay here with him,” I offered and
knelt down beside the crewman.  I brushed the dust and debris off him and held
his hand.  His eyes were open but I doubt he was seeing me.

“Caroline, I need you upstairs,” Jerry
said.

“Somebody needs to be with him,” I
replied.

“Senya?” Katie said.  “Can you…please?” 
She scrunched up her face and swiped at a tear.

Dr. Ron nodded.  He said something but I
didn’t understand it.  Then he squatted down and waved his hand over the
crewman's face.  The crewman closed his eyes and his chest rattled with his
last breath.  I was swiping at my eyes now too and didn’t even realize then
that Dr. Ron had just made the poor man die by waving his hand over him.

“Poor sweet man,” I said.

“We'll clear the tube then open the
airlock,” Katie ordered.  “His body can fly off into space.  Thanks.”  She
looked up at Dr. Ron and held his hand as we all headed back out of the tube.

All of us except Katie headed up to
surgery and for the next few hours Lynne and I assisted Dr. Ron with the skull
fracture patient.  Lynne and I put him in recovery and Ron switched OR's to help
Jerry, VJ and Geoffrey with the spinal injury.  We had our share of space
chickens too which kept all of us busy for hours.

“I guess I like boring cruises better,”
Lynne remarked as we were all washing up.  All patients were resting quietly by
now.

“At the risk of saying I told you so,”
Jerry replied.  “I did tell you so.”

“You did,” Lynne agreed.  “And you were
right, Doctor.”

“Hey Ron, I owe you a beer,” Jerry called
across the washroom.  “Actually, I owe you a few beers.  We couldn't have done
this without you.”

“Okay, Jerry,” Ron replied.  He was
scrubbing his face and hands.  It was late and he had a significant five
o'clock shadow and even though I was exhausted, I was thinking he was still the
hottest doctor around.  “Another time.  I have to get back to my work.”

“Doesn't sound like you'll be going
anywhere for a few days,” I said.  “We are going to be limping into wherever it
is we are heading.”

“Then you may buy me a beer tomorrow or
the next day,” Ron replied and because he was not wearing his glasses, his
silver eyes flashed which Lynne and I agreed was really very cool.  “I will
come to check on the patients in the morning.  Please ring me if there are any
changes, yes?”

“Good night, Doctor,” Lynne and I called
after him.

“He's dreamy,” Lynne sighed after he had
left.

“Yes, he is,” I agreed. 

The next morning, I was walking down the
hall to sickbay with a bagel and a latte in my hands when I heard all sorts of
yelling coming through the doors.  I started to run, splashing my coffee all
over the carpet but just as I reached the bay, the yelling stopped.  Inside, I
found our two critical patients propped up in their beds and staring at the vid
suspended above them.  In between them, reclining in one of Jerry's office
chairs with his bare feet up on a crash cart was Dr. Ron.  He had his netbook
open on his lap.

“What the heck is going on here?” I
started to say.

“Yes!  I knew he could do it, yes!” 
Thompson, our spinal patient waved his arms.

“No way.”  Scarelli shook his head, which
was wrapped like a mummy.  “Fifty-three yards.  Go figure.”

“I could kick fifty-three yards when I was
in college,” Thompson declared.  “Almost went pro but joined the force instead.

“You're full of it, man,” Scarelli
scoffed.  “When we get out of here you're going to have to prove it to me.”

“I can't even feel my legs now,” Thompson
laughed.  “But when I do, I'll kick that ball and your ass.”

“Next shore leave,” Scarelli challenged. 
“Two teams and one pigskin.  Losers buy the beer.”

“Sounds good, bro,” Thompson replied and
high fived Scarelli between their two beds.  “I'm drafting the Doc here on my
team.  What position you play in college, Doc?”

“Nuh uh.  Doc's on my team,” Scarelli
declared.  "You play ball back on that Rozari planet, Doc?"

“I have never played,” Ron replied.

“What the fuck?” Scarelli yelled.  “Why'd
they pass?  Two yards to go and that shithead passes!”

“Dumb move, moron!” Thompson yelled at the
vid.  "Use your fucking legs and run it in!"

“Hey, Nurse,” Scarelli called to me.  “I
can't watch this game without some pizza and beer.  Any chance you can get us
some?”

“You want what?”  Jerry came in just then
and took a look at the whole scene. 

“You can have Doc Jerry on your team,
Scarelli," Thompson laughed.  “Hey Jerry, you know what a pigskin looks like,
right?”

“Glad to see you are all feeling better,”
Jerry commented just as Katie joined us.

“There you are!” she cried.

“Shhhh!” all the men hissed. 

She glanced at the vid, waiting until the
play was over and the game cut to an advertisement.

“Good morning, Prince Charming,” she said
and walking over to Dr. Ron, she planted a big one on his lips.

“Lucky me.  Today I am Prince Charming,”
he smirked.

“Yes, except you are starting to look like
the Prince of Darkness again.”  She ran her hand across his stubble and
smoothed his hair.  “Maybe you should go back to the cabin and clean up.

“After the game.”  He pushed her out of
the way so Scarelli could see the vid.

“Who's playing?” Katie asked.

“Come on Commander, move out of the way,”
Scarelli said.  “Eagles vs. Saints.”

Katie laughed and moved towards the door. 
“Even I can call that one.  Saints have no chance.  Ron hates men who pretend
to be Saints.  And, he's a little partial to eagles.”