Space Rescue One (8 page)

***

Shelly felt the hand reach out and grab her in the dimly lit corridor. Before she could scream against the hand over her mouth, she felt the syringe. The last thing she remembered, she was falling.

***

Richard saw the shoe lying in the corridor. For a moment, he thought nothing of it until he was almost to it. He was only about one meter from it when he noticed the Rescue Team One insignia on the outer back part of it. For a moment, his mind groped for an explanation. Then he heard the sound of fabric seals parting through a slightly open cabin door. At first, he thought it was none of his business, but curiosity got the better of him. He wondered who from one of the teams was making it with one of the passengers. He glanced in as he shoved the shoe against the open door where it would be less of a tripping hazard and easily found by its owner. He was shocked to see that Shelly was in the room. He was about to walk away heartbroken when he noticed that the scene didn't appear quite right. She wasn't helping at all in being undressed. Then he noticed that she didn't even appear conscious. He pushed on the cabin door.

      The man inside stopped undressing Shelly and turned toward the opening cabin door. He lunged at it, seeking to keep out anyone who might interfere or discover the truth.

      Richard felt the door hit him hard. He fell backwards as the door almost reached the jamb. The shoe with its steel safety inserts in the toe caught between the door and jamb. Before it could be removed by the man, Richard launched himself from the deck and against the door with as much force as he could muster. The man fell back into the room. Before the man recovered his feet fully, Richard kicked out once with his own steel-capped shoes, catching the man in the jaw. The man jerked up and fell back in a heap farther inside the cabin.

      Seeing no more resistance from the man, Richard quickly checked to see if he was alive or not. Satisfied that the man was alive and not in danger of dying, Richard turned his attention to Shelly.

      It took a few moments to pull her clothes back into place after discovering that she was truly unconscious as he'd suspected. He retrieved her shoe and replaced it on her foot. Taking her arm over his shoulder, he half-carried and half-dragged Shelly out of the cabin. Reaching the corridor, he gently let her slump down against the bulkhead to the deck. He turned and closed the cabin door, satisfied that he had sufficiently punished the perpetrator for what he attempted. Richard felt sure that the man would likely have to nourish himself with liquids for several weeks. Richard turned to pick Shelly back up.

      In the dim corridor light, a distant voice came to him. "Hey, you! What are you doing? Security! Security!"

      Unsure of how he looked to others, Richard thought of his job first. Without his job, he didn't have a chance in the universe of fulfilling his obligation. He paused for only a mere moment of indecision before he quickly walked away from Shelly, leaving her to be found by the ship's security personnel.

***

Chief Dickson exited the bar sooner than he planned when his name was paged over the intercom. In a way, he felt blessed to be called away. The questions the passengers wanted answered were embarrassing and insulting. Despite his polite answers and equally polite denials, several passengers had accused him of everything short of mass murder. He turned the corner in the corridor intersection only to almost bump into Technician Saber.

      "Going to the bar? It's back the way I came from," he said as the two of them continued on in the same direction.

      "I heard you being paged. Thought you might need some help, so I changed directions instead of going to bed," Richard replied.

      "I guess I misjudged you again. Sorry."

      "What's up?" Richard asked.

      "I don't know yet," Isaac answered.

      Isaac glanced at the bandaid on Richard's right hand. "Fall down while drunk?"

      "No, I didn't. I tried to go through a door while someone else was going the other way."

      "Oh."

      The two men continued to walk toward the sick bay area where a doctor was exiting one room and happened to spot them. "I'm glad you got here fast, Chief. I've got one of your people inside. She's okay, near as I can determine. My preliminary estimate is that someone drugged her. Her clothes were somewhat open at the seams. It's my guess that she was probably about to be raped when she was found. She's lucky that someone happened along at the right time to alert security. The man who did this to her got away though. Security is trying to identify him from passenger photos with the help of their witness."

      "One of my people? You mean Shelly?" Isaac asked.

      "Did the witness get a good look?" Richard asked.

      "I'm not sure. They didn't say much about that," the doctor answered.

      "Richard, don't go getting any ideas of finding the bastard first. Let security take care of this. The public has enough misperceptions about us, plus we don't need an incident to further complicate things."

      "Yeah, sure, Chief," Richard replied.

      Isaac whispered to Richard when the doctor turned away for a moment to hang a chart upon a hook, "I want the bastard just as much, but you really don't understand the whole picture. Trust me on this one for once without making a big deal of it."

      Richard nodded.

      "Thanks," Isaac said.

      The doctor turned back to them. "Did you want to see your team member? She's probably still unconscious, but I don't see any harm in you checking on her or staying for a while. It would probably be a good thing if one of you was present when she wakes. In fact, I'm sure it would be."

      "Uh, yes. We'd like to take turns sitting with her. You want the first shift or later, Richard?"

      "Now is fine with me," Richard answered.

      "Okay. I'll let the rest of the team know so they can take a turn, too. Be nice to her if she wakes while you're with her, Richard," Isaac said.

      "Right, Chief."

***

"So, how's your witness doing, Lieutenant?" Dickson asked.

      "Not very well. The corridor was too dark at the time. All he remembers is a male shape. Only a general outline, nothing specific. We tried the photos, but that was all wasted time."

      "I'm sorry to hear that. I've got someone from my team with her now. My whole team will take shifts tonight to be by her side in case she needs anything. When she comes to, we'll notify you. Perhaps Shelly can identify her attacker."

      "Excellent. I appreciate your assistance, Chief."

***

Richard talked quietly next to the unconscious Shelly. "Shelly? How are you doing, honey? I hope you're going okay. I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you than I did. Hopefully you'll understand. I'm just glad I showed up before he had the chance to do what he intended. Anyway, all I can say is that from now on, I'm going to do my best to live up to your ideals. Maybe you'll never want to date me, but I guess I won't mind. I'm sure I won't mind just so long as we can remain friends."

      "Imagine that, me wanting friends, again. I'm getting stupid, you know. Just setting myself up to lose them again like I did before. You don't know how rough it's been to not have friends. Still, I don't know how much longer I can make it by myself. Especially without drinking. Maybe I can make it after all if I let a few friends into my life."

***

Technician Tim Bradley glanced up as Shelly stirred. He smiled at her as she opened her eyes.

      Shelly said, "Where am . . ."

      "You were brought to sick bay by security. Someone saw you in the corridor and alerted security before anything more could happen to you. The whole team's been taking turns sitting here tonight. First there was Richard, then Alex, and now me. The Chief scheduled himself for the next shift," Tim answered.

      "You all are doing that for me?" she asked.

      "Of course. You're part of our team. It wouldn't be the same without you around."

      "Thanks, Tim."

***

"Are you sure you want to work today? You had a close call last night," Isaac said.

      "I'm sure. I got more rest than usual last night. Work should be the best therapy for me to forget what almost happened. I can't let myself become afraid of my work. I knew there were risks when I took the job," Shelly replied.

      "Sure, but rape wasn't one of them. Death or injury, sure, but not rape."

      "Maybe not, but I'll deal with it now as something that might happen. I guess I became too lax in forgetting that."

      "Okay. I just wish you had seen who knocked you out. You're really lucky that someone came by before he had a chance to do more than disturb your clothing."

      "Now that's odd," she said while looking down.

      "What's odd?" Isaac asked.

      "My left shoe is all banged up. It looks like it's been caught in something."

      "You're right. It does."

***

The gurney passed Richard in the corridor as he approached the sick bay area. On it was the man he injured while rescuing Shelly. He didn't even glance twice at the man or show any emotion or recognition. Instead, Richard ignored the man, having learned that Shelly was fine.

      The man saw Richard and looked at his face. Not seeing any recognition in Richard's eyes, he convinced himself that Richard wasn't the man who injured him last night. For that reason, he felt sure it was another team member he wanted his revenge on. Moments later, he saw Isaac with his arm around Shelly as they left her recovery room. Even though Isaac never noticed the man, the man convinced himself that the closeness of the two made it a sure bet that Isaac was responsible. He looked carefully at Isaac's name tag on his uniform, repeating it over and over in his mind so he wouldn't forget it.

***

 "Well, you look pretty awful. Seems like this voyage is a busy one. First the food poisoning. Then an attempted rape last night in the corridor. That woman was lucky that someone spotted her being attacked in the hallway. Now an assault. Were you in your room last night when this occurred?" the nurse asked.

      The man couldn't believe what he just heard. Had the woman's rescuer really failed to report the attempted rape inside the cabin? He wrote down, "I'm not sure where I was. No. In the hall. Yes, I remember now. I was in the hallway near my room. Then I went around a corner. I bumped into someone. There was a whiff of alcohol on his breath. I remember a name tag. Isaac Dickson. Then I got a foot in the face. All for just bumping into the guy. Somehow, I stumbled into my room, I think, before passing out. I'm not missing anything, so I don't think it was a robbery."

***

"How's the shoe feel?" Isaac asked.

      "Well, it feels a bit tight, but I think it's okay for now. I'm still wondering how it got banged up so badly. I don't remember getting my foot caught in anything. I don't remember kicking anything, either," Shelly replied.

      "Maybe it was done by your attacker last night. Maybe he stepped on it."

      "I don't remember that, either."

      "Unless he did it after you were unconscious," Isaac said.

      "Perhaps," she said.

      "Shelly! Are you all right?" Richard asked.

      "Yes, Richard. I'm fine."

      "I'm glad to hear that. I presume you're taking the day off," Richard said.

      "No, I'm not. I'm pulling my share of work today."

      "You are?" asked Richard.

      "Yes, why? You have something against that?" Shelly replied.

      "No. I just thought you'd been through an ordeal and might need a rest."

      "Well, thank you, Dr. Richard Saber."

      "Never mind, then. I was just inquiring."

      Isaac whispered, "Are you sure you're okay? You just snapped at Richard for merely asking about you. You didn't snap my head off. Why his? He was the first team member to stay with you last night after you were brought in."

      Shelly looked at Isaac before saying, "I don't know." She turned to Richard, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you that way. I'm going to be fine as soon as I get over being angry at myself."

      "Forget it, Shelly. I know it's just the trauma affecting you over your near escape. Have a good day," Richard said.

      "Uh, sure, Richard. You, too," Shelly said.

***

Chief Dickson reported to Captain Shortner. He stood at attention as Captain Shortner read to him. ". . . As a result, you're to be charged in a courtmartial for assault on a passenger."

      For once, Isaac let his attention waver. He exclaimed, "What?" as he leaned forward some to get a look at the sheet that Shortner held. Then he caught himself and snapped back straight to a position of attention.

      "That's what I thought when I read the statement forwarded to me by Captain Fogel. Nevertheless, I'm compelled to follow through with this charge and convene a court-martial. In the meantime, you're restricted to the ship unless carrying out your duties," Captain Shortner said.

      "Yes, sir. May I comment?" asked the chief.

      "Sure, but it's not going to change anything. I still have to follow through on this."

      "Sir, I don't even know that man. In fact, I can account for my whereabouts last night."