CHAPTER 6

TRANSLATOR

When Mel climbed back inside the ship she found Jason had dozed off and gently patted his cheek. "Hey, you're not supposed to sleep, remember?" When she could not rouse him right away she felt a wave of panic and struck him harder. "Come on, Jason, stay with me," she said firmly. She heaved a sigh of relief when the Alterran moaned and struggled back to consciousness. "Dozed off," he said quietly. "Sorry. I'm…so tired…."

"Just hang on. Help should be here soon." Glancing around, Mel added, "I just hope they can get through the door."

Jason forced himself to concentrate. "I should've realized…" he muttered, going on to say, "The hatch…has an emergency release. You can blow it open."

The woman beside him scowled. "It's already open."

Shaking his head, Jason explained that the emergency release opened the whole side of the cabin. He directed Mel to a panel opposite the one from which she had retrieved the fire extinguishers. Inside she found a flat lever that she had to pump several times in order to prime the internal releases. It was very stiff, and she was not the largest of individuals. Again Mel found herself wishing the Doctor were there. If nothing else, he could easily put his weight to this. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she turned triumphantly to Jason. "Done. Now what?"

"Have your friend…stand near the ship…but away from the hatchway," he instructed. "The door is meant to…project away…and take half the wall with it."

Wondering just how far, or high, this meant, Mel popped her head out of the hatch, telling Paige what was happening, and just what she intended to do. Her already nervous friend moved toward the shaded end of the wreck, staying well away from the hatch.

Satisfied Paige was out of danger Mel dropped back into the ship and looked at the open panel. "Do I just push this red button then?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes," Jason replied softly. "Keep your back…to the opening and…cover your eyes. It'll probably kick up…a lot of dust."

"What about you?"

"I'm afraid I'm stuck here."

Mel glanced at the hatchway and back at the injured Alterran. Nodding to herself, she went over to him and put a blanket over his head and upper body to protect him from any flying debris, receiving an amused smile at the same time. She returned to the hatch and called out to Paige to stand by. Then she hit the button, turning around quickly to protect her face. For a second it seemed as if nothing was going to happen. Then a series of clicks sounded within the bulkhead as the internal releases snapped open. This was followed by a loud bang and rush of air as the wall suddenly exploded away, sailing several metres into the air.

Mel turned in time to see the massive section of cabin wall arcing away and landing with a thump among the other debris. She turned back to Jason, expecting to see him pushing the blanket off of himself. Instead he was perfectly still, and she feared he had been further injured by more flying debris. Mel moved as quickly as she could to his side, and pulled off the blanket. To her relief, he smiled weakly up at her. "Pretty cool, huh?" he said quietly.

"Rather," she agreed. "Now all we need is for all this help to arrive." Mel took the water bottle out of her pocket, and touched a few drops to Jason's dry lips. Then she used a piece of blanket to wash some of the blood from his face, and hopefully cool his skin in the suffocating heat.

By this time Paige was standing in an awestruck silence at the gaping hole that was now in the side of the ship. "Listen. I think I hear sirens," she said suddenly.

The sound of sirens rose in pitch, heralding the arrival of help, which included Search and Rescue, Florida State Police, several Fire Departments, and close on their heels, the Military.

Mel was helped from the ship and then she and Paige were checked over for radiation exposure. To their relief, they were found to be "clean." While this was going on, several rescuers worked on extracting Jason from the ship. It turned out that the bulkhead pinning his legs did not need to be cut, the Jaws of Life lifting it away with ease. The metal rod that seemed to be pinning him to his seat did not go all the way through the back, so as soon as the straps were released, he came free of the seat. Within a very short time he was being carried out of the wrecked ship.

The whole time he was being worked on, Jason tried to make his rescuers understand about his physiology, but they did not seem to care. As he was being taken to a waiting helicopter, Mel finally interceded. "Why don't you listen to him?" she demanded, grabbing the nearest man as the stretcher moved past. "He's trying to tell you something important."

The irritated Medic turned to her. "Maybe he is, lady, but I don't speak Martian."

"I'm Alterran, you cretin," Jason snorted as firmly as he could manage and causing Mel to laugh.

"What's so funny?" the Medic demanded.

With a smirk, Mel replied, "He said you're a cretin. And he's trying to tell you that you can treat his injuries the way you would a human's. His body chemistry is different, but it won't make any difference, apparently."

"Oh yeah," the Medic snorted. "Ask him his blood type."

"Tell him O-positive, Mel," Jason replied softly. With a smirk, he added, "Gives new meaning to the term 'universal donor,' doesn't it?" Mel giggled before repeating what he had said, causing every human within earshot to turn to her in amazement.

Colonel Hildebrand, the ranking military officer leaned over to the soldier beside him. "Belay my original order concerning that young woman. Have her evacuated with our guest. I've a feeling she may be more useful on Base."

Mel was not surprised when she and Jason were loaded onto a military-type helicopter. Nor was she surprised when it eventually landed at a military-type base. After all, this was Earth. Aliens and the Military always seemed to go hand-in-hand. What did surprise her was the mixture of uniforms that met her as she disembarked at the seemingly deserted Base.

Jason was taken to what she was told was a hospital, although it did not appear to be one on the outside. Mel continued to act as translator, and Jason went on to amaze the medical staff by giving them a full rundown of the majority of his injuries. He had the ability to scan anything he touched much in the way as medical scanning equipment and for years had been frustrated by the fact that the only thing he could not scan was himself. He had discovered that if someone were touching him, he could scan himself through them. Using this technique, he was able to give the astonished medical staff information that would have taken them hours to collect.

Once Jason was fully evaluated, he was taken to surgery. Colonel Hildebrand took advantage of this time to debrief Mel who was taken to a conference room and asked a battery of questions about the wreck, where she was when it happened, how long she had been inside the ship and so on. This went on for more than an hour, after which Mel was exhausted. The Colonel gave orders that she be escorted to some guest quarters where she could rest and get cleaned up. What she really wanted was to stay and find out about the injured Jason's condition, but knew it would be several hours before anyone knew anything definite.

Private Thompson took Mel to what she would have generously described as a shack. She guessed that the building probably contained three, perhaps four rooms. It reminded her strongly of the slave quarters she had seen in pictures of the Old South in the United States. She could not help but wonder if the builders had used the same floor plans. She climbed the three steps leading to what might vaguely be considered a porch. There was a wooden chair just outside the door under a bare yellow bulb that was probably supposed to serve as an exterior light.

"I hope you'll be comfortable here, ma'am," Thompson said respectfully, opening the door.

Mel entered, looked around at the Spartan furnishings and winced inwardly. It was just as she had pictured it: a short entryway, main room to one side, kitchen to the other, a hallway leading to a bedroom and probably incredibly tiny bathroom. At least it doesn't have a dirt floor, she thought gratefully. "Thank you, I'm sure I'll be fine," she said at last. "Any chance of getting some food around here? I haven't eaten since five this morning and I'm starved."

Before the Private could reply a car pulled up and an officer got out. "Private!" he called, waving at Thompson. To Mel's astonishment, the man started to pull the luggage she had left in Paige's apartment out of the back of the car. How did he get those?And in only about…what? Three, perhaps four hours?Mel had learned from Paige that, according to the others at the reunion, she had said she had been traveling. Since this was essentially true, Mel held to that story. She did not elaborate on it and wondered if Paige now thought she was doing government work, as it would easily explain her being spirited away by the U.S. Army.

As Private Thompson struggled with the cases, the man who identified himself as Lieutenant DeWitt informed her that Colonel Hildebrand had sent him to invite her to join him at the Officer's Mess in an hour. "I've only just got here," Mel replied, waving a hand at the door.

"Yes, ma'am," DeWitt replied respectfully. "The Colonel thought you might be hungry by now. Thompson can drive you over whenever you're ready."

Mel moved aside as Private Thompson carried her luggage inside. She was now prepared for an extended stay on Base. Despite this apparent show of hospitality, she could not help but wonder if she was being made comfortable as a guest or a prisoner? She did know that she needed to eat and decided to meet the Colonel after all. "Am I supposed to dress a certain way for this place?" she asked, much to the officer's amusement.

"No, ma'am. There isn't a civilian dress code."

"You're not in the Army like the others, are you? Your uniform is different."

"No, ma'am," DeWitt acknowledged proudly. "I'm a Marine."

Mel nodded, uncertain as to whether this was significant and stored it away for later. She thanked the Lieutenant, and asked Thompson to wait while she got cleaned up and changed. Closing the door, she went to the bedroom where her luggage had been deposited. She looked at herself in a full-length mirror and sighed heavily, suddenly realizing what a harrowing day she had had—and how much she had enjoyed it! She really had been bored. It occurred to her that she should contact the Doctor, only to realize she had left her handbag—and the beacon it contained—in the helicopter she had arrived on.

"You really must remember to put the film in that photographic memory of yours, Mel Bush," she said to herself. First thing to do was get her purse back and then she could send for the Doctor. No, she thought again, first find out more about what's going on. No use spoiling the Doctor's fun until she had more facts. Not that he would have minded considering all that she knew already. After all, crashed spaceships and lost alien Ambassadors were right up his street.