Chapter 13

The others arrived in the sickroom. Gordon dropped Virgil onto the bed, and he cried out in agony. Brains set his computer down.
"Tin-Tin, give Virgil 10 mg morphine IM, please," said Brains.

"Yes, Brains," she said, and set about her work. Virgil was soon more comfortable.

Scott laid Alan on another bed, and locked the doors tightly. He pulled the curtains across it, and called Jeff to tell him they were in. Brains was busy setting up the computer, and Scott took Alan's hand.

"Brains!" he yelled, and his urgent tone brought Brains running over. He felt for his pulse, and found a weak one, but Alan was hardly breathing.
"I need to intubate him!" said Brains, and set about doing it.
Scott rolled his shoulders up and down, beside himself with worry at the familiarity of the situation. He was trying not to allow himself to think that he was about to watch Alan die, too. He breathed relief as Alan's chest started to rise more after Brains had connected Alan to the oxygen support machine.
"Brains?" said Scott.
"The mark on his neck! It's gone!"

"The nanobots must be winning against his immune system!" stammered Brains.

"So they'll fix him?"

"I don't know, Scott. Maybe it was our defibrillating John that let the nanobots take over!" fumbled Brains.

"What do you mean you don't know! We are not letting him die here!" Scott grabbed hold of Brains' lapels, but let go again immediately. "I'm sorry, Brains. I'm really sorry."

"That's okay, Scott," said Brains, and patted Scott's shoulder.

Tin-Tin took up position next to Alan's head and started talking to him, quietly.

"How are you going with those new nanobots, Brains?" asked Gordon.

"I managed to run a simulation before we left the lab, Gordon, but I still don't know." He spoke as he connected Alan to the monitors, taking care to plug everything into the red sockets- this was the emergency generator for the sickroom in case of power failure. Switching all the machines on caused the lights to dim slightly. The sound of the beeping of Alan's rapid heartbeat filled the room. Brains went back to his computer.

An hour later, Virgil started to moan again. The morphine was wearing off, and Brains went to give him some more.

"Brains, I can't feel my leg!" said Virgil.

"Not at all?" stammered Brains.

"A little. It's like pins and needles."

"The bullet must be pressing on a nerve. Just try and lie still. I'm sure it's fine."

Virgil got his morphine and laid back on his bed.

Scott took Brains aside. "Is he really okay?"

"I can't tell, Scott. It might be pressing on an artery for all I know. He needs surgery."

"Fantastic!" said Scott, sardonically. "Can't you fix it?"

"I'm not a doctor, Scott."

"No, I'm sorry, Brains. It seems that Gordon does all the getting wet, Tin-Tin and Virgil do engineering, Dad and I do command, and you do absolutely everything else. And you do it well."

"Not really, Scott." Brains was still working away at his keyboard. He paused and looked over at his phial of reprogrammed nanobots. "I didn't-"

He was interrupted by the sound of the heart monitor changing pitch.

"VF!" he shouted, and jumped up.

"Ah, crap!" yelled Gordon, and came to join them.

"Alan! Alan!" said Tin-Tin into Alan's ear. "Come on, Alan!"

The machine's pitch changed again.
"Asystole!" yelled Brains, and disconnected the oxygen support machine. Scott took over automatically with the ambu-bag and began squeezing it. "This isn't funny, Alan!" he said. "stop fooling around!"

Brains punched Alan's chest several times while Tin-Tin sobbed at the head of the bed. He cut Alan's shirt open with scissors, and reached for the defibrillator, which made a familiar sound.
"Charging."

It whistled as it built up charge.

"Clear!" said the machine. Everyone stood back as the shock jolted Alan's body.

"Asystole!" shouted Brains again. Several attempts to resuscitate Alan failed.

"Brains, give him the new nanobots!" said Scott.

"But, Scott, I don't know if that will help him or hurt him!" stammered Brains.

"I don't see how we have a choice. Either we do that or wait for the ones that are in him to take over. And then we have two Johns on our hands!"

"But-"

"Just do it, Brains, please!" cried Gordon. Brains nodded and Gordon took over CPR while Brains drew up some of the solution in his phial with the modified nanobots into a syringe. He struggled to find a vein in Alan's hand to insert a cannula. When he did, he injected the solution into Alan's hand. Everyone stopped giving CPR.
"What now?" asked Scott.

"Continue CPR!" said Brains. "The new nanobots will destroy the others, but I have removed their ability to heal him. Continue CPR!"

Scott and Gordon did as they were asked. They paused after a while and checked for a pulse.

"Asystole!" said Brains.

"Why isn't it working?" asked Gordon.

"I don't know, Gordon. It might take more time, he might need a higher dose. I don't know!" Brains injected Alan with lidocaine, and took hold of the defibrillator paddles again.
"Charging."

"Clear."

Alan's body jolted again.

"Sinus tachycardia!" cried Brains, as the continuous sound from the heart monitor changed to a rapid on-and-off beeping.

"I think he's making a respiratory effort, Brains!" said Tin-Tin, still sobbing.
"Reconnect the oxygen machine, Scott," asked Brains, stammering.

"Is he okay?" asked Gordon.

"He's alive, Gordon," said Brains.

"Would you like some coffee, Mr. Tracy?" asked Kyrano. He had been brewing away again, over a Bunsen flame.
"No thanks, Kyrano," said Jeff. "Hey, where did you get the coffee from? Brains doesn't keep any in the lab."

"I always have coffee, Mr. Tracy."
"So I see. You know you-" Jeff was interrupted by a call from his wristcomm.

"Father! Alan went downhill pretty fast but we think we've stabilised him!"

"Good job! How is he?"

"We don't know yet. Brains gave him the modified nanobots; we'll have to wait and see."

"Better restrain him, just in case."

"Yes, Father."

"Keep me posted." Scott did as he had been asked and signed off.

Kyrano smiled at Jeff when he looked at him. Jeff was torn from his moment of silent contemplation by a buzzing sound from the handheld device. He picked it up and moved it closer to and away from his face as he tried to focus on it. It showed a great mass of electrical field signals in the Thunderbird 1 hangar. There were only 5 bulkheads between the lab and the hangar.