Chapter 17
When Rachel returned to the shop, she was congratulated on her presentation.
"Thanks, but I must have seemed like a jittery mess. I flubbed on the mounts or brackets part, and I dropped my laser pointer," she said.
"And what are they called…scibbers?" Commander Kimbrell asked. "That topped the presentation, it really did."
She took a cookie from the jar on her workspace to calm her nerves and returned to her work. Before the duty day was done, Lt. Hardin and PO3 Schmidt stopped at her desk.
"May we?" Lt. Hardin asked, resting a hand on a nearby chair.
"Sure, sir," she answered and saved the document she was working on.
Lt. Hardin cleared his throat. "I…we, on the coup team, want to apologize for our behavior. If you still want a spot on the team, it's yours."
"Thank you, I'd like that," she replied, and her soul sung in satisfaction.
He was relieved. First off, they could use her on the team. She had moves they didn't. Second, she didn't act petty or smug when he apologized. Just as Ensign Cordell suggested, they approached her straight-forward and honestly. She responded in kind.
"And we have to know how that take down is done," Schmidt added.
Lt. Hardin nodded. "Next week's practice is for the Alvarez new arrivals who might be interested in coup. I'm love coup and I'm good at it, but I don't have the knack for teaching it. I think you do."
"I did the newbie class at the academy," she said.
"That's great, welcome to the team."
September 13, 1925 P.D.
Rachel left Harrington early to have breakfast with her family. Her sisters were excited to help her with the wedding invitations, cake samples, and bridesmaid dress selection. She chose Angela Truman as her matron of honor, which her sisters understood. Angela had told her she would be there, even if she had go AWOL. Jeanette, Theresa, and Honor were thrilled be her bridesmaids. She asked Honor for little Raoul and Katherine to be the ring bearer and flower girl.
For over a year, her father had spent much of his spare time growing the flowers for the wedding. He even had a new greenhouse built to accommodate the blooms, which he showed her after she finished the invitations. At the greenhouse, he covered her eyes and Robert opened the doors for them. He uncovered her eyes, and she was overwhelmed by the sight and fragrance of calla lilies, peonies, passionflower vines, little baby's breath blooms, and roses.
"I hope it's enough," he said softly.
She gave him a tight hug. "It's more than enough, it's all so beautiful."
After lunch she drove to Redmon Steading to spend the rest of the day with the Goodson family. Matt's rarely seen older brothers Chris and Jacob, and his older sister's husband were there for dinner. With Hipper there, his younger sister and nephew weren't bored to death with wedding talk. Rachel told them about her day with her family and Stephen Goodson chuckled.
"We got it easy, I suppose. Matt just shows up," he said.
"I don't have nearly as many invitations as you to send out," Matt said. "I've chosen my wedding outfit, best man and such, and your ring."
"Is it true that Queen Elizabeth is going to your wedding?" 12-year-old Julia asked.
Rachel nodded. "It is. Officially, dad said that since he was invited to Prince Roger's wedding, he has to return the favor. Unofficially, I think that he's in some sort of friendly competition with her for most grandiose wedding. He's having a good time."
She took a sip of beer. "However, he knows it's our wedding and we're not for anything over the top. We're shooting for elegance, tradition, and a celebration that everyone can enjoy."
"Do you know the queen?" Julia asked.
"Not really. I've seen her a couple of times, and had lunch with her once, but I don't really know her."
"Aannnd you flew her to safety during a shootout," Matt added.
"Yes, that too," Rachel said and rested her hand Ruth's arm. "Oh! Dad said that the Grayson Players have been booked for the reception!"
"Are you serious?" Evelyn asked of the most famous group on Grayson. "I love them!"
"We almost didn't, but they managed to fit us in their calendar," Rachel said.
"Would the actually say no to the Protector?" Christine asked.
"They have commitments and contracts they can't break," Rachel replied.
A timer chimed from the kitchen and Ruth excused herself from the room.
"Miss Rachel!" Will exclaimed and held up a tablet that kids used to read books and view HD programs.
She saw footage from the coup tournament playing on the viewer. "Does it hurt to get hit?"
She took a sip of beer and answered. "It depends on who hits me, where I get hit, how hard I'm hit, and how many times I'm hit."
"She's got this down to a science," Matt fussed and his brothers snickered.
She saw herself jab Lt. Hardin and Will cheered.
"It must be fun to do that," he said with a sigh and reached for his milk. At almost 12 years old, he accepted his paralysis with a wisdom that came early for a child.
"Are you sure you want that kind of fun?" Matt asked him when view-screen Rachel took a jab to the chin. "There's things you can do that not many people can do."
The wheelchair bound Will, simply put, was a genius. He attended a school for gifted children and was the school's chess champion two years running. He could do trigonometry and calculus by the time he was 10. He had an eidetic memory and was already fluent in German and French.
God made up for him being in a wheelchair, Stephen had said.
Ruth returned to the room with a container of warm chocolate chip cookies and placed it before Rachel. "To take with you, Matt said they're your favorite."
"They are, thank you," Rachel said.
September 15, 1925 P.D. 0910 hours
Rachel sat at her workspace, working on her part of a technical manual rewrite.
"Ensign Mayhew," she heard from Lt. Commander Purcell's office.
She rose and stopped at his door.
"The person who was supposed to conduct the inspection of AF-123 isn't available. You're up," he stated.
"Yes sir," she acknowledged.
"I've transmitted the inspection checklist to you," he said and returned to his work.
"Aye sir."
She opened the department messaging from her memo board and pulled up the pertinent document. It looked simple enough, but she did wonder why senior NCOs weren't assigned to inspect the dorms. Oh well! It wasn't her place to question it, so she left to carry out her task. With Hipper and Robert for company, she consulted a base map to locate the barracks. Her shop sat on the northern perimeter of Alvarez Field. The barracks were on the very southern perimeter of the base, and all the hover-bikes for inter-base travel were checked out. Of course! She finally arrived and a spacer sitting at the front foyer watch desk jumped to his feet at her arrival. She bid him at ease, carry on and brought up the inspection checklist.
Basement Space:
Inspect for damage and/or degradation to all life support and utility systems.
Inspect all hatches for proper operation and notate any damage to hatches.
Notate significant damage to bulkheads, deck, and overhead.
Ground Floor:
Inspect for damage and/or degradation to all life support and utility systems.
Inspect all hatches and windows for proper operation and notate any damage to hatches and windows.
Inspect all latrines. Inspect for cleanliness, damage, and operation of showers, toilets, and sinks.
Notate significant damage to bulkheads, deck, and overhead.
Choose three dorms at random for inspection. Inspect for cleanliness of living spaces and accountability of Navy-issue furnishings.
Conduct walk-through of recreation room. Notate damage to Navy issue furnishings and overall cleanliness.
The checklist was the same for all the floors and lists of furnishings were attached. She decided to start at the top floor and work her way down the five floors.
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At the top of the stairs for the fifth floor, she chose the first dorm she came to for inspection. She took the universal dorm key card from her pocket and unlocked the door. Hipper hopped up on a windowsill in the corridor and got busy cleaning his whiskers; a signal that the current activity was a bore to him. She knocked and listened.
"Robert, could you look in and make sure I'm not going to surprise anyone?"
He did so and she walked inside. The tidy dorm was furnished with two Navy issue beds, two bedside tables, two wall lockers, desk, and chair. Each had a personal footlocker under their beds. She noted an air freshener and plant on the windowsill, and a wall locker labeled Spacer 3 Hicks was open. She closed it and continued the inspection.
When she finished the room inspection, she made sure the door was locked behind her and looked about the deck flooring, bulkheads, and overhead. She noted a fist-sized hole in the overhead tile above the dorm hatch and noted it. She heard an inquisitive bleek from Hipper and saw that his attention was further down the corridor. He hissed and took off in a flash of gray fur and stopped at a door at the end of the corridor. He chittered and paced in front of the door and signed hurry!
She walked faster, arrived at the door, and unlocked it. Robert looked inside, cursed, and rushed into the room. She stepped inside and saw a spacer in undress coveralls laying on the deck, eyes rolled back, his body twitching. He was having a seizure. They knelt next to him and lay him on his side in the event he vomited. One of the first comm numbers she was given at orientation was the hospital ER. She called it up and heard, "Alvarez Field Emergency Room, Petty Officer Pickens."
"This is Ensign Mayhew, I'm at AF-123, Room 530. I discovered a spacer on the deck having a seizure. Please send help."
"AF-123, room 530, aye ma'am. EMS team is enroute."
She returned her attention to the spacer and saw that the seizure had abated, but his life was in danger. He was barely breathing, his lips were blue, and blood trickled from his nose. She spotted the first aid kit hanging on the footboard of the bed and grabbed it. Bandages, oxygen mask, adrenaline, defib unit, and analgesics were in the kit. She removed the oxygen mask and defib unit from the case and placed the mask over his mouth and nose. She gave steady squeezes to the bag and wondered what caused the seizure. Anyone that had seizures or a chronic illness that caused seizures was not allowed enlistment into the military. Was he hurt?
She heard the whine of the EMS shuttle outside and waited. A minute later, she heard voices in the corridor and Robert stepped out of the room. Matt, a Surgeon Lieutenant, and two petty officers entered the room with a hover-stretcher, vitals monitoring unit, and Level Three Aid backpack.
"We've got him now, thank you," the lieutenant said and removed the oxygen mask. He tossed it on the bed and applied a better, automated mask device.
"I've got the lines attached," Matt said and tapped buttons on the monitoring unit. "0932 hours."
The petty officers carefully placed the spacer on the stretcher and the four left the room with the stretcher. She made a note about what happened in the room and continued the inspection. It took two hours to conduct the barracks inspection, and when she was done, she reviewed it and transmitted it to the base personnel office.
#
When she returned to her shop, Lt. MacLeod informed her that she was to report to the hospital ER to give a statement about what had happened in Room 530, and for she and Robert to be tested for possible exposure to a harmful substance. Hipper hopped on her shoulder, and then she and Robert left her shop.
"Are you feeling all right?" she asked him.
"Yes, m'lady," he replied.
"And you, fuzzy butt?"
Nothing wrong, Hipper signed.
"I think this is one of those abundance of caution moments," she said.
When they arrived at the ER, she was ushered into a treatment room and was asked to consent to a blood test. She did so, rolled up her sleeve, and they took a sample. Hipper's nose twitched and he stared at the device when it rested on her neck pulse point. He leaned toward it, his twitching nose a centimeter from the device.
"It doesn't hurt," she murmured and gave him a chin scratch.
Robert consented and did the same. Matt came into the room, winked at her, and took the blood samples away. The Lieutenant Surgeon from earlier came into the room and sat down.
"Ensign, can you tell me how you came to find Spacer Green?" he asked.
"I was assigned to inspect the barracks. When I competed the first room inspection, my treecat alerted to a room at the other end of the corridor," she stated.
"What do you mean by alerted?" he asked.
"Sir, treecats can sense feelings and emotions that people can't. Fear, confusion, even elevated heart rates. Hipper, that's his name, must have sensed a strong feeling of distress to act on it."
The lieutenant nodded. "Your companion was correct. Spacer Green was experiencing a seizure due to ingestion of an illicit substance. We felt it best to get you here and be tested for possible exposure."
"Yes sir…how is he doing?"
"He didn't make it."
"I'm sorry to hear that. May the Tester gather him into His arms," she said softly.
There was a knock on the door and Matt came into the subdued room. "Tests came back negative, sir."
"I figured as much, better to be safe than sorry," the lieutenant said.
#
When she returned to her shop and reached for the door, Hipper hissed at it.
"Hipper, what—"
She was interrupted when the door flew open and hit her. She was knocked to the ground and Hipper took off for whoever ran out of the door. Lt. MacLeod, Ensign Cornell, and PO3 Schmidt ran from the building in pursuit as well. Commander Kimbrell and Lt. Commander Purcell stepped out and saw Robert helping her to sit up. Her nose and mouth were bloody from the door strike.
"She was struck by the door, sir," Robert said and gave her a handkerchief.
The commander and Robert helped her to her feet, and they went into the shop. There was scattered clutter, an overturned chair, and personnel talking about what had just happened. Lt. Commander Purcell rejoined them with a first aid kit. Commander Kimbrell leaned closer to look at her face and shook his head.
"Looks like a broken nose," he said.
"Not again," she mumbled.
He sprayed her busted nose and lip with analgesic and handed over a bandage to hold on her nose.
"Lt. Hardin, can you see to it that Ensign Mayhew makes it to the hospital?"
"Yes sir."
On the walk to the hospital, she heard bleek bleek bleek! from behind her and Hipper trotted to her. He saw her face and a darker bleek was heard. He hopped on Robert's shoulder, and they continued. Hipper signed he is caught and she chuckled.
"They got him," Rachel reported.
You didn't hurt him, did you? she signed.
No, but he hurt you.
And he'll answer for it, but I've had my nose broken before, she replied.
"Quite a team you have here," the lieutenant said, and they arrived at the hospital primary care department. Lt. Hardin opened the door and they went inside.
The petty officer at the check-in desk saw them, stood, and asked for her badge. She handed it over and he inserted it into the desk console.
"We've got it from here, lieutenant," the petty officer said.
Lt. Hardin nodded, patted her on the shoulder, and left. She was led into a treatment room and asked to lay down on the bed.
"Ma'am, please tell me how this came about, and any first aid you received," the medic requested, and she started the story.
He shined a light into her eyes, looked at her nose and lips, and gently palpated around the tender spot on her forehead. A spacer came into the room with a small bin, bandages, and bottle of liquid. He wet the bandages and carefully cleaned the blood from her face while the petty officer entered notes on her record. He removed a scanning unit hanging on the wall and powered it up. The spacer finished and stood by while the medic scanned her face. He looked at the viewscreen, nodded, and made more record entries.
"Fractured nose, two cuts on your top and bottom lips, and forehead bruise. The doctor will be here shortly for treatment," he said and gave the spacer the scanner.
The spacer left the room and the medic continued to enter notes into her record. She felt like a nap was in order, so she closed her eyes and listened to the tap-tap-tap of the keyboard.
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