Alpha 1472 (24 page)

With this, the screen went blank and the crew sat staring. Tears ran down the faces of a few of them. Not tears of sadness, but tears of pride and fulfilment.

Watkins and Hatch began to transfer all of the information they had collated back to the home world, including all of the information from the disc. With the amount of data they had collected, it was due to be a lengthy process. The entire crew was now in a melancholy mood as prepared for the next shore visit as they did so it was under a cloud of silence and deep reflection. The duties for the coming day had been given to everyone by Hatch who in this instance was also going ashore. It had been decided that on this journey they would take the cargo pod ashore to collect all of the equipment they had stored in the cave. The assignments for the day were much the same as usual. Mary and Anne along with Travis were to visit Aaron and Beth to see if there was anything they could do after their tribulations. This was a task that they all were cherishing. JD, Matthew and Hatch were scheduled to revisit the town to try to complete the Roman language database. The captain alone would stay on board the ship to finalise the data transfer. In light of the barbaric traits that had been displayed by the Romans, Daniels had decided to issue non lethal weapons to the shore party. Each of them was issued a tazer gun with strict orders not to use them unless it was absolutely unavoidable. None of them even considered the possibility but it was the duty of the captain to try to foresee any and every eventuality.

By the time they left the ship daylight had broken. For Daniels, who was monitoring the departure on the screens, it was a surreal sight to see six people
floating away from the ship heading upwards and towards the shore. The first order of business upon arriving on shore was to load the cargo pod with all of the equipment. They all set to the task and although there was not much to load, arranging the three cycles into the pod turned out to be more of a puzzle than at first thought. In all it took about thirty minutes to successfully get everything in so that the top would form a watertight seal. With the packing complete they sent the pod on its way back to the ship and then made their way to their own destinations.

By the time the three men had arrived at the town it was bustling with life. JD recognised the flow of people heading towards the centre of town and surmised that, yet again, it must have been market day. Their mission for the day was to complete the Roman language banks and they expected that there would be Romans in the market place making it an ideal spot to allow the computers to sample more of the speech patterns.
On the outskirts of the marketplace they found a tavern with a sheltered side which afforded a little respite from the intense heat of the sun. Where they sat was within earshot of a garrison of the soldiers who were observing the bustle of the buyers as they haggled for the best deals. The soldiers were talking amongst themselves which gave an ideal sampling situation for the crew. They had drunk two drinks each in the space of an hour and a half and had witnessed one change of the guards. One of the guards had remained during the change and had been there since they had arrived. Watkins noticed him paying attention to them and alerted the others to the unwanted interest. They decided to leave the tavern and find a less conspicuous place to make their observations from. They paid the innkeeper for their drinks and as inconspicuously as possible they walked around the market in an attempt to mingle with the crowds and disappear from the soldiers view. They had not counted on the detective skills of this tenacious individual. Something about them had attracted his attention, he did know what it was about them, but to him, they seemed out of place. There was something about them that didn’t quite fit in. He decided to follow them. He and one other soldier tailed them through the market area and out through the town. They kept a safe distance to avoid detection but surreptitiously kept them in sight. The three men had no idea that they were being monitored. As a result of this they felt relaxed and unsuspecting as they walked through the town. The two soldiers had decided to question their targets as soon as they could find a quiet back alley where they could inflict their own kind of interrogation without being disturbed. For them this was going to be private entertainment. On many occasions they had done this before for fun. But this time they were curious as to the purpose of the strangers. They had reached the end of the town and decided to take advantage of the pleasant day and explore their surrounding further. The decision had been made to walk through the outskirts of the town and to make their way back to the market in the hopes that there had been another change of the guards so that they may find another place to observe the Romans from. As they turned around the back of one of the outermost buildings, none of them saw what was coming. The soldiers quickened their pace and caught up with the three strangers without warning or forethought the solider who was the instigator rushed up behind the men and bought his lance down as he did so. The blade pierced deep through the calf of Watkins bringing him screaming to his knees. The force of the fall snapped the head of the lance off its shaft and the tip through the front of his leg. The pain was so intense he thought that he may lose consciousness. A scuffle ensued but the Romans were too strong for the crew who were quickly subdued and were ordered to their knees facing a nearby wall. The soldier who had accompanied the first, detained the two and guarded them against the wall as the other went over to Watkins who was by this time grasping at his injured calf. Blood ran between his fingers and, for a while, collected in a pool on the sandy floor before it seeped below the surface. Tears ran down his face as he tried to control the searing pain in his leg. His face was contorted and his eyes screwed tightly against the violent destruction that had been inflicted upon him. As the soldier approached he found himself scooting himself backwards in an effort to escape his attacker. The soldier, feeling no threat stood over him and started to question who they were and what they were doing here. The computer heard the question and tried to provide a response. The reply was at best patchy but it had an unexpected effect. When he listened to what Watkins had to say he quietly reached for the spearhead that was bloodied and protruding from Watkins calf. He gently gripped it then with one cruel movement twisted the blade inside the wound which caused Matthew to let out another agonising yell as the pain in his leg intensified to such a degree it became even more unbearable. This was pain like no other he had felt in his entire life and he was not sure weather he could cope for much longer. The twisting of the blade had released more blood and now the crimson red patch beneath him had started to collect in a pool. He bought his face close to Matthews and quietly said in his own language that he knew that there was something strange about him and his companions. No one in this town spoke their language, it was against the law to learn, teach or even speak it. So how did these three develop such a command of a forbidden tongue? Watkins’ bottom lip quivered from the pain, he had no idea how to answer this man. No idea how to stop the pain. Desperately trying to find a way to reply had created a pause that had become too long for the soldier and to further press his point he slowly twisted the spearhead some more. Once again Matthew yelled. Both JD and Hatch knew they had to assist their ailing colleague. They were both aware of the tazers hanging at their sides beneath their robes and knew that they had to use them. The attention of the second guard was firmly taken with the scene that was being played out. The two captives glanced at each other and with a quick nod they made their move. In one fluid movement JD swung his entire body with all of the strength he could muster against the guard. The force sent him careering to the ground JD then fumbled his way into his tunic and drew his gun. Simultaneously Hatch did the same and as the first guard rushed toward him he discharged the tazer into his body at exactly the same time as JD did the same to the other one. The two Romans instantaneously lost all control over their muscle functions and fell to the ground. The pained, confused look on their face told a story. They were aware of what was happening to them but unaware of what it was. They lay contorted on the floor twitching for a few minutes then they started to recover. JD and Hatch had little time to act they had to ignore the pain that Watkins was suffering and secure the guards. They started to tear strips from their robes and from the garments of the guards to fashion ropes with which to tie them. Once they had been bound and gagged they then turned their attention to their fallen companion. His wound was severe and they could not remove the weapon without causing further damage. They dressed around the obstruction as best as they could and found a small cart which they would use to transport him back to the ship. It was not in their nature to kill these assailants but how could they leave them. They would be free of their bindings, or someone would release them, soon and they in turn would raise the alarm. Then they would be hunted until capture, interrogated and then crucified. It was a fate that none of them relished. Between them and the ship they had decided to bind them even further and to leave them outside of the village tied to a tree. Then using a small explosive device they would attract attention to their location allowing them to be found and released. There was of course no guarantee that this plan would work and that the guards may never be found and would perish. But, it was the only plan they had and it was imperative that they got Watkins back to the ship. They helped Matthew onto the cart and made their way out of the town. When they thought that they were at a safe distance away they retied the legs of their captives and tied them to a tree. They then set the charge on a timer giving themselves three hours to make their escape. When they were sure that the soldiers were secure they began their journey. Watkins had lost a lot of blood and was feeling lightheaded. Before long he lost consciousness they knew that time was running out.

Anne Mary and Travis had spent the morning with Aaron and Beth. It was like visiting long term friends. The morning had been pleasant and they had visited the grave of Thomas to pay their
respects. They were just sitting down to take a meal when the commotion started. They had heard the entire episode through their ear pieces and instinctively knew that they had to return to the ship. They made their excuses to their hosts and quickly made their way back to the beach. Upon their arrival Mary and Travis returned to the ship to prepare for Watkins arrival. Anne stayed ashore to administer triage and primary care for the patient. While she waited the cargo pod had been dispatched to ferry them back. The pod had been stocked with medical supplies that Anne would need to treat him in transit. It was about half an hour before they appeared in the distance. As soon as Anne had seen them she picked up the stretcher and ran across the sands to meet them. It would have been to strenuous to pull the cart through the soft sand, so it had been pre arranged that from the line of vegetation they would stretcher him back to the pod. As she met them she threw the stretcher on the ground for them to pick up and unpack. She immediately went to attend her patient. Firstly he received a shot of a morphine type drug to ease his pain. He would not feel the effect of this until he regained consciousness, if he ever did. Once she had done this she quickly inspected the damage and decided that she could not remove the spearhead here it would have to wait. By the time she had applied a tourniquet to his upper leg the stretcher was ready. Carefully, so as not to aggravate the injury any further, they lifted him from the cart and laid him on the ground with the stretcher underneath him they then carried him to the waiting pod. Both Anne and Matthew travelled in the cargo pod so that she could begin to tend him on the way. Within seconds they were in transit. The loading bay of the shuttle had been transformed into a hospital bay; this was a function of the ship they had hoped not to have to use. It was a state of the art medical unit complete with equipment to meet the needs of almost any emergency. And now it was being pressed into service to save the life of one of their fellow crewmen. The pods arrived and as soon as they were cleared, Matthew was taken from the pod and rushed into the waiting medical unit. The first thing she had to do was to stabilise him before she could tend his wound. The best way for her to gain control over his body was to place him into a drug induced coma. When she had achieved this she was able to slow his metabolism down giving her more time to work on him. Thanks to the machinery he was now stable, not out of danger, but stable. The crew that was going to work on him then donned their surgical garments and masks. The entire area was then bathed in the purple iridescent glow which signified that the entire are was being sterilised against infection. The glow lasted for thirty seconds. When the room returned to its normal light the procedure was complete and the room had been sealed. They then scrubbed their hands and began to repair his wound. The machines were now in control of his life. His respiration, blood circulation and vital signs were all being controlled externally and everything was as it should be, stable. Now that they were content that he was at least safe for the moment they began. Anne was in charge of the proceedings and asked Hatch to monitor his life signs, Matthew was asked to deal with anaesthesia and Mary to assist in the operation. They had all been trained for this eventuality but had never, with the exception of Anne, needed to put their training into practice. So essentially, this would be their first time. Although Anne was a little concerned about this, it was the best she had to work with and was content that they would do their jobs. She began by inspecting the spearhead. It was a flat bladed instrument forged from iron; the blade was about twenty centimetres long and showed signs of rust. It passed straight through his leg. The exit point was visible by about three centimetres and the entry was larger that the weapon due to the twisting of it. The blood had congealed, not to the point of forming a scab. It was a dark red gelatinous mass that needed to be cleared so that she could gain better access. As she sprayed it with a saline jet, it dissolved revealing the true extent of the surface damage. It was quite gruesome. The wound was still oozing blood from the damaged capillaries, veins and arteries and she knew that if she released the tourniquet it would allow for more blood loss. She decided to apply a second surgical tourniquet below the knee joint to lessen the volume of blood that could escape. Having done that, she turned her attention to the removal of the spear. There was no easy way to extract it and so she just took a firm grip of it and pulled it out. As she did a slurping sound could be heard as the rough iron was pulled though the muscle fibre of his calf. What was left was a conical wound that was filling with the rest of the blood supply that was available from below the tourniquet. The wound was cleaned out using the saline jet and Anne examined the wound to see what the actual damage was. There was much tearing of the inner muscle but she felt confident that using microsurgery she could repair the damage with every chance of a full recovery for Travis. She primarily examined the inside of the wound with her index finger. She was checking for any debris that may have been left. When she was sure that most of it had been removed she inserted a probe that would make a finer check for foreign bodies that may cause complications in the future. The probe located one rogue flake of rust that had embedded itself deep inside the muscle, it had to be removed. Carefully she began to search for it using a pair of hook tipped forceps the two tips of which carried a camera and a light. Watching the screen she delved around in the damaged flesh to find the flake. Once she had extracted it she set about the task of repairing the tissues. This would be work of the finest, most intricate nature and would take six hours to complete. She had sewn and repaired every layer of damaged tissue, reconnected every severed nerve and sutured every disconnected vein and artery and now, it was time to check her handiwork. Above the tourniquet that was below the knee she injected a solution containing a radio isotope which she would track through the capillary systems that she had just repaired. Mary brought over the scanning device and placed it over his lower leg. She connected to the computers and they watched as Anne released the two tourniquets to let the blood flow back into the damaged leg. What they were particularly looking for was leaks in Anne’s workmanship. As they watched the isotopes highlighted the blood flow as it began to circulate. All seemed well. She had done all that she could from a surgery aspect. Her work would now be one of nurse administering as much aftercare as she could for her patient. Antibiotics were administered and Travis was brought out of his coma. The operation seemed to be a success and he was moved to his own quarters to recuperate. Between them they cleared the operating theatre and stowed all of the equipment back into its rightful places.