Aurora Saga 2 Immortality for Life (21 page)

Onliv loomed large in the domed window of the Antrolo transport. While still lying on the mat, Kalrea communicated over a planetary distress channel,

‘This is an Antrolo transport, declaring a level one emergency.’

‘Onliv planetary control receiving. Please state the nature of your emergency?’ a voice of an elderly man replied, almost immediately.

‘I have one non Antrolian crew member with a plasma gunshot wound to the chest. She’s losing blood,’ Kalrea replied.

‘Please transmit her race and medical history token,’ the man replied. ‘I will inform our emergency centre of your expected arrival.’

I can’t let them know she’s an Agonian,
Kalrea thought to herself and then replied, ‘Negative on race and medical history token.’

‘Please state reason for non-compliance?’ the man asked.

‘Patient has requested confidentially under the league of planets treaty.’

‘Be advised, this could delay life-saving treatment being administered. Do you accept responsibility for any delay?’ the man said.

‘Yes, full responsibility,’ Kalrea replied.

‘You have been allocated pier 34-F. Landing markers will show you to your docking pier. Emergency crew will be there upon arrival. End of emergency response.’

Kalrea got up off the floor and went over to the seatra.

As soon as we arrive they’re going to recognise her as an Agonian. I need to cover her head.

Kalrea retrieved a helmet, which would have been used by one of the crew of the Antrolo transport to walk in space. She gently raised Supora’s head and while she placed it on her thought,
That’s going to have to do,
but the helmet looked completely out of place because Supora was not wearing the matching spacesuit.

The Antrolo transport was now upside down and descending through the Onliv atmosphere.

Transversal transports often approached landing areas in an upside-down orientation to allow the pilot to navigate safely by looking out from the dome window. Actually it is one of the scariest positions for any pilot because they are feeling like they are falling face down to the ground. The internal gravity system solved the issue of being upside-down, but still does not help to lessen the sense of freefall.

The transport passed through a thin blanket of clouds and headed for the city of Pium.

Kalrea peered up at the country-side below. A large concentration of buildings came into view. At their centre was a large hole in the ground over six hundred metres in diameter. A bright-green flashing “34-F” was being projected into the air above the hole, indicating to Kalrea the route to follow to the docking pier.

Kalrea flew the transport towards the sign. As soon as the transport reached it, that sign disappeared and another appeared in the distance below. The transport descended down below the surface following one sign after the other.

Around the edge of the colossal hole were many docking piers protruding horizontally outwards from its perimeter, some of which had small shuttles and transports docked against them. A “34-F” appeared above a vacant docking pier, directly ahead.

Now to land the ship.

Kalrea stood motionless, while the ship rotated so she was now looking skywards and approached the pier.

Activate docking thrusters.

Secondary engine start. Start confirmed.

Primary engine shut down.

Auxiliary dampers enabled.

Twenty metres to pier. Ten metres. Five metres.

Enable docking clamps.

Secondary engine shut down.

One metre.

There was a loud bang. The ship shuddered violently.

Docking completed.

Not the best landing ever,
Kalrea thought.

She wasted no time in lifting Supora, from the seatra, in her arms.

She looks very weak.

Kalrea rushed to the exit of the transport. With a loud hiss the door seal released and the door swung inwards.

Just outside, in the well-lit but narrow entrance to the pier, was a waiting medi-pod with two female paramedics standing alongside it. They were both dressed in long black gowns and were wearing small headsets. One of them pointed to Kalrea and was about to say something, when Kalrea said,

‘Yes, I know! And I’m not wearing what you think I am, all right!’

The paramedic held a hand up in acknowledgement, and then pointing to the medi-pod instructed Kalrea, ‘Put the patient on here.’

Kalrea placed Supora carefully onto a large padded area in the centre of the medi-pod, which had no roof, windows or doors. On each side of the padded area was a bench with space for two people to sit and watch over the patient.

One of the paramedics studied a small monitor adjacent to one of the seats, before saying,

‘Her life signs are fluctuating between twenty-three and twenty-six qingals. We must get her to the theatre immediately.’

‘Please be seated,’ the nearest paramedic said with urgency to Kalrea.

‘Pod six, requesting delivery to theatre forty-three,’ the other paramedics said, at the same time, into her headset.

As soon as they were seated, the medi-pod accelerated away and entered a brightly lit tunnel, before finally emerging into the operating theatre where a doctor was waiting for them.

The doctor looked straight at the wound on her chest. ‘That’s not good. Get that helmet off her now. I need to get this pod straight into the opito to assess her.’

A paramedic carefully removed the helmet. She gasped in surprise when she saw an Agonian.

‘Don’t just stare at her, I need to get her in the opito, now!’ the doctor shouted at the paramedic.

The opito was a machine used to scan and perform operations on patients. There was no need for the patient to be moved from the medi-pod to the opito because the medi-pod would be lifted into it. The opito was like a moulded recess in the ceiling, with the indent being the exact shape of the base of the medi-pod and was deep enough to allow the whole medi-pod to fit into it with the patient inside. Over the patient were hundreds of small needles pointing downwards, giving the appearance of some type of torture chamber rather than something that could heel.

The medics and Kalrea stepped off the medi-pod. It was then lifted into the air by a large column, which rose from the floor beneath it and pushed it up into the opito. With a suction noise the base of the medi-pod sealed against the edge of the hole, locking Supora inside.

The paramedics now left the room, but Kalrea could hear them mention the word Agonian. They were talking about Supora.

The doctor was viewing his monitoring panel. ‘She’s lucky to still be alive. Just as well an Agonian has two hearts,’ he commented. ‘The plasma blast has punctured one lung and her left heart has failed. Blood loss is now at a critical level. She needs to have an operation straight way.’ He turned to Kalrea. ‘Where did she come from? You know it’s illegal to have an Agonian.’

‘Doctor, she doesn’t belong to me, she is a free Agonian.’

‘Erm… I find that hard to believe. I’m afraid I can’t operate on her.’

‘What?’ Kalrea was taken completely by surprise. ‘What do you mean you can’t operate on her? She’s in the opito now.’

‘The hospital doesn’t have the insurance cover to treat an Agonian. What happens if something goes wrong? We can’t pay the compensation.’

‘I don’t believe this. Doctor… What’s your name?’ Kalrea prompted him.

‘Belin,’ he replied.

‘Doctor Belin, do you have any children?’

‘Yes, I have little boy.’

‘How old is he?’

‘Seven... Look, I don’t see what the age of my son has to do with that woman in there.’

‘Her name’s Supora and she’s got two daughters, called Asnica and Doine. The oldest is only nine,’ Kalrea said. ‘Their father was killed yesterday. How do you think your son would feel if he was left all alone?’

‘Look lady, I know what you’re trying to do, but I’m sorry.’

‘I don’t want to be the one that tells two little girls that their mum’s died, ok!’ Kalrea was getting desperate. ‘How much do you want?’

‘What?’

‘How much do you want to do the operation? One million! Two million umo! Name your price!’

The doctor glared at Kalrea. He was none too pleased with her offer.

‘What sort of person do you thing I am? I’m a doctor! I save people, I do not profit from them.’

‘Then, you’re a good man. So please, I beg you, save this woman.’

What more can I do. There’s no time to take her anywhere else. I could threaten him, but that wouldn’t be right. Then, I have no choice! I’ll have to try to use the opito machine myself.

‘All right! All right! I’ll operate on her,’ the doctor said out of the blue. ‘I’m going to have to remove her left lung and heart, as well as regenerating all that damaged tissue.’

‘Thank you, Doctor,’ Kalrea said.

‘But if she dies, she was never here, got it!’

Kalrea nodded and said,’ Yes, Doctor.’

‘I’m going to have to ask you to step outside. I need to calibrate the equipment for an Agonian. This isn’t something I’ve done before.’

Kalrea moved to an adjoining room where there was a window allowing her to watch the operating theatre from outside. The medi-pod descended from the opito and the doctor carefully cut away Supora’s cloths with a laser pen. He then placed small sensors on her head, neck, chest and wrists, before putting a metallic sphere, about the size of a marble, at the entrance to the wound on her chest. Afterwards, the medi-pod went back up into the opito, and the doctor moved to his control panel, where he sat fixated on his monitor and started to operate on Supora.

*****

Back onboard the
Aurora
, Kalrea informed Zoren and Gulco of what was happening. There was a sense of relief that the doctor had changed his mind.

‘How long does the operation take?’ Gulco asked Kalrea.

‘I’m sorry, I’ve no idea. But I have a feeling it’s going to be sometime and even when he’s completed it, I may not be able to move her.’

‘Will you both be safe there?’

‘I’m not sure. I’m concerned that the two paramedics, who saw Supora, were talking about her on the way out. If word gets out that there’s an Agonian here, then there’s no doubt somebody will try to take her.’

*****

On Onliv, the doctor was now well into the operation.

I have some time now to look around,
Kalrea thought.

She had a walk around the nearby corridors and also accessed the surveillance systems.

Ah, now that could be a problem.

From a security camera, Kalrea recognised one of the paramedics
who had seen Supora, talking to another woman. She observed an exchange of money between them.

Now, I’m sure that’s not a tip. That can only mean one thing. Trouble will be heading this way.

Kalrea hurried back to the operating room. The doctor was still at work.

How long is he going to be? I need to ask him.

Accessing medical computer system.

I’ll send him a message.

The doctor stopped operating, pointed at his monitor in surprise and then stared over at Kalrea.

She smiled and waved at him.

I think he got the message!

‘Twenty minutes at least,’ he shouted. ‘How did you… Never mind! Don’t interrupt me again.’

That’s a long time. I’m going to have to stop the woman that the paramedic talked to, and I have to act quickly because she’s already at an exit.

Kalrea rushed from the room.

She’s heading for a mono-pod. Damn, there’s no way I’m going to be able to get to her. If she gets away, I may have no more than five to ten minutes before some Xangols turn up. I’m going to have to slow her down.

She moved to a nearby window to see the mono-pod the woman had entered accelerating way into the distance.

Quick! Accessing mono-pod network.

System shutdown.

Lockout all users.

All the mono-pods instantaneously came to a standstill.

There, that will delay her for a while.

Kalrea made her way quickly back to the operating room. She peered through the window, but the opito was empty and the doctor had gone.

No! Where is she? He said twenty minutes.

Kalrea quickly linked back into the security cameras.

There he is!

The doctor had moved the medi-pod to an adjoining room. Kalrea knocked on the door.