Peggy Sue (The T'aafhal Inheritance) (17 page)

“Stay down, damn it! Poking your hide up over the ridge won’t help Tornassuk, but it might get you shot as well. Everybody just sit tight for a minute.” Bear climbed down from the side of the ridge and loped back the direction they had come from for about 40 meters. Then he belly crawled part way up the ridge until he could glimpse over the top. He ducked back, slid down the side and ran back to the party of agitated bears.

“There are a couple of great white hunters out there with Inuit guides and dog sleds. Just our luck the bastards were down wind.”

“That had better not be your buddy, the Captain, out there,” growled Inuksuk, menacingly.

“Back off,” Bear snarled. “Jack’s not here yet but he’s on his way.”
Activating his radio he called, “Shuttle, this is Bear. We have an emergency down here. There is an armed party due east of our current position and we are under fire.”
The shuttle is probably in reentry comm blackout,
Bear thought,
but how do I explain that to these bears?
 

* * * * *

The shuttle was just emerging from the plasma cocoon created by its entry into the atmosphere. In a few minutes Lt. Lewis would be able to acquire the signal from Bear’s comm unit and vector to his location. The Captain was in the co-pilot’s seat and Dr. Hofstadter was in the cockpit jump seat, since there was no seating to be had in the passenger’s area.

“And we are just supposed to walk up to these polar bears, unarmed?” the doctor asked nervously. He was an experienced large animal vet and had done work at a big city zoo, but the thought of facing a large number of bears in the wild made him more than a little nervous.

“Don’t worry, Doctor. These bears are not the same as your average polar bear. If you are polite, and the bears are not hungry, things will go just fine.” Jack knew he shouldn’t be messing with the Doctor’s head, but things had gotten so boring since the rescues this was the most fun he’d had in a week.

The shuttle radio crackled to life: “…is Bear. We have an emergency down here … armed party due east of our current position and we are under fire.”

“What the hell?” Jack exclaimed. “Mr. Lewis, we need to locate the shore party. Now!”

“Yes, Sir. I’ve got the location,” Nigel replied. “We will be on station in less than five minutes.”

* * * * *

Bear was facing a growing mutiny. The females wanted to just scatter while Inuksuk and the adolescent males wanted to charge the hunters. “Listen to me! There are at least two hunters with rifles and as many guides. You charge the humans and none of you will live to sink a fang into them.”

“At least let the youngsters get away,” pleaded Snowflake.

“And how do we find them after the Captain gets here? Just stay put a few more minutes.”
Come on, Jack! I really could use some help down here.
 

“Lt. Bear, this is the Shuttle,” Bear’s communicator announced. “We have you in sight and will move to neutralize your attackers. Stay under cover until we signal all clear.”

“See! I told you help was on the way,” said a very relieved Bear,
if I do this again I’m gonna be armed.
Moments later a large, blunt arrowhead passed low over their hiding place behind the ridge. 

Bear and the rest of the group scampered to the top of the ridge in time to see the shuttle’s repulsors raise a veritable blizzard that enveloped the hunting party. Though visibility in the vicinity of the hunters was close to zero, it soon became apparent that the two dogsleds and their riders were mushing for all they were worth toward the southeast.

The shuttle shifted position, coming closer to the bears while keeping its bulk between them and the fleeing hunters. The blowing snow cleared as the massive craft settled onto its landing struts and its rear ramp lowered. Two humans in parkas emerged from the opening, one carrying what looked like a black gym bag.

Snowflake and Aurora were both whimpering and nudging the crumpled shape of Tornassuk. Red blood stained his white pelt and the surrounding snow. As the humans came running up, Inuksuk rose on his hind legs and roared. The smaller human clutched the bag to his chest and stopped running, the taller continued forward. In a loud voice he yelled at Inuksuk, “If you want your friend to have a chance of living, stand down.”

Inuksuk was taken aback. He had never had a human bark orders at him when he was in full threat posture. The human continued: “This man is a doctor and we do not have time for this macho crap. So what’s it going to be? An inter-species pissing contest or can we try and save your wounded friend?”

The flummoxed bear sank slowly back down to a four legged stance. “Hurry, Jack,” Bear cried, “He’s losing a lot of blood.” Jack turned to the other human and said, “come on, Doctor, you have a patient to save. Move your ass man!”

The same tone of command that had deflated Inuksuk broke Dr. Hofstadter’s paralysis. He hurried forward and kneeled down by the wounded bear. “He’s still breathing,” the vet called out. “He has a chest wound, probably a collapsed lung, but I don’t think any other major organs have been hit.”
Otherwise he would be dead already,
Gene added silently, not wishing to upset the other bears. He turned to Jack and said, “We need to get him on board the shuttle. I can try to stabilize him on the flight back to the ship.”

“Right,” Jack spoke into his comm pip, secured inside his hood flap. “Mr. Lewis, I need you to break out a stretcher and bring it to us. Now, Mr. Lewis.”

“Captain, how are we going to carry him on a stretcher, he must weigh 1300 lbs?” asked the veterinarian, now totally absorbed in trying to save his patient.

“Don’t worry, Doctor. The stretcher has gravitonic lifts. All we have to do is get him on it. The other bears can help with that.” Lt. Lewis arrived with the floating stretcher and lowered it to the ground along side the wounded Tornassuk. Then, with help from Bear and Aurora, the humans loaded the stricken bear. Dr. Hofstadter and Lt. Lewis headed for the shuttle ramp with their burden, closely followed by the fretful Snowflake.

Jack turned and addressed the remaining bears. “All right. This was not the type of first meeting I was hoping for. Given your comrade’s condition we don’t have time for long introductions so I will just say that my name is Captain Jack Sutton, and I am the master of the starship Peggy Sue. I would like you all to join us for reasons already explained by Bear, but we have no time to discuss matters. If you wish to come, please board the shuttle now.”

The bears stared at the self-assured human standing in their midst and then at the shuttle, then at Bear. “What are we waiting for?” Bear asked, and headed for the ramp. The other bears quickly followed, with the Captain bringing up the rear.

Sickbay, Peggy Sue

As soon as the shuttle docked, Dr. Hofstadter hustled the stricken Tornassuk down the gangway and to the ship’s sickbay, assisted by waiting crew members. Following close behind came Snowflake, padding down the strange halls and corridors of the spaceship with no idea where they were headed. Dr. Tropsha was waiting for them at the door of the medical section. “Come, bring the patient into the first OR. We are set up and ready to go.”

“Right,” Hofstadter acknowledged. “In there men, quickly. Giselle, start a saline drip and draw a sample for blood type matching.” The OR nurse, Giselle Bollard, was frozen in position, staring at the massive polar bear on the stretcher, the white fur of his chest stained reddish brown by drying blood. “Now Nurse!” shouted Dr. Hofstadter, prodding Giselle into action. The OR door slid shut.

Snowflake tried to follow the stretcher bearers into the operating room, only to be stopped by Ludmilla. “And where do you think you are going, young lady?” the ship’s head doctor asked, reacting to the situation and not considering that she was putting herself in the path of a strange 250 kg bear.

“My friend is in there!” Snowflake said, and moved to push past the doctor. Ludmilla put a hand lightly against Snowflake’s chest and said, “If you want to help your friend, you need to let the doctors work. The operating theater is crowded as it is and you would present a large distraction.”

“But I want to help!” the anguished polar bear whined, turning her head to look directly in the human’s eyes.

“I know you do,” Ludmilla said, sympathetically. “The best thing you can do is sit down against the reception area wall and wait. I promise that I will keep you informed of your friend’s condition.” Ludmilla’s thoughts raced.
I had best get Bear to come up here and keep her calm, if she gets violent the result will not be pretty.
 

Reefer #2, Peggy Sue

In the aft of the ship there were two large walk-in refrigerator units, labeled reefer #1 and #2. Reefer #2 had effectively been converted into quarters for Lt. Bear during the last trip. Since there were no other onboard areas kept at temperatures comfortable to polar bears, this was where the rest of the bear party ended up. The Captain followed the bears into the reefer, again donning the parka he wore on the pack ice. “If I might have your attention for a minute,” he began.

“Where are Tornassuk and Snowflake?” asked one of the adolescents, his query echoed by several others.

“Please!” the Captain snapped. “I will answer all your questions but that cannot be done if you are all shouting at once.” Before now, Jack had not appreciated just how undisciplined a group of wild bears could be. On the trip to the ship they had been distracted by the view outside the shuttle, but eight bears were definitely a crowd in the reefer’s limited space. “Tornassuk is in sickbay and his wound is being treated by the medical staff. Evidently Snowflake is also there, waiting for him.”

“Will he live?” asked Siku.

I truly hope so,
Jack said to himself,
I really don’t want a polar bear riot on board my ship.
Out loud, he replied, “I will not lie to you, his wound is a serious one. Dr. Hofstadter and the rest of the medical staff will do their best to save him.” The bears all began talking among themselves as a message came over the Captain’s comm pip—Ludmilla calling to ask for help keeping Snowflake calm.

“Lt. Bear, Dr. Tropsha just called and asked for your help with Snowflake,” jack yelled over the rising din.

“Right, and who’s going to keep this lot calm?” Bear asked, jerking his head toward the crowd of arguing white bears.

Isbjørn, sitting on the floor next to Bear looked first at her mate and then the Captain and huffed, “Males! I’ll go and take care of Snowflake. See if you can find something to keep the others occupied while we’re waiting on Tornassuk.”

Isbjørn stood up and walked to the door. At the door she hesitated, then called back over her shoulder. “Uh, Captain? Could you tell me where I need to go?”

Bear looked at Jack as if to say,
I’m not touching that line.
The Captain replied, “I’ll do better than that.” He walked over and opened the door. He then used his pip to call Melissa Hamilton, the ship’s horticulturist. “Miss Hamilton, could you come to Lt. Bear’s quarters? I need someone to show one of the new bears to sickbay.”

A few minutes later, Melissa arrived, introductions made and Isbjørn was guided on her way. With that problem in hand it was time to tackle the larger group of arguing ursines. The Captain made his way to the reefer’s forward bulkhead. Turning on the large video screen mounted there, he tapped a few commands on the screen and brought up a video of two open hover-sleds crossing a jumbled gray and black landscape—it was video of the expedition to the cavern beneath crater Giordano Bruno.

Attracted by movement, as predators are, the room full of bears was soon sitting attentively watching the video. As the small group of spacesuit clad humans and one large bear dismounted and moved into a dark opening in the lunar surface, Jack spoke to the now quiet polar bears: “This is video taken of our first encounter with aliens. This was recorded on the Moon last spring. I thought you might wish to see what we are facing.”

“Is that really the Moon?” asked Umky.

“Yes, indeed,” Jack replied. “That is where we are headed, thought not to the same location. I’ll let Lt. Bear do the narration, since he was a participant in the battle…”

Sickbay, Peggy Sue

Melissa took Isbjørn forward through the cargo hold and onto the large lift to the mid-deck. “So you’re Bear’s mate?” she asked in her soft southern accent. She and Bear had become close friends since they both spent most of their time in the aft regions of the ship.

“Yes, Umky is Bear’s cub,” she replied. “He’s three now, ready to go off on his own.”
I wonder if that is why I was so happy to see Bear again? Do I want more cubs with him?
 

“Well, he seems like a really good guy. He’s always been nice to me. He even rescued me from a bad Russian we had on board.”

“He’s always been brave, maybe to a fault. How did Bear get to be a lieutenant? I still don’t understand how that came about.”

“Evidently the Captain went to the Arctic and found him. He and Bear got to talking and Bear signed on. The Captain can be a real smooth talker, you know. Anyway, they’ve been friends ever since.”

Yes, that spring in Svalbard Bear said something about working with humans. I thought he was joking, but he must have already met this Captain Jack by then.
Before Isbjørn could think of something appropriate to say Melissa announced: “Here we are! This is the Sickbay. Dr. Tropsha is in charge of the medical section, she’s really nice when you get to know her,” then in a confidential tone Melissa added, “she and the Captain are like you and Bear.”

“They’ve had cubs together?” Isbjørn asked.

“Not yet, but they’re a couple. Anyway, I just thought you should know that before you met her.”

The woman and bear entered the sickbay reception area to find a fretful Snowflake pacing back and forth. “Oh Isbjørn! I’m glad you’re here. The Russian woman won’t let me see Tornassuk,” Snowflake whined.