Chapter Ten

 

Several unarmed aliens walked toward them. Their bodies looked very fragile, their head movements deliberate, and their large black eyes blinking, staring.

“There’s no need for your translator Ms. Watson,” the alien in front of the others said, “I’ve had several years to learn your language. My name is Keldahl. My apologies to you, Mr. Cramer, for our overzealous guard.”

“How is it you know our names?” he asked.

“Mr. Witherspoon communicated them to us last time. He handpicked the two of you for this trip.”

“Then you know why we’re here,” Mona said.

“Yes, but we must hurry,” Keldahl said.

“In about twenty days your planet will enter the magnetic flux region between your two suns,” Cramer said.

“There’s something even more pressing. The position of Rogue will cause destructive tidal forces sooner than that.”

“Rogue? The brown dwarf? What we call Sirius C?” Cramer asked.

“Yes. You should get Mr. Witherspoon to our medical complex. Rogue’s effect will be felt in less than a week. The medical complex has several backup power circuits, but our walls and floors will not stand the stress.”

“One of us will go back to the ship and bring him down. We’ll need to revive him from cryo sleep. He’s in very bad shape. There’s something else we need and that’s hydrogen for our return trip,” Cramer said.

“I suspect you will need to make several trips in your taxi to get enough,” Keldahl said.

“With the short time frame, I doubt we’ll be able to get enough even using both our taxis,” Mona said.

“I’ll have crews working to ready the hydrogen tanks and load them for you on your return.”

Cramer and Mona rode the taxi back to the ship and filled Lila in. Mona brought a revived but weak Witherspoon while Cramer drove the other taxi. True to his word, Keldahl enlisted several of his spindly men to help load the hydrogen tanks. Cramer couldn’t believe their strength, considering their size. He and Mona made their trips back to Quest as fast as they could. Lila labored to unload and store the tanks until the three of them could rig a manifold to transfer the tank’s contents to the ship’s huge hydrogen fuel tanks.

On the third day, Keldahl notified them of Witherspoon’s response in the large healing chamber Cramer noted when he first entered the medical room. He and Mona wanted to see the healing process, but the hydrogen transport took top priority. They saw the revival of the ten aliens in their individual chambers. On day five the tidal forces of the brown dwarf caused some minor tremors. When the tremors started, Keldahl’s crew ran farther underground, refusing to work anymore. That left Cramer and Mona alone transporting the hydrogen tanks topside. Although the motorized transport vehicle helped, manhandling the tanks to get them onto the vehicle then moving them to the surface and into the space taxi’s small cargo hold took a lot of time. After transporting their loads without help he judged they’d be lucky if they could take one more load. The walls of some of the underground corridors began to crack.

After returning, Cramer and Mona headed for the medical lab to check on Witherspoon. Just as they entered the brightly lit room, Keldahl and a medical technician brought Witherspoon to consciousness. The chamber cover slid open, and Witherspoon sat up with some help from Keldahl.

“I feel much better, but worn out,” Witherspoon said.

Cramer then fully appreciated that cryo sleep melted some of his muscles away.

“You’ll gain strength with rest and food,” Keldahl said.

“I hope you like alien fruit. That’s what our friends here provided to replace our depleted food stores,” Cramer said.

“Joe, Mona, you did a marvelous job of getting me here,” Witherspoon said.

“We may not get home. As hard as we’ve been working, I don’t think we have enough hydrogen to even get halfway back,” she said.

“I can help,” Witherspoon said.

“No. You need rest. Now, let’s get you back to the ship.” She pushed Witherspoon toward the exit. He didn’t resist.

Mona and Witherspoon left. Cramer headed for the hydrogen storage area, and Keldahl followed him, apologizing for the cowardice of his crew. Keldahl helped him load another batch of tanks onto the transport. Injured aliens stumbled along the corridors, and Keldahl assisted them back toward the medical complex. Cramer drove the transport to the surface amidst scattered debris from the crumbling walls. Outside, Mona and he stored the tanks in her taxi. He vowed to stay behind and try for another load.

“Be careful,” Mona said.

He nodded and smiled. He watched the taxi lift, then drove the transport back below. Cramer managed to get back to the hydrogen stash over a light scattering of debris in the corridors. He labored to load the transport with more cylinders, thankful for the rich oxygen atmosphere easing his lungs. He dreaded returning to orbit and being exposed to twenty-one percent oxygen again.

He loaded another batch of cylinders and started topside without too much trouble. After loading the taxi, he decided to wait on Mona and perhaps try another load for her taxi. It still wouldn’t be near enough.

Soon she arrived and after assuring her they could get another batch of cylinders the two of them climbed aboard the transport and started below. Several large chunks of ceiling lay in their way, making the transport struggle to get over or around them. A large crack formed in the ceiling above them. As the tremor’s intensity increased, Cramer shoved Mona out of her seat. One second slower and they would have been crushed by a block of concrete.

The chunk flattened the transport. Another rumble, and the floor crumbled. Along to their right only the railing separated them from the chasm of equipment. He dropped to one knee as the shaking increased. The wall on their left tilted and fell, Cramer almost not avoiding the tumbling piece of wall, but it hit Mona, and she toppled over the rail.

“Mona!” he yelled and ran to the railing.

She held onto a beam below floor level with one hand, but her second hand began to slip. His head swam at the seemingly bottomless cavern below her. Blocks of debris tumbled toward the immeasurably deep cylinder of machinery. Some of those devices loosened and tumbled downward out of sight. The walkways across the expanse collapsed from falling blocks of the building. A block hit Cramer in the head and narrowly missed Mona. With tears in his eyes from the pain, he dropped to a prone position and reached for her.

“Save yourself, Joe. You can’t reach me,” she shouted over the noise of destruction around them.

“I’m not leaving you.”

He slipped over the sturdy railing. The distance between the upright bars supporting the railing allowed Cramer to stick his legs back through and hook himself by bending his knees and hanging upside down. With his extra reach he grabbed Mona’s hand. Blood rushed to his head. The veins in his neck and forehead felt ready to pop.

He strained and grasped her less secure hand first, clamping onto her wrist. She continued to swing with the swaying structure, her hair swirling in disarray. He clamped onto her other wrist, and with the last ounce of his strength, began to hoist her upward. He grunted, gritting his teeth. Her hands also grasped his wrists, providing a strong physical bond. Finally, he hoisted her far enough up she bent her legs and rested her feet on the beam she had clung to. She grabbed the railing and helped him to an upright position. He climbed over the rail with her.

They regained their footing, but a block from overhead struck Mona a glancing blow, knocking her unconscious in a heap at his feet. He picked her up then headed for the medical lab not far away. Finding new strength from the adrenaline rush, he broke into a slow job.

“This place must be built like a fortress,” he said to Keldahl as he carried Mona in.

“Put her in this chamber. It’s the only one left that works. We still have power, but I don’t know for how long.” Keldahl raised the canopy of the chamber.

With care, Cramer put Mona onto the table. Keldahl activated the chamber and stared at the readings.

“Can she be saved?”

“Yes. It’s a good thing you brought her here. That blow caused bleeding in her brain. The healing field will act on those blood vessels. I hope there’s no residual damage to the brain.”

“But your device can take care of that, can’t it?”

“It won’t work miracles, but it will promote new blood pathways if needed. Getting her here fast makes her chances excellent for a full recovery,” Keldahl said, focusing on the chamber’s progress.

“Will we know right away if there is damage remaining?”

“Yes. Her motor functions will be affected from that region of the brain.”

“How do you know?”

“Mr. Witherspoon was gracious enough to send us your physiological make up,” Keldahl said. He left to check on some of his people being treated by semi portable healing units.

The gentle blue glow played on Mona’s wound. Her bosom rose and fell with an even breathing motion. He felt responsible for talking her into this last dangerous and hopeless quest for one more load of hydrogen. At times like this he appreciated her ability to survive.

The blue glow dimmed, then winked out. The chamber bubble slid downward, and she opened her eyes. She turned her head and looked at Cramer. He offered her his hand to help her up. She accepted, and he sighed, relieved everything seemed to be moving as she swung her legs to the side and put her feet on the floor.

“Mona, I’m sorry.”

“What for?”

“If it hadn’t been for me convincing you it was safe to make one more trip, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

“Hey, if I hadn’t thought it was safe, no amount of talking would convince me otherwise.”

“Point taken, but I’m glad you’re okay,” Cramer said.

“Can your device heal a man with lung trouble?” Mona called out to Keldahl.

“Yes, but you’ll have to hurry. I doubt the power will stay on much longer,” he yelled from across the room and continued tending to an injured alien. He then walked briskly toward them.

An alien entered, carrying another alien. Cramer hurried to him and relieved him of the injured one.

“It’s Melda. She’s hurt bad.” Keldahl translated for Cramer and Mona.

He didn’t hesitate, but laid the injured alien onto the bed just vacated by Mona. Did Keldahl smile?

“I hope there’s time enough for her to be healed,” Cramer said, as Keldahl closed the chamber and started the healing process.

“I’d like to offer a place for you and your people to come back to Earth with us,” Cramer said.

“We couldn’t live in your low oxygen environment. Besides, we can rebuild.”

“I suspected you might say that.”

Just as the chamber finished healing Melda, the power went off, and emergency lights came on. The tremors seemed less severe, an indication the planet and brown dwarf had shifted just enough to disrupt the tidal force corridor from brown dwarf to planet. Although the tremors subsided, the cluttered corridors made it impossible to get another transport for hydrogen tanks. Cramer and Mona offered to help Keldahl and the other aliens restore power. That took three days and nights of work. Lila reminded them via radio they needed to allow plenty of time to get Quest ready to move before the magnetic flux returned.

“I wish we could spend more time helping you, but if we don’t get back to the ship today we’ll be pushed to get it ready for the trip home,” Cramer said.

“I understand. You’ve done so much for us in the last three days. Look, we have the medical complex up and running, our injured are all treated, so there’s no reason why we can’t take care of those lungs for you,” Keldahl said.

“Come on. Right this way,” Mona said, taking Cramer by the arm when she saw him hesitate. “Can you take care of the ringing in his ears too?”

“Doubtful. That would take major recalibration of the chamber.”

“Will your equipment actually promote new growth to replace my damaged cells?” Cramer asked.

“I must confess I’m not sure. At the very least it will clear out the fluid buildup and strengthen the lung walls. Your body will have to take care of the rest. We knew what to expect with Mr. Witherspoon ahead of time. To be effective I’d have to reconfigure our equipment. I know you don’t have time for that.”

They arrived at the medical complex. Cramer swallowed hard as he climbed into the chamber. Medical procedures always gave him anxiety attacks. Mona recognized that.

“Nothing to worry about. It’s easier than going under anesthetic, believe me.”

With her nearby, he relaxed. The transparent enclosure slid into place, and the blue glow started. He stayed conscious and tried to remain perfectly still like the bone scan procedure required on Earth. He appreciated Mona’s nearness outside. She seemed to be more outgoing to him, but maybe that just went with the territory. After all, what choice did she have when the place came crashing down around their ears and their ticket home required a mutual dependence on each other? Would it be different when they got back to the ship? The camphor odor brought him out of his reflection. It filled his lungs, giving him the feeling of expanded capacity. The blue glow intensified, and again he experienced an effect on his lungs. A sensation of something lifting, something malignant taken away, made him take deep breaths. Perhaps that was what he needed to do.

The blue glow faded, winked out, and the chamber cover slid open. He admitted to feeling better, glad that added to the benefits of the oxygen rich atmosphere. Mona extended her hand to him, helping him to sit up and swing his legs around to plant his feet on the floor.

“How do you feel?” she asked.

“Like I could whip a gymnasium full of tigers,” he answered.

“We’ll settle for getting a star ship home.”

“Speaking of that, we must take our leave of you good people. We could learn a great deal from each other,” he said to Keldahl.

“Lila and I have already exchanged a vast amount of information by way of radio and fax while you were busy with the hydrogen tanks,” Keldahl said.

“I really worry about you once your planet enters the flux region again. You’ll be forced to stay underground for many years,” Cramer said.

“We’ll manage. I wish you a safe trip back. We’ll maintain communications with you if the flux corridor will allow that. It’s a shame we have the eight and six tenths of a year wait each way.”

They stepped through the scattered debris to topside, relieved for the absence of tremors. Keldahl accompanied them. Once away from the entrance to the underground complex with its minor cracks, the surrounding landscape gave no evidence of the destruction that lay below. The twin suns hung in the east like two uneven eyes. The brown dwarf, a bright disk, lay to their west and appeared every bit as menacing as before. He took each of their hands gently, said some complementary statements, then Cramer and Mona boarded their own individual taxis and lifted.