lr.18
MEGAZONE 23
"Life... is extremely odd."
--Zoner
Vaughn and Iczer-1 entered the Wayward Son via one of
the many airlocks.
"Where shall we go?" asked Iczer-1.
"Let's head to the Wedge, it's sort of the social hang
out now that it isn't our starship anymore."
"All right..."
Meanwhile, on the bridge. "Looks like Iczer-2 pulled a
cut and run. Any sign of her at all?" Zoner asked.
"Nothing," Gryphon replied. "But Reality and Iczer-1
are on their way in."
"Fine, fine. Yuri, lay in a course for Utopia Planitia
and engage. q, get daver, easwimm, phantom, tracker,
profesor, gmayer, and rparker up here to take over the on the
bridge. When they get here the rest of you can knock off.
I've got to get to sickbay, I don't feel too good, this wound
is really starting to hurt. I'll probably see you guys in
the Wedge later. Gryph, you have the conn."
Zoner walked off of the bridge, apparently a little
shaky, and headed for sickbay.
"This is the Wedge?" Iczer-1 asked as she and Vaughn
entered.
"Yep. This is it."
"This served as a starship?"
"Yeah, but like I said, it's back to being a social
hangout now."
"Looks small."
"It is, but it has a certain charm. It's been absorbing
energy for years. The Wedge Rats come here to recharge their
batteries, so to speak. The tables were made from an old
bowling alley, so they have a lot of `hanging out' energy in
them."
"Who are these people?" she asked, gesturing to the
various Wedge Rats scattered about.
"Well, this is ktefft, kelli, grendel, helene, jeremy,
cheryl.Z, Matt Jaffe, Alec, kat, pogo, and ian," Vaughn
answered, gesturing towards each person as he named them.
"Hello," said Iczer-1.
"Who's she?" Matt asked.
"Wedge meet Iczer-1, Iczer-1 meet the Wedge," Vaughn
introduce her to those present. There was a round of
"pleased to meet you"s and "welcome to the Wedge"s as
everyone tried to make Iczer-1 feel comfortable.
Gryphon stumbled around the corner into the Wedge. It
appeared that he was having a shitty day.
"Hey, Gryph," Vaughn said. "You don't look very good."
"Gosh, really?" Gryphon asked sardonically. "And here I
thought I'd look mm-mm good after fighting a Veritech battle
and then getting knocked around the bridge for an hour and a
half. I'm in pain. Give me a break."
"Where's Kei?" asked Grendel.
"She went to sleep," Gryphon replied. "Not a bad idea.
I'm a little too wired at the moment, so I decided to do a
Wedge check."
"Oh, hey--Gryph, this is Iczer-1."
"I know who she is, Vaughn. Hello, Iczer-1; sorry about
the mood, but I've had a really bad day."
"I understand," said Iczer-1, wobbling a little on her
feet. "I think I need to sit down..."
She proceeded to pass out and slump onto Vaughn.
"Looks like sickbay has yet another customer," Gryphon
observed wearily. "She's exhausted. Probably just needs
sleep."
"Uh, I don't think so, Gryph...look," Vaughn said as he
lifted the unconscious woman and carried her toward the
turbolift that had replaced #1 airlock. Iczer-1's left side
bore a spreading stain of blood through her bodysuit.
"Shit," Gryphon said, following. "Wait up."
They arrived to find sickbay a madhouse. Docbots
scurried here and there, bandaging minor cuts and scrapes;
Haywire was prostrate on one of the IC beds with Jenna
looking over his head as a docdroid taped his ribs. It was
chaos incarnate. Far worse than the worst SFS meeting.
"We have a small problem here," Gryphon shouted.
"Huh--oh. Dammit, it's just one thing after another."
Jenna turned to a docbot. "You! Keep him stabilized while I
deal with this."
"Looks like an old wound reopened by the stress of
battle," she said, looking over the nasty wound in Iczer-1's
side now that that part of the bodysuit had been removed.
"Pretty nasty, but we should be able to clean it up and get
it to heal all right. She's exhausted and she's lost some
blood; basically all she needs is a lot of rest."
"Well, at least that's good news," said Gryphon. "After
what she did for us, it would be a hell of a note for her to
go dying right on our ship...that would suck. A lot."
"Yes, that would be a badness," Vaughn said. "Do what
you can. I'm going to go take out my eyes and become--"
The door opened and SDF-17's illustrious commanding
officer entered.
"H-h-hi guys," Zoner croaked.
"Where have you been?" Gryphon asked, "You left the
bridge before the rest of us."
"I-- I wasn't feeling too great, I stopped by my room to
rest a bit. Then I decided I'd better come down here.
Uunngghh!" Zoner grabbed the doorframe for support.
"Zoner? What's wrong?" Jenna asked, concerned.
"'dunno. Dizzy. No balance. Head hurts. Seeing
stuff. So tired. I don't think I'm too well------" WHUMP!
Zoner collapsed in a heap on the sickbay floor.
"Zoner!" Jenna cried, then to the bystanders. "Help me
get him onto this table."
Jenna and a docbot examined him closely. When see
finished Jenna approached the waiting group.
"It looks like he really banged himself up this time.
He lacerated his forehead, deep, to the bone. He has a
hairline fracture in his skull, and internal hemorrhaging.
The concussion is pretty bad. It looks like he needs a minor
operation to seal off the blood flow inside his skull.
Sickbay can do it, the docbots can handle it for the most
part. But he is going to need time, if he comes out of it
great, if not, there's not much we can do."
"Damn," Gryphon muttered. He put his face in his hand.
"I needed this. I really really did."
"Why'd he have to be so stubborn? He should have
reported to sickbay as soon as it happened. We could have
avoided all of this. He can be so pig-headed at times. He
had better pull through, or I'll hurt him!" Jenna said,
obviously upset.
"Don't worry, Zoner is pretty tough. He'll make it,"
Vaughn said to comfort her.
"Yeah, he's too stupid to die," Gryphon offered, snarly
mode well and truly on. "Idiot." He wobbled. "Oh, fuck.
I'm gonna pass out on my feet, I'm so tired. Wait...
epinephrine. Epinephrine-D. 5cc's. Trust me, I remember
this well."
"If you're sure..."
"I need to be awake for this."
"Okay..." Jenna took out a spray-hypo and injected
Gryphon's arm. He immediately brightened somewhat.
"All right. Chief medical officer, take this down; as
of...1800 hours, I'm assuming command of this vessel in the
incapacitation of her captain."
"Are you sure that's a good idea? You're dead on your
feet, and the epinephrine won't last forever."
"It doesn't need to last forever; only an hour or so."
He went to the nearest pay phone, wiped his Shawmut card
through it, and called the bridge. "This is Gryphon. I've
taken command--Zoner's passed out. Get the regular bridge
crew back to the bridge, I need the best people I can up
there. Phantom, give me a time estimate on the shipyard."
"Looks like three hours," Phantom replied.
"Jenna?"
"It's longer than I'd like. I'm not very comfortable
with the facilities here yet."
"Okay...this is doable. I'll be right up. Get the
regular crew up there." Gryphon hung up and made for the
door.
"Gryph, are you planning something?" Vaughn asked,
following.
"In a manner of speaking," Gryphon replied. "I wonder
if it'll work?"
"Okay, everyone, stations. We're about to do something
that may be very, very stupid."
"Ben, what happened to Zoner?" Yuri asked, turning in
her seat.
"Later, Yuri, later. I'm sorry, but this is an
emergency. I need you sharp, professional. Can you do your
job?"
"Of course."
"Good. I'm sorry to do this, but it's for him."
"I understand."
"q, alert Utopia Planitia that we're coming in damaged,
with wounded, and in need of immediate assistance."
"Like done. Wolfgang's like beside himself."
"Neat trick. Yuri, lay in coordinates for Planitia and
begin spacefold calculations."
"You're going to fold back?!" Kei cried. "It's only a
three-hour trip!"
"Three hours may be too long," Gryphon replied. "Trust
me." He hit a switch on the chair arm. "Bridge to
engineering."
"Engine room," ReRob replied. "I'll be right up."
"No, stay there. I need you down there."
"What's up?"
"We're folding back to Planitia."
"What?!"
"Trust me. It's too long to explain. Bridge out."
"Spacefold calculations ready," Yuri reported. "I hope
you know what you're doing."
"So do I, Yuri, so do I," Gryphon muttered. "Execute
fold."
"Executing."
The universe turned inside out.