I wake up on the deck and it takes a few blinks for my vision to clear. The ringing in my ears rises to a crescendo as I stupidly try to stand. Stabbing pain jabs at the backs of my eyes. The ringing increases in volume and pitch and a wave of dizziness sends me back to my ass.
The next thing I realize, someone is helping me to a chair. When I think I can open my eyes without puking, I see Chambers worried face hovering over me.
“Take it easy, Mel. You took a whack to the head.”
He leaves me for a moment and returns to press a filthy rag to my temple.
Annoyed, I brush him away and take the cloth from him. I’m shocked to see a lot of blood on it. He gently guides me to return it against my wound.
“We should probably tell Maggie to give you a once over,” he says.
I scowl and again wave him away. “Stop fussing over me. It’s a mild concussion at worse. I’ll be fine.”
I glance about the bridge. Mikey and Cervantes are at their stations. Umbra is nowhere to be seen.
“What the fuck happened?”
“We triggered a proximity mine.”
“Any damage?” I try to sit forward, only to have him gently press me back into the chair.
“We’re still assessing that. There doesn’t seem to be any damage to the attitude thrusters, and there was no major hull breach, so that’s good.”
“Hey boss,” says Cervantes from his station. “Schmaltz says the engines are fine.”
“Tell him to keep the emergency bulkheads in place and run a pressure integrity test, and I need long range sensors.”
“Which one first?”
“Fuck! I want them both. Give me eyes first. I need to know what else we might be drifting into.”
“Roy,” I say, “why would there be mines out here off the beaten track?”
He shakes his head. “We’ve probably stumbled onto a pirate base in the area.”
“Shit, not those assholes again.”
“If it is them, we’ll be getting company soon when they come to see what set off the trap. Shit, I wish I had listened to Umbra and installed those missile launchers.”
“Speaking of the devil, where is he?”
“He went to check on the rest of the crew. I haven’t heard from Miller yet.”
“What about Shin?”
“He’s in engineering with Schmaltz.”
“Someone should check on him. I’ll go.” I try to rise from the chair, only to reconsider my actions when another round of dizziness comes on me.
“Take it easy, Mel. The emergency bulkheads sealed off that section when the blast went off. As soon as Schmaltz finishes his pressure check, Umbra will look in on Miller.”
“I should really check on damage in medical.”
Chambers firmly keeps me in place. “Let Schmaltzy do his job first.”
“So, I’m stuck here. What if I have a brain bleed?”
He chuckles. “I thought you said it was only a mild concussion. Just sit here and rest for a bit.”
He turns to confer with the others. I scowl after him, then decide I probably should take things a little more cautiously for a few more minutes; give my medical nanites a chance to begin repairs to whatever was damaged when I hit my head.
I examine the cloth, and the bleeding has stopped, though from the state of the rag’s filthiness my nanites are probably working overtime to prevent infection too.
My problem is I’ve no experience being a patient. As far as I can recall I’ve never even had a cold, so resting to recuperate from more than a hangover is alien to me. Besides, the headache threatening to split my skull is getting better. A couple more minutes is probably for the best.
“Hey, boss,” Cervantes calls, “the sensors just came online.”
Chambers breaks off his conversation with Mikey to go to the panel, stopping to look at me.
“How are you doing, Mel?”
When I return his concern with a middle-fingered salute, he shakes his head and turns on the equipment.
After a few minutes studying the readouts, he says, “Well, so far we’ve not drawn any attention.”
“Do you think Nancy’s ship set one off?”
“No, there was no explosion before it went offline.”
“You didn’t see any mines when you flew us into this one, did you?”
Scowling, he activates the visual scope and spends several more minutes methodically scanning around us. Feeling better, I carefully rise from my chair, and when nothing untoward happens, I go to stand beside him.
“Sorry,” I say quietly. “My snarky insinuation you flew us into a mine field was unkind.”
He looks up at me with an expression I can only describe as astonished. “You are actually apologizing to me? That hit to the head did some damage.”
I exhale noisily through my nostrils. “Don’t be an asshole. I’m fine.”
He shrugs and returns his attention to the screen. “I still think Maggie should give you a once over. You are definitely acting strange, Destin.”
Then, he smiles without looking up. “Although, I really could come to enjoy a Mel V2.0. If I had known all it would take was a smack to the side of your head….”
I elbow his ribs, and he grunts in exaggerated discomfort.
“Too bad,” he says. “It was an intriguing idea while it lasted.”
Before I can reply, Cervantes calls out.
“Hey Doc, Umbra just called. Miller’s hurt.”
I’m already headed to the exit. “How bad?”
“All he said was you should get down there.”
“Mel,” calls Chambers.
I turn to face him. “What?”
He approaches and presses a medical kit into my hands. “I told Schmaltz. The emergency bulkhead should be retracted by the time we get there.”
We arrive to find the hull near the environmental control station took the brunt of the blast. Schmaltz is there with Umbra, leaning over an unconscious Miller. I elbow my way past them and order everyone to step back.
There is a deep gash in the side of his head, and his breathing is ragged. He stirs uncomfortably as I gently check him for further injuries.
“I think some ribs are broken, and likely some other internal damage. I won’t know for sure until Maggie scans him.”
I signal it’s okay for Umbra and Chambers to lift him. As they remove him to medical, I turn to Schmaltzy.
“I don’t like his colour. Was there a hull breach down here?”
The engineer shakes his head. “No, but the outer hull integrity in this section is compromised.”
“So, hypoxia is a possibility,” I mutter to myself.
“I don’t think so,” says Schmaltz. “Pressures were all good down here. I’d be more worried about radiation exposure. This side of the ship faced the blast.”
“Radiation? You think the mine we set off was a nuke?”
He bites his lower lip and nods. “That’s typically what mines are, particularly if the pirates are using surplus from the war. They hide them in asteroids, so the force of the blast sends tonnes of rubble outward to shred the ship that tripped it. As a bonus it also doses with a burst of gamma radiation. We were far enough away that our hull absorbed most of it, except where we were hit by debris, like this section.”
“Shit.”
I start to follow the others to medical, but stop to say, “Come see me for anti-radiation treatment as soon as possible.”
He nods. “I’ll give you time to see to Miller first.”
I enter medical as my patient is being placed on the examination bed. Grabbing Chambers by the elbow, I whisper. “You didn’t say anything about the mine being an atomic bomb.”
He grimaces. “Sorry, Mel, I assumed you knew.”
“I didn’t fight in your stupid war.”
Not giving him the opportunity to reply, I go to Miller’s side.
“Maggie, start a full diagnostic scan, and prep anti-rad doses for the entire crew.”
“Right away, Doctor. I detect you suffered blunt force trauma to the cranium. Should I prepare a complete scan for yourself as well?”
“It can wait.”
I turn to face Chambers. Concern etches his tired face.
“Roy, I realize you’re worried, but I need you to leave.” I gently grasp his elbow and guide him to the door. “I’ll call as soon as I know the situation, okay?”
He nods, then turns to regard Miller.
“He was the first one I recruited after the war. I told him.…” He chokes up.
“I’ll take care of him. Go get your ship running again.”
He nods and leaves, with Umbra on his heels.
It doesn’t take Maggie long to come up with the list of Miller’s injuries. He has a cracked neck vertebra, multiple contusions and four broken ribs, two of which punctured internal organs, including his lung.
“Mags, we need to prep him for surgery.”
“I am preparing the anesthetic now, Doctor. Are you feeling well enough to perform the procedure?”
“What the hell makes you think I’m not?”
“I am linked to your medical nanites, and your injuries are severe enough to require attention.”
“Miller can’t wait.”
“The procedure to mend his internal injuries is uncomplicated and entirely within my capabilities.”
“I’m fine. Let’s get to this.”
“As you wish, Doctor.”
As I walk to the sterilizer unit to prepare, my foot misses the floor, then, the lights go out.
“Fuck, not again.”
