Return to Earth – 04a

Daniel splashed some water on his face. After three weeks, the Med Center walls were closing in on him despite he couldn’t see them. The condition just amplified the feeling. Alisha wasn’t allowing him to go out without some kind of escort, there wasn’t always someone available when he wanted to go wandering. Amy was there as much as she could be during her shift, but she had other patients. Alisha and Michele made daily visits but they still had jobs to do. He had been working with Amy all week trying to get the hang of using the guide stick. Once they were sure he could use it he could walk about more on his own. Of course, it would be better if he had his vision back. At least he wasn’t confined to bed. He had the limited space of his room to move around solo in. He did make it into the hallway and across to the nursing station. The first time he managed to avoid three male doctors and a nurse rushing somewhere down the hall. Amy and two other nurses just watched as he moved as if he could see each obstacle. Amy was at his side a second after he touched the counter. The first thing she asked was if he was okay and then she asked was he able to see. He could hear one of the other nurses paging for both Alisha and Michele. He leaned into her and told her yes and no. Then chuckled when she asked him to explain, clearly confused.
“Yes I am okay and no I can’t see. I just keep hearing something. It’s not very loud and its weak but sounds like someone calling for help.”

Amy looked at the nurse at the monitors who shook her head at her unasked question. “There’s no one in trouble here Daniel. I think you’re hearing things. If you wanted attention you should have just called like normal.” She teased him and started walking him back to his room. He didn’t let her and turned in the middle of the hall, startling Amy as he started walking faster. “Daniel I don’t have the time for tis right now. We can go for a walk after lunch. Please come back to your room.” She tried to pull on his arm but he kept moving.

“It’s coming from here,” he said finally stopping at a room three doors form his. “A woman, she’s in some kind of distress.”

Amy looked at the door marker. “Daniel this is Miss Lynx’s room. She’s an elderly woman that is having heart issues. If she were in distress the bio bed would signal to let us know. Now please,”Daniel pushed her towards the sound. “Check,” he said sternly.

“Daniel are you giving the nurses trouble again. Don’t make me restrict you to bed again.” Alisha called out laughing. Michele laughed with her but stopped when they got to them.

“He is insisting there’s something wrong with Miss Lynx. Tara checked the monitors there’s nothing to indicate that she’s in any trouble. They just brought her back from a test a short while ago. Even that went well.”

Daniel growled and shook the hold Amy hand on him and started toward the door. Alisha grabbed one arm and Amy the other. Michele was in front of him and holding her hand on his chest. “Dam it Daniel you can’t go into a woman’s room, even if she is ninety years old. So help me you better not be messing with us.”

Michele used her medical override to get the door open. Alisha gasped and released his arm as she ran inside with Michele. “Miss Lynx, we are here try to calm down everything will be okay. Amy get a float in here.”

Daniel headed back to his room. That day had more doctors visiting and asking questions. They even ordered more tests. Later the women came in and told him what had happened. The bio bed had malfunctioned. The computer in control of the bed was running a diagnostic series. Testing a bio bed required having a mock body on it that gave of readings to the sensors. The readings were used through the test, and locked in for use in other tests. One of the tests is that the bed lifts up and tilts helping to move patients from the bed to a float or vice versa. Since there was no one there and no float in place, the bed dumped Miss Lynx on the floor. The locked readings fed false information back to the nursing station. Miss Lynx suffered a concussion laceration to her forehead and a broken arm. Alisha said the bright side of it all was that her son finally visited.

“When we told him what happed he was shocked that she was alive,” Alisha said as she sat on the bed and spooned fed him.

Michele was on the other side and Amy in her chair and stayed quiet. “Who did the investigation?” he asked between bites.

“Station security, why?” Michele answered

Daniel held his hand up stopping Alisha form feeding him more. He searched the bed and tried to find the remote. “Dam it. Amy if you’re done brooding in the corner there could you please call the first number in the comm contacts. When it gets to the access code its six, one, nine, two.”

“It’s late Daniel, I hope you’re not calling me to complaining about being there again. I told you your there until the Doctors are one hundred percent sure there’s nothing else to be done.”

“Daniel could feel all eyes turning to him. “Yes sir, I know that. I am doing whatever I can to convince them I’m just a waste of their time but they are stubborn.”
“Perfect, then you should all get along fine. So why the late call?”

Daniel had told him the story and added his suspicions. “I can’t say where it starts or why, but there is no way this was an accident.”

The Command Marshal was nodding in agreement. “I’m sending Marshal Garret in the morning. She has expertise in medical tech and can run her own tests. She’s all the way out on the Rim. It will take a few hours to get back. In the meantime, I’m locking out the station security. Until this is cleared up, we are taking over the security for the Med Center.” He thought about something a moment, “Daniel I’m lifting your exemption and putting you on limited active duty. You are in charge until she gets there. That doesn’t mean you can just do what you want. The Marshals will report to you there and you can command from your room. The Doctors still have medical authority to bench you. There’s only you and six others. After your incident, we concentrated on security issues didn’t send more. I’ll get the rest there by days end.”

The call ended and Daniel sat back. “We just need to make sure that bed isn’t touched.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Michele replied and the bed moved slightly as she stood. “My ass was falling asleep sitting there anyway.”

That had been a week ago. The investigation led the marshals to arrest the son the security investigators and the orderly that had brought Miss Lynx back and put her in bed. Turned out The son was in debt. He was working three jobs and everything he made was nearly taken to pay it off. He had a policy on his mother. It paid off he could be in the clear with some to spare. He offered each of them ten thousand credits. The orderly was to initiate the diagnostic test, then the security investigators to rule it an accident. He figured he could get more credits from the med center as well in a wrongful death case.

He took a deep breath. The Med center rooms were not large, and he had a private room. Given his condition, they gave him one of the biggest they had. He let out a sigh and stepped out of the bathroom. After a few tries he manage to sidestep a display of flowers. He had a narrow path through the various gifts that were gathered around the room. As Alisha said, everyone knew of what he did, as did their relatives. The station school had boxes of drawings and notes from young children. Many were sending get-well wishes. Some came everyday now that they knew he was awake. The residents of Station Six had little faith in law enforcers. They all voted to accept to allow the marshals in, but they didn’t have faith they would be any different from what they had. Alisha and Michele had told him that the incident had spread like wildfire. People were talking and they were rethinking their position on the subject. Perhaps she was right when she said that it would be impolite not to accept. He didn’t want to offend anyone. They were just showing how thankful they were to be alive the only way they could.

Still every day he argued that the pastries that the Sinful Delight company were sending were to extravagant in his opinion. It was perhaps only slightly less extravagant than the coffee vendor, Steve Star. He was bringing him a cup of coffee for every meal. Daniel had found out, through Michele that he was the owner of the station that Daniel used when he discovered he could use it to call the marshals office. The first time he brought a cup he thought maybe he was just replacing the one Daniel had paid for and never got to drink. Alisha told him that he had told her that he was doubling his sales as everyone came around to see where it all happened. She said all the businesses in the vicinity were busier, pulling in thousands of credits. Eventually they would all stop and be content. Amy came to the rescue when she suggested that there might be a way to accept them where Daniel didn’t have to trip over them all the time. They would leave them in there a few hours and then distribute them through the Med Center to other patients. At least more people would be able to appreciate them. Daniel was extremely happy with that idea. Only a small vase of flowers and a basket of fruits were left. The crew that distributed them would be by to get this batch soon. It wasn’t soon enough for him.

Daniel made it back to the bed and opted to lie down. He could feel his eyes close. He started to think back to the very beginning eighteen years prior.

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Daniel slipped the hideous tie off despite his mother’s insistence that he wear one. He hated them. They always felt like they were choking him. She only patted him on the cheek and grinned. “It’s the only time you will graduate from high school. Humor your mother and wear it. You’ll look nice,” she said and left him to go get ready. He could only shake his head. He didn’t want to go at all. He wasn’t popular and had very few friends. ‘Enough to count on one hand’ he told anyone that asked how many he did have. He wasn’t even the smartest in the class. Out of three hundred and fifty, he was graduating ninety-ninth. All his father had to say to that was “At least you’re in the top hundred. You’ll get full system aid going to college.” It was always about money with his father. Daniel just reminded him that no one paid for the college. Students did pay if they decided to take on a level to which the system thought they were not qualified. If they were successful then the system would give them a reimbursement. If they failed the system would only pay a percentage of the cost to educate them in a career that was more suitable. Though he agreed to go, Daniel would have much rather just getting a job from the job bank and taking the classes needed for that. Neither of his parents would hear of that. They both insisted that he take the exams to find out what potential he had.
Daniel understood why they were both being so adamant. They were both in their sixties. Times were different back then. There weren’t a lot of high listed jobs. Station five was still being built and there was need for more asteroid miners and station construction. They were some of the best paying positions around but they were also the most dangerous. Even Daniel’s grandfather was a miner and his great grandfather before. Daniel’s father was going to follow the family tradition but took the construction job after meeting his mother who was working in the supply depot. Apparently, he got a lot of teasing about taking a job to meet a girl. In the end, though they all agreed it was a good choice.

Daniel looked in the mirror and groaned at the suit he was wearing. Like everyone else, he knew everyone had to work. Everyone contributed to the system and the system contributed to everyone. He also knew there were more jobs now. There were still miners and construction work. The jobs had become more sophisticated as technology and science progressed. New mining suits were developed that allowed a miner to dig deeper and collect the raw material. The suit was protected against radiation so miners could mine the surface of asteroids as well as collect radioactive materials. Chemical sprays even made it so that the surrounding rock would be eaten away. It was less wear and tear on the equipment and more material was collected. Even construction had become more sophisticated. There were no more stations to be built. Even the destruction of station five didn’t prompt another station to be built. There was, however, always something being built somewhere. As the populations on the stations increased, a demand for biosphere homes started to rise. His father still worked on stations, doing repair work. He had to use less of the newer technology, and needed less retraining. Daniel didn’t see the difficulty in using the three-dee printer. He found it fun to use. Still the idea of more schooling made his stomach turn. The job bank had lots of jobs that he could do with minimum training. He could even become a maintenance staff, his father had done that that for years between construction jobs.