Mitchell's Revenge
Covington Military Hospital, planet EQ2

The surgeons worked frantically to save Lucy’s life. State of the art facilities in the military hospital at Covington on EQ2 meant that they had every chance of success. But at first, they were not sure what would be successful.

Lucy was in a very bad way by the time Jake dragged her unconscious form from the ruined space craft and into the rescue ship. He flew straight to the military hospital on the surface of the planet, landing on the roof. Lauri contacted the hospital as soon as he was aware of what Jake planned to do and the medics were waiting.

They stabilised Lucy immediately and trundled her on the hospital bed to the first available operating theatre. They made Jake wait outside. He was pacing up and down the corridor when one of the surgeons appeared. He approached Jake, looking concerned, but not overly anxious. His name badge read Ted Fosberg.

“Jake Stern?” he asked, making certain that he was speaking to the partner of the pilot in the operating theatre.

“That’s me,” replied Jake, “What do you need me to do?”

“I need your permission...” the surgeon hesitated.

“For what?” asked Jake.

“Lucy’s only just alive,” Ted said. “She has extensive damage to her face because of the rapid depressurisation when the windscreen cracked, and the impact with the pylon broke both her legs and shattered her pelvis. But she’s strong, her heart and lungs are working well and we think her brain’s pretty much OK.”

Jake was very worried now. “And this means?”

“We can repair her. But she won’t have the kind of life she had before. She will be an invalid for the rest of her life, and not a very attractive one at that, unless she has extensive plastic surgery to correct the facial damage. Her vision is pretty much ruined,” the surgeon paused, “We have a suggestion for you.”

“Go ahead,” encouraged Jake, feeling sick to his stomach.

“We have some new, experimental technology available to us that may return her to her test pilot status. As it’s experimental, I need permission from her closest relative, and I believe that’s you, in effect, to proceed. We can’t be sure of the outcome, but it may give her a better chance of a life than if we do the traditional patch up work.”

Jake stared at the surgeon, as if trying to read his mind, without success. The man looked calm enough.

“OK, you’d better explain.”

“We can fully intgrate new limbs into her lower body,” he replied.

Jake sat down with a thud on the hard hospital bench behind him. He gaped at the surgeon.

“What?”

“We have access to advanced bionics that would allow us to fully integrate the new limbs. She will look quite human and function exactly as humans do. She would have augmented strength and flexibility, of course. We can replace her eyes with high resolution bionic eyes and repair her face so that she looks like herself again. She would have enhanced vision and a few other advantages, of course.”

Jake was having trouble closing his mouth. He was stunned. Suddenly his brain clicked into gear and he looked up at the surgeon, standing calmly in the corridor.

“I’ve heard about surgery like this,” Jake said slowly. “I thought it was just rumour. You’re talking about turning her into a cyborg. Aren’t you?”

Ted Fosberg smiled and nodded.

“As I see it, you really have two choices here. An invalid for the rest or her life, probably in pain most of the time, and ending up addicted to painkilling drugs, or take the radical option so that she can have a life. She’s young, and strong. She’s a fine candidate for this type of surgery. It’ll take some months of rehabilitation and training to use her new functions, but she’ll be as good as new. Probably better.”

“How long do I have to decide?” asked Jake, shaking his head as if trying to force his thoughts into order.

“No time,” replied the surgeon. “It’s yes or no, now. Otherwise she might die. The longer we debate this the worse it will be. So. What do you say?”

“With the state she was in when I pulled her out of the wreck, I can see there is no option. And I know she would rather have some chance at an active life than not. So, yes, do your experimental surgery.” Jake replied.

“Thanks Jake, you won’t regret it.” The surgeon put his hand out and shook Jake’s hand firmly. Then he turned and ran back into the operating theatre.

While Jake was at the hospital, Lauri organised a salvage ship to collect the wreck of the test craft and bring it back to the docking facility below the shipyard control room. It was dumped unceremoniously in a repair pod and left for the technicians to take apart. They were looking for the primary chip, which was the equivalent of the old fashioned “black box” fitted to the original airliners that flew around planet earth centuries ago.

Lauri Peltonen was the most qualified design engineer employed by Universal Starship Enterprises based at EQ2. He was the head of space design testing and responsible for the proper functioning of every type of ship designed and built by U.S.E. He had completed his engineering qualifications as part of his military training, and then decided he wanted to fly, fast.

Lauri was one of the military’s most celebrated star ship commanders until he was captured by enemy forces, tortured, and subsequently rescued by members of his squadron. As a result of his experience he completely lost his nerve for leadership in the military, and was honourably discharged as a war hero. He lost none of his knowledge however, and U.S.E was very lucky to have him to join them in their space design testing division.

The U.S.E. shipyard was moored off world from EQ2, in the Karhu System, adjacent to the space pylon race course. The race course was set up between stable wormhole mouths, which enabled spacecraft to return to start almost instantaneously. It shortened the time span for testing manoeuvrability, design and overall responsiveness.

The race course was also used for intergalactic pylon racing from time to time. The races drew people with money and expensive ships into the solar system. EQ2’s orbiting moon, Tiberion, was home to a cornucopia of sporting complexes and entertainment venues.

The U.S.E. control room was located in the top deck of the shipyard above the design centre, repair pods and docking bays. The pylon course was visible from end to end from the main viewing screen. Docking bays for finished ships undergoing testing prior to delivery to their owners were also visible from the control room, along with the blue green of the planet’s surface below. Lauri thought it was not a bad place to work on a good day.

Today was not a good day. Something was seriously wrong with the Sniper class stealth craft currently being tested. His best test pilot had just been shredded in the horrible accident witnessed by all the staff in the control room at the time.

Lauri knew quite a lot about the offer of a medical miracle being made to Jake. He had spoken with Jake’s father, Tim, as soon as he was aware of Lucy’s condition. Tim Stern and his brother Erik owned and operated Universal Starship Enterprises, and money was not an issue when it came to their best test pilot. They immediately authorised Lauri to spend whatever was necessary to save her.

As soon as he had their confirmation, Lauri spoke with his contacts in the Karhu system military and began to pull strings. Bionics development had moved quickly in recent years. He was aware that they were working on recovery systems for service personel who experienced severe trauma in deep space. Suitable candidates for the surgery were not always available, and sometimes they turned to civilian survivors for testing purposes. The combination of circumstances meant that Lucy was the perfect candidate.

While the surgery on Lucy was most likely to be a success, their work on the Sniper Class stealth ship was anything but. The testing run had destroyed three months’ work, and Lauri now had grave concerns about the computer software being used in the ships.

His technicians’ data showed that the ship had in fact slowed by itself at the end of Jake’s last run. Until they stripped the data from the on-board flight recorder they had no idea what may have caused the steering failure. Lauri suspected a glitch in the software. This was worrying in itself because they had recently switched to a new software supplier. They had a number of ships fitted with the software already operating in deep space and if anything happened to them, U.S.E could be in trouble.

Lauri rubbed his eyes. He had been awake now for almost twenty four hours and knew he needed some sleep. He couldn’t think straight.

“I’m going to get some rest,” he told the technicians. “Give me four hours and then wake me if you find anything. Otherwise, let me sleep at least six.”

He left the control room and slowly made his way down through the shipyard to his personal quarters at the base of the structure. The sliding door hissed as he stepped through into his cabin, and then closed silently behind him. He stepped into the san unit and washed his face. As he looked at his reflection in the mirror he thought he had aged at least ten years today. The corners of his blue eyes were pinched with exhaustion, his square face with its strong jaw line had a greyish tinge to it and his dark blond hair stuck out in all directions.

“Not my usual neat self,” he thought as he looked in the mirror. He sighed as he dried his face, scrubbing at the skin, trying to get some colour back into it.

He stepped back into the cabin and looked at the view of EQ2 far below him, glimmering green and blue in the distance. He pulled the shade over the window and lay down, fully clothed on the bed. He closed his eyes and saw the dreadful accident replaying in his mind. If Jake hadn’t reached Lucy as quickly as he did, she would surely have died.

Gradually the images faded and Lauri fell into a deep, restorative sleep.

Lucy Savage was also in a deep, restorative sleep. Hers, however, was drug induced. The surgery was complete. And fortunately for her, nothing at all came to mind.

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