Aaron slowly untangled himself from David, surprisingly, David and Derrick ended up in his bed last night. David had wanted lessons on the proper treatment of submissive's and at the same time, he wanted to try out being sandwiched between two people like in some of his favorite stories on the web. Glancing back over at the clock and then glaring at it like it was its fault he was up at four thirty in the morning, he walked into the bathroom to take a quick shower; after all, he had chores to do.
Five minutes later, and fully dressed, Aaron walked up the stairs heading for his morning sugar, he needed some juice to kick start his morning. Silently entering the kitchen, Aaron poured his juice and not expecting anyone else up at this time of the morning, was surprised when he passed through the dining room to find the table full of steaming food and five of the guys sitting around it eating breakfast. Looking at the pop tart in his hand and then back to the table full of eggs, hash browns and all the fixings, he felt cheated, "You guys are up awfully early, is there a reason for it?"
"We talked it over last night, we are going to take over morning chores for you today.well pretty much from now on really," Tommy told him, as he walked in from the kitchen and sat down to start eating.
"You said Clan Stranton leads, so we are taking up the challenge, meet your livestock manager," Kevin pointed to Mark, sitting at the end of the table.
"I'm taking over anything having to do with livestock on the farm; I'll overlap with Tommy on the Aquaculture aspect, until we find someone who can handle it," Mark told him between bits of toast with egg.
"Besides running the truck farms and groves, I'm looking forward a trying out this Aquaponics concept. Besides, right now it is mostly keeping the feeders full, and you're only a thought away if we need something answered." Tommy had a look that said not to argue with them as he placed a full plate in front of Aaron.
Gazing at Kenny who was sitting on one side of the table, Aaron sat down to eat what was placed in front of him, "And what are you doing up so bright eyed and bushy tailed?"
Giggling and glancing over his shoulder towards his butt, "I'm going to help feed the baby chickens.they are so cool all fuzzy and cute, too bad they grow up to be so ugly," Kenny watched Mark as he said that, and when he perked up and looked at him, he stuck his tongue out at him.
"Watch it midget, no invites you can't keep," Mark smirked at the surprise expression on Kenny's face, while everyone else laughed.
"Tim is going to sleep in late and Pete will take a nap this afternoon, to prepare for tonight. I'm going to stay here today to do any porting around that needs to be done and to start working with the guys you released last night, then the three of us will join you tomorrow night to help vet all the new people that want to work at our hospital. Saturday, the three of us will stay here while those that want to go shopping can go, that gives them today and tomorrow to make a list, while you continue your interviews," Kevin explained their part in the plan they came up with.
"Derrick and I would like to undergo the alteration procedures this afternoon, before you leave again with Tim and Pete. That way, on Saturday there will be two of us that can scream bloody murder telepathically if something happens," David entered the room looking for something to eat, but first steering Derrick to an empty chair.
Mark picked up his dirty dishes leaving his place open so David could sit there next to Derrick "I have two cows that, according to the scanners, are due to calf in the next two days, so I'm going to move them to the barn this morning and after you meet with Brian and he is brought back here with the others this weekend, he can be a great help with the chores, enough so that I can consider being altered as early as Sunday."
"And if you can check my sperms to see if there are enough of them, I can join Mark on Sunday," Fred said, as he walked into the room totally naked with his stiff morning wood leading the way.
Blinking at Fred and taking in what he said, Aaron pointed to the hard cock that stopped near his side, "I take it that you mean now."
Mark, coming up behind Fred, kissed him on the side of the cheek before reaching around and grasping the hard cock jutting out from Fred's body and slowly stroking it to the pleasurable moans that Fred softly started.
Another surprise this morning, Aaron thought, as he took the scanner from his pocket without taking his eyes off the show being performed practically at eye level in front of him. Scanner pointed to Fred's crotch, Aaron watched as Mark slowly brought around an empty juice glass and placed the tip of Fred's penis in it just as he groaned out "I'm Cuming."
Blinking as Mark held out the juice glass to the scanner, the sound of kissing interrupted his thoughts and he looked down at the report, there was defiantly enough sperm present to say that puberty was truly underway, "Don't plan on anything Sunday, Fred, you'll be joining Mark for the procedure to become Alteran." Aaron smiled as Tommy came over and compared his crotch with Fred's, knowing what Tommy was thinking even without checking his surface thoughts, "Keep practicing Tommy, it won't be long; your body is already starting to produce some sperm, another week or so, I would think, and you're turn will come."
Standing up so Fred could have his seat, Aaron picked up his dishes and turned to go to the kitchen and smiled at the sleep tousled Damien who, still half asleep, walked in, nose sniffing and following the smell of food. Messing up his hair further as he walked by, Aaron chuckled as Damien sat where Kevin had been sitting just a few moments before.
"Derrick, Damien, Fred and Kenny will start their lessons on the Tutor while the rest of us are doing chores; we'll be around if they need help and after they finish, they will do a few while Tommy, David, Pete and I do our studies," Mark explained, while Kevin picked up the ending after kissing Aaron, "Tim and I will do our studies in between helping the new guys practice their abilities, though we both might have to wait until later right before supper to get on the tutor, me here at home, and Tim on the Asclepius."
"Alrighty, it sounds like you guys have everything planned out so I have just enough time to release Rolland from the trauma pod before having to leave, that will leave only Jesse in there, which reminds me, I need to send an email updating Judge Johnson on his condition." Aaron started for the portation point when Kevin joined him.
"We've noticed that you spend a lot of time going over emails, mainly sorting them before sending them on to Joe, are they anything any of us can handle?.If we can, it will free up some of your time." Kevin asked as they entered the compound.
Stopping just outside the entry, Aaron thought about it, he could set the filter to forward the emails to another account and set it so that certain people can log on, after all, he was thinking the other day he needed someone to handle most of the routine shit, and this way it kept it in the family. "Alright, let me log on and change a few things, after that, you will be able to log on and handle all the applicants, most of it is sorting them by job categories and then forwarding them to the proper people to set up interviews. Meet me at the med bay and I will set you up and help you wade through the first group while I'm around."
Porting directly into the trauma pod, Aaron logged into the terminal and set up the permissions allowing Kevin, for now, to have access to the applicant folder. Checking the reports on Jesse, to make sure everything was on schedule and no problems had been encountered during treatment, for the most part, it was a waiting game as the system re-grew the nerves, as regeneration of the damaged organs was almost complete, at this rate Jesse could be released Sunday.
Kevin walked in frowning, "No fair, I'm not medical personal, so I shouldn't be porting directly in, instead, I have to walk," he ended up laughing at Aaron's face.
Chuckling, Aaron stood up after checking the readouts for Rolland's bio-tube, might as well release him, even though the outcome looked pretty sour, there was not much if any brain activity being charted, though there was no brain damage in any of the scans, Aaron hoped he would be able to mentally find some spark of him hiding deep inside his mind, the trick was to be able to pull him back out if he could just find some spark of something. "I granted you access to the folder that the email system filters all job applicants into, after logging in, you should see a new folder in your email screen." Initiating the release cycle, Aaron glanced back at the central desk as Kevin logged in, trying not to think about what the results could be when the lid unsealed.
Kevin logged in and seeing the new folder, opened it up, he was dumbfounded when he looked at the total, "When was the last time you read through this stuff?"
Thinking back as the drying cycle started and the teens cock responded which was encouraging, "Last night right before being dragged to bed to ravish two horn dogs," Aaron leered so Kevin could see.
"SHIT.are you telling me you get over two hundred emails a day?" Kevin looked over the counter at Aaron, seeing him shrug, "More like close to five hundred a day, they are coming in faster than they did in the beginning," Aaron ended with a sigh.
"No wonder you seem frazzled after going through you mail," Kevin mentioned as he opened the first email and looked at it, "So how do you sort these, this guy doesn't say what he is applying for."
"Normally in the cover letter, they will tell you their qualifications, what position they are looking for or what field. But some of them you have to read through the resume to find out what jobs they held in the past, to figure out which folder to move them to for interviews. Originally I had set up three folders based on the military ads, so they were either land based like security, sea based like ships and such or air based pilots and support." Working on removing the tubes from both ends from Rolland while explaining, "Word seemed to spread, so now I have applicants applying that need to be forwarded to some of the companies I own, also."
"Screw that.no wonder you look frazzled, I think you should have a polite form letter, asking them to clarify their cover letter to include the job or category they are interested in," Kevin said, as he typed it out and saved it as a form letter he could paste as a reply to emails, before creating another folder called not complete and moved the email there and moved on to the next.
Only the temple sensor was left, the one keeping Rolland asleep. Aaron turned it off and removed it before placing both hands on the side of Rolland's head and searching.searching for the mind of the teen in front of him. Usually it was easy to make contact as he could feel the person start dreaming, once the soma unit was turned off, with Rolland he felt nothing. Finding nothing, he wanted to despair, opening his eyes and looking down the teens body, he noticed the still hard cock and thought about a different way of reaching him, "Jerk off.jerk off until you cum," Aaron whispered in Rolland's ear, feeling for any spark of life that would allow Rolland to follow his command.
Kevin who had gotten through half the messages by placing most in the hold folder until a amended cover letter came in, heard Aaron telling the kid to jerk off and looked up, curious as he did not remember him ever doing that to one of the trauma patients before. Getting up from his chair, he slowly made his way to the open bio-tube and looked in to see the nicely shaped hard cock and Aaron with both hands on the kids head.
Frustrated when his verbal command did not work Aaron tried again, this time adding a mental command to the order, "Place your hand around your hard cock and stroke it until you cum." this time there was success, as he felt a small spark in the teen's mind and Rolland's arm rose from his side and started to do as he was ordered.
Aaron followed the spark of consciousness as the pleasurable sensations began, and when pain did not replace the pleasure, old pathways long dormant started to open, as Rolland climaxed, he felt a small spark of life and quickly bound it to the here and now, and allowed it to go to sleep so it would not be frightened back into its hard shell. Sighing, he opened his eyes to see Kevin standing near them, hand playing around absentmindedly in the very massive load on Rolland's chest and belly.
"What did they do to him.I tried to reach out for his mind and found nothing, the only thing I could feel was you until just as he started to shoot, I think I felt something in his mind then," Kevin whispered in horror and then realizing what he was doing, reached over and picked up the towel and wiped Rolland clean.
"They tortured him until his mind couldn't take it anymore and retreated somewhere inside, at least he follows commands, and I found a spark when he reached climax, it will take a little while before being able to determine just how much of him we can coax back," Aaron sighed as he tugged on Rolland's arms, "Sit up Rolland.come on, you can do it," he spoke very gently.
"If it were not for the fact we are telepaths, he would have to be put in some sort of nursing home where he would be warehoused and just waste away; at least here, he has a decent chance for recovery," Aaron helped swing Rolland's legs over the side of the bio-tube, "Can you ask David to keep an eye on him until I get back, maybe have Derrick do it, just tell David to treat him like the most extreme submissive he's ever heard of, he will have to be told to eat and drink and even go to the bathroom. But I think being topside walking around with David and Derrick will be of some help, at least I hope so."
Glancing at the clock and seeing it was almost six, which meant the Asclepius would be docking in a few minutes, as the San Francisco docks were an hour ahead of them Kevin took hold of Rolland's arm and lead him to the desk, he realized he should log off for now, "I'll take care of him, you need to get a move one if you don't want to be late, The Asclepius will be docking soon."
Kissing Kevin gently, hand pulling Kevin's head into the kiss, Aaron released him and nose to nose told him "Thank you for making my life easier and more complete, the best thing that has happened to me in a long time was the three of you coming into my life.I'll see you later this afternoon."
Porting to the private office he kept in the dock warehouse, Aaron looked at the plasma monitor that showed the outer office full of people set up around the desks they pulled together. Thomas, from the British state department, was out there with several guys all around a bank of radios and maps, Aaron sighed as he noticed Josh Lopez from the U.S. state department out there, and he remembered him from last weekend. Changing the pickup, he searched the warehouse and found a place to port to that was out of sight of pretty much everything except his camera's, and while looking for a place to port to, he noticed Roger walk in.
Pathing Chris, Aaron wanted to know where he was and how close the Asclepius was to docking, before he went out to deal with all those people, "Chris, I'm in the warehouse office; how close are you to docking?"
"I wondered if you were going to join this circus, I would have docked an hour ago, but for the blasted U.S. Navy getting involved. I just now started back up and I'm two miles out, but having to deal with the coast guard escort so I am crawling at their speed, maybe ten minutes," Aaron felt Chris's frustration come through with the reply.
"Well the outer office is full of officials, so I'm going to go shake thing up, contact me by communicator when you enter the channel," Aaron smirked mentally as he sent the image of him walking out of his office to Chris. Walking out through the closed door, Aaron smiled at the startled looks he was receiving from everyone but Roger who was smirking, "Good morning everyone.status report please."
Startled and wondering how he got past them, Thomas was the first to get his wits about him, "Good morning, you're Majesty. Our mercy flight is inbound now and will be landing in." glancing at his watch "five minutes at most, as they are on final approach to San Francisco International, your people were very helpful in making arrangements for us as the ambulances are standing by including four Air Evac choppers for the most severely injured." he trailed off when he noticed Aaron tap the communicator after lowering the mic.
"Acknowledged.Gentlemen, if you would follow me the Asclepius has entered the channel," Aaron walked towards the door, leading the way to the edge of the docks.
"Merciful Mother of Mary." one British man exclaimed.
"Gentlemen, I give you the Alteran Hospital ship Asclepius," Aaron smiled, as Chris showed off his skills and masterfully berthed the massive ship with inches to spare. Moving over next to Roger, Aaron dropped the volume of his voice, "Nice to see you, Roger, a bit unexpected though."
Grimacing, Roger looked back towards the gates and the dozens of news vans camping out "Our state department leaks like a sieve, word got out last night about the Asclepius pulling into port this morning, and that he was here to take on patients, not to transfer patients stateside. The only good thing is they don't know the identity of the patients coming in on the British Airways plane."
"Or the fact that the queen is onboard, escorting her grandson," Thomas offered with a smile when he saw how pale his counterpart from the States became. Serves him right he thought, the whole lot of them did not know how to keep their bloody mouths shut.
Watching the side doors slide open, and the wide gangway slide towards the dock, Aaron called out, "Mr. Lopez, a word if you please," Aaron grinned evilly, once the State Department representative moved close enough to hear, "Please pass several messages up the line to your superiors, if you would.one, you have several leaks in your department that makes one uncomfortable.the second, well, the second one is more important and pressing."
Josh could have sworn he could see his breath as the tone of voice was so cold it could freeze the very air as Aaron's words were spoken, "Tell your superiors that if any of my ships are ever stopped again in international waters, I will consider it an act of war and sink the offending vessels.Mr. Lopez... I guarantee, there will be no survivors, have I made myself clear on this?"
Very frightened, as he had seen the imposing vessel as it docked and he knew the carefully veiled threat would be carried through, he wisely just nodded his head, it was way above his pay grade to get into this type of pissing contest.
"Sir, number thirty two is inbound, ten miles out," came over the radio held in Thomas's hand.
Gangway fully extended, Aaron started across it "Roger, if you can lessen the impact of the press, offer them a prize and tell them I'll give one of them, your choice, a tour of the Asclepius and an abbreviated version of why he is here now.damn news fuckers," Aaron muttered the last as Thomas walked to his side and he entered the triage area. Spotting Theo standing near the center desk surrounded by bio-tubes grinning like a fool, he couldn't resist pulling his leg, "Well hello Theo, fancy meeting you here.um aren't you supposed to be packing for the move?"
Logging into the terminal and linking his communicator to the ship's system, thus causing the lights to brighten to a higher level, he ignored Theo's grinning face. Flipping a few switches, Aaron started the activation sequence for the entire ship's med bays. Flashing lights started on the gangway and around the outside of the ship as the automated voice started informing the nonexistent crew of incoming patients. "GENTLEMAN, STAY CLEAR OF ALL RED FLOORED AREAS," Aaron bellowed, as he tapped the side of his communicator.
"Air Evac, this is Altare One; advise on code patients," Aaron's voice carried over the speakers as Chris stepped into the triage deck, followed closely by Gordon and Carl, he must have ported over to their parents' place to get them.
"Altare One, Evac Zulu nine two, inbound, two minutes.advise no code patients.repeat no code patients, 2 trauma ones on board," The voice carried over the speakers as Mandy entered from the gangway and John handed her the ear communicator he picked up off the desk.
"Evac Zulu nine two, clear for hot landing and unload on pad two; green flashing," Aaron pointed to the elevator and pathed Carl, telling him there were two carts up top, "Be advised you are t-minus two minutes, before LZ needs to be clear."
Looking at the plasma screen that rose up behind the desk after Aaron keyed it to activate, he informed the milling crowd, "Clear the landing area outside the gangway, we have incoming.you have thirty seconds!"
Nodding, Thomas yelled at his men as he started out the door, "Right, you lazy bums; you heard the man, get every arse off that dock, now!"
Looking to the plasma once more after watching Thomas run out of the triage bay, "Air Evac secondary inbound, this is Altare one, advise code patients." Aaron looked at the view of the ambulances starting up the dock drive.
"Air Evac Thirty Two to Altare one, we advise no code patients, two on board.correction Evac Thirty Two declaring code patient.I repeat DECLARING CODE PATIENT!!!" the voice screamed over the radio in panic.
"CHRIS." Aaron yelled as he moved away from the monitor, "Gordon, get those stretches down to the dock, NOW!!!" Aaron yelled, passing Chris, "Chris you're traffic control, take charge."
"Evac Thirty Two, you are clear to land.land that thing now." Aaron ordered as he ran down the gangway, grabbing one of the stretchers as he came up to Gordon. Seeing people still milling about in the landing zone, Aaron yelled at them, "INCOMING, CLEAR THAT DOCK NOW!!!"
Seeing the chopper landing, Aaron pulled open the red trauma kit and grabbed the preprogrammed cardiac nanite's from the case, along with the chest and temple sensors, "Evac Thirty Two, you are Z plus two meters, unlock the rear hatch, prepare for hot transfer."
Aaron waited and as the chopper landed, at the last minute it turned in place so the rear doors were aimed at the gangway. As soon as the turbine brakes whined into high pitch, Aaron and his stretcher were at the side door. Climbing into the cabin through the open door, Aaron glanced at the young teen being given CPR and slapped the sensors on both the teen's temple and chest, before uncapping the long needle and plunging it into the teen's chest cavity near the heart. Figuring that this was the queen's grandson, as the other patient was younger, Aaron motioned for the crew to unlock and move the teen to the stretcher through the side door, while Gordon started to pull the other patient out through the back.
Once the teen was on the stretcher, Aaron motioned for the crew to move out before climbing up on top of the stretcher with the teen, scanner out and running over the chest cavity. And pulling another syringe out of the case, Aaron removed its needle, and inserted it into the needle which was still in the teen's chest, pushing the nanites into the teen's chest cavity, these were programmed to repair blood vessels. The Aorta had a small tear and loss of blood was causing the heart to fibrillate, "Theo, prep one the bio-tubes for surgery, we are t-minus five minutes to brain damage."
John met Aaron and the stretcher halfway down the gangway, handed him the gloves that controlled the remotes and helped steer the stretcher to the waiting bio-tube. "John, you're with me; administer IV regen at four percent oxygenated, then three units of nanite's, then hit procedure and then code, patient." Aaron ordered as they entered the triage area.
Pulling alongside the bio-tube closest to the door, Aaron leapt off the stretcher and over the bio-tube as soon as the stretcher stopped, so he would be on the correct side; once he landed on his feet, he looked at the flight crew, "on three, I want him in that tube and hooked up to the respirator and then move out of the way," Aaron ordered, as he picked up the IV cuff" one.two.now,"
Slapping the IV cuff around the teen's right elbow, and letting it drop inside the bio-tube Aaron glanced up as the monitor lit up and started disgorging information. "Clear." John yelled making sure all fingers were out of the way before flipping the cover up and hitting the red button twice, starting the emergency fill.
As soon as the lid sealed, Aaron was reaching into the airlock, removing the surgical tray, concentrating on the task at hand while listening to John's voice.
biotube red
"BIOX eighty three percent.Osmotic balance fifty percent.Nanite's injected.Cardiac enzymes red lining.regen IV initiated, "John droned on as he performed his instructions as Aaron cut the teen's chest open, causing the fluid to go pink.
"Emergency flush cycle John, I need to see where the Aorta is torn," Aaron fanned the fluid trying to get a better view.
"Code patient initiated.flushing bio-tube," John related as the fluid started to clear.
"What's going on?" a woman's voice from behind the flight crew asked, as Theo pulled her aside to explain to her and stop the elderly very properly dressed lady from going into the red zone.
Mandy was directing the incoming stretchers as they came off the ramp, sending them to an empty bio-tube and telling the crews to get the patient moved and if Intubated, to hook them up to the on board ventilator, while Carl was running from patient to patient slapping on sensors and IV cuffs, before starting the emergency cycle and moving on to the next one.
Chris, who was manning the desk, watched the monitors only, and as each new patient was cycled into the system, he would call off the pod number the computer determined the patient was about to be transferred to, right before the bio-tube would hiss and shoot upwards on its way to the trauma pod on the next level. Red flashing words across one of the screens brought his eyes to that screen, his voice sounded over the speakers, "Bio-tube slot nine.internal bleed."
Glancing up to Theo, Aaron called out, "Theo, glove up and get wet.John initiate red cell retrieval and wash.what's the numbers?"
"Core BIOX ninety five percent.BIOX eighty seven percent.red cell wash and infusion commencing." John reported, as he then noticed how many nanite's had been used so far, "ninth unit of nanite's being administered.
Looking around the abdominal cavity, Aaron wondered where the hell all the nanite's were going, with code protocols in place, the computer was aggressively making emergency patches that would only hold so long, long enough to be replaced later on, but something wasn't right. Seeing the pale white of half of the liver and the spleen not to mention the kidneys, Aaron moved to the spleen and removed it, sealing the breach with nanites, he dissected the organ to see it clogged full of blood clots, that was where the nanites were going; they were attempting to dissolve the clots as they broke free. Knowing what was going on now, Aaron quickly removed the left kidney and it joined the spleen in the tray, before moving to the liver and removing the bottom two thirds of the liver.
One of the surgeons that had accompanied the injured teens swore under his breath, as he saw Aaron dissect the spleen, he paled, wondering if the young prince would survive surgery as he realized the only hope he had in surviving, was what the surgeon was doing right now, radical removal of all effected organs, but the cost to the prince's future health was so great.
"John initiate vascular scan, let's make sure there are no more bleeders or time bombs, before I close up." Aaron tried to stretch his tired and cramping neck.
"On it.BIOX up to Ninety four percent.Core BIOX ninety eight percent.vascular scan shows core cavity green, umm, I show a minor bleed in the lower right leg, non arterial and the system is already starting to repair it." John took a moment to glance around and saw the triage area was mostly empty now, with only Theo's patient and their patient still on triage.
Chris, now duty free, was watching Aaron and saw him wince in pain, figuring he, more than likely, had been using a fair bit of kinetics to keep the bleeding under control, went over to the wall cooler and tapped in the combination unlocking it and removed one of the red energy drinks and one of Aaron's donuts, securing the door he popped the cap on the drink and inserted a straw. Making his way to Aaron's side, he was careful not to get in his way and slipped the straw into Aarons mouth, "Here, you need to replace calories."
Smiling in thanks, Aaron started to sip and catching the donut in the reflection of the bio-tube pathed "I could use that donut, if you don't mind feeding it to me. Micro kinesis really drains me more than regular kinesis."
Aaron wanted to smirk at the expressions of the doctors, standing around gawking at him, as he ate the donut while he fused the skin back together, he was not sure whether it was him eating, or the fact that the skin was fusing together seamlessly that was causing the expression of shock.
Finished, Aaron placed the damaged organs in the tray, along with the spent equipment and placed them in the air lock, just as John sighed in relief, "Code protocols disengaging, system stabile and BIOX ninety eight percent.Cardiac function at ninety percent.Vascular repairs complete.Osmotic Balance eighty percent."
Removing the remote gloves, Aaron placed them on the side cart and started to remove the surgical control screen. "All right people, step back, this bio-tube is about to be transferred upstairs."
biotube
Once all the equipment was off, the bio-tube information scrolled across the screen before it went dark, and hissing could be heard as the clamps released the bio-tube for transfer. Making sure no one was in the red area, Aaron went over to the waiting woman who was pale and shaky by the door, while he greeted her, the bio-tube shot upwards and moved rapidly into the trauma pod.
"First, let me say that your grandson will be fine, he is stabile and in six hours, we can start organ regeneration, and some time Saturday, we will start re-growing the organs I ended up having to remove. They had been too badly damaged to repair without danger of a clot breaking free, causing a stroke," Aaron started to explain, after shaking her hand, before he thought of asking, "How the hell did he and the rest get injured anyway, the scans read crush force trauma?"
"It's all pretty hush, hush still, at the moment," Thomas retold the tale, "The young prince and his friends were involved in an explosion, well the outskirts of one, anyway, in Belfast. The thing is, he was not the target."
"Well, I'll be in a better position to tell you tonight, after the deep scans are complete to tell you how long he'll be in the bio-tube undergoing repairs, but it is a safe bet that he is going to be transferred to Altare Minor, to finish healing, most likely Friday night the Asclepius will set sail for home base, and I do believe all twenty seven teens will most likely still be on board, I have a few transfer patients being accepted while I'm here, and they should be here in a couple of hours, they would not have survived the wait to the official opening of the hospital next month, you see," Aaron sighed as he stretched, he was rambling. "Why don't we get you upstairs, so you can see for yourself that your grandson is alright, I'm sure your staff physicians will be able to tell you what most of the information on the monitors means, and my staff can fill in any blanks in the information, I need to go deal with those vultures who are hanging around outside the gates."
"I want to thank you for saving the life of my grandson," The queen told him, as she laid a hand on his arm, "Thank you," she said, more quietly, tears in her eyes.
Stopping halfway down the gangway, Aaron noticed the crowds of reporters had blocked the gate. That simple act really pissed him off as he had another group of sick kids arriving soon.
"Something bothering you about the crowds outside the fence, your Majesty?" Thomas asked as he came down gangway and stopped next to the scowling King of Altare.
"I have more kids arriving around one, there is no way they, or their parents, can get through that mess, hell, there is no way anyone can get through that mess." Aaron growled out before grinning, "I don't suppose they would let me just shoot them all, I mean, after all, I would be performing a public service."
Laughing, Thomas started down the gangway once Aaron continued walking, "Secretly, they would applaud you, your Majesty.but publicly, they would condemn you. Let me see what I can do to, at least, clear a path."
Roger, seeing Aaron approach, waved forward the woman next to his side and her camera man, "Aaron Stranton, I would like to introduce Betty Wilder from NBNC and her camera man Phil Stout, you can trust them to report fairly and unbiased."
Holding up his hand to stop him, Aaron still was scowling at the crowd around the gate, knowing they could pick up their words with their boom microphones, "That may be, Roger, but right now, the gates and the drive leading to them are blocked, and in another hour or so more sick and injured kids will be showing up to be treated and they can't make it through to the Asclepius," turning so the reporter could see how unhappy he was, "at the moment, it seems that your colleagues are more interested in hearing a stray word or getting video footage of me and the Asclepius, than children gaining life saving treatment.so tell me Miss Wilder, why should I talk to you and show you around my hospital ship when they are acting like a pack of rabid wolves, what hope do they have of having their questions answered or getting their chance for video footage of the inside of the hospital ship, when their very actions endanger children's lives.?"
Betty winced at his very spot on assessment and turned to gaze at the media frenzy outside the gates, before sighing, "To be honest, Sir, and my superiors are not going to like this, but I don't think we should go any further towards your ship or for you to answer any questions until my collogues start acting like grownups, I certainly will not be part of anything that would endanger the life of a child." Turning towards her camera man, she made a slashing motion across her throat, "Stop broadcasting Phil, and shut off the microphones."
Aaron nodded his head, watching the frowns and angry looks from the reporters as the video feeds stopped, sending his mind out, he noticed that several of them, the ones with more serious frowns and angry looks did not plan to move, they felt it was their right to get a story, and if kids were hurt, they could always spin it in a way to make it the embassy's fault.
"Roger, how much of that property out there do I own?" Aaron looked to his attorney, disgusted that on hearing his words, no one had moved yet.
"You own the warehouses on either side of the drive, plus the large lot on the end by the water, I think the engineers have plans to build a second dock over there, and there is a clear line of sight to the dock Asclepius is at from the lot.let me tell them to move, but some will not give up their spots at the gate," Roger pointed out, as he started to move away.
Aaron shrugged, making sure that he was facing the crowd of reporters, "They will be arrested and taken back to Altare, on charges of child endangerment, one of the capital crimes in my kingdom, after all, they are standing on Alteran soil."
Turning around to walk away from the circus, Aaron noticed the woman reporter had her cell phone to her ear yelling at someone on the other end of the connection, telling them to get their people moved out of the way of the gates. Moving down the fence line, Aaron made his way past the warehouse to the clear area, the empty lot behind the other warehouse. There, some of the big name news vans were moving and setting up, he had been followed by Miss Wilder's camera man. "You know, I don't understand the feeding frenzy attitude going on over there, they are trespassing and blocking access to the gates, access that is desperately needed by parents bringing sick children here for treatment, but if their actions cause a death of that child, I would be blamed for not controlling the situation, or allowing the gates to be opened so the child could pass through, an act which would also allow them to swarm through and more than likely they would head for the hospital ship and cause damage or even injury to the already injured children being treated, if they pushed the wrong button.please explain to me why they act this way?"
Brad Didier from CNN was standing near the fence and seeing Betty walking over as her cameraman struggled to come up with an answer, shrugged, "Most of the big networks are moving over here, or are already here, we certainly do not want any part hurting kids, we would lose our jobs, and rightly so."
Aaron, seeing the red light on top of the camera was not lit motioned to Phil, "Go ahead and turn on your camera, no sense missing this."
Phil, nodded his head and lifted the camera to his shoulder as Betty walked up frowning, Brad, holding up his hand towards Betty, waited until he saw her cameraman turn on his camera, 'I'm not jumping your win of the right to do the interview, Betty, I was asked a question that is a tough one to answer. His Majesty asked me why our colleague's were endangering the children by blocking access to the hospital ship, the only thing that has been said so far is all the top networks have already moved and are setting up over here out of the way, and we do not want any part in hurting kids."
Betty smiled and nodded her head, "The only ones still left over there are the locals hoping to make that one big story that would propel their careers into the spotlight so the big networks will notice them, it's their one chance to play with the big boys."
"They are willing to risk their own lives and the lives of children to make it to the big time? I can assure you that when the first vehicle with a child in it or the first injured child shows up in our drive, my security will swarm through the gates, each and every person who is blocking access will be arrested and will face execution, not only that, there must be hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment out there still, that will be destroyed, this is crazy," Aaron sounded disgusted, and his tone clearly carried that disgust to the cameras.
Another reporter who was standing nearby approached, "They think they are smart enough to make it through the gate unnoticed, they think if they can bring back footage of the ship you wouldn't show the rest of us, they will be placed on a pedestal and their crimes forgotten." Seeing the questioning look on Aaron's face he added, "Mark Carter, MSNBC, your Majesty."
Aaron nodded his head at the introduction, still angered and still disgusted, but having to play the role in front of them, of visiting and questioning monarch, one that did not have much contact with the U.S. media.
Thomas walked around before spotting his Majesty, making his way over, he bowed slightly as he had noticed he was being broadcast live, "Your Majesty, we have come up with a solution."
Aaron smiled tiredly, "Hello, Thomas, you say you have a solution to that mess; that would be wonderful."
Smiling, Thomas nodded, "Yes Sir, we have sealed the area and I have men at the outskirts of the drive, any who approach the area are being stopped and if they came seeking medical attention they will be escorted to a waiting coast guard cutter where they will be shuttled to the Asclepius or if they need to arrive by ambulance, they are being intercepted and brought by chopper to the hospital ship's landing pad. Any way you want to put it, the situation is contained."
Smiling, Aaron stood up straight, "Thank you, Thomas that was brilliant.well Miss Wilder, it looks like your tour is now going to happen." Glancing through the fence to the two gentlemen that had the balls to try and answer his question, even if it was something he did not want to hear, or helpful, "Gentlemen, thank you for your honesty, you may feed questions to Miss Wilder here, and if she sees fit to ask them, you shall get your answers."
"Shall we start, Miss Wilder.before I forget, please do try your best to protect the children's identities, they have suffered enough already," Aaron gestured for her to precede him.
Smiling and nodding her head to her fellows on the other side of the fence, Betty started to walk next to Aaron as he returned to the ship. "Tell me your Majesty, what does Asclepius stand for?"
"The son of Apollo was the god of healing and his name was Asclepius." Aaron started to explain the history behind the concept of the ship and their science.
"Rumor has it that you have the ability to re-grow organs, which makes replacement for those waiting for organ transplant an assured thing instead the long painful wait it is now," Betty commented, hoping to break a huge news story.
"True, and we grow the replacement in place as well, we can do one of two options; we can regenerate the original organ or replace the organ completely, that technology led to the discovery of a cure for several long term diseases, like diabetes type 1, which effects millions of children." Aaron smiled, "Once we learned the secret of controlling things at the cellular level, and we learned to regenerate organs, it was a simple leap to realize that we could do the same thing to the liver and pancreas, thus replacing the non functioning cells with ones that function properly. So if the pancreas replaces the cells with scar tissue which does not produce insulin, we can replace the scar tissue with the cells that do produce insulin, and we are not introducing anything foreign into the patient's body, we are using the one or two functioning cells as a blueprint to rebuild all the others."
"People would pay a lot of money to have their kids cured; you stand to make a fortune don't you, after all, the average transplant runs into the several hundreds of thousands of dollars?" Betty was digging now, seeing if there was a money angle as the reason for this new hospital to open its doors to the world.
Nodding his head, accepting that as a valid question and one that should be asked, Aaron looked past her, directly into the camera, "I could do that, I suppose.but I have more money now than I know what to do with. Our fee schedule is based on several things.one is the length of treatment, seeing as everything is included. Including a suite for the family to stay in during treatment, the fee also includes all meals and transportation to and from the Altair Minor that is the other thing to consider. So we have flat fees and even though we will accept the patient's health insurance for payment, we will not budge on our fees. Our fees are low as it is, because several worldwide companies funnel all their profits into the hospital. One of the most prominent ones is the one that makes and sells Isolinear chips and the new computer systems."
"Which, I suppose still does not answer your question on how expensive treatments are," Aaron said, as he escorted them onto the Triage deck, "Let's take the one we were discussing a moment ago, Diabetes type 1. Regenerating both the Liver and Pancreas takes forty eight hours from start to finish; the patient and their family will be on the island for four days. They arrive on day one and settle in, and the patient is allowed to relax overnight, the next morning the patient enters the bio-tube and the procedure starts, being released on day three, forty eight hours later. They then will spend the rest of the day relaxing and adjusting where we can watch them for additional problems. They will leave the next morning to return home."
Smiling widely at the camera, "All total, the treatment with everything including being picked up and taken home after treatment will come to three thousand nine hundred dollars U.S., since I am being interviewed by a U.S. based network," Aaron's smile turned sad, "Of course, I expect the insurance companies to deny payment or treatment, after all, they spend more than that in a single year on supplies and testing for a patient, I have found most insurance companies are run by people that have no common sense. But the treatment will be available at the price the average family can afford, even if they need a little help from donations."
Smiling into the camera once more, Aaron challenged the insurance companies, "Who knows there might even be U.S. run health insurance companies that are run by people who have more than their share of common sense."
Betty smiled; she knew a subtle challenge when she heard one, "It might be nice to deal with that type of health care company."
Forty five minutes later, Aaron was standing in the Triage center explaining the concept of the bio-tube to the reporter when she asked a question he thought she would have asked earlier, "If you were not planning to make the announcement of the hospital and new miraculous treatments until next month, why did you bring the Asclepius here to San Francisco early? why did you let the secret out when you are days away, really, from being staffed and ready as you have described, what is so special about those patients up there that you opened before you were ready for the onslaught that is about to come knocking?"
"Out of the twenty seven children up there right now, half would be dead if I did not come here meeting them halfway, of the rest, half of them most likely would not live in the end, and would have died several days from now and the rest would not have had a very good quality of life. The ones on their way right now, are ones that were referred by desperate physicians that know about the program and what we can now do; well, their patients would not be around in a week's time, let alone a month from now. So why did I let the cat out of the bag early, as you ask. Someone was desperate enough to get a message to someone that was brave enough to face down a jail sentence, all in the hope that I would listen to him for just even a minute, as he put it, I was the only hope those children had to survive and he was willing to go to jail to make sure I knew about it," turning to face the camera lens, Aaron simply told the viewing audience, "How could I not help when I had the means to do so , that would make me a monster like the one that set of the explosion that collapsed the building on those children in the first place."
"And as far as the others, if my ship was already here and fully staffed, why should I deny the children that truly need us now, their chance at happiness." Aaron laughed, "I may be temperamental first thing in the morning, grouchy when I miss a meal, downright stubborn and quick to anger at those that would hurt a child.but if I wanted to look in the mirror in the morning, I could not deny a child the chance to live their dream some day because of an artificial timetable."
Holding up his hand to halt further questions, Aaron extended his mic, went to the desk and flipped a switch, activating the triage area. Gordon, Carl and John came running to the triage deck as soon as the lights started to flash a warning about an incoming emergency, "I must ask that you make sure you do not wander into a red floored area, the automatics that move the bio-tubes can seriously injure you if they move and you are in the danger area."
"Sir, what is happening?" Betty asked, excited that something was happening, before looking to the camera, "to the people at home that are viewing this live, please understand that the network has built in a ten second delay so that we may black out the faces of any children the camera picks up, to protect their privacy."
"Thank you for remembering your promise, Miss Wilder. Now to answer your question, the coast guard cutter that offered to ferry the children past those rabid animals blocking our gate reported in, they are two minutes out, and one of the children is having some serious breathing problems; we are preparing to receive them and you may watch from the safety of the sidelines, as we bring them on board, for the scientists among your viewers, they will get a live, real life demonstration of our technology and our capabilities."
Aaron stood back near the central desk, where he could see everything on the big plasma monitor behind the desk. Phil had set up his tripod and mounted the camera so he could pick up the screen which showed the outside views of the hospital ship, along with the standby monitors that showed the patients information; he had set up so that with a swing of the camera he could focus in on the bio-tube and the wall monitor behind.
Right now, he was getting the shot of stretchers being wheeled down the gangway towards the dock where, when he looked up at the monitor above the desk, he could see the coast guard cutter docking.
Outside, Carl was in the lead with his stretcher, he got to the dock next to the cutter in time to be handed a small girl who was slightly blue in the face. Ripping her gown open to expose her chest, he quickly fastened the monitor on her chest after wiping it with the sterilizing gel and glancing at the monitor that popped up at the foot of the stretcher as the sensor inserted its micro wires and became active. Using the same gauze to rub some gel into the girls temple, he placed the sensor unit there and activated it, reaching over, he activated the soma unit so she would not suffer any longer and he started to push the cart with the sleeping girl towards the Asclepius, when a sailor jumped to shore and grabbed the end of the cart to help.
Gordon had been checking on several of the children as they were handed to him by those sailors who had jumped to the dock and placed each, so they were side by side sitting on the stretcher, so far none of them were in serious distress, he figured that they all could ride up to the triage area together. After placing the fourth child on the stretcher, he did not wait for any of the parents to exit the cutter, but with the help of several of the sailors, he began to push the children to the gangway and the start of treatment.
Entering the triage deck, Gordon glanced at the four on the stretcher and seeing that they were not in acute distress, steered them towards the elevator; he would take them directly to the trauma pods and prep them upstairs, away from the frightening aspect of the triage deck and the emergency procedures.
biotube open
Aaron was ready, once Carl returned, he was waiting at the bio-tube and they picked the girl up, placed her in the bio-tube and while Aaron Intubated the girl, Carl hooked up the IV cuff and went to the console, ready to start the cycle once Aaron was clear.
Fastening the tube in place, Aaron reached over and hooked the ventilator to the tube and placed the nose mask on the little girl's face before moving back, lifting the cover on the red button and pushing it. "I'll explain slightly, as we work, the fluid the tank is filling with is a specially design regenerative fluid, that besides letting the patient float above the surface of the bed, provides nutrients directly to the cells. The skin is the largest organ in a person's body and this fluid can pass the lipid barrier. This fluid also allows us to directly manipulate cells, for all but the scientists, the rest of the explanation would be worthless in the long run."
Several things are started when the cycle is initiated, one of those being a deep scan of the patient which identifies the problems, so we may start to repair the problems, in this case, this young child is suffering from fluid buildup in the lungs, from a weakened heart." Aaron went into teacher mode so Carl would pick up on what needed to be done, "The first thing we are going to do is fix the problem with the low oxygen level in her blood, we will do this by injecting an oxygen rich diluted form of the fluid she is floating in. this will solve the body's hypoxia, or starvation for oxygen, giving us time to drain the fluid on the girl's lungs, before initiating regeneration of the lungs and in her case, re-growth of the heart, we are targeting the lungs first, as they will supply the oxygen that her body needs to run, and if we repair her lungs first, it will lessen the time needed to repair all her body systems as they won't continue to suffer from lack of oxygen."
Aaron pointed to the monitor where a color video of the girl's lungs showed the fluid buildup in them, and it showed the fluid being drawn back into the body, "I'm going for the very simple explanation here, so I apologize in advance if it sounds like I am talking down to you, I'm not, as I am trying to make the most people understand what is happening at the same time. In simple terms, what we have done is to take control of the girl on the cellular level and have told the lungs to stop accepting the fluid leaking in from the blood vessels, instead, we are telling the lungs to leak the fluid back out to where it came from, which is the blood vessels."
"Now that she is stable and the fluid is almost gone and her blood oxygen levels are back up to almost where they should be, we will transfer her bio-tube up into the long term treatment area where we will initiate." Aaron trailed off and looked at the large plasma screen on the back wall when a voice came over the radio.
"Altare one this is Air Evac Mercy One.Altare One, do you read?"
Tapping the communicator, Aaron answered the voice, his voice also coming out of the speakers, "Mercy One, this is Altare One, we read you."
"Thank God.Altare one, this is Mercy One, we are declaring an emergency and are diverting to your location, we have two children on board.the victims of a car crash with extended extraction, male, ages nine and eleven these patients are trauma one and you are closest.I repeat our patients are trauma one, and we have diverted to you location."
"Acknowledged, two incoming trauma one patients, Mercy One topside landing pad will be lit up green flashing, you are clear to land.advise ETA" Aaron motioned for Chris, who had come through the door, over so he could take over flight control.
"Altare One, we confirm ETA three minutes. Thank you Altare One, for accepting our.Altare One status change.WE ARE DECLARING CODE PATIENTS.I REPEAT WE ARE DECLARING CODE PATIENTS."
Editors section:
RadioRancher's Musings: Hmmm, It looks as if I am being invited to comment here. I have found this narrative to be quite interesting. I also appreciate the opportunity to join the editing team. I have been reading and enjoying WolfWalker's stories very much, and when I noticed a message placed on http://Jeffsfortboard.com asking for some editing help, I was eager to help. Thank you for allowing me to be part of the team. I will do my best. I will also add that it is a very nice thing when readers take the time to let the authors know what the liked or didn't like about any story. As has been said many times, we receive no monetary gain from writing these stories. The only compensatory rewards that come our way are the kind letters we receive from fans that take the time to tell us what they think. We all thank you very much for keeping us informed as to how our stories effect you.
Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher
A/N: Well folks the official debut of the musing page. The two embedded pics in this chapter if you want them show what I imagine the bio-tubes to look like, really neat in a way. So if you want to get the chapters early or want the chapters as I created them with the embedded pics and all drop me a note and let me know if you want it in word or pdf