The Caverns of Mare Cetus (20 page)

   As Renata watched the Vimap run through its routines, she began to think about the horror she had been trying to put out of her mind. What if Hunter hadn't gotten to Arielle in time? What if she had been without oxygen for too long? Brain damage would be inevitable.

   Despite high-powered neurotechs on Novia performing extraordinary feats in the recovery of brain-damaged victims, she knew they still hadn't unlocked all the secrets of lost memories. Using every tool imaginable to reestablish the chemical processes and molecular fabric of damaged and dead neurons, the recovery of longterm memories still eluded them. An esteemed neurosurgeon once told Renata Cell-Defunct Memory Reprocessing was like shooting at flies with a cannon.

   And that's what worried her. She didn't want Arielle to lose a single memory. They had been extremely close at one time, closer than anyone imagined. Before Ramon arrived on the scene and messed things up, she and Arielle had been almost constant companions.

   As she watched Richelle scrutinize the Vimap laying on Arielle's stomach, Renata began to reminisce about when she and Arielle had gone to Novia's Shalifari Reserve. They spent twenty days together, camping, hiking, and sleeping beneath the myriad of brilliant stars that overwhelmed the Novian night skies. Surrounded by the forests of exotic tropicociduous trees and sparkling biennial flora of the Shalifari, they talked about their loves, their desires, and their most painful memories. By far it had been one of the most impressionable and happy times of Renata's bittersweet life.

   Memories. That's what kept her going, pushing her through the lousiest three years of her life—her parents' deaths in an air-shuttle crash, her eldest brother's financial ruin, her fiancé's suicide—that nearly broke her completely.

   Lance had been everything she had ever wanted in a man. Kind, loving, gentle, he was filled with an inner strength she admired and cherished. But her dreams came crashing down on her one horrible rainy day like a fireball out of the sky, only months before their wedding date. She was barely able to function, barely able to cope. And she couldn't help but blame herself. How could he have ended his life that way when they were looking forward so much to their new life together? She could never come to grips with that. All of their positive talk of the future, their dreams, their goals, their plans for a family—were taken from her in one ghastly moment. He had betrayed her, leaving her with empty promises that haunted her in her dreams, mercilessly mocking her each time she tried to convince herself she could lead a normal life. Sadly, within half a year of his death, she betrayed herself as well in an incident that caught her during her weakest moments. She tarnished two careers and nearly wrecked her own. Though the VP's were blamed because of the circumstances, not long after, she quit Explora, unable to stand the humiliation she had brought upon herself.

   If it wasn't for her fortuitous meeting with Trent Logan, she was sure she would have had a nervous breakdown. His keen perception of human nature was something she would never have expected from any man except for Lance. Trent was beside her in her most dismal moments, her most excruciating grief, and never once let her down. He was the archetypal optimist, and he became the outlet for her most agonizing pains. Deep in her heart she knew he was the one person who truly understood the terrifying reality that had been so harshly branded on her soul. More than any therapist could have done, Trent forced her to realize she could turn her pain, her sorrow, her mistakes, into a rebirth. He convinced her to go back to Explora— she did—and nothing more was ever said.

   "It's finished," said Richelle as she took the Vimap off Arielle, waking Renata from her daydreams. She read through the results, her uneasy countenance and solemn stare unnerving to Renata. Then Richelle's face broke into a kiddish smile. "This is absolutely amazing. Level One analyses are fine. Heart okay. Blood pressure fine. All brain functions normal. Liver, kidneys, other vital organs fine. No bone fractures. Not a trace of damage to her major systems."

   Ramon broke into laughter and grabbed Richelle like a bear, making it hard for her to read the Vimap.

   Tears of joy began flowing down Renata's cheeks.

   Hunter wiped them with his fingers, then gave her the most gratifying hug she had received in years. It was so strong it caused pain to shoot through her chest, despite her medication, but she didn't utter a cry.

   "This is remarkable," bubbled Richelle. "Level Two analyses are perfect. Blood chemistry, electrolytes, neural reflexes, everything's perfect. Except for her burns, she's probably in as good as shape as anyone."

   "El médico grande Ivers," said Ramon. He gave her another hug, then kissed her squarely on the lips.

   "Cut it out!" she said as she struggled to free herself.

   "Is it safe to wake her?" asked Hunter.

   "Sure," said Richelle. "That should be okay."

   Edison handed Richelle a small allimide pad, and she placed it on Arielle's forehead. As Arielle's eyelids began fluttering, Richelle pulled it off.

   "What happened?" asked Arielle, her voice sounding wearied and hoarse. Ramon helped her sit up, and she hugged him and kissed him on the lips.

   "You nailed it," said Ramon. "But you almost nailed yourself…"

   Once more Renata had the pleasure of hearing the praises of Hunter's exploits. She smiled with delight as Ramon went through each flattering detail with obviously much more information than he could have known since he was blinded and nowhere near Hunter at the time. The way he was exaggerating now with his body language, it looked as if Hunter had been the great Zeus breathing life into Arielle's body.

   When Ramon had finished, Arielle motioned to Renata and Hunter. They came by her side and she hugged them.

   Renata squeezed back, again feeling pain in her chest. "Thank God you're okay."

   "But you're not," said Richelle as she crouched beside them. "It's your turn, Renata."

   Devon crouched next to Richelle.

   With Hunter's assistance, Renata stretched out on the ground as comfortably as she could.

   Richelle pulled up Renata's shirt, exposing several large, ugly bruises on her stomach. As Richelle gently placed the Vimap on Renata's stomach and began entering commands into its interface, Renata intently watched her face. Arielle, still being smothered by Ramon's affections, his arms wrapped tightly around her waist, took one of Renata's hands, Hunter the other. Devon sat next to Renata's legs and placed a hand on her left knee. Renata found Devon's touch comforting now, but she wasn't sure why.

   When Renata's analysis was finished, Richelle sifted through the readout, occasionally letting out with a few "hmms." After a long pause, she spoke. "You've had about a six percent blood loss. That's significant, but not enough to send you into shock. But of course you know that." She gave Renata a timorous grin. "Uh, your internal organs are undamaged, but your fifth and sixth ribs are fractured on your left side. The worst is the fifth—there's a diagonal break for nearly seven centimeters. There's also a hairline break in your seventh. You've had some internal bleeding, but it's not a significant amount." She raised her head and looked at Renata. "We should be able to take care of that." She returned her gaze to the screen. "Let's see. You're cut in fifteen places, the worst being on your wrists." She looked up, giving Renata another timorous grin. "Why don't you see for yourself." She turned the screen toward her. Renata and Arielle leaned forward, their eyes becoming glued to the display.

   "See here," said Richelle. "It shows you have some damage to your lower back muscles. A forty percent strain. And here it indicates there's been some major stress on your shoulder joints. Fortunately neither of them is dislocated, though they do have some subluxation—that's damage to the tissue around the joint. Of course, I imagine you're aware of that."

   Hunter was looking on as well now. Richelle cleared her throat and continued. "Here it shows the areas of broken internal blood vessels and capillaries, or bruises."

   "I think I know what a bruise is," said Renata, having had about all she could take of Richelle's grade school explanations. "Is there anything else I should know about?"

   "No," she said, "everything else appears fine, except for…"

   "Except what? You just said there wasn't anything else."

   "So I did," scoffed Richelle. "W-w-well, do you want to hear it or not?"

   Renata huffed.

   "Did you know you're anemic?"

   Renata's voice rose. "What? I'm what?"

   "You're anemic. Hypochromic Anemia Type Four to be exact." Richelle pulled up information on Renata's blood chemistry. "You have decreased hemoglobin in your red blood cells. Twenty-two percent below normal for your size and weight. You did have a physical at the lab before you came out here, didn't you?"

   "Of course I did," answered Renata. "You know that. Could the program be in error?"

   Both Hunter and Devon nodded in agreement.

   "I can't imagine why it would be." Richelle moved over to a large, stump-like greenish-gray block that was close by, sat down on it, shifted her body a few times to get comfortable, pushed her hair out of her face, then crossed her legs and began working with the Vimap. "No. Diags indicate it's functioning correctly," she said after a moment." She looked up at Renata. "Have you noticed any fatigue, dizziness, or headaches?"

   "Well, I have had a headache hassling me ever since we got on this planet."

Richelle's eyes widened with a child-like bewilderment.

   "More like a pain in the ass," said Hunter. He began playing with Renata's hair again, his light touch sending chills through her.

   "Seriously," said Renata, "I have had a nagging headache for awhile, but I don't think I feel any more tired than usual."

   "No cause for alarm, though," said Richelle nonchalantly. "The Mediprog says we can treat you with hi-po vitamins, but when we return to Novia, you need to have that checked out."

   "You mean
if
we get back," grumbled Edison.

   Richelle shot him a disdainful glare. "I said
when
we get back." She returned her attention to the screen. "There's a cure, but the correct gene-splice therapy depends on which one of three abnormalities is causing it. All right. Who's next?"

   Edison raised his hand. "Let's get this over with. If I'm dead I might as well find out about it now. No point in trying to get back home if I am."

   "We need to fix up your ribs," said Hunter, breaking Renata's contemplation over her newly discovered anemia.

   "Let me help," said Arielle. She began rummaging through Edison's backpack for some bandages.

   Within minutes, Hunter and Arielle had wrapped Renata's broken ribs with a couple thin cravat bandages. Hunter then handed her an IDM inhalant Richelle had given him, a yellow paste in the shape of a pea-sized pillow that would stabilize her internal injuries, increase her blood generation, and continue to relieve her pain.

   Renata rubbed it between her fingers to soften it, then wiped the paste in each nostril. She breathed in deeply, instantly feeling a numbing tingle spread through her body. She stood and walked with Arielle to a secluded spot where they tended to Renata's other cuts and abrasions. By the time they finished, Richelle had completed the Mediprog analyses on the others.

   Richelle ran through each and every malady they had like an overzealous medical intern. Devon and Edison had fared the best. Devon's jaw wasn't broken, and her teeth had been set properly. She had only experienced a minor blood loss. Edison had a number of bruises and several surface cuts and welts where the Kalo had hammered him with its appendages, but he was in pretty good shape otherwise. On the other hand, Ramon had lost a significant amount of blood from the deep laceration on his leg, and he was still experiencing sporadic vision distortions from the light-pulse of the electra. Hunter had numerous bruises and abrasions and was actually in a great deal of pain, though no one could have guessed; his right shoulder was severely sprained. Lastly, Richelle indicated she had two badly fractured toes and two hairline fractures in her right foot, apparently from the Kalo's electric shock. She was also experiencing vision distortions like Ramon.

   When she was finished with her diagnoses, Richelle sat down next to Renata who was feeling quite fine, the inhalant having done its job. Richelle set the Vimap on the ground by her feet. "This is really strange," she said. She began removing her right boot and sock.

   "What's strange?" asked Renata.

   Richelle carefully pulled off a bandage Edison had placed around her second and third toes, which looked like little sausages as they were swollen and bruised with a grotesque purplish-red hue. The top of her foot appeared swollen as well and reddened, as if sunburned. Grimacing, she placed her fingers gingerly on the tips of her broken toes. "C-c-can you wrap them again? I get queasy just l-l-looking at them."

   "What's strange?" asked Renata again. She leaned over and picked up the bandage.

   "I'll let you know in a m-m-minute." Richelle's eyes began apprehensively following every move Renata made.

   When Renata finished, she fastened the bandage with a thin red clip.

   Richelle stared at her foot. "You know, maybe you were right about the Mediprogs. There is s-s-something wrong with them. They indicate Hunter and I have Type Four Hypochromic Anemia too."

   "What?" asked Renata, her lips parting in surprise.

   Richelle had worry in her eyes. "Both of us are down 20 to 25 percent in hemoglobin. And that's really rare for a man. I can't explain that. I can't explain that at all."

   Renata sat back down and pulled her knees toward her, clasping her hands around them. She giggled.

   "It's n-n-not funny," said Richelle, her eyebrows slanting.

   "I'm sorry," said Renata, bringing her hand up to stifle herself. "I'm just so doped up right now I don't know where my head is."