lowered the barrel and fired. The creature backed away.
Above me, a scraping noise grew louder.
I looked up.
On the tube’s ceiling, a claw moved, about to tear off my face mask. The creature had returned.
I lowered the barrel, trying to shoot the other Uduss and squeezed the trigger.
Suddenly, bullets came through the right side of the tube! Someone on Exp One’s hull had just shot a hole in the tube!
Above me, blood spurt out of a beast’s face. It shrieked, Ieeeee!
Two grenades flew through the hole and landed inside the tube.
I dove to the right and rolled across the chamber floor.
Both grenades exploded—shrapnel sprayed against nearby walls.
I sat up, my adrenaline pumping. My suit was intact, no holes or tears. I stood, walked over to the outside escape hatch, looked outside and saw stars. Sixty feet below me, the end of the tube that had just detached from our hull plummeted farther. Beneath it, one creature’s body, a motionless corpse, floated away.
The engine roared louder—Exp One jerked forward. I took a deep breath, relieved that we were moving away from the Toa.
Another thought occurred to me. Had the other beast crawled onto the hull?
The bags floated toward me. The gravitational force was low. I tossed both outside and the escape hatch closed.
After entering room nine, the place where I had shot the Uduss, I picked up my vtp, spoke into it, “UE, Joel, is Jen alive?”
“It’s UE. I’m going down to E Four in the shuttlecraft to pick up a Reen Surgeon. Both of us will return within half an hour. He will operate on Jen’s leg in En One right after he arrives.”
“Understood. See you when you return.”
I entered an observation room with a window allowing me to look inside En One, an ad hoc operating room, and sat down. Needing some rest, I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.
A voice said, “Captain, the Reen Surgeon, Dr. Yis, has just arrived.”
I opened my eyes, waking up from a short nap.
Close by, UE pointed at the observation window.
Inside that room, a male humanoid with orange skin, six feet tall and dressed in beige scrubs, leaned over Jen. He handed a tiny tool, less than an inch long, to a nearby robot, one of two androids.
I blinked. “Dr. Yis’s eyes dominate most of his face. Does this odd entity understand human anatomy?”
UE paused. “To some degree he does. Fortunately, the Reen know more about microsurgery, PCR and hot start cloning than your race does.”
I leaned forward. “How did you find that out?”
“Sam told me.”
I raised by eyebrows, surprised by his desire to know more about us. “Jen was in a lot of pain. What did he do to help her?”
“A few moments ago, he gave her a tranquilizer, and she fell asleep.”
I rubbed my face, trying to wake up. “What did the Uduss do to her leg?”
“It tore off the patella and the anterior cruciate ligament or ACL.”
“UE, what did Joel do before I arrived?”
“We had to act fast. He signed a consent form. According to it, he gave Dr. Yis permission to design the robots, ones that would assist Dr. Yis during Jen’s operation.
“Can he create more blood?” A male voice, information from Exp One’s database, came out of my earplugs, “PCR, polymerase chain reaction, creates more DNA from limited amounts of type O samples. Although the technology is not yet available, someday scientists will use DNA to create more blood.”
“Yes.”
“Can any of us donate blood?”
“No. She uses type A-positive. No one’s blood is compatible with hers.”
Forceps and clamp-like surgical tools, holograms, appeared above UE’s scanner. He said, “Greg, Dr. Yis just told me that these surgical tools, devices that Joel finished building a few minutes ago, are helpful because they are designed for humans, not translators.”
“Does Dr. Yis speak any English?”
“No… but, he learns quickly.
Without warning, Jen screamed, “Yowwwww! That hurts!”
I flinched. “What the hell is
Above me, a scraping noise grew louder.
I looked up.
On the tube’s ceiling, a claw moved, about to tear off my face mask. The creature had returned.
I lowered the barrel, trying to shoot the other Uduss and squeezed the trigger.
Suddenly, bullets came through the right side of the tube! Someone on Exp One’s hull had just shot a hole in the tube!
Above me, blood spurt out of a beast’s face. It shrieked, Ieeeee!
Two grenades flew through the hole and landed inside the tube.
I dove to the right and rolled across the chamber floor.
Both grenades exploded—shrapnel sprayed against nearby walls.
I sat up, my adrenaline pumping. My suit was intact, no holes or tears. I stood, walked over to the outside escape hatch, looked outside and saw stars. Sixty feet below me, the end of the tube that had just detached from our hull plummeted farther. Beneath it, one creature’s body, a motionless corpse, floated away.
The engine roared louder—Exp One jerked forward. I took a deep breath, relieved that we were moving away from the Toa.
Another thought occurred to me. Had the other beast crawled onto the hull?
The bags floated toward me. The gravitational force was low. I tossed both outside and the escape hatch closed.
After entering room nine, the place where I had shot the Uduss, I picked up my vtp, spoke into it, “UE, Joel, is Jen alive?”
“It’s UE. I’m going down to E Four in the shuttlecraft to pick up a Reen Surgeon. Both of us will return within half an hour. He will operate on Jen’s leg in En One right after he arrives.”
“Understood. See you when you return.”
I entered an observation room with a window allowing me to look inside En One, an ad hoc operating room, and sat down. Needing some rest, I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.
A voice said, “Captain, the Reen Surgeon, Dr. Yis, has just arrived.”
I opened my eyes, waking up from a short nap.
Close by, UE pointed at the observation window.
Inside that room, a male humanoid with orange skin, six feet tall and dressed in beige scrubs, leaned over Jen. He handed a tiny tool, less than an inch long, to a nearby robot, one of two androids.
I blinked. “Dr. Yis’s eyes dominate most of his face. Does this odd entity understand human anatomy?”
UE paused. “To some degree he does. Fortunately, the Reen know more about microsurgery, PCR and hot start cloning than your race does.”
I leaned forward. “How did you find that out?”
“Sam told me.”
I raised by eyebrows, surprised by his desire to know more about us. “Jen was in a lot of pain. What did he do to help her?”
“A few moments ago, he gave her a tranquilizer, and she fell asleep.”
I rubbed my face, trying to wake up. “What did the Uduss do to her leg?”
“It tore off the patella and the anterior cruciate ligament or ACL.”
“UE, what did Joel do before I arrived?”
“We had to act fast. He signed a consent form. According to it, he gave Dr. Yis permission to design the robots, ones that would assist Dr. Yis during Jen’s operation.
“Can he create more blood?” A male voice, information from Exp One’s database, came out of my earplugs, “PCR, polymerase chain reaction, creates more DNA from limited amounts of type O samples. Although the technology is not yet available, someday scientists will use DNA to create more blood.”
“Yes.”
“Can any of us donate blood?”
“No. She uses type A-positive. No one’s blood is compatible with hers.”
Forceps and clamp-like surgical tools, holograms, appeared above UE’s scanner. He said, “Greg, Dr. Yis just told me that these surgical tools, devices that Joel finished building a few minutes ago, are helpful because they are designed for humans, not translators.”
“Does Dr. Yis speak any English?”
“No… but, he learns quickly.
Without warning, Jen screamed, “Yowwwww! That hurts!”
I flinched. “What the hell is
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