Hospital Ship (The Rim Confederacy #5) (26 page)

Doctor Etter stared at him and then said, "Wait a minute then." He got up to go around Tanner to that bookcase, and on the far right side, he opened up a door. Reaching in deeply, he took out a holster and handed it over too.

"Then you might as well have a way to carry my gun—and take care of it too," he said and Tanner nodded as he quickly hooked the holster over his belt and the automatic slid in nicely.

He slapped it a couple of times and then nodded. "Doc, you're a prince," he said and he spun on his heel and left the office.

####

Nathan entered his Animal Lab as normal and wondered if his loose mouse—he actually had named him Fred—he wondered if Fred had eaten his food last night. He walked over to the three racks of cages and moved around the side of the third one.

"Fred ... where's my little Fred," he called out and went over to the table to grab a handful of kibble. He went around the back of the cages and over toward the pantry area and dropped the kibble in the empty bowl.

"So you're, what, 171 days old and you're old, old, old, and yet you can still hide from me! Fred, where are you?" he said as he looked around.

No mouse could be seen. But there was a pile of kibble that lay on the floor like the bowl had been kicked over. So instead of the mouse eating his food, he'd just spilled it all over the floor. "Odd," Nathan said to himself, "but then isn't that what mice were all about, making a mess?"

He sighed and knew he had to clean up. As he swung the cage to his left to make some space between the supplies pantry and the rack, the door to the pantry flew open, and he was facing a Caliphate citizen.

Tall, tall and very thin the citizen was, and as Nathan was about to yell at him, he noticed the stunner pointed directly at his chest.

He held out a hand with his palm facing Jocko, which was meant to stop him from actually shooting.

But it did not, and Nathan felt the ray. Even though he tried to yell out, his chest was frozen and he couldn't use his diaphragm to push out the words. As the ray slid down to his legs, he slouched to the floor.

Jocko sprayed him one more time. At this dosage, the scientist would be out for almost an hour. Thin as he was, he had the strength of a Nerian Prime miner, so he was able to manhandle Nathan's body into the pantry, and he closed the door on him.

Sliding that third rack of cages over to jam the door closed was his final move to keep Nathan sealed up.

Where was Fred, that missing mouse? But then why did it matter which mouse he took—all he'd been told was to get a few samples, which was what he'd do.

He went over to the racks and picked the three across the top.

While he was no scientist, he could read the displays and noted they were all more than forty-five percent above their lifespan day counts.

Old mice. I'm stealing old mice for the Caliph ... but by doing so, I'll finally become a true Caliphate citizen. Full citizen. What could be better
. He almost grinned at himself, and he pulled out a folded storage bag. He helped himself to three mice, emptying each of the mice into the bag. He'd been given a couple of small cylinders to throw into the bag, and he did that, sealed it up, and made sure to keep it as full of air as he could.

He smiled. This had been pretty easy. Stealing mice was certainly something he was good at.

All he needed to do now was to make it twenty feet up the hallway into the airlock and then out of these secret labs.

He smiled and slid up against the Animal Lab door and listened as carefully as he could.

Not a sound. Nothing. Time to go.

He eased the door open a few inches and peeked first to the left and deeper into the labs, and there was nothing to see.

Then he peeked to his right and the way out, and again nothing at all.

Time to go.

He slid out the door and down to his right.

An airlock cycle away from freedom and citizenship ...
.

####

Tanner moved around the walkway, thought for a moment about the Juice Bar, and then kept on walking.

Marines here, marines there—security was good here in the Rotunda.

He'd just come from the Caliphate module and had noted not a thing out of place—no extra security there at all. No one who could remotely be considered military at all. He left a couple of marines at the entry access to the module and ensured they were on the Hospital Ship security PDA channel, and then his PDA sounded a chime.

As he walked, he glanced down and saw it was an EYES ONLY from Hospital security, so he motioned for some distance from his squad of marines around him who gave him some space.

"Sir, Provost Captain O'Malley said for me to let you know about that search of new personnel from the Caliphate? Sir?" a voice said which got Tanner's attention. He'd asked security to search the incoming profiles of all staff, healthcare personnel, friends, family, and even patients from the Caliphate in the past two weeks—and it sounded like they had something.

"Yup, go ahead—who have you found?" Tanner said, wondering how many and therefore what kind of foes he and his marines would be facing.

"Sir—not a single one that looks suspicious. Not one soldier, marine, Provost guard, Ramat, bodyguard, cop—not a single one. Family members were only three, and they're all older women—a mother and two aunts for one of the juveniles in the Caliphate wards. No friends at all, nothing else. Oh, well, one patient—but he's tall and way too thin to be any worry as he came aboard in a wheelchair, Sir. We have no suspicious Caliphate personnel at all—from any of their realm planets either," the captain said and he sounded as unhappy with the news as Tanner did.

"Captain, much thanks on this. Can I ask that you also check now for any military or trained personnel from anywhere else in the Confederacy? Yes, I know that's a bigger task, but please do look for us? We know we're facing something—just not what it might be? And can I ask what of the interrogation of this Doctor Bassem? He say anything?"

"Just the usual malarkey that he had no idea why this Ward fellow would have misunderstood him and the argument was about simple medical procedures. No idea at all, he said. Like most Caliphate citizens, he knows his rights, so we had to release him, but he is confined to the Hospital Ship. If I had to put money on it though captain—he's hiding something. Not like I make money on betting on Caliphatians like that patient a few years back, but the doc does know something—my money's on it, Sir," he finished off and they signed off.

Tanner nodded to the marine lieutenant, and they quickly formed up around him and off they went.

Caliphate wards checked and picket duty marines stationed there. Check.

Main landing bays all checked and marines on duty there. Check.

A smaller selection maintained a loose picket around the main lobby rotunda, the cafeterias, cafés, and gyms. Check.

At each of the other Confederacy member pods, he had a team of marines stationed who were checking IDs. Check.

"We're good," he said to himself. "If and when anyone tries anything, we've got the best marines on the RIM ready for them."

He motioned for the marines to follow him, and "now," he said to himself, "the only access point to the secret labs."

They took the walkway halfway around the rotunda and then marched off down the long corridor to the center of the Hospital Ship. At the junction between the main axis of the ship and the side corridor that led to the secret labs, Tanner stationed two marines there. Orders were, he explained, to check on every single person—no matter whom, and to record their admittance and their stated destination.

Farther on, at the last corridor to the big left-hand turn, he stationed two more marines, same orders too.

Down the final curved central corridor, he placed another two marines at the entry panel where anyone who wanted access had to place their hand on the panel, same orders.

Passing through for them was easy as they were also accompanied by a Provost security lieutenant who had a security passkey that would get them access anywhere on the ship.

Once through, they walked on past the unused conference room and labs where the scientists were working on whatever they were working on.

At the end of that hallway of the major pod section, they entered the changing room, and the lieutenant scanned the racks and matching helmets and nodded to Tanner.

"All accounted for, Sir. There are nineteen scientists over in the secret lab and only nineteen suits normally located here are missing—so the numbers are correct."

They then went straight through to the shower room and the Provost lieutenant turned it off before they even entered.

At the end of the shower room, they all crowded into the space down near the airlock door. It took a moment but Tanner eventually saw the force-field corridor outside was up and running, and it looked fine. No ceiling for most of it meant that it was open to outer space, and that would kill anything, the reasoning was made by the Hospital Ship administrators.

Anything but a Secret too.

Tanner looked at the Provost lieutenant as he'd just had a question come to mind.

"Lieutenant, could a Caliphate citizen wear a normally sized spacesuit? And yes, I know that they come in sizes, but surely a man six and a half feet tall could not wear a suit made for a shorter man, correct?" That did make sense, as there was no real stretch or play in spacesuit fabric, and the helmet was a metal on metal connection.
No way it'd stretch
, Tanner thought.

"Correct, Captain—there is no suit at all in the inventory for the secret labs that would hold a man past, say, six feet two inches at the very most. And all the suits, as we now know, are accounted for, Sir." The lieutenant was sure, and that made Tanner feel good.

"Then at this point, we have to believe that the secret labs are still secure. Does AI have any other records of any other entries, Lieutenant?"

Looking down at his tablet and punching a few buttons took a moment, and then another minute passed as the lieutenant seemed to be double-checking something.

"Sir, not anything at all, but the AI does show that at about four a.m. this morning, one Nathan Ward entered the entry pod here, got on his suit, it appears, showered, opened up, and went across. Then I'm guessing that for some reason, AI missed his return because he did the same entry again this morning just an hour ago."

Tanner looked at the lieutenant. "Does AI often do this, miss something?" He wanted to know and he wanted to know right now.

"Not very often, less than a couple of times a year—power fluctuations, surges ... that kind of thing usually is the culprit. But," he said as his fingers flew over his tablet, "I see no such culprits from last night, Sir," and that scared Tanner.

"But surely, if Ward went over last night, he had to come back to be able to use his own spacesuit this morning, right?" he said as the truth began to come to light.

"Sir, yes—that's the only way that this could work—it's not like he floated across with no spacesuit."

A couple of the closer marines laughed.

Tanner nodded but jumped back to his PDA and dialed back to ship security.

"Captain O'Malley, please—can I get him back on the air?" he said and after a few moments, he got a "Sir?" and he could hear the captain.

"Captain, can I ask about that patient that you said was admitted just a while ago? Can you tell me who it is?" Tanner had a feeling he knew already.

"Sir sure … I know it off by heart—it's the old VacJump champion—well, almost the champ—Jocko his name is—"

"Shit" Tanner said and grabbed one marine by the arm.

"Son, you watch the airlock on the labs side of the corridor—you see anything, you sing out! Sergeant," he said and looked at the rest of the marines.

One stepped forward, slammed his foot down on the steel floor, and screamed out, "Sir, yes, Sir."

"Sergeant, get on the horn to ship security, I want a full detail down here STAT. Radio over to the head of the secret labs scientists, and I want a full evacuation of the labs—everyone out—in the next few minutes. Close down all work and get back over here. Marines, we're in for it, but from one Caliphate citizen only. And the thing to remember is that he will be armed and he will be carrying some kind of sample with him. He must not get away," he said as he turned back to the changing room and ran there as quickly as possible.

There, he quickly looked over the still hanging suits and picked one that looked close enough, and as he was struggling to get his first leg in, there was a loud yell from the airlock door.

"Sir, the other airlock is opening up," one marine said.

Tanner said, "shit," to himself as he tossed the suit on the floor.

Turning back and running back through the changing room and the shower room right up to the airlock door, he saw the airlock on the other side of the force-field corridor was almost completely open.

He shrugged as he realized he had no way around it.

Ordering the marines back behind the airlock area, he stepped up to the open plate and slapped it hard, and up behind him the force field suddenly popped into existence while the airlock door began to slide to his left. As he leaned far to his right to see across, the sudden bitter coldness of space made his eyes frost over so he blinked over and over trying to keep them warm which seemed to work. He grabbed the edge of the door as it slid and then moved to the left. Across the way, he could see a very tall Caliphate citizen—Jocko, who casually walked out and into the corridor.

Tanner yelled at him to stop, but then he realized that in space, there was no sound so his yell went unheard.

Jocko, however, suddenly saw Tanner, and that obviously was enough to make him lose his slow pace. He quickly trotted down the force-field corridor getting closer.

As he did, Tanner could see he was yanking a weapon out of his pocket with one hand, while the other appeared to be holding some kind of a transparent bag or the like against his chest.
Whatever it is, he's keeping it warm
, Tanner thought as he too struggled to draw his .41 automatic and it was hanging up in the damn holster.