IMAGINATION'S PLACE
FICTION
JOURNEY TO THE LIGHT
By Speaker Gerald Polley
All rights reserved.
Chapter 32
Weeks went by and all was quiet. The situation
on Earth took care of itself. Rather than surrender the general
put a pistol in his mouth and blew his brains all over a wall. As
a commentator said he was kind enough to save the people a trial and an
execution. Many of his followers weren't so obliging, and there
was quite a bit of uproar for a while until the last one was dispatched
to its eternal reward. It was found most of them were engaged in
things decent people weren't engaged in. Very few of them were
trialed for the rebellion but for other crimes.
One afternoon the asteroid called. "Good afternoon,
madam!" Carol's charge greeted. The commander has a
question. They're asking him to help bring out a ship. They
won't exactly say what it is. They're afraid communications are
being monitored. However, it's a request from The First
Speaker himself!"
"Well," Carol managed, "if it's from The First Speaker I think we ought to fulfill the request."
"Very well! A moment for a personal matter, ma'am?"
"Certainly!" Carol snapped.
"One of the soldiers and I are getting quite
friendly. He's asked if it would be possible if we could make it
a permanent arrangement. I haven't told him about my little
problem. What should I do?"
Carol smiled leaning back. "Absolutely
nothing," she answered. "Your little problem is between you and
me. We do not have to burden the young man with it. He
knows you're in my charge and if he hasn't asked why I don't think it
matters to him. I would be deeply honored if I could be your female
witness. And I'm sure my husband would like to stand for you,
too."
"Thank you!" a trembling voice came back. "Thank you very much. I'll get back to you!"
Carol went up to the command deck. "There's a ship
coming!" she announced, "At the request of The First Speaker. Something
really hush hush. As soon as it gets here let me know."
"Well, when the asteroid helps a ship," the
commander remarked, "it only takes them about eight hours to get here
from Earth orbit! So whatever it is it should be here pretty
quick. Should I order security to stand by?"
"No," Carol snapped, then put her hand to her stomach.
"You all right?" the commander asked.
"Don't know!" Carol answered. "Doctor says the
pregnancy's going just fine. But somethin' doesn't feel right.
Gettin' really uncomfortable!"
"Stand by officer!" the commander snapped. "Take this lady down to the hospital immediately,"
"Yes sir!" the officer snapped. They headed off
toward the hospital. Half way there Carol couldn't even walk. The
officer called ahead and somebody brought a wheel chair. Along
the way one of the balls appeared rolling along on one of the special
platforms they had made for them so they could have more mobility on
the ship.
"What's wrong?" the plant asked.
"We don't know," the officer said, then explained.
The plant called an assistant. "We've
got another one!" he sighed. "Get the exam room ready!"
"What is it?" Carol asked.
"It's the mashed potatoes," the plant explained,
"that were served at last night's supper. They're turning into a
mass that's blocking the intestines. They believe it's some kind
of deliberate attack, that the food was sabotaged! I've already
treated three people so far. You'll be the fourth."
"Treated how?" Carol asked, having a feeling she wasn't going to like the answer.
"I have to go inside," the plant answered, "break the mass up so we can flush it out."
"Ohh!" Carol moaned. "I've got a feeling I know how you're going to go inside."
"Do not worry," the plant assured, "I will be
totally sterilized. I tell you it is much better than having to
cut you open and remove the obstruction!"
Carol sighed. "Undoubtedly," she agreed. She was
laid on a bed, a sheet put over her, the plant came off his carrier
onto the bed and went under the sheet. Carol tried not to make
much of a fuss, but in a little while she was moaning. The plant
made no comments so Carol figured it wasn't hooked up to its
speaker. A few minutes later she heard it asking the nurse for
sutures. "This one's got something different," he remarked.
"small metallic objects, very sharp. They've done some damage!
Got to go back and fix it and put some clear seal over it to protect it
until it heals. Get those samples to the lab!"
"Yes doctor!" the nurse answered.
Finally the doctor was on his platform and rolled
back in front of Carol. "I'd like you to rest an hour or so," he
encouraged. "Just make sure the sutures are healed in.
Wasn't that bad, was it?""
"I've had worst experiences back there," Carol
admitted "but they didn't last quite so long! We've gotta find
out if that food was sabotaged back on Earth, or, on the ship."
"I would probably say on Earth," the doctor commented. "If you'll excuse me we're rather busy."
A nurse poked her head in the door. "Another one, doctor! Her husband. He's in the next room."
"Oh, no!" Carol moaned. "Have all the children checked. We all ate that last night."
"The children don't seem affected," the nurse
comforted. "Apparently they were fed a different batch than the
adults, fortunately."
Carol heard her husband start to moan. "Yeah!"
she admitted. A few minutes later he came in and sat down in a
chair.
"I can never understand," he remarked, "how any man
could find that pleasurable! You had to have sutures?"
"Apparently some of it," Carol explained, "had little surprises in it. Did you hear about the ship coming?"
"Yes," her husband answered, "but we're getting an
A1 security clearance from the church headquarters itself. So I'm not
too concerned. I gotta get up and walk around. Ohh!
I'm gonna find out who did that, and I'm going to be very unpleasant to
them!"
"I don't think they're where you can reach them,"
Carol assured. We've got to heighten security on the ships.
That these fanatics have been able to do things like this is just
totally unacceptable! We've got to increase screening!"
"Absolutely!" her husband agreed. "I'll write up recommendations. I'd like you to sign them."
"I'm not really in charge!" Carol objected.
"You might not think so!" her husband answered, "but
everybody else sure as hell does! Now get some rest. I wish
we could send some of these ball doctors back to Earth. They'd be
phenomenally useful there."
"I think it's going to be a while," Carol sighed,
"before that would be accepted. But you're absolutely right. I would've
probably been under anesthesia and cut open for quite a while to
accomplish what he did in a few minutes."
Her husband nodded. "We're calling them all he," he remarked, "but some of them are female."
"I know!" Carol complained. "I've asked them
to give some designation between the males and the females. And
they say 'That's not our way. We don't recognize any
difference,' So I think we're going to have to develop a non
gender title."
"Why?" her husband asked. If it doesn't bother them, why should we let it bother us?"
Carol thought a moment and then sighed. "Right! Glad I married you! Smartest thing I ever did."
Her husband smiled. "I say the same thing!" he
answered, bending down and kissing her on the back of the neck.
"Woo!" Carol warned "No more of that! Not until we get back to our room. I'm already excited enough!"
Her husband grinned and left. A nurse came in
and checked on her. "Do you find it difficult working with the
balls?" Carol asked.
"Oh, no!" the nurse answered, "not in the
slightest! They're marvelous! Their capabilities are
superb! Our doctors are envious! The children love
them. We would've lost a patient yesterday, even with the robo
surgeon. The doctor was overwhelmed. The two balls came in and
were able to stabilize the patient so the doctor could complete his
work. They're just marvelous!"
"I think I'd better get dressed," Carol suggested.
"We've got a problem coming and I really should be on the bridge."
"Well, we'll call somebody down and have you taken
up in a wheel chair," the nurse insisted. "Let's have no strenuous
activity for a day or so."
"I was afraid you were going to say that!" Carol giggled.
The officer returned and took her back to the
bridge. About a half hour later somebody announced "We're picking
up a ship! It's a carrier! It's got...wow... forty smaller
ships attached to it. I'd say from the look of them they're some
kind of fighters. I think somebody's expecting trouble and sending us
some reinforcements."
"What in the heck is goin' on?" Carol sighed. "Why do they keep throwing this stuff at us?"
"They're signaling!" an officer announced. "They want to send shuttles, five of them."
"Fifty people?" Carol muttered. "Very
well. Tell them to land and I'll greet them. What is goin'
on?"