Dark as Daylight Ch. 22

"Why did you want to talk to me, grandma."

"I wanted to know if God had given you any hint of what I should name this baby, because it is the first joining of two cultures from two different worlds."

"Yes grandma, your baby's name is Sarah. There is no connection to Viggio's world, but it is used all over the Earth. It is a very strong name and it is used in every culture on every continent on earth."

Peggy asked, "Do you want to fill out the name card for your child, or should I screw it up for you?"

"Give it to that bastard, let him fill it out."

"I can't, Yenny. I don't have any feeling in my left hand. Dr. Finch is going to have to take an x-ray of it to see what you did to it."

"Vig, you really are a pussy."

"You never said that to me while we were in bed, Yenny."

"Give me the card, mother, I'll fill it out for you."

"You better not screw it up, Gordon, or your wife is going to be very angry with you."

"She would not be angry with me mother. She would be livid with you, and that would be a fate worse than death."

"What did you do to that girl that turned her into a nymphomaniac?"

"It wasn't me, mother. It was Payne and Dycke's fault. She sat by their bedroom door and listened to them from the time she was 11 years old. They were very active while having sex. This was one of the reasons she was so incorrigible during those years. She wanted to have sex, and she couldn't, because of her age, and the restrictions upon her movements. She never went anywhere without guards around her. She had zits the size of quarters that no medication could cure.

There was one teacher that wanted into her panties as the price for her passing his class. It turned out he wanted all the girls in his class for the same price. He should've known better, because girls can't keep secrets at the age of 15.

Her guards arranged for him to have a terrible accident, while he was walking down the stairs of his apartment building. The school found out there were multiple illegal drugs in his system, and he was summarily fired from his position.

When I met her, she was barely 17, and I was still 16. I didn't know what to do with myself, but I knew she was the one. There was never going to be another one for me, and even Monty knew it. We were electric and sparks flew all around us. They still do. They always will, it shows how much and how deeply we love one another."

"At least one of us got it right."

Delicious shouted, "What do you mean one of us got it right? Gray and I got it right also, mother."

"Would somebody please staple my mouth closed. I think the drugs Finch gave me have overloaded my brain. I'm sorry honey, you and Gray certainly did do it right, but at least you know you're stopping at seven children. That bastard wants 10 and I am the vessel that supposed to carry them for him."

"Is that 10 more or are you talking about two more mom?"

"10 more! I would shoot myself first. Change that, I would shoot him first, then I would shoot myself."

Gordon said, "Mom where is the sense in that? If he is dead, he can't give you any more children. Why kill yourself afterwards, have you gone completely daffy?"

"Joe, I want you to operate on my son's brain again. This time I want you to do a really lousy job on it. I don't care if he ever talks again. He just called me 'daffy', and I swear by all that's holy, I will get him for it."

"Okay, it's time to get this pain in the ass out of here."

"Which one Doctor, we have a room full of them?"

"Okay, let's start with the new mother, then her family. Let the father stay, so we can x-ray his hand to see what's wrong with it. If it's broken, he can bring the captain up on charges of physical cruelty, during childbirth. He won't win, but it will be an interesting trial."

"Joe, I want to know what Sandy says about that when you get back to your apartment."

"She won't mind. I'll be naked and she will jump me as soon as she sees me."

"It's amazing she's not pregnant again."

"I'm trying, and so is she. It will happen soon enough. I'm only 47 and she is 46. The best years of our lives are ahead of us. I want to see that belly of hers growing again at least twice more before we hit 50."

"If you keep holding court in here, that will never happen husband."

"I'm sorry dear, but I don't get off duty for another hour and half."

"Do you have your pager with you?"

"I certainly do."

"How long does it take you to get from our room to here?"

"Less than two minutes."

"Can your staff triage an emergency during that time, and let you know what's happening?"

"That's why they continually train upwards towards doctors, baby."

"Joseph get your ass home now. Ladies take care of business. If the ass- holes hand is broken take care of it for him and when you're finished with it, shove it up his ass."

Viggio said, "I don't think she likes me."

"Anything that keeps those two from having sex is in for a very rough time, Viggio. Let's go take an x-ray of that hand and see if we can repair it for you."

Ellie took four pictures of Viggio's hand and wrist and when the computer showed them, she shouted for everyone to come to her station to see what Jennifer had done to him.

Shouts of, "Holy crap, oh my God, and some profane words slipped out of the normally sedate nurses and Doctor trainees."

Betty said, "Let's not bother Doctor Finch, Sandy might kill us if we do. Let's wait for Doctor Hannah to come on duty. We will show this to her and see what she wants to do with it. For the meantime, let's put his hand in ice to make sure it doesn't swell."

Hannah showed up early to get her briefing from Joe but was surrounded by nurses and taken to the x-ray suite instead.

Ellie said, "Doctor, these are not retouched x-rays. I took these myself, and they are Viggio's left hand. Jennifer did this to him before it was decided to have her deliver her baby by C-section. She never let go of his hand until she was out of the anesthetic. I've never seen anything like it before. I know I am not that well trained, or as trained as anyone on earth would be as an x-ray technician, but this is something else."

"Let me see it, Ellie."

"Sit down so you can get as close as you like Doctor."

"Thank you, Ellie, show them to me."

As the first x-ray hit the screen so did Hanna's face. It appeared like she wanted to crawl inside it to be sure she was seeing what she was seeing.

"Number two please...Number three...Number four. Back to number one please."

"Okay ladies, I want a full blood panel on Viggio, and I mean everything. I want two extra vials in the freezer, and I want him in isolation until I figure out what's wrong with him. Get Joe up here now. I don't care if he's balls deep in Sandy or not. Tell Joe to get into his hazardous duty gear before he gets here. Get into your hazardous duty gear now, ladies. I'll get into mine in short order. Who was in this room with him? Who was the closest to him? Did anyone touch him except for Jennifer? I need to know all of this now."

"That's easy Hannah. The only one close to Viggio was Jennifer and Gordon. He was trying to aggravate his mother as much as Viggio was. Viggio never touched the baby, because of his left hand."

"Thank God for small favors."

"We have to get the baby out of here immediately. Do we send her up to the nursery, or to an isolation room?"

"Put the baby in isolation with Jennifer. No one, and I mean no one goes into any isolation room without hazardous duty gear on. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Doctor."

Joe came running into the room in his orange garb.

"What the fuck happened in here?"

"Get over here and look at this. Then you tell me what the hell is going on, Doctor? I haven't even talked to the patient yet."

"Alright, who played with the x-rays?"

"I took those x-rays myself, Doctor, and I didn't play with them at all."

"That's not possible. His bones are turning into pebbles, and sand. I've never seen anything like it in my life. Does anyone have any ideas, because I don't?"

"Why do you think we are in these wonderful orange suits, Doctor? It was the first precaution I could think of just in case he was carrying an unknown disease with him. I don't know if he transferred it to Jennifer and the baby. I have to talk to him now, do you want to join me?"

"You couldn't keep me away from this conversation with the rest of the crew at your side."

"Thank you, Joe. I wasn't looking forward to this at all. Print out those four x-rays for me please, I want to show them to him to see if he can give us any information on this disease and to see if he can tell us anything about it."

Viggio was lying down in the anteroom, when two people in orange suits walked in. He was immediately frightened, and rightfully so.

Hannah said, "Relax if you can, Viggio. I have an awful lot to tell you, and I'm not sure if you can tell I us anything about it. I hope you can, and if you can we will do everything in our power to help you. I have four x-rays for you to look at and I will point out everything of interest to you. I want you to tell us if you recognize anything at all."

"Doctor Hannah, why are you dressed in orange?"

"These are biological hazard suits. We wear them when we believe there is a hazard to ourselves. At this moment, we are moving Jennifer and the baby into an isolation suite, because they had contact with you. We are also moving Gordon into an isolation suite because he touched you. We hope he did not touch Zoey or his children, because they too would have to go into isolation. We don't know what's wrong with you, but the sooner we find out the better it will be for all of us. Look at these x-rays and tell me what you see."

"My left hand does not look like my left hand anymore. It looks like it's falling apart. It looks like grains of sand instead of bones. Does my right- hand look like that?"

"That is a wonderful question, Viggio. Let's go to the x-ray machine and take some pictures of your right hand for a comparison."

They took four identical pictures of his right hand and waited for the computer to come up with the answers. It startled them when they showed up on the screen. His right hand was starting to disintegrate, but much more slowly than the left, because Jennifer had not crushed it.

"Viggio, on the Nasralvhrnecian world, have you ever heard of a disease that takes the use of men's hands away from them?"

"On our planet there are many old wives' tales about many things. Some people say they are blessed to keep women very happy in bed. It turns out not to be true many times. Many men say they are great scientist, yet their rockets blow up on take-off. Many men say they are great hunters and they never return from the hunt. Many men say they are great builders, yet their buildings fall in a light breeze. That is why we have many more women than we have men in our society, and our women produce more children to replace the men who never return.

I have heard the stories about men's hands falling off, but never believed them. How could hands possibly fall off a body. The arms would have to fall off first, because the hands are attached to the arms. Aren't they Doctor?"

"Let's take some more x-rays, Viggio. I am tired of guessing what's going on with you."

"Ellie, I want pictures of everything from his waist up including both arms, front and back."

"Yes Doctor."

20 minutes later she was done. Both doctors were already reading the x-rays as soon as they became available from the computer. His arms, both the radius and ulnar were already involved with this disease. So far, his scapula's, and rotator cuffs were intact. That's where the good news ended. His spinal column was involved in the worst places. C1 through C5 showed divots and pebbling. The discs in these areas were as flat as pancakes. C6 and C7 were okay so far. The thoracic, lumbar, sacral, and Coccyx looked okay.

Now they had to find a way to reverse this process or at least stop it in its tracks before it progressed any further. They still didn't know if he could transmit this disease to anyone else. Their test cases for that were Jennifer and Sarah. After them came Gordon and anyone he came in contact with.

"How much blood did you draw?"

"10 vials, two are in the freezer."

"I have a feeling Callie is going to be very busy."

"I have a feeling we are all going to be very busy Doctor."

"Would you please call me Joe."

"I'm sorry, Joe, it's just habit."

"I think it's time we called the senior captain and let her in on this before she chops my nuts off."

"How long did you think eight people running around my ship in orange suits could stay secret, Doctor?"

"It could have been a drill."

"Moving people from their private rooms to rooms set aside for isolation is part of a drill, Doctor?"

"We do it all the time Captain. Where have you been?"

Monty took out her communicator and pressed three buttons.

"This is the armory."

This is senior Captain Montgomery. I need a sidearm brought to the Infirmary on the double please."

"90 seconds, Captain."

"Very good, that is all."

"Which one of you is going to tell me what's going on, or which one of you is going to die?"

Six nurses raise their hands to answer the first part of Monty's query. The two doctors stood mute.

"Which one of the two of you knows how to do heart surgery?"

"Hannah raised her hand."

"Joseph, I know you know how to do brain surgery. I will decide which one of you I shoot if I don't hear your answer very soon."

"Nurses, prepare the operating area for major surgery. One side for heart surgery the other side for brain surgery."

"Captain, we need both of them for brain surgery."

"Are you volunteering, nurse?"

"Yes Captain, I volunteer. I am not married or attached in any way."

"What are you doing to these people, Joseph. They are willing to give up their lives to serve you."

"We treat patients every day, Captain, and try to save or heal each one of them. So far on this adventure of ours, we have lost one that we loved, and jettisoned into space, and one who tried to kill all of us who we also let go into space. That's not bad considering we started out with less than 70 people and were now up to 88, make that 89 including Sarah. It would have been more if we had not lost those women who went along with our friends to the Nasralvhrnecian planet for a new adventure. I don't blame them one bit. I'll bet you that was what got Delicious, Gordon and Laura moving into their science projects once again."

"Delicious has the primary design for her new engines already. Three months ago, she didn't have the paper to put them on. Can you believe she did that in so little time?"

"Monty, she designed the magnetic engines when she was 15 years old using pencil, paper, a school computer and her brain. She's 40 something, she can speak with Callie, her father, and Gordon any time she wants. They can help her if she needs it. Three months with that kind of assistance is like 10 years on earth with ordinary help and an Apple Computer."

"I love how you got me off the subject of orange suits, Joseph. What is going on."

"Here is your gun, senior captain. Please sign here."

"Thank you very much, Sergeant, you may return to your post now."

"While Jennifer was in labor, she had Viggio's left hand in her hand and was squeezing it mightily. She never let go of it until she came out of the anesthetic she was given for the cesarean section. To make a very long story short, Viggio's hand felt as if it was broken so we took x-rays of it. It was more than broken, it was crushed. Hannah was the first to see it and she ordered everyone into biohazard suits, because she had never seen anything like it before. When I got here, I agreed with her decision, because I had never seen anything like it before either. When we talk to Viggio, he said he had heard tales of men losing their hands, but he didn't believe it, because you would have to lose your arms first. So, we decided to take x-rays of his entire upper body and it is problematic. His arms up to his shoulders already involved. C1 through C5 showed deep problems already. If the bones of his neck disintegrate as I believe they will, he will die in less than one year, and there is nothing I can do to save him. The spinal cord goes directly into his brain and there is no way to stabilize it without those 5 cervical bones in place. No, they cannot be replaced by any means that I know of, and I am not about to try spinal surgery. It is way out of my league. If you think Gordon's brain surgery was hard, spinal surgery is one hundred times harder.

How the hell am I supposed to tell Jennifer she's going to lose her second husband in less than 3 years if we don't come up with a way to halt the progress of this disease."

"May I make a suggestion?"

"Any and all suggestions are welcome."

"Do you see how skinny he is?"

"He was a lot skinnier when he got here."

"What is the most fattening thing we have on our diet?"

"That's easy, whole milk, straight from the cow."

"Give that man a gold star. What has the most vitamin D in it that is in our diet?"

"The same thing, 'Whole Milk.' Are you trying to tell me something, senior Captain?"

"Guess who is going to be working outside supervising anything and everything we do from now on, Doctor, and why?"

"Viggio is, because the sun is an excellent source of vitamin D."

"I knew you went to medical school for a reason, Joe. Now you'll wait for the blood tests to come back to make sure it is not a viral or bacterial infection. As long as it comes back clean and not harmful to the rest of the crew, you will proceed as we have just discussed. Is that clear, Doctor."

"Crystal clear, Captain."

"Betty, how far along are you in your training to become a doctor?"

"I am in my fourth year of training, Captain. I have five people ahead of me in training."

"Joseph, Hannah, this young woman put her life on the line for you two. I want her training accelerated. I want her at the top of the class as soon as she can get there. I don't want her to cut corners or to miss anything that is required of her training to become a doctor, but I want her pushed, shoved, and threatened to get her ass in gear. Is that understood?"

"Yes Captain, just like Captain Luck did to you, we are going to do to Betty, and may God have mercy on her soul."

"Betty, for your information, I didn't do you a favor just now. I just put you in hell. One day come up to the bridge and I will let you talk to Doctor Luck and let him tell you what he did to me to make me Senior Captain. I have hated that man ever since that day, and all he does is laugh at me."

"Thank you for the warning, Senior Captain. I will find out when you are on the bridge, speak with Doctor Luck, and get his side of the story."

"If you believe him, I'll put you in the brig."

"That doesn't seem fair, does it, Captain?"

"Betty, when you want to find out about the senior Captain and fair, you have to talk to Gordon. Make sure you have a lot of free time, because she raised him from the time he was three years old. He will have stories going back decades for you to listen to about fairness. Each one will be funnier than the next, and more painful."

Monty said, "Doctor Finch, I am changing gynecologists, because I no longer like you."

"You have your choice of five other fine doctors, Monty. Each one will do a superior job delivering your next child. I trained each and every one of them."

"I'm not having any more children, Joseph."

"You mean your breasts are growing because they want to? Go to the laboratory and pee in this cup. Five will get you 100 that you're pregnant."

Monty screamed, "I'm going to kill that bastard. I'm going to pull his heart out through his throat. Then I'm going to pull his brain out through his asshole. I will make an axe and cut him up so finely that they can use him as fertilizer for our plants. He has fertilized me for the last time."