Dark as Daylight Ch. 24

Note: I want to apologize for the length of time this chapter took getting to you. I had a major relapse, and it took me quite a bit of time to get my head back together. I am trying very hard to continue writing, because I love it so. I hope this chapter meets with your approval. Bob

81. Motivation

It seemed that everyone had motivation and everyone was working harder than ever to see that their goal was accomplished perfectly and within the time parameters associated with it. It didn't matter if you were on planet Earth or Atwater Luck, everyone was busy working on detailed plans for the near future. It took many years to become a captain or a doctor, less to become a cook or a maintenance person. However, if it was your time to make a transition to the next step in the progression to a higher, or more difficult assignment, the time had come for everyone to make the big move. It was done as part of a huge party on Atwater Luck, because no one was sure what the next step for them was going to be. It was all done by computer, and Callie took their work ethic and their aptitude into consideration. You could go from a cook to a medical track, and electrician to the celestial navigation track, or to the flight deck track if Callie found a difference of 1/10 of 1% in your aptitude, or the captains, who looked over each application, found a difference, you could go to engineering, instead of medical.

Each of these tracks were fought for fiercely by each member of the crew, especially the younger members just coming up. These whiz kids in math and science wanted to show up their elders, by passing them up in the chain of command, and many of them did.

This is exactly what Even Luck wanted to happen. It was written down as part of the ship's constitution.

'No one was to be held back, regardless of age.'

It didn't matter to the computer whether you were 40 or 14 years old. All that mattered was your work ethic and your aptitude, and some of the children on Atwater Luck had aptitudes of geniuses. Some of the aptitudes of people on planet Earth weren't bad either, and at this moment 6 of them are cloistered in a room at a hospital working on a problem of immense proportions.

At the Langone Heart Center of New York University Hospital, Doctor Matti Williams was pouring over the reams of documents concerning Colonel Lucius Canyon, going back 10 years.

Sitting by her side were other members of the heart transplant team, including Doctors Harvey Reynolds, Joanna Chikwe, Professor Stephen Adams, Sandra Billings, and Aurora Zane. It was extremely important that this decision they made was correct. A wrong decision would put the hospital in a moral, ethical, and legal conundrum.

Even though the donor gave his written consent for the transplant and receive a transplant from another live donor, who gave her written consent, the hospital and the doctors would be responsible if anything went wrong.

William Zabo Senior signed a document absolving the hospital and the doctors of any liability concerning the transplant procedure.

Colonel Lucius Canyon and his aide Paul Williams signed a document with the same wording as William Zabo's, absolving the hospital and the doctors of any liability concerning the transplant procedure.

Colonel Canyon also gave the hospital and the doctors permission to remove any useful organs if he should expire during the transplant operation.

Paul was his healthcare surrogate, and held his power of attorney. If anything should happen to the colonel during this operation, Paul would be able to do whatever was necessary concerning his welfare.

The transplant procedures were set in stone, and the doctors knew how to proceed without causing a problem for their patients. The problem was getting the Transplant Board's approval, and it was meeting the next day. The 13 trustees would not allow the hospital to be put in a disadvantageous position, regardless of the promises made, in writing, by those involved. The lawyers on the board would quote applicable law stating that people cannot give away their rights before something happens to them.

The Supreme Court had come down favorably, in several decisions, regarding people's rights of recovery. It placed restrictions on this matter, where legal documents were signed, and informed consent were written, and verbally given.

In other words, it left enough holes in its' decision for some people to win, while other people would lose. It would be up to the justices to decide the merits of each of these cases.

These 4 doctors and the 2 members of the Heart Transplant Association would be questioned by the Board of Trustees attorney on a matter that had never come up before, and probably would never come up again. They had to know how to represent the sickness of Colonel Canyon, and his life expectancy to the best of their ability.

This job fell to Professor Stephen Adams, the expert in blood diseases at NYU. He was the head of the Hematology Department, and had been so for 7 years. He had written extensively on Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and other blood borne diseases. He worked in the hospital's lab trying to design a cure for these diseases. He consistently ran into a wall when he tried to find a cure for lymphoma, as did all other scientists working on these diseases.

All the labs, around the world, shared their work trying to find a treatment for it. They don't care who made the breakthrough, they just want to stop these dreaded diseases in their tracks. If they stopped this one disease, all the other blood borne diseases could be stopped.

At this point, none of them were treatable, and all of them are lethal. They included leukemia, HIV AIDS, and multiple myeloma.

Others like Hepatitis B and C, syphilis, malaria, and many others are treatable, and they spread quite easily from person to person. Some diseases, like malaria, are for life, and treatment must be taken for life. Once you are infected by a diseased Anopheles mosquito, it has given you a present you didn't want, and a disease that stays with you for life. There is no cure for it, you can only be treated for it for life.

Another gift from Africa is given to you by the tiny Tsetse fly. While you are enjoying the view of the wild animals in their native environment, this little insect burrows into your skin, and deposits a single cell parasite into your bloodstream. Technically it's called, "Tryanonosomiasis." (I can't pronounce it either.) You may have heard of the African Sleeping Sickness, and if you have, this is the insect that gives it to you. What you didn't know about it is that it is lethal within 3 to 4 months if not aggressively treated.

In the 1960s, 30,000 people died of this disease. In 2015, that number was down to 4000 people dying each year. The World Health Organization does not believe the number will ever reach zero, because there are at least 4 variants of this disease, and many of them are carried by cattle. The fly's bite the cows and then they bite the human, and the disease marches on.

This parasite enters your bloodstream and floats around until it gets to your spinal column and digs in until it reaches the brains Meninges. It moves until it is able to latch on to the brain's Blood/Brain Barrier. Then it wears down the barrier over time, until it can enter into the brain itself. When it does, it's too late for treatment and death is imminent.

After hours of going through Colonel Canyon's files, the 6 team members agreed that his death was only months away, at best. Why he was so cheerful about this was a mystery to them. His heart was in good condition, not perfect, but good enough for a transplant. After all, he was 82 years old, and he had put his body, and mind through a lot of stress during those years. A transplant done sooner, would be much better than one done later, because the disease was attacking the arteries close to his heart, and his blood flow was decreasing.

Joanna said she could increase the blood flow after his heart was removed, by using new arteries that were in storage. His arteries were clogged with something but it was not plaque, caused by a bad diet or lack of exercise. It must have been caused by the disease he is suffering from, and she could eliminate that quite easily.

The other doctors agreed with her and a 50-minute time allotment was put in for her to remove the diseased portions of the Colonel's arteries and veins to replace them with new ones.

Joanna joked, "What am I going to do with the extra 5 minutes?"

Harvey said, "Bend over, and I'll give you something to think about."

Everyone laughed except Joanna.

She said, "Harvey, you dirty old man, you are disgusting. You're married. I'm going to tell your wife on you."

"Go right ahead, Joanna. She told me to get a piece of ass on the outside, because I wasn't going to get one on the inside. Yours is cute enough."

"You dirty bastard, stay away from my ass. Remember, I am very good with a knife, and I know exactly where your femoral artery is."

"Women," he said, "I'm talking about giving them pleasure, and they talk about killing you. It just doesn't seem fair."

"He's right, Joanna", said Matti.

Joanna glared at her. "When was the last time you had a pipe shoved up your ass, smarty-pants?"

"Mickey was in town 3 weeks ago. He took me out to dinner, we walked around the park for hours and talked, before he took me home. He didn't leave for 2 days. I wish it could have been like that when we were married, because we had a ball."

"You took it up the ass, Doctor?"

"Several times, and I came each time. He is a wonderful lover, but he was a terrible husband."

"I don't believe you."

"Call, and ask him what we did during those 2 days. Tell him I said it was okay for you to inquire about our sex life. You can even tell him I said he was a terrible husband. He will agree."

"I don't like you, Matti."

"Yes, you do. You are just jealous of what I do with my body. It's fun being a liberated woman, while you are still living in the 1930s, and wearing a corset."

"I do not wear a corset."

"Then loosen up Joanna, and learn how to take a joke."

Aurora Zane said, "Stop talking about sex. We are agreed the transplants are acceptable, and the risks are minimal for both the patients, and the hospital?"

The 6 people at the conference table all said, "Yes, we are."

"We will meet tomorrow at 11 AM in the Board of Directors room to try to convince them that our decision is correct. I don't see how they can rule against us."

"I can't either," said Harvey. "With William Zabo sitting on the Board, the other 12 members will not vote against him, and keep him from having Jemma healthy again."

All assembled agreed.

Joanna said, "Harvey, you are a dirty old man."

"I am not so old I cannot pleasure a woman, Joanna."

"Don't humor her, Harvey. She will have to go home and play with her toys to calm down, before tomorrow's meeting."

"I will not!" Joanna screamed.

Everyone laughed again, as Doctor Chikwe turned red.

****************************************************

"Hello you pain in the ass, how are you?"

"Lucius, if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black, I don't know what is. How are you feeling, my friend?"

"Pretty good for a man that knows he's dying, William. I came to give you a piece of information that you had better act properly on, or Paul is going to beat you to a pulp, on my orders."

"This ought to be good, because you've never threatened me before."

"Of course, it's good, do you know where you're going to be at 11 o'clock tomorrow morning, with a big smile on your face, and a stick up your ass? You are going to be sitting with the Board of Directors, passing judgment on me, and my petition to have my heart transplanted into someone else. Do you know who that someone else is William?"

"I should kill you now, Lucius. I asked you to wait until you passed away naturally, before you gave your heart to Jemma."

"I told you, you never acted proactively, William. Now is the time for that to happen. They gave me 2 more months to live, on the outside. Why wait until I am so ill, I will not be able to enjoy the look on Jenna's face as she is walking around healing, with my heart in her body. Do as I ask, as you did when I was your body man. Tell the members of the Board of Directors to accept my petition to have my heart removed and transplanted into the body of another person who may live another 40 years with it in her body. William do this for me, please?"

"With the heaviest of hearts, I will do it for you Lucius, and when you pass, I will mourn you for a very, very long time."

"You will always have Paul at the other end of your phone if you need anything done. He will act as I would have and he will never let you down. I trained him William, and he knows everything I did. What's more, you can trust him with your life, as I trusted him with mine."

"Have you given him the codewords?"

"Yes, I have, and he will use them only with you."

"You always thought about my welfare, Lucius. You were the best, and only friend I ever had. You don't know how much I am going to miss you, and that goes for Jemma, also."

"You have no idea how much fun I had talking to her, and aggravating you until you got out of your easy chair, and took the phone from her hand. You know I love Jemma, and that will never change. However, when you refused to get up to answer the phone yourself, I played it up to aggravate you enough, until you took the phone from her. Sometimes, I nearly wet my pants, laughing, while you were yelling at me to stop flirting with your wife. That is when you always got up, and finally took the phone yourself. I always wondered when you would realize I always called with a matter of importance to be considered. I never called to ask you how the weather was in New York, because I could get that information easily, at home.

I called you when your life was in danger. I called you if someone was planning a business move against 1 of your companies. I called you on matters of importance, and I needed to know what you wanted me to do about it, because you knew I would take care of everything for you. I never wanted you to worry about anything. I wanted you to take care your businesses, because when you made money, so did I, and you made sure I made a lot of money."

"We did make a lot of money together, didn't we, Lucius?"

"I never thought about the money, while I was working for you, William. You were my best friend, and I was willing to do anything to make sure you and Jemma were safe. No one was going to be able to hurt your family, while I was alive. The money, always, took care of itself."

"I will make sure that the Board of Directors approves your application tomorrow morning, but you better not die during the transplant, Monday. I will do anything I must to bring you back, and have Patty beat the shit out of you."

"William just the thought of that is a fate worse than death. I will not die Monday. They say I will live as long as 2 months, and I will do my best to live each day to its fullest. You take care of Jemma. Paul will take care of me. Your daughter can be the liaison between us. You know damn well she will not lie to either of us. She hasn't got that gene in her body. I thought you would pick Stephano over Patricia. It might've been safer for both of us."

"Don't you mean the 3 of us, William? Jemma, you, and me. She will treat each of us with equal malice."

"Maybe I can send her down to Maryland to get her son up here. That should be fun."

"Remember William, she has a license to fly the helicopter now. She can get into all sorts of trouble flying around the Washington area. They may even shoot her down."

"I could never get that lucky."

"Very funny, dad. Do you want me to tie you up in the backseat of my helicopter as I fly over the White House?"

"Why aren't you with your mother?"

"I came up here to see what trouble you were getting into, and it appears I got here just in time. Hello Lucius, I don't know what to say to you. You look much better than my father does, but I know we are going to lose you soon. I hate the thought of it, because we've known each other for a very long time. You and your people saved my life twice. I can never repay you for that kindness. If there is anything you've left undone, and want it completed, please tell me what it is, and I will do it for you."

"Will you beat up Paul for me?"

"If that's what you want, I will do it. I will have to be as sneaky as hell to get to get close to him, because if I am not, he's going to get me first, and then stuff me into a bag of potato chips, and hand me to Stephano."

Although he tried hard not to, Paul laughed. Then he said, "It would have to be a very small bag of chips."

Lucius said, "Be very careful, Paul, you've seen her use a gun, just as we have. She may not be as good as you were in taking out the vice president, from over a mile, but from 50 yards in, she is deadly."

"Sir, that is why I always wear my bulletproof uniforms, made by the same tailor that makes your dress blues. I may only be an enlisted man, but being with you all the time always puts me in harm's way. I try to protect myself from everything up to a .50 caliber round. Nothing made today can stop that, not even the ceramic plates worn by the special forces units."

Stephano said, "No, Patty, you cannot have one, especially if you want to go visit your daughter. I will go visit her, while you are languishing away in prison for killing Paul."

"Dammit Steph, you are no fun at all. Just the thought of trying a shot, from a mile away, got my juices flowing."

Lucius said, "Paul take her to Westchester and let her use your rifle on the range. When she's finished, take her to the hospital and have them put her shoulder back together."

"What's going to be wrong with my shoulder, Lucius?"

"A .50 caliber rifle has a big kick, and only a big man or woman can take it. I don't believe your tiny frame will allow you to handle it very well. You will only be in traction for a few months after they fix your shoulder, or they replace it with the new one."

"Lucius, you should be very happy you are in a wheelchair, with Paul standing behind you. Otherwise, I would put you in a wheelchair for insulting me and my abilities."

"I did no such thing, Patricia. I was making a statement of fact. The rifle is very big, as are the projectiles that are fired from it. Depending on the round you choose, the muzzle velocities range from 15,000, to 25,000 feet per second. A projectile leaving the barrel of the rifle at those speeds, pushes back violently in the other direction. If you try to fire the weapon, you will find out personally, what that recoil will feel like."

"When are you available, Paul?"

After consulting his chronometer Paul said, "Sunrise is at 5:56 AM. I will call the range manager and make sure he is opened at 6 AM for us. You can either fly us there in 30 minutes, or I will drive us there in 95 minutes. The choice is yours, Mrs. Valentino."

"Why so early, Paul?"

"We will start shooting at 6 AM. I will give you 30 minutes to get used to the rifle and its idiosyncrasies, shooting at short ranges, from 500 to 1000 yards. Then we will get down to business and start shooting at 1500 to 2000 yards. I don't believe you'll be able to see the target no less hit it, but we will see, won't we, Mrs. Valentino?"

"Frisk her before you start shooting, Paul, your life depends on it. She has a little gun and she hides it in the most unusual places. If she gets angry with you, as she does with me all the time, she will shoot you, and kill you with it."