Gronth Ch. 03 Saved

Matt felt as if he were floating. He heard the people speaking a soft, gentle language. Someone had removed his helmet and the words sounded almost like singing. Matt opened his eyes and there, leaning over him was the most beautiful woman that he'd ever seen, dabbing at the blood oozing from his head where the doctors on Earth had implanted a computerized translator. Matt had hardly ever used the device, preferring to learn the languages of his allies and enemies on his own. Matt was good at languages but he'd never heard this one before.

The woman looking directly into his eyes was easily the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. The light from Zandor's sun shone behind her, giving her an ethereal look. Her head was crowned in the fading light that Matt believed to be some sort of halo around her head.

"Are you an angel?"

"My name is Joya. I'm a translator." she said in perfect English.

"Joya," Matt repeated before slipping into partial consciousness again.

"He's awake." Joya said to others in her singing language before a medic placed a molecular drug synthesizer pack on Matt's exposed neck.

"He's a tough one," the medic said in amazement. "Multiple internal injuries, a broken neck, severed spinal nerves and he's still partially conscious."

The pain relieving neurotransmitter molecules were synthesized in the pack and released directly into Matt's bloodstream. The relief was immediate.

"Have peaceful dreams. I'll be waiting for you when you wake up," Joya told Matt before he lost consciousness again.

"He will only see you if his blood tests don't show the DNA," another member of the recovery team reminded Joya.

Joya was no stranger to the legends of the Lost Tribe and their flawed DNA. Joya knew that there was no need to try to help the Terran if he was still affected by the targeted gene. Even if excess levels of the hormone were present in his bloodstream, the team would give him enough medicine to ease his pain as he died of his injuries. If his test results showed no DNA aberration, everything would be done to try to save his life.

Joya's mother, Beta, had sent the medical team to what the human's called Zandor, with the intention of testing a Terran for the particular genetic sequence that had nearly destroyed the Elani civilization long ago. Beta had predicted that over time, the human immune system would eventually modify the DNA or kill the affected people. She predicted that all modern humans were free of the offending genetic code.

"I pray to the Creator that you're right and that you will see him again," the doctor told Joya.

Lela, a noted neurosurgeon, placed a sample of Matt Seabolt's blood into an analyzer. Initial results did not find any traces of the offending gene sequence, even though some of the effects of the hormone were evident. The doctor was surprised that the offending DNA was totally absent in the sample. She would take another sample before she allowed her team to save the Terran's life.

"He's going to need some blood. Start one unit right away," Lela said to the medical team.

Perhaps Beta was right. Over thousands of years, the phenotypic trait had either killed their hosts or the host had killed the trait. Stranger things had been known to happen in the area of exobiology. The level of testosterone in the Terran's blood was still extremely high compared to that of a normal Elani male, but within limits. The fact that the Terran was not poisoned by his levels of testosterone was remarkable.

"We'd better all get out of here before the Gronth spot us. They're still collecting shields."

"He has none of the damaged DNA," Lela announced after the second sample was processed.

"Can they even make his blood type?" Joya asked the doctor.

"Right now he's getting blood from the hospital blood bank. His blood is no different than ours," Lela told Joya.

"Terrans are human just like the Elani," the doctor assured the young translator.

Joya watched as the bruised and bleeding Terran warrior was floated into the operating theater of the medical clinic. Joya was not a nurse and was not allowed into the operating room, so she sat down outside in the hallway between the operating room and the surgical prep area. She wished that she could've done more for the Earthman, she had only been invited to assist on Zandor because she spoke English and the medics might need to question the patient.

Two of Joya's orderly friends, Mani and Maya, spotted Joya sitting in the hallway, looking distraught, and came over to soothe her.

"Will you pray with me!" she asked the hospital orderlies.

After a short sincere prayer to the Creator to spare this Terran's life, Joya's friends asked her what had happened to him.

"His fighter aircraft was shot down by Gronth fighters when he attacked their Carrier. We picked him up from Zandor," Joya said, her uniform still covered in blood from where Matt's head had been cradled in her lap.

It was only because Joya was the daughter of a high ranking Elani scientist that she had been made aware of the present situation. No one else in the hospital complex was aware of their location or why they had been sent there.

"Is that where we are now? On Zandor?" Joya's friend, Mani, asked.

Mani had noticed a slight shift in gravity when the Trauma Center had suddenly emerged from a wormhole onto this desolate planet.

"Yes, but we'll be heading back to Ralajan soon." Joya answered.

"We don't want to be here if the Gronth come looking for our patient."

"The Gronth?" Maya gasped.

"We need to leave. I don't want to be eaten by a Gronth," she said with fear in her voice.

"We'll be long gone by then," Mani told her.

"I just felt the ship move. We're almost home again."

"How do you do that?" Maya asked.

"I can never tell when we're translocating," she admitted.

"I can sense the change in the gravitational field," Mani said.

"I'll teach you how to do it someday."

The formation of a precisely created wormhole surrounding the hospital facility was not noticed by the team of surgeons who worked quickly to stop the bleeding and restore the severed nerves in Matt's neck and spinal column. Artificial blood and tissues had been grown in the hospital's labs while the surgeons struggled to save Matt's life.

Lela had downplayed the severity of the Terran's injuries to Joya. If Joya hadn't been the only person who could speak Terran, and the daughter of Beta, the Director of Terran studies, she would not have allowed Joya to come with them. When a severe injury occurred to a VIP on a planet as distant as Zandor was from Elani territory, it made more sense to bring the hospital to the patient rather than bring the patient to the hospital.

The presence of the Gronth on Zandor had made Matt an immediate VIP. Not only was Zandor within range of the Terran planets, it was also within range of Elani planets. The Gronth were now a danger to both Earth peoples and the Elani people. If the Gronth took Zandor, it would only be a matter of time before both Earth and Elan would be under attack!

Once the medical center re-appeared on its home planet of Ralajan, a Dreamcatcher from the University joined Joya and her friends. Alna was well known to Joya and was considered to be among the best at recording a person's unconscious, dying thoughts. Joya knew that the surgery was difficult when Alna appeared. Dreamcatchers were not ethically allowed to record a person's memories until the last few minutes of life.

"Apparently you have a Terran here," Alna told Joya. "I may need you to translate," she told Joya.

Joya indicated that she understood. She had a real gift for languages and despite her young age, she was the most advanced English language speaker at the Center for Terran Studies. Ando, her brother, spoke a little English, but had concentrated on learning to speak some of the other Terran languages such as Chinese, Russian, Spanish, French and Italian.

"He's undergoing surgery now," Joya answered.

"I heard from the rescue squad that he and his team fought off an entire Gronth task force and sent them home empty handed," Alna said. "I've been told to capture as many memories as I can from him about the battle."

"He's the lone survivor of that battle," Joya told Alna, choking up with emotion at the thought of her helpless patient dying after she'd helped rescue his broken and bleeding body.