Chapter 15

Commander Billings walked into the room where Jimmy lay, still coated in three inches of ice. He snarled, "Ok, who's the wise guy?"

It was apparent what the Commander was talking about, on the ice, over Jimmy's face; someone had carved a 'smiley' face. The nurses, orderlies and interns all looked around guiltily, until Ensign Russell stepped forward and said, "It was me, Sir."

Commander Billings glared furiously at the Ensign for a moment, then sighed explosively and said, "Ok. No harm done."

He stopped, grinned at the situation and his Ensign's attempt to lighten the mood.

He asked, "So, Ensign, any ideas on how to proceed from here? It would be a shame to have him survive all of that and die here when we try to revive him."

Ensign Russell gulped convulsively; he knew he had just avoided an official reprimand, which would have sent his Naval career into a tailspin before it had hardly begun. Just as he knew this was a test, of both his knowledge and commitment. He steadied his resolve; the old bastard wasn't going to catch him unprepared, he'd been thinking of nothing else since he'd first seen the ball of ice on the roof.

Nervously at first, Ensign Russell replied, "Sir. There is no rush. In his current condition, protected by the freezing temperatures, he won't sustain any further damage while we get everything ready. What we need is a high-pressure water pump, something like a car wash nozzle. With that, when we are ready, we simply cut through the ice and break it off."

Gaining both confidence and surety, Ensign Russell continued, "Then, we place him in a warm water bath, and hook up the blood heat exchanger that can warm his core temperature up fast, in under two minutes if I remember correctly. When we get his core temperature back up to above ninety degrees, we pull him out of the bath and put him on a treatment table. Then, it will be a standard attempt at resuscitation, we simply need to get his heart and lungs working again."

Commander Billings nodded doubtfully, "Ok. That's how we'll do it. I just don't think he's got a chance in hell. Even if we do get his heart and lungs going, I can't believe he wouldn't have suffered massive brain damage."

Commander Billings got his team to work, getting the needed equipment, readying the treatment room for the resuscitation. It took Ensign Russell the longest, he'd been tasked with finding the high-pressure water sprayer. Unable to find one in the hospital's standard equipment, he'd been forced to run to a nearby hardware store and buy a hand pumped garden sprayer.

Finally, after Ensign Russell returned, they were ready. Commander Billings took charge.

He said, "All right Ensign, start by taking the ice off of one hip, we are going into the Femoral artery with the heat exchanger. That way, his brain will be the last thing to warm up."

Ensign Russell gulped and asked, "What if I can't clear the ice as fast as he warms up? We wouldn't be able to get to him for the resuscitation!"

Commander Billings glared at him and said, "See that you do!"

Erwin swallowed any further protest, and filled the garden sprayer with hot water from the deep stainless steel sink. Screwing the cap back on, he pumped the sprayer until he couldn't get any more pressure. He stepped over to Jimmy's ice clad form, and set down the sprayer.

He caught the biggest, strongest orderly's eye, and said, "Orderly Johnson, would you keep the pump up to pressure?"

Once Johnson was in position, he squeezed the trigger to start the spray over Jimmy's groin. The high-pressure stream of hot water cut through the ice like a knife through butter. In only seconds, Erwin had to shift his target, since the water had cut through the ice down to Jimmy's flesh.

He worked the sprayer to cut a one-foot square in the ice. One odd effect from Jimmy's Gravity Nullifier still being on was that the spray, rebounding from the ice, drifted weightlessly, until it hit the edge of the Nullifier's volume, then showered to the floor. When he was finished, he moved to Jimmy's head, giving the rest of the team access to the area he'd just cut. Within seconds, the chunk of ice had been removed, and Nurse Margaret Shores had carefully inserted a six-inch long, one-eighth inch wide needle into the crease between Jimmy's thigh and abdomen. Once she had blood flowing through the tubing, she carefully added a second needle into the vein.

In the time it had taken her to set up the heat exchanger feeds, Ensign Russell had completely cut the ice away from Jimmy's head. When he saw the face of the boy they were trying to save, Erwin felt a surge of hope. No signs of edema, his eyes hadn't exploded, he simply looked as if he'd gone to sleep.

Quickly, Erwin worked the sprayer, to cut the ice away from Jimmy's upper body. He was worried now. He needed to move faster, the temperature monitor was climbing above sixty degrees now, but the sprayer was almost out of water. As he cut away the last of the ice from Jimmy's abdomen, the sprayer sputtered out the last drops from the tank. Frantically, Erwin twisted off the top, and before the hiss of equalizing pressure had finished sounding Orderly Johnson sprang to the sink to refill the tank.

The seconds ticked by, while the tank filled, Erwin watched Jimmy's core temperature rise, 65, 66, and then 68 degrees. They had to get the ice off in time! The orderly left the water running in his haste to get back. Rapidly twisting on the lid, he pumped the handle to bring up the pressure. Erwin ignored the worried glances of the rest of the team, and set to cutting off the rest of the ice with fierce determination.

He made it, barely. Jimmy was still resting on a bed of ice, but he removed the last chunk from his upper leg and started spraying along the edges around Jimmy's foot. That broke the ice's grip and he lifted the foot and sprayed up the edges of the leg, quickly freeing it as he went. As soon as he had one leg free, Erwin repeated the process on the other leg. Then he had a different orderly hold up Jimmy's legs and he sprayed at the ice gripping his butt and hips. They lifted Jimmy free of the ice and set him on the treatment table just as his core temperature reached 88 degrees.

The nurse had inserted a breathing tube and been administering mouth to mouth since he had cleared Jimmy's face. One of the orderlies had been giving CPR once the chest had been cleared. Hopefully, that would prevent any further brain damage. Now, if they could just get Jimmy's heart beating and get him breathing on his own.

Commander Billings stepped in, and ordered, "Gail, give him 25ccs of adrenalin. Erwin, charge the defibrillator."

Erwin picked up the paddles, set the defibrillator to its middle setting, and listened to the whine as the machine charged its capacitors. He waited until Gail finished pulling the five-inch long needle out of Jimmy's breastbone, where she had injected the Adrenalin directly into his heart.

Then he shouted, "Clear!"

Slamming the paddles down on Jimmy's chest, he gave a quick glance to make sure everyone had stepped back, and pressed the knob. Jimmy's body lurched upward as the discharge of electricity struck with a drawn out 'zap'. Everyone's eyes went to the heart monitor, but it steadfastly refused to show a heartbeat. The nurse and the orderly stepped back in to continue CPR, while Erwin reset the defibrillator to the highest setting, and waited for it to recharge.

Thirty seconds later, Erwin held up the paddles, and shouted, "Clear!"

This time, the discharge of electricity sounded more like 'zorch'! Jimmy's body sprang upwards, suspended by the back of his neck and his heels, off of the table. Snapping his eyes to the heart monitor, Erwin held his breath until the monitor settled. It showed a heartbeat! Just then, Jimmy gave a rasping gasp through the breathing tube, which was drowned out by the resounding cheers of all the staff.

All except for Commander Billings, who at least managed a smile.

"All right people! Good work. Now, let's get him up to ICU," he said.

The entire network was still basking in the reflected glory they'd gained by Troy's decision to disclose his discovery on their morning show. So, when he had requested time to make another appearance on their show, the network was more than happy to oblige, even with the odd conditions he had set.

So, after the first hour of the show, both Matt and Katie found themselves joining Al out on the street, waiting for what they'd been told would be a surprise appearance by Troy.

The segment of the show began with Al giving the national weather report. Just as he was finishing, and moved toward the crowd to do his daily mingling with the natives, as one, the crowd gasped and pointed to the sky behind him.

Al whirled, and with his typical quick reactions and good humor, he said, "And in the forecast for New York City, is an appearance by Troy Blackdeer, inventor of the Gravity Nullifier!"

The Dutchman loomed huge, slowing to a stop above the street, just higher than the tops of the buildings. Large even on the scale of the buildings in New York City, the crowd below waited, craning their necks upward to see what would happen next. A door opened, and a tiny figure leapt out, coasted outward, and then plummeted towards the street below.

The crowd gasped again, as one. The figure fell, accelerating toward them on the street below. Ten, twenty, thirty floors it plummeted. The crowd began to part around what seemed to be the likely point of impact. Fifty floors the man plummeted, until reaching 'terminal velocity'. He was in a head down dive, of over 110 mph. But then, he snapped his arms out and wings patterned with the plumage of a bald eagle started to slow his plunge.

Suddenly, with a tilt of his wings, he swept into a dizzying spiral, did a final loop de loop over Al's head, and settled to the street with arms outstretched in a flourish. The crowd roared, and over the tumult, Al shouted into his mike, "The Today Show wants to welcome our guest, Troy Blackdeer!"

As Troy took off his wings, Al stepped closer and asked, "So, Troy, that was quite an entrance! Can you tell us about that aircraft up there?"

Since they hadn't had a chance to get Troy a wireless mike of his own, Al leaned his mike to catch Troy's reply. Troy swept his hand up toward the sky as he answered.

"That's the Flying Dutchman! She's my personal yacht, the flagship of a class of aerospace freighter slash passenger ships. She can go Suborbital, and thus get to anywhere in the world in less than an hour, and she can carry up to 1900 passengers or 500 passengers and 35,000 tons of cargo!"

Al pulled the mike back, and exclaimed, "Wow! That's amazing! Do you think it will replace eighteen wheelers, cargo jets, and cargo ships?"

Troy smiled, Al was so good at asking leading questions, that he was making this easy.

Troy answered with a grin, "Well, Al ... actually, she's a bit too big to replace eighteen wheelers. But, there's a smaller version. It is without the suborbital capabilities, and is intended for local hauling. It can handle one hundred tons. The Dutchman's also a bit too small to replace cargo ships, but we are working on a larger class for that. Expect to see that larger class in less than three months. In the meantime, the Dutchman Class can do everything an airliner does. Only it does it faster, safer and with an added bonus of a huge cargo capacity. Or, configured for passengers only, it has three times the passenger capacity and nine times the speed of the biggest jumbo jet ever made."

Matt and Katie had joined them, and to give their technical team time to get Troy hooked up with a wireless mike, they started to fill with comments.

Katie said, "Wow! You did it again! That's the Flying Dutchman, eh? If she's everything you say, the airlines will be scrambling trying to get their fleets replaced."

Matt added, "Yes, Katie. And if Troy's got a short haul vehicle ready for sale, then he's going to beat the automobile manufacturer's to the market with the first alternative for over the road truckers."

Seeing his technical staff give him a thumbs up, indicating that Troy's wireless mike was live, Matt asked him, "So, Troy, does this mean you will be getting into the automotive market after all?"

Troy answered, seriously, "No, Matt. Not really. One hundred tons was actually the very upper limit of the heavy equipment haulers. Without gravity control technology, it is just too expensive to build machinery larger. What I'm doing with that class is setting the demarcation line. I won't build smaller, if the automotive industry won't build bigger," he ended with a fierce grin.

Katie, ever concerned with the little man, asked, "What about Boeing and the other aircraft manufacturers? Are you trying to put them out of business?"

Troy's grin became almost feral, when he said, "If they can't compete with me? Then yes, I'll drive them out of the aircraft industry. But honestly, they've been a government-subsidized monopoly for too long, anyway. Buying or driving out of business their domestic competitors, they have become a monopoly. For decades now, they have made most of their profits via government contracts for Defense and NASA. Airliners have become a secondary business for them."

"What I'm really trying to do, is to shake them up. Since the invention of the turbojet in the 1940's, the aerospace industry has been working to reduce weight. I'm just pointing out that that way of thinking is over. With gravity nullification technology ... weight is, at most, a secondary consideration."

With a sly grin, Katie pressed him, with the question, "What about yesterday? Wasn't that a Dutchman that passed over Washington DC at supersonic speeds?"

Troy's grin fell.

Serious, now ... and knowing that he had to be careful of the landmines in this topic ... he gave his answer slowly.

"Yes, Katie. That was the Dutchman II."

"Ah! Good! Then the speculation can end! Some were saying it was an alien spacecraft, others claimed it was a new super-bomber. Until someone found some footage that showed the ship, there was some speculation that it might have been a small comet. Now, I can't believe you planned to have the Dutchman II make a low level supersonic pass over the nations capitol, so what happened?"