Chapter 2: Cavor

On Tuesday morning, Terry started interviewing the patients in Bedford wing. He went round the wards, accompanied by Vince and Sally, talking to both the wounded and the cured. As he worked, Terry built a clearer picture of the way the hospital functioned. The patients in the pre-op wards split in two groups. Some went to the med-tubes in Bedford, while others went to the tubes in Cavor. As far as he could tell, all those tubed in Bedford stayed in Bedford for their recovery. It wasn't as simple as the ones going to Cavor not reappearing. There were some patients in the Bedford recovery ward who had been through the tubes in Cavor. However he had the distinct impression that the Bedford recovery wards did not have as many in the Cavor group as there were in the pre-op wards. It certainly looked as if a proportion of the patients sent to Cavor were not coming back to Bedford. Was that where they were disappearing? He couldn't be certain of course; it might just be that there were recovery wards in Cavor wing as well.

When Terry asked one of the doctors, that was the answer that he got. Some of the patients sent to the tubes in Cavor stayed in Cavor for their recovery period, and so didn't reappear in Bedford. Perhaps the doctor was correct, but Terry knew that people were disappearing from somewhere, and Cavor looked like the most obvious place. Clearly, getting a look inside Cavor would be crucial. He checked with Sally to see what progress there was about arranging access. She said that they would probably be able to visit on Thursday or Friday. At least she wasn't just refusing point-blank to allow entry.

Terry spent that evening working in his hotel room. For all his outstanding qualities as a cameraman, Vince was not the most interesting buddy for an after-work session in the bar. Terry was also mindful of his growing waist. A week of reduced alcohol intake would at least let him feel virtuous, even if it didn't actually reduce his weight by much.

The time alone allowed him to review what he had so far. Not solving the mystery, just the ordinary programme about the hospital. He roughed it out, fitting in the interviews he was likely to use. There were gaps he still needed to fill, and places where some of the weaker interviewees might need replacing with better. Resolving the mystery would have to wait until later in the week, when he could see inside Cavor wing.

On Wednesday morning, to his delight, he was able to fill one of his gaps. He hadn't been satisfied with the Afghanistan veteran the researchers had turned up; she hadn't interviewed at all well. Instead, he found Harry Stevens in a recovery ward. Harry was pleased as punch with his new leg and was willing to talk, at great length, to anybody and everybody about things. Terry could have made a complete programme just from Harry's story.

Harry and two of his mates, Fred Campbell and Gavin Parsons, were all injured in Afghanistan. Harry and Fred got caught in the same IED explosion, where Harry had lost his right leg, while Fred had lost an arm. A week later Gavin lost an arm, just as Fred had. The three of them had stayed in contact after their discharge, doing various jobs and living on their Army pensions. All three of them were married, and Gavin's wife wanted to move to Morecambe so she could be near her parents. She'd loved the countryside, and the bay, when she was growing up in the town. Because they were still in contact, Harry and Fred both went there sometimes to visit Gavin. They both liked the area, as did their wives. Both families looked forward their visits. To cut a long story short, which Harry didn't, the two of them enjoyed the place so much they had both moved there with their families. The three men had stayed even after Gavin's wife had died; they liked the town and had settled into life there.

With some guidance from Terry, Harry managed, eventually, to bring the story up to date. The Army had discreetly approached the three veterans and asked if they wanted repairing and rejuvenating, at the price of rejoining.

Harry had jumped at the chance, while Gavin had initially been more reluctant. It was easier for him to manage with one arm than it was for Harry with one leg. Fred had definitely turned down the offer. Harry quoted his words, "I'll not rejoin. I've already done my share of soldiering and I don't want to go back. The aliens can come to me, and I'll fight them when they get here. No point in going looking for trouble." Sally was sitting to one side of Harry, where he couldn't see her. Terry could see her shake her head slightly as Harry was talking. She needn't have bothered, he already knew that those words wouldn't be allowed in the programme.

After accepting the Army's offer, both Harry and Gavin came to Camp Mercury for repair. "We were together at first," Harry said, "but then they split us up. They did Gavin in Cavor and me in Bedford. It doesn't seem like any time at all in those medical tube things. You just close your eyes and everything gets done in an instant."

Terry stopped listening for the moment, it wasn't as if Harry really needed an audience to encourage him to talk, and Vince would have it all on camera anyway. He took the time to think about the mystery. Here was a good example of someone treated in Cavor, and whose family could be contacted. Gavin Parsons from the Morecambe area, wife deceased. Something for his researchers to work on. They could start with the wife's death certificate and local news reports. Maybe some of the three men's children would still be traceable as well. Fred Campbell, the one who had rejected the Army's offer, was another potential point of contact in the area. This could be a good lead, assuming that Gavin did indeed disappear. Here was a chance to detect an extractee almost at the moment of extraction.

A quick question to Harry confirmed that Gavin wasn't in this ward. Harry thought he was probably in Cavor, "He'd have come to visit me here if he were anywhere in Bedford. I'm just getting used to my new leg so I can't get around very well yet. Have to use a wheelchair or crutches if I'm going more than a few steps, so it's a bit of a bother for me. Gavin's still got his original pair of legs so he can get about a lot easier. If he were here in Bedford wing, he'd definitely have been in to see me by now."

As he was talking about Gavin, Harry mentioned something else that piqued Terry's interest. "When that 'Average Joes' program came on, we all got tested for a laugh. I got a 5.8, Fred got 6.1 and Gavin got 6.6. We used to josh him about being a brainbox for that. Getting tested was legal them, not like it was later." So Gavin had a sponsor level score. Terry became even more sure that the Confederacy had extracted Harry's mate. All the evidence was pointing that way.

There was some even better news later on Wednesday. Sally told Terry and Vince, "The clearance has come back. You can both see Cavor wing tomorrow at 10:30." Terry managed to suppress his urge to jump for joy at the news. He would get to see what was inside Cavor! And Vince would be with him as well, Sally had said, "both". That meant there would be evidence on film to back up his report.

He did want to clear up one point with Sally, "Why the special clearance for Cavor? We didn't seem to need it for Bedford."

"There are some Confederacy people in Cavor," Sally explained. "It takes longer because there are two bureaucracies to go through to get access."

The Confederacy was in Cavor! Terry managed to keep the surprise from his face. He had expected med-tubes, of course, but that didn't always mean that any Confederacy people would be around. There weren't any Confederacy staff in Bedford, Army medics ran the med-tubes there. It was certainly looking more and more as if Cavor was the key to this whole mystery. He would need to keep his eyes open for any clues tomorrow.

In his hotel room that night, once again alcohol-free, Terry reviewed what he had so far. Overall, he felt that things were coming together nicely. He had enough material to complete the ordinary report on the work of the hospital. Rather too much material actually, Harry had certainly liked the sound of his own voice. A few interviews could still be improved, so it would be nice, but not essential, to find some better subjects tomorrow and Friday.

There was also the basis of the second potential programme, the big splash. A lot of Harry's contribution was relevant there too, and the story of his mate Gavin was an excellent framework to hang the story on. It would start with the background from Afghanistan to Morecambe, move on to what happened in the hospital, and finish with the big revelation of Gavin's extraction. He had phoned his researchers, and they were starting work on the Morecambe end of the piece. He already had plenty of material on the work done at the hospital. All he needed now was to fill in the last part and it would be complete. He eagerly anticipated tomorrow's visit to Cavor wing.

Sally briefed the pair of them as they walked, "You'll see Commander Romanescu first. He's one of the senior Confederacy medics in Cavor wing, pretty much their equivalent of Doctor Turner. There's some Confederacy kit in there as well, so you will only be able to film what the commander allows. That means you'll have to keep your camera off until after you've seen him, Vince."

"OK, no problem, Sally." Vince patted the waist pouch that held his camera. With Confederacy enhanced electronics, it was much smaller than it would have been otherwise. "It'll stay packed away until I get permission."

Sally continued, "All the buildings above ground are either the Administration block or Bedford wing, which you've already seen. They put this place on top of an old nuclear defence bunker, so it made sense to reuse the bunker itself for Cavor wing. Being underground, it helps keep the Confederacy people out of sight. Having too many of them around is still a bit politically sensitive, even after the change of government."

"Out of sight, out of mind," Terry commented. It also solved the mystery of why he hadn't been able to see any obvious buildings to house Cavor wing. Putting it underground was a good way to conceal it.

"Just so," Sally confirmed. "The bunker was already there and wasn't being used for anything important, a mushroom farmer was renting part of it. It made sense to rehabilitate the place, given that it was available. Once the Swarm get close we'll have the option to close the hospital and use it for something else. I'm sure the Confederacy won't want to leave any of their technology lying around for the Sa'arm to find."

Terry and Vince both understood that. As the Swarm advanced, med-tubes, transporters, replicators and such-like disappeared ahead of them. Vince thought his camera might be safe, but if required he could always revert to one of the older, larger, models. That was if he hadn't been conscripted into the Army before then.

They came to a wide path sloping down into a tunnel. A short way down, they passed two orderlies pushing a gurney the other way, taking an unconscious patient back out to Bedford wing.

Seeing them triggered a question from Terry, "Shouldn't there be more traffic through here, Sally? If the tubes in Cavor are working as hard as the tubes in Bedford, then I'd expect a stream of patients both ways."

"There's another entrance into Cavor from Bedford's basement," Sally explained. "That takes most of the patient traffic. We're using this one because we won't disrupt things as much coming in this way."

Terry wondered if that was also because at the busier entrance it would be obvious that more patients were going into Cavor than were coming out. Yesterday had confirmed that it wasn't just Harry who knew people tubed in Cavor and who hadn't reappeared in Bedford. There were more men telling the same story of missing friends.

Further down the tunnel there were two large doors blocking the way. The right hand door had a large permanent 'No Entry' sign, while the left hand door was currently showing "Please Wait".

Sally explained, "This is a left-over from the nuclear bunker. All the entrances have air-locks to prevent contamination entering. We'll have to wait for it to cycle."

"Why twin air-locks?" Terry asked.

"I don't know, you'd have to ask the people who originally designed it," Sally replied. "We just use one in each direction, one to go in and one to come out. It lets traffic run faster. Maybe that was the original intention as well?"

"What if there's a medical emergency?" Terry asked. "The air-locks will delay access."

"There's a small emergency section in each wing..." The door rumbled open interrupting Sally. The sign had changed to "Enter now", and they walked forward into a long narrow room, painted plain white. An identical door, currently closed, stood at the far end, displaying the same "Please Wait" message as the first door had. Sally continued with her answer, "This isn't a front line hospital, so it doesn't have much need for emergency cover. Each wing has its own small emergency unit, so there's no need to take emergency cases through the air-locks."

She was suddenly interrupted by a flashing light and a siren, causing both Terry and Vince to jump in surprise. The sign changed to "Enter now", and the alarm abruptly cut off. "Ah, here we go again," Sally said, apparently unperturbed by the siren and light. The second door opened to allow them out into Cavor wing.

Terry saw a typical hospital corridor, with medical staff, nurses and a few patients moving around. One man was waggling his fingers in front of his eyes, his face a mask of utter amazement. A new hand, or maybe even a whole new arm, he thought.

Apart from the three of them, Terry saw that all the staff were Confederacy. Cavor wing was far larger than he had assumed. He had thought that there would just be a small Confederacy contingent operating a few med-tubes, with the rest of the staff being Army. What he could see in front of him was not at all like that. This was entirely Confederacy, and it was massive. Terry glanced at Vince, who had obviously noticed the same thing. There was potential for a really sensational story here, and both the veteran media men could see it. Everyone knew that the Confederacy was strictly limiting the help it gave directly to Earth because it didn't want to let its advanced technology fall into the hands of the Swarm. The size of this operation seemed to go wholly against that. This was yet a third potential story appearing, unexpectedly, before Terry's eyes.

Sally had waited while the two of them were taking in the sight. She smiled at them, "Impressive, isn't it?" she asked. Having worked in the media herself, she knew exactly what they were both thinking.

"Bigger than I expected." Terry replied.

Still smiling, Sally told him, "I thought you'd say something like that. I'll take you to see the commander now. Remember Vince, no filming until he says you can."

Vince nodded in confirmation, and set off after Sally as she led the way. They passed a door on their left marked, 'Mess #3'. "I'll meet you in there after you've seen the commander," Sally told them.

"You won't sit in on the interview?" Terry asked.

"No need to, Terry. The commander won't want to appear on film, and I have some administration I need to catch up on."

"Do I need to see him then?" Vince asked.

"If you want to get you permission to film in here, then yes you do." Sally told him.

Vince just shrugged.