Chapter 4

I hurt all over, I stomach was sending a three alarmer that it needed fed and my mouth tasted like a family of muscats had wintered in it. I must have groaned or something because in no time at all someone was there. She had the coolest hands I had ever felt and the kind of voice that made you tingle all over.

"Just a minute while I dim the lights and raise your bed. You've been asleep for quite a while and the light will hurt your eyes," I heard her say as the bed slowly raised and I could hear the blinds being drawn.

As I opened or tried to open my eyes only the right one would open. I tried to raise my hands to feel my head but both arms were strapped down. When I tried to asked what had happened to me all I could do was croak my mouth and throat were so dry. I was in a hell of a shape. Finally my eye started to focus and I could at least see with it and I saw my nurse. She was lovely, she was beautiful, she was also married. She was the Contessa Jade Leofa.

She was holding a glass of what turned out to be the best tasting water I have ever imbibed. After a few swallows I thought I could now talk and tried again.

"What happened to me? This isn't McGehee."

"No, you're back home, this is Providence. At the end of the battle you were in what was left of the Pack blasted off for the Nadir point. The planet was ours so Col. MacAmon had one of the Dropships converted to a hospital ship and sent all the wounded home. Everyone else should be along soon. They didn't want to just send a single Dropship back so they loaded up as much stuff as they could on other ships and used the captured Invader to bring you all back."

"You still haven't said what happened or why I'm so hungry. Didn't they feed me on that trip? It sure doesn't feel like it."

"They fed you but it was intravenously, in other words through the veins not by mouth. Your stomach hasn't had anything for a couple of weeks."

I waited but she didn't say anything else. Now I was starting to worry.

"Look Ma'am, if you don't want to tell me what happened and how badly I was injured would you send someone in here who will? I'd like to know!"

Just then Dr. Ravenhawk walked into the room. "At easy, Sergeant. It is not the job of the Nursing staff to report on a patients injuries. It's the job of the Doctor in charge of the patient. In other words, me. Now what would you like to know?"

"I want to know what happened, why my hands are tied down and when I can get out of here? That'll do for a start."

"You're going to be here for quite a while so resign yourself to that fact. You're lucky to be alive. You're hands were tied down to keep you from interfering with the bandages, IVs and sensors that were attached to you. You were kept in Alpha sleep but even so you tossed and turned and tried to move your hands. We couldn't have you messing up all our fine work so your hands were tied down."

"Do you mind if I call you Terry? Most people call me J.J. or Doc, so feel free. Terry, you're lucky to be alive as I said. From all that we can learn you tried to bounce a Phoenix Hawk off a cliff and down to the valley floor. They followed your trail back up to where you first landed by the pieces of your Mech. The best they can piece together one of your radios tore loose and hit you in the back of the head. Your neurohelmet took most of the blow and split into three pieces instead of your head doing that. You have a compression cut from the corner of your left eye to the bottom of your left ear. We don't think the eye was affected but we won't know for a bit yet. When the head of your Mech came off your cockpit seat tore loose and you rattled around inside like a pair of dice in a cup. Your right arm is broken above and below the elbow. You have five broken ribs, one of which punctured the lung and the liver. Your right leg was all but crushed. We don't know how many times it was broken. It has been properly set and all the splinters have been either fished out or reattached to the bone. Lastly you received a puncture wound to the stomach which should have killed you. Your Cooling vest clamped it off and kept you from bleeding to death. The coolant that got inside should have killed you but your Tech was not using standard coolant which is poison in an open wound."

"Now after living through all that we weren't about to let you slip away so the medics and Doctors that were along worked very hard to keep you around. Surprisingly enough the thing that is going to keep you here isn't the leg which is all but healed, but the puncture wound to the stomach. It was a tearing wound and did a lot of muscle damage as well as rearranging the internal organs. Your stomach, upper and lower intestines were all punctured as well. Their entire contents spilled out into the stomach cavity and you received an infection from that on top of your other problems. Bones we can help to heal but some things old Mother Nature refuses to be hurried with. Now what questions do you have?"

"Did my people come through the battle ok and how bad is the Lassy messed up?" I asked.

"Son, your Mech is a complete washout. They didn't even try to fix it after they saw how many pieces it was in," he said while checking over the sensors and the IV. "I understand that all of your people came through in fine shape. A few minor nicks and scrapes but none of them were seriously injured much less killed."

"That's a relief, at least my screw up didn't cost anyone else. The Lassy's really gone?"

"Yes, she's gone but she did her job. She kept you alive so that you can fight again, that's the important thing to remember. From what I understand you and she had quite an impressive Battle Shield. Three Lights, three Mediums, seven Heavies and two Assaults. A triple ace in a Medium Mech, not bad," he said very wistfully. He seemed to be looking off into the distance. "I remember a Mech I rode for a long time. She died keeping me alive also. We had gone through a lot together and I had several other Mechs later before I retired to my career in medicine. They were all good Mechs but somehow they were never quite as good..."

"So you've been there too, sir. She was special alright. She could do the impossible and did on several occasions. Major White used to fuss at me about some of the thing the two of us did because we shouldn't have been able to do them but we did. We did." I was very sleepy, I don't know if it was all the talking or if he slipped something into my IV but I went to sleep with a warm glow, thinking of all the times the Lassy had brought me back when I should have been killed or at least seriously hurt.

When I woke up it was morning and they were bringing around the breakfast trays. My stomach still thought my throat had been cut and wanted something inside. They brought me some baby food. That's the only way that I can describe it. It had the look and consistency of pabulum and tasted like it too. I had to eat it left handed but I ate it all and wanted some more.

When they came to get the tray they wouldn't give me any more of course. They said I would need to wait until lunch time. I waited about a half hour and then buzzed for the nurse. When he showed up I asked him if I could be moved.

"I must be getting better now or you wouldn't have let me eat. You can put someone else in this private room, I need to be with people. Or better yet could you put me somewhere with other guys from the unit that are also hospitalized? I don't want to be a pest but it's boring in this room with nothing to do and no one to talk with."

He laughed and said he would see what he could do. Later that morning the Contessa came in. "I understand you're already tired of us? Don't like the service and want a different room?"

"It's not the service Ma'am, but there's nothing to do. I'm not used to sitting still like this. I need something to do, people to talk with, something to keep my mind active. I start to go stir crazy if I don't."

"Well we can't have one of Nancy's people any crazier than he already is, can we? Put up with us today and I think I can get you moved tomorrow. In the mean time there's someone here to see you, a Chief Warrant Officer Millard."

She left while I was trying to place the name. I didn't know any Millard, Warrant Officer or otherwise. Into the room walked an older man, a little shorter than me, about 180 to 185 cm but much wider. He looked like he could wrestle bears and win.

"Hi kid, Hoke told me to look you up, I'm Colin."

"His friend who's the weapons specialist? I remember him talking about you but he never mentioned your last name or your rank."

"Yeah, well at the time he didn't think we would be meeting this soon and not without him along. He says you did quite a number on your old Mech so it's more important than ever that we get the new one completed. He also said you had some other ideas about things you wanted to try on it, so I thought I'd stop by and we could talk."

So we started to talk about modification to the standard Mech. I had already told him through Hoke all of the weapons changes that I wanted but there were some other things that Hoke and I had talked about that we hadn't relayed.

"Chief, is there any way we could add a bushing or something like that to the actuators to make them quieter? You know how much noise a Mech makes by just walking, running it's worse. I need a Mech that's so quiet you can't hear it in the dead of night with no one else around. I know that's impossible but there are some things that could be done to make it quieter, aren't there? Remember, I'm a Forward Observer and always sneaking around looking for Mechs to blow up. I need to be whisper quiet."

"Most bushings I know about are brass or nylox and they could never take the weight," he replied.

"Yeah, but you know what I mean, something that will act like a bushing to make it quieter. How about padding the armor? Most replacement armor is tack welded in place and it rubs against the other pieces and squeaks. By padding it there wouldn't be any squeak. And quieter fans to move the air over the heat sinks. You know what a roar the fans make even when you're standing still. There is no One cure but if we can make a lot of little things quieter then the overall performance will be quieter and that's what I need. You work with Mechs more than I do, Chief and these are just a few of the things I've been able to think about. You probably can think of a lot more if you put your mind to it. My Dad told me a long time ago, 'Don't try to tell a man how to do something when he knows more about it than you do. Tell him what you want and let him do what he can.' That's what I'm doing."

"A quiet Mech? Let me think on that a bit. I'll also have a talk with a couple of other Mech-wreckers I know. We might be able to come up with something."

"Now what's this story Hoke was trying to tell me about you taking out three Heavies and an Assault all at once? What kind of fairy tale is he handing me?" the Chief continued.

We started exchanging war stories and the first thing I knew they were bringing in my lunch tray and running him out.

"I'll look into the problem we discussed and talk with the others like I said, Terry. See you later."

"Thanks, Chief. For that as well as for the visit. It meant a lot. See ya."

Before the nurse could uncover the tray Doc stuck his head inside. "Don't get your hopes up, it ain't a steak with baked potato. It ain't even solid and won't be for a while. Your stomach and intestines took quite a beating and we have to be gentle with them for a while. No milk or milk products, no solid foods for a while and nothing spicy."

"How about something with some taste? What I had for breakfast looked and tasted like baby food. Does it have to be so bland? Couldn't you put a little flavor in it?"