Chapter 5: All Aboard

"All right guys, it's time." Rob called the assembled family to attention. "Val, is everyone here?"

Val, of course, was acting as Tonto's voice when she accurately reported everyone was in place and all supplies either in hand or properly stored throughout the hospital and the rest of the Naval Air Station.

Rob continued, using a megaphone to assure that everyone could hear, "This set up is a little different than any you may have witnessed if you've seen extractions before. We are using some new technology. You will walk in family groups and as you pass through the hospital's main entrance you are to keep going off to your right as if you were gathering on the side lawn. In fact, when you go through the doors you'll be aboard the space ship, Kedah. While it is a Darjee craft, the only member of that species aboard will be our own Ellie.

"Please don't stop and look around. It's just a big room and you need to clear an area for the rest to get aboard. Once we are all out of here the small handful of people left on the base will be transported away and the Behemoth Bounty will lift the facility too. We will have a huge display screen on the ship so you can watch it happen. It should be quite a show. Once the base has been encapsulated and secured we will provide room assignments by family groups and began medical processing at once."

The light in the room changed, dimming just a bit and Rob looked outside. "OK people, that's the gray isolation field that has surrounded the entire base. You know the order the families are in so let's begin now with Dr. Sandra Hamilton-Tufts and her crew taking our most seriously injured family member, Sara, in the lead. They will go directly to sick bay as will Samantha Cooper, her uncle and niece, Dawnie. Sickbay staff will begin treatment at once. The rest of you, move out as soon as the lead group clears the doorway. Let's move!"

Rob had been right, it was quite a sight to see 460 acres of gray shrouded land lift straight up from the surface of the earth and keep right on going until out of sight. Lake water rushed in to fill the hole and where there had been a mothballed Naval Air Station there was left a new roiling, muddy bay. Run down homes that had suffered under the effect of a closed base in their back yards became instant lake front properties and the values went almost as high as the base itself had.

To assure all who were to follow, Jason, Ellie, Dr. Sandra Hamilton-Tufts and her patients Sara Miller-Tufts and the Coopers, as well as the rest of Jason's concubines were the first humans to ever set foot aboard the Kedah. Tonto had superimposed a complete floor plan on Ellie and Jason's heads-up display and they headed directly to sick bay.

A full bank of 20 med-tubes adapted for human use was at the ready and the ship's AI addressed them as they entered the room. The AI began it's canned speech. "Welcome to the..." was as far as it got before there was a pause that lasted for a number of seconds before it started speaking again. "Welcome my friends," said a voice that all had come to recognize as Tonto's public persona.

"Tonto, you've done it already!" Jason shouted.

"Indeed we have, Jason. This ship is a marvel of engineering, far beyond anything that humanity has been allowed to see so for. It is ideal for our purposes. All the usual communications between this ship's AI and its outside contacts will continue but that is the limit of their authority and activity. I will use many of their sub-systems such as operating the med-tubes to free up my time but it is all under our control. Let's get Sara and Dawnie on the way to being healthy again. Doctor, if you have something to reverse the effect of the calming agents you've been giving Sara it would be helpful. I would suggest putting her in the med-tube first."

"Sara, baby," Doctor Hamilton-Tufts said a few minutes after giving the girl an injection, "Can you understand what I'm saying?"

There was a small nod from the young woman lying in the med-tube bed and the suggestions of a smile curled the tips of her lips. "Hi," she said, "Are we there yet?"

"Yes sweetheart, we are," Jason replied. "You're going to doze in comfort here for a bit and when the gentle process is over you will be completely well." Then he bent over the edge of the tube rim to give her a kiss. Sara tried to turn her head away and mumbled, "Aids," but Jason would not be stopped. He kissed her softly on the lips and even touched her lips with the tip of his tongue. "I love you. We all love you and soon you will be a partner in the family."

Ellie stepped forward, still in her full Darjee plumage and took Sara's hand. She plucked a very tiny, downy breast feather from her own chest and placed it in Sara's hand. "Hold on to it, Sara. It is our way of letting you know that we are with you and everything will be OK."

The med-tube door hissed shut and Tonto announced, "The AI nanites are already at work, the estimated time is three hours and eleven minutes. Jason, please help Samantha get little Dawnie into her med-tube.