Supernal

Chapter 37

6:00 a.m. Thursday, 12th July 2029

Toby's Cabin on the OCF

Jayal shook Toby awake.

"What's that noise?" she whispered when she felt him move.

Toby concentrated sleepily, then heard a distant sound. He instantly came wide awake.

"It's the docking alert," he said. "Summers must be back."

Fifteen minutes later they were in the crew room and Summers was reassuring Jayal that the children had been fine on the flight back to Earth and by now were safely ensconced at the Mayo Clinic.

Summers had already unlocked the diplomatic pouch with the key kept aboard the OCF and he handed it to Toby.

"Three bottles, just like you asked," he confirmed. "Now, I really need some coffee."

Charlie had also been woken by the docking alert and joined them looking freshly showered. They decided to let Rob sleep longer.

"Jayal and I will go as soon as we've had something to eat," Toby announced. "We might not feel like eating later."

"I want to come with you," Charlie said firmly.

"Charlie, it's going to be a horrible job," Toby tried to discourage her.

"I'm not squeamish, and anyway, I've had an easy time looking after the kids while you guys have done all the dirty work. I want to help."

"Rather you than me," Summers muttered.

#

It was the first time Charlie had been in the pod and she, like Toby, was enthralled by the views of Earth and the OCF. She had travelled to the OCF on a Spaceplane but that had no passenger windows. Toby repeated what he had been told about the rotating accommodation module 'cartwheel' on the OCF being the size of the Coliseum. Charlie was awestruck. Toby whispered to Jayal that if they had time she should show Charlie the flight deck viewscreen on the blimp.

Once the pod compartment had pressurized, Toby asked Jayal to demonstrate how the courier opened and how to fill it with gel. She had practised it as part of her training for the mission and was confident about the loading and launching process.

She led them to the nearest launcher and gripped the smaller end of the egg-shaped courier. With a ninety-degree twist, the end came off and Toby peered inside. The hollow space contained two racks.

"The containers lock onto these rails," Jayal explained. "Then it's closed up and filled with gel through a connection in the point of the end cap. There are a pump and a hose to fill it."

"What is this thing made of?" Toby asked, stroking the surface of the courier. "It actually feels like eggshell."

"It's a type of ceramic, very strong and heat resistant," Jayal told him.

Satisfied that the courier would present no great problem, Toby told them the next job was to get the medical bay ready.

#

During his previous visit, Toby had located everything he needed in the medical bay cupboards and lockers. There was a large supply of saline in flexible bags. Surgical coveralls and facemasks were stored in a cupboard. He had discovered three lightweight metallic boxes that seemed the appropriate size on a rack in one of the lockers and he guessed these were the containers Velan had earmarked for the children. Next to the head end of the operating table, Velan had already positioned an electric rotary bone saw and a magnetized tray of surgical instruments.

"I think we're ready to start," Toby announced. "Let's get the first body."

#

Nimir's corpse was icy cold and stiff as Charlie helped strap it down on the table. They all put on protective clothing. Toby had warned them that the mycoplasma pneumoniae bacterium was airborne and they should avoid breathing it in or getting it on their skin. Although it wasn't fatal to humans it could cause a nasty case of pneumonia.

Toby planted his feet in two of the floor loops, switched on the vacuum pump for the table drains, and tested the bone saw. It whirred into life, sounding like an angry wasp.

"Have you done this before?" Charlie asked him.

"I'm a biologist," Toby shrugged. "I've dissected plenty of animal carcasses and removed their brain. I'm sure a Manitan can't be much different."

Jayal looked away and Charlie watched with fascination as Toby began cutting through Nimir's skull.

#

Mercifully for Toby, the cold temperature of Nimir's body had caused his blood and other fluids to congeal, so there was very little mess. The powdered skin and bone from the saw were sucked down onto the table by the vacuum pump and Toby was soon able to remove the skull cap and expose the brain.

"Bring me one of the containers," he instructed Jayal.

Using two scoops from the tray of instruments, Toby extracted the brain and cut through the stem. He lifted it into the container that Jayal held open and she snapped the lid shut gratefully before returning it to the locker.

The tray of instruments included a medical stapler and Toby quickly used it to re-attach Nimir's skull cap.

They returned Nimir's body to the cold storage and repeated the process until all three brains were safely stored in the containers.

#

"Okay," Toby said when he had taken a breather. "So far so good. Now we need to fill the containers with saline, expel all the air and add the bacterium."

"That's not going to be easy with no gravity," Charlie pointed out.

Toby thought for a few seconds. "Do you know how Velan was going to do it?" he asked Jayal.

She shook her head. "No, but there's a connection on the container lids similar to the one on the courier. It looks like it could be for a hose."

Toby went across to the container locker and looked inside. Sure enough, a small hose was looped at one side.

"There is a pump with a hose in here," he called, "but do you know what liquid is in it?"

"Sorry, I don't."

"We can't risk using it," Toby decided. "It might be something similar to formaldehyde and that would kill the bacterium. We'll just have to pour the saline in slowly and carefully."

#

Toby told Jayal to hold the first container down on the operating table while he and Charlie poured the saline. By squeezing the containers very gently they got most of the saline inside. Only a few globules floated out to be sucked into the table drain.

"It has to be right to the top, slopping over in fact," Toby explained. "So there's no air inside when we close the lid."

They managed to fill the container to the brim and Toby reached in his pocket for one of the bottles of the bacterium. He slowly released the cap and began to dribble the liquid onto the surface of the saline, but the droplets of liquid immediately floated away.

"Damn!" he cursed and dipped the end of the bottle into the saline. That worked better and the small bottle emptied.

"I got most of it in, close the lid gently."

As soon as Jayal moved the lid, the saline rippled and began to float out of the container.

"Close it quickly!" Toby snapped, and Jayal slammed it shut. A flood of saline emerged from the container before the lid closed. A red light on one wall of the bay began flashing ominously.

"What's that?" Toby asked Jayal.

"Pathogen detector."

"Even that slight movement of the air disturbed it," Charlie said ruefully.

"We lost that bacterium," Toby acknowledged. "Put the container away. We'll take a break and think about this. We can't risk losing any more."