“By the stars! What kind of suit is this?”
“A Time Patrol combat spacesuit. It is heavily armored and is resistant to radiations, fire and acids. I should be able to withstand Io’s environment for a while. Is that fast ship ready?”
“It is waiting for you in hangar number twelve. I will have someone guide you there.”
“No time for that. Just give me the precise bearing and distance to it from here and I will jump directly to the hangar.”
Skorvalsen, getting accustomed by now to this spacetime jump business, cued her computer and got that information for Laplante. As soon as she got her coordinates, Nancy disappeared again. Skorvalsen then looked at the screen offering a view of hangar number twelve and saw Nancy running to the access ramp of the fast courier ship.
“There goes a brave woman.” She said quietly to herself. Unknown to her at this time was the fact that the local GNN news crew was already tapping into the video links used by the command post, something that was actually perfectly legal. Everybody on the station, including Miriam, could now watch Nancy run to the courier ship.
It took less than forty minutes for the courier ship to arrive above Io. The pilot, fighting off his fear, then dived towards the Ra Patera volcano, leveling off very close to the surface about 160 kilometers from the volcano and hugging the ground while approaching its crater. The volcano was still spewing a huge plume of sulfur ash and gas and corrosive dust kept raining down constantly as the ship stopped to a hover above a river of sulfur lava. The pilot then turned his seat to face Nancy, still wearing her massive spacesuit.
“We are directly above the shuttle, which has its emergency radio beacon on at maximum power. The cargo ship STAR HOPPER is waiting 140 kilometers above, with 482
its main airlock open and with two shipmates with spacesuits ready to collect the survivors. I wish you the best of luck, miss.”
“Thanks, I will need it.”
Nancy got up and walked to an empty corner of the cockpit, then floated up before disappearing in a flash of white light. With all the ship’s external cameras recording, the pilot watched Nancy reappear below before she splashed down in the lava flow and disappeared. The pilot then hurriedly pulled his ship away from this hellish spot, climbing steeply and accelerating towards Europa: he needed to have his ship washed and decontaminated in a hurry before it became one big piece of rusted junk.
Unknown to the pilot of the courier ship and to the Europa personnel, Nancy’s combat suit was equipped with a shield generator that she switched on before splashing into the lava. Now as good as blind in the hot yellow liquid, Nancy used the signal from the shuttle’s radio beacon to guide herself. Surrounded by a protective bubble of vacuum, she bumped against the shuttle after a two-minute descent that felt like an hour to her. Using the laser radar sensor of her suit, Nancy quickly mapped the position she was relative to the shuttle and, using the built-in gravity drive of her suit, floated to the main airlock entrance. This was now the first dicey part of her plan: she would have to switch off her shield generator before jumping spacetime if she didn’t want to wreck the inside of the relatively cramped airlock. That meant in turn that she would be covered with hot, corrosive sulfur lava when appearing in the airlock. Clenching her teeth in cold determination, she carefully calculated her jump, then switched off her shield generator a second before jumping. The sudden rush of yellow lava that engulfed her just before her jump made her heart thump hard. Then she found herself inside the shuttle’s airlock, but with sulfur covering her armored glass helmet and blinding her. Wiping away as best as she could the sulfur coat, she then spoke in her radio.
“Shuttle EXPLORER II, this is Nancy Laplante. I am inside your main airlock.
Are you all suited up?”
The answer came quickly, with an elated female voice answering her.
“Thank heaven that you are here, miss. Yes, we are all suited up and ready to go.”
“Then, this is how we will proceed: I will take with me first the sole baby on board and its mother, then jump spacetime to orbit, where the cargo STAR HOPPER is waiting. Make sure to keep order in your passengers, so that no adult tries to jump the 483
line in front of the children. I will also need a clean piece of cloth if you have one, so that I could wipe clean my helmet: it is covered with sulfur and I can hardly see anything through my visor. You may now open the airlock.”
After a wait of a few seconds, the inner door of the airlock was pulled open and a giant woman wearing a spacesuit came in, a thick blanket in her hands. She then proceeded into quickly wiping clean her helmet and toweling off the worst of the sulfur coating Nancy’s suit. Throwing away the now smoldering blanket, the woman retreated inside the shuttle and pushed forward another woman holding the pressurized capsule used as spacesuits for infants. Before taking hold of the woman, Nancy quickly positioned in each corner of the airlock a time beacon that would ensure that she would jump back precisely in the middle of the airlock on her return trip. Then taking the terrified woman and her baby in a bear hug, Nancy activated her gravity drive and floated off the deck with her charges. Resetting the time distorter of her suit, she initiated her jump, disappearing from the airlock and reappearing into the darkness of space, high above Io.
As promised, a cargo ship waited a few kilometers above her. Her radiation alarm then beeped, signaling to her that she was now being exposed to strong radiations, but she shut off the alarm signal. Another, much shorter range jump brought her and the mother and baby besides the ship, where light shone from the inside of an open airlock. A short dash brought them to the access of the airlock, inside which two men in spacesuits were waiting. Nancy smiled briefly to the woman she was holding.
“You are now safe, madam. I will propel you and your baby gently towards the airlock, so that those shipmates could catch you and guide you in.”
“I…I can’t thank you enough for this, miss. I…”
“Tell me later, Madam. I have to hurry and get the others out too.”
Turning the woman and her baby around, Nancy then pushed them inside the airlock.
Backing away a bit from the ship, she had her suit computer record her relative position, then jumped back to the inside of the shuttle’s airlock. She breathed in relief when she saw that her jump had been as accurate as hoped for. A small boy was then pushed forward inside the airlock. Nancy thought quickly and shouted at the female shipmate controlling the access to the airlock.
“If you have another small child, I will take it now.”
A small girl soon ran to Nancy, who hugged both children before jumping to the cargo ship. The cargo’s shipmates were ready when she pushed gently the children inside the ship’s airlock. Nancy did four more return trips with children and young teenagers before 484
starting to ferry adults to safety. She was on her ninth trip, 21 minutes having passed since she had jumped off the courier ship, when the computer of her suit spoke aloud in her helmet.
“Warning, excessive radiation exposure. You have now absorbed a total of 2,000 milligrays. You are approaching the threshold for permanent radiation damage.”
“I acknowledge, computer. My mission is not over yet, however. Please discontinue radiation warnings.”
Pushing to safety the young man in her arms, Nancy jumped yet another time to continue her rescue mission. Despite her earlier request, her suit’s computer came back as she was doing her twentieth trip.
“Warning, you have now absorbed a total of 5,000 milligrays. You have now attained the semi-lethal dose.”
Already suffering from nausea, Nancy nearly vomited as she was about to reply to the computer. She barely kept it in and, not saying a word, pushed the woman in her arms inside the cargo ship’s airlock. She jumped back to the shuttle’s airlock and barely had the time to open her visor and bend over before vomiting violently. The shipmate observing her from inside the shuttle’s cabin paled, realizing too well what was happening to Nancy. One of the male passengers still on the shuttle also understood and, panic on his face, pushed his way towards the airlock.
“Take me with you now! Don’t go away!”
The other passengers, their nerves already raw, either fought to keep the panicky man in place or rushed themselves towards the airlock. Constantly dizzy and sick now, Nancy realized with bitterness that she would be able at best to save one more person before becoming useless. In a supreme mental effort, she telekinetically pulled the female shipmate into her arms and closed her visor before jumping to the cargo ship. She was about to propel herself and the shipmate towards the cargo’s airlock when a popping noise and a sudden hurricane inside her suit told her that the sulfur compounds covering her suit had finally eaten through a part of it. Initiating a single impulse from her gravity drive, she shut her mouth and eyes, as she had been told to do to in case of explosive decompression, and hoped that the cargo shipmates would react fast enough. They fortunately did, grabbing both her and the female shipmate and pulling them inside the airlock before closing the outer door. Nancy was gasping desperately for air and was bleeding from the mouth, nose and ears as the airlock was being pressurized.
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“Let’s get her out of this suit: it’s totally contaminated by now.” Shouted the shuttle crewmember in her suit’s radio. The woman rolled Nancy over on her belly and, finding the emergency opening mechanism, activated it. The large hatch covering the back of the helmet and torso popped open, letting the woman pull Nancy out of her suit with the help of the two men in the airlock. The inner door of the airlock then opened and a third man came in, a radiation detector in one hand. Quickly passing it over Nancy’s body, he nearly recoiled from her when his instrument growled fiercely.
“Damn! She is violently radioactive. Keep away from her.”
“No way, mister!” Replied resolutely the female shipmate. “She risked her life to save me and the others and I won’t abandon her.”
“She is going to die anyway, miss.”
“Not if I can help it. Get out of the way!”
Stunned by the woman’s fierceness, the man with the detector stepped aside, letting her drag Nancy inside the cargo ship’s locker room. Putting her gently down on the deck, the woman only then removed her spacesuit, throwing it inside the airlock once she was out of it. The two men who had been in the airlock did the same, knowing that their suits were probably also contaminated to a certain degree. Watched by the 24 other survivors from the shuttle sitting on benches around the locker room, the female crewmember knelt besides Nancy, who was throwing up on the deck, and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t worry, miss: we will bring you to a hospital quickly.”
Nancy’s response was to approach both of her shaking hands near her own face. Her whole body then started glowing faintly, making the woman besides her recoil in surprise and alarm.
“What the hell is happening to her?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Said the man with the detector. “She is so radioactive that she is glowing.”
The woman gave him a mean look, then looked back at Nancy. The latter was still glowing but was slowly passing her hands over her body. After long minutes of tense silence, Nancy stopped glowing and her eyes fluttered open. Appearing weak and disoriented, she sat up and looked around her.
“I…I must go get the others. I will need another spacesuit.”
“No, miss!” Replied firmly the female shipmate. “You should be dying now from all the radiation you took out there. I don’t know what you just did to yourself but 486
returning to the shuttle would mean your certain death. You already saved 25 people, including me: that’s 25 more than we thought possible. Please, rest.”
Nancy bowed her head, grief apparent on her face.
“Then, 61 persons will die.”
“They are now dead, miss.” Replied quietly one of the men who had been in the airlock. “The radio beacon of the shuttle has just stopped emitting. The lava must have eaten through the hull, like it did with your suit.”
There was a moment of grieving silence, with some of the women survivors crying. The female shipmate caressed Nancy’s face, from which patches of dead skin were starting to fall off.
“Miss, you are the bravest person I ever met. I will never be able to thank you enough for what you did.”
Nancy looked up at her, tears in her eyes.
“It still wasn’t enough for those 61 persons. What is your name, miss?”
“Lori…Lori Spacek, space pilot third grade.”
The man with the radiation detector then approached Nancy again to check her out. His jaw dropped open after a few seconds.
“Nearly all the radioactivity has left her body. How could this be?”
“I healed myself. I will still need a shower to clean up the dead tissue on me and wash away the rest of the contamination.”
“Uh, sure. Follow me, Miss Laplante.”
Helped by Spacek, Nancy weakly got up on her feet, then started following the man with the detector out of the locker room. One of the survivors, the woman with the baby, then started applauding, soon followed by all the others present. Nancy, unable to keep it in, burst in tears.
23:18 (Universal Time)
Europa Station Hospital
Miriam, advised by videophone of Nancy’s whereabouts, arrived at the station’s hospital only to find a large crowd of people waiting anxiously in the reception lounge. A few were apparently what Nancy called reporters, a strange concept Miriam had quickly learned about in her first days in the 34th century, while the others appeared to be either friends or relatives of the people saved on Io by Nancy. Miriam’s arrival in the lounge 487
temporarily brought quiet to the room as everyone looked with curiosity at her. Her small stature, pure Semitic racial type and long dark brown hair was still enough of a novelty around the station to cause such curiosity, which Miriam didn’t really mind. Right now, she was only interested in finding Nancy. Most of the reporters however rushed to her before she could get to the information counter.
“Miss, are you a member of the Time Patrol, like Nancy Laplante?” Asked the first reporter to get to her, a young man that towered three heads above her. Miriam shook her head emphatically.
“No, I am simply a friend of Nancy.”
“But you are obviously from the past.”
That was when a female reporter looked crossly at her colleague.
“Haven’t you seen that new documentary produced by the Time Patrol? She was brought from the past for her own protection.”
The female reporter then smiled to Miriam, who forced herself to smile back.
“Miss, do you know what happened on Io today?”
“No! To be frank, I still barely understand the things around me in this wondrous time. I came to see if Nancy was alright.”
The reporter looked a bit disappointed but then spotted a woman bearing a baby coming out of the examination area. Her haggard face and gaunt look marked her as one of the survivors, which was enough for all the reporters to switch their interest to her. Miriam sighed with relief as she was left alone and was able to walk to the information counter unhindered. A man with a gentle face greeted her from behind the counter.
“May I be of help, miss?”
Miriam bowed with her hands joined in front of her.
“Shelama! I am a friend of Nancy Laplante. Would it be possible to see her?”
“Let me check, please.”
The man worked briefly on his computer before smiling to Miriam.
“Miss Laplante is under medical observation but can receive visits. She is in room 221, one floor up from this one. Just go through those doors over there, then take the elevator to your left, to the second level. You will find a nurses duty station there, where you will get further directions.”
“Thank
you!”
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Miriam got to the nurses duty station easily enough, finding four nurses there, including a male one. They all looked with intense curiosity at her as she approached them and bowed politely.
“Shelama! I would like to see Nancy Laplante, if possible.”
One of the nurses looked briefly at one of the video monitors of her workstation before answering Miriam.
“Miss Laplante is sleeping right now, miss. She had quite a rough day but is now apparently healthy. Doctor Kotwar has prescribed at least two days of close medical observation, to make sure that there are no aftereffects from the radiations she absorbed.”
“Those…radiations, they are some kind of poison?”
The four nurses looked at her with some surprise.
“You don’t know what radiation is?”
“Uh, no. I never learned about such things.”
One of the female nurses then stared at Miriam’s face.
“Wait! Aren’t you the widow of this Yeshua of Nazareth whose life was documented by the Time Patrol? You are from the 1st Century, no?”
“I am Miriam of Magdala and I was a follower of Yeshua.” Replied timidly Miriam.
“Can you mentally heal people, like Laplante and your Yeshua?” Asked the nurse after a hesitation.
“No! They are the only two persons I know who can heal. Did Nancy heal someone today?”
“Yes, she did.” Said the nurse, now looking definitely uncomfortable, like her companions. “She absorbed enough radiations to die in a few days but healed herself, then healed in this hospital six crewmembers who were also irradiated while trying to rescue our Io shuttle. This is…unexplainable.”
“It is the power of God, simply.” Said Miriam with fervor. “God gave Nancy her powers, like He must have given his powers to Yeshua. Faith can accomplish miracles.”
The four nurses exchanged troubled looks then: up to now, they knew or cared little about religions of any kind, personal philosophies being the most that Global Council citizens developed normally in terms of spirituality. The male nurse then got up from his chair and pointed down the hallway.
“If you will follow me, miss, I will show you Miss Laplante’s room.”
“Thank you. You are too kind.”
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A short walk brought them to a small private room equipped with a wide assortment of medical sensors. Miriam saw that Nancy was effectively sleeping in a bed, looking serene. The nurse looked at Nancy and shook his head.
“When I think that she should be nothing more than a bloated, bleeding mass of tissue by now. This is all so incredible.”
Miriam couldn’t help look at the nurse with horror and fear.
“Those radiations, they are this terrible?”
The young man nodded his head somberly.
“Your friend absorbed over 5,300 milligrays of ionized radiation, enough to ensure death for any normal human being. With that kind of dosage, all the cells in her body should be breaking down and dying, leading to widespread internal bleeding and bloating of the tissues. We are still waiting for the results of genetics tests on her to see if her DNA suffered any damage. Normally, she would at the least become sterile for good. Your friend showed incredible bravery and self-sacrifice, miss.”
“As it would befit a Chosen of God.” Replied quietly Miriam. “Would it be possible for me to sleep near her tonight?”
“I can bring in a portable cot for you, miss. Just make sure not to wake up your friend: she needs her sleep.”
“I will be careful.”
While the nurse went away to get a cot, Miriam approached the bed and gently kissed Nancy’s forehead.
“God must be proud of you, friend.”
07:54 (Universal Time)
Sunday, January 23, 3385 ‘A’
Room 221, Europa One hospital
Europa, Jupiter system
Nancy was awakened by a kiss on her lips and slowly opened her eyes to see Mike Crawford, Ingrid Weiss, Miriam of Magdala, Farah Tolkonen, Tom Allen and the Global Chief Administrator, Boran Kern, all standing near her bed and smiling widely.
She sat up abruptly in her bed, taken by surprise, then returned their smile.
“My God! You certainly made it fast from Earth to here. Chief Administrator Kern, what are you doing here?”
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“I came to honor a heroine, Miss Laplante. I also wanted to bring you a good news: you were cleared officially yesterday of all charges of negligence and incompetence concerning your mission in ancient Palestine. You can resume your duties whenever you want.”
“Please, Nancy, come back: we miss you.” Added fervently Ingrid, making Nancy grin.
“How could I say no if it is asked in such a nice way? Besides, I was getting restless here, beautiful sights or not.”
“And that’s why you had to launch on this suicidal mission, Nancy?” Asked Farah pointedly. Nancy’s smile faded as she stared at her giant friend.
“It may have been near-suicidal, but it was to save lives. My only regret is for not having been able to save all of those poor people on Io.”
“Nancy, I did speak with the doctor who takes care of you and I also went to inspect what was left of your combat spacesuit. Your suit’s computer warned you twice that you had absorbed excessive amounts of radiation. As for your suit, it was corroded through in at least four places and is so radioactive that it will have to be embedded in concrete and dumped back on Io. It was a suicidal mission.”
“Gee! Are you going to dock the cost of my spacesuit from my pay, Farah?”
“Nothing so drastic, my heroic friend. Chief Administrator Kern will administer your punishment.”
Boran Kern then got closer to her bed and took a small velvet-covered box from one pocket of his suit, opening it and taking out an elaborate medal made of gold and rubies and attached to a long purple ribbon.
“Miss Laplante, it is my true pleasure to present you the first Valor Cluster medal ever awarded since its introduction by the Global Council a month ago. By your courage and self-sacrifice, you saved the lives of 25 citizens of the Global Council facing certain and horrible death.”
Kern then passed the ribbon over her head, letting the medal hang from her neck.
Nancy looked for a moment at the medal, moved, as the others applauded her warmly.
Miriam applauded as well. Kern smiled warmly to the young Palestinian woman.
“So, you are the one who started this whole case, miss. I have to say that Miss Laplante did well to bring you with her.”
“She was just obeying a last wish from Yeshua, sir. I still don’t understand what the fuss was all about.”
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“I will explain it to you later, Miriam.” Cut in Nancy, who then looked back at Kern. “Chief Administrator, I was not alone in risking my life in yesterday’s rescue effort: the crews of the space tug which tried to pull out the shuttle and of the courier ship which brought me to Io’s surface richly deserve recognition for their courage as well.”
“I have not forgotten them, Miss: the crewmembers of the space tug HERCULES
will get each the Star of Courage, while the pilot of the courier ship MERCURY will get the Time Star. I must thank you in passing for having healed the crew of the HERCULES. You saved them from a long and painful recovery.”
That last word seemed to awaken some kind of worry in Nancy, who looked questioningly at Farah.
“Farah, this is the first time that I had to face the effects of radiations. I healed the others and myself but I am not sure that I canceled out all the damage. Did Doctor Kotwar get the results of my DNA’s analysis? Will I be able to have normal children in the future?”
“I did speak with Doctor Kotwar on this and other things, Nancy. As far as he can see, you seem fully healed. However, I want to run a full series of tests on you once back in New Lake City. Even a single distorted or missing chromosome could spell tragedy for any future child, so I won’t take any chances with this. You will come back with us today on Ingrid’s scoutship, I hope?”
“I will, Farah. It is high time that I resume training our apprentices.”
“Uh, what about me?” Asked timidly Miriam. “I am starting to feel useless in this world full of mechanical wonders. What shall I do to be productive and not be simply a burden on your people?”
Nancy smiled gently to her and patted her shoulder.
“Miriam, you once told me that the people of Galilee called you a sinner because you arranged the hair of other women. Lynda Crawford, the wife of one of our apprentices, is currently the only person in this century that is qualified and experienced in hair care and she could certainly use an assistant. Would you be interested in taking on that position?”
Miriam’s big grin was an answer by itself.
“That would be marvelous! I really could take that job?”
“Consider yourself hired, Miriam.” Said Farah in a definite tone, making Miriam jump with joy.
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19:17 (North America Central Time)
Monday, July 11, 3385 ‘A’
Maternity section, New Lake City University Hospital
American Great Lakes area
“Here they come!” Nearly shouted in excitement Elizabeth Windsor, waiting with seemingly every ancestor member of the Time Patrol in the visitors lounge of the hospital’s maternity section. The British teenager and the others quickly lined up on each side of the door just before a tired looking Miriam of Magdala entered, sitting on a wheelchair pushed