Date: Sun, 8 Jun 2008 17:52:38 -0400
From: Ron <wolfwalker2@alltel.net>
Subject: TEEP chapter 15

Aaron slowly untangled himself from David, surprisingly, David and Derrick
ended up in his bed last night. David had wanted lessons on the proper
treatment of submissive's and at the same time, he wanted to try out being
sandwiched between two people like in some of his favorite stories on the
web. Glancing back over at the clock and then glaring at it like it was its
fault he was up at four thirty in the morning, he walked into the bathroom
to take a quick shower; after all, he had chores to do.

Five minutes later, and fully dressed, Aaron walked up the stairs heading
for his morning sugar, he needed some juice to kick start his morning.
Silently entering the kitchen, Aaron poured his juice and not expecting
anyone else up at this time of the morning, was surprised when he passed
through the dining room to find the table full of steaming food and five of
the guys sitting around it eating breakfast. Looking at the pop tart in his
hand and then back to the table full of eggs, hash browns and all the
fixings, he felt cheated, "You guys are up awfully early, is there a reason
for it?"

"We talked it over last night, we are going to take over morning chores for
you today.well pretty much from now on really," Tommy told him, as he walked
in from the kitchen and sat down to start eating.

"You said Clan Stranton leads, so we are taking up the challenge, meet your
livestock manager," Kevin pointed to Mark, sitting at the end of the table.

"I'm taking over anything having to do with livestock on the farm; I'll
overlap with Tommy on the Aquaculture aspect, until we find someone who can
handle it," Mark told him between bits of toast with egg.

"Besides running the truck farms and groves, I'm looking forward a trying
out this Aquaponics concept. Besides, right now it is mostly keeping the
feeders full, and you're only a thought away if we need something answered."
Tommy had a look that said not to argue with them as he placed a full plate
in front of Aaron.

Gazing at Kenny who was sitting on one side of the table, Aaron sat down to
eat what was placed in front of him, "And what are you doing up so bright
eyed and bushy tailed?"

Giggling and glancing over his shoulder towards his butt, "I'm going to help
feed the baby chickens.they are so cool all fuzzy and cute, too bad they
grow up to be so ugly," Kenny watched Mark as he said that, and when he
perked up and looked at him, he stuck his tongue out at him.

"Watch it midget, no invites you can't keep," Mark smirked at the surprise
expression on Kenny's face, while everyone else laughed.

"Tim is going to sleep in late and Pete will take a nap this afternoon, to
prepare for tonight. I'm going to stay here today to do any porting around
that needs to be done and to start working with the guys you released last
night, then the three of us will join you tomorrow night to help vet all the
new people that want to work at our hospital. Saturday, the three of us will
stay here while those that want to go shopping can go, that gives them today
and tomorrow to make a list, while you continue your interviews," Kevin
explained their part in the plan they came up with.

"Derrick and I would like to undergo the alteration procedures this
afternoon, before you leave again with Tim and Pete. That way, on Saturday
there will be two of us that can scream bloody murder telepathically if
something happens," David entered the room looking for something to eat, but
first steering Derrick to an empty chair.

Mark picked up his dirty dishes leaving his place open so David could sit
there next to Derrick "I have two cows that, according to the scanners, are
due to calf in the next two days, so I'm going to move them to the barn this
morning and after you meet with Brian and he is brought back here with the
others this weekend, he can be a great help with the chores, enough so that
I can consider being altered as early as Sunday."

"And if you can check my sperms to see if there are enough of them, I can
join Mark on Sunday," Fred said, as he walked into the room totally naked
with his stiff morning wood leading the way.

Blinking at Fred and taking in what he said, Aaron pointed to the hard cock
that stopped near his side, "I take it that you mean now."

Mark, coming up behind Fred, kissed him on the side of the cheek before
reaching around and grasping the hard cock jutting out from Fred's body and
slowly stroking it to the pleasurable moans that Fred softly started.

Another surprise this morning, Aaron thought, as he took the scanner from
his pocket without taking his eyes off the show being performed practically
at eye level in front of him. Scanner pointed to Fred's crotch, Aaron
watched as Mark slowly brought around an empty juice glass and placed the
tip of Fred's penis in it just as he groaned out "I'm Cuming."

Blinking as Mark held out the juice glass to the scanner, the sound of
kissing interrupted his thoughts and he looked down at the report, there was
defiantly enough sperm present to say that puberty was truly underway,
"Don't plan on anything Sunday, Fred, you'll be joining Mark for the
procedure to become Alteran." Aaron smiled as Tommy came over and compared
his crotch with Fred's, knowing what Tommy was thinking even without
checking his surface thoughts, "Keep practicing Tommy, it won't be long;
your body is already starting to produce some sperm, another week or so, I
would think, and you're turn will come."

Standing up so Fred could have his seat, Aaron picked up his dishes and
turned to go to the kitchen and smiled at the sleep tousled Damien who,
still half asleep, walked in, nose sniffing and following the smell of food.
Messing up his hair further as he walked by, Aaron chuckled as Damien sat
where Kevin had been sitting just a few moments before.

"Derrick, Damien, Fred and Kenny will start their lessons on the Tutor while
the rest of us are doing chores; we'll be around if they need help and after
they finish, they will do a few while Tommy, David, Pete and I do our
studies," Mark explained, while Kevin picked up the ending after kissing
Aaron, "Tim and I will do our studies in between helping the new guys
practice their abilities, though we both might have to wait until later
right before supper to get on the tutor, me here at home, and Tim on the
Asclepius."

"Alrighty, it sounds like you guys have everything planned out so I have
just enough time to release Rolland from the trauma pod before having to
leave, that will leave only Jesse in there, which reminds me, I need to send
an email updating Judge Johnson on his condition." Aaron started for the
portation point when Kevin joined him.

"We've noticed that you spend a lot of time going over emails, mainly
sorting them before sending them on to Joe, are they anything any of us can
handle?.If we can, it will free up some of your time." Kevin asked as they
entered the compound.

Stopping just outside the entry, Aaron thought about it, he could set the
filter to forward the emails to another account and set it so that certain
people can log on, after all, he was thinking the other day he needed
someone to handle most of the routine shit, and this way it kept it in the
family. "Alright, let me log on and change a few things, after that, you
will be able to log on and handle all the applicants, most of it is sorting
them by job categories and then forwarding them to the proper people to set
up interviews. Meet me at the med bay and I will set you up and help you
wade through the first group while I'm around."

Porting directly into the trauma pod, Aaron logged into the terminal and set
up the permissions allowing Kevin, for now, to have access to the applicant
folder. Checking the reports on Jesse, to make sure everything was on
schedule and no problems had been encountered during treatment, for the most
part, it was a waiting game as the system re-grew the nerves, as
regeneration of the damaged organs was almost complete, at this rate Jesse
could be released Sunday.

Kevin walked in frowning, "No fair, I'm not medical personal, so I shouldn't
be porting directly in, instead, I have to walk," he ended up laughing at
Aaron's face.

Chuckling, Aaron stood up after checking the readouts for Rolland's
bio-tube, might as well release him, even though the outcome looked pretty
sour, there was not much if any brain activity being charted, though there
was no brain damage in any of the scans, Aaron hoped he would be able to
mentally find some spark of him hiding deep inside his mind, the trick was
to be able to pull him back out if he could just find some spark of
something. "I granted you access to the folder that the email system filters
all job applicants into, after logging in, you should see a new folder in
your email screen." Initiating the release cycle, Aaron glanced back at the
central desk as Kevin logged in, trying not to think about what the results
could be when the lid unsealed.

Kevin logged in and seeing the new folder, opened it up, he was dumbfounded
when he looked at the total, "When was the last time you read through this
stuff?"

Thinking back as the drying cycle started and the teens cock responded which
was encouraging, "Last night right before being dragged to bed to ravish two
horn dogs," Aaron leered so Kevin could see.

"SHIT.are you telling me you get over two hundred emails a day?" Kevin
looked over the counter at Aaron, seeing him shrug, "More like close to five
hundred a day, they are coming in faster than they did in the beginning,"
Aaron ended with a sigh.

"No wonder you seem frazzled after going through you mail," Kevin mentioned
as he opened the first email and looked at it, "So how do you sort these,
this guy doesn't say what he is applying for."

"Normally in the cover letter, they will tell you their qualifications, what
position they are looking for or what field. But some of them you have to
read through the resume to find out what jobs they held in the past, to
figure out which folder to move them to for interviews. Originally I had set
up three folders based on the military ads, so they were either land based
like security, sea based like ships and such or air based pilots and
support." Working on removing the tubes from both ends from Rolland while
explaining, "Word seemed to spread, so now I have applicants applying that
need to be forwarded to some of the companies I own, also."

"Screw that.no wonder you look frazzled, I think you should have a polite
form letter, asking them to clarify their cover letter to include the job or
category they are interested in," Kevin said, as he typed it out and saved
it as a form letter he could paste as a reply to emails, before creating
another folder called not complete and moved the email there and moved on to
the next.

Only the temple sensor was left, the one keeping Rolland asleep. Aaron
turned it off and removed it before placing both hands on the side of
Rolland's head and searching.searching for the mind of the teen in front of
him. Usually it was easy to make contact as he could feel the person start
dreaming, once the soma unit was turned off, with Rolland he felt nothing.
Finding nothing, he wanted to despair, opening his eyes and looking down the
teens body, he noticed the still hard cock and thought about a different way
of reaching him, "Jerk off.jerk off until you cum," Aaron whispered in
Rolland's ear, feeling for any spark of life that would allow Rolland to
follow his command.

Kevin who had gotten through half the messages by placing most in the hold
folder until a amended cover letter came in, heard Aaron telling the kid to
jerk off and looked up, curious as he did not remember him ever doing that
to one of the trauma  patients before. Getting up from his chair, he slowly
made his way to the open bio-tube and looked in to see the nicely shaped
hard cock and Aaron with both hands on the kids head.

Frustrated when his verbal command did not work Aaron tried again, this time
adding a mental command to the order, "Place your hand around your hard cock
and stroke it until you cum." this time there was success, as he felt a
small spark in the teen's mind and Rolland's arm rose from his side and
started to do as he was ordered.

Aaron followed the spark of consciousness as the pleasurable sensations
began, and when pain did not replace the pleasure, old pathways long dormant
started to open, as Rolland climaxed, he felt a small spark of life and
quickly bound it to the here and now, and allowed it to go to sleep so it
would not be frightened back into its hard shell. Sighing, he opened his
eyes to see Kevin standing near them, hand playing around absentmindedly in
the very massive load on Rolland's chest and belly.

"What did they do to him.I tried to reach out for his mind and found
nothing, the only thing I could feel was you until just as he started to
shoot, I think I felt something in his mind then," Kevin whispered in horror
and then realizing what he was doing, reached over and picked up the towel
and wiped Rolland clean.

"They tortured him until his mind couldn't take it anymore and retreated
somewhere inside, at least he follows commands, and I found a spark when he
reached climax, it will take a little while before being able to determine
just how much of him we can coax back," Aaron sighed as he tugged on
Rolland's arms, "Sit up Rolland.come on, you can do it," he spoke very
gently.

"If it were not for the fact we are telepaths, he would have to be put in
some sort of nursing home where he would be warehoused and just waste away;
at least here, he has a decent chance for recovery," Aaron helped swing
Rolland's legs over the side of the bio-tube, "Can you ask David to keep an
eye on him until I get back, maybe have Derrick do it, just tell David to
treat him like the most extreme submissive he's ever heard of, he will have
to be told to eat and drink and even go to the bathroom. But I think being
topside walking around with David and Derrick will be of some help, at least
I hope so."

Glancing at the clock and seeing it was almost six, which meant the
Asclepius would be docking in a few minutes, as the San Francisco docks were
an hour ahead of them Kevin took hold of Rolland's arm and lead him to the
desk, he realized he should log off for now, "I'll take care of him, you
need to get a move one if you don't want to be late, The Asclepius will be
docking soon."

Kissing Kevin gently, hand pulling Kevin's head into the kiss, Aaron
released him and nose to nose told him "Thank you for making my life easier
and more complete, the best thing that has happened to me in a long time was
the three of you coming into my life.I'll see you later this afternoon."

Porting to the private office he kept in the dock warehouse, Aaron looked at
the plasma monitor that showed the outer office full of people set up around
the desks they pulled together. Thomas, from the British state department,
was out there with several guys all around a bank of radios and maps, Aaron
sighed as he noticed Josh Lopez from the U.S. state department out there,
and he remembered him from last weekend. Changing the pickup, he searched
the warehouse and found a place to port to that was out of sight of pretty
much everything except his camera's, and while looking for a place to port
to, he noticed Roger walk in.

Pathing Chris, Aaron wanted to know where he was and how close the Asclepius
was to docking, before he went out to deal with all those people, "Chris,
I'm in the warehouse office; how close are you to docking?"

"I wondered if you were going to join this circus, I would have docked an
hour ago, but for the blasted U.S. Navy getting involved. I just now started
back up and I'm two miles out, but having to deal with the coast guard
escort so I am crawling at their speed, maybe ten minutes," Aaron felt
Chris's frustration come through with the reply.

"Well the outer office is full of officials, so I'm going to go shake thing
up, contact me by communicator when you enter the channel," Aaron smirked
mentally as he sent the image of him walking out of his office to Chris.
Walking out through the closed door, Aaron smiled at the startled looks he
was receiving from everyone but Roger who was smirking, "Good morning
everyone.status report please."

Startled and wondering how he got past them, Thomas was the first to get his
wits about him, "Good morning, you're Majesty. Our mercy flight is inbound
now and will be landing in." glancing at his watch "five minutes at most, as
they are on final approach to San Francisco International, your people were
very helpful in making arrangements for us as the ambulances are standing by
including four Air Evac choppers for the most severely injured." he trailed
off when he noticed Aaron tap the communicator after lowering the mic.

"Acknowledged.Gentlemen, if you would follow me the Asclepius has entered
the channel," Aaron walked towards the door, leading the way to the edge of
the docks.

"Merciful Mother of Mary." one British man exclaimed.

"Gentlemen, I give you the Alteran Hospital ship Asclepius," Aaron smiled,
as Chris showed off his skills and masterfully berthed the massive ship with
inches to spare. Moving over next to Roger, Aaron dropped the volume of his
voice, "Nice to see you, Roger, a bit unexpected though."

Grimacing, Roger looked back towards the gates and the dozens of news vans
camping out "Our state department leaks like a sieve, word got out last
night about the Asclepius pulling into port this morning, and that he was
here to take on patients, not to transfer patients stateside. The only good
thing is they don't know the identity of the patients coming in on the
British Airways plane."

"Or the fact that the queen is onboard, escorting her grandson," Thomas
offered with a smile when he saw how pale his counterpart from the States
became. Serves him right he thought, the whole lot of them did not know how
to keep their bloody mouths shut.

Watching the side doors slide open, and the wide gangway slide towards the
dock, Aaron called out, "Mr. Lopez, a word if you please," Aaron grinned
evilly, once the State Department representative moved close enough to hear,
"Please pass several messages up the line to your superiors, if you
would.one, you have several leaks in your department that makes one
uncomfortable.the second, well, the second one is more important and
pressing."

Josh could have sworn he could see his breath as the tone of voice was so
cold it could freeze the very air as Aaron's words were spoken, "Tell your
superiors that if any of my ships are ever stopped again in international
waters, I will consider it an act of war and sink the offending vessels.Mr.
Lopez... I guarantee, there will be no survivors, have I made myself clear
on this?"

Very frightened, as he had seen the imposing vessel as it docked and he knew
the carefully veiled threat would be carried through, he wisely just nodded
his head, it was way above his pay grade to get into this type of pissing
contest.

"Sir, number thirty two is inbound, ten miles out," came over the radio held
in Thomas's hand.

Gangway fully extended, Aaron started across it "Roger, if you can lessen
the impact of the press, offer them a prize and tell them I'll give one of
them, your choice, a tour of the Asclepius and an abbreviated version of why
he is here now.damn news fuckers," Aaron muttered the last as Thomas walked
to his side and he entered the triage area. Spotting Theo standing near the
center desk surrounded by bio-tubes grinning like a fool, he couldn't resist
pulling his leg, "Well hello Theo, fancy meeting you here.um aren't you
supposed to be packing for the move?"

Logging into the terminal and linking his communicator to the ship's system,
thus causing the lights to brighten to a higher level, he ignored Theo's
grinning face. Flipping a few switches, Aaron started the activation
sequence for the entire ship's med bays. Flashing lights started on the
gangway and around the outside of the ship as the automated voice started
informing the nonexistent crew of incoming patients. "GENTLEMAN, STAY CLEAR
OF ALL RED FLOORED AREAS," Aaron bellowed, as he tapped the side of his
communicator.

"Air Evac, this is Altare One; advise on code patients," Aaron's voice
carried over the speakers as Chris stepped into the triage deck, followed
closely by Gordon and Carl, he must have ported over to their parents' place
to get them.

"Altare One, Evac Zulu nine two, inbound, two minutes.advise no code
patients.repeat no code patients, 2 trauma ones on board," The voice carried
over the speakers as Mandy entered from the gangway and John handed her the
ear communicator he picked up off the desk.

"Evac Zulu nine two, clear for hot landing and unload on pad two; green
flashing," Aaron pointed to the elevator and pathed Carl, telling him there
were two carts up top, "Be advised you are t-minus two minutes, before LZ
needs to be clear."

Looking at the plasma screen that rose up behind the desk after Aaron keyed
it to activate, he informed the milling crowd, "Clear the landing area
outside the gangway, we have incoming.you have thirty seconds!"

Nodding, Thomas yelled at his men as he started out the door, "Right, you
lazy bums; you heard the man, get every arse off that dock, now!"

Looking to the plasma once more after watching Thomas run out of the triage
bay, "Air Evac secondary inbound, this is Altare one, advise code patients."
Aaron looked at the view of the ambulances starting up the dock drive.

"Air Evac Thirty Two to Altare one, we advise no code patients, two on
board.correction Evac Thirty Two declaring code patient.I repeat DECLARING
CODE PATIENT!!!" the voice screamed over the radio in panic.

"CHRIS." Aaron yelled as he moved away from the monitor, "Gordon, get those
stretches down to the dock, NOW!!!" Aaron yelled, passing Chris, "Chris
you're traffic control, take charge."

"Evac Thirty Two, you are clear to land.land that thing now." Aaron ordered
as he ran down the gangway, grabbing one of the stretchers as he came up to
Gordon. Seeing people still milling about in the landing zone, Aaron yelled
at them, "INCOMING, CLEAR THAT DOCK NOW!!!"

Seeing the chopper landing, Aaron pulled open the red trauma kit and grabbed
the preprogrammed cardiac nanite's from the case, along with the chest and
temple sensors, "Evac Thirty Two, you are Z plus two meters, unlock the rear
hatch, prepare for hot transfer."

Aaron waited and as the chopper landed, at the last minute it turned in
place so the rear doors were aimed at the gangway. As soon as the turbine
brakes whined into high pitch, Aaron and his stretcher were at the side
door. Climbing into the cabin through the open door, Aaron glanced at the
young teen being given CPR and slapped the sensors on both the teen's temple
and chest, before uncapping the long needle and plunging it into the teen's
chest cavity near the heart. Figuring that this was the queen's grandson, as
the other patient was younger, Aaron motioned for the crew to unlock and
move the teen to the stretcher through the side door, while Gordon started
to pull the other patient out through the back.

Once the teen was on the stretcher, Aaron motioned for the crew to move out
before climbing up on top of the stretcher with the teen, scanner out and
running over the chest cavity. And pulling another syringe out of the case,
Aaron removed its needle, and inserted it into the needle which was still in
the teen's chest, pushing the nanites into the teen's chest cavity, these
were programmed to repair blood vessels. The Aorta had a small tear and loss
of blood was causing the heart to fibrillate, "Theo, prep one the bio-tubes
for surgery, we are t-minus five minutes to brain damage."

John met Aaron and the stretcher halfway down the gangway, handed him the
gloves that controlled the remotes and helped steer the stretcher to the
waiting bio-tube. "John, you're with me; administer IV regen at four percent
oxygenated, then three units of nanite's, then hit procedure and then code,
patient." Aaron ordered as they entered the triage area.

Pulling alongside the bio-tube closest to the door, Aaron leapt off the
stretcher and over the bio-tube as soon as the stretcher stopped, so he
would be on the correct side; once he landed on his feet, he looked at the
flight crew, "on three, I want him in that tube and hooked up to the
respirator and then move out of the way," Aaron ordered, as he picked up the
IV cuff" one.two.now,"

Slapping the IV cuff around the teen's right elbow, and letting it drop
inside the bio-tube Aaron glanced up as the monitor lit up and started
disgorging information. "Clear." John yelled making sure all fingers were
out of the way before flipping the cover up and hitting the red button
twice, starting the emergency fill.

As soon as the lid sealed, Aaron was reaching into the airlock, removing the
surgical tray, concentrating on the task at hand while listening to John's
voice.

biotube red

"BIOX eighty three percent.Osmotic balance fifty percent.Nanite's
injected.Cardiac enzymes red lining.regen IV initiated, "John droned on as
he performed his instructions as Aaron cut the teen's chest open, causing
the fluid to go pink.

"Emergency flush cycle John, I need to see where the Aorta is torn," Aaron
fanned the fluid trying to get a better view.

"Code patient initiated.flushing bio-tube," John related as the fluid
started to clear.

"What's going on?" a woman's voice from behind the flight crew asked, as
Theo pulled her aside to explain to her and stop the elderly very properly
dressed lady from going into the red zone.

Mandy was directing the incoming stretchers as they came off the ramp,
sending them to an empty bio-tube and telling the crews to get the patient
moved and if Intubated, to hook them up to the on board ventilator, while
Carl was running from patient to patient slapping on sensors and IV cuffs,
before starting the emergency cycle and moving on to the next one.

Chris, who was manning the desk, watched the monitors only, and as each new
patient was cycled into the system, he would call off the pod number the
computer determined the patient was about to be transferred to, right before
the bio-tube would hiss and shoot upwards on its way to the trauma pod on
the next level. Red flashing words across one of the screens brought his
eyes to that screen, his voice sounded over the speakers, "Bio-tube slot
nine.internal bleed."

Glancing up to Theo, Aaron called out, "Theo, glove up and get wet.John
initiate red cell retrieval and wash.what's the numbers?"

"Core BIOX ninety five percent.BIOX eighty seven percent.red cell wash and
infusion commencing." John reported, as he then noticed how many nanite's
had been used so far, "ninth unit of nanite's being administered.

Looking around the abdominal cavity, Aaron wondered where the hell all the
nanite's were going, with code protocols in place, the computer was
aggressively making emergency patches that would only hold so long, long
enough to be replaced later on, but something wasn't right. Seeing the pale
white of half of the liver and the spleen not to mention the kidneys, Aaron
moved to the spleen and removed it, sealing the breach with nanites, he
dissected the organ to see it clogged full of blood clots, that was where
the nanites were going; they were attempting to dissolve the clots as they
broke free. Knowing what was going on now, Aaron quickly removed the left
kidney and it joined the spleen in the tray, before moving to the liver and
removing the bottom two thirds of the liver.

One of the surgeons that had accompanied the injured teens swore under his
breath, as he saw Aaron dissect the spleen, he paled, wondering if the young
prince would survive surgery as he realized the only hope he had in
surviving, was what the surgeon was doing right now, radical removal of all
effected organs, but the cost to the prince's future health was so great.

"John initiate vascular scan, let's make sure there are no more bleeders or
time bombs, before I close up." Aaron tried to stretch his tired and
cramping neck.

"On it.BIOX up to Ninety four percent.Core BIOX ninety eight
percent.vascular scan shows core cavity green, umm, I show a minor bleed in
the lower right leg, non arterial and the system is already starting to
repair it." John took a moment to glance around and saw the triage area was
mostly empty now, with only Theo's patient and their patient still on
triage.

Chris, now duty free, was watching Aaron and saw him wince in pain, figuring
he, more than likely, had been using a fair bit of kinetics to keep the
bleeding under control, went over to the wall cooler and tapped in the
combination unlocking it and removed one of the red energy drinks and one of
Aaron's donuts, securing the door he popped the cap on the drink and
inserted a straw. Making his way to Aaron's side, he was careful not to get
in his way and slipped the straw into Aarons mouth, "Here, you need to
replace calories."

Smiling in thanks, Aaron started to sip and catching the donut in the
reflection of the bio-tube pathed "I could use that donut, if you don't mind
feeding it to me. Micro kinesis really drains me more than regular kinesis."

Aaron wanted to smirk at the expressions of the doctors, standing around
gawking at him, as he ate the donut while he fused the skin back together,
he was not sure whether it was him eating, or the fact that the skin was
fusing together seamlessly that was causing the expression of shock.

Finished, Aaron placed the damaged organs in the tray, along with the spent
equipment and placed them in the air lock, just as John sighed in relief,
"Code protocols disengaging, system stabile and BIOX ninety eight
percent.Cardiac function at ninety percent.Vascular repairs complete.Osmotic
Balance eighty percent."

Removing the remote gloves, Aaron placed them on the side cart and started
to remove the surgical control screen. "All right people, step back, this
bio-tube is about to be transferred upstairs."

biotube

Once all the equipment was off, the bio-tube information scrolled across the
screen before it went dark, and hissing could be heard as the clamps
released the bio-tube for transfer. Making sure no one was in the red area,
Aaron went over to the waiting woman who was pale and shaky by the door,
while he greeted her, the bio-tube shot upwards and moved rapidly into the
trauma pod.

"First, let me say that your grandson will be fine, he is stabile and in six
hours, we can start organ regeneration, and some time Saturday, we will
start re-growing the organs I ended up having to remove. They had been too
badly damaged to repair without danger of a clot breaking free, causing a
stroke," Aaron started to explain, after shaking her hand, before he thought
of asking, "How the hell did he and the rest get injured anyway, the scans
read crush force trauma?"

"It's all pretty hush, hush still, at the moment," Thomas retold the tale,
"The young prince and his friends were involved in an explosion, well the
outskirts of one, anyway, in Belfast. The thing is, he was not the target."

"Well, I'll be in a better position to tell you tonight, after the deep
scans are complete to tell you how long he'll be in the bio-tube undergoing
repairs, but it is a safe bet that he is going to be transferred to Altare
Minor, to finish healing, most likely Friday night the Asclepius will set
sail for home base, and I do believe all twenty seven teens will most likely
still be on board, I have a few transfer patients being accepted while I'm
here, and they should be here in a couple of hours, they would not have
survived the wait to the official opening of the hospital next month, you
see," Aaron sighed as he stretched, he was rambling. "Why don't we get you
upstairs, so you can see for yourself that your grandson is alright, I'm
sure your staff physicians will be able to tell you what most of the
information on the monitors means, and my staff can fill in any blanks in
the information, I need to go deal with those vultures who are hanging
around outside the gates."

"I want to thank you for saving the life of my grandson," The queen told
him, as she laid a hand on his arm, "Thank you," she said, more quietly,
tears in her eyes.

Stopping halfway down the gangway, Aaron noticed the crowds of reporters had
blocked the gate. That simple act really pissed him off as he had another
group of sick kids arriving soon.

"Something bothering you about the crowds outside the fence, your Majesty?"
Thomas asked as he came down gangway and stopped next to the scowling King
of Altare.

"I have more kids arriving around one, there is no way they, or their
parents, can get through that mess, hell, there is no way anyone can get
through that mess." Aaron growled out before grinning, "I don't suppose they
would let me just shoot them all, I mean, after all, I would be performing a
public service."

Laughing, Thomas started down the gangway once Aaron continued walking,
"Secretly, they would applaud you, your Majesty.but publicly, they would
condemn you. Let me see what I can do to, at least, clear a path."

Roger, seeing Aaron approach, waved forward the woman next to his side and
her camera man, "Aaron Stranton, I would like to introduce Betty Wilder from
NBNC and her camera man Phil Stout, you can trust them to report fairly and
unbiased."

Holding up his hand to stop him, Aaron still was scowling at the crowd
around the gate, knowing they could pick up their words with their boom
microphones, "That may be, Roger, but right now, the gates and the drive
leading to them are blocked, and in another hour or so more sick and injured
kids will be showing up to be treated and they can't make it through to the
Asclepius," turning so the reporter could see how unhappy he was, "at the
moment, it seems that your colleagues are more interested in hearing a stray
word or getting video footage of me and the Asclepius, than children gaining
life saving treatment.so tell me Miss Wilder, why should I talk to you and
show you around my hospital ship when they are acting like a pack of rabid
wolves, what hope do they have of having their questions answered or getting
their chance for video footage of the inside of the hospital ship, when
their very actions endanger children's lives.?"

Betty winced at his very spot on assessment and turned to gaze at the media
frenzy outside the gates, before sighing, "To be honest, Sir, and my
superiors are not going to like this, but I don't think we should go any
further towards your ship or for you to answer any questions until my
collogues start acting like grownups, I certainly will not be part of
anything that would endanger the life of a child." Turning towards her
camera man, she made a slashing motion across her throat, "Stop broadcasting
Phil, and shut off the microphones."

Aaron nodded his head, watching the frowns and angry looks from the
reporters as the video feeds stopped, sending his mind out, he noticed that
several of them, the ones with more serious frowns and angry looks did not
plan to move, they felt it was their right to get a story, and if kids were
hurt, they could always spin it in a way to make it the embassy's fault.

"Roger, how much of that property out there do I own?" Aaron looked to his
attorney, disgusted that on hearing his words, no one had moved yet.

"You own the warehouses on either side of the drive, plus the large lot on
the end by the water, I think the engineers have plans to build a second
dock over there, and there is a clear line of sight to the dock Asclepius is
at from the lot.let me tell them to move, but some will not give up their
spots at the gate," Roger pointed out, as he started to move away.

Aaron shrugged, making sure that he was facing the crowd of reporters, "They
will be arrested and taken back to Altare, on charges of child endangerment,
one of the capital crimes in my kingdom, after all, they are standing on
Alteran soil."

Turning around to walk away from the circus, Aaron noticed the woman
reporter had her cell phone to her ear yelling at someone on the other end
of the connection, telling them to get their people moved out of the way of
the gates. Moving down the fence line, Aaron made his way past the warehouse
to the clear area, the empty lot behind the other warehouse. There, some of
the big name news vans were moving and setting up, he had been followed by
Miss Wilder's camera man. "You know, I don't understand the feeding frenzy
attitude going on over there, they are trespassing and blocking access to
the gates, access that is desperately needed by parents bringing sick
children here for treatment, but if their actions cause a death of that
child, I would be blamed for not controlling the situation, or allowing the
gates to be opened so the child could pass through, an act which would also
allow them to swarm through and more than likely they would head for the
hospital ship and cause damage or even injury to the already injured
children being treated, if they pushed the wrong button.please explain to me
why they act this way?"

Brad Didier from CNN was standing near the fence and seeing Betty walking
over as her cameraman struggled to come up with an answer, shrugged, "Most
of the big networks are moving over here, or are already here, we certainly
do not want any part hurting kids, we would lose our jobs, and rightly so."

Aaron, seeing the red light on top of the camera was not lit motioned to
Phil, "Go ahead and turn on your camera, no sense missing this."

Phil, nodded his head and lifted the camera to his shoulder as Betty walked
up frowning, Brad, holding up his hand towards Betty, waited until he saw
her cameraman turn on his camera, 'I'm not jumping your win of the right to
do the interview, Betty, I was asked a question that is a tough one to
answer. His Majesty asked me why our colleague's were endangering the
children by blocking access to the hospital ship, the only thing that has
been said so far is all the top networks have already moved and are setting
up over here out of the way, and we do not want any part in hurting kids."

Betty smiled and nodded her head, "The only ones still left over there are
the locals hoping to make that one big story that would propel their careers
into the spotlight so the big networks will notice them, it's their one
chance to play with the big boys."

"They are willing to risk their own lives and the lives of children to make
it to the big time? I can assure you that when the first vehicle with a
child in it or the first injured child shows up in our drive, my security
will swarm through the gates, each and every person who is blocking access
will be arrested and will face execution, not only that, there must be
hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment out there still, that
will be destroyed, this is crazy," Aaron sounded disgusted, and his tone
clearly carried that disgust to the cameras.

Another reporter who was standing nearby approached, "They think they are
smart enough to make it through the gate unnoticed, they think if they can
bring back footage of the ship you wouldn't show the rest of us, they will
be placed on a pedestal and their crimes forgotten." Seeing the questioning
look on Aaron's face he added, "Mark Carter, MSNBC, your Majesty."

Aaron nodded his head at the introduction, still angered and still
disgusted, but having to play the role in front of them, of visiting and
questioning monarch, one that did not have much contact with the U.S. media.

Thomas walked around before spotting his Majesty, making his way over, he
bowed slightly as he had noticed he was being broadcast live, "Your Majesty,
we have come up with a solution."

Aaron smiled tiredly, "Hello, Thomas, you say you have a solution to that
mess; that would be wonderful."

Smiling, Thomas nodded, "Yes Sir, we have sealed the area and I have men at
the outskirts of the drive, any who approach the area are being stopped and
if they came seeking medical attention they will be escorted to a waiting
coast guard cutter where they will be shuttled to the Asclepius or if they
need to arrive by ambulance, they are being intercepted and brought by
chopper to the hospital ship's landing pad. Any way you want to put it, the
situation is contained."

Smiling, Aaron stood up straight, "Thank you, Thomas that was brilliant.well
Miss Wilder, it looks like your tour is now going to happen." Glancing
through the fence to the two gentlemen that had the balls to try and answer
his question, even if it was something he did not want to hear, or helpful,
"Gentlemen, thank you for your honesty, you may feed questions to Miss
Wilder here, and if she sees fit to ask them, you shall get your answers."

"Shall we start, Miss Wilder.before I forget, please do try your best to
protect the children's identities, they have suffered enough already," Aaron
gestured for her to precede him.

Smiling and nodding her head to her fellows on the other side of the fence,
Betty started to walk next to Aaron as he returned to the ship. "Tell me
your Majesty, what does Asclepius stand for?"

"The son of Apollo was the god of healing and his name was Asclepius." Aaron
started to explain the history behind the concept of the ship and their
science.

"Rumor has it that you have the ability to re-grow organs, which makes
replacement for those waiting for organ transplant an assured thing instead
the long painful wait it is now," Betty commented, hoping to break a huge
news story.

"True, and we grow the replacement in place as well, we can do one of two
options; we can regenerate the original organ or replace the organ
completely, that technology led to the discovery of a cure for several long
term diseases, like diabetes type 1, which effects millions of children."
Aaron smiled, "Once we learned the secret of controlling things at the
cellular level, and we learned to regenerate organs, it was a simple leap to
realize that we could do the same thing to the liver and pancreas, thus
replacing the non functioning cells with ones that function properly. So if
the pancreas replaces the cells with scar tissue which does not produce
insulin, we can replace the scar tissue with the cells that do produce
insulin, and we are not introducing anything foreign into the patient's
body, we are using the one or two functioning cells as a blueprint to
rebuild all the others."

"People would pay a lot of money to have their kids cured; you stand to make
a fortune don't you, after all, the average transplant runs into the several
hundreds of thousands of dollars?" Betty was digging now, seeing if there
was a money angle as the reason for this new hospital to open its doors to
the world.

Nodding his head, accepting that as a valid question and one that should be
asked, Aaron looked past her, directly into the camera, "I could do that, I
suppose.but I have more money now than I know what to do with. Our fee
schedule is based on several things.one is the length of treatment, seeing
as everything is included. Including a suite for the family to stay in
during treatment, the fee also includes all meals and transportation to and
from the Altair Minor that is the other thing to consider. So we have flat
fees and even though we will accept the patient's health insurance for
payment, we will not budge on our fees. Our fees are low as it is, because
several worldwide companies funnel all their profits into the hospital. One
of the most prominent ones is the one that makes and sells Isolinear chips
and the new computer systems."

"Which, I suppose still does not answer your question on how expensive
treatments are," Aaron said, as he escorted them onto the Triage deck,
"Let's take the one we were discussing a moment ago, Diabetes type 1.
Regenerating both the Liver and Pancreas takes forty eight hours from start
to finish; the patient and their family will be on the island for four days.
They arrive on day one and settle in, and the patient is allowed to relax
overnight, the next morning the patient enters the bio-tube and the
procedure starts, being released on day three, forty eight hours later. They
then will spend the rest of the day relaxing and adjusting where we can
watch them for additional problems. They will leave the next morning to
return home."

Smiling widely at the camera, "All total, the treatment with everything
including being picked up and taken home after treatment will come to three
thousand nine hundred dollars U.S., since I am being interviewed by a U.S.
based network," Aaron's smile turned sad, "Of course, I expect the insurance
companies to deny payment or treatment, after all, they spend more than that
in a single year on supplies and testing for a patient, I have found most
insurance companies are run by people that have no common sense. But the
treatment will be available at the price the average family can afford, even
if they need a little help from donations."

Smiling into the camera once more, Aaron challenged the insurance companies,
"Who knows there might even be U.S. run health insurance companies that are
run by people who have more than their share of common sense."

Betty smiled; she knew a subtle challenge when she heard one, "It might be
nice to deal with that type of health care company."

Forty five minutes later, Aaron was standing in the Triage center explaining
the concept of the bio-tube to the reporter when she asked a question he
thought she would have asked earlier, "If you were not planning to make the
announcement of the hospital and new miraculous treatments until next month,
why did you bring the Asclepius here to San Francisco early? why did you let
the secret out when you are days away, really, from being staffed and ready
as you have described, what is so special about those patients up there that
you opened before you were ready for the onslaught that is about to come
knocking?"

"Out of the twenty seven children up there right now, half would be dead if
I did not come here meeting them halfway, of the rest, half of them most
likely would not live in the end, and would have died several days from now
and the rest would not have had a very good quality of life. The ones on
their way right now, are ones that were referred by desperate physicians
that know about the program and what we can now do; well, their patients
would not be around in a week's time, let alone a month from now. So why did
I let the cat out of the bag early, as you ask. Someone was desperate enough
to get a message to someone that was brave enough to face down a jail
sentence, all in the hope that I would listen to him for just even a minute,
as he put it, I was the only hope those children had to survive and he was
willing to go to jail to make sure I knew about it," turning to face the
camera lens, Aaron simply told the viewing audience, "How could I not help
when I had the means to do so , that would make me a monster like the one
that set of the explosion that collapsed the building on those children in
the first place."

"And as far as the others, if my ship was already here and fully staffed,
why should I deny the children that truly need us now, their chance at
happiness." Aaron laughed, "I may be temperamental first thing in the
morning, grouchy when I miss a meal, downright stubborn and quick to anger
at those that would hurt a child.but if I wanted to look in the mirror in
the morning, I could not deny a child the chance to live their dream some
day because of an artificial timetable."

Holding up his hand to halt further questions, Aaron extended his mic, went
to the desk and flipped a switch, activating the triage area. Gordon, Carl
and John came running to the triage deck as soon as the lights started to
flash a warning about an incoming emergency, "I must ask that you make sure
you do not wander into a red floored area, the automatics that move the
bio-tubes can seriously injure you if they move and you are in the danger
area."

"Sir, what is happening?" Betty asked, excited that something was happening,
before looking to the camera, "to the people at home that are viewing this
live, please understand that the network has built in a ten second delay so
that we may black out the faces of any children the camera picks up, to
protect their privacy."

"Thank you for remembering your promise, Miss Wilder. Now to answer your
question, the coast guard cutter that offered to ferry the children past
those rabid animals blocking our gate reported in, they are two minutes out,
and one of the children is having some serious breathing problems; we are
preparing to receive them and you may watch from the safety of the
sidelines, as we bring them on board, for the scientists among your viewers,
they will get a live, real life demonstration of our technology and our
capabilities."

Aaron stood back near the central desk, where he could see everything on the
big plasma monitor behind the desk. Phil had set up his tripod and mounted
the camera so he could pick up the screen which showed the outside views of
the hospital ship, along with the standby monitors that showed the patients
information; he had set up so that with a swing of the camera he could focus
in on the bio-tube and the wall monitor behind.

Right now, he was getting the shot of stretchers being wheeled down the
gangway towards the dock where, when he looked up at the monitor above the
desk, he could see the coast guard cutter docking.

Outside, Carl was in the lead with his stretcher, he got to the dock next to
the cutter in time to be handed a small girl who was slightly blue in the
face. Ripping her gown open to expose her chest, he quickly fastened the
monitor on her chest after wiping it with the sterilizing gel and glancing
at the monitor that popped up at the foot of the stretcher as the sensor
inserted its micro wires and became active. Using the same gauze to rub some
gel into the girls temple, he placed the sensor unit there and activated it,
reaching over, he activated the soma unit so she would not suffer any longer
and he started to push the cart with the sleeping girl towards the
Asclepius, when a sailor jumped to shore and grabbed the end of the cart to
help.

Gordon had been checking on several of the children as they were handed to
him by those sailors who had jumped to the dock and placed each, so they
were side by side sitting on the stretcher, so far none of them were in
serious distress, he figured that they all could ride up to the triage area
together. After placing the fourth child on the stretcher, he did not wait
for any of the parents to exit the cutter, but with the help of several of
the sailors, he began to push the children to the gangway and the start of
treatment.

Entering the triage deck, Gordon glanced at the four on the stretcher and
seeing that they were not in acute distress, steered them towards the
elevator; he would take them directly to the trauma pods and prep them
upstairs, away from the frightening aspect of the triage deck and the
emergency procedures.

biotube open

Aaron was ready, once Carl returned, he was waiting at the bio-tube and they
picked the girl up, placed her in the bio-tube and while Aaron Intubated the
girl, Carl hooked up the IV cuff and went to the console, ready to start the
cycle once Aaron was clear.

Fastening the tube in place, Aaron reached over and hooked the ventilator to
the tube and placed the nose mask on the little girl's face before moving
back, lifting the cover on the red button and pushing it. "I'll explain
slightly, as we work, the fluid the tank is filling with is a specially
design regenerative fluid, that besides letting the patient float above the
surface of the bed, provides nutrients directly to the cells. The skin is
the largest organ in a person's body and this fluid can pass the lipid
barrier. This fluid also allows us to directly manipulate cells, for all but
the scientists, the rest of the explanation would be worthless in the long
run."

Several things are started when the cycle is initiated, one of those being a
deep scan of the patient which identifies the problems, so we may start to
repair the problems, in this case, this young child is suffering from fluid
buildup in the lungs, from a weakened heart." Aaron went into teacher mode
so Carl would pick up on what needed to be done, "The first thing we are
going to do is fix the problem with the low oxygen level in her blood, we
will do this by injecting an oxygen rich diluted form of the fluid she is
floating in. this will solve the body's hypoxia, or starvation for oxygen,
giving us time to drain the fluid on the girl's lungs, before initiating
regeneration of the lungs and in her case, re-growth of the heart, we are
targeting the lungs first, as they will supply the oxygen that her body
needs to run, and if we repair her lungs first, it will lessen the time
needed to repair all her body systems as they won't continue to suffer from
lack of oxygen."

Aaron pointed to the monitor where a color video of the girl's lungs showed
the fluid buildup in them, and it showed the fluid being drawn back into the
body, "I'm going for the very simple explanation here, so I apologize in
advance if it sounds like I am talking down to you, I'm not, as I am trying
to make the most people understand what is happening at the same time. In
simple terms, what we have done is to take control of the girl on the
cellular level and have told the lungs to stop accepting the fluid leaking
in from the blood vessels, instead, we are telling the lungs to leak the
fluid back out to where it came from, which is the blood vessels."

"Now that she is stable and the fluid is almost gone and her blood oxygen
levels are back up to almost where they should be, we will transfer her
bio-tube up into the long term treatment area where we will initiate." Aaron
trailed off and looked at the large plasma screen on the back wall when a
voice came over the radio.

"Altare one this is Air Evac Mercy One.Altare One, do you read?"

Tapping the communicator, Aaron answered the voice, his voice also coming
out of the speakers, "Mercy One, this is Altare One, we read you."

"Thank God.Altare one, this is Mercy One, we are declaring an emergency and
are diverting to your location, we have two children on board.the victims of
a car crash with extended extraction, male, ages nine and eleven these
patients are trauma one and you are closest.I repeat our patients are trauma
one, and we have diverted to you location."

"Acknowledged, two incoming trauma one patients, Mercy One topside landing
pad will be lit up green flashing, you are clear to land.advise ETA" Aaron
motioned for Chris, who had come through the door, over so he could take
over flight control.

"Altare One, we confirm ETA three minutes. Thank you Altare One, for
accepting our.Altare One status change.WE ARE DECLARING CODE PATIENTS.I
REPEAT WE ARE DECLARING CODE PATIENTS."

Editors section:


RadioRancher's Musings: Hmmm, It looks as if I am being invited to comment
here. I have found this narrative to be quite interesting. I also appreciate
the opportunity to join the editing team. I have been reading and enjoying
WolfWalker's stories very much, and when I noticed a message placed on
http://Jeffsfortboard.com asking for some editing help, I was eager to help.
Thank you for allowing me to be part of the team. I will do my best. I will
also add that it is a very nice thing when readers take the time to let the
authors know what the liked or didn't like about any story. As has been said
many times, we receive no monetary gain from writing these stories. The only
compensatory rewards that come our way are the kind letters we receive from
fans that take the time to tell us what they think. We all thank you very
much for keeping us informed as to how our stories effect you.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

A/N: Well folks the official debut of the musing page. The two embedded pics
in this chapter if you want them show what I imagine the bio-tubes to look
like, really neat in a way. So if you want to get the chapters early or want
the chapters as I created them with the embedded pics and all drop me a note
and let me know if you want it in word or pdf