John dropped the med-crate just inside the infirmary door, and we all crowded forward towards Henry, only to be waved back by the male nurse.

“Leave him be for now. We're having the bone fuser dollied in. Going to try to fix those shattered bones in his lower leg. You'll be in the way.”

The doors banged wide almost immediately, and two small Kreeb pushed an apparatus into the room. Part of it looked like an x-ray machine. Another had small articulated arms mounting lasers of some type. There was a panel, and a control surface, and what I took to be a power source. I looked at the assembly dubiously. “You know how to work this?”

The medic nodded and shrugged at the same time. “Used it once before. The Kreeb showed me. Its pretty automated. There's a fluoroscope, shows the breaks.

“You use a teaching pendant to define an area of interest. The machine scans the area for green breaks, and it fuses those. Using the florescent display, you can align broken bones the usual way, clamp the leg in place, then let the machine fuse larger breaks. It can dissolve small splinters and fragments. If you can't make an alignment, you're back to surgical manipulation, screws and pins, or a cast. But over all, pretty simple, and can make a huge difference in healing without even breaking the skin. Kreeb used it for carapace repairs and such, but turns out it was adaptable for bone with a little modding.”

“And for Henry?”

He's got a lot of fragments, which can be a real problem. So the machine will be a godsend. I may be able to do a workable alignment. I'll see when the scope's up. He won't be dancing anytime soon, and the blood loss emptied his spleen for sure. Don't have any whole blood aboard, save for what's riding around in people here. Henry said he's type A positive. We've got some tubes, saline and a 'fuge though, so I can do a primitive type and cross, You should ask around for likely donors--instead of standing around in here. What's in the crate?”

John piped up. “Drip kits, field splints and dressings, pain killers, antibiotics, the usual field hospital basics. No blood. Nothing requiring refrigeration.”

Lisa pressed forward. “I'm type A positive.”

I looked again at the machine, and the blood-soaked leg. Breaking the skin didn't look like an issue. The male nurse told Lisa to wait, and ushered the rest of us out. John put his hand on my shoulder.

“I'll ask around after donors. You should get busy figuring out our next move.”

That's when the ship shook. There was a boom. I gave John a desperate look and ran for the door.

####

The ship seemed stable, and I dashed my way to the bridge, keeping my mind off everything else. “Clacks, what was that!”

“Projectile was, explosive? Not to penetrate ship meteor shield. No worries.”

No worries? Who? Reese corp? If so, there went our plans for a park-walk loading at their site. Oh gods. “Can you show me the attacker?”

The display shifted, and a swirling image of a pair of helicopters danced in a corner of the main display. I caught a red “R.C.” Painted on the side of one, as the view shifted. Excepting the Kreeb stuff, it was the first time I'd ever seen a machine fly, myself. A flash and smoke trail belched from one, and another shudder rolled through the bridge. We quickly ascended out of any possible range, leaving them behind.

With John below, and Henry incapacitated the last thing I needed to hear came from Clacks.

“So. We go next, back to pick up your Mr. Rouk?”

I deflated. “Suppose so. Go way up. We can't have these guys figuring where we're headed.” That much of the plan seemed safe, it was a private corporation, after all. After that though...

Henry was still in the spare storeroom when I returned from the control deck. We were due to descend after Rouk in about fifteen minutes. The cat had decided I was interesting again, and followed me next door where John was prying open the last-minute crate he'd brought aboard.

The wood top pried free with a squeak. “Something Henry asked about just before they took him up.” John brushed away some packing material, and started hauling out pieces of whatever it was. “Called an Adagio four. It's an area denial platform prototype. Got stored. I BS-ed with Henry about it once. Did test ops on it. Henry remembered I mentioned it got stored here.”

He moved the parts up to a raised platform near and facing the loading doors. A heavy tripod took shape under his hands. There were a number of terminators for the legs, from dead-man anchors which he set aside, to large, heavy looking flat plates drilled with holes. John looked at the bay platform and selected the latter.

He barely looked at the parts as they flew together. I'd heard of assembling equipment blindfolded, but I'd never seen it done. Today seemed a day of firsts for me. “What's it do?”

John made shooting motions with his fingers. “Puts the fear of god into anything in front of it.”

A large diameter tube, some sort of feed, and what looked like a belt feed followed. He attached a couple of motors, a chute of some sort, there were a lot of assemblies. I recognized a pair of oversize Mini-gun barrels among the things being put together, and a brace of twenty by six inch, four foot long magazines. He didn't attach these. Instead he opened several of the smaller crates he'd hauled up, and began filling two banks of launch tubes with what looked to be substantial rockets. The platform raised the weapon maybe eight feet higher than the deck. At least that's what it looked like to me. Several boxes of seven point six two millimeter ammo boxes were unveiled. The rounds were belted.

John squinted at me. “How much time we have before stopping for Rouk?”

I switched from ogling the equipment to settle on John's features, realizing how much time I had wasted watching the assembly. “Huh? Oh jeeze. Just about now. I gotta get back to the bridge!”

We stayed pretty high, and looked down on the pick-up site. Couldn't pick out any individuals, but the area looked vacated. “Clacks, I'll go down with the flier. Have someone meet me in the bay.”

“Pilot in ship, already is.”

Reems rubbed along my leg. “Vill go too. Need to pee anyvay.”

The flier landed just behind an abandoned gas station. Reems scampered out tail up, before I made the ramp. He seemed unworried about trouble. While that could be a good sign, a lot of things didn't bother the cat that worried me. I looked for Rouk.

From behind the station there wasn't anything to see. Dusty wind scuttled loose weed past the cement brick foundation, and scraps of paper circulated like carousels in the eddies there. The building featured rusty peeling paint and plaster, but there was a good section of plaza roofing still shading the front. Rouk was there, lounging against a decrepit red and white pump, in the company of a woman. Waving caught his attention. The two ambled up just as Reems reappeared from the shuttle side of the station.

“Tomas, this is Rebecca Whorley. Her thing is Astrophysics.”

The lady juggled a small suitcase full of stuff from one hand to another, causing something else to jiggle, gave me a grin and offered a hand.

“Haih. Rouk says you maiht be able to save the planet, so I'am in.”

She couldn't have been much over thirty-two or so. Somehow I'd expected...well, not sure what I expected. But a hauntingly green-eyed and built southern belle wasn't it. I stammered out a hello, and waved toward the flier. “Uh, the bugs may be able to help out, if you can figure out what's what. You will probably need to find out what they have and can do, 'cause I sure don't know. The bunch aboard can operate the ship, have resources, but I think that sort of heavy physics is a little outside of their training.”

She made a small face, and jerked her case. “So Rouk says. Ah will need to verifiah the planet's exact orbit, the current path of everah body now affecting it, our exact rotation, get information on oh, jus' tons of stuff. You are riaht about seein' what they have. That's crucial, in the end. Won't be fast, and there's no guarantee anything can be done. I don't see why a space-faring race would need mah help. Doesn't make any sense, but lead on.”

Didn't to me either, but then again, I'm blissfully ignorant about physics and perfectly happy to leave the heavy lifting to others. “I don't have access to the whole bug thing, just this ship. The bugs aboard say they might give it a go, with your help. If you get it figured out. Rouk thought you could help, so here we are.” I bit my lip. “Did Rouk tell you that we wont be … that we are heading into possible trouble first?”

Rebecca nodded. “I was told. But I can't let this chance slip bah. Y'all r' not leaven me heah t' sit on mah ass till you get it all figured out. Too much t'do. Won't be much help if theah's trouble though.”

My head got heavier. More and more people's welfare crowded it. I went over the crew roster best I could remember it, wondering if there were any I could off-load here, where their exposure to trouble would be less a burden on my conscience. Why had I decided to pick up Rouk first instead of after the equipment load-up?

Reems bounded past me and onto the shuttle ramp. “Vell? You half to pee too?”

I shook myself, and followed.