Chrome Symphony - Chapter 3

Elise finished talking to the doctor and then walked back over to Duncan, Shell, and Renk.

"Dr. Uzuki says that Jess is in critical condition right now. She's lost a lot of blood but they're administering freshly synthesized blood right now. She is, however, in good hands."

Elise looked over at Atlas. "Atlas is going to be fine. He's suffered only minor injuries. He should be able to accompany you to the L1 Colony."

Elise started to walk toward the door. "Dr. Uzuki repaired my communications gear. Apparently there was a jamming signal that fried some components. Callahan has been sending me messages non stop so I need to answer him and head back to the Velvet Room."

Duncan asked, "Are you going to be back? Are you going to the L1 colony with us?"

Elise shook her head. "I'm needed back at the Velvet Room. I'm very sorry, but I can't stick around."

"Wait", said Renk, "Aren't you going to the L1 base?"

Elise shook her head again. "I'm sorry but there's some urgent business back at the bar. Dr. Uzuki has agreed to update me regarding Jess. Callahan has his hands full at the moment, so..."

With that, Elise opened the door and headed back up to street level. She quickly made her way back to the Velvet Room to assist Callahan with some dangerous guests.

Renk sat there, in the waiting room, deep in thought.

My own team mates turned against me back there, he thought to himself. They said I was helping a terrorist escape. They also said I was working with the spies. Why did they say that? Why did they try to arrest me?

"I don't understand why but now I'm a fugitive, it seems," he muttered to Duncan. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Are you coming to the L1 base with us," asked Duncan.

"At this point, I think it would be the best option. If I turn myself in, I'll just be sitting in the brig. I don't know what's going on but something's rotten inside the military. General Mulhauser seems to have ulterior motives," replied Renk.

"Mulhauser's definitely very suspicious, from what I've learned," added Duncan.

"We need to find out if Jess is going to pull through. The whole point of finding a way to go to space was to rescue her father. Even if she doesn't make it, I want to do right by her and finish this mission," said Renk.

Atlas, Duncan, Shell, Renk, and Ray had been waiting in the lobby while Dr. Uzuki and her staff operated on Jess.

A few hours later, Dr. Uzuki emerged from the operating room and walked over to them.

"Jess was fatally wounded," said Dr. Uzuki. "From my experience, anyone taking that caliber of bullet straight through the heart would have been dead within minutes."

No one responded. It sounded like Jess was dead.

"Still... Jess has a high concentration of nano machines in her blood. I've worked with nano tech cyborgs before, but she's a unique case," said Dr. Uzuki.

"So what's her status right now," demanded Atlas.

"Since she was still alive when she arrived here, we were able to put her in a regenerative isolation tank, which uses nanotechnology to repair tissue. Apparently, the nano machines in her body had already started repairing the damage. She was definitely within an inch of her life," the doctor said.

"And...?" asked Atlas.

"She's going to live," replied the doctor.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Furthermore... at the rate she appears to be healing, she will have physically recovered by morning."

Atlas gasped. "That's... incredible..." said Atlas.

The group waited a few more hours and then Dr. Uzuki guided them down the hallway to a recovery room. Jess had been removed from the regeneration tank and was bandaged up, sleeping in a hospital bed.

Atlas and Shell walked over to the bed. Duncan, Dr. Uzuki, and Ray sat in some chairs on the far side of the room. Renk stood quietly out in the hallway, drinking a soda from one of the vending machines.

Suddenly, Jess's eyes opened. Dr. Uzuki gasped, completely surprised that she would already be conscious.

"Ugghhhh.... where's my sword..." said Jess, groggily.

"We're back at the street doctor. You dropped your sword back at the EMA facility," replied Atlas.

Starting to come out of her foggy state, Jess looked around the room. She saw Ray.

"The mission was successful, wasn't it," asked Jess.

Ray walked over to her bed. "Thank you for risking your lives to rescue me. I'm in your debt," said Dr. Heimborem.

Jess sat up in bed. "We need to get you to the L1 colony..." said Jess, becoming dizzy and lying back down. Dr. Uzuki ran over to the bed.

"Miss Price, you need to rest," said the doctor.

Jess rested a while longer. She started to feel her strength return and tried to get out of bed. Dr. Uzuki came back into her room while the others waited in the lobby.

"Miss Price, you shouldn't be out of bed," said the doctor.

Jess took a few steps. "I'm okay. When I was a child, my body was infused with some experimental nanotechnology..."

The doctor interrupted her. "We discovered that while treating you. I've never seen such nano tech before. You were wounded in a way that would have killed you if it weren't for that."

Jess took a few more steps. "We're on a tight schedule. Let me change out of this hospital gown and I'll get you paid right away."

A few moments later, Shell brought Jess a change of clothes.

Shell and Jess met the others back in the lobby. Jess started to wire the receptionist payment for the medical care, only to find out that her accounts had been frozen.

"What the hell?!" yelled Jess, checking her communication device. "Someone has frozen my accounts!"

It wouldn't surprise me if Randall ordered this, Jess thought to herself. Her blood was boiling.

Dr. Uzuki walked over. "Hey, don't worry about it for now. Send me payment when you get things cleared up," she said to Jess.

Jess nodded at the doctor. "I promise to get you paid as soon as this is all over... with interest," she replied.

Renk walked in the entrance to the lobby, carrying Jess's sword.

"How did you retrieve my sword," asked Jess.

"Let's just say I have guys still on my side in the military," replied Renk. "I straightened some things out with some of my pals and they sent someone out to bring me your sword. They had retrieved it after the scuffle last night."

Renk handed the sword to Jess.

Atlas walked over to Renk and handed Renk his gun and the communicator Duncan had given him.

"How did you get these?!" asked Renk.

"We had retrieved them earlier yesterday," replied Atlas.

Jess started to feel unusually strong and energetic. The regeneration tank nano machines may have reacted with my own nanites, she thought to herself.

Jess walked over to the door and looked back at the group.

"Well, if everyone's ready, let's get ourselves to the shuttle dock, port A!"

Duncan had returned the flying car to the rental shop while Jess was resting. He was charged an extra fee due to the mud on the floor and the blood on the back seat. Fortunately, they didn't ask questions.

As the group went back up the stairs from Dr. Uzuki's place back to the alley, Duncan calculated the quickest route to the space docks.

"If we take the transport tube over there," said Duncan, pointing at one of the pneumatic train pipes, "We can get to the docks in a few minutes. Camay has already commissioned a shuttle for us and it's waiting there right now."

Duncan looked at Jess. "Miss Price, are you sure you feel up to it? You were in critical condition just hours ago."

"I'll be okay," replied Jess.

Duncan, Shell, Jess, Atlas, Renk, and Dr. Ray Heimborem boarded the public transit pneumatic train and headed toward the docks. During the ride, Renk looked somewhat distracted. After Atlas gave him his belongings, he's likely trying to figure things out, thought Duncan. I hope he doesn't react poorly if he realizes what happened back at the hydraulic plant.

Duncan sighed and closed his eyes. Now is certainly not the time to tell him.

They arrived near the docks and everyone exited the train. Duncan looked around and saw several cargo shuttles. The Herei Mob Army's guys probably wondered where the hell their weapons shipment was yesterday, he thought. It was now close to dawn.

Atlas spotted the shuttle at port A and pointed it out. Everyone walked over to the shuttle, where they were greeted by a man and a woman.

"Are you Dr. Heimborem's escorts," the woman asked. Dr. Heimborem stepped forward. "I am Dr. Ray Heimborem. Is this the chartered shuttle to the colony at Lagrange point 1," he asked.

"Yes, sir. Glad to have you safe, sir," the man replied to Ray.

Everyone entered the shuttle. The interior was very plush; it was definitely a luxury transport ship. Duncan sat down and strapped himself in. Everyone else took their seats and, after a few minutes, the engines started.

The shuttle tilted upward as the launch apparatus moved itself into position. The boosters began to fire and the shuttle vibrated violently. Then, the main thruster fired and the shuttle hurtled into the sky.

Duncan looked out the window at the sunrise on the horizon. As the shuttle gained altitude, the yellowish sun against he red sky changed to a white, blinding ball against a black void. The automatic tint darkened the shuttle windows as the atmosphere around them grew thinner. Waves of plasma passed by the window as Duncan drifted off to sleep, deciding to take a short nap before they reached the colony.

"You know," said Duncan, yawning. "This is the first time I've been to space. Seems nice."

END OF CHAPTER 3

END OF EPISODE 1