Living Proof

"Launch time twenty-four minutes and counting... Launch time twenty-four minutes and counting..."

He didn't have much time. Picking up his severed arm, Joseph staggered to the dispensery. The spare key to the pharmacy was still in the back of the surgical linen closet under the towels. Opening the medicine cabinet Joseph found the morphine.

"Launch time twenty-three minutes and counting... Launch time twenty-three minutes and counting..."

Joseph sat down, waiteing for the pain killer to take effect, and soon began cleansing the wounds on his shoulder.

"Launch time twenty-two minutes and counting... Launch time twenty-two minutes and counting..."

He figured he had lost only a minimum of blood and hoped he wouldn't go into shock before placing himself in suspended animation. But hearing the hydraulic doors and hatches automatically closing, Joseph wondered whether there was enough time.

"Launch time twenty-one minutes and counting... Launch time twenty-one minutes and counting..."

He ran the auto-scan around the wound. No sign of bacteria, no further loss of blood. After repeating the same process on his severed arm, he sterilized it. If he was careful, he figured his chances were about even. But any infection could kill him...

"Launch time twenty minutes and counting... Launch time twenty minutes and counting..."

To be on the safe side, Joseph sterilized and scanned the wounds a second time, then sealed them. Hoisting his backpack on his other shoulder, he started for the elevator then stopped. "Jesus Christ!" he yelled, remembering Shokley and Holden. He set the backpack down and took the elevator to the first level staging deck. He started the all-terrain-vehicle, or ATV, and drove into the elevator. Back on the main deck, he used the ATV's winch to haul the bodies into the rear compartment, then drove it back into the elevator.

"Launch time thirteen minutes and counting... Launch time thirteen minutes and counting..."

Time was running out. The elevator doors opened. Stepping onto the bridge, Joseph reached back into the elevator and pressed the button for the staging deck. As the doors closed, he ran to the remote control console. From there, he sent the ATV back outside, to the planet's surface.   go to page 6