From: pjd@hpespjd.fc.hp.com (Paul Dorweiler)
Subject: Space Cadets (not Rangers)  episode 28
Summary:  ooops!
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 04:21:55 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Fort Collins, CO
Keywords: blunder, stupidity, love

Spaaaaaaaaace Cadets, episode #28: "Perverts Anonymous"

===============================================================================

{Things were very busy for MORC and myself after Dohram got himself and
 Andrea into the Shark.  Neither of them were in good physical condition after
 having to push themselves to the limit to get back to the Shark.  I basically
 "committed" them by overloading the fusion reactor of a destroyer near the
 transport at the spaceport.

 I knew that I'd lose communications with MORC once that transport was out
 of the normal gravity field around the planet.  The amount of signal
 processing necessary to counteract the intense signal degradation of the
 nearby black hole was bad enough in a stable gravitational field.  Once
 that transport cleared the fields Gizmonics was generating to keep those
 planets from falling into the black hole, subspace communications would be
 lost.

 So, I packed as much medical information into a packet as I could and sent
 it to MORC on the highest transmission rate I could muster.  I hoped it
 would be enough.  MORC had to monitor the transport's systems and _try_ to
 use the inertial dampers of the Shark to counteract the massive gravitational
 field changes as much as possible.  It wouldn't be an easy ride on that ship,
 and the fact that both Dohram and Andrea were unconscious didn't help matters
 at all.  I was very worried that now that they'd managed to escape Gizmonics'
 HQ, they wouldn't survive the trip back.  My creator is many things, but a
 perfect physical specimen he isn't.  He never liked exercise all that much,
 and spent FAR too much time in zero-G working on AI projects.  One of the
 reasons he created that exosuit for himself..}

===============================================================================

(Well, life wasn't exactly "easy" for me, either.  Remember, I was still an
 immature AI at best, operating with a very limited set of stasis rules, and
 even then it was only about things related to spacetravel.  You can imagine
 my reaction when my bigger AI brother suddenly informed me I'd lose contact
 with him, and soon.  Thankfully he dumped a huge packet about human vitals
 and medicine on me before we lost the subspace link.

 The transport reached orbit, and as I focused the sensors back to the
 spaceport, I didn't detect much left.  Fusion reactors aren't supposed to
 create large explosions when they fail, just a LOT of heat.  Looked like
 they put the reactor a LITTLE bit too close to the consumable fuel supply
 aboard that destroyer...

 I didn't have time to digest that packet yet, though.  Neither Dohram or
 Andrea were strapped in, and they were soon to be tossed around the cockpit
 by the violent G-forces of the black hole and five neutron stars.  So, I
 devoted my full attention to trying to adjust the inertial dampers as best
 as I could by scanning the transport's engines, sled's force fields, and
 the gravimetric beams used to push the sleds away from the black hole.

 [Remember, the only way in or out of these five neutron stars orbiting a
  black hole is by use of several large sleds, which envelop a ship with
  a force field and are pushed or slowed by intense gravimetric beams
  generated by the planet the ship is going to/from. -- MROC]

 It was a rough ride past the neutron stars.  I noticed immediately we were
 taking a different path out than we came in on.  I also found that by
 monitoring all the field adjustments going on, I could do a much better job
 at changing the inertial dampers, and so Dohram and Andrea only had to put
 up with a maximum of about 3 G's worth of acceleration.  Of course, they were
 both out cold the whole time.  It took quite awhile to get clear of all the
 gravitational fields so that the transport's engines could operate.

 Once the sleds led the transport go, I started digesting that med info MROC
 gave me.  It wasn't long before the transport made a hyperspace jump, and
 immediately shifted from that point into transwarp.  I was done too fast for
 me -- I never got a fix on where we'd jumped to.  I couldn't risk trying a
 subspace link to the GGPlat, for fear of being detected by the transport.)

 [A subspace transmitter as powerful as the Shark's, for use anywhere in the
  galaxy, will cause a LOT of interference with a nearby subspace
  transmitter/receiver. -- MROC]

===============================================================================

(About an hour later, I changed the oxygen content of the cabin atmosphere in
 an attempt to wake up Dohram.  Andrea's heart was beating VERY erratically,
 and she needed medication which I couldn't give her.

 After about a minute, Dohram awakened.)

D: "Uuuuhh.  My head..  My lungs...  Huh?  MORC, what's wrong with the air
    in here??"

MO: "I had to wake you up, so I increased, then lowered the oxygen content.
     I'll try returning it to normal, but with two of you in here the life
     support systems are overloaded."

D: "Oh.  Man, what a headache..."

MO: "Andrea needs some medication, Dohram.  Her heart has been beating
     erratically for about an hour now.  It's gotten a little better, but
     from what I can tell, she's still in danger."

(Dohram shifted in the seat a bit so he could see a display screen.  He dug
 around and got a biopatch, unzipped the front of Andrea's jumpsuit, [AHEM!
 Shame on you for such thoughts!!] and placed the biopatch on her chest.)

D: "Can you give me a bio readout?"

MO: "Yes.  Coming up now."

D: "Hmmm.  I'm no doctor, that's for certain.  I don't know what you give
    someone who's massively over-exerted physically."

MO: "Try phrenesin, 100 milligrams."

D: "Lemme guess.. MROC taught you about human medicine while you where on
    the surface?"

MO: "No, we didn't have time for that.  The subspace link required a lot of
     signal processing.  But, he knew we'd lose contact once out of orbit,
     and with the two of you in such bad shape, he gave me as much related
     medical information as he could."

D: "Figures.  Demented though he might be, that AI can be all too darned 
    logical sometimes."

(Dohram very painfully, by the sounds of it, twisted himself around and dug
 though the stuff behind the seat for a med kit.  It took several minutes,
 and he pulled several muscles doing it, but he finally found the med kit.

 About the time he turned around, though, Andrea convulsed and her heart
 stopped beating.)

MO: "Dohram!  Her heart stopped!"

D: "Frac!  Not now... not now, love..  I just got you back.  What do I give
    her, MORC????"

MO: "Checking...  Try 50 milligrams of riosorbitane."

(Dohram found the vial, loaded the hypospray and injected the medicine into
 Andrea's neck.  He then felt for her pulse.)

D: "It's still not there!  No heartbeat!"

MO: "The medicine alone won't do it, Dohram.  Get your mini-cardioshock unit."

D: "Got it."

MO: "Set it for a setting of 3.  Place it just above her breasts and press the
     green button.  But..."

(Too late.  Dohram pressed it, and shocked both himself and her.  He had a
 slight irrythmia for a few seconds, but thankfully recovered.  Andrea, 
 however, still had no heartbeat.)

MO: "..you can't be touching her, or you'll get shocked, dum-dum."

D: "NOW you tell me.  Still no heartbeat!"

MO: "Try setting five, but you need to isolate yourself."

D: "I'll turn on my suit's shields."

(Dohram did, reset the Cshock unit to five, placed it, and...)

D: "Please, God, I _need_ her.  I'd given up on life before I'd met her."

(Dohram pressed the button.  Andrea convulsed, and her heart started beating
 again.)

MO: "Okay, now give her the phrenesin, 100 milligrams."

(He gave her the phrenesin with the hypospray.  After a few minutes, Andrea's
 heart had settled into a slightly more "normal" rhythm..  Dohram was gently
 stroking her cheek, lightly brushing her hair, and crying a bit.)

D: "Clone or not, I love you, Andrea.  I promise you that from now on I'll
    just treat you as a _person_, and not get hung up on your heritage."

(After a few minutes, Dohram again passed out from exhaustion.)

===============================================================================

(About forty minutes later, Andrea awoke to a bad case of back pain, only to
 discover her jumpsuit unzipped, and Dohram asleep at her shoulder with one
 hand ungracefully positioned near a breast.)

A: "Why that little sadistic, horny pervert!  Of all the times to try and
    fondle me...!"

MO: "Please, Andrea, it's not what you think.  Your heart stopped beating,
     and he had to use a cardioshock unit to revive you.  Once he'd gotten
     your heart started again, he started crying a bit and passed out shortly
     afterward."

A: "You're MORC, right?"

MO: "Yes.  I'm glad to finally meet you, Andrea.  Dohram seems to care for
     you quite a bit, to go to all this trouble to find you.."

A: *laughs very lightly*  "In spite of all his timidness, worrying, and over-
   analyzing practically everything, he _does_ care very strongly about many
   things.  And I know he loves me, although he's never said the words to me."

MO: "Oh, he has.  You just weren't conscious.  Listen..."

(I played back something Dohram had said right before he passed out.)

 "Clone or not, I love you, Andrea.  I promise you that from now on I'll
  just treat you as a _person_, and not get hung up on your heritage."

A: "Oh, Dohram..  I know I should have told you about all the genetic
    enhancements before now, but I was just soo afraid it'd scare you away.
    Thanks, MORC.  Is he okay?  And where are we going?"

MO: "He's just asleep.  He didn't sleep much before we came to the Gizmonics
     system, and slept even less once we got to the planet.  As for where
     we're going, until we fall out of warp, I won't know.  And I can't try
     to contact the GGPlat for fear of the transport discovering we're here."

A: "Well, I hope it's soon.  This is WAAAY too cramped, even if it is Dohram
    I'm cramped against.  Keep an eye on both of us, MORC.  I'm feeling a bit
    sleepy myself."

MO: "I will.  Just don't take the biopatch off your chest."

(Andrea re-positioned Dohram's hand, zipped up her jumpsuit a bit, squirmed
 around to try and get a little more comfortable, and then fell asleep next
 to Dohram.)

===============================================================================

Well, with Andrea out of danger, what next?  Where is that transport heading
at transwarp speeds?  And did anyone watch "Space Rangers" on CBS this evening?

Needless symbolism and hyperbole abounds (NOT!) in the next Ender-ized episode
of:

SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCE CAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDDDETSS!!!!

 
Dohram
Official Hobbes of the RFA, Dennis Mukai gallery owner
(and eternal bachelor... not necessarily by choice, for those who've asked)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Dorweiler  (Dohram) | Hobbes: "I don't know.  What did it sound like?"
pjd@hpespjd.fc.hp.com    | Calvin: "Sort of like breathing and drooling and
Hewlett-Packard Company  |          ripping the meat off human bones!"    
Fort Collins, CO         | Both:   "YAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!"         
Newsgroups: alt.romance.chat