"Hippocrat"

[Joe Manning 0]

In the overcrowded cafeteria of Guardian Medical One, Joe had shifted back to his old familiar role as Doctor. His gurney left behind in the IC ward by Troy, a nurse had quickly wrapped his midsection and administered a mild pain medication before ushering him out to clear much-needed space. The prescription was several weeks of rest, on account of a shorthanded staff unable to provide any more intensive care. Joe could not rest, however, with wounded Guardians being streamed into the hospital in numbers that necessitated a cafeteria triage. Without a crew to command, he felt the old oaths stir inside of him.

 

He was dressing the burns of a Lawman who'd been fortunate enough to be a safe distance from the blast that had hit Tranquility's Central Guardian Precinct. There were no details available to the grunts, but rumors were that the blast was bad; the severity of the burns of a Lawman who'd apparently been outside the building on the opposite side as the blast affirmed this. The general sense Joe was getting from the conscious survivors was one of surprise. The Rainmakers' most recent attacks had been successfully thwarted, and there was growing confidence that they were closing in on Minos himself. An attack on their headquarters had been unthinkable; how the Rainmakers managed to smuggle a bomb into Central Precinct was still a mystery.

 

Now things were going from bad to worse. Minos had just promised the world a failproof method of dropping the orbital radiation shields. There were rumors of unrest that was sweeping the entire city. Joe thought of the riot at the port bridge, the riot that he had incited to acquire both the uniform and the bruises that we was wearing. He thought of the 'whatever it takes' mentality that was driving him in Minos' direction. He thought of the bombing of the Systems Enterprises building and how, in a few senses, it had made his search for Minos easier.

 

He then looked around at the chaos in Medical One. He had Guardian credentials, but they were not medical credentials. He was not a member of the hospital's staff, whom any of the residents could recognize. Marshall Savoy was in the building and could identify him as a fraud on sight. Yet he tended to a burned Lawman confident that his cover was in no danger of being exposed. Troy was inside the ICU where Jerald LaHaye was being treated. T'Aral was tapping into the hospital's security systems uninhibited. The influx of Guardians from Central Precinct, along with over a dozen doctors who'd been contracted from throughout the city to provide assistance, had made much of this possible. The attack on Central Precinct had been another break for Joe ...

 

Was he losing proper perspective? Had he returned to being Doctor Manning in order to keep it in tact? Or were the old oaths still strongly ingrained in him? In his old age, he was becoming less certain.

 

Minos had given the world six hours. Whether his bold threat was genuine or whether he truly had the power to carry it out, a boiling point was rapidly approaching on Tranquility. If LaHaye could not provide a clear route to Minos or if Pher could not dig up a lead of her own, Joe saw his only alternative as the very same one being taken by many of Tranquility's citizens. If they could not find Minos in six hours, they would have to board Qob and take off. Many ships would be making forced departures from the planet, and Joe had to think that the Guardians were not so desperate to keep Minos contained (despite all he'd done to them) and not so callous in their disregard for others that they would begin opening fire. The idea of becoming an outlaw was not entirely palatable to him, but the ideas of losing his ship or even being fried by Tranquility's larger sun were worse.

 

Joe was struck by a brief fit of coughing. It reminded him that he had to focus on the moment and not dwell overmuch on the future. For the moment, Troy was going to need help getting out of the IC ward, possibly with LaHaye. He looked down at the unconscious Lawman. "Time to go for a ride."