A hidden luxury, a gem located in the edges of Rheinland. It sits afar from attention from anyone. A large Renzu liner sits in the middle of nowhere, barely populated by anyone but its owners and a few unexpected guests. Although an emergency of crucial importance sits down in its lower sectors, the medical center was locked out for anyone else to enter. It was heavily clinical with all its wires a other patient beds, kept clean but like no one has used its full potential ever before. It was eerily quiet with the exception of a few surgical tools tapping and bleeping of the heart-monitor.
Three occupied its Operating room, Enfield was dressed in full hazard-gear, dressing himself according ready to preform what seemed like a dangerous operation. "Hnnph... I forget that this is lead lined..." He snaps on two gloves and prepares his equipment needed. Before long another one entered the room with more equipment and tools, although she was recognizable, she didn't seem to have her usual body. It seemed more like white metal in her female figure, with a fine layer of white hair and bright blue eyes as usual. "Okay, everything is here, extra oxygen supplies, heart-bypass, the 3D printer... You need anything else.""Yeah... Some sleep."
Another laid on the operating table, He was Eric Klugmann, inhaler, monitors, and various equipment kept the beating of his heart and the bleeping of the monitor constant. His pilot and officer clothes were placed to one side and in trade was wearing a white patient gown with a central hole cut in the middle exposing the heavily bruised skin of his chest. His head was covered in blood from blunt force trauma, the side of his head seemed to have skin lacerations near his ear, fragments of visor glass seemed to be impaled into his upper face. He was still awake, although the mask was supplying him a stable airflow it was also connected to a knock-out gas that ran on a separate tube, but that was switched off. "Stay awake Klugmann, I'll tell you if you need to be opened up for repairs."
Another woman, Laura, both tired and worried as her eyes recently mark a battle that she had just encounter as her sweat and blood are present on her flight suit to which she still wears with her uniform underneath. She watches from the distance of the Operation room, sitting down trying to reclaim her strength.
"I understand you'd like to help Laura... But this is quite a delicate procedure... and we might be dealing with unknown contaminates, but fortunately the Hazard-Alarms didn't go off upon entry." He wipes his visor, trying to helplessly wipe off his sweat from his earlier fight. "Damn it..." He looks at Klugmanns chest with serious brusing. "Omni-Scanner." Enfield requests a tool from his robotic assistant. "Here... You think the ribs are broken?""We'll see." He runs the scanner over his chest that visibly shows a laser grid. "Yes... the upper cartilage has multiple tears along with fractures around the ribs but not even a crack around the sternum. Lungs are lucky not even have minor damage... Lucky guy."
The Pain was exquisite, chasing him to the depths of his internal psyche. He rounded corners, egged on by shouts and the prodding of his back by a gun. His arms were amputated. No, restrained - No, straitjacketed. He was led into a featureless dark room with an omnipresent, slowly swinging metronome.
"-To see your parents again."
He'd been here before. Nearly four months into his indeterminate sentence. In fact, he'd been here more than five times. It was a safe place to retreat to when his life was in considerable danger.
But he knew what happened next. It always happened and he was completely powerless to stop it, but he wasn't quite sure what it was. He knew it was just beneath the surface.
The man was some sort of "psychologist", but Erich knew that the prefix "psycho" was likely there for another reason. This was to be the last time they saw each other. Straitjacketed and hardly able to move, his sole reply to the man was a baleful glare and a nod.
"Still you refuse to see things from the Kanzler's view - And mine. Our past meetings have not gone very swimmingly, have they?" Feigned sweetness and courtesy oozed from his lips like the most potent of venom.
He continued. "Like before, I would like you to tell me everything you know about certain... Dissidents. Those who put certain misinformed ideas into your head. But as my patience has gotten me nowhere fast... I thought to play a little game with you, Erich Klugmann."
Addressed as if he were a quarter of his age, Erich mustered up the strength to simply spit in the uniformed man's general direction. He could barely see him anyway through his sole unswollen and unbruised eye.
"Bring them in."
His heartrate increased and he began to sweat as a trembling Rheinlander mimicked the motions on the operating-room table, beginning to re-live something long buried.
He brings the Omni-scanner against his head, scanning around the skin above his ear where a wound was present. Enfield brings a wash-head and cleans any dirt and residue from his face. "His occipital lobe and the temporal lobe took a knock... At least i can tell you hes not going to be a vegetable. But hes might be forgetting things in the terms of Amnesia... Hopefully not. He keeps the cycle going. Anyway, this wound still seems to be bleeding a tad, give me the Polymer-Sealer." She passes a syringe to him filled with a almost clear liquid. "Now..." He places the plastic syringe near the wound and starts to spread the clear gel across it, almost sealing the it from further bleeding. "All I can recommend is at least a few doses of Morphine and... A serious amount of rest. But we need to take care of these glass shards." "Yes, he doesn't want a diamond studded face now. Tempered glass is painful, too bad the laminated sheet didn't hold on impact, the visor did leave a memory on the surface." Taking a pair of needle tipped forceps, and starts to remove pieces of glass from his face. Meanwhile Zeal runs over with the Omni-tool, scanning his entire chest and face. "Five... Six... You see anymore?""Yes, I can locate one near the surface of his eye-lid...""Yeah, I never take those things for granted... Depth-perception is crucial." With the removal of what he can see, he again washes his face and seals any more bleeding wounds over with the polymer seal. "I have nothing of foreign contaminants... No risk of biological infections or pathogens." At the notice of that, Enfield unseals the helmet of the Hazard-suit. Giving a sigh of relief. "Good... its hot in this damn thing."
He looks around the Operation Room. Looking at the large air-tight packets that hang from the lines and racks. Taking one of them down and opening its packet with a large utility knife. "I took some damage too... Nothing too serious, its normal for me just to take a week off from my ship either exploding from being shot by our regular threats like yours truly, or some extra work that I do that can end with either being shot or stabbed. Quite sad its normal for me.""Normal for us you mean... Drink?""Yes, get something from the bar." Zeal leaves the room, opening the automatic doors to what seems to be someones living room on the other side. He turns his attention towards Laura Carsten who sat afar. "I can't say much about doing this, but understanding that we had ideals about saving him rather than shooting him dead. As much as the Buro would like him alive, they'd probably won't let him see daylight again. Because its my job to do that." He takes out a smaller IV fluid bag from the large packet. He ties it onto IV stand, and attaches a fluid line with a needle in the end with a remote valve switch and inserts it into his wrist. "Although someone told me I'd be better helping people, makes me a better person. Anyway, Best I can do for now is minimize the pain, give him a comfortable place to rest." He unzips the rest of his Hazard-suit, placing it on the side of a counter. He still wears his officer uniform, medals and all except for the officer cap. His face obviously showed restlessness, extreme tiredness and most noticeable relief.
A haggard man and a heavily bruised woman were brought in front of them - Just as heavily enforced by lethal pressure as he had.
"...Mother? Father?" A bewildered Erich muttered the words both in his mind and on the operating table.
The entering man - unkempt and bearded and profoundly skinny, experienced a softness of his otherwise Tolstoy-esque visage that likely hadn't uncreased in four months. The once-pretty woman still appeared overjoyed merely at the sight of her husband; so much so that Erich's appearance only amplified the matter. The three bodily-restrained family members attempted to convene for the first time in months at the center of the room - With or without the mobility of their arms.
The sound of needler-rifles being brought to shoulder from half-a-dozen men around them quickly brought them back to reality.
"Touching, isn't it? Alas, I'm afraid I cannot allow this to continue. Erich, I'd like to ask you a final time."
The interrogator withdrew a sidearm from his coat pocket; silvery, sleek, single-purposed. If Erich knew then what he knew now, he'd know that this particular variant was a simple and cheap model. Daumann's own TKH-0013a Emergency Pistol was cheap, held three simple projectile non-flechette shots, and held stopping power comparable to that of weapons from Sol's days. But a quick death was not to be on the agenda. The images were clearer. The nightmare was resurfacing.
"Restrain them. If they move, they're expendable." The words were too casually, too offhandedly spoken to the several other more heavily-armed men in the room, who obeyed with a regimented cohesion. "Erich? Names. Who taught you to act so disrespectfully to members of the Kanzler's own glorious Kriegsmarine? Was it these two?"
Erich was sure his heart was palpitating, screaming just as loudly as his mind was as he stared a cold barrel in the face. He didn't know their names eight years later, either, even as his pain-strewn and freshly-washed face scrunched in difficulty as it yearned to remember, for the sake of perhaps turning back time - Time still measured in agonizing seconds as the metronome continued to tick.
Tick.
Tock.
Ti-
He was certain that he'd simply gone deaf from the echoing, tinny nature of the cell and the sheer volume of the pistol's discharge. The sound of a man slumping to the ground and wailing in abject agony was next to break the din.
The bearded man was shot in the right lung, and he was very much conscious still. There was shouting, a woman screaming, and Erich's moment of weakness - Nothing more. He was silent as he and the woman were jostled out of the room by drawn rifles. Silent but weeping misty saline as he was directed to "the queue", a holding place for the penultimate location of his sentence. The rest, his mind told him, was history.
But that was important history he - Or at least his conscience, had squirreled away. His mother's fate was ambiguous. His father's was a painful, untreated death by small-caliber instrument of death.
And as he reverted to reality, eyes welled wholly with tears... He glanced upon two all-too-familiar Federal Officials observing his vulnerability, and took note immediately that his own fate might prove ambiguous as well.
He turns his head to Carsten who seems to have fallen asleep in her chair. "Yeah well... Nice talking to you too." He only gives a sigh and a huff, before taking off his officer jacket and dumping it on an computer desk adjacent to where Klugmann is and takes rest on the chair at the desk, resting his elbow on the desk, and his head on the knuckles. "So its the waiting game." He watches Klugmann for a while, observing even the slightest twitch before he clicks off himself, nodding off for about an hour.
"...Mother? Farther?"
Enfield jolts awake and almost falling off his chair. Even to the slightest speech he steadies himself after a little rest. The jolt knocked over a pot of pens and pencils across the floor. "Damn..." As he lazily chucks them on top of the desk, he stands up to oversee Klugmann. "Dreaming... Hope its something nice. I'd be pretty jealous." He looks at the heart monitor, it reads out 74BPM. "Everything seems alright..." He sits back down and twiddles his fingers. And tries to stay awake at the best of his ability. After a while is attention is turned to the desk, swiping his hand over it. It brings up a holographic display of a cybernetic limb, what seems like an arm, with added extras. He starts to mess around with holographic models of computer components and constructs, moving them around to fit in the internals of the arm.
He yawns quite heavily. "Good god-"
The doors are heard sliding open, Zeal had came back with two glasses of drinks, both different; One clear, the other yellow. "Twin shot of Energy-5 caffeine boost, and... A banana smoothie with supplement 45." She places the tray on the desk beside where Enfield was working. "I'll just take the Energy-5, I'm going to need that for now." "So hows he doing?" "Fine, although keep it down." He takes the glass and downs it in one gulp. "Uguh~ Rise an shine..." "What are you working on?" "I'm needing to find a much more efficient power source, I've switched from hydrogen fuel cells to Lithium film, at least i won't have to worry about a potential nuclear grenade in my arm. Just a... Fireball." "Naa~ Yes; I enjoyed that part where we were a walking nuclear bomb. What about the Carbon-nanotube processor?" "Still in prototype stages, that won't go in any time soon." Her metallic blue eyes take her attention away from the holographic model towards Carsten and Klugmann, switching her view from one to the other. "Crazy as ever... So whats with Carsten?" "Don't know, most people I'd know would kill Klugmenn on sight, he has a nice price on his head. Money or a promotion.""So, what are you going to do?" He slumps in his chair and just shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know... Can't shoot him after getting him out of that cracked ship. I could turn him in... He'll get tortured and shot, probably rat me out that I saved his ass in revenge motives." "Best I can calculate for now is let him stay aboard, set him up a room in Villa-4, that hasn't been used yet." "Let Carsten share that room, I'll have Vergil monitor- Uhh..." He gives out another yawn, and wipes his eyes. "Right... Go to sleep, I'll look over him." She gives him a pat on the back, encouraging him off the chair. He just nods, and moves away to the exit.
He is given pause by a voice exuding from the room he was about to vacate. “Where am I?”
“Good morning.” A female voice greets his awakening. She takes a seat in the chair, rolling towards the tableside where Klugmann rested. “Now, I know this is strange, but you’re on our vessel, recovering from… Minor head trauma and some damage along your cartilage… We’re not state or private healthcare so you’re not getting a hefty bill, We’re not Liberty.” She picks up a remote from the under the table. “I understand if the tables mattress are slightly uncomfortable but he kinda likes them firm.” She places a remote in his hand, having him hold it firmly. “Now, if it starts to hurt, this will give a light dose of Morphine. One dose every 10 minutes or so.” She comes into a clear view of Klugmann, her face was of a pure silver metal, her lips and eyes blue and her hair streaks of platinum. Although in the form of a Human, she clearly wasn’t.
“I-I know who you are. That voice is reminding me of the far orbit of Holstein, and I believe I know why.” He squinted through lidded eyes as he gently relaxed the proffered remote thrusted into his hands. “Or at least, I know who you belong to… Where am we, and what does he want from me?” Ever direct and raring to go, Klugmann’s recurrant memory suppressed itself under kilotons of zeal and worry. Was Stuttgart still… Standing?
“We held them off for now, nothing for you to worry about, but for us…” She crosses her legs… She seems silent about the subject for now, not looking at him directly for the moment. She seems to be wearing clothes, despite her lack human features, her lab coat and apron seems to cover her from any stains. “Now… I know what you’re thinking. Knocked out, Buro operatives, operating room, every opposing forces nightmare.” She opens up a holographic display. Showing the damage that was dealt from the blast. “But if it’s a test dummy we want, we use ourselves. So don’t worry... We didn’t use you as some guinea pig.” She grabs a file on the desk, bringing it to her lap, flipping through it. “Lets see… Oh my… Quite the history. You’ve been reported for serious wounds in your stay at Vierlande, although… No cause.” She writes the file. “And it seems tomorrow you… Also suffered more injuries to your ribs and head. Which cause is also unknown. Escaped from Marienhospital on Stuttgart after first treatment.” She closes the file gently, placing it back on the desk… She rolls away to the side, sitting back at the desk.
“Tomorrow?” Erich’s teeth ground. “You’re making this all up on the spot, aren’t you.” His gaze drifted lazily over to the IV in his arm, and he lifted a hand to his lacerated-but-healing face. “Where is he?”
“Of course I’m making it up!” She giggles, while swiveling back towards Klugmann on her chair, seemingly enjoying the motion. “Its our job to make stories like this. Internal affairs honey, although we’re not all heartless people.” She seems to be playing with a pen in her hands, flicking it around between her fingers. “Hmm.. Tempted to see him, feels like I’d never hear those words. Strange how a change of heart can happen when his kindness does save your ass.” She gives a smile, she starts to sway side to side in her chair. “Alright… Hmphmm… Double doors to the living room, turn left to our bedroom, I’d doubt he’s gone to sleep yet.” She motions her hand along with her speech as she gives directions. She then points the pen at the IV stand, giving a pause in her speech. “Want to take that with you?”-
“Don’t call me that.” He grumbles, standing with a heavy and pained wince. “Just… Point me to my clothes and get me to the nearest Freeport or other station, and I’ll humor a very few questions when I’m all situated and in his - Your bedroom.” A slight cringe of apprehensiveness rippled through Klugmann at the notion that his unlikely benefactor was involved with this artificial being, but perhaps it was merely the morphine or the pain itself.
He looks over the intravenous injector, wincing. “Is it safe to remove this?”
“Just take the tape off, pull out the needle.” She rolls out another chair having his clothes folded on the seat. “Your ship is in pieces, and we’ve had to reschedule and relocate since your arrival along with Carsten. We’ll be moving to Newport within the next few days. So don’t get so agitated.” She continues working on the desk, changing parts over on the hologram. “Now… Go ask him what you like, and get changed in the restroom. As much as I’m not human, I appreciate the respect for being decent.” She crosses her legs and has the overlapping one swing back and forth as she works.
“Fine. Just…” With monumental effort, he gets to his feet and stares down at his hand, testingly flexing and clenching it. Minutes later he was within the nearest lavatory, squinting at himself in the mirror. Healing lacerations and spark-burns. Unpresentable and assuming they were telling the truth about his release, the fact that he’d been missing and so badly injured would attract the wrong kind of questions. Now dressed in his standard garb, he located Enfield’s room and knocked - Three sharp raps against the metal doorframe.
Carsten woke up and looked at unfamiliar room. After few seconds her memory woke up as well and everything what happened in past few hours returned to her head. The patrol. The Nomad invasion to Stuttgart. The rescue operation in space to save Erich. The flight to Koeln. The Renzu liner and Erich´s surgery.
She was quite tired even before that patrol started, but she scheduled it and didn´t want to cancel it. But with all the previous lack of sleep and rest, combined with hours of fight, long flight and stress, no one could blame her that she felt asleep during Erich´s surgery. She was so tired she didn´t even remember how and when did she got in the room. Probably half-sleeping.
Laura sat down on the bed and looked at wrist watch.
"Damn!" cursed loudly when she realized that several hours passed from the battle in Stuttgart, after which she deactivated position transmitter of her ship to hide where is she heading with Geoff and Erich. This will be tough to explain. No one wants to be suspected for being captured by nomads. One experience with Büro agents regarding this was more than enough.
She jumped out of the bed and dressed back into the flightsuit quickly. It was important to report back to polizei headquarters as soon as possible.
After leaving the room, she tried to remember which way goes back to the operating room and took the route she hoped to be the right one. Fortunately it really was.
"Oh nein...not this...thing..." Laura thought when she entered the room and spotted that Erich nor Geoff are there, but only "person" is the artifical human being called "Zeal". Aboard the liner it was first time they met in person, so far it was just a voice from Geoff´s ships when they met in space.
Carsten really didn´t like these artificial inteligence creatures, especially when they had human-like bodies. It was not anything personal against the Zeal, she had same feelings about all these beings generally. It was weird. It was unnatural. It was scary.
Police officer hesitated for a moment, examining the appearance of the Zeal again. But she could not affort to waste time.
"Erm...hallo? What´s with Eri...Klugmann? Where is he? And where is Geoff? I need to speak with them both and leave...uhm, quickly?"