Ana

CH 38

Strike team? His heart sank. “They need to be extremely careful not to harm Heidi. She can be invaluable to us.”

“That’s up to the brass to decide,” Dave said. “We need to follow orders and get this situation locked down ASAP.”

“Fine, Right now I need you and one of your most trusted men to come to room 325. I’ll explain when you get here.”

“Understood, on my way now.”

He faced Nicole. “He is coming now and should be bringing a test subject that can be trusted with him.”

“That’s good.” Nicole placed her hand carefully on the bed sheet. “I wonder if this bed can replace lost limbs. Perhaps we should see if it can replace a finger.”

“Yes I can regenerate limbs and fingers,” the bed said.

They gave each other a wide eyed look before Paul said, “That would be amazing. “So… Ana, how long does the process of re-growing fingers take?”

“Approximately ten minutes.”

Nicole looked at him and gave him a nod. They both were thinking the same thing. It was a bit drastic, but he wanted positive proof that this bed could do something well beyond current medical science. “Nicole, we will need a local anesthetic. Would you please go and get one of our nurses with Top Secret classification to assist and have her bring what we will need for the amputation.”

After she left, Dave arrived accompanied by another Marine with a ghostly look in his eyes and deep scars on his face that told you that this man had witnessed horrible things in his past.

“Dr. Pierpont, this is Corporal Martinez,” Dave said. “He’s a decorated Vet from action in Iraq that recently transferred here from Germany.”

Paul had seen him around but had never spoken to him because this man gave off an aura that kept others away. Corporal Martinez shook the doctor’s hand firmly and nodded once as his form of greeting.

“So, where is the alien medical device?” Dave asked.

“This is it.”  Paul motioned to the bed. “They made it look like a normal bed. As a matter of fact, they did such a good job that we should mark it so we don’t get it confused with the other beds once we begin to relocate it.”

Dave went to stand next to the bed. “It sure doesn’t look like much. Does it work?”

“Yes, it healed a small cut on my arm in only a few seconds. Now we want to test it on something much more significant before we are out of time.”

“Well I think we got the right man for the job. Corporal Martinez got himself blown up in Baghdad a few years ago. Ain’t that right Corporal?”

“Yes Sir. My team’s Humvee took a hit from a RPG, I was the only survivor.”  He rolled up his sleeve to expose his right arm which was covered with scar tissue. “My right side is a real mess and I lost two toes on my foot. That’s why I got a desk job now.”

Paul pulled a hospital gown out of a drawer and handed it to the Corporal. “Please disrobe down to your underwear so I can have a look.”

Shortly, Nicole returned with a short, red haired nurse that was glancing around nervously as if aliens might jump out at her at any moment. “This is Nurse Whitestone. She has the necessary security clearance and I’ve explained to her what we are doing.”

“Thank you but it seems we will not be performing any unpleasant finger removals after all. Have a look.”  They all examined the solders heavily scared side, leg and damaged foot.