A Hidden World

Special Tools

Sharon's video is onscreen. The backboard is too large to fit with the stairs in place. They seem to fly upward. Sharon accepts a case and a backboard with an arched end going over top of it. She runs back.

Gerry's hands are a couple of inches from my head. "This is going to be very tricky, Sharon. I've put her into a coma to ease her pain. She has crush injuries from just below her heart to her feet. There's no circulation below her chest. She should be dead. Her blood pressure is almost zero. From that arch, hand me those tubes. Just pull them and they'll reach me, thanks. Push the large blue button on top." He attaches four different colored tubes to my visible shoulder and neck.

He looks down watching readings. "We've got her Sharon. We need to extract her. Could you check the integrity of that rubble on top of her? Try to find a way we can slide her out sideways if possible." He touches his helmet. "Surgical, I need one sled down here with one surgical aide and one recovery aide on standby in two minutes. A full surgical team must be ready for her when we get to the ship. Operations, we need jaws, double sided extendable to seven feet."

Sharon is clearing debris and building a hole beside me. She reports, "I see her feet. She's on her stomach, at a slight angle up to her head. Her legs are side by side. Her mid back is at a bad angle upward toward her chest. Sir, she's only a half inch thick in places."

"Good job, Sharon. I found her other arm twisted above her back. I'd like to sneak into your hole. Those jaws should be here. Would you get them please?"

Carol's voice, "Do you need assistance?"

Gerry replies, "Thanks, there's no room down here."

Sharon manoeuvres what looks like a long steel plank from above.

Carol's voice again, "A strange team is here. They're at the foot of our bridge."

Gerry replies, "Thank you. Ask them to stand by." He is in her hole by my feet and appears to be clearing away some rubble. He attaches another set of tubes to my calf. "Sharon, we're going to push debris upward. When we clear the debris, she'll start bleeding profusely. Are you ready for that?"

She replies, "Yes sir."

"Slide that backboard down to me arch first. Good, now we need to position those jaws. As soon as debris on top of her clears enough, we'll slide her onto our backboard. I've her legs and hips. You need to slide your one arm under her just below her heart, your other arm at her shoulders, protecting her head. See how her head is hanging?" Sharon nods. "That's what will happen to her body below your arm. It'll droop like a piece of spaghetti. You can't hesitate. We need to move her straight to this backboard, understood?"

"Yes."

"Jaws start up on one, we move her on three, one."

Concrete rubble starts to separate above me.

"Two."

There appears a small clearance, with dust obscuring our view.

"Three."

They move as one. In that instant they move me from crumbling walls to their backboard, I look like a piece of string not stretched out. My body sags between their arms and I turn dark red. Blood seeps from everywhere. Sharon takes my arm from my back and moves it in tight beside me. It is shattered. It moves in the wrong places. The arch on their backboard slides covering me from head to foot. I am on my stomach but only my face is visible behind glass.

Sharon sounds shaken. "She's not going to make it."

"Fifty fifty, at least she has a chance now." He punches buttons while looking at displays on the arched backboard. "Sharon, you did fantastic. Most surgeons wouldn't be able to handle that move. She's a fighter. We need to get her out of here."

My hand hurts. I look down. Clair, whose face is white, is squeezing my hand.

I whisper, "I am right here, Clair. I do not remember any of that."

She looks at me, then at her hand, and let go. I reach across, with my arm across her shoulders.

They move me. I am under Rick's escape route. Gerry shouts orders above. Arms appear. Rick is upside down, holding and adjusting the backboard so it does not hit the sides. Sharon moves to help Gerry with the bottom edge. She watches as Rick moves upward. Carol and another rescuer pull him higher.

Once the backboard clears, Gerry boosts Sharon upward. She turns back to watch while standing on a bridge. Rick lifts upward, and Gerry emerges. He has solid gold bars on his shoulders and both wrists.

Gerry turns to Sharon, "Thank you, Rescuer Sharon. Please continue with other duties." The backboard attaches to a strange looking gurney. Gerry, who Sharon focuses on, joins a crew at the gurney. Two other suited rescuers check readouts. They have gold bars on their shoulders and two large gold stripes above their wrists.

Carol's shocked voice sounds over Sharon's headset. "He's a general."