EOS did all the work docking the space elevator with Thunderbird 5, which was a good thing because Maria had no clue how to accomplish the task, and probably no skill in attaining it even if she knew. The hatch hissed and door parts slid and then the station's metal airlock irised open. Another mobile sensing unit was visible on the ceiling just inside. "Follow me," EOS's voice said before sliding on a track overhead.
Maria discovered she was weightless as soon as the seatbelt released. The walls were close in the lift, so it wasn't hard to use them to push away, grab the med kit, and float out the door, but it was annoying not to be able to kick or scull, like you could in water, to make yourself move or change direction. Without a wall to push from, she ended up floating aimlessly. It wasn't long before she could no longer see the mobile unit. "EOS! You're getting too far ahead. I don't have a nice track to move on."
"John has no problem navigating very efficiently without need of tracks," her computer voice gloated from out of sight.
Of course he doesn't. He lives here! "EOS, you don't have to point out all the ways John is superior to me. I surrender on all counts, all right? He's the Space King and I'm but a lowly Space Peasant here in his Space Castle. I'm not trying to dethrone the king; I'm trying to help him! If you get too far ahead, I'll get lost. That won't help John." She fumbled around, finding ways to bounce obliquely off the walls, thinking how much she felt like a human cueball.
EOS returned from whence she had disappeared, gliding smoothly on the track. "Try to push up and grab onto my sensing unit. You can ride with me until we hit the gravity ring, where John is."
Why didn't she suggest that to begin with? Maria had to bounce a few times to get the right angle to reach it with one hand. The med kit was as weightless as she was, but the handle would not allow her to hold both it and the sensing unit. She held the top of the boxy unit with her free hand, but her grip wasn't the best. At least she wouldn't splat on the floor if EOS zoomed off and left her in the dust. But the AI moved smoothly enough that Maria didn't lose her grip. A long corridor and then a couple of turns and they reached the gravity ring, where Maria let out a huge sigh of relief. She could walk here.
The relief was short-lived when the transparent floor rotated around to show her just how far from the Earth they were. Beautiful view, but it made the soles of her feet feel tingly and sweaty. No more looking down, Maria chided herself. She caught sight of John and ran to where he was lying. He was a little pale but his lips weren't blue, so he was getting enough oxygen. She dropped the med kit, knelt next to him and grabbed both shoulders, shaking enough to wake him if he were merely sleeping. "John! John, can you hear me?" she said loudly. Not a yell, but louder than her normal voice.
His eyelids moved a little, but he didn't open his eyes. He groaned as if talking in his sleep. It sounded like, "Bad fries," and then he lost what little consciousness he had gained. He was acting like he'd been drugged.
Maria stood to look at the table where he had abandoned lunch. The burger looked untouched, but she couldn't see any kind of container that held french fries. She hit the comms button on John's sash. "International Rescue, this is Maria. Virgil, are you listening?"
"I'm here. How's John?" Virgil asked.
"I don't know yet. Did you send John any other food with the cheeseburger? French fries, chips, or crisps, possibly?"
"No. Just a double cheeseburger with extra pickles. John's not much of a fry guy."
"EOS," Maria said. "Please play back the recording of John from the time he sat down to eat until he passed out. And show Brains too."
"Complying," EOS said and the recording began, projected holographically in mid-air.
The camera angle wasn't optimal for studying food, but it looked to Maria like there had been a few stray french fries positioned on top of the little silver egg in the burger's clamshell box. John grabbed them and popped them in his mouth. He made a face which suggested they didn't taste that great, but evidently not bad enough to spit out either. He either didn't see the silver egg, or he thought it just a bit of food-wrapper foil and unimportant. He picked up his burger and smiled at it the way Alan smiled deviously at his tacos.
The egg produced a high-pitched mosquito hum, then it hissed. John noticed the sounds and set down the burger to examine the egg, but no sooner had he set the burger down but he started to sway. One hand clutched at his head while the other caught hold of the table edge, slowing his descent enough that he didn't appear to have a concussive event when his head met the floor. His last word was a choked, "EOS." The recording ended.
"There were a couple of fries in the burger clamshell, probably put there to hide that virus canister," Maria said, thinking out loud, and hoping Brains was listening. "But The Alchemist loves poisons, right? What if the fries were poisoned with something else, something that acts faster than a virus? Maybe the virus was intended for Thunderbird 3 when it came to rescue John, but the poison was to make sure John couldn't warn anyone ahead of time. EOS, can you scan John's blood as he is or do you need me to draw some into a vial?"
"I can scan without needing removal," she declared. Maria could have sworn Space Princess EOS sounded smug about it. A plane of strong light beamed from the mobile sensory unit and passed over John's body. "Scan complete. Toxin identified." Rather than read the convoluted chemical name for the feeble-minded Space Peasants whose inferior intellect would never understand her, she displayed said name (it was at least 75 letters long) along with its molecular structure and all the other scan data in a holo-image readout.
Maria drew a deep breath, trying to figure things out. She didn't want to make a stab at pronouncing that mouthful of chemical nomenclature either, but she could deduce a lot from the chains of atoms and the overall shape of the molecule. "Okay, so he was supposed to stay conscious long enough to call for help, assuring that Thunderbird 3 would have come if it wasn't so far away right now. His liver should have broken it down and detoxified it. But he passed out before he called for help and his liver isn't clearing it. Why?"
"Look at the c-concentration, Maria," Brains said. "Is that a normal d-dose?"
Maria scanned the readout EOS was still projecting in mid-air. No wonder that french fry tasted bad. The concentration was high enough that it would have poisoned him even if he spit it out. Swallowing made it an overdose. "That bastard," she swore under her breath. She quickly added, "The Alchemist, not John," so that EOS wouldn't start planning her accidental death-by-spacing for blaspheming the Space King.
There was a pharmaceutical antidote that might have helped, but there wasn't any in the med kit and Maria wasn't a doctor and couldn't prescribe drugs anyway. Liver dialysis would have worked too, but they didn't have the equipment and getting to the CDC would take time. John might not have that much time. If only we could just get him some liver support...
She eyed the blood scan data again. Sally had said John was O-negative and the scan confirmed it. The solution occurred to her in a flash of inspiration. She rummaged through the med kit again. Yes! There was more than one blood collection kit. She started pulling out what she needed and simultaneously talking to Brains.
"Brains, is a standard spacesuit close to P4-level protection? Since Thunderbird 3 is gone, I'm thinking we should call Global 1 and ask Captain O'Bannon for help in getting John to the CDC. But Thunderbird 5 is contaminated. We can't expose anyone else to that virus without protection."
"Yes, a spacesuit should be sufficient p-protection against the virus, but we should warn Captain O'Bannon of the risk and tell her n-not to remove her helmet while inside Thunderbird 5."
"She probably should keep it on even after that. We don't know how contagious John is right now. Many diseases are spread because people pass it on before they even know they're sick. He has some of those little buggers in his lungs. If just one gets out..."
"Understood."
"Do you think maybe you could call Global 1? I'm more worried about that poison than the virus at the moment. I have an idea that may work, but I need to concentrate on that and not talking to Ridley."
"I'll take c-care of it," Brains promised.
"Thanks, Brains." Maria waved through his holo-image to cut the connection, very glad he hadn't questioned what she was about to do.
"EOS, can you display John's medical history and background information, please?"
"Affirmative." The information was displayed immediately, replacing the blood scan data. John had no history of hepatitis or anything that would defer him from giving blood.
Maria donned surgical gloves and laid out all her tools, but she doubted she could just start poking John with needles without Space Princess wanting to know what she was doing and getting all protective. She'd have to explain first.
"EOS, the poison that The Alchemist used on John is normally handled by the liver, but he got too much of it, and his liver isn't getting the job done by itself. Because John and I are both the same blood type, I'm going to set us up to share circulation so it will dilute the concentration and get two livers working on that poison."
Maria swabbed her inner elbow with an isopropyl alcohol towelette, noticing the proximity to the triple hexagon branding scars that The Alchemist had left her with after her first encounter. You're not getting anyone from International Rescue as long as I'm around, you sadistic bastard. She sucked in her breath, and jammed that diabolical 16 gauge needle into the vein, biting back an expletive over the pain. Those donor needles were big enough to drive a bus through. She taped it down and placed the collection bag on a chair so it would be level with her heart. The bag started to fill with deep red liquid, mixing with the anti-coagulant inside.
"If I pass out, just make sure Captain O'Bannon doesn't disturb all the needles and tubes I'm about to set up. Can you do that for John?"
"Affirmative," EOS said.
She'd originally planned to poke John in the arm, but they didn't have any good way to hold the blood collection bags up. Their hearts and body positions would be doing all the work, so the lower-to-the-floor leg would work better. Maria had to cut John's uniform leg with some scissors from the kit, then she swabbed a vein and stuck him with the recipient needle. She opened the tube's valve to let her blood flow from the collection bag into John's leg. Her blood would supply antibodies as well as dilute the poison. She continued her instructions to EOS even as she worked. "After we're gone, you should expel all the atmosphere in Thunderbird 5 and the elevator, which I exposed to the contaminated air when I came in. The vacuum of space and freezing temperatures should sterilise everything so it's no longer a biohazard, so it will be safe for John to come back."
Maria closed the med kit case and shoved it under John's shoulders to raise his torso so his heart would be a little higher, hoping to make gravity work in their favour. It was a good thing they were in the gravity ring part of Thunderbird 5. She cut open his sleeve and repeated the blood donation steps so that he would be filling a new donation bag from his arm that would then empty into her leg. That way, her liver could help process his blood and both of them would be accepting as fast as they gave so there was no limit to how much blood they could exchange. She swabbed her leg and stuck herself again, then opened the valve to let John's blood flow into her veins.
"You're sure John is going to be all right?" EOS asked, her voice passing for the human equivalent of fearful.
"I hope so, since I basically just tied my life to his."
"Maria!" Virgil interjected, his head and shoulders popping up in a hover just over John's sash. He was still in uniform and holding a yoke, so presumably still on his mission. "Don't risk your life to save John!"
She was surprised to discover she had been broadcasting anything on comms, but she was ready for his objection. "Says the man who risks his life for complete strangers multiple times a day, seven days a week."
He didn't have an answer to that but she could see the concern etched deep in the lines of his face.
"It's okay, Virgil," she said gently, "I saw the concentration of the poison. Two healthy livers should be able to knock it down."
"Should?"
Truthfully, she felt their chances were about 70%. Maria wasn't brave like Scott, who'd probably risk his life for someone he'd never met or someone he didn't like for a 20% chance or less. But this was Sally's grandson and Virgil's brother in jeopardy. The fact she had only met him on comms before today was immaterial. She wasn't about to stand by and do nothing when she had a better than average chance to save him. She was starting to feel a little light headed and sleepy. She replied with a groggy voice, "Well, if it doesn't work, you can insist they revoke my medical licence."
"You don't have a medical licence, sweetheart. You dropped out of medical school, remember? No one is expecting you to be a doctor here."
"Oh good, then you can't sue me for malpractice. I'm covered under Good Samaritan." Maria was thinking a nap might be a good idea, so she quickly checked all the tubing to make sure everything was working right. Her donor bag was filling faster than John's. That probably wasn't optimal. She had to get everything in order before she dozed off.
"EOS, speed up the gravity ring a little, would you? John's heart rate is a little low since he's unconscious and we need a little extra push to help his blood flow into my veins. Let's try one and a half Gs to start."
"Accelerating gravity to one hundred fifty percent Earth-normal," EOS announced.
The extra G-force made Maria feel heavy and therefore even more sleepy. She was probably also inheriting some of John's sleepiness via their shared circulation. Maybe they could both just sleep this off. Her eyelids drooped lazily.
"Stay with me," Virgil urged.
"Not going anywhere; too heavy to move. Just going to take a little nap."
"Why don't you stay awake and uh... tell me about sharks." His words were laced with a quiet desperation. He was trying to keep her talking.
"You're not interested in sharks, my love. That's Gordon and Alan's thing." She yawned deeply.
There was a static crackle and then Alan's holo-image popped in next to Virgil's. "Hey, Maria, I'm so bored way out here with nothing to do, millions of kilometres away from Earth. Why don't you tell me about sharks?"
Sheesh, how big is this party line? she wondered in a twilight haze.
Virgil nodded vigorously, his facial expression oozing gratitude for Alan's timely request.
Maria somehow found enough energy to spout off a little nugget of shark trivia off the top of her head: "Did you know nurse sharks don't have to keep swimming all the time? They have spiracles to force water over their gills, which means they can stop swimming and still be able to breathe while they rest. I'm going to be a nurse shark—er, shark nurse—and take a rest now. Be safe out there, Alan." She waved goodbye, expending as little energy as possible in the movement.
"Would you stay awake if I sang to you?" Virgil threw in as a last ditch effort.
"Maybe, if it's not a lullaby." She might have been stretching the truth there. She might doze off regardless. He would forgive her, wouldn't he?
"Sorry to interrupt," EOS said, "but you might be interested to know Captain O'Bannon's shuttlecraft has docked with Thunderbird 5 and she will be here any moment."
"Yes!" Virgil said triumphantly.
A puffy sky-blue and white spacesuit with red trim and a bubble-head helmet floated through the doorway and then landed with a bit of a thud in the ring, evidently not prepared for the extra half-G. "Anyone call for an ambulance? Ridley O'Bannon at your service."
Maria sighed softly. There goes my nap. "Maria Anderson. I'm John's grandmother's home health aide. Thanks for coming."
"Are you kidding? John's saved my space station and my life, several times. It's about time I got the chance to return the favour."
"I hope you can land in Atlanta. We need to go to the Center for Disease Control because of the virus John's been exposed to."
"Already been briefed. Not a problem. Can you walk?"
"I probably can, but you'll need to carry John and I'm going to have to stay very close because of all these tubes connecting us. How much do you want the gravity reduced so he won't be too heavy?"
O'Bannon gave him a critical look. "I can probably do it at forty percent. Light enough to handle his weight, but still lets me touch the floor and get traction."
"Hear that, EOS? Forty percent," Maria repeated. She reflected that she wouldn't dare order Space Princess around like this if it wasn't for the fact John's life depended on it.
"Affirmative," EOS said. "Slowing to forty percent."
Maria forced herself to standing, which was decidedly easier in the lower gravity, but still a little tricky with all the blood-filled tubing that could be tangled or pulled out. No way she wanted to have to do those venipunctures over again. Though still feeling tired, she could walk in this lighter gravity as long as she took it slow. O'Bannon picked John up and he stirred to a semi-consciousness. He stared into her face and rasped, "Ridley?"
"Hi, John. I'm cancelling our handball game later today. You're going to be busy elsewhere. Hold still. You've got needles in you. Let me do the rescuing this time."
Maria could have sworn she saw him smile before he lapsed back into unconsciousness.