<--- cut here --->
Bubblegum Crisis
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The Tempest Chronicles II
****
(c) Robin Smith 1995/6
Bubblegum Crisis is copyright Armtic,
Youmex and Toshimichi Suzuki.
Other copyrights belong to their respective holders.
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Chapter 2.10
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'Who am I ? Where am I ? What am I ?'
The questions were screamed out of sheer desperation; it had to escape
this cloying nothingness soon or it would cease to exist in this stark
void.
What was that; a sound ?
It strained hard hoping to catch what had gone before.
Would it come again ?
Seconds went by or was hours ?
Time seemed an such abstract concept here in this stygian blackness.
There, it happened again. The slight noise awakened a burning desire to
locate the source of this sound. Now it had a purpose; to locate the
sound's source.
As the sound diminished to a whisper before fading out, it pondered
briefly on how to achieve motion; after all it had no physical form.
The desire to escape this wretched place seemed to provide the impetus
required to drive forward towards the sound's apparent source. After a
short interval another sound came and it raced on after the echoes. As
the echoes dissolved into nothingness, it paused; now unsure of where
to go next. Perhaps the sounds came from a portal to another place; a
way out of this all enveloping void ?
The next sound was much louder this time; it must be closer to the
source ! Frantically it raced towards the where it thought the sound
was coming from, but what if this wasn't the way out; what was it then
? No, this isn't the time for doubt; press on, it *has* to be the way
out !
>From just ahead came a loud roaring sound; onward it sped, frantically
trying to go faster, to reach the source of this noise.
There was a faint pinprick of light ahead; the exit, it must be !
Approaching the periphery of the halo of light; it heard a deep
forbidding voice intone.
"Run little one; you can not escape me. I shall seek you out and turn
your miserable world into a wasteland fit only for the dead."
Briefly something made contact and a creeping dread came over it; from
somewhere behind a pulse of sheer terror was spreading out its evil
tentacles of death and putrefaction.
Suddenly it was upon the edge; the sound changed from a roar to a
deafening cacophony, the glimmer becoming a blinding light and then ...
the pain hit; excruciating in its intensity.
It screamed out; a raging inferno of pain racing all over every minute
nerve ending; a soul ablaze with agony.
******
Priss reluctantly handed Sylia the keys; who placed them in her blouse
pocket. Sylia paused, took a sip of her coffee before asking Nene to
report her findings on Tempest.
Nene started to launch into how she hacked from one system to another
but was cut short by Sylia.
"Just the information about Tempest will do for now please.
I'd be interested in hearing the technicalities of the extraction later
though thank you."
Her spirit was dampened slightly that only Sylia would get to hear how
clever she'd been at hacking all those systems. Nene sighed and
proceeded to relate the new information she'd discovered.
"All right.
Tempest is not a member of the ADP though he might just as well be;
mention his name and things will get done; he's a senior member of the
WWLA."
"Who or what are the WWLA ?"
Interjected Linna.
"I was coming to that. The WWLA or World Wide Law Association is an
organisation that has links into most of the Police forces and agencies
across the world. As such it can operate with little or no hindrance in
all the countries who are signatories to the agreement.
The old Interpol organisation never attained this level of co-operation
which may have been the cause for its demise around July 1999.
The WWLA was officially formed in 2000 but from Tempest's exploits,
it's roots predate the dissolution of Interpol; my feeling is that it
was unofficially active before 1990.
Tempest or one of the many pseudonyms he's used over the years has had
an active role in the formation of a large number of modern law
enforcement agencies. He's crushed or severely limited the actions of
several major crime syndicates in Japan and several other countries
over the years any number of which would like to see him dead.
Genom in particular have several cases where he's been involved but
because he was publicly somewhere else at the time they have been
unable to tie them back to him personally."
Linna looked thoughtful for a moment and then asked.
"What about bumas doubling for him ?
Surely Genom had thought of that ?"
Nene shook her head.
"Easily ruled out in the cases that Genom have on their files; they
predate the development of buma in the form we know it. All the files
are dated 2020 or prior to 2020. The first buma's weren't good enough
to be able to be passed off as humans; so Genom have them listed
against a series of different names."
After listening carefully Linna came up with another possibility.
"Well what about people doubling for him then ?
Surely Genom must have investigated that."
"Genom's records show that although they considered this, it was proved
not to have been used in all the cases they investigated.
They checked for voice prints, finger prints and where possible they
even managed to cross-match tissue samples.
Interestingly there is a link between them all; but unless you'd been
told about Tempest's past it's not obvious. All the names of the
'agents' involved are taken from Tempest's past, early TV programs,
radio shows or books sharing a similar theme. Any decent computer
retrieval would pull up that link but would not be able to tie them
back to one person.
Instead Genom concluded he's the head of the WWLA and that's why he was
targeted; not directly by Genom but by a branch of the local Yakuza.
Presumably the latter subterfuge is because he also appears to have
metaphorically trodden on the toes of quite a few major crime
syndicates around the world."
Waiting until Nene paused to catch her breath whilst she was turning
over the page; Sylia interrupted with another question.
"So if they have had the opportunity to cross-match tissue samples; is
there any indication they have discovered anything about Tempest's
changed state ?"
"Umm ... Wait a moment"
There was a rustle of paper as Nene leafed through several pages of
report.
"No, there's nothing to indicate they have."
Sylia sipped her coffee and replied.
"That's not the sort of information Genom are likely to leave on the
standard databases.
What if they had concealed the information ?"
"Based on past experience; that type of information has been kept in
the private databases of the senior management. My searches of all the
research and management databases revealed nothing directly and no
hints they'd discovered anything unusual. So at this stage I don't
think Genom are aware of Tempest's biological differences."
Sylia pondered this for a moment.
"That leaves four distinct possibilities then.
One. It's on a hard copy.
Two: It's on a removable storage unit that you couldn't access.
Three: It has not been written up yet.
Four: They don't have the information at all.
Thoughts anyone ?"
Nene dismissed one option.
"I don't the third is very likely in view of the date when they took
their samples; they've had over fourteen years to write it up. That
would be a tremendous oversight on Genom's part."
"Agreed, that option is unlikely in view of the time lapse."
Absently, Sylia murmured her next thought aloud.
"The year of the sample is interesting though."
"The degree of protection they apply to their confidential data would
probably rule out the use of a removable storage device.
The key word here being 'removable'; it's too prone to being stolen or
substituted. Additionally it would make retrieval and cross referencing
of related events difficult. Even if it were on a removable unit, I
think it would be on-line; this would allow checks to made on if it
still present and who accesses it."
Nene agreed with Mackie's thoughts and added.
"Genom's use of removable storage units is kept to an absolute minimum;
as far as I've been able to determine they are only used for archiving
of data that they deem to no longer useful."
"I didn't think paper was still used as a method of keeping data any
more. Are Genom still using it ?"
Nene shook her head at Linna's question.
"No. It's security is weak; it's bulky, it can be easily destroyed and
searching and retrieval is hideously slow and laborious.
I don't think Sylia specifically meant paper when she said 'hard
copy'."
Nene turned to face Sylia.
"Did you ?"
"The methods I had in mind were micro-fiche or micro-film and paper.
All three are inherently weak from the ease of destruction and very few
companies will use them now.
Because you found no other references at all, my inclination would be
that Genom aren't aware of Tempest's revised physiognomy.
I hope it continues to stay that way.
Did you find anything else ?"
"Only that the WWLA have a presence on the network but it seems to be a
blind alley so far. They have a network address, but it has so far
defied all my attempts to break in."
"Heh heh, so much for 'I contribute the Knight Sabers with my amazing
brain and good looks'."
Nene rounded on Priss's jibe; she took pride in her security invasions
and this had been her best to date.
"Hey, I'd like to see you do better. If Tempest and Marvin had anything
to do with the security then it's going to take a while to get past
it."
Sensing another skirmish between Priss and Nene coming up, Sylia
decided to squash the argument before it snowballed into something
larger.
"All right, that's quite enough of that Priss.
Nene is correct, and I have no doubts that Tempest used Marvin to
design the security for the WWLA's systems. He seems to be the
architect behind the organisation and would be most conscious of
attempted security breaches. Don't forget he started out as a
government agent; breaking into other people's defences would be part
of his training.
See what you can do with that address when you have some free time."
"It won't be easy and my equipment at home hasn't got the required
power to crack a problem like this. I may be able to squeeze some time
at work to do it, but ...."
Her voice trailed off, but it was obvious what Nene was inferring from
pleading look she was giving Sylia.
"You'll need access to my system to mount a good attack."
Sylia completed the sentence.
"All right, just let me know when you want to do it and I'll give you a
hand; it should be easier with two of us.
Unless anyone has anything else that concludes this meeting."
******
"AAAAAARRRRRRHHHHHHHHHH"
The patient was thrashing from side to side; the wild gyrations
threatening to pull the monitor leads and the vital support drips out.
It took two strong men to hold the patient still whilst they applied
large reinforced straps to the arms and legs; two other straps secured
the pelvis and chest.
"My god, what brought that on ?"
Exclaimed Dr Mariner.
"I saw nothing on the monitors Doctor."
The nurse explained.
"Fetch me the printouts please nurse."
"At once Doctor."
She edged past the orderlies who were still making sure the patient was
properly secured; tore off a roll of printout and handed the one end to
Dr Mariner.
The rolled printout featured five trace lines; four of which had only
minimal movement on, the fifth had a regular peak and trough where the
recording needle had twitched left and right.
"Hmm, heartbeat strong and regular, no other abnormal activity."
Dr Mariner commented.
"Good grief, look at this doctor !"
The nurse exclaimed as she unrolled some more of the printout.
The traces had all started to change at the same time; slowly
increasing in amplitude. Then they merged across the entire width of
the paper into a jumbled mess where it was impossible to discern what
was happening.
As suddenly this activity had begun it halted, but there was nothing
after the ragged jumble, it was as though the power had been turned off
to the recorder.
"What time did this happen ?"
She consulted the printout,
"It started at three forty-two, continued for two seconds and I'd say
that's about the time the patient screamed."
As Dr Mariner contemplated this information he noticed the overhead
monitor was blank; no lights, nothing.
"Has anyone turned the power off to the monitors ?"
He checked the switches; no, they were switched on.
"Ital, go check the circuit breakers on board B please."
"At once Doctor."
Ital ran from the room, down the corridor and round the corner.
He flipped open the service panel and found both breakers were off for
board B. He switched them back on; as he did so another piercing scream
echoed down the corridor and the breakers tripped out again.
Pausing momentarily before trying to reset them; he wondered what was
besetting the patient to make him cry out like that.
Gingerly he flipped both breakers to the 'on' position and counted
slowly to twenty; hearing nothing he closed up the access panel and
strode down the corridor towards room 311.
He turned the corner to see wisps of smoke curling out of the doorway.
Cautiously he sniffed the air; the acrid smell and taste of burning
insulation assaulted his senses - FIRE !
He punched the alarm and being a member of the emergency fire response
team snatched up an extinguisher, torch and some respirators. Fastening
on a respirator he edged into the room and saw smoke pouring out of the
monitoring equipment; the acrid fumes slowly filling the room. Dr
Mariner was lying in the doorway coughing from the smoke; the others
were lying unmoving on the floor whence they had fallen.
Quickly he strapped the respirators over their faces and hit the
emergency power kill switch. These tasks completed he rammed home the
connection between the extinguisher and the equipment point and
squeezed the trigger. Extinguishent poured through dispersal pipes and
flooded the internal spaces of the monitoring equipment.
Ital held the trigger until the safety indicator changed to green.
As he released the connection he thought he saw a faint glow coming
from near the patient; he spun round but saw nothing.
'Must be imagining it' he thought and focused his attention on the
other the other monitor bank and repeated the procedure with the
extinguisher. Just as he released the connection someone tapped him on
the shoulder; he turned and was relieved to see other members of the
response team had arrived and were moving everyone to safety.
Another of the fire marshals was scanning the room for hot spots and
other outbreaks. Ital looked at the damaged equipment and noted that
the mains leads were undamaged. The same could not be said of the leads
that once connected the machine to the patient though; the insulation
was missing in several places. There were breaks in the cables and he
wondered who had cut them. His curiosity aroused he examine the loose
ends carefully; what he found surprised him greatly and he pocketed one
of the broken leads for later examination.
Dr Mariner recovered quickly whilst the others came round after about
five minutes suffering only from a slight headache and the after
effects of smoke inhalation; fortunately there would be no lasting
damage. When questioned though the only thing anyone could remember was
a bright light and the piercing scream. No-one could agree on the
colour of the light; some said green or white whilst Dr Mariner said he
thought it was blue.
Having moved the patient to room 294 and checked him over carefully
they found some faint marks on the skin where the electrodes had been
attached.
"Err Dr Mariner ?"
"Yes Ital, what is it ?"
"Both the one hundred ampere breakers were off when I checked the
board. Then there was a scream and they tripped out again. They reset
all right but not until the second time though."
He paused momentarily.
"The leads between the equipment and the patient were damaged doctor."
"In what way ?"
"The insulation was missing in places and after looking at the ends I
think the leads were melted at the break points."
"Melted !
Are you sure ?"
"I'm fairly certain they melted Doctor; here take a look at this
section."
Dr Mariner examined the end carefully; what Ital had said was indeed
correct; the cable's core had been melted. To melt the core required
quite a heavy current so why were there only light marks and no burns
on the patient ? If a high current had been drawn through the cables
then the equipment would have been overloaded, but what would have
caused the current drain he wondered ? He was interrupted from his
thoughts by another piercing scream from the patient and noted with
some alarm that some of the cables were beginning to glow; he punched
the emergency power kill switch.
"Ital bring me a variable cut-out and a recording multifunction meter
with a hundred ampere current shunt please. They're kept in storage
room M-31, cabinet E3; here's the keys.
You'd better bring an induction monitor as well." {37}
Ital took the keys and walked down the corridor towards the store room.
It took him a while to locate the items Dr Mariner had requested as
cabinet E3 was larger than he expected; having found them he signed
them out and returned the book to the holder on the back of the door.
Why are we still using such an old fashioned system he wondered; surely
a data entry screen would be better.
Dr Mariner looked up as Ital re-entered room 294.
"Thank you, please put them in circuit with the earth return lead and
set the cut-out for 500mA please." {38}
"Is that going to be large enough Doctor ?
Surely it will trip very quickly ?"
"I don't want too high a current drain until we've had chance to see
what is happening first. Can you watch the current values please."
"All right it's all set and I'm ready."
Dr Mariner reset the power switch and turned on the equipment and stood
watching the monitor screen his hand poised over the kill switch.
"The power is on, please watch carefully and tell me when the current
begins to rise please."
Nothing happened for over a minute
"I've just had a slight blip Doctor, but it was too small to measure."
"All right."
After another thirty seconds Ital called out.
"I've got a reading of 10mA and it's rising."
"Okay.
Watch it carefully please.
Keep calling out the values please."
"It's up to 25mA and rising.
Just past 50mA.
70
100
150
Whoa 300
360
480
510
600mA
Doctor the limiter doesn't seem to be working !"
"All right if goes past five amperes then pull the connection."
"Okay.
900mA
I'm switching ranges to Amperes now.
1.2A
1.5
1.7
1.9
2.3
2.6
3.1
3.9
4.6
4.9
5.1
Connection broken, Doctor."
"Then why have I still got a reading ?"
Ital looked down.
"6.6A now Doctor!"
"I don't understand.
How that can happen if the lead's not connected ?"
"It must be using the earth on the cut-out to complete the circuit;
I'll unplug it now !"
As Ital yanked the lead from its socket the current flow ceased.
"Back to zero now Doctor."
"Thank you, it was a good job you placed the meter between the patient
and the cut-out or we wouldn't have known till it was too late.
>From the readings I've just seen and from the values you called out it
would seem that our 'friend' here is wanting energy in large
quantities.
Before we proceed any further I'd better call the commander.
I'm grateful for your assistance.
Will you be available later if the commander requires further tests ?"
"My shift finishes at half past six."
Ital looked thoughtful for a moment and then replied.
"I can stay on until around about nine, if you can get assent to the
over-time Doctor."
"There won't be any problem regarding the over-time approval.
I'll call you once I've spoken to the commander."
"Thank you doctor."
Dr. Mariner removed the pager from his coat pocket and pressed the
single button; the pager beeped once in acknowledgement.
"I'm expecting a call, so I shall be in my office. If anything strange
happens press the alarm immediately.
Is that understood ?"
"Perfectly doctor."
Dr Mariner left room 294 and walked back to the office he shared with
the administrator.
On reaching his office he dimmed the lights and sat down at his desk.
As he leaned back in his chair he reflected on the strange
circumstances he had been in for the last twenty or so years.
Fact : The clinic's initiator and owner's had never been seen.
Fact : He was recruited via a small company that was not connected with
the medical field and yet all his medical questions were accurately
answered on the spot.
Fact : He was effectively in charge of the clinic; the administrator
was merely acting as a screen for him.
Fact : All the clients were from a wealthy background. No, that wasn't
strange, merely the prices they charged and the clinic's reputation for
good work.
There was one strange client though; the one whose latest arrival was
the source of his troubles. This client was the woman he knew as
Commander Yuri; she was clearly involved with some form of military or
government type organisation. He had only seen her a few times before
but had always been contacted prior to their meetings.
His first involvement with the Commander had been via a telephone call
when she requested he pick up a very badly injured young woman from the
highway near Chinatown. Unfortunately all her internal organs had been
cut up very badly by some vicious blades and had died on the way to the
clinic. She was taken to the city's southern cemetery where apparently
she later buried; he never did find out the girl's name. The
commander's warning had been very explicit about not tracking her down;
that was eighteen months ago, or was it two years ago ?
The commander turned up herself the second time with another badly
injured young woman whose right forearm had been smashed by a powerful
blow. It was fortunate that her shoulder was only dislocated, although
it took some very skilled work to reassemble the fragmented radius and
ulna. Even after all the work that was done, he imagined that the young
woman would get some pain or sensation from that arm if ever it was
stressed heavily and judging by the other scars on her body that would
be fairly often.
It did strike him as strange that the young woman wore a mask at all
the time she was at the clinic. At first he had protested but the
commander impressed upon him about the need for security and in the end
he ceased asking.
His current source of worry was the comatose young man in room 294.
This case was ...
The sound of the alarm roused him from his thoughts; he leapt out of
his chair and was heading for the door when another loud scream rent
the air. He ripped the door open; it almost knocked over the table
behind it, such was the force the Doctor had used when opening it.
Dr Mariner raced down the hallway and the corridor to 294, he didn't
need to be told where; the sound of the scream had been sufficient.
As he neared room 294 he saw Ital approaching from the opposite
direction with two large torches in his hand.
"Wait a moment Doctor, the lights are out in there."
"When did that happen ?"
"When the patient screamed again; he sure can yell loud."
Ital replied.
"All right, lead on Ital.
Here, hand me one of those."
Dr Mariner indicated the torches.
Ital entered the room first the beam playing over the floor as he swept
it from side to side.
"Doctor is it me or is it cold in here ?"
"No, you're right there is a chill in the air.
Why are the lights still out ?"
Dr Mariner asked.
Ital checked the switches; all where in the on position.
"I think the circuit breakers have cut out again."
As Ital looked towards the doorway, his jaw dropped open and for an
instant his mouth refused to work.
"Err Doctor, I think you should look at the door."
Dr Mariner was trying to check the patient's pulse but for some reason
his watch had stopped.
"What's the matter with the door Ital ?
Can't you see I'm bus....y"
As he looked up and over the bed, two things caught his attention;
there was a strange scene through the door ....
It was like looking at a photograph; he could see people caught in mid
air part the way through a step.
No, that wasn't right, they were moving but very slowly.
What on earth was going on ?
He stood up and as he put the torch on the bed next to the patient; he
watched the beam get dimmer, flicker then go out. His hand suddenly
felt cold and he noticed a glint on the bedclothes as Ital swung his
torch towards them - frost ?
He shuddered; it was getting cold !
Then he realised the significance of what he'd said earlier ''wants
energy in large quantities'' and began rapidly plugging the connections
home.
"Put the main power on now."
Dr Mariner commanded.
"Doctor won't that "
"Haven't you noticed the temperature man ?
It damned near freezing !
Throw that switch NOW."
As Ital turned the kill switch and the power came back on, Dr Mariner
took several of the leads out of their individual points and parallel
connected them to the 12v power out feed point.
"I hope he likes AC current."
Ital heard the doctor mutter.
After about twenty or so seconds Dr Mariner noticed the a lead
beginning to glow.
"Ital quick put another cable in parallel with the earth return and set
the current limiter to 10 amps.
Our lives could depend on this."
He tossed Ital the heaviest cable he could find.
The current monitor showed a drain of 7 amps and was still rising as
Ital connected the cable. Dr Mariner noted that the frost layer on the
bed clothes was not as heavy as before. Something else was happening as
well; there was a pale blue aura surrounding the visible parts of the
patient. Was this the light he'd seen before ?
"Doctor, look !" Ital pointed at the doorway.
Where the people in the corridor seemed to be almost static before,
there was now a slow movement apparent.
"It would seem our patient has liking for large amounts of energy and
is not particular where it comes from either."
The current drain reached 10A and the cut-out tripped, halting a
further increase and possible burnout of the cables. Dr Mariner left
the cables to cool for a minute or so before resetting the cut-out.
He studied the meter carefully; watching the current increase steadily
until again the cut-out tripped. He was about to reset the cut-out
again; was the blue aura brighter now or was it because the room was in
darkness ?
He looked through the doorway; still the strange view of people moving
in slow motion presented itself although they were now moving quicker
than before and soon others would enter the room.
"I think we'll burn out this power supply at this rate. Have we got
anything with a greater output ?"
"I'm not sure Doctor. I'll call stores and check."
Ital picked up the phone; it was dead.
'Well that seems logical since the lights are out' he thought.
"Phone's dead, you going to be okay if I go down to the stores ?"
"Yes, go fetch whatever you think is necessary.
No, on second thoughts we'll both go."
Dr Mariner made sure the power was switched off and joined Ital by the
door. Stepping out into the corridor they both experienced a strange
sensation; as though a piece of ice had just been run down their
spines.
"Good grief that was a quick check-up !" Exclaimed the ward sister as
she almost collided with Dr Mariner.
"What do you mean ?
We've been in there over ten minutes."
"No, I'd say it was about twenty seconds."
Dr Mariner looked at his watch; it seemed to running normally now.
"What time do you have sister ?"
"Four forty-two Doctor."
Dr Mariner contained his surprise; his watch was showing four twenty-
seven.
"Hmm, must be my watch then.
Thank you."
"No one is to enter this room until we return.
If anything happens call me first, I'll be in the stores.
Is that understood sister ?"
"Yes Doctor."
She could tell from his tone that he'd brook no discussion on this
topic so she stood by the door to intercept anyone trying to enter the
room.
"We won't be very long; we just need to fetch some additional
equipment."
Ital and the Doctor walked briskly off down the corridor to the stores
dodging past the other staff and patients as they went.
"What do we have that has a sustainable high output ?"
Dr Mariner asked Ital.
"I think there's very little; after all it's not the sort of thing we
generally need, I'll know better after looking over the inventory in
the stores."
The rest of their trip was conducted in silence; each of them wondering
what the mysterious patient would do next.
Having reached the stores they both proceeded to examine the inventory
for any item of equipment that had an external high output power supply
unit.
"I don't think there is anything Doctor; most of our medical equipment
doesn't require large amounts of power."
"All right, have we got anything at all ?"
Ital paused and rubbed his chin.
"Hmm, well there used to be an old heater unit but I think it was
scrapped last year; I'll check for it anyway."
"You mean that museum piece that always smoked like fury when it was
turned on ?"
"Yes, that's the one."
Ital looked up from the record book.
"Hey I think we just got lucky.
Although the heater was scrapped the power unit is still in the book
and what's more it passed it's safety test only last month."
"Well short of wrecking another monitoring system, it doesn't look like
we have much choice; there goes my reputation I suppose."
Remarked Dr Mariner, smiling slightly as he said it.
Ital noticed with some amusement the wry smile on the Doctor's face as
he made the last remark. He knew the Doctor wasn't really worried; he'd
made the same statement many times before in the past and somehow had
always made the correct decision.
"I'll find some heavy duty cables as well; the standard stuff will just
melt. We don't have any safety cut-outs that'll cope though ..
What do you think ?"
"It'll have to do I suppose.
Let's get it all on this trolley."
Ital loaded the large variable output transformer onto a trolley and
looped the cables around the handles whilst Dr Mariner signed them out
in the books.
Dr Mariner walked ahead of Ital and the trolley moving people aside, as
Ital was struggling to control the trolley and it's heavy load.
The ward sister whom they'd left guarding the door gave them an
incredulous look as she saw what they had brought on the trolley.
"What on earth are you going to do with that Doctor ?" the ward sister
asked.
"All will be become clear in a minute or two.
Please continue to keep everyone out.
Thank you."
Dr Mariner ordered.
With that he held open the door as Ital pushed the trolley inside and
round to the far side of the bed.
"Brrr, it's incredibly cold over here Doctor."
"Right I'll switch on the power again.
You'd better get that transformer ready quickly."
Ital unloaded the transformer from the trolley, slid it under the bed
and connected all the cables; the output pair going to the patient's
feet.
"All right, I'm all set here.
Shall I turn it on ?"
"What's the output set to ?"
Dr Mariner queried.
"I've put it on the lowest setting; that's about 20 volts." replied
Ital.
"Remove the leads from the monitoring equipment, connect in the current
meter and then switch it on please."
As Ital turned on the power the transformer began to emit an audible
hum and he watched the current begin to climb. It crept up slowly to 5A
and then began to rise more rapidly before steadying at 30A.
"It seems to be steady at 30A Doctor.
That means he's drawing about 600VA; no wonder the cables melted and
the power supply blew !"
Ital remarked, somewhat surprised.
"I wonder what he's doing with all that energy ?"
"I don't know."
Dr Mariner remained with Ital and the patient for some thirty minutes,
during which time nothing happened that would suggest a change in the
patient's condition. He glanced at his watch; which was at least
running normally now; it was five o'clock. He'd better return to his
office and await the commander's call since the phone in the patient's
room had still to be repaired.
"The commander will be calling soon for a progress report Ital, so I'm
returning to my office.
Do you want a relief nurse to take over ?"
"There's a washroom handy and drink available, so you go ahead.
I'll be fine. If there any problems I'll call."
"All right, see you shortly."
With that Dr Mariner started the walk back to his office; contemplating
what he'd tell the commander.
******
<End of Part 2.10>
TO BE CONTINUED ....
=======================================================================
Footnotes:
{37} Induction monitor : usually used for checking current being passed
through a cable without having to make a physical connection to
the cable. The cable is placed inside a special loop and sensing
is carried out by the magnetic field generated by the passing
current.
{38} For the non-technical :
A = Ampere the SI unit of electrical current measurement, commonly
abbreviated to amps or A
mA = milli-ampere (1/1000th of an ampere)
uA = micro-ampere (1/1000000th of an ampere)
Even 500mA is a large current for the body to handle, most
nerve signals are in the uA range, but there again Tempest
is not an ordinary human.
Yes, I know the 'u' should be a 'mu', but I'm sticking with
7-bit Ascii so there aren't any silly character translations
done.
V = Volt the SI unit for electrical pressure measurement.
(m and u prefixes as for Amperes)
VA = Volt-Amperes the measurement of power for an alternating-
current (direct-current power is generally measured in Watts)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(c) Robin Smith 1995/96 Tempest@ktsabers.demon.co.uk
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<--- cut here --->
-- Mink/Tempest aka Robin Smith Author: "BGC : The Tempest Chronicles"
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/2302 Lichfield, Staffordshire, United Kingdom
"I was committed once, but the fools let me out for good behaviour !"
IRC : Mink or Tempest- [ but "Mink" most of the time ^_^ ]