<USS Avalon> The Final Day: Part One-Do No Harm

The Final Day

Part One: Do No Harm

-Dodge Thomas

 

Cold?.

Lub dub?

Light?.

Lub dub?

?Is he going to be??? Voices drifted into murmurs?

Lub?dub?

?Lost too much???

Lub??dub?

?Prep the emergency unit!?

Lub???dub?

?He?s Coding! Clear!?

???

?Again!?

????

????

????

Lungs expanded painfully, taking in a jagged breath. Vacant, badly dilated 
pupils focused for a moment. Another long, laborious breath.

Then dark, dreamless sleep.

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Lub dub?Lub dub?Lub dub?Lub dub?Lub dub?Lub dub?

Dodge opened his own eyes sleepily, awakened by the comfortingly normal sound 
of his own heartbeat. Bright, sterile florescent lights glared down at him and 
he blinked sharply. He took a breath and grimaced. His lips parted.

?Hello? The raspy word felt like sandpaper on his throat.

?Oh, you?re awake?? An unfamiliar voice was soon joined by an unfamiliar face. 
?I?m nurse Caldor. How are we feeling today??

?We??


?Well, you took quite a beating. You?re lucky to be alive at all!?

?Where am I??

?Not now. Sleep for a while. We?ll tell you when you?re ready.

?But!?


?Sleep.?

Her face became indistinct, as did the rest of the room as a powerful sedative 
was introduced into Dodge?s body. Sleep came quickly.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After what could have been months or minutes (it was closer to three days 
actually) Dodge groggily came to. His throat was parched, and his mouth tasted 
like the inside of a rubber glove. 

?Good morning, Dodge. Slept well, I hope.?

?Mmph.? the sleepy reply sounded hollow in his head.

?Come on now, wake up. This is no time for sleep.?

?Five more minutes.? Dodge pleaded playfully, smiling to himself. The other 
voice became far off.

?Nurse, what sedative did you use??

?Chloroform Nine. Give him a few more minutes.?

Slowly, Dodge?s surroundings drifted into place, fuzzy borders becoming crisp, 
distinct lines. A familiar face looked down at him.?

?Ryan??Ryan Keegan? What are you, I mean, why are you here?? He looked in 
confusion at his old friend from his academy days.

?I am the Captain of this ship. Why are you here??

?I?m assuming because you brought me here.?

?Go on.?


?Which would mean that?you want something.?


?And??

?And I have it??

?Exactly.?

?What do you want??

?I want you to answer a question.?

?Which would be??

?Why are you here. And no, not this ship in particular. Why did you come to 
Vargas two??

Dodge thought for a moment. ?To?investigate a distress call.?

Ryan looked apprehensive. ?What was the exact nature of this call? What do you 
know of the emergency??

?Why are you asking me this??

?Just tell me damn it!?

?It was?they were under attack. Some creature or something. The same thing we 
killed a few days later.?


?So you killed it? Good. Thank god.?


?What was it??

?A genetic byproduct of our operations here.?

?What? What are you doing here??


?That question is on everybody?s mind today, isn?t it. Perhaps it would be 
better if I just told you right out. Officially,? he began, ?We are on a 
special operation mission to terraform this planet. ?An oceanic paradise? they 
told us. Six long years and then a few months break followed by six more years 
of intense boredom.

?But the natives?the Vann. Starfleet would never allow terraforming on an 
inhabited planet.?


?Starfleet didn?t know about them. It still doesn?t.?

?Then this is an illegal operation!?

?Hold on. Officially, as I said, we?re terraforming this place.?


?But unofficially??

?It?s a gold mine! The resources alone were enough to make us jump for joy. 
Titanium, platinum, gold. The natives were of little interest to us until one 
of them stumbled onto out little base of operations here. Then the retirement 
package became irresistible.?

?What??

?The average Vann lives about three-hundred years.?


?So.?


?Their brain tissue regenerates.?

Dodge?s eyes widened considerably. ?That?s impossible! No known species has 
regenerative brain cells! The medical applications alone could-?


?Exactly! So we allowed our doctors here to ?professionally examine? the 
creature. Their internal organs are universally compatible and up to seventy 
percent stronger, more resilient and more efficient that the average human. Not 
to mention the muscular build. They are as strong as three Klingons and they 
fight twice as nasty. However, they aren?t aggressive and they aren?t invasive.?


?That?s not what I saw out there.? Dodge indicated an indistinct spot far away 
from his present location. ?Those Vann were butchering each other.?

?Quite a pity. It appears that your presence has had some unexpected 
consequences.?

?Why are you so interested in the anatomical make up of the Vann?? Dodge asked, 
suddenly suspicious. ?I mean, we have organ growers, it?s not like we need to 
take them from deceased aliens.?

?That?s where you?re wrong. Stop thinking small. Why wait for them to die. 
They?re highly prolific and as I said, their organs are far superior to 
anything nature or science could ever give us. We could visibly extend the 
quality and quantity of life for anyone who could pay our price. How would you 
like to live to be two-hundred and fifty years old? Better yet, how would you 
like to be that old and still up and running??

?You?re insane! You can?t butcher a sentient race just for their organs!? A 
term came to mind, drifting up from memories of some old article he had once 
read. ?You?re?a body-harvester!?

?Don?t be silly. That?s such an archaic term. I prefer ?free lance organ 
merchant?.?

?You can?t just steal body parts and sell them on the black market!?

?Oh, don?t worry, their pelts are quite valuable as well.?

Dodge felt sick.

?And they aren?t exactly sentient. I mean, come on, have you looked at them??

?They?ve built cities! They have a spoken dialect. They wage war for Christ 
sake, how sentient do they have to be before it becomes butcher??

?Come now, ants build cities, they communicate, and they wage war, but that 
never stopped you from crushing one under foot before, has it??

?No, but--this is different.?

?No, it?s no different.? His hand fell to his side where a phaser sat in it?s 
holster. ?Now then, down to business.?

Dodge noticed the move and looked at his friend. ?Why didn?t you just kill me 
while I slept??


?What on earth are you talking about??

?Well, you can?t tell me all this stuff without having some ultimatum. You?re 
obviously either going to ask me to join you, or you?re going to vaporize me. 
Since you know my moral make up, you also know I would refuse to help you no 
matter what price you offered, so logically, you should have just killed me 
while I was unconscious.?

?Pity. It would have been a pleasure working along side you again, just as in 
our academy days. But have no fear, I have no intention of vaporizing you.?

Internally, a wave of relief rushed over Dodge and he allowed himself to 
breathe again. ?That?s a nice thing to hear. Look--?

?I can sell your organs just as easily as I can sell Vannish organs. I might 
have a bit of trouble getting rid of your skin, but there?s always some curio 
collector. I might even get a chance to sell you in one piece, maybe to the 
Ferengi or Breen. I?m sure they just dying to get their hands on a human body. 
The better you know a species, the better you know how to kill a species. By 
the time my tour of duty is up with Starfleet, I should have enough credits to 
purchase my own private colony world, maybe something like New Riviera or one 
of the outer rim worlds.?

?So get it over with then. Kill me.?

?What? Never!? Ryan actually appeared distressed. ?I could not kill my friend.?

Dodge looked confused as Ryan stepped aside, admitting a man dressed as a 
doctor. 

?Doctor Hughes, kill my friend.?





 

 

 

 



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