Astronomicon: Behemoth

Chapter 29 - Casualties

The four-seater buggy screamed across the hangar uncomfortably fast. All four electric motors, one inside each wheel hub, were churning out their maximum torque with no regard for the drain on the buggy's carbon-ion battery. Santiago waited nervously by the base of the ladder with his trauma kit open ready as the buggy approached out of the blackness. Margaux was posted at the top of the ladder ready to assist where possible and Isa was monitoring the situation in the control room.

The glare from the buggy's headlamps made it hard to see but Santiago feared that he could only see two figures in the fast-approaching buggy, suggesting that only half the team which left the Arcadian less than an hour earlier had made it back. His eyes were slowly adjusting to the painful brightness.

Aron, helmet visor open, drove the buggy directly towards the Arcadian. For a moment, Santiago thought he was going to crash into the landing feet, but Aron threw the buggy into a sharp turn at the last minute and made full use of the stability-control system to bring it to a screeching halt just a couple of metres from the ladder. Santiago was relieved that he had resisted the urge to dive out of the way.

"Your radio message was garbled," he said.

"Ekono's been shot," said Aron, ignoring Santiago's statement as he dropped off the buggy and pointed to Ekono slouched in the front passenger seat.

"Where's Megan?" demanded Santiago, moving closer to study the external damage to Ekono's E.V.A. suit.

"I don't know," Aron replied. "Not for sure. I think...I think she went the same way as Walter."

Santiago could see immediately that Aron was not his usual chirpy self. His face was ashen and his eyes reddened and bloodshot. Trying to maintain a professional demeanour, Santiago turned his attention back to Ekono. Two surprisingly neat holes in the upper left arm of his suit, both splashed with relatively fresh blood were the only injuries he could see. Clear repair patches covered both holes but that did nothing to stop any bleeding inside the suit.

"Is it just your arm?" he asked Ekono.

"Think so, doctor, but I feel a little dizzy," Ekono groaned.

Santiago checked for exit wounds but found no damage to the other side of the suit's arm. That had to mean that the bullets were at least still inside the suit, but probably still inside Ekono's arm. Finding them would be easy enough with his scanner but he would still have to repair the damage and stop the bleeding.

"It's probably shock. We need to get you into the ship and out of your E.V.A. suit."

"I can just detach the arm?" suggested Aron.

"No, not here," Santiago replied. "I want him indoors first. Margaux?"

"Yes?" she replied immediately.

"Be ready with the winch. I'm going to attach Ekono now."

"Ready when you are," she replied.

Santiago grabbed the cable which was hanging alongside the metal ladder, unhooked the spring-hook at the end and used the step on the side of the buggy to lift himself half a metre higher up. With some straining and a couple of misses, he clipped the hook onto the handle on the top of Ekono's life-support pack.

"Okay, Margaux, lift him, slowly. Very slowly," he ordered.

Aron helped him brace against Ekono's legs to stop the injured man swinging off the buggy and against the side of the ship. A team effort got Ekono into a stable, vertical position allowing Margaux to gently lift him up the side to the engine module towards the platform that gave access to the main hatch in the bottom of the Command Module.