Both officers winced as the body struck the ground feet first and just crumpled into the dust of the desert, the multicolored wreck of memory plastic raining down around it for several seconds later.
Both threw open the doors of the Eliica and jumped out, rushing forward to the fallen figure as it lay unmoving on the ground ahead of them.
Chapter 3
“Rescue Alpha One Niner, this is Tower City PD Unit. Come back, over.”
Anselm walked forward as Gwen called into her portable, contacting the rescue helicopter. He kept part of his mind tuned into the conversation, but first he had some distasteful business to deal with.
The body was covered in the multicolored memory plastic that had made up the airfoil Ronald Somer had flown on, and Anselm had to pull the tattered fabric out of the way as he gingerly stepped in.
Somer’s legs were folded up under him, obviously broken in the fall, and tucked almost invisibly under the slump of his body as it lay on its side, one arm flat under it while the other splayed out as if pointing to something.
Anselm grimaced as he dropped to one knee near the body and gently tugged the plastic oxygen mask off and pushed his fingers down to the throat.
He froze then, feeling something under his fingers.
At first he thought he’d imagined it, then he felt it again.
“God!” He yelled over his shoulder, “He’s alive!”
Gwen’s voice picked up an urgency that hadn’t been there before, informing the chopper pilot of the change in status.
Anselm checked the man more closely, running his hands along the man’s neck and spine first. There didn’t seem to be any obvious breaks, but it was impossible to be sure. From the way he’d hit the ground, Anselm figured that Ronald had to have been unconscious at the time of impact. A mercy that had probably preserved the man’s life.
“Have you got a kit in the car” He called over his shoulder.
“Coming!” Gwen called from where she had already run back to where they had plowed the Eliica into the dirt.
Moments later she was at his side, unfolding the compact emergency kit that had been stored in the back of the vehicle. They strapped the plastic board to his back and neck first, gently lifting it into place and wrapping the Velcro straps around him, and only then did they turn Ronald Somer over onto his back.
“How is he” She asked as Anselm examined Somer’s face.
“Don’t look at his eyes.” Anselm said grimly, blocking her view.
“What” She demanded, pushing past him until she caught sight of the man’s face and froze. “Oh my god!”
Somer’s goggles had been battered aside, probably during the entry into the stream leaving visible ice where crystals had formed around his eyes and hadn’t thawed yet, freezing the fluid with millions of glittering ice crystals. She covered her mouth as she looked away, breathing deeply as she focused instead on his lower extremities.
“Legs are busted in a dozen places.” Gwendolyn muttered as she cut away the slick material of his pants.
“Upper body seems mostly intact. His legs took the worst of it, but he’s not breathing well yet.Color is a little blue.”
“Oxygen in the kit.”
“Right.” Anselm grabbed the small bottle of oxygen along with its plastic mask and fitted it over Ron’s mouth and nose as he twisted the bottle open.
Anselm shook his head as he looked for broken ribs, “I can’t believe he survived that fall.he was over ten kilometers up!”
“Fallacy.” Gwen said simply, not looking up.
“What”
“It’s a fallacy that altitude has anything to do with it.” She said, “You hit terminal velocity in free fall at about fifty-five meters per second. Five hundred feet or Fifty thousand, it’s the same thing to physics, the only difference is how long you have to enjoy the view.”
“Yeah well, he still hit damned hard.” Anselm rolled his eyes.
“The plastic was working like a drogue, and he wasn’t conscious when he hit.” Gwen told him, “Under the circumstances, that was his best chance at survival. He didn’t stiffen up, so his legs took the damage.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” Anselm told her as he finished checking Somer’s upper body. “I don’t think he’s bleeding internally, but I’d like a professional opinion on that.”
“Chopper will be here in less than fifteen minutes,” she said instantly. “That’s the best they can do.”
Anselm cursed but nodded as he checked Ron’s arms, wincing as he found the first break. “Man, if he makes it I do not envy him the pain his recovery time is going to inflict.”
“If he makes it he’ll be bloody well lucky to experience any pain at all.” Gwen growled, “Damn fool thing to do, gallivanting around the thermals without proper gear. He should have had a cold suit, at the very least. You don’t strictly need a vacuum suit up that high if you have air, but you should at least dress warm.”
Anselm looked at the flimsy skydiver gear the man wore, well, flimsy in comparison to what he should have had, and was forced to agree. He paused before saying so, however, when he found Somer’s hand locked in a death grip around a piece of electronics.
“What’s this” He asked as he pried the fingers off the cracked plastic one by one.
“It’s an altimeter,” she said, looking over.
Anselm looked at it for a moment, punching the `on’ button but the OLED display remained dead so he just pocketed it instead.
“Find something”
“Don’t know. Check it out when I get the chance,” he told her. “You done”
Gwen nodded, “Best I can do.”
“Alright. Help me hook up your Emergency Response Unit to him and we’ll take turns watching him until the chopper arrives.”
“Right on.”
They moved quickly, attaching the ERU to the injured man’s chest and quickly turning it on. Developed specifically for First Responder Units, the Emergency Response Unit monitored the patient constantly, applying CPR automatically if needed, as well as oxygen, defibrillation, and other emergency lifesaving protocols.
Once the ERU was attached, there was nothing to do but sit and wait.
Abdallah Amir didn’t look up from his lab computer when Jacob walked in, he didn’t care what the other man had to say, at the moment. What he was doing was too important.
“Amir, they found the Thermie.”
Abdallah sighed, sliding the binocular extension arm of his microscope away. “And this affects me, how”
“His name was Ronald Somer,” Jacob said. “His wife is an Interpol Inspector. They were here on their honeymoon.”
Amir froze in mid-motion, his hand inches from the sealed container he had been studying. When he spoke his voice was cold as ice, “Say that again.”
“His wife is an Interpol Inspector.” Jacob communicated the important information a second time.
Abdallah grimaced, pushing himself away from his work, his hands clenching into fists.
“What happened” He demanded, turning around and glaring at the large man.
Jacob didn’t flinch, though he did pause a moment before speaking. “We don’t know yet. It’s possible it was an accident.”
“What does that matter!” Amir blasted, “Interpol will be all over this either way! They send in an agent and one of their own gets killed the same day!”
“He wasn’t technically one of their own.”
“He married an Inspector!” Amir growled, “That makes him Interpol as far as this is concerned.”
The terrorist growled, shaking his head. “God damn them. I don’t have time for this.”
The helicopter had set down a short distance away, just moments ahead of the sudden influx of off-road vehicles that had arrived as part of the Shanty search effort.