The Journey Home, Part 2 (Ch 11)
Chapter 11
The following morning, Colonel Gordon approached the machine in the DNA lab that contained the results of the tests he’d ordered yesterday afternoon. Within minutes, the machine had analyzed the swabs he’d inserted yesterday, then compared them with possible matches on file. The results, likewise, had been ready in a matter of minutes, but the XO had been too nervous about the implications of those results to check any sooner. Especially if they’d proven the doctor and his adjutant were not who they said they were.
He looked around. None of the technicians were paying the slightest bit of attention. He took a deep breath and quickly swiped his right index finger over the identification port, then focused on the center of the screen and said, “Authorization Gordon 1.”
The machine read the retinas of both eyes, then analyzed his voice and fingerprint. The screen flashed, then displayed the results for the adjutant on the left two-thirds of the screen. Below that in the bottom left corner a greyed-out arrow pointed to the left.
Down the right side of the screen were a series of four touch-screen buttons. The first was green and read Accept Results. The second was yellow. It read Request Correction(s). The third button, red, was labeled Retest for Verification. The fourth, white with a black border, read Next Result.
The XO looked at the second option again.
Request corrections? So could he manipulate the results if he wanted to?
Curious, he pressed the yellow button and another screen came up with three additional options: Manually Manipulate Result(s) (requires field-grade authorization); Retest for Verification, the same option highlighted in red on the original screen; and Discard Results Upon Submission of a New Swab.
In the lower left corner, the back button arrow was now illuminated in blue.
The colonel pressed the back button and the machine returned to the original screen. The adjutant’s test results filled the left two-thirds of the screen. On the right, the original options displayed.
He looked at the adjutant’s results. They were exactly as he had hoped. The adjutant was authentic.
He pressed Accept Results and then Next Result and watched as Dr. Messenger’s results filled the screen. As he expected, the doctor too was who he said he was.
He pressed the green button again, then quietly said, “Please send the results for the last two tests to my personal tablet, then erase them from your databank.” As the screen flashed Results Sent and went blank, he turned away and started back toward his office.
When he was seated again behind his desk, he asked the computer to have the adjutant and Dr. Messenger join him once again.
When they walked in a few minutes later and were seated, he looked at the chief medical officer. “Dr. Messenger, as you have the more arduous task ahead of you, I will address you first.”
The doctor smiled and nodded.
“First, please personally conduct a DNA swab of the prisoner Posey and then each of the other two. I need you to hand-carry those swabs to the DNA lab. The swabs should be analyzed, then the results compared to the DNA tests on file. But please wait for the results. I should think it won’t take longer than several minutes for them to come back. Then please have them sent to my personal tablet.
“At that point, return to the infirmary and begin testing every doctor and nurse on the day shift in the infirmary. Of necessity, you’ll have to also hand carry those swabs to the DNA lab. Same requirements, but you needn’t report back to me on those unless you find an anomaly. If you do find an anomaly, a mismatch, let me know that immediately. Then call Security to have that person or persons escorted to the brig.
“That said, I doubt you’ll encounter any anomalies. Once those tests come back clean, have those personnel test everyone else on the medical staff: first the other two shifts of the main infirmary and then all medical personnel aboard the ship. Again, if you encounter any anomalies, immediately relieve them of duty, have them escorted to the brig, and notify me personally. As you might imagine, you will be able to delegate more responsibility as more of your staff turn up clean.”
The doctor nodded. “I understand. I see what you’re doing, and of course I understand why. This must be a trying time for you and the CO.”
The XO said, “No worries. But yes. And when your staff is tested, the real work will begin. I want you personally to set up a schedule and begin testing every repopulation passenger on the ship. Males first, then—”
The doctor sat forward in his chair. “But you realize there are 100,000 male repops on the ship?”
The XO smiled, tight-lipped. “Yes, I do. Well, minus three. But it must be done. And afterward, all of the female repops are to be tested as well.”
“Such an endeavor will take years, Colonel.”
The XO nodded. “I know. I’m aware. But it’s what the general wants, and I believe she’s right. Now do you see why I want you to do this from the top down? The more clean bodies you have, the more help you’ll have in swabbing and running the results.”
“Yes sir, I see. But we still have only the two DNA analysis machines in the lab.”
“I thought of that too as I was retrieving the results of the tests I ran on you and the adjutant. Today Engineering will begin replicating more analyzers. I’ll have two more installed in the DNA lab on the main deck, and two more installed in each sick bay on every FOH deck. That should speed the process considerably.”
“Yes sir, that should help.”
“Any questions?”
“No sir.”
“If any occur to you later, please call me and ask. No worries at all.”
“Yes sir.”
“Thank you. You are dismissed.”
The doctor was taken aback at the sudden dismissal. He glanced at the adjutant, stood and bowed slightly in the direction of the colonel, then turned and left the room.
The adjutant only looked at the colonel, who looked past him and said, “Lock the door, please.”
There was a quiet click, and the colonel allowed his gaze to settle on the adjutant. “Jason, I’ll need much the same from you.”
Captain Gregg nodded. “I figured that was coming. So the CO wants the crew tested too?”
The colonel shook his head. “She didn’t say so, but I do. So please be as discreet as possible.”
“Yes sir.”
“And as before, there’s no need to report back to me with clean results, but report any anomalies immediately.”
“Yes sir. But what about—”
“If we encounter any anomalies, I’ll take care of it. They too will go to the brig for further investigation, but I’ll try to keep that under the CO’s radar. She has more than enough on her plate. Understand?”
“Yes sir. I agree.”
“Good. I’d like you to start with Security, excepting Major Hones and Captain Harrison. In fact, you can get them to help you administer the swabs. All the others have to be tested. I’d like that completed by the end of the first shift today.
“Then you can begin testing Engineering and Science. Swab the officers first, then enlist them to help you with the remaining crew in their sections. Meanwhile you can start on the bridge crew, the day shift first, then the other two. Feel free to tell them it’s only a routine test. If anyone balks or refuses to allow a swab, have them report to me.”
“Yes sir. And then?”
“You’ll move on to the major support staff: electrical, fitness and entertainment, and janitorial.”
“And hospitality? The bartenders and wait staff?”
The colonel smiled. “No. I have other help in that area. I don’t anticipate you will have any further duties in this regard once you’ve tested or caused to be tested the ones we’ve discussed.”
“Yes sir.”
“But Jason, please remember to be discreet. There’s no reason for you to discuss any results with anyone other than me. Not even with the doctor or the officers or chiefs of the various sections. Understood?”
“Yes sir. I understand.”
“Very well. And thank you. When all of this is finished, we should be able to move ahead without further concern.”
“Yes sir.”
The colonel nodded. “You are dismissed.” He glanced past the adjutant. “Door, unlock please.”
He watched as the adjutant walked out. When the door closed again, he opened his mouth to call for the lounge chief and his assistant, but remembered they were both working.
He’d taken their advice and contacted Lisa 18 for a comprehensive listing of personnel who had arrived on The Ark for the first time up to one month before the ship left lunar orbit. As it turned out, they were the only two in a position to help him with his problem. The only other crewman was John Stanley, a familiarization-training classmate of Mark and Isabel. But he was part of the clean-up crew. He hadn’t been around long enough to have any subordinates, only peers. But at least that was one more person the adjutant wouldn’t have to test. Of course, he hadn’t thought to mention Stanley to the adjutant. It wouldn’t matter anyway.
In a way, he was relieved. The whole thing was getting complicated. But as long as the adjutant and the good doctor went from the top down with the testing and then recruited others to help as they went—and as long as they reported only anomalies and only to him—the whole thing would remain manageable.
Isabel’s knowledge of such a pyramid structure was an unknown, but Mark had served in the Marine Corps so it would come naturally to him. And the colonel was pretty sure Isabel would follow Mark’s lead.
He brought up his personal log and updated it. Later, he would fill-in Mark and Isabel on what he needed from them.