Chapter 23
"I'm not kidding, Scott."
"Oh,
God!" said Scott. "So we're back to square one again?"
"No,
Scott. There are very few in his system," stammered Brains.
"What does that mean?" asked Jeff.
"Well, Mr. Tracy, it certainly explains John's condition. A handful of nanobots would take a very long time indeed to regenerate his tissues."
"I thought the coded ones you gave him were supposed to destroy them!" said Scott.
"They did destroy the ones that they could. These must be second generation, perhaps made from one of our alloys," Brains stuttered.
"What do we do now?" asked Jeff.
"We
need to get them out of him. There are so few that I would not be
able to pinpoint their locations long enough to remove them
surgically, and the coded nanobots are not going to work."
"There
must be something you can do!" said Scott, impatiently.
"I'm working on it, Scott, but-"
"What is it, John?" asked Jeff. He had noticed that John was shaking his head, frustrated.
John
was unable to answer because he could not speak.
"He's
trying to say something!" said Scott.
"Obviously a limitation of the yes/no blinking method of communication," said Jeff.
"I have an idea, Mr. Tracy!" said Brains, and disappeared. He returned presently with a large piece of white paper with the alphabet arranged on the bottom like a QWERTY keyboard, and some simple words and phrases at the top.
"John, I'm going to point to the middle of the board. If you want the top section, roll your eyes up, and if you want the bottom section, roll your eyes down. Then I will move my finer across the board, and when I get to the letter or phrase you want, you blink, and I'll read it out," stammered Brains. It took him quite some time to get all of his words out. "Do you understand, John?"
John rolled his eyes up, and then blinked when Brains' finger was touching the 'yes' field.
"Whoa, you're a quick study!" said Scott.
"Thanks," said Brains, John having directed him to.
"What do you want to say, John?" asked Jeff, and John began. At first, they simply waited for him to spell a word, and remembered it, but John was using some sophisticated language, so Jeff got pen and paper and began writing it down.
"E-L-E-C-T-R-I-C field given off by nanobots. Combine capillary electrophoresis with dialysis. Filter by charge."
"That's ingenious, John!" said Brains.
"What
did he say?" asked Scott.
"He said 'electric field'-"
"I
know what he said, Brains. What did it mean?" asked Scott.
"Well, if I combine a charge selective electrophoresis apparatus with a dialysis machine, I will be able to filter John's blood to remove them," stammered Brains.
"Well that made a lot more sense," sighed Scott.
"Can you do it, Brains?" asked Jeff.
"I'll
need a dialysis machine. We already have electrophoresis
equipment."
"I'll get one shipped right away, Brains,"
said Jeff.
"Well done, John!" said Scott.
John started directing Brains to speak for him again.
"Not just a hat rack, my friend."
For a large and undisclosed sum, Jeff managed to have a dialysis machine shipped over the next afternoon. Brains had been up the entire night tinkering with the machinery and computer parts he had brought up to the sickroom from his lab. The boys had been learning to use the letterboard, and were enjoying their first conversations with John for over six months.
"We fixed up your satellite pretty good!" said Virgil.
"Is my observatory okay?" signed John.
"So
so," said Virgil, and then when he saw the horrified look on John's
face, "Hey, man, I'm kidding. It's great. You should be back
eating freeze dried food, peeing into a hole in the wall and reading
the same cheesy novels over and over in no time!"
"Can't
wait," signed John, and smiled as much as his tube would let him.
Brain's eventually came away from his apparatus and announced it ready to use. He put two needles into John's arm to remove and return the blood, and started the machine.
John
signed, "Oh God is that my blood A-A-A-A." He was watching the
large plastic tube fill with blood from his arm and was looking very
pale.
"Can we cover that up?" asked Jeff. Virgil got a
light sheet and put it over John's arm to the point where the tube
came off the side of his bed.
"Thank
you!" signed John. "How long do I have to be like this?"
"Well,
if I was removing anything else from your blood it would take about
10 hours," stammered Brains.
"Gee, fantastic," signed John.
"Maybe you should get some sleep, Son," sad Jeff.
"Oh yes you try and sleep with your blood being controlled by a machine," signed John.
Jeff, Alan and Scott left, leaving only Virgil and Gordon with John. They stayed up all night talking to John with the new system, which was very effective.
"Good news, Mr. Tracy!" said Brains. "The treatment worked! I put John in the body scanner again, and there were no nanobots!"
"You're sure this time?" asked Jeff with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes, Mr. Tracy," stammered Brains.
"So
he's going to be okay?" asked Scott. "He's not going to go
on the rampage again?"
"No, Scott."
"Hallelujah!"
"The
only drawback is that John's recovery will be slower without them,"
stammered Brains.
"Small price to pay, if you ask me!" said
Scott.
"What are we going to do about the further nanobots threat, Brains?" asked Jeff.
"I have compiled a complete report, Mr. Tracy, and I'm going to hand it anonymously to the World Defence Force."
"Good idea, Brains."
"And the new shielding on Thunderbird 5 ought to protect it from their energy weapons."
"What
else?"
"Further than that, I don't know. I guess we just
have to keep a close watch on the symptoms. I think they remain a threat."
"Sure, Brains. And at least we know that there is a way to get rid of them.
Three months later, and International Rescue was back in action. Alan and Virgil had been taking turns in manning Thunderbird 5, but the callouts had been few, and not too severe. John was walking in the garden, with a stick in one hand, and his arm around his father's shoulders. He was recovering very well, and hoped to return to active duty in another few months.
"Wow, you never gave up on me, Dad?" said John, hoarsely. The tube had irritated his throat, and it was taking some time for him to get his voice back.
"No,
son. I knew you'd be okay."
"Dad, I know it's a weird
thing to ask, but-" John squealed in pain as he faltered and
almost fell. Jeff caught him around the waist.
"Here
we go, John!" Jeff led him to the bench. "What were you
saying?"
"You said you knew I'd be alright. How?"
"I
just knew, in my heart."
"Really? Because I had this really
weird sort of conversation in my head."
Jeff's ears pricked
up, and he leaned closer to John. "With who?"
"With Mom!"
John's lip trembled, and Jeff hugged him tightly. "Is that
weird?"
"No, Son. I spoke to her too!" He looked up at the
sky. "I told you she'd watch over you, didn't I?"
"Yes.
Thanks, Dad."