Amiga ISO Collection/AmigaDemoCD2.iso/ASCII/TEXTE/SEX/ADULTSHARE/A/ASS13706.TXT

Text File | 1994-03-27 | 12.1 KB | 307 lines

@BEGIN_FILE_ID.DIZ
=09=09=09=09=09Damage
=09=09=09=09=09=09Palindrome.
=09=09=09=09=09=09.emordnilaP
Chapter One@END_FILE_ID.DIZ

     A Hansom clattered toward the guard booth after dawn. The privat=
e on duty
had a cardboard sign he couldn't read tacked to his liftgate. It was =
a fancy
word that meant the base stunk with a plague. Half the lads were coug=
hing and
swollen. This was why he'd kept volunteering for every damned duty th=
at took him
=66rom the base, running errands, delivering trucks, even toadying fo=
r the
colonel's entourage, just so he didn't get sick himself. He couldn't =
keep this
pace forever: fatigue pursued him. He'd even committed the sin of fal=
ling asleep
on guard duty, a whipping offense, when before dawn he'd watched a st=
ar fall his
eyes lowered until they closed.
     The cab driver nodded at him and slowed.
     The private straightened when he poked his head toward the windo=
w. The
occupant was a woman. She twisted slightly as though her dress was to=
o tight.
She spoke like a man. The guard was a Maritimer and asked her to repe=
at herself,
as his ear was unattuned to her American accent. Finally, he directed=
 the driver
toward the administration building. He span a wheel so its yellow qua=
rter was
raised, signalling the duty officer to watch for visitors.
     This was to be the final staging area before shipping to Europe.=
 Thirty
thousand boys and men were expected to roll through here between fall=
 and
spring. All of those who had come through here on their way to the Me=
diterranean
since July had fallen sick.
      The visitor waited for the chief medical officer in his office =
where she
pretended not to be slightly horrified by his tools. Gasaeous anaesth=
etic had
been invented only several decades before and come into common use wi=
thin this
doctor's lifetime. He and his colleagues had no hope of curing their =
patients of
what afflicted them today because they had not yet discovered or name=
d the=20
microscopic body parts, the immunoglobulins, the precipins, the antig=
ens, needed
to make anti-biotics, let alone fight a genetically-engineered diseas=
e. The=20
visitor squealed delightfully at the steel optical microscope with it=
s
mechanical knobs and gears. She almost poked out her eye looking thro=
ugh it.
     Dr William Penfield, Long Point's surgeon was a handsome captain=
 in his
thirties. He wore a mustache and kept his back stooped. Dr Penfield s=
miled,
saying it was only rarely that such a beautiful lady came to his offi=
ce. He
asked whose wife she was.
     'I'm sorry, I just assumed you were married to one of the base's=
 men. Why
else would you enter a quarantined environment?' She said she was not=
 only a
physician but an African missionary as well. Or should that be 'docto=
ress?'
     'My husband and I were working in the Pacific and then near Lake=
 Victoria
in Africa on Christian missions. I've got lots of experience with suc=
h diseases
and am an fully-qualified doctor. University of Boston '91.'
     'You're Dr Penelope Wordlock aren't you? My American cousin grad=
uated from
Boston one year before you. You certainly don't look anything like yo=
ur
photographs. Aren't you supposed to be in Italy?'
     His visitor's eyes flicked away while she switched tacks, mental=
ly steering
to the lie she had ready: that her husband went on to Italy while she=
 came to
America for a friend's wedding, so, when she'd read of the diseases t=
hat had
been afflicting the troops on their way to fight the South African Wa=
r, she felt
compelled to see if her expertise could be of any use.
     The military doctor began testing her, throwing out bits of jarg=
on to see
if she were anything more than a well-read nurse.
     The visitor knew she was speaking hesitantly, not because she kn=
ew too
little but because she knew too much. Her stammering was not from a d=
esire to
impress him but not to confound him with vocabulary he wouldn't under=
stand.
     He was impressed when she described the disease's pathology perf=
ectly.
     'I've been sent an angel. Angels were messengers in Plato, but I=
 don't
think he mentioned red hair. Anyway, I've got an angelic messenger be=
fore me.
I am at your assistance.'
     He took her to the barracks. They needed to pass the kitchens on=
 the way
to the barracks, but after steeling herself to the stink from the com=
post, the
visitor still needed to defend herself against a hideous odor. The bu=
ilding
reeked and she wrinkled her nose despite his warning. She was blinded=
 for a
moment as her eyes adjusted to the grey and yellow sea inside. Stacke=
d on
triple bunks and on the floor were three hundred and fifty soldiers o=
f Queen
Victoria, dying. She lifted a soldier's elbow and squeezed his undera=
rm to see
whether his lymph glands were swollen. She asked if he had similar sw=
elling
near his genitals.
     'Your pecker, Corporal? Answer her. She's a doctor. No need to b=
e shy,
lad.'
     The corporal nodded. The visitor asked the infantryman if his ma=
tes were
all in the same state as he. He nodded to the man, clearly embarrasse=
d.
     She'd grown paler by the breath. Her voice had grown hollow as s=
he'd
stopped breathing through her nose while speaking, hoping to block th=
e stench
of the soldiers who hadn't bathed since their fevers had over-taken t=
hem;
nevertheless, the stink was overpowering her.
     The surgeon asked if she knew what the disease was. The soldiers=
 suffered
the same rolling, hacking cough and feverless sweat. The disease gest=
ated over
a long period and should have taken them while at sea but a landslide=
 at
Thunder Bay had delayed their travel and made them miss their boat fo=
r Gander.
Already the visitor and her friends had kept twelve ships from arrivi=
ng at
their ports lifeless, crewed and piloted by corpses.
    'I need to check some of my books and journals. I'll call again t=
his
afternoon. I'm staying at the Saint James. Send for a cab, please.' S=
he needed
to get outside but didn't want to undermine the doctor's confidence i=
n her, as
he'd be needed yet. 'Try to have them bathe and make certain they dri=
nk at least
as much fluid as they'd need normally. This is something very similar=
 to
something I saw in Sarawar but I need a urine sample or two to be cer=
tain.' She
didn't need any such samples but it would seem odd not to ask. Mind, =
she did
want to have a second look at the rubbish heaps.
     Twenty minutes later the visitor rode through the main gate and =
its sleepy
guard. Under her hat was a lump of slag which hid the device inside f=
rom
detection. Her diagnosis would be based on the device's perceptions, =
not Dr
Penfield's. She knew what the disease was, now how to get the afflict=
ed
hundreds to take their medicine?

Chapter Two
     The purchaser for the Royal Canadian Long Point Infantry Fort of=
 Montreal
wrote an obscenity on the blotting sheet with a delicate, deliberate =
hand. Like
many who did a lot of writing, her handwriting was more efficient tha=
n
beautiful. Still, the straight, bold strokes she drew to make the 'k'=
 gave a
sloping counterbalance to the sweeping lower-case letter beginning th=
e word.
     The base was sick.
     Plagues enraged Hannah. She loathed illness that cut life off wi=
thout
discrimination. This was supposed to be a contemporary city in the ne=
w century.
This was l900. Science and surgery had cut...
     Anyway, there were rumors about a woman jungle doctor who'd been=
 brought
to Montreal at great expense. She was supposed to know about witch-do=
ctor root
cures. The purchaser's hair had enough iron-grey that she remembered =
being in
London when the last big cholera had kicked through it in l850 and ho=
w any
lunatic advice or comforting quack was seized upon in fear. Families =
burned
tar before their doors and windows, inhaled sulphur and salted arseni=
c,
cimicifuga or cuprum onto food. Her father had been permanently under=
mined by
the l850 Cholera. He kept waiting for it to return and blamed every a=
che on it
For years he waited to get sick again until at last a cough settled o=
n him. He
withdrew a sum from the bank and ordered a brass coffin and died a mo=
nth later
     Two hours after dawn a second visitor came to the base to talk i=
ts
purchaser. Her visitor was a traveller and author. He was writing a b=
ook on
military organization, and how modern telegraphy was changing how arm=
ies could
better march on their stomachs. He'd prepared a little speech, but sh=
e upset
his concentration by asking him where he was from. His ready lie was =
tripped-up
by his rote, truthful answer.
     'You're a Frog. Funny, you don't sound it.'
     'I've travelled all my life,' he flustered at his answer.' I don=
't know
how I'm supposed to sound any more.' What interested her traveller wa=
s how large
troop transfers were accommodated on short notice. She explained that=
 of the two
types of purchases, military and non-military, most supplies were con=
sumer goods
like food, water, cloth, leather, ice, wood and purchased locally or =
regionally
Military supplies, however, were purchased nationally not only becaus=
e they
needed uniformity but also required special knowledge or intelligence=
 clearance.
Troop management was normally uncontroversial but since the Empire wa=
s at war,
she was not permitted to discuss military security with a stranger. H=
e handed
her a letter signed by General Lord Horatio Herbert Kitchener, Chief =
of Staff,
explaining since Boer General Pieter Cronj=8E was fighting unconventi=
onally,
flexible support structures must be developed to shunt British troops=
 and
supplies quickly. The bearer was authorized to have access to all rel=
evant
information with regard to this study.
     It was dated in January after the black week in December when th=
e British
lost l0,000 men at Magersfontein, had l,600 dead and wounded at Ladys=
mith and
had 600 captured at Colenso. The letter explained the bearer was to e=
xamine all
aspects of supply and management for Field Marshall Lord Roberts and =
was marked
with a flurry of stamps and seals. 'Your knowledge will aid the war e=
ffort. It's
your duty to make your Empire's army more efficient. I'm not interest=
ed getting
involved in any base politics, or who ordered two hundred left boots =
or guns=20
without firing pins or ten carts of splintered table legs because I'l=
l be gone
to-morrow if everything goes smoothly. The facts alone will suffice. =
I'm just
interested in security in relation to support.
     'You may not know when troops are arriving, but you must have fo=
od waiting
for them when they arrive. How quickly do your telegraphists get the =
signals
=66rom the cables to your desk?'
     'Very quickly. This troop we have was supposed to go to the Nort=
h Shore, to
Laval, but were diverted to us because, well, there was boat traffic =
and also,
they would have had to split the regiment up for lodgings. We had a d=
ay's notice
for purchasing, much from the harbour but mostly from the city.'
     They spoke for an hour. She explained how materials and stores w=
ere bought
at the port one kilometer and a half away and trucked to the base, of=
ten
prefacing her remarks with phrases like, 'Since you'll be gone in a d=
ay or two.'
Although he kept insisting that he really needed only general informa=
tion, for
example, the way shipments had been chosen, inspected, stored and arr=
anged for
over the last week, she insisted the quarterly reports from the last =
half year
could be useful to him and said she'd run them over to his hotel.
     Mind, she grit her teeth at his habit of using access as though =
it were a
verb.

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