"Who?" Dr. Freema Ratliff repeated herself. The gentle hum of the gurney herself and Dr. Kisho Uchida were guiding to the docking port was soothing, however the nature of the callout from medical to the port kept her on edge. Normally patients were brought to them to treat. Being asked to the port meant somebody was in serious trouble. Uchida had been typically quiet, he was walking in front and she spoke to the back of his head.
"Roger Claymore," Uchida repeated himself.
"Is that name supposed to mean anything to me?" Ratliff had only been on Freeport 1 for a few months. Pygar was a comfortable life but she didn't think she could stay under the same sky forever. She heard the stories of space and wanted to see it for herself. Living on a station was torture. Fifty-two days until her contract ended and she could live under a sky again.
"He was a pirate a long time ago. There used to be a large silver mining operation in Omega-7 that he targetted the miners of. I remember Junkers around here talking about him, somehow he'd crossed them and they were after him." They turned a corner. "Really crossed them. I'd never heard Junkers speak in such terms of anger before or since. He killed their people and bragged about it."
They turned another corner. The door to the docking port came into view.
"Another day another patient, good thing pirates have the same bone structure as us isn't it?" Ratliff forced out a laugh.
"We're not sure he's the patient."
"Wait, what?"
"From what dock control have told me, a ship came through a few days ago and were very eager to dump their cargo and leave. Just paid to unload it and left. Must've paid a pretty big bribe to unload it without being checked. The deck crew started opening up the containers to evaluate and sell the contents. They've opened one and found an entire ship inside, a bomber."
"Pay day," Ratliff commented. "Bet the crew are chuffed. And this involves us because?"
"There's medical equipment attached to it. Including a heart monitor that's beeping."
"There's someone in there!?" Ratliff stopped. The gurney was programmed to stop if either handler stopped. Uchida turned around, confused. "What's the condition of the person inside, why haven't they been brought to us in medical? What are we walking into?" Ratliff asked.
Ratliff saw something in his eyes she hadn't seen before. The tiniest glint of it. Fear. He kept walking slow and the gurney started beeping, so Ratliff followed to all it to move. "They don't know, Freema. The hatch has been welded shut from the outside. The crew has spent the last three hours cutting to open it without hurting whoever's inside. They've said the smell coming out is the smell of death. But the heart monitor is still beeping. They've started hearing a noise from inside too. They've tried talking but all they can hear is a... gurgle."
"A gurgle?" Ratliff asked. Before Uchida could reply a voice came through their radio.
"F-ing Hell, where are you!? We've got it open, this man needs help! This is sick. Oh God the smell."
[17:45:39] Wolfs Ghost (Murphy): Tom, you have problems. Go kill yourself.
[19:25:12] Johnny (Jam): Tomtom, I will beat you with a spoon.
[14:22:56] Prarabdh Thakur: KILL HIM WITH A SHEEP.
[17:40:48] Eagle (Junes): Tom should be slapped with a spoon.
[11:32:18] Warspite: Thank you for being so awesome Tom. <3
[18:17:36] Metano: I love you tomtom
[20:06:24] Warspite: I will seriously give you epic head.
' Wrote:Edit: also, Tomtomrawr, fappin' like a boss.
