Read Online The Jovian Run: Sol Space Book One by James Wilks - Free Book Online

strapped into wall cradles next to the door, and magnetic medical trays sat at strategic positions along the wall opposite the beds. At the far end, Dinah could see the doctor’s private office, the windows currently transparent to the rest of the bay. While the majority of the ship was stark, gunmetal grey, the walls and ceiling of the Medical bay were tinged blue, adding to its general air of sterility. The floors were different from the usual deck grating. Medical was the only room in the ship that had been outfitted with the recently invented, cutting edge, and highly expensive artificial gravity floor panels.
    As Dinah poked her head through the door, the doctor looked up from his surface and smiled at her in welcome. From her perspective, the man appeared to be standing on the wall. The effect was disconcerting to most of the crew members, but they all appreciated their captain’s extravagant expenditure on the artificial gravity. Altering the Medical bay whenever they entered atmosphere would be work intensive and problematic, and a shift from gravity to weightlessness or vice versa could be deadly if it came in the middle of a delicate medical procedure. Feeling for all the world like Fred Astaire, she climbed through the door, somewhat awkwardly altering her orientation to the doctor’s version of up .
    “Dinah Hazra, reporting as ordered, sir,” she said, finding her footing.
    “ Ahlan wa sahlan , Lieutenant,” the doctor replied. Dinah blinked several times, taken aback. “If one is going to act like they are still in the military, one should not be surprised when they are addressed as such. I am not a sir ,” he continued, not unkindly.
    “I’m not in the military anymore. And I don’t particularly like being reminded that I was, Doctor.” She took several steps towards one of the hinged beds on the wall, her voice demonstrating slight irritation.
    “That is fair,” he replied, “but I hope you don’t think you’re fooling anyone aboard this ship about how you spent your formative years.”
    She sighed and cast her eyes downward. “No, I suppose not, but it’s also not something I like to advertise.” A thought occurred to her, and she looked up sharply at him.
    As if reading her mind, he raised his hands, palms outward, in a gesture of peace. “As your doctor, I may have read your rather lengthy and impressive military record, Ms. Hazra, but as your doctor, I am also obliged to maintain confidentiality.” He gestured to the table she had approached, and the woman turned and hopped up on it, her legs dangling a few inches off the flooring. He was wearing pale blue scrubs and a white lab coat, and when he hung a stethoscope around his neck, the stereotypical image was complete. He came around in front of her and added, “And as your friend, Dinah, I am honor bound to keep your secrets.” She looked at him steadily and without comment, but he could detect gratitude in her eyes.
    “So,” he said, a little too loudly and dramatically, signaling the transition from friend to physician. “How are you feeling?”
    “Just fine,” she said for what she felt was the tenth time since she had tossed the satellite at the ship.
    He proceeded with his check up, exploring the glands in her neck with his firm fingers, prodding her back, measuring her breath with the stethoscope, and testing her reflexes. He asked her to hold out her hands, and they exhibited a slight tremor despite her efforts to hold them still.
    “That’s not unusual,” he commented somewhat dismissively after regarding them for several seconds. “Did you lose consciousness?”
    “Almost,” she answered reluctantly.
    He sat back against the lowered bed opposite her and nodded. “Other common side effects of exposure to high G acceleration include black motes, temporary loss of vision, tunnel hearing, temporary loss of hearing, changes in blood pressure, muscle cramping, damage to vision, even brain damage if the brain is