Fire Alive! by John Steiner

Author:John Steiner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: future, fire, near future, nearfuture, firefighter, firefighting, fire captain, particle physics, living fire, animated fire, firefighting history, firefighting past, ingest heat
Publisher: Melange Books LLC

Chapter Twelve

~ Six Million Worth ~

From afar, the VA did grant approval for Malcolm to be transferred to the university hospital a few hours later. Dr. Holbrook told Duane that specialists were en route via air and would take over his treatment. However, Duane decided to accompany Malcolm’s transport. T.C. also insisted on coming along.

Longhand suspected T.C. would again remind his boss he needed to rest, but he didn’t. They entered a waiting room not far from the surgical wing Malcolm was moved to. The two firefighters explained themselves as interested parties who weren’t going anywhere any time soon. The staffers saw their uniforms, along with the seriousness in their faces, and then decided not to offer any arguments.

Marking time and studying the walls, Duane became surprised by a firefighter’s magazine suddenly thrust in his face. Turning up, he saw T.C. who, unbeknownst to him, left the U’s hospital just long enough to pick up some things and come back.

“Cover story’s cool,” T.C. explained. “They say it’ll replace turnout gear.”

Duane took the magazine and examined the cover. Striding like a male clothing model in front of a ladder truck, Duane doubted the man really served in a station. He wore something resembling a wetsuit along with the normal garb of their calling. Thumbing to that page he read up on the fire protection concept. Rather pricy for most departments, the thermoelectric generating suit shielded the wearer from heat and fire. It went further by turning much of that heat into electricity to power whatever the user needed. What struck Duane strange was the form fitting design that his instincts warned against. Molecularly engineered turnout clothes of the present day themselves presented a marvel compared to even a decade ago. Still, the bagginess remained a safeguard for an air pocket of extra security against heat convection.

He repeatedly referenced the picture rendering of the fabric cross section, while reading on the material science that defied his hands-on logic. Then, several people in army uniforms arrived with cases and carts of medical equipment. One standing out most readily shared Malcolm’s tenacious red hair disciplined into high’n’tight. On his collar shown silver eagles of—if he guessed correctly, a colonel.

The man noticed him just as quickly. To Duane’s surprise, he even knew his name when addressing him. “Captain Duane Longhurst, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

It took him a second to realize the hand offered out. Standing up to take it, the firefighter captain rose to confront the guy he suspected withheld treatment authorization. “Yes, that’s right. Listen, I’d like to talk about Malcolm O’Connell’s—”

“Of course,” he, with a tactical smile, cut Duane off deftly. “I intended to anyway. So, if you will follow me while my team preps for surgery.”

The colonel, with Pierson on the uniform name tag and medical corps unit patches, spoke briefly with a university staffer about any unused rooms. She pointed, he thanked her, and waved Longhand to follow at quite the clip of pace.

Inside that room the colonel closed the door and stepped around.

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