To: 
From: "Jay  P Hailey" 
Reply-To: trekcreative{at}yahoogroups.com


Title: Accidents
Author: Jay P. Hailey (JayPHailey{at}aol.com) Series: Vista City
Part: 6/8
Rating [PG]

A helicopter spotlight lit up the roof of the building. Scott saw people
struggling along the windy heights. The spotlight blinded a couple of them
and they stumbled. Some people were carrying wounded. Scott recognized
Sonya Traveler and Gary Dawson among the people.

"The pilots of the Coast Guard Search and Rescue helicopters have told
us on the radio that they feel the wind conditions to be unsafe. That is to
say that any attempt to rescue the trapped victims of the fire would be
extremely risky. We'll listen in on their channel now to see if they will,
in fact make the attempt."

The speaker on Scott's TV hissed as the radio was switched to the Coast
Guard frequencies.

"Rescue one to Tower, we still aren't clear to make the goddamned
extraction, over."

"Tower to Rescue One, can you identify the other ship?"

"Roger, Tower, there is a big, hairy assed, Bell 500 in my way marked
News Eight. There are several other news choppers in the way. Over."

The picture suddenly switched back to Lynn Vaughn in Atlanta. She started
and then quickly regained her composure. "This is Lynn Vaughn in
Atlanta. While they work that out, we'll go to a quick commercial. Stay
tuned to CNN for continuing coverage of the high rise fire in San
Francisco's Holden Inn."

CNN broke for the commercial. Scott was horrified to see that CNN already
had a dazzling computer graphic logo for the event.

Scott stood up to see Jennifer waiting for him.

"I've got to go." he said, gruffly

"I understand. Keep your head down." It their standard be-careful warning.

The phone rang. Jennifer looked at Scott.

"I'm not here." He said.

She picked up the phone. "Hello? Who? I'm sorry he's not home right
now. May I take amessage? Uh-huh, yes, I'll tell him. Thank you."

She put down the phone, and intoned in a deep voice "That was CNN."

Scott made an obligatory grin at his wife's black humor, and kissed her on
his way out the door.

-*-

At the Police Station, Scott arrived in the main Squad room to find that
CNN was the main focus there, too.

Captain Arnold, the senior officer present was in charge. Scott approached
him. He nodded at the screen. "Ashby, hi. You know who's there,
right?"

Scott nodded. "I want to take a van down there and pick them up, if
possible."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I can handle it."

"Okay, take number five. The keys are at the desk." Captain
Arnold picked up the phone on his desk, and dialed a number. "Jamie?
Give Captain Ashby the keys to van number five, will ya? Thanks."

Scott turned to leave just a Captain Arnold said "Christ, the bastards
are trying it again."

Scott turned to watch the coverage. From a good distance a News Copter
showed footage of a National Guard Huey hovering over the roof top. The big
military helicopter danced in the heavy winds and weird updrafts from the
burning building. A safety-belted crew man worked a winch and lowered a
stretcher-basket down to the roof top. The people on the roof pulled the
stretcher-basket into them but waited until there was plenty of slack in
the line, before loading a burn victim into it. Then Scott recognized
Marcus Gonzales strapping himself inexpertly into the rig.

"Hey, Captain, is he one of ours?" Someone shouted.

"That's Marcus Gonzales." Scott answered.

Seeing a thumbs up from the roof, the helicopter crewman began to operate
the winch to lift the stretcher/basket. As the stretcher-basket was lifted
clear of the roof, it started to spin. Marcus crouched down to shield the
burn victim and try to keep him in the stretcher. It spun faster and faster
as the helicopter tried to hover in place over the burning building.

Marcus now lost his battle to keep his place and was flung clear out of the
basket. It was spinning very quickly now, and Scott didn't see how Marcus
had the strength to hold on to it. Then he saw the straps that held Marcus.

The squad room gasped collectively as a gust sank the helicopter. The
spinning basket dropped lower and Marcus was spun along the surface of the
roof. The basket's spin slowed a lot, but it looked like Marcus picked up a
serious case of roof rash.

The Helicopter bounced into the air lifting the basket off the roof again.
The rate of spin increased again and once more Marcus and the burn victim
were spun out of control.

Scott could see Marcus losing his focus and his strength. They were
spinning at something like a turn and a half per second. Scott had
undergone similar spins in astronaut training and knew how disorienting
they could be. He was amazed that Marcus still seemed conscious and capable
of fighting back, while spinning thirty stories in mid-air over a burning
building.

Then another gust caught the Helicopter. It dipped down further and off to
the side of the building. The pilot barely managed to miss the edge of the
roof. Marcus and the burn victim were slammed into the side of the building
with a bone breaking impact.

As the squad room jumped to their feet and shouted, Scott turned and left.

-*-

In the end, Marcus and the burn victim were the most seriously injured
people to be evacuated from the roof. Sonya, Gary and Angelo were evacuated
with little physical injury. They were all traumatized by the events they
had witnessed. The burn victim had been burned while trying to escape the
twenty third floor. Another person had been killed there.

A few others had been hurt getting winched into rescue helicopters, some seriously.

Marcus was in the ICU for the next two days. He under went quick and
thorough reconstructive surgery. The doctors told Scott that there was good
chance that Marcus would eventually recover fully, given enough time and
physical therapy.

Sonya and Gary had been scared out of their wits, but had managed to
maintain long enough to evacuate all the civilians from the roof first.
Once on the ground and on their way home each collapsed to deal with event
on a personal level.

Angelo almost earned a quick death when he admitted that he had enjoyed
dangling from the helicopter in the air. He said that he was going to go to
sky diving courses to explore this emotional reaction.

The last casualty to be counted was Gary's motorcycle. The collectors item
Harley Davidson had indeed been pelted with burning debris and then doused
with fire retardant foam.

Gary moaned at the thought of the damage to the leather and rubber
fittings. He sobbed when he thought of the rare components that would be
corroded by the foam and would need to be replaced. He sighed at the
thought of taking his beloved motorcycle apart piece by piece and cleaning
each component thoroughly. Then he would reassemble the whole machine,
slowly, delicately and precisely.

Weeks of work lay ahead of Gary before he could ride his motorcycle again.

Gary looked at Scott and said bitterly, "I want a raise!"

-*-

The next few days were filled with heavy work for Scott. The people
involved in the building disaster were all sent home for a few days of
recovery and then assigned to attend survivors counseling.

Scott and the other officers assigned to the Special Investigations Squad
had to scramble to keep up with the added work load. Then there were
meetings with the Assistant Chief where the issue of Marcus' medical
coverage had to be settled.

The press hounded the officers of the disaster briefly, but then turned to
other survivors. One buxom young lady named Bambi had been on top of the
roof with them and turned out to be a natural in front of the cameras. Most
of the other survivors were content to let her become their spokesman.

Scott tried to cope with his own reaction. There was a certain amount of
guilt on his part. The VCPD had been mailed an older flyer, but the update
informing them of the change in venue had not appeared at the police
station. Scott felt guilty that the officers in that disaster had gone on
his suggestion.

Scott also had the nightmarish feeling of accidents around every corner.



------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Free shipping on all inkjet cartridge & refill kit orders to US &
Canada. Low prices up to 80% off. We have your brand: HP, Epson, Lexmark
& more. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5510
http://us.click.yahoo.com/GHXcIA/n.WGAA/ySSFAA/TpIolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Star Trek; The E-mail Commands

Post message: trekcreative{at}yahoogroups.com Subscribe:
trekcreative-subscribe{at}yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe:
trekcreative-unsubscribe{at}yahoogroups.com List owner:
trekcreative-owner{at}yahoogroups.com Get Digest:
trekcreative-digest{at}yahoogroups.com Web only: 
trekcreative-nomail{at}yahoogroups.com Normal: trekcreative-normal{at}egroups.com

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5