Transplant Read Online Free Page B

the button next to the valve and walk back to the port.’
    As the canister in question was back at the point where they had all come in, there were a few muttered curses as the foursome trouped back to recover it.
    When the little group had reassembled at the pile of equipment they had dumped earlier, it was the fourth member of the team, Bolin, who volunteered to activate the canister which brought an audible sigh of relief from the other three.
    This time they set off as a group to the far end of the chamber, helping each other over fallen branches and taking it in turns to carry the heavy canister.
    As they made their way back to the far end of the chamber, Glyn gave the Captain a running commentary of their progress and the degree of increasing decay they observed as they went down the pathway, hoping the information would be of some use.
    When they had gone as far as it was deemed safe to go and with what they thought was the end of the chamber in sight, they halted, informed the Captain that they were about to release whatever it was the canister held, and prepared to walk back the way they had come.
    Bolin removed the end of the canister as instructed, turned the valve and held the canister as high as he could.
    ‘Someone else will have to press the release button, I can’t reach it and hold this damn thing at the same time.’
    Brendon stepped forward a couple of paces, thought better of it, and stayed put.
    ‘OK, I’ll do it.’ said Glyn stepping up to the nervous looking Bolin. He pressed the button and stepped back in one fluid movement, as if expecting the canister to come alive. All that happened was a faint hissing sound and an almost invisible stream of vapour jetting high up into the air.
    ‘Looks harmless enough, but I wouldn’t count on it.’ Glyn felt something should be said, if only to ease the tension they all felt.
    Slowly they made their way back towards the entrance point of the chamber, helping Bolin with his canister wherever a branch got in the way or a pool of slime had to be trodden in, as the fluid from the decaying vegetation dripped down from the rotting branches at an ever increasing rate.
    Glyn kept the Captain informed of their progress as they went along until they neared the end of the pathway by the entrance, and then disaster struck.
    A large branch fell from high above, knocking Bolin off his feet and sending the canister spinning into the slimy mass of decay at the side of the path. As he fell his arm caught on one of the steel posts which marked the edge of the path, ripping the suit open and exposing bare flesh.
    As the others crowded around him, a thin trickle of blood appeared and a look of horror flashed across Bolin’s face.
    Glyn quickly told the Captain what had happened, but there was no reply for a moment.
    ‘Come on Captain, what do we do now? Bolin’s been injured, what should we do?’
    ‘Recover the canister and go to the end of the chamber. It is vital that the operation be completed. Do it now.’
    ‘But what about Bolin?’
    ‘Recover the canister....’ the Captain just repeated his former order.
    Arki squelched his way into the morass at the side of the path, recovered the canister, and holding it as high as he could walked on up the path, cursing under his breath.
    Bolin was looking decidedly sick inside his face mask, his skin had taken on a pale grey colour and he was trembling.
    ‘Bolin, can you hear me? Stand up, come on, stand up.’ but Glyn was wasting his breath, Bolin slowly slipped into unconsciousness and slithered from their grasp to lie on the pathway in a crumpled heap.
    ‘Is he dead?’ asked an equally pale Brendon.
    ‘No, I don’t think so, but he’s very sick. We must try and get him back to our quarters as quickly as possible, someone may know what to do.’ although in all honesty, Glyn didn’t think anyone would.
    ‘Captain, what can we do for Bolin?’ asked Arki, returning to the group and not really expecting a