City Out of Time. William Robison III
the wound. He looked at the Corps member next to him and said, “Keep up the pressure and keep him warm.”
Lanz looked to the other wounded and saw that the other Corps members were already getting their wounded men and women on the ground and following the procedure Lanz had laid out. Lanz turned to look around to see what other help was on the way, but was surprised to see that he was the only one here. He quickly moved to the second patient and started working on her.
She had a neck wound. It looked pretty severe. Lanz took some gauze and held it over the wound to stop up the flow of blood. While he did that, he checked out the rest of her body for other wounds and discovered that she probably had a few broken ribs, but the gun shot was the most serious wound.
“Hold this!” Lanz said to the nearest guy. As soon as he felt a hand take over the pressure, he moved to the third patient, scanning the crowd for help as he went, but not seeing anyone coming.
The third patient had a broken leg. Lanz set it quickly, and explained to the Corps member next to him how to make a splint. He moved off to the final patient, but before he got there, he heard someone from the crowd say angrily, “Who’s the medic?”
Lanz turned around to see a bunch of doctors and nurses dressed in professional gear looking angrily at the scene in front of them. Someone from the crowd pointed to Lanz and Lanz stopped where he was.
As the rest of the team of doctors and nurses spread out amongst the patients, the head doctor came right towards Lanz. To Lanz’s great surprise, the doctor was livid.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” the doctor asked. “Who told you that you were a medic?”
“I was saving these men’s lives, no thanks to you,” Lanz snapped. “And as to who told me I was a medic, it was the United States Army, thank you very much!”
The doctor was so angry, he became speechless. He tried to utter a coherent reply, but couldn’t get a word out. He looked around the scene of dead and wounded and then back at Lanz before he managed to gain control of his voice again.
“This is not how things are done, Army,” he said. “Get the hell out of here before I have you deported!”
Now it was Lanz’s turn to be angry, but before he could reply, he felt a strong hand on his shoulder guiding him away from the scene and back towards the Corps Processing area.
“Deported?” Lanz managed. “Who does he think he is?”
“He is the head surgeon at City Hospital, Franco.”
Lanz turned around and saw that the hand on his shoulder was none other than Nurse Terry’s.
“But…” Lanz said… then his voice trailed off.
“Report to my office before rounds on Monday morning, Mr. Franco,” Terry said coolly, and then Terry turned around and headed back to the other doctors and nurses.
By Monday, Lanz still hadn’t found groceries, but he had found a Chinese take-out place that delivered for free, so he hadn’t starved. He discovered that the phone system worked fine, if you knew the number of the person you were trying to call – which Lanz didn’t. And as for thrilling things to do, Lanz had moped all weekend, going over the scene at the Processing Center in his mind again and again. He had a hundred arguments for why he had acted correctly, but had a sneaking suspicion that none of them were going to matter.
He arrived at Terry’s office ten minutes before Terry arrived. Terry didn’t say a word as he let Lanz into his office and shut the door behind them both. Then Terry took a seat behind his desk and crossed his fingers in front of his face.
“Have you considered another career, Mr. Franco?”
Lanz was immediately on his toes.
“No,” Lanz answered quickly. “I’ve wanted to be a doctor for a long time.”
“Well, after that little stunt you pulled on Saturday, I’m afraid your chances of ever becoming a doctor are very slim.”
Terry hadn’t pulled his punches and Lanz felt like someone had knuckle-punched him in the gut. He fought for air.
“What did I do wrong?” Lanz asked weakly.
“First, you announced yourself as a medic. You’re not a medic. Not yet. And never in this City, I’m afraid. Second, you dispensed medical aide as if you were a medic…”
“Did I do something wrong?”
“Not that I can tell,” Terry noted. “But that’s beside the point. You see, medical services are one of the few services in the City where everyone gets the latest medical care. That means our doctors and nurses are selected and trained with techniques far in advance of your own era’s knowledge base. Your medicine is from the 1990’s. Their medicine is much more recent. So, by the mere fact that you were practicing medicine, you were stripping those poor Corps members of their rights. You were giving them inferior medical service.”
“That’s crazy,” Lanz muttered.
“Not if you’re the one receiving medical care,” Terry replied. “If one of those patients had died, you could have been charged with murder. As it is, since you’re new here and really didn’t know better, I have been tasked with reassigning you.”
“Reassigning me?”
“I’m sure something appropriate can be worked out. But for now, I’m going to assign you to the janitorial department. You’ll do that full time from now on until I can get you a better job.”
“I’m a janitor now?”
“There are no menial jobs here, Mr. Franco,” Terry noted. “Everyone works for their food.”
“Is there any chance that…”
“No. Now… if you’ll please show yourself out… I have to give the new guys their assignments.”
So Lanz became a janitor. He swept, mopped, emptied the trash, and tried to pretend that he wasn’t already planning to leave that very night. Without a job in the medical field, there was really no point in staying in the City. He could go back to the real world, start back into school, and finish up his degree there without anyone ever knowing about his failed attempt to perform medicine in some imaginary city out of time.
He was so preoccupied with his plans to leave the City that he didn’t notice the old lady until he bumped into her. Lanz apologized immediately and asked the woman if she was okay, but when she looked at Lanz, she was smiling, and Lanz instantly recognized her.
“Miss Earhart,” Lanz said. “I’m really sorry. I was lost in thought.”
“It happens,” she replied. “So, Lanz, tell me… how are you settling in?”
Lanz hesitated. She had gone out of her way to greet him when he had arrived. Lanz still wasn’t sure what that was all about.
“I’m not,” Lanz admitted. “I’m actually considering leaving.”
“Nonsense,” she snapped. “You just got here. Why would you want to leave?”
In answer, Lanz waved his hands over his filthy janitor’s outfit. Amelia laughed.
“Well, that’s a good enough reason, I suppose,” she noted. “But have you ever considered doing something different? Perhaps a career change is what you need?”
“No, Miss Earhart. I’ve always wanted to be a doctor. I really can’t imagine doing anything else.”
“But, my dear boy, you seem so ill-suited to this line of work,” Amelia replied. “Do you know what I do here?”
Lanz shook his head.
“I’m a Guardian,” she explained. “My entire job is to look after this City and make sure it remains standing for as long as I’m alive. Now, look at me,