parently someone from the DOE has already given the hospital directions, Peter thought. Peter was assigned to Medicine and headed toward the elevator. He remembered some of the medical wards from his last visit to the hospital, but he had never seen the emergency room. He followed the signs and passed the cafeteria full of people watching TV and shouting above the din. A woman in the back was preaching about the apocalypse as others shouted arguments back at her. Signs were on the exit doors saying people should not exit without face masks. A small sign said that face masks and other supplies including bottled water were on order. He caught a couple of news stories on the TV set, and then a story by a reporter standing outside the Federal Building in Richland. “DOE officials in Richland today have announced a test at Hanford’s N reactor. Reporters were told the tests involved measuring the capabilities of certain coolant mechanisms within the reactor. Since the experiments put off considerable smoke, the press was not allowed into the reservation itself. Hanford employees outside the Federal Building stated that a large fire was spreading from the N reactor, about 35 miles from Richland. We spoke with Mr. Drake Wyman of the Energy Department. ‘Mr. Wyman, will this test have an effect on the public at large?’ ” “The tests using some fire at the N reactor today will have a negligible effect on the public. Ambulances were simply transporting people who are participating in medical research.” Viewers in the cafeteria threw in their own jeers and hollers. The emergency room was also full of people with several nurses at the front nursing station. Peter turned toward the clinic door and one of the nurses came out and asked to see his badge. He fished it out of his pocket. “That’s Medicine, Doctor—not Emergency. And please, wear your badge.” “ Now I really feel I’ve been drafted,” he muttered. “Speak up, please, Doctor.” “Would you mind telling me how many people have died from burns or seizures today?” Peter asked. “We don’t know, Doctor. We refer them out to Burn, Trauma, Oncology, you name it.” “Well maybe you could tell me how many victims of radiation sickness have been admitted so far?” “Forty-seven, just here in the Emergency Room. And then there’s Admitting. They took a lot of ambulances to Kennewick General and the Pasco Hospital also. I would make a rough guess of around 80 per hospital.” “I see. And what kind of risk do you think we’re in?” The nurse had a regal elderly look and pronounced her words carefully. “Well, we don’t know that yet, Doctor. We’re telling people to stay inside—and hope that they can get more water in here—and drugs, morphine especially—beds, and blood products.” Then almost under her breath, she said, “Don’t say anything, Doctor, but it’s a living catastrophe. We just have to go on with it, that’s all, and try to help as many people as we can.” She raised her voice suddenly and glanced out at the crowd in the waiting area. “Like Hippocrates said, you gotta keep a stiff upper lip!” “And with an English accent, too!” Peter told her. He peered into an exam room. Six pregnant women sat inside. “We’ve had to start batching patients since we can’t treat them one at a time,” she explained. No doubt these women would be evaluated for the degree of contamination to the fetuses. He didn’t envy the doctor who would have to advise them. Though he had the nerve to feel self pity, he was grateful Maria wasn’t with him. These women weren’t so lucky. Of course, he had no way of knowing whether the mountains would protect Seattle from the contaminated air. A radioactive cloud could travel anywhere- depending on the wind. “Say, did you have a guy come through here from the N reactor by the name of Hawkins, Ken Hawkins?” She checked a book at the front desk. “Sorry—he isn’t here. Try Admitting.” Peter hurried out of the Emergency room and passed the cafeteria where patients were stretched out on cots jammed into every corner of the room. Many of them looked asleep or sedated, and most were bandaged. When he got to Admitting there was such a crowd he couldn’t stop to ask about Hawkins. T he ward Peter was assigned to had beds in the small lobby and the hall. He walked into a room with two regular beds and two cots. One fellow on a cot had no hair, a lot of peeling skin, and his eyes seemed to be bulging. He had i.v.’s through his neck, chest, and wrists. The man was extremely thin and pale, and with nearly all the veins in his face showing. He seemed to have lost a great deal of blood. As Peter moved to examine him, the man pointed a thin white finger into the air. “You want to know how the plant caught fire, Doc? The fuel cladding melted. I’m an engineer at the N reactor. I kept telling them the fuel melting temperature of the N is lower than at Chernobyl. And they wouldn’t listen to me tell them to shut it down. I don’t know if it melted down to the plutonium or not, but it released a hell of a lot of iodine-131, cesium-137, and strontium-90.” The fellow dropped his hand onto the bed abruptly. “Whatever you can catch from the stuff, I got it—from inhaling the smoke and standing too damn close to the fire.” Peter began to study the man’s chart. “Like I said, Jake, hindsight is always 20-20,” said one of his roommates, also suffering from acute radiation sickness. “You say all that now but I notice you didn’t quit your job when they wouldn’t follow your advice.” The engineer raised his head onto his hand, his elbow bent on the pillow. “It wouldn’t have done any damn good. They were going full speed ahead to make more plutonium for bombs. That plant isn’t even licensed by the NRC.” His elbow slid off the pillow and his head dropped back down. “Oh what’s the point?” “It doesn’t have to be licensed—it’s the war department,” the roommate persisted. “Let him rest, Jackson,” the other roommate said. Peter remembered the people he saw on the cafeteria cots, bandaged undoubtedly because they had large portions of peeling skin from radiation burns. It was obvious there would be many people in need of bone marrow transplants. A nurse appeared and asked Peter to go visit another wing where a group of women with similar complications were grouped together. Most of these women had internal problems—perhaps ulcers or intestinal bleeding. A woman who looked extremely sedated stared at him. “Did you hear the radio, Doctor? They just lost a $900 million wheat crop this year in Washington state ‘cause of radiation. Can you beat that? They don’t know if this planet is fit to live on anymore, but they’ve already calculated how much the state lost in its wheat crop! They said all the fruits—apples, melons, grapes— they’re all ruined. My cousin has a vineyard up around Yakima. They said the grapes are all contaminated so the wine won’t be any good for years to come. Listen, Doc, the nurse hasn’t been through here in quite awhile and I’m in serious need of a bedpan.” Peter found one in the cupboard next to the bed and supported her light body as she urinated. Two other cots were wheeled in followed by a young doctor who was prescribing some medication. “Dr. Stewart? “The streets of Spokane are quiet today as the State Department of Social and Health Services has advised all families with children to evacuate the city due to high concentrations of radioactive dust blowing from s i Hanford's N reactor ® through Spokane.” i JO ACADIA HEALTH CENTER Massage • Reflexology Deep Tissue Manipulation Chinese Ear Cleaning Sauna M-F 10-9 Sat 10-6 5720 Roosevelt Way N.E. 526-8331 COME VISIT We Charcoal Broil! SPECIALS YAKISOBA (VEC.) CHICKEN TERIYAKI BEEF TERIYAKI HOURS Mon-Sat llam-IOpm Sunday 4am-10pm 547-7259 3403 Fremont Ave. N. 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