A Difference Plane of Existence

by Karen Page

 

"Look Mum," said Simon in an excited voice pointing to the departure screen. "Our flight has just changed to "Proceed to gate 65".

"Okay Simon," she replied with a smile. "Shall we wander across now?"

With a nod Simon walked with his parents from the duty free area towards the gate.

 

"Cabin crew to landing seats," said the captains voice over the airplanes speakers.

Tom looked out of the window and noticed that the houses were now clear. "Mum we just went past a house with a pool," he pointed out to the lady seated next to him. "Fancy having an outdoor pool in England, it's rarely that warm."

Soon they passed over the airport perimeter fence and touched down on the runway.

"Welcome to London Gatwick. The local time is 6:25 and the temperature is currently 6 degrees Celsius," stated the Anna the head stewardess. "Please stay seated till the plane has come to a complete stop at the terminal."

 

Simon was stood by the glass window watching the activity on the ground below. The plane parked at gate 65 was being loaded with food. Glancing to his right he noticed activity at gate 69. It looked like they were preparing for a plane to dock.

"Dad," he said walking back to his parents. "Can I go and watch the plane dock at 69?"

"Yes son. However don't wander any further away. I know that this is quite exciting; being your first flight, so enjoy watching."

"Thanks Dad." I wandered over to the gate to get a good look. I noticed a plane slowing down on the runway, which was visible in the distance. The plane turned off the main runway and made its way to the terminal building.

 

As the terminal building came into view passengers started to get up and extract luggage from the overhead cabinets. A few beeps were heard as people turned on their mobile telephones.

"Please remain seated with you seatbelts securely fastened till we come to a complete stop and the captain has switched of the fasten seatbelt sign," reminded one of the stewards. "Also it is against the law to turn on your mobile telephones till you are in the terminal building."

People reluctantly sat down but people ignored the message about keeping the mobiles turned off. Instead of the offenders switching of the phones they just put them into their pockets. The plane was not in the air so what harm would it do?

 

Simon watched the plane head towards gate 69. It slowed down as it approached and was now almost crawling towards journeys end.

 

As the plane inched towards the building people again began to stand and pull luggage from the overhead cabinets. More beeps were heard as people again began to switch on the phones.

In the cockpit however things weren't as rosy. The main computer for the plane was failing.

"We've just lost the brakes," informed the engineer. "The back up system is not responding."

"We're still travelling too fast for friction to stop the plane before the terminal building," stated the co-pilot.

"On board communication failure," called the engineer.

"The building should stop us without much damage to the plane," theorised the captain. "I just hope everyone is still strapped in. You two evacuate the cockpit and I'll try and manoeuvre to avoid people."

 

Simon stood fixated by the window as the plane rolled on. The front door of the plane had passed the ‘finger' that passengers alighted from and showed no sign of stopping. Simon turned towards his parents and saw them walking towards him. The plane skewed slightly to one side and thinking something strange was happening started to walk towards them.

The plane hit the terminal building causing a loud smashing sound as the glass windows broke and came to an abrupt halt as it smashed into a main support strut.

Everyone in the area had turned to see what was happening and most had become rooted to the spot they were in. A deep rumble started and the ground shook like an earthquake. Bits of plaster fell from the roof and then a few seconds later area between gate 67 and 71 collapsed.

 

"We have some breaking news," said the presenter on BBC News 24. "Part of the south terminal at Gatwick airport collapsed at just after 6:30 this morning when a plane failed to stop at the arrival gate. Airport and local fire crews are at the site and are conducting a major rescue operation. Airplanes are still landing but are currently being diverted to the north terminal. Departures are currently suspended so not to interfere with the rescue.

"Details are still sketchy and we will return to the story in a few moments but first the rest of the headlines…"

 

Simon slowly regained consciousness. He tried opening his eyes but his head hurt too much. Over the next 10 minutes he regained more of his senses and was able to open his eyes.

"I'm trapped," he thought to himself as he looked around. A small shaft of light provided a twilight effect and was vaguely able to see his temporary prison. He moved his head and saw he was encased. He gradually began to recollect to moments before the incident. The plane not stopping, the roof collapsing and seeing his parents getting covered in falling debris. This was all too much and tears trickled gently down his grimy face. His mother had nearly reached him but was all in vain.

Noticing that the there was a bit of height to the cocoon Simon decided to move to a more comfortable position. However as he tried to move he felt an excruciating pain, which caused him to blackout.

 

"We are now going live to Gatwick airport where Roger Lyons the airport manager is about to bring us up-to-date with the current situation."

"At 6:33 this morning the inbound flight AW101 from Miami failed to stop at the terminal building and crashed into the main structure causing a localised collapse. We have two separate rescue operations currently on going. The first, the evacuation of the plane, is nearly complete. The second, to find survivors in the remains of the building, is still ongoing and is likely to last for several hours.

"The evacuation of the plane took longer than necessary as some passengers had unbuckled and were not still seated. People strapped in had trouble evacuating the plane due to blocked gangways. There were several serious injuries and they have been evacuated to East Surrey Hospital in Redhill. The only fatality on the plane was the pilot.

"By looking at CCTV records we have identified that five people are missing. Four people due to go out on flight AW402 to Orlando and one maintenance worker. Three of the four passengers missing are from the same family.

We have the fire service Search and Rescue team actively trying to locate and ascertain the health of the trapped individuals. International Rescue Corps are on route to provide valuable assistance and should be here within the next 30 minutes. We also have search dogs on route which coupled with thermal imaging cameras should help locate the people. From CCTV footage taken about 10 seconds before the collapse we have a good idea of where to dig and we all pray for a happy conclusion to this terrible incident.

Does anybody have any questions?"

"Sandy Brown, Sky News, is there any news of what happened to the airplane to cause it to fail to stop?"

"Air investigators will be removing the black box recorders to analyse the issue surrounding the incident. It is too soon to comment on the cause and further questions should be addressed to the head of the investigation team."

"Nick Saunders, CNN, I believe flight arrivals are still going to the north terminal. Is this going to continue and when are departures going to resume?"

"North terminal departures have not been suspended are currently on schedule. We are currently looking at transferring some of the south terminal departures to the north terminal to provide a limited capacity. Check-in and customs will still occur at the south terminal and we will bus passengers to the north terminal for flights. We are not allowing any arrivals or departures from the south terminal so not to impact the rescue operation."

An official wearing a bright yellow visibility jacket walked up to Roger and whispered in his ear. Roger nodded in response.

"I am needed else where and must terminate this briefing,"

 

Simon awoke to the dull ache of lingering pain. "Don't move," he thought. "I don't want to suffer pain like that again."

He listened intently to see if he could hear anything. Nothing was heard. No, what is that? Is that the faint sound of a dog barking in the distance? What the hell is a dog doing here?

"HELLO!" Simon shouted at the top of his voice. He then had a small coughing fit with all the dust that had settled into his lungs. "Is there anybody there?"

He heard a faint reply coming to his left but appeared to be lower than him. "Is that you Simon?"

Oh my… "Mum is that you? Are you okay? Have you heard from Dad?"

"I'm fine. Just hold on tight and listen for the rescuers. I saw a program on TV the other day with how they rescue people after earthquakes. There were specialists from the UK there so I am sure there will be a lot of people working to get us out. They even bring in special sniffer dogs that can smell people trapped in rubble."

"I've heard dogs already," I replied getting excited jerking slightly. "Ahhhh" I yelled and again passed out in pain.

"Simon. Are you okay?" shouted mum. "SIMON!"

 

"It is seven hours since the collapse of the terminal building," stated Jason Smith of International Rescue Corps. "We are assisting the fire service in carefully tunnelling to were we think two of the remaining three people are trapped. We have heard the sound of intermittent conversations between two people but we are two far away to make out who they are. The men out there are very buoyed by the successful rescue 30 minutes ago of the maintenance worker who was trapped on the lower floor. This made up for the fatality they found earlier."

"How far from them are you?"

"At the present rate it will take about another 2 hours before we reach the nearest person and another hour after that to reach the other."

"What about the last remaining person. Is there any sound from him?"

"We heard some noises till about 2 hours ago but nothing since. However we have had periods of quiet from the other two people but then restart. It must be very draining without food or water and there bodies will force them to conserve what energy they have."

 

"How are you doing mum?" asked Simon after recovering consciousness.

"I'm fine," came the weak response. "How is the pain?"

"Not to bad as long as I remember not to move. In between the last 3 blackouts you've reminded me of some good times we have all had over the years. Please tell me another story from when I was younger."

"No problems Simon." She knew that telling happy stories about his childhood was comforting to her son. It was also comforting to herself as she knew that her situation was a lot worse than his.

2 hours later Simon heard, "Hello can you hear me down there?"

"Yes. YES! I can hear you!" gleefully replied Simon. His voice was getting weaker.

"You don't have to shout as we are nearly there."

"Who are you talking to?" asked Simons mum.

"The rescuers are nearly to me." Simon replied

"Thank you God," she murmured and then speaking up with her remaining strength, "Simon you speak with the rescue workers now while I have a rest. I love you always."

"I love you too mum. You have a rest now."

"How are you and your mum coping?" asked the rescue worker.

"I'm trapped by a piece of rubble and if I move am in a lot of pain and blackout. My mum sounds to be lower than me but has been talking a lot and is tired. She said she was going to have a rest while you get me out."

"Hang tight while we come the last few metres. If we cause disruption to the rubble my you please shout very loudly."

30 minutes later a light shone through a gap which startled Simon's eyes and he had to shut them till he got used to the increased illumination. The last few bits of rubble were removed and Simon got the first glimpse of another human since the accident.

"Hi Simon, I'm Jason" introduced the rescuer. "Let me look at how you are trapped."

Jason took a knife out of a hidden pocket and gently cut off Simon's trousers.

"I see the how you are trapped and I am going to need to secure this area before we attempt to free you. My colleague Harry who is just approaching is going to secure the roof while I update the rest of the rescue team. In the meantime here is a special bottle of water. It will only let you take sips every minute while we hydrate you."

After his first sip Simon asked, "How are you going to reach Mum?"

"We are building a tunnel not far from here that leads to where her thermal image is showing. Don't worry we aren't going to leave her."

"What about my dad has there been any news on him?"

"We are still trying to get to him. Don't worry we wont give up till we have you all. I must go and inform everyone and get the medics to check you out. Now relax and make sure that Harry behaves!"

 

Jason emerged from the rubble and after regaining the ability to walk moved to the co-ordination tent.

When all relevant people were assembled the meeting began with Jason, "We have managed to reach Simon who is according to the flight booking a 15 year old boy. He has been trapped for about 12 hours and is in remarkable spirits; probably due to him having his mum, who was in earshot, reminiscing about happy events in his childhood. There is a thick piece of metal that protrudes from the top of the rubble and is embedded into the floor. There are two issues with this object. First, it appears when it the roof collapse the metal pieced through his genitalia. Second the metal appears to be part of a building strut and if cut, which is going to be very difficult if not impossible, it might cause the area to collapse. Since his mum, Janet, is not far away it might cause her cavity to also collapse."

"The first thing I need to do is examine the boy," stated Brian Fielding who was an Accident and Emergency consultant. "I will assess his overall health and examine his groin and see how bad the damage is. How wide is the passageway? Will I be able to get in with the emergency bag?"

Jason looked at the offered bag and said, "It will take you about 5 minutes of slow crawling to reach him. The passage is wide enough to get the bag through but not on your back. You will need to push it in front of you and that will slow you down. I'll come with you and relieve Harry who has been shoring up the area."

Jason the turned to the Airport Manager, "Roger, you can brief the press but please don't comment on the boys status apart from him being alive and receiving onsite medical care while we extract him. It's going to be difficult enough to extract him without the press getting excited."

 

"Hi Simon, I am Dr Fielding. I am from the A and E at the hospital. If it is okay with you I am going to examine you and make sure that you are okay?"

"Go ahead but no jokes; I saw a program last week that said that hospital doctors had the worst sense of humour going."

"Hey I saw that program," replied Brian as he used the stethoscope to listener to Simon's chest. "I'm sure that it said GP's humour was worse. Anyway it is based in Manchester and they're all weird anyway. Any pains apart from the groin?"

"No. I was a bit thirst earlier but what Jason gave me earlier has helped. Do you have any food?"

"Good. We don't want to give you any food just yet as it might be a shock to the system," the doctor replied and also thought to himself "and we might have to operate."

"How am I doing?"

"You appear to be fine. The only issue appears to be a stick of metal impaled through your body. Jason and Harry are investigating removal of the metal but to be honest it isn't going to be easy."

"I didn't think so by the way they were looking at the roof and how it was imbedded into the ground."

"Hey don't panic. We'll get you out of here even if we have to cut you in half!"

"Didn't I say no humour?! Laughing just hurts."

Taking a more serious tone "I am going to ask a specialist to come and examine you're groin as there is some damage down there. He will asses the damage and what surgery will be required to repair you once we have you out. "

 

Back in the coordination tent Brian started to try and organise what was looking like a medical disaster. After further investigation they found they wouldn't be able to safely remove the metal strut which impaled his patient. He called his secretary, "Nancy, Brian here, I need you to track down a Dr Millard at Charing Cross hospital. If he has left for the day, or on the golf course I need to speak with him. He is a top elective surgeon so is going to be upset at being called. If you can give him my emergency mobile number as I'm still at Gatwick."

Ten minutes later Brian's mobile rang. "Dr Fielding speaking."

"Doctor, this is Tom Millard from Charing Cross. Your secretary interrupted my evening meal and was very instant that I ring you. What case do you have which requires such urgent attention?"

"Are you incident at Gatwick? Well I am on site and we have a 15 year old boy with a metal strut impaled through his genitalia with surrounding damage. I am advised that the rod can't be cut without risking another collapse and risking other trapped people. I need your expert advice on the current damage, how reparable it is and what the possibility of cutting a bit of tissue to remove the patient without causing permanent damage."

"Sounds interesting. I'm about currently 25 minutes away so will drive down."

"I'll get Roger Lyons who is the airport manager to ring you in about 20 minutes and he will give you directions to come straight onto the airfield."

30 minutes later the top surgeon was onsite. "So do you have a TV link to show me the damage?"

"No you will need to visit. It is too dark to have a successful uplink."

"You need me to enter a half collapsed building and crawl around on my hands and knees?"

"I'm afraid so. We have some overalls so you don't ruin your designer clothes."

With a bit of a huff he donned the overalls. One thing that Dr Millard took very seriously was his ability to help people with his skills. If he had been called out like this then it must be serious.

"Simon is aware that he is trapped by the rod but he isn't aware that we can't remove it. Unless you think it is necessary please don't inform him yet as I don't want him to panic."

"Lead on and lets see how bad it is."

10 minutes later they were with Simon. "Hello Simon. I'm Dr Millard. If you can keep still while I look at the problem."

Tom Millard hummed to himself as he looked at the tissue damage and the impact of the metal rod. "What year did you start your puberty?"

"About 3 years ago."

"Excellent. I'm going to take a blood sample to make on some of your vital statistics. When we the results back we will have a better idea on how to proceed."

Once outside the tunnel they walked towards the tent. "As you suspected his genitalia are damaged and my assessment is that they are now non functional. There also seems to be collateral damage on the base of the penis. I can perform minor surgery on him to disentangle him from the metal rod but that will cause a total loss of functionality."

"If we could remove the rod what is the prospects?"

"If the testes are damaged, as it appears, then the situation will be the same. The vibration as the rod is cut might actually cause more damage."

"I'll get the tests run via Redhill. As this is classified as emergency we should have them back in the hour. In the meantime plan the surgery. I am assuming a minor operation for extraction, then after stabilising him back to hospital for the remainder. Is there any chance of saving his manhood but leaving him sterilised or is full SRS the only option?"

"We will only know for definite when I have him on the table but there was some damage to the penis. If it has affected the renal track then I'll perform SRS otherwise I will attempt some miracle to keep him male. With his parents trapped we will need to go before a judge."

"I know and with the options open he will have to involve the Official Solicitor to act on Simon's behalf. Once we have him out how much time do you have?"

"The bleeding will be bad and we don't want to loose too much tissue so I'd say about an hour."

"Okay I will get the clinical director at my hospital to get the legal path going. I'll try and get a judgement before we operate to give you maximum time. Can you operate at East Surrey or will you need to go back of Charing Cross?"

"I'd prefer to do it at Charing Cross as I have the staff and equipment needed but if it looks like it needs to be at East Surrey then the operation can start and any specialist equipment that you don't have or personnel can be transferred. Post operational care should occur at Charing Cross even if SRS isn't performed as he will still need psychiatric care and hormonal monitoring."

 

"Please be seated," requested Judge Richardson. "I've reviewed all the information and have spoken at length with both of you. I've also had the Official Solicitor review what in his view is best for the child. He has concluded after speaking with independent medical advisers that what would be in the best interest of the child would be to follow your recommendation. I therefore grant permission for the minor operation to extract Simon from the disaster area and perform the investigation to save the remains of his maleness. If it can't be saved then full SRS is granted. In either case I order substantial post operational psychiatric care to ensure full reintegration into society."

"I know you have been holding out informing Simon regarding the full extent of his injuries. I can't order you to tell him but I think it would only be respectful. Being fully informed before an operation is a cornerstone of British medicine.

"I am also placing a gagging order on the press to stop the publication of any information that will lead to the child's identification being released. This, I hope, will stop the press badgering him during recovery."

 

"Some good news for you", said Roger. "Your mother has been pulled out alive and is on the way to surgery. She is very weak, as she has lost a lot of blood. I'm sorry I don't have more information but she is listed as critical. I've got to go and organise some more for your evacuation but if I hear anything else I will let you know."

Roger then left and the two doctors entered with another new face.

"Simon this is Trevor Brown. He is going to be the anaesthetist for this operation," explained Dr Millard. "He will monitor you while I operate with Dr Fielding assisting me. Once we have you disconnected from the metal strut we will transfer you to hospital and perform an operation on you. The operation will depend on the extent of the damage. We have discovered that you testes have been damaged and can't be repaired. We will examine how badly damaged your penis is. If it is repairable we will do so. If not I will perform a different and very delicate operation we called SRS."

"SRS?" asked Simon.

Taking a deep breath Dr Fielding explained, "SRS is short for Sex Reassignment Surgery. If we can't save your penis then Dr Millard, who is probably the best surgeon in the world for this, will change your structure below to look like a girl."

"Why that? You can't do that to me?" Simon responded in panic. "I don't want to be a girl."

"It isn't something that anybody has a choice in," replied Dr Millard. "We will attempt to fix you but if you are beyond repair it is the next best thing. Are you aware of who the Official Solicitor is?"

"No."

"Well due to your parents not being able to help you and it being a very serious issue we went to see a judge who had to make a judgement. He appoints somebody who acts on your behalf who is referred to as the Official Solicitor. He only has one aim and that is to protect your interests. He has spoken to several independent medical people and has had them review the case. In the end he has agreed that this operation is your best chance of leading a productive life."

"Well if doctors, solicitors and judges all agree then who am I to stand in your way."

"I'm going to put an injection adapter into your left arm," explained Trevor. "Then if there is any other injections we need to give you we wont need to make your arm into a pin cushion."

The adapter was skilfully put into the arm. "Next we need to put you to sleep. I'm going to inject you and I want you to count backwards from ten. If you succeed then you must be a robot!"

Trevor injected to anaesthetic and Simon muttered, "Ten..nine..eight..seve-."

"Lets start," said Dr Millard who as the senior surgeon took charge.

Dr Fielding swabbed the area to be operated on with antiseptic.

"Scalpel."

The scalpel was firmly placed into Dr Millard's right hand. "We are going to make the first incision here. We need to keep as much tissue as possible so we will cut downwards to free from the metal strut. Be ready with the suture as we might have some blood loss. Lets hope it isn't too much as we have no suction."

The operation was difficult due to the cramped conditions. However 15 minutes later Simon was being placed onto the stretcher. This was a specially modified stretcher with wheels that could work while collapsed. "Breathing normal and a good pulse," informed Trevor. "Lets go."

Dr Fielding went in front and Dr Millard followed behind. Five minutes later they emerged from the rubble into a hurriedly created tarpaulin tunnel. This was to protect to wound and also Simons identity. At the end of the tunnel was a waiting air ambulance.

"All air traffic has been suspended", said Roger. "You should have an uninterrupted journey to the hospital."

"Thanks Roger," relied the doctors as they boarded behind Simon.

"He's strong enough for Charring Cross," said Trevor after he made another check.

30 minutes later they were in the operating theatre where all Tom Millard's normal operating staff were all waiting. The two doctors and the anaesthetist scrubbed up so they were ready for delicate surgery. Dr Millard checked the renal pathway, which was damaged beyond repair.

"Please inform Judge Richardson that full SRS is required and that we are proceeding," said Dr Millard to his secretary.

  

  

  

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