Prepare to Cast Off

September 10th, 2009. Two and a half weeks before D-Day.

Night by night the moon became rounder, and all the work around the base also became more and more frenetic. The entire organisation had entered a feverish mood.

The financial department had already converted all the assets they could into RMB, and then converted the RMB into countless materials. In order to cushion against any unexpected developments when crossing the final hurdle, 500,000 RMB was kept in cash savings. They also minted the remaining dozen kilograms of gold that they hadn’t sold into small bars of 10, 25 and 50 grams. Although they weren’t as convenient to use as cash, gold was still a universally accepted currency.

Except for the sailors who stayed at the forward cargo depot on the Leizhou Peninsula, all the time travellers who had been dispatched to the outside world were called back for the final preparations.

The medical team conducted a final review of the health of the time travellers with a particular focus on immunisation. In spite of repeated warnings, it was discovered that some people had not been vaccinated: some had even forged vaccination certifications.

It was too late to re-do some of the vaccines—for instance, a hepatitis B vaccination would take one and a half years. The medical team could only increase their vaccine supplies to bring over to the other side.

“Don’t these people know that they are toying with their lives?” He Ma^[1] looked at the ‘Table of Incomplete Immunisation Personnel’ that had been collected. Although he didn’t know what the disease situation was like in Hainan in the 17th century, he could imagine that it must be a paradise for microorganisms. After all, there were many cholera outbreaks in Hainan even during the 20th century.

“There are also still many people who haven’t had a keratotomy procedure to correct their vision.” Doctor Lan Fangfang said painfully.^[2] He had had to add a full set of old optometry equipment to their purchases. Compared to the ubiquitous electronic keratometer and computer controlled lens grinders of the modern day, this old stuff was really hard to find,

Actually, there were many things that were difficult to find. The biggest headache for the medical team was that they would not be able to use disposable items as wantonly as they did in modern hospitals. Things like glass needles and infusion sets were scarcely found and even the small medical sterilisers used with them had disappeared. They had to visit many pharmaceutical companies, medical equipment manufacturers, and hospital warehouses to get all they needed. A lot of the special rubber tubes on the old medical machines were also deteriorating in age, and the original suppliers no longer had such parts. In the end they had to ask another company to specially make a mould and re-cast them, at a very high cost of course.

The Executive Committee’s attitude towards healthcare was simple: uncapped expenses. Regardless of the money they should try to attain the highest possible level of medical care. The health team ended up being the biggest spenders amongst the groups responsible for the traveller’s livelihood.

The final list of equipment was almost enough to open a hospital:

1. Diagnostic equipment

   A gastroscope, a B-scan ultrasound, one X-ray machine, a colonoscope, one laparoscope, a set of electrocardiogram equipment, 10 medical monitors, and 5 sets of medical microscopes.

2. Treatment equipment

• 2 shadowless lamps (of 1.5m diameter)

• 2 surgery tents

• 2 operating tables

• 10 oxygen cylinders

• 10 ventilators

• 2 gastric lavage machines^[3]

• 2 dental treatment chairs

• 2 defibrillators

• 100 glass syringes (across 1 mL, 5 mL, 10 mL, 20 mL, 50 mL)

• 50 sets of glass hanging bottles^[4]

• 20 sets of surgical instruments

• 10 sets of dental instruments

• 5 sets of assisted delivery instruments

  2 sets of orthopaedic equipment and instruments.^[5] Every one of these sets included: one electric scalpel, one pointed and one rounded scalpel, 4 of each large, medium and small hemostatic forceps, 4 curved forceps, 4 hook forceps, 2 of each large, medium and small retractors, 2 of each large and small toothed forceps. 2 of each large and small flat tweezers, 2 of each large, medium and small abdominal spatulas.

• A number of surgical gowns, masks, caps, gloves, etc.

• A large quantity of suture thread, dressings, gauze, disinfectants, etc.

3. Medicine

• Emergency use: mannitol, isoproterenol, epinephrine, norepinephrine, verapamil, deslanoside, amiodarone, propranolol, digitalis, atropine.^[6]

• Large amounts of anaesthetic lidocaine.

• Large amounts of diuretic furosemide

• Large amounts of antibiotics. In order of increasing potency: penicillin, erythromycin, clindamycin, cephalosporins, sulfonamides, ornidazole, metronidazole, ornidazole, vancomycin^[7]

• Large amount of antiviral medication (ribavirin)

• Various other common drugs, vaccines, and antivenom serums

4. Equipment

• Medical sterilisation equipment, various stainless steel utensils, ultraviolet disinfection vehicles, electric refrigerators, baby incubators, etc.^[8]

• First aid kits, with 5 prepared per head for the time travellers. One of these was already distributed to everyone as part of the standard loadout

If it weren’t for the fact that there was really nowhere that was selling, the Executive Committee had even prepared to buy an entire field hospital. However, after visiting many places and finding none being sold, they could only give this idea up. The Committee’s obsession with medical issues drove the doctors of the health group up the wall; they had to step in to stop the Committee’s increasingly absurd demands—even a CT machine had ended up on the procurement list at one point. Although the experts in the health team conceded that it would be useful, it wasn’t really like it would be impossible to go without it…

As for the personal equipment of the individual time travellers, the final loadout truly reflected the Executive Committee’s spirit of ‘rather bring everything than miss one thing’. However, they still had several equipment configurations depending on the individual’s assigned tasks.

The standard personal configuration for all time travellers was called Class A. That is, ordinary level, which was the baseline for everyone.

Class A was a configuration designed to meet daily work and living needs, and provided some protection in low-level conflicts and travel a short stretch into wilderness.

Most of the gear was packed into a knockoff US Marine Corps backpack, which could be disassembled into 6 smaller bags of different sizes.^[9] The travellers were not issued camouflage uniforms. Instead, they had a green tropical cadet uniform and tropical combat boots, a beanie and a broad-brim hat shaped like a helmet. The latter was equipped with a special mosquito-proof hood. They also had tactical goggles,^[10] raincoats, and gumboots.^[11]

Since the time travellers would be mostly staying on ships or simple houses within the base, the living supplies provided were not heavily camping-oriented. As Hainan itself was located in a sub-tropical climate, a light sleeping bag rated for 15 degrees and matching waterproof sleeping mats were distributed.

Since people on the Class A configuration were not expected to be taking part in fierce battles, they were only equipped with limited protection and weaponry. They had stab-proof vests, gloves and a Type-80 steel helmet. The newer and lighter helmets were not selected because the organic material used in their construction degraded easily. The old Type-80 helmets were also plentiful and cheap.

The communications equipment was a walkie-talkie and a survival whistle. The walkie-talkies could communicate over a distance of more than 1 km and would form an on-the-spot network across multiple devices.

The other personal items distributed were:

• A waterproof outdoor watch, able to measure altitude, temperature and air pressure. With an in-built electronic compass and timekeeping and alarm functionality

• A knockoff Swiss Army knife and a short machete

• A compass

• Headlamp

• Torch (triboelectric in order to save batteries)^[12]

• Windproof lighters

• A small steel cup (could be used for drinking anything, and could also be used as a bathroom tumbler)

• Outdoor water bottle (corrosion-resistant, and had a cool colour)

• Military water bottle (came with a lunch box, which was quite a practical deal)

• A set of lunch boxes, a few enamel dishes, and a set of travel tableware.

Finally, each person also had two days of emergency dry rations: a handful of energy bars and a few strips of beef jerky. Along with the emergency food were a sewing kit and a first aid kit.

Toiletries and casual clothes, including underwear and socks, were up to the individuals.

Above Class A there was Class B: general soldiers, long-distance travellers. And Class C: scouts and long-distance reconnaissance and exploration personnel. For these two classes, the cadet uniforms were replaced with proper camouflage uniforms, and a variety of other military and professional equipment was supplemented. However, much of the equipment in the loadouts of the second level and above was only temporarily distributed when the need arose, and returned afterwards.

According to the Committee’s double and triple checked calculations, each time traveller could carry a total of 200 kg of personal belongings including the equipment issued in their standard loadouts. As long as their total weight did not exceed this there was no restriction on what sort of stuff they could bring. Except that they couldn’t carry guns privately on their persons; those had to be handed in for unified storage and management.

Ma Qianzhu even went to the trouble of leading a team to check the packs of every single time traveller. He couldn’t help but shake his head at what he saw. Almost all of them bought various computers, but few people thought of bringing even a notebook and pen. Many had also brought entertainment devices such as an MP3 and PSP. It seemed that they thought there were power sockets everywhere over there. On the other hand, the essentials for personal hygiene, including underwear, socks, toiletries, and so on, were quite scarce.

It seemed like they weren’t packing for a voyage through time but rather a weekend hike. The Committee had to step in and adjust the equipment loadout for all personnel. The Committee tried tirelessly to convince people to not bring so many useless belongings. Some items ended up being mailed back home, but most people remained firm on keeping their computers. Even if they successfully travelled through time and could lord over an empire on the other side, computers would definitely not be produced in their lifetimes.

“Forget about it, just let them take it. We’d have more backup computer parts that way.” Shi Kai, who was responsible for all the IT work for the time travellers, sighed. His burden was not light; he had an entire cabinet full of technology to look after. Just with his bachelor’s level of experience he wasn’t sure if he could handle everything.

Wang Luobin and the others who were responsible for procurement ended up having to travel back and forth to the nearby town again. They purchased a bunch of things that they didn’t think of before and only just now realised were very useful, just as they were packing up to leave.

The packing of everyone’s gear underwent repeated inspections and supplements. The base did not quieten until late into the evening, but the night passed uneventfully otherwise.

On the next morning, the time travellers all gathered on the training ground, and everyone changed into the distributed uniforms. There were still two weeks before they landed on Lingao, but before then they had to travel down to their forward depot and organise the ships and cargo.

“Not bad, it looks like an army.” Xi Yazhou looked at the crowd of time travellers sitting on the ground waiting to board the ships.

“Well, more like a mob.” Ma Qianzhu said gloomily. The scene in front of him looked more like those cadet drills he’d done back in university than a proper army.

“Don’t say that Old Ma,” Xi Yazhou proudly patted his shoulder, “We still have to conquer all of China together…”

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1. His name is literally ‘Hippopotamous’ ↩︎

2. This procedure was outdated soon after this chapter was published. In the modern day it’s LASIK surgery. ↩︎

3. Stomach pumps ↩︎

4. I believe for IV ↩︎

5. Last few are actually this vague. Are there ‘standard’ inclusions for each of the uses? ↩︎

6. Names for these drugs may be regional. ↩︎

7. I have not checked the ‘potency’ ordering myself. ↩︎

8. Where I use the non-technical term it’s usually because I’m following the Chinese. As an example, the Chinese original literally says ‘baby incubator’ and not ‘neonatal intensive care unit’ as used in actual hospitals. ↩︎

9. I believe referring to a FILBE backpack ↩︎

10. For wind and rain. Not for swimming! ↩︎

11. Literally, rubber high boots. I used gumboots because I’m an Aussie, but they’re also known as wellingtons in the UK. Not sure about the name in the states. ↩︎

12. From my research I can’t find torches powered by friction (triboelectric) per se. Usually survival torches are mechanically powered. ↩︎