Suspended

Posted on Thu 21st Mar, 2019 @ 8:17pm by Commander Jasmine Collins-Keller & Commander Mikaela Locke
Edited on on Thu 21st Mar, 2019 @ 9:09pm

1,241 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: A Diplomatic Affair
Location: Tram 241, SB109
Timeline: MD 1, 16:25
Tags: Teagan,

For an instant, Aiko was falling in the darkness. Something hit her in the side, a flash of pain, and then she was grabbed, pulled in, held safe. The lights, red now, flickered dimly back to life, and Aiko realized that Yucholl had caught her. The Lamian's arms were wrapped snuggly around her, and she wiggled one arm free, determining in the process that the gravity was still out.

"Attention tramway passengers," a computer voice said within the car. "There has been an unxepected event on your line. In an emergency, this car has been designed to act as a separate life-support unit. Please, do not panic, and remain within the car. Help is on the way. We apologize for the interruption in service. We know your time is valuable, and this situation will be resolved as quickly as possible. Help is on the way."

When the computer voice stopped speaking, Aiko looked at the other passengers, floating or clinging to things in various attitudes. "Is anyone hurt?" Aiko called loudly enough to be heard throughout the car.

“My head,” a small female voice whimpered from a few feet away, “My head is bleeding.”

Teagan cradled her right arm against her body as she floated near the back of the car. It was painful and grotesquely bent in front of her elbow. She recalled banging into something as the tram lurched. "I think I hit my arm on one of the standing poles. It's broken pretty badly." She could feel a gash on her forehead as well but didn't want to move either hand to check for it. "And my head is bleeding as well." She was doing her best to be strong and not cry but she was in some serious pain and she was scared. Although she would never let on to the others.

Avik reached for a pole and wrapped one leg around it to ground herself. "If you're floating up," she recommended to the others, "Get down and hang on to something. The gravity could come back at any moment, with more damage to those who fall from height. Also try to secure any heavy packs or books near you. Same reason." She didn't even look up to see if anyone listened. It was the logical thing to do.

With her hands free, she reached for her backpack floating nearby. Inside was the first aid kit her father made her carry everywhere. As a research scientist who'd seen small scratches cause huge problems, he was always drilling wound care into her. When she had the kit, she pushed the backpack under the seat so it couldn't float around loose. The noise level in the tram seemed to explode as everyone recovered from their surprise at discovering that, even injured, they were still alive.

To Teagan, Avik said, "Let's bring you down and fasten you to something. If the gravity comes back as suddenly as it left, that arm will be even worse. I'm going to pull you down using your foot and leg, and I'll try not to jostle your arm. I have a sling in here," she wiggled the kit, "which I hope will help stabilize your arm." Seeing the apprehension in Teagan's eyes, she asked, "Is that alright with you?"

Teagan nodded. "It needs to be immobilized. I'm pretty sure its fractured all the way through... a complex fracture if I remember my physiology correctly." She tried to push herself down a little with her good arm. "Got anything in there for pain?" She was only half joking. "I'm not too sure how much jostling my arm is going to take. It's really displaced."

Avik hesitated. What was logical for the human to believe? While she wasn't able to actually mind meld yet, if Teagan thought she could, would her pain be lessened? The young Vulcan decided logic might go against it, but human emotions would support it, so she lowered her voice and leaned toward the other girl. "No, because Vulcans deal with pain by cutting off the signal to the brain. I can't teach you how to do that, but I might be able to ...." she looked furtively over her shoulder. No one paid them any mind, having their own problems.
"I might be able to do a mind meld and make the pain stop. If you want me to try."

"Thanks, but I'll be alright." Teagan smiled. She settled in as Avik helped secure her in place. "My parents are Betazoid and El-Aurian so it's a little difficult to concentrate right now. But once I get beyond the pain and fear of everyone else, I'll be fine." She looked around to make sure nobody else was listening. "Listen, we have to make sure there are no breaches in the bulkheads or atmospheric leaks."

Sarah, who would celebrate eight on her next birthday, wiped her nose on her shirt tail. It was convenient, having pulled out of her skirt during whatever had wrecked the tram. She listened to the Vulcan girl and swam over to the side of the tram door, grabbing the bar at the end of the seat there. She couldn't keep her legs down, so she hoped that being lower when gravity returned would be enough to keep her from damage. Maybe someone would think, Oh, we should turn the gravity up slowly so they land gently. Yeah, that was likely.

Tears were still trying to leak from the corners of Sarah's eyes, but she thought she was A-OK, even though she expected to have a colorful array of bruises across her stomach in a few days. She'd had that before and it wasn't fatal. She took a couple of hiccuping breaths and looked to see who needed her help.

From her secure spot in Yucholl's arms, Aiko looked about, trying to figure out who had complained about her bleeding head. Trouble was, the red lighting hid red blood. Aiko tapped her friend's arm, lightly. "Let me go," she requested.

Yucholl shook her head violently, and Aiko suddenly realized her friend's face was firmly embedded between her breasts. "I guess we are at the jewelry stage," Aiko quipped. "Seriously, Yucholl, let me go. I have to get to the emergency panel."

Yucholl shook her head again without razing her face from Aiko's chest. Quickly, she released her left arm from the Human's body, and pointed to what had been the side of the tram. Now the windows, one of them shattered, looked straight down the tramshaft.

"mo mhaitheas," Aiko breathed almost silently. Then she tapped Yucholl's shoulder again. "Now I really need to get to the emergency panel," she said. "Before the next tram comes along and slams into us."

Yucholl gasped, and instead of letting go of Aiko, raised her head, looked for the yellow-and-black chevrons that marked the panel, found them. She started letting her snakelike body slowly unwind from the standpole, pushing the two of them closer to the closed cover.

"Got it," Aiko said, opening it and revealing a touchscreen below. "Let's start with lights... computer, verify emergency status. verify control access, Aiko MacBeth, station resident." The computer considered a moment, then beeped, and a list of basic controls came up on the touchscreen interface. "Everyone mind your eyes," Aiko called loudly, projecting as she'd been taught in drama class. "I'm turning the lights back on!"

 

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