...or the Gloom of the Grave

Posted on Mon 27th Mar, 2017 @ 3:58am by Lieutenant Commander Lanis Dhuro MD

886 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Wrongs Darker Than Death Or Night
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD 3, following "Medical Emergencies."

Doctor Addams finished fixing the tibialis anterior of a Cardassian, who was biting his lip with the pain. Letting patients feel the pain of their injuries was important, in Addams' view; it taught them the cost their bodies paid for their actions. "The muscle will be weak," Addams was saying, when she was interrupted by the com system.

"Drake to the Infirmary, medical emergency. Two to beam directly to the Infirmary."

Before Addams could acknowledge, she heard the sound of an annular confinement beam shaping up in the trauma bay. "Light duty for four days," she finished instructing her Cardassian patient, already turning away from him.

Lanis glanced toward where the newest patient had been beamed in and stared for a moment, horrified, at the scorched face of a Vulcan Starfleet officer. "Tell me he's not from the protest," he muttered as he completed the bone reconstruction on his own patient. He handed the osteoregenerator off to the scrub tech, who held a dermal regenerator out to him. Lanis shook his head at the tecnician. "Tillman, close this patient's wound so I can see if I'm needed," he said to one of the residents.

"I...think he needs that more than I do," Lanis' patient said, regarding the surgical instrument, while making the effort to keep his mouth and jaw perfectly still as Tillman came over to work on him. He flicked an alarmed glance at the burned Vulcan as Lanis made his way to the more critically injured patient.

Caroline felt her stomach turn queasy at the burns on the Vulcan. "Harry," she said softly, "don't film this. I don't think it's our story, and ... no audience should be part of it."

HH lowered the holocam and flicked off the switch. "I agree, Ma'am. All we can give him is his dignity."

"Yeah," she said, stiffening her spine. "Let's see where that Cardassian has gotten to. That is our story." She looked around Sickbay and spotted the man moving slowly toward the exit. Hurrying after him, she took his arm gently.

"Wait. I still want to hear your story, if you want to tell it," the reporter told him.

=====

Addams reached the trauma table a step ahead of Dhuro. "Computer, level five sterile field," she snapped. "Longworth?" she looked around, spotted the nurse. "Get me..." she paused, glanced at Dhuro. "My apologies, Doctor. Your patient."

"I think this patient can use all the help he can get," Lanis said to Addams dryly. He turned to Nurse Longworth. "Let's get him started on 500mg IV seleyacin. Computer, respiratory support with O2 perfusion and minimal mechanical motion."

Addams nodded. "Longworth! Hang that with a unit of cuprous saline, and find a unit of polyverde."

"Your pardon, doctors," said another Vulcan, stepping forward. He was a typically Saturnine individual, his skin dark. "Will D'Vir live?"

"Not in my control," Addams answered briefly.

"If he will not live," the Vulcan persisted, "I must take his Katra. Otherwise, all that he is will be lost forever."

Lanis exchanged glances with Addams. "It can't hurt, and if he lives, it can be given back."

Addams nodded at the Vulcan. "Stay out of the way, please. Computer, diagnostic hologram, one meter above patient. Show extent of skeletal damage." She frowned at the resulting mid-air skeleton and its colors. "If you're going to do it, do it fast," she added to the Vulcan. The patient was alive... but Addams didn't think that status would last long.

The Vulcan nodded and approached the patient. Addams returned her attention to the bone display. Virtually every bone in the man's body had been broken, and shards were everywhere. "Shift to circulation display," Addams said, still frowning. "Reinforce all vessels with oxy-permeable fields," she directed. As the computer complied, she reached into the hologram to flip it to the next layer, the organs. Virtually all of them had been penetrated by bone shards. Addams opened her mouth, but before she could give directions, she heard the sound of wings.

For the sake of completeness, Addams looked at the vital signs monitor at the bottom of the diagnostic hologram. They had all fallen to the bottom of the gauge, and the quick indicators all shone red. She flipped to the nervous system diagram, but knew it was too late; they could fix much of the damage, but it would take time that the patient didn't have, even with respiratory and circulatory support.

The sound of the wings had never been wrong. Addams had cautiously asked colleagues and instructors over the years if they heard anything odd when a patient died. Some spoke of the death rattle, the last breath leaving a patient's lungs when the diaphragm relaxed; none spoke of the wings. She'd come to accept that it was one of the odd things about being an Addams, like Great-Aunt Wendolyn's apparent ability to stand in a bonfire while her bindings and clothes burned away, and then to walk unharmed from the flames.

"It is done," the upright Vulcan said. "And in time. Thank you, Doctors."

Addams nodded. She looked at Dhuro, tight-lipped. "Call it?"

Lanis sighed. He had known it was hopeless the moment he had seen the display of the viscera, but he had still hoped, anyway. "Time of death is 1556 hours."

 

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