Is there a doctor in the house?
19 Jun 2018Diane
There was a collective sigh of relief in the comms room when the away team radioed back to let us know what had happened in the village. We were all a little shocked about what happened, but also relieved that we knew that at least some of the team was still ok. The news that they were heading back kicked off a flurry of activity: the supply team went into overdrive to make sure they’d have a quick turnaround, base command disappeared into meetings to figure out how to best help the villagers rebuild, and our medical staff prepared to do what they could do patch up their boss.
The hovercraft came through the portal before long. Despite hearing her report, it was still a little surprising to see Lauren in such a disheveled state, and even more so to see Dr Huxley still unconscious as Haley and Hayden carried him off the hovercraft on a makeshift stretcher. As the medics transferred him to a proper bed, I couldn’t help noticing that Haley and Lauren looked remarkably similar in their tattered combat gear, despite the obvious differences between them. Then I realised that both of them were looking back and forth between us and I could almost feel them thinking the same thing I was…
The moment passed quickly though. The away team were ushered off to the locker rooms with new gear bags so they could freshen up and replace their busted gear, and the medics conscripted me to assist with Dr Huxley, given that he was in a worse state than anticipated. We wheeled his bed to medbay and one of the medics disappeared int the side room with Sarvesh to confer about how to proceed, leaving me and the other medic to give him basic attention and get him cleaned up as best we could.
Interestingly, “as best we could” was a lot better than anyone had expected. Somehow I just seemed to know exactly what needed to be done, and it wasn’t long before Sarvesh and both the medics were watching in stunned silence as I tended to the doctor. Not that I noticed. I was completely absorbed in my work. It felt like no time had passed at all before Dr Huxley was conscious again, but I felt utterly drained and just about passed out on top of him. Apparently that was six hours of non-stop work that even the doctor would have a hard time finding fault with.
At some point while I was busy, the comms room lost contact with the away team. Most of the techs figured it was just some weirdness with radio signals penetrating the portal, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something big was happening…