How do you heal a broken...hand, closed <bot, joey, devyn, west>

West was struggling to keep up with the securibot because he wasn't exactly feeling 'himself'. He had thrown up a grand total of four times on his way to the medical unit and that, plus the concussion, plus the broken wrist and possible damage to his hand, and the fact he was unconscious for what must have at least been ten hours....he was a little bit under the weather. He got there though and as he spotted the securibot again he followed it and the young woman it was with into the infirmary. He had spotted the backs of heads of a coupel of others but didn't think to stop and see who it was, he had already held Nomad up long enough.

When he got into the infirmary he looked about and he could feel his head spin again. He went closer to the young woman, wondering what Nomad had said to her. "Hi there, I'm Ben West, you can callme West though. Are you a doctor?" It was a bit of a stupid question because clearly she was but his thoughts were not exactly running straight. "I'm a bit like my pal here, not quite running at one hundred percent. I think my wrsit is the worst of it but I most definitely have concussion too." He smiled a bit but it was a grim smile. This was not a time for smiles at all. Hopefully something would be able to be done. Thatway he could be taken up to the bridge as Nomad had said and hopefully he could be somewhere he felt comfortable, his big spinning chair at his flight controls.

((firstly, yes the title is an Al Green reference, secondly, its kinda short but its an opened where im not sure who is defintely here and what their doing etc. It will do! Leave me alone! *hides behind Nomad-bot*))

The hulking form of the securibot stepped into the room shortly after Mr. West. The MX-I-982 unit was carrying the limp form of a young woman in its powerful arms - Joey North. Both her and Mr. West required urgent medical attention - Miss West somewhat more so. NOMAD had brought them here to preserve their lives and health, and had assured that the surgeon - Dr. Devyn Catherwood, was on hand to assist in each procedure.

The MX-I-982 military combat robot set Miss North down on the bed of a nearby automated operating unit as gently as possible, taking care not to cause any unnecessary external damage with he hard, armored edged of its limbs.

"Doctor Devyn Catherwood, you will attend to these patients immediately." The A.I. spoke through the securibot, this time with perhaps a hint of emotion in its ineffably cold and synthetic voice. Not many people said no to a military combat unit and lived to tell the tale. . .

“I regret the events proceeding this moment, though I can assure you Doctor Jenson will not suffer any ill effects - aside from considerable pain.”

Regret? How did a machine regret its actions? That was a distinctly…human emotion, no matter how hard you looked at it. Of course this was an AI they were dealing with, and the idea that it had emotions opened up a whole world of problems. Still, she followed the machine like she was ordered and hoped that everyone else would be alright.

Reaching the ER bay, Devyn didn’t need the threat of the Securibot to want to help both Joey and Ben…or West rather. While she wasn’t too keen on the idea of being separated from her initial group she was a young surgeon, still firmly in the grip of the Hippocratic Oath, “do no harm.” Her eyes narrowed in briefly sympathy as she stepped forward, acknowledging the two patients as her mind set to work. However, while West was awake and oriented, despite having a concussion and a broken hand…the woman the robot brought into the room was clearly unconscious. Ergo triage dictated she was a higher priority

“West it is then,” Devyn nodded as she made eye contact with the pilot, ignoring his somewhat obvious question as she brushed past him to assess Joey. “I’ll get to you in a moment, I need to determine why she’s unconscious” she stated with an outstretched hand before checking the woman’s pulse and respirations. Her pulse was weak and irregular and feeling around her head she noted the blood from a laceration. Something was wrong…something internal that would require a further scan or files that dictated any problematic medical conditions. Feeling around the woman’s hand, she detected something underneath the skin, the respirocyte relay. Was it nanotechnology? she mused. Cybernetics were not Devyn’s forte though she did have a fairly adequate knowledge.

It seemed ironic that the medical unit the robot had chosen had operational equipment…it was relatively untouched compared to the clutter of the rest of the medical wing. Well…it had a functioning stat-scan, something that could tell her at least what was wrong with the woman’s pulse. Then again, the fact that NOMAD had managed to find her on a ghost ship was evidence enough…she was being manipulated beyond her will.

Programming the machine accordingly, she waited and hoped that it wouldn’t go berserk as the electronic arm hovered over the slim woman’s form. Waiting for those results she turned to West. “Your wrist and a concussion…I’m going to need to do some tests to make sure alright?”

While the pilot might have made the attempt to joke, Devyn’s smiles were completely absent. He hadn’t been in danger of barbecuing his friend after all- she had a reason to be afraid! Yet even as she rooted around for a penlight, she did her best to keep her face as blank as possible. It wasn’t entirely successful…her hand was shaking as she drew the light across West’s eyes noting the unequal reaction of his pupils. Yep…that was a concussion…

“Right…did you lose consciousness a number of hours ago?” Devyn asked, going through a checklist of medical assessments. If he had a grade III concussion she could give him memantine to stimulate neurological function. Hopefully it would clear up any potential problems but it looked like he would need a CT scan of his head later to confirm there was no internal trauma. She occasionally turned her head back to Joey, waiting for the stat-scan to finish as she nervously shifted her feet.

Devyn was afraid. But in the situation she was in…who wouldn’t be?

West sat himself down in a chair as he waited. Of course he knew that Joey was going need to be seen to first, she was clearly worse off than he was. He crossed his arms and watched as she went about her buisness and then he turned to the securibot and looked at it for a moment. He knew Nomad was in there somewhere but for some reason it didn't feel the same. Maybe it was because Nomad was less omnipotent when it was creaking about as a big hunk of metal. He was tempted to ask Nomad questions but didn't want to seem uncaring as Joey lay there unconscious and Devyn was being made to work.

The sterness of Nomad as it told her under no uncertain terms that she would attend to them. It seemed so forceful, maybe because it was eager to get people operating to their best so that everyone could club together and get the ship up to speed and try to sort thing thing out. Though why wouldn't she just want to heal them? Whytell her she had to? Shrugging it off he closed his eyes trying to steady his dizziness. When she cameover and asked him questions he assumed that Joey must be being seen to. "Yes, of course do what you need to do I don't mind." He smiled in a friendly way ather, not so much because he was happy, but just to make her feel easier maybe, try to help get things done quickly. "Actually, my hand has been hurting aswell and feels sort of numb, I'm not sure if that's because of the wrist or not though." If you wanted a proper diagnosis you had to help them out right? Tell them absolutely everything just incase.

He was a bit startled by the light at first but he kept his eyes open, letting her examine him. He was about to nod to her question but thought against it to avoid throwing up again. "Yep, we all did because of the spatial anomaly we fell into. When that happened I lost consciousness whilst in movement and I fell, I'm assuming hitting my left hand side. I'm not really sure if there would be crew wide symptoms of the knock out, so I'm not sure how much of this is from that or from me hitting my head." He had only seen Joey since he woke up but...Nomad had seen more than that. "What do you reckon Nomad, is there a common symptom everyone is feeling? Or is this just me being a baby?" He laughed a bit but then realised that was not a clever thing to do. He needed to let her do her tests. "Sorry, tangent there...I will stop being a clown. Since the fall I have been throwing up a lot, I'm extremely dizzy in spells and then I feel alright for a bit."

Devyn was surprised to say the least when Ben began conversing with the AI in a relaxed manner as if it was a person. She tried to hide her reaction as she continued to busy herself with his hand, noting the deformities in his wrist…he’d very likely fractured it. And with the mention of his loss of consciousness the pilot was scheduled for an IV drip of memantine very soon. Now if only she could figure out what was wrong with the girl…

“I did not know we fell into a spatial anomaly, only that the ship’s trajectory had been stopped. The whole experience has been…rather surreal to say the least,” Devyn added with a tiny smile, ignoring the fact that Elliot had lied to her even as he was unconscious and most likely still delirious. She hoped it was uncomfortable for him…just a little bit. That was of course until the stat scan beeped next to her as if on cue and Devyn excused herself for a moment to read what was currently wrong with Joey as it flickered on the screen.

She tapped the side of the screen anxiously as the words flickered and she cursed the ineffectiveness of her technology on the broken down ship. Still, she read hypoxia loud and clear- and she could give the woman oxygen…plenty in fact. Technology had advanced enough that hyperbaric oxygen treatment did not require transporting your patients to giant enclosed rooms that resembled submarines in order to treat them. It simply required her to program a few numbers into a nearby keypad along with her access codes as she heard the familiar metallic sound of a human sized tube sliding up and around Joey’s form. With a few more clicks the metal became transparent for Devyn to watch any visible changes and she began setting the pressure inside the tube, urging the remaining blood cells in Joey’s blood to transport hemoglobin more efficiently under the sustained pressure.

“If your hand is numb, you may have compressed the medial nerve with your fractures. Tell me, how much do you weigh?” she said suddenly, breaking the silence as she kept her eyes on Joey and began multitasking. Waiting for the vital signs on her critical patient to change she made her way to grab yet another IV port as she calculated the dosage of memantine necessary…and was shortly reminded of the presence of the securibot still standing over her.

Programming an oxygen concentration device to provide Ms North even more of the vital gas she filed away the idea of cybernetic blood cells in her memory before she turned to face the robot. Standing tall, she tried to take the anxiety out of her voice as she addressed Nomad.

“Since you are the one that brought me here and insist that I heal these patients…immediately as you put it…tell me how much time do I have? Can I repair his arm? Do I have time for a CT scan? There is the possibility that the both of them have more injuries than I know now.”

The room was small, crowded, but impossibly tall, the ceiling stretching away so far into the sky above them that she couldn't see it, blending into a bluish haze.

and the walls.. they weren't really walls at all. They writhed, wriggled and shifted in shimmering gray array, tiny component parts to something much larger than herself. Joey was sprawled on the ground, bare white arms and legs laced in a series of red scratches, spider-thin lines of cuts from the pile of scrap metal she lay upon. It was just like the walls, a tiny living metal swarm. They scurried and crawled over her skin like ants.

Joey shuddered and stood up, brushing herself frantically to remove the roving robots from her person. She noticed, upon closer inspection, that the tiny gleaming machines were shaped vaguely like jigsaw puzzle pieces.

"Get off me!" She shrieked. And the moment her voice touched the air, the creatures paused, all at once, the moment froze and the critters around her parted to give her space. And she heard a voice buzz and echo down from the endless ceiling above, as if carried and passed along by the nanobots. It was calm and eerily expressionless, emotionless as NOMAD. But it didn't sound like him.

It sounded like her father.

"Hush little baby, don't say a word." The voice droned.
"Papa's going to buy you a Mocking bird."

Around the room, Joey saw a number of the tiny puzzle-pieces lighting up in a pattern, glowing an iridescant pink and vibrating softly. They added a growing hum to her father's words that made Joey uncomfortable, made her sink to the floor and feel helpless. At the word's 'Mocking Bird' the glowing fractals detached from the walls and leapt into the air, gathering on the floor only a few feet away from her. The puzzle pieces shifted and connected to one another, building upon one another until they began to stand... take shape... form a.. a..person, a girl..
A metallic reflection of herself. It smiled at her and held out it's hand, offering to help her up.

Hesitantly, she reached out, touched the cold steel of her own fingers..

and was suddenly locked in a vice-like grip as the creature's fingers tightened.
The facial features didn't change: They never showed any malice or anger, just smiled congenially as the grip increased, as Joey's brittle bones snapped and she screamed.



"ughnn.." Joey's eyelids fluttered, then tightened in pain, and her body stirred within the tube-like hyperbolic chamber.

"What do you reckon Nomad, is there a common symptom everyone is feeling? Or is this just me being a baby?"

Mr. West looked up from the injury he was cradling to address the Securibot standing in the center of the room. There were currently two MX-I-982 units present in the room, though one seemed to be intent on moving.
As Mr. West spoke, the security unit standing nearest to the doorway out from medical suddenly came alive, going from frozen sculpture to animated goliath in seconds. It soon left the room, its heavy metallic footfalls fading into the distance as it moved away.

"I am not currently aware or any common symptoms of exposure to the anomaly Mr. West, however I must clarify that I have not yet investigated the matter. Perhaps it merits such attention." The flat, toneless voice of the A.I. spoke through the securibot, as well as a info-terminal set into the wall nearby, as both glowed blue, the light pulsating as NOMAD spoke.

“Since you are the one that brought me here and insist that I heal these patients…immediately as you put it…tell me how much time do I have? Can I repair his arm? Do I have time for a CT scan? There is the possibility that the both of them have more injuries than I know now.”

"Doctor Catherwood, there are ample facilities within this room - which I have prepared for your use - to perform such tasks with ease. I recommend you continue your work Doctor, and I shall guarantee your safety." The A.I. paused as the MX-I-982 security droid turned to face the doctor, looking down at her through cold, unfeeling 'eyes'.

"My personnel records indicate that Miss North relies upon artificial respirocytes. I will be able to reset these devices myself, should you connect her interface module to the medical unit she is currently within."

When the second Securibot hummed to life in the ER bay Devyn fought the urge to jump as she watched it exit from the corner of her eye. She settled for sinking her teeth into her bottom lip instead, unable to shake the feeling that something was very wrong with this whole situation. Hearing a mumbled reply from the West concerning his weight, she calculated the correct dosage of memantine on the IV pump and set up the necessary materials needed to stick a needle in his good arm.

Listening to Nomad’s analysis the respirocytes idea she’d had was confirmed, it also explained why the scanners read hypoxemic hypoxia instead of the ischemic or anemic variety. The AI’s offer to repair the cybernetic red blood cells also seemed logical and she would have gladly connected the woman’s interface to the hyperbaric chamber…had the previous events with Dr. Jenson not just happened. He’d been “disciplined,” for refusing to let her come with the droid alone…what would happen next?

“I need to make sure she’s completely sedated first before I connect the interface. The restart of the blood cells will cause considerable pain,” Devyn said as she programmed a metered dose of amobarbitol into the chamber and proceeded to stall. She silently apologized to the woman as she slipped back into unconsciousness, at least for the foreseeable future. The security droid had huge clumsy limbs, there was no way it could secure such a delicate piece of equipment on its own, which meant Devyn had at least a little control for the moment…she hoped.

Watching the monitor to ensure Joey’s vital signs did not decrease with the addition of the sedative, Devyn made her way over to West once more. The fact that she was flitting back and forth between the two didn’t seem to phase her on the outside as she proceeded to turn the pilot and gently took his good arm.

“I’m going to need to give you several drugs at once. I’m also going to need to open up your arm to fix the bones,” she started as she proceeded to push the sleeve of his shirt and jacket up and ran her fingertips over his arm to find the antecubital vein. “I’m not going to lie,” she added as her eyes met his “its not going to feel pleasant. You’re going to feel worse before it will get better…but it will…”] she paused in the middle of her sentence, aiming the IV port at a 45 degree angle as she pushed it through the skin “…get better,” she smiled. Confidence was a key thing in medicine, sounding like you knew what you were doing even if things were hopeless.

Fortunately this time they weren’t. “This is memantine,” Devyn explained as she hooked the actual needle through, delivering the medication from the hanging bag. “Its going to help with the concussion. Let me know if you feel a throbbing pain at the needle site,” she finished as she taped the port against his skin and ensured the correct drip rate.

Turning her eyes back to Joey, it was obvious she was uncertain how to handle Nomad’s request. True she could fix things if the computer sabotaged her treatment, but nothing short of the woman regaining consciousness could fix the respirocytes otherwise.

It wasn’t going to help that the possibilities of how to stall kept running around in her head…and her first priority was to fix her patients.

She paused in both her treatment of Joey and West as she ran her fingers through her hair and let the stress of it all get to her for a moment. Briefly she remembered the proc knife still in the pocket of her pullover. She didn’t think Nomad had seen it yet but one little knife against a Securibot wasn’t going to do much. That and she was trying to protect a patient from the unknown.

Letting out a slow exhale of breath and a string of muttered French, she clapped her hands against her legs as she proceeded to attach the shunt to a port in the hyperbaric O2 chamber. Joey’s life was in Nomad’s hands as she stepped out of the way.

“She’s yours now…I trust this will not be a breach of protocol restarting her respirocytes,” she said in a stronger tone. “Because I’ll know if something was altered…” the surgeon added darkly. Like she’d be able to do anything to stop it…still her message was clear. Don’t hurt my patient

In attempt to break the silence and the veiled threat, she added in a louder tone. “West! Do you want to be conscious or unconscious when I patch your bones together?”

She waited for a moment, watching Nomad as she let the memantine take effect for the pilot, waited for an immediate reaction or sign of sabotage. With one patient out of her hands she’d stop bouncing back and forth between the two, but the release of control had clearly shaken things up.

West swung his feet as he watched the events unfolding. He wasn't sure what was wrong with Joey but he could tell it was very bad. He felt a bit guilty for being so short withher before but really, now at least it was very clear he was right in saying it was important for them to get medical attention. He was beginning to feel a bit more stable, maybe he was just worrying less now that things seemed to be getting done. Nomad seemed to know what he was doing and so that was enough for him to not panic as much. His eyes flicked up to Devyn as she came over to him.

Nodding with his mouth slightly open he wasn't entirely sure how to take what she said. "Yeah, sure thing do what you have to." He smiled but it was slightly tense. It was hitting only slightly that she was going to have to cut him open. Surely that was going to hurt a lot? More than the wrist was now? He wasn't looking forward to it but as he would just have to do what needed to be done. His eyes watched her and he could feel his heart rate pick up and start to complain with what was going to happen. He frowned slightly as the IV was put in and he looked to the bot. It didn't seem completely like Nomad in that robotic shell but it was to some extent still the A.I. He was worried, and he could really do with making some sarcastic comment to one of his friends or to Nomad. It may not be 'wit' per say but he felt like there was a slight humour in there that others didn't see.

Ever since he was a kid 'comic relief' was always the best medicine for him. He would laugh and joke to avoid showing when he was in pain or upset or worried. Right now it all felt so urgent and rushed and he had no way to hide the nerves. "A throbbing pain....right." He felt such a throbbing pain in his whole body right now it would be hard to tell, well it would be easy to tell he didn't doubt but he was feeling very sceptical and scared right now so logic didn't register. Conscern spread across his face when he saw the young doctor looking distressed. Of course, this was a stressful situation in general for everyone but the poor thing. He did sympathise with her...even when he was about to be cut open. He watched again as she started to sort things out about Joey. He noted the tones in her voice when she spoke to Nomad. He could understand though, she will be stressed about helping patients and some people just didn't register Nomad as anything more as a computer so he let it pass without thinking on it.

When she came back to speak to him he smiled again but it was getting harder and harder to hide everything that was inside. Normally it was easy enough to just splash a smile on most situations because he was just generally a positive and upbeat guy but right now he just was feeling very worried and was badly needing some kind of comfort and it showed in his eyes. "Well, of course being unconscious would mean I don't need to know what's going on but," He glanced at the securibot and shrugged slightly, "I'm assuming we shouldbe doing this in the way that is quickest." He was completely and utterly terrified at how it would feel if he was to do this awake and it came across in the tones of his voice and the pleading in his eyes. Still, he wanted to do what was best for everyone and if that meant being awake then he was willing to do it.

He tilted his head slightly and looked in her eyes. "It's ok you know, I know this is stressful and a horrible situation for everyone but," He took her hand with the hand of his good arm and gave it a tender reassuring squeeze, "Everything will be fine ok? As hard as it seems to believe it, it is the only way to get through times as hard as this....just believe everything will be ok." He sounded like he was trying to convince himself aswell but the words were heartfelt. He hated seeing people in distress, even when he was feeling it badly aswell he liked to try to help things.

Joey screamed. She screamed until her throat went hoarse, screamed until she no longer recognized her own shrieking voice. The pain... it was unreal, it was unimaginable. It radiated from her wrist throughout her entire body, touching everywhere. She was dying, she knew she was dying. And all the while her robotic replicant smiled politely, as if the task at hand was something entirely helpful and pleasant, like offering her a warm cup of tea.

Around them the room buzzed and clicked, a stadium of nanites applauding the grisly act. Joey's wrist was fractured in several places, from what she could see, and the hand itself hung limp, numb, barely attached. The fingers twitched feebly, and the whole limb was steeped in her blood.

Her blood. Red but not red. Not like everyone elses. There was something foriegn in the mix, something metal. Always metal. The mechanical antagonist smiled at Joey with her own smile and suddenly her eyes took on a blue-white glow, the same eerie color as NOMAD's screens. "I see you," a voice sang out slowly. Almost childlike. "I see us."

Joey cringed in horror as the hand that held her in its vice-like grip began to shift, skin crawling and rearranging as the nanites disassimilated. They were on the march, creeping into the fracture in her wrist, creeping right into her blood. And all those little metal bits in her began to hum, just like the room. They took on a blue white glow, and it rippled forth, up her arm and her wrist and into her veins.

"You can see us, too." The voice called down. It wasn't coming from the woman, she never wavered in her polite, plastic smile. It was coming from the machines, from everywhere. Joey could hear it speaking to her from under her skin now, a voice in her blood. It was sounding less and less like her father, and more like NOMAD. "Open your eyes."

The pain was increasing. It reached deep into Joey and tore the screams loose, shook her until she barely felt human anymore. There was a shudder, a tremor like an earthquake, and Joey wasn't sure if it was real or just another wave of the pain.

But then the smile drooped from her robo-double's face. The walls were falling around them, and Joey heard the groaning of metal under pressure, like whalesong. The vice-like grip weakened, as the nanites themselves lost the ability to hold themselves together, and her double dissolved into a mass of metallic silver sand that skittered away in all directions. Another explosion, another tremor under her feet. The world was going dark. Everything was going out. But all the while that voice kept speaking, as if an echo, or set on a loop:

"Open your eyes. Open your Eyes. Open your-"



Joey's eyes snapped open, but the world was still dark. Her wrist... she felt at her right wrist with her other hand, feeling something attached to her Respirocyte interface and hastily yanking the cord out, disconnecting her. She was relieved to feel her wrist unbroken, to be able to wiggle all her fingers. But the warm feeling quickly ran cold as she became aware of her surroundings. She was trapped somewhere, locked in some kind of coffin with almost no room to move. The casing was metal, possibly translucent, but she couldn't make out anything from where she lay. She felt around for some form of latch or clasp, but found none.

Beginning to panic, she pounded on the metal casing above her head. "Hello? Can anyone hear me? Please!"

She’d been treating the pilot when it happened…what was his name again? West, that was right…She’d been treating West, preparing to cut into his arm to right the bones of his Colles fracture and he’d been telling her everything was going to be alright. Nomad had been looking over her shoulder the entire time with that god damned Securibot and she’d been afraid that when it turned to “heal,” Ms. North it would end up doing more harm than good.

So Devyn had kept watch over the giant metal sentinel and turned a wary eye to Josephine North’s vital signs should it try anything suspicious. She didn’t stand much in the way of taking down a large robot, but the proc knife she had would have looked rather fitting between its eyes should she find the need for it. Of course it ended up that was the absolute least of her worries, with all said and done, she’d anesthetized West after giving him memantine with a peripheral nerve block. With the anesthetic she could have easily cut his arm off if necessary and he wouldn’t have felt a damn thing. All she needed to do was add a sedative to that cocktail of drugs if he felt like he couldn’t watch her repair his insides anymore when it happened…

A loud explosion from somewhere behind her right burst across her vision in bright colors as the ship lurched dangerously to one side again. It was coming from one of the medical rooms…no from one of the highly flammable gases in the canisters that dotted the walls. She only had time to swallow the lump of fear in her throat, fearing that the explosion behind them could trigger another in…

…SSHHHH….KRRCKBOOOM!...

That was all she had time to think about, because no less than fifteen feet away from her, a second explosion took place when her own medical bay caught fire. Without thinking, she shoved West off the operating table and pulled the metal surface down in front of the two of them to act as a shield. Her right side exploded in pain shortly after but she had no time to protest. Her last thought was one of hope that Ms. North didn’t catch fire herself in a high pressured oxygen environment that had been keeping her respirocytes alive. The chamber was well sealed…she thought she would be alright. And she thought she saw the Securibot amble on past the three of them to control the blaze…could it do that?

She couldn’t remember anything else-not for what seemed like ages.

When she woke up, the pain in her right side had been reduced to a dull ache as she cracked open her eyes. The room was completely dark, no fire, no gases. She was still lying behind the table and she took a great gasp of air when she turned to find West and there was nothing there. What had happened to them now? Wait…nevermind what had happened to them…with a slight movement that pain returned again as she found the source of her pain in the explosion The proc knife she’d been considering using on the Securibot was partially imbedded in the right lower quadrant of her abdomen- as if she’d been trying to remove her appendix.

Hastily wrapping her fingers around the instrument, she contemplated removing it before she stopped. What on Earth was she doing? She couldn’t help but give a half chuckle at the irony of the situation before she winced in pain…she’d been using the proc-knife as an informal weapon and she had to go impale herself with it…Against Elliot. Against the Securibot. Well it certainly wasn’t helping her now…

The materials she’d been treating West with were scattered all around her as she groaned when she adjusted her position. This proc knife wasn’t going to do her any favors and she couldn’t treat herself without getting her head clear…everything was starting to feel sort of fuzzy…

Taking the pile of dressings she’d aimed to use on the pilot she stabilized the instrument around her stomach and tried to keep it in place. Never ever remove an impaled object on site- they’d taught her on the ambulances back on Earth. You ran the risk of damaging something more serious as you took it out than leaving it in while you transported to the hospital. At least there they had x-rays and machines that could look inside the body, make sure whatever was running you through hadn’t hit any vital organs. And she needed something for that pain…she couldn’t help anyone if she ended up killing herself in the process.

After securing the instrument to her side she grabbed the ends of her shirt and tore the fabric up to the bandages. Fishing around, she hoped she wouldn’t prick herself in the dark as she tried to feel a syringe of the anesthetic she’d been giving Ben. Inject it into the nerve and it could paralyze the entire arm for 30 minutes, but push it into the muscle of the abdomen and it would creep out from the injection site at a much slower pace. Exhaling, Devyn winced as the knife shifted just slightly before jabbing the needle of what she hoped was the correct solution into her abdomen. When she didn’t feel immediately sleepy she knew it was a success. And it seemed she had good timing as well, moments after treating herself…or…well doing the best she could she heard a voice from her second patient. Like West, the Securibot was nowhere to be found. But Ms. North was still in the hyperbaric oxygen chamber and thank god that hadn’t exploded along with the canisters…

Standing was a difficult process, but Devyn managed to hobble over to the covered table, lighted by the sensors that picked up movement in the chamber. Shaky fingers entered the correct code to release Joey as she began to feel dizzy again. Upon seeing Ms. North a second time she let out a smile “Glad to see you’re alright,” she added before standing became more of a problem than she realized. Grabbing her side, her face screwed up in an expression of pain as she slid down to the floor using the table for balance and waited for more of the anesthetic to take effect.