by Magus Tor
“I can tell you that you might just be a part of something very, very important,” he told her. “You wanted to save people – well, this might be your chance.”
He said nothing more, and Aurelia didn't press him. She concentrated on the scan. As she'd suspected, Jonathon's leg had a hairline crack in the bone. Looking around her, she found a small device and ran it over his leg, reconstituting the bone in seconds. She then did a more thorough exam but found nothing else of note.
“Okay, I think you're ready to get out of here,” she said. “Can you stand up for me?”
He did as he was told.
“No pain?”
“Nothing,” he said. “All good.”
“Then you can go; I'll discharge you. Do you need sec Workers to escort you out?”
“I'll deal with that, don't worry.”
She pulled out her screen and tapped into the hospital system to clear Jonathon's record but was stopped by his hand on her elbow. Looking up, she saw that he was much closer than he had been before, and she could smell his citrus scent. Her stomach jumped a little, and his mouth curved into a slight smile.
“Aurelia, I will contact you,” he whispered. “You'll hear from me in a few hours, okay?”
She nodded.
“In the meantime, stay in the hospital. And try not to think. I'll get you as much info as I can the next time I see you.”
He leant in and very softly kissed her lips.
She was so shocked that she couldn't speak until he had already reached the door, and then the only thing she could say was goodbye.
Aurelia left the room and headed out into the corridor, very deliberately not thinking about the fact that she'd just been kissed, albeit lightly, by Jonathon Hansen. She followed the hallway around until it reached the entrance of the hospital again. The reception area was flooded with people in various states of consciousness. A harried med Worker at the door was desperately trying to keep up with those arriving. Gods, were all these from the shuttle? They must be. She caught sight of Elza speaking to a sec Worker, and hurried over to her.
“Done, Cole?” said Elza, a lot more formally than she'd spoken to Aurelia before. “Good, come with me then.”
Elza walked down a corridor, and Aurelia followed her until they reached a door, which Elza opened.
“Alright, Aurelia, you need to get your uniform on, so no one will question your presence or right to get around.”
There was a spare med uniform lying on the bed in the room to replace the dirty, sweaty and torn one that Aurelia was still wearing.
“It doesn't have the trauma head stripes on it yet; I'll deal with that later,” said Elza. “Oh, and you'll need one of these.”
She handed over a small white patch, which Aurelia took and studied. It was completely unfamiliar to her.
Elza took the patch back and peeled off a plastic covering, then with hands that were cool and gentle, she lifted Aurelia's hair at the back of her neck and stuck the patch onto her skin.
“It's a stimulant. You'll need it after no sleep and with the amount of work that's going on tonight,” she explained. “We all wear them.” Elza lifted her own blonde hair to show a similar patch. “It'll keep you awake and alert, but don't forget to take it off before you fall into bed.”
Aurelia nodded. She was starting to feel a little better, like she'd taken a nap. “I'm head of trauma.” Yeah, that was still sinking in.
Elza grinned. “You're head of trauma. Get out there and do your stuff. If you've got any questions, ask anyone in a med uniform. I'll come find you when things have calmed down. And, Aurelia?”
“Yes?”
“I know you're a little, well, confused about things, but...”
“But we'll talk about things later,” finished Aurelia. “Yes, I'm getting used to that.”
Elza laughed. “You're gonna do fine, Aurelia. Just you wait and see.”
Aurelia knew that her real skills lay in diagnostics and thinking on her feet. They always had. So the first thing that she did was to set up a second triage station behind the first. She let the first med Worker weed out the walking wounded, and she had him send everyone else on to her. Then she began sending different kinds of injuries into different areas, reasoning that if similar injuries were kept together, treating them would be faster and more efficient.
The number of people still coming through the hospital amazed her. The shuttle had had more passengers than she had thought. Though most of the more seriously wounded had already come through and been processed, Aurelia still caught a couple of tricky cases, including one cracked vertebra that could have spelled disaster had it not been found.
More and more of the stretchers coming through contained the dead. Aurelia was surprised that they were being brought through the hospital at all, but then she remembered that only a med Worker could sign off on a death certificate. It would be more efficient if a med Worker on site at the shuttle itself could have done that, she thought, and she noted it down to mention to Elza. If she was going to be head of trauma, then an emergency response team would be very helpful indeed.
Her mind was buzzing now, both from the stimulant patch and the thrill of doing what she was good at. As the patients coming through the doors dwindled to just the dead and the lightly injured, she closed up her station and told the first med Worker that she was going on rounds. He simply nodded and went back to registering names.
Aurelia pulled out her screen to get a list of the priority patients. It wasn't until she saw his name that she remembered her lung collapse patient. His priority number was still pretty high, so she made her way to his room and found him conscious and half sitting in a bed.
“Hello, Michael. Remember me?” She smiled as she came through the door.
He smiled back. His skin was still pale. “I sure do. You scared me half to death when you said you were going to inject me.”
She blushed at the memory. “Well, sometimes tact isn't really my thing,” she confessed.
She looked him over, gratified that he was doing well. His breathing seemed even, and a look at the scanner told her that his lung was still inflated. She was checking out his secondary injuries when another med Worker came into the room.
“Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realise you'd taken over,” the new woman said. She had short dark hair and Asiatic features similar to those of Aurelia's mother.
“No, no, he's your patient. I just wanted to check up on him, since I treated him on the ship,” Aurelia told her.
“That was you? What exactly was it that you did?” the woman asked, looking curious.
Briefly Aurelia outlined all that had happened, including her decision not to follow the rules and inject the patient. The woman looked interested.
“That was pretty amazing,” she said when Aurelia was done.
Aurelia shrugged.
“Looks like you're in good hands,” the woman told Michael. “I'll come check on you later.”
She thanked Aurelia for her help and left to go and see to her other patients.
“You should be careful,” Michael said, as the door closed.
“Why's that?” Aurelia turned to him.
He bit his lip, and Aurelia remembered the green of his uniform; he was security. “Look, you saved my life,” he said quietly. “That's the only reason that I'm saying something. But, well, you're obviously new here, and Lunar is a complicated place. Admitting that you haven't followed the rules in front of someone you don't know might not be a wise move to make.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, coming closer to his bed.
“Just that there's a lot of, ummm, politics is maybe the word I want. Things are different up here than they are in the Earth Cities. You can never be too sure who you should be trusting and who you shouldn't, you know?”
Aurelia frowned.
“Look, I'm not saying be paranoid or anything. Just that, while there are plenty of freedoms up here in Lunar, that means that there are plenty of jealous
ies as well. And, well, there are some people who will do whatever is necessary to get ahead and get more of those precious freedoms that they see all around them.”
“Including turning someone in for breaking the rules,” guessed Aurelia. “Got it.”
Michael shrugged. “Just look after yourself. You never know who's watching. You might be talking to a med Worker, but that med Worker could just as easily be a Ruling Class or a Resistance or just someone who wants your job.”
There was that word Resistance again. Aurelia still wasn't clear on what exactly it meant, but she felt that Michael had probably said more than he should have in an effort to protect her, so she didn't ask. She thanked him for his advice and told him that he'd be able to leave the hospital within a day or so.
“No, thank you,” he said as she turned to leave. “Without you, I wouldn't be here. Listen...”
She turned back to him.
“You know my name. If you need something, intercom me.”
She nodded, not sure what she could need from him, but knowing that he was making her a serious offer. “I'll do that,” she said as she left the room.
Looking through the list of patients, Aurelia noted room numbers and spent a couple more hours pitching in where she was needed. She reconstituted bones and gave a second opinion when necessary.
Coming out of an exam room, she stretched and yawned. The stimulant patch was still working, but that didn't mean that she shouldn't sleep soon. She saw that the corridors were emptying out, and so she made her way to the reception area. There, too, there were only a handful of people. Things were calming down at last. Aurelia decided it might be time to track down Elza, so she began walking through hallways looking for the woman's distinctive profile and blonde hair.
As she walked past the Clone corridor, Aurelia could see that they were still busy. There were lines of people waiting in the hallway, and the med Workers she saw looked harried. She was about to open the corridor door when Elza called to her.
“There you are,” said the hospital head. “I've been looking for you.”
With her was a young man, maybe five years older than Aurelia. He had brown hair and was tall. He wasn't handsome, but his smile was friendly.
“Hi,” he said. “I'm Jason.”
“He's your second in command,” said Elza. “Thought you should meet.”
Aurelia shook Jason's hand, noting his warm skin and firm grip. She decided that she liked him, which was good since they were going to have to work together closely.
“Things are pretty much wrapping up here,” Elza said. “So I think it's time that I showed you your accommodation, and then you can get some rest.”
“Er, it's still kind of busy in there,” Aurelia said, gesturing toward the Clone corridor with her head. “I was just about to go and see if I could help out.”
“No, no, there are specialist Clone doctors for that; you're not required to go in,” Elza tutted.
“I know, but most of the injuries are going to be trauma, and I can take care of those,” said Aurelia. “Look at them; they're overwhelmed. I was going to give them a hand.”
Jason and Elza looked at each other.
“With the Clones?” asked Jason cautiously.
“Is there some kind of rule against it?” said Aurelia.
“No,” said Elza. “It's just that...”
“Just that what?”
“Just that not many med Workers want to work with Clones,” said Jason. “Most of us want to do things that are more important.”
More important? Okay, so these were military personnel; but even so, Aurelia had treated her Worker patients, so it wasn't like she was denying aid to them to work with the Clones. She really didn't understand this attitude.
Jason cleared his throat. “Perhaps you aren't familiar with Clones,” he began. “The fact is that they're just so easily replaceable. They're all pretty much trained to the same standards, and, well, let's face it - they're designed to be disposable, to be killed in battle. So many med Workers consider that they're not really worth treating.”
“Do you feel that way?” Aurelia asked him, her voice making it clear that she expected a negative answer.
Jason looked down. “I guess I never really thought about it,” he said.
“Then I think you should join me. With both of us treating the trauma patients, the Clone doctors will be able to handle the rest.”
Again, Jason looked at Elza, who shrugged. She had a look of quiet amusement on her face. “Clear yourselves with a Clone doctor first to see where you're needed, then go ahead. I'm fine with it,” she said.
Jason gave Aurelia a smile. “Let's go then, boss,” he said.
“I'll be in my office when you're done,” Elza told Aurelia as she moved to open the door. “Come find me, and I'll take you to your room.”
Though he might have objected to going to work in the Clone corridor, Aurelia was pleased to see that Jason threw his full energies into doing his job once he was inside. Between the two of them, they got through the majority of the basic trauma injuries in an hour or so. After checking with a bemused looking Clone specialist med Worker and finding out that the situation was now under control, Aurelia and Jason left.
“Come on, I'll show you where Elza's office is,” Jason said.
Aurelia groaned. “I could murder a cup of coffee.”
Her second in command gave her a grin. “Your wish is my command; we can stop by the cafeteria on the way if you want.”
For the first time in a long while, Aurelia laughed. “Absolutely. Lead me to the coffee!”
With a warm cup in her hand, Aurelia felt immediately better. They sat at a small table on the second floor of the hospital, close to a window that overlooked the reception area below. The dead were still coming in, though fewer of them now.
“Where do they go?” Aurelia asked.
“The dead?”
She nodded.
“It's the same here as on Earth; they go to the crematoria to be disposed of.”
Distantly Aurelia remembered being told of crematoria. “The bodies are burnt, right?”
“Yep. Horrible places.” Jason shuddered.
“I don't think I've ever seen one,” said Aurelia.
“Sure you have - you must have,” he said. “They're the square black buildings.”
Aha. She remembered the building she'd questioned her father about the previous afternoon, though it felt like weeks ago now. Of course, her father was a tech Worker, so there was no reason for him to know what a crematorium was. Death was not a subject that was really discussed. It happened, but it was for the good of society. Whether you died a natural death, in an accident, or were injected, it meant that you were freeing up resources for others, not being a dependent. As such, death wasn't even particularly grieved, and there were certainly no ceremonies surrounding it as there had been in the past.
“Right, yeah, I've seen one. It was awfully big,” said Aurelia. It had been as large as the residential buildings around it. “Seems like a lot of space for disposal.”
“It's not just for disposal,” Jason told her. “It's a whole complex.”
“What else is in there?” She couldn't think of another service that would need or want to share the space used to burn bodies.
Jason screwed up his face in thought. “The holding cells are definitely there,” he said.
That made sense. The majority of people kept in holding cells would be injected anyway. There was almost no crime in Cities, at least Earth Cities, these days. Holding cells were generally used for those who had in some way broken rules. Occasionally they held smugglers, of which there were a few, especially of luxury items.
“There'll be a small Clone outpost there too, usually, to keep things under control, just in case,” Jason went on. “Oh, and the Fails, of course.”
Aurelia's ears pricked up. “The Fails?” She'd wondered often as a child what had happened to those students who hadn't passed the scho
ol year.
“Sure.”
“What do they do?” Aurelia asked.
“Clean, mostly. Some low-level work, stuff no one else wants to do. But they only do it for five years, so it's not that bad.”
“And what happens after five years?” But she already knew what he was going to say.
“They're injected.”
She tried hard not to show that this news surprised or affected her. But it did. Her head reasoned that injection made sense: if people couldn't contribute to the Empire, then they shouldn't use up resources. But her heart said that these were people's children. They weren't sick, weren't damaged. Injecting them was very different from injecting someone in a hospital.
Jason was looking at her with concern, so she gave him a weak smile. “How do you know all this?”
He shrugged. “Everyone knows all this,” he said.
“I didn't,” admitted Aurelia. Then a thought occurred to her. “Did you grow up here?”
“Yeah, my parents are both med Workers here in the hospital. I was born here. I've been to Earth, though,” he said proudly. Then he added in a smaller voice, “Once.”
So that explained it. Aurelia was pretty sure that all of this stuff wasn't common knowledge, at least in City 01. But apparently in Lunar, it was. That meant that information was controlled a lot more tightly on Earth than it was here. She remembered seeing the supply shuttle at the Earth shuttle bay and being surprised when Nicholas told her that resources not only came from Lunar but also went from Earth to the Moon - something else she hadn't heard of before. Hmmm. Earth-Lunar relations weren't quite as she'd imagined them, and she wondered why it was necessary to keep secrets from City residents.
“Come on,” Jason said, draining his cup. “We should get you to Elza's office; you've got to be dead on your feet.”
Jason bade her goodbye at the door to Elza's office. Aurelia thanked him and then knocked on the door. Elza opened it, ready to leave.
“All accommodations are on the hospital grounds,” she explained as they left the floor. “So you don't need to go out into the city unless you want to. I know it can be a little intimidating when you first come up here.”