by Rebecca Pond
When Emma had first arrived in the infirmary, Laura had been waiting at the shuttle pad. She was frantic about Emma and wanted to help care for her. Zane was reluctant to let Laura stay at the hospital because she had covered half of his shift for him while he had been gone for the past day and a half. He insisted that she go home and get some rest, but it was no use, Laura was staying. It wouldn’t be any different than working a double at San Francisco General. Laura talked to Emma, even though she knew her friend couldn’t hear her. When she looked over to another hover stretcher that passed just beside her, the face on the patient didn’t register with her at first. “Holy shit! Is that who I think it is?” she said out loud, after she connected the face with a name.
Zane approached her from the side and whispered in her ear, “Do not under any circumstances say anything about the man you just saw.”
She nodded her head, and then turned her attention back to Emma. Inside the examination room, Laura was stunned by how Emma looked. She could tell that her friend had had a rough time out in the forest and was now paying for it. She automatically knew her fever was sky rocketing just by touching her flushed face. She learned quickly during the few short months of her residency back on Earth how judge with the touch of her hands just how high a fever was. Without using a thermometer, her guess was that Emma’s fever had to be pushing 106. This was entirely too high for an adult human to withstand for too long. Before she knew it she was remembering the possible complications of high fever: a fevered patient is at risk and has the potential for fibril seizure, interferences with metabolic functions, and even kidney or other organ failure due to dehydration. Emma’s situation was dire.
Laura immediately went into action. Her first task was to get her body temperature down. Already, Emma’s heart was beating rapidly. Zane left Emma’s care to Laura when she argued that the woman’s temperature was too high. She called for a nurse to get a team together to fill buckets using the ice maker and bring them to the room where they were going to treat Emma. When the young nurse took off at a run, Laura started to cut away Emma’s clothing. Now that Emma was stripped and covered with a sheet, she watched as Dr. Zane worked on Emma’s leg, and waited for the nurses to return with the ice. The wound was pretty serious from what she could see, and she wondered how in the heck Emma had been able to walk on it for hours. She must have been in an enormous of pain.
The woman she had just undressed was definitely not the same hysterical woman she had met that first day on the mother ship. Emma had grown since then into the strong woman she saw lying on the table before her. She admired her friend’s tenacity and the fact that, not only had she survived an injury of this magnitude and the trauma of being lost in the forest, but she had also helped to save the lives of two other Theron men. Laura knew who one of the men were, but who was the other? It was being kept secret for some reason unknown to Laura. But, for now she had to focus on Emma, and her condition was far from being stable.
The nurse returned with several other nurses in tow, each one carried a box full of ice. Zane looked to her in horror. She concluded that he must have never seen a method of bringing a fever down like this one.
“Laura, what are you going to do with all that ice?” She could feel Zane’s eyes trained on the back of her head as she proceeded to layer ice over the sheet covering Emma’s shivering body. She tucked bits of it around the creases where her body met the bed and under her arms, between her legs and around her head.
Laura said as she worked, “This is a very quick and easy way to bring down a fever. This method has been around since the beginning of medical history on my planet. You have to pack the ice all around the body like this. People from my planet cannot tolerate a high fever like this one for very long. A fever of 105F or above for a human adult is extremely dangerous.” The other nurses followed suit and helped Laura pack Emma’s body in ice. Soon, Emma’s body was covered in an ice blanket.
Brylon stood at the head of the stretcher, refusing to leave his mate. “How long does she have to stay under the ice?”
“Usually not very long, but long enough to bring her body temperature down a few degrees.” Laura moved off to the side so that Zane could check the pupils of Emma’s eyes, and monitor her slowing heart rate. Every few minutes Zane would use a device to take her temperature to see if the ice blanket was doing Emma any good.
Brylon looked anxiously at the doctor, “Is the fever coming down?”
A smile crossed Zane’s face as he read the device, “Yes my friend, it appears to be working. Her temperature has come down a little more than two degrees.” He patted Brylon on the back. “I need to go check on Lars, and see if he has regained consciousness. Laura, call me if you need my help. I will be back shortly.”
“Sure thing doc,” she replied as she took over monitoring the reactions of her friend’s body to the ice.
Laura sat with Brylon for next couple of hours until Emma’s fever was down, and her condition was stable enough for her to be moved into a private room. By the time she removed the last of the ice from the wet sheet, Emma was shivering uncontrollably and regained consciousness. Brylon was talking quietly to her in hushed tones, and Laura felt somewhat in the way. It was like she was intruding on an intimate conversation between lovers. Despite her feelings, there was no way she going to leave the room until her patient was completely out of danger.
****
Emma slowly became aware of her surroundings when she felt like she was sitting on a hunk of ice. She had never, in her life, been as cold as she was at that moment. The worst thing was that she had no idea why she was so cold. The last thing she recalled was being in the forest with Zirlo. She had told Zirlo that her head was hurting badly and that she needed to lie down. He offered her his lap as a pillow, so she gladly accepted. Now, she was lying in a brightly lit room, shivering uncontrollably.
“Brylon, I am so cold,” she spoke softly through her dry and cracking lips.
Brylon rubbed her cheek with his hot finger, “I know my love, but it’s to help you.”
“Well, look who is finally awake,” Zane announced as he came around the corner. “How are you feeling Emma?” He walked up to the side of her bed to take her temperature once again.
“C.c.c.cold,” Emma said as her teeth were chattering uncontrollably.
“That is actually a very good thing Emma. I am happy to say that your temperature is down to 102, and that is so much better than it was.” He handed the device to a nurse who had walked in with him. “I think it’s time to move you to your own room.” He motioned for Laura and the other nurses. Laura pulled the curtain around the bed as they removed the last of the melting ice and the wet sheet that were on top of Emma. After they moved her to a dry bed, Laura draped her in a hospital gown.
Brylon stood by her side and never left, “Is she going to be ok, doc?”
“I told you she would be. Now, maybe you can get some much needed rest.” She saw the look of relief wash over the Brylon’s face. “I think I am going to do the same thing.” Zane looked to Laura who nodded in return.
Emma was moved to her own room, where she feel back to sleep soon after watching Brylon fall asleep on the couch that was in her room. She watched as he scrunched his body onto the couch, but as tired as he probably was, he wouldn’t have cared if he had to sleep on the hard floor of the room. He remained sleeping even through the comings and goings of the nurses as they continued to monitor Emma’s vital signs. All that mattered to her was that her mate was going to be able to take her home, to their home, very soon.
****
Laura met up with Jeeka in the hallway when she was going to report to the secured room where they put Lars. There was a window in the wall and when she looked inside of it she saw a battered large warrior on a bed. His leg was bent at an angle it was not supposed to be, and the warriors who placed him here didn’t care. Jeeka pressed in the code to the panel near the door and it buzzed opened. He was not yet awake but starting to
stir, probably passed out from the pain in his leg that he experienced when he was thrown like he was onto the bed. She could see the yellow sulfur colored waves of color in his aura that radiated out from his upper left thigh. Yes, he was in an enormous amount of pain. Jeeka secured his hands to the rail of the bed as well as his right ankle. She made a move to tie up his left leg but Laura stopped him. “His leg is broken and I will need to set it. Thank you for your help Jeeka. I can take it from here.”
On her way out, Jeeka handed Laura a small amber bottle and said, “You need to give him plenty of this. He needs to be asleep for hours if not all evening, if you catch my drift.” Laura nodded as she left the room. Laura shut the curtains in the room and scanned the area. In the corner closest to the mirrored window was a camera pointed in the direction of the patient. The red light was off so the camera was not on at the moment. She wondered how long it would take for them to realize it was off. She had better get to work.
When the door shut behind Jeeka and the lock engaged, she could hear Lars as he came to on the bed. He had just woken up to find himself tied down to a bed in the hospital. Pulling at the ties on his leg and arms, he shouted at the top of his lungs, “You better fucking untie me now!”
Laura looked into his direction, “That is not very likely.”
“You can kiss my ass, Earth bitch! What, they got you slumming it in here with me. The other Theron’s in this hospital are too good for you to work on?” Lars spewed his venom at her.
Laura turned her glaring eyes towards her patient, “No, you can kiss my ass, Lars! You should be grateful that you have someone willing to take of you after everything that you have done. It is sad that none of your people would even acknowledge your presence in this hospital, much less treat you, so I am reluctantly accepting the duty of caring for you.”
“Do you really think I really give a shit that an Earth female is taking care of me? No! The only reason they assigned you to me was because the only thing you Earth females are good for is fucking!” He gave her an evil grin.
“Really Lars, you speak as though you have experience with one of my kind. But, you and I both know, that you are just as clueless in that department as you are about everything else. None of the females from my planet would touch you with a ten foot pole. You are a disgrace to the Theron warrior race.” Laura checked the monitor that stood next to his bed and jotted a few notes in his chart.
She walked across the room and using her pass key, she opened the cabinet with all the supplies and retrieved a syringe. In order to give the correct dosage she really needed the patient’s weight, but this information was not available at present. She was just going to have to make an educated guess. She laughed and wondered if she would win a prize if she got it right. She overestimated on purpose and drew 5cc’s into the syringe and walked over to the bed. “Look, I am going to let you suffer if you don’t shut your mouth. I am just trying to help you for crying out loud.” She pushed the tip of the syringe into one of the ports on the IV that was running to the needle in Lars arm. At least someone started his I.V. for her. “This should help to calm that foul mouth of yours.”
“Why don’t you just shut up Earth female?” Lars was trying to stare her down and make her afraid of him, but he was quickly losing the battle. It wasn’t long before the medicine she just gave him made his eyes heavy. He was mumbling something that she couldn’t quite make out and then it was finally quiet.
Laura started to cut away all of his clothing. When she was finished she tossed it into the nearest trash bin and draped him with a standard hospital gown. Laura cleaned the area around his hip not caring if it hurt when she stuck him with the needle of the syringe she was holding. He flinched involuntarily when the medication entered the muscle, but she did not hold back. It was hard as hell to uphold the oath she took when she graduated medical school. She saw firsthand the damage he inflicted on two of her earth sisters. She put that thought aside for now and started to work.
As she left the room and ventured out into the hallway, she ran into Brylon who was coming from the nurses’ station with a cup in his hand. He looked exhaust but at least the look of desperation and worry was gone from his face.
“Hey, is Emma awake?”
“She was still sleeping when I left. The nurse had come in little while ago and gave her medication. For some reason, it makes her go to sleep, so I figured that while she was sleeping I would sneak out and get something to eat.” Brylon leaned on the wall as he talked to her.
“I heard that she might be going home tomorrow,” she clutched her electronic chart tablet to her chest.
“I sure hope so. I mean, as much as I love Zane, I am tired of seeing his face every few minutes!” He laughed at his own comment.
“That’s funny, but I am very happy to see the both of you go home. I’ll bet Emma will be glad to be home, too.”
“Oh, I know she will. She has been asking me to bring her rewas here so that she can see them.” He laughed again, “But, I know for a fact that Zane would have a stroke if I did that. She made me promise to take good care of them. I think the little things really miss her. I mean, they haven’t been running around the house or playing much since she has been here.”
“I’m assuming that they are just like any other creature. They should be able to miss someone once they are used to being around them.” She smiled as she thought about the cat she had when she was kid. “I’ve got to go. It won’t be long before I will have to check back in on Lars.” She rolled her eyes.
“He’s that bad, huh? Is he still tied to the bed?” He pushed off the wall and walked with Laura back to the nurses’ station.
“Oh my God, Brylon, he is horrible. I think if he wouldn’t be restrained to the bed, he would have already tried to kill me. I’m not finished with him yet. I still have to reset his leg.” She had a wicked looking grin on her face as she thought about how painful that would be.
Chapter 26
“Where are the survivors?” Zeb had come to the infirmary to check on the status of the two men rescued with Emma. He wanted to know where they came from and why they wouldn’t identify themselves when the station had requested it of them. The entire scenario was quite strange to him, but he didn’t know why. Zane had reported to him about an hour ago, that neither of his patients were conscious and able to speak, so that left it up to him to get the information he required himself.
Zane looked up from where he stood near the entrance to Lars’ room. He was about to go in and check on him when he heard Zeb’s voice coming from just behind him.
“Hey Zeb, we put the other man in this room.” He point to the door leading to the room next door to the room that Lars was in. Lars had been put in a secured room that had a two way mirror and camera in it so that the prisoner could be monitored at all times by a security officer. “I will take you to see him. Just give me just a moment to finish this.”
Zeb waited shifting from foot to foot. He didn’t want to wait any longer to be let into the room of the survivor. He was expected to get to the bottom of this crazy situation and report back to the council as soon as possible. To think, a Drylon craft had crashed on to the surface of Theron. The security of the entire planet was in question. He was determined not to leave the room until he had all of the information that he wanted, even if it took all night.
“Alright Zeb, come on.” Zane went into the door of the secured room that had a two-way mirror. Zeb didn’t know what was going on. Why was Zane leading him into this room? “Look, Zeb I am one of your closest and oldest friends. That being said, I want you to know that I ordered that the identity of the two crash victims remain secret. I wanted to be the one to break the news to you.”
The room was semi-dark with one security officer sitting in a chair facing a window in the wall. Zeb was confused about why Zane when take him into this room and not the patient’s room.
“What are we doing in here?” He turned to get an answer out of Zane, who stepped clos
e to his friend and directed his gaze to the mirror.
“Zeb, look at the man in the bed,” he said calmly.
Zeb walked all the up to the window and peered through the glass to see the individual chained to the bed. Emotions from annoyance to shock to anger crossed the commander’s face in a matter of seconds.
“What the FUCK!” Zeb roared in the quiet room. “What the fuck is he doing here? He is supposed to be DEAD!” He was pacing back and forth now. “This is not possible. I was told that no one got off that damn planet! Someone’s head is going to roll for this.”
Zane moved in to try and calm his friend, “Zeb, you need to calm down. This is the reason I thought it would be best that you heard the news from me. You know as well as I do, that we both hoped he was dead, but I distinctly remember telling Avery that we didn’t know his fate. We didn’t know if he made it away from the planet in time, but now we are certain that he did.”
“Calm down! Calm down you say! How would you like it, if you just found out the man who kidnapped your mate and planned on doing Gods knows what to her, suddenly showed up. This traitor is solely responsible for killing several of our men and Kurtz’s men. He sold our location to Gatton, Zane. How would you like it if he suddenly showed up out of nowhere, after thinking that he was dead? Tell me Zane, how would you feel?” He was shouting loud enough that Lars turned his head to the mirror. He must have been able to hear Zeb yelling from behind the glass.
“I would probably feel the same way you do right now. However, I can’t let you go in there. The council will have to assign someone else to go in there to question him. I doubt he is going to reveal anything. He’s not saying much other than cursing or throwing insults at Laura.” Zane ran his hand through his short hair.
Zeb’s head snapped to look directly at Zane, “Laura? Why is she going in there with him?”