“Do you see anything that we could make a splint with? . . . If we can find something. . . a small metal rod? We could stabilize the fracture. . .” Ava’s voice shook as she looked around at the people gathered near her. The stress had caught up with her and she fought back her tears. She wanted to stay strong. She believed they had all come down to help carry her back to the ship.
Andre, who remained standing, looked down at Ava as she spoke, and then looked up to the ceiling. He raised his arms up high. Then, the few lights above that had not been removed in the desertion process, began to glow, producing an almost blinding light compared the darkness Ava was used to. Andre lowered his arms. Ava squinted and looked around her, seven concerned faces looked back at her. She could not understand what was happening. People do not float lightly down from great heights, appear out of no-where, or make two hundred year old lights illuminate by themselves. She was beyond tired, beyond cold, in terrible pain, and now she was afraid of her friends. No one seemed interested in looking for a makeshift splint for her leg. The crew silently re-positioned themselves around her while Wesley studied her leg. He quickly lifted the sleeve of her pant and tore it up to the knee effortlessly, as if it were nothing but tissue paper. He had been careful not to move her leg so this maneuver did not cause her additional pain. Andre moved towards Ava’s right side and knelt down beside her, placing his hands on her right leg. Naomi wrapped her arms around Ava’s waist tightly. Rowan gently took her right arm and Mia took her left. Ash continued to stand, keeping an eye on the pirate. Justin also remained standing, watching from a few feet away. What are they doing? Ava couldn’t understand why Justin didn’t help, wasn’t he supposed to be a medic? Just as Ava anticipated that they would lift her Andre spoke: “Wesley, if you are going to do this now is the time!”
Ava looked at him then back at Wesley who gazed intently at her. She wondered what Andre meant by that. Just as she mustered the energy to ask what they were doing Wesley with sad, solemn, worried eyes locked into hers simply said, “I’m sorry Ava.” Ava watched helplessly as Wesley lifted his hands and slowly placed them both down on her bare broken leg. Ava screamed immediately, the sound echoed over and over loudly around them. The pain! Ava had never experienced anything like it. It felt like a thousand red hot electric needles were being shoved into her leg all at once. She struggled, trying to free herself, to pull away from him but it was no use. The crew held her so tightly that she could not move. How strong they were! What were they doing to her?
“Stop , . . . please stop!” she sobbed. Ava continued to try and resist, her face was flushed and wet from the tears rolling down her cheeks. She had not cried out loud over anything in many years, but the pain felt worse than anything she could imagine, it felt like he was tearing her leg off. Although the tears blurred her vision and her body shook from the erratic breathing from crying, she could see that he was simply touching her leg, apparently concentrating intensely on whatever it was he was doing to her.
After what felt like an eternity, but in reality was only a minute, he released his grip off of her leg and Ava felt the pain disappear immediately. He took his right hand and lightly ran it down the length of her shin, lifting his hand off when he reached the ankle. A relaxed, relieved look appeared on his face, as if he were satisfied with his work. Ava, still breathing hard, tried to comprehend what had just occurred. She suddenly did not trust any of them. The crew still held her steady but had relaxed their hold on her. She looked down at her now free leg and pulled it up toward her, away from Wesley. No pain. That’s impossible, Ava thought. Had he healed her broken leg? She looked at Wesley who broke eye contact with her briefly only to glance at Justin, standing nearby. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Justin move towards her. He knelt by her side and reached both of his hands towards her. No one spoke as he placed his hands gently on her head with one thumb on each temple of her forehead. Ava had no time to react, as soon as he touched her everything immediately went black. Her body fell limp with unconsciousness taking her as Justin selectively removed several of the memories of the night, including what had just happened. After a few moments Justin removed his hands from Ava’s head and stood up. Andre, Rowan, and Mia let go of their hold on Ava, gently placing her arms at her side. Naomi continued to hold Ava as Wesley moved into position and lifted Ava up into his arms.
“Wesley, Ava’s going to be just fine. She won’t remember any of this nightmare,” Justin said quietly.
“Let’s get out of here,” Andre announced.
“Don’t have to tell me more than once,” Ash commented as he moved towards Mia and slid an arm around her shoulders.
“I’ll meet you back on the ship. Andre, once we’ve reached a safe distance, I want you to blow this worthless heap of scrap metal into dust,” Wesley ordered.
“My pleasure.”
The sound of boots hitting the floor echoed loudly as the crew ran towards the staircase and back towards the ship. Wesley stood holding Ava tenderly in his arms and closed his eyes. If anyone were left watching, one would have seen the two of them fade to nothing as the overhead illumination dimmed back into darkness. Wesley reappeared a few moments later with Ava in her quarters on the ship and gently placed her on the bed. He had removed her boots and his dusty jacket by the time Naomi joined him to help clean all of the dust off of Ava and place warming blankets on her as best they could. Neither of them flinched as they heard the sound of the cannons firing, obliterating what was left of E.S. #1 as the ship glided away.
After Naomi and Wesley finished seeing that Ava could rest as comfortable as possible, Justin arrived with a cold pack for Ava’s leg and one for her head. Wesley placed Ava’s leg up on a few pillows as Justin applied the packs.
“Rowan and I can watch over her for a while if you’d like to get cleaned up. You look like you could use some rest, Ava’s going to be out for several hours.”
“How can I rest after what just happened? She could have died tonight! I need to be more careful with her. How could I have thought going to that abandoned station for repairs was a good idea?” Wesley remarked, clearly upset with himself over what had happened.
“It was a good plan. You could not have known there would be pirates marooned there. Who would have anticipated that? E.S. #1 is in the middle of no-where, it’s far, even for the boldest pirates.”
“How much of this is Ava going to remember? The pain must have been excruciating, I hoped I would never have to do that to her.” His voice was practically a whisper.
“She’ll recall everything up until we land on the station. After that she’ll simply remember exploring the hangar, tripping, twisting her leg, falling and hitting her head. I took out the pirates, her fall, and everything else after that. The memories I gave her will be enough to explain the ache in her leg that she’ll experience and the mild headache she’ll wake up with.” He lifted the cold pack off of her leg and felt the newly healed bone. “You did a great job healing her by the way, it’s nice and solid.” He put the cold pack back down on it.
“Healing myself is easy, healing others has always been so difficult for me. Trying to control the energy is . . . draining. I guess I have the best chance with Ava than with any other human.”
“That’s true. She is one of a kind. We are all very happy for you to have found her after all of this time.”
Rowan poked her head in. “Wesley, why don’t you take a shower, change into some fresh clothes and have something to eat? Ava’s going to wonder why you are covered in dust when she wakes up. We can stay with her if you like.”
He sighed. “I suppose I should. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes.” They could sense his reluctance to leave her as he rose to walk out.
After what seemed like a blink of an eye, Wesley returned, looking about the same, minus the dust and holey t-shirt. He felt so guilty over what had happened he did not want to leave Ava’s side until she woke up. He wanted to be there if she needed anything. The others checked in infrequen
tly to see if he needed anything as they wanted to give him his space.
Wesley moved the small desk chair to the side of the bed and waited for Ava to wake up. He leaned back and closed his eyes, wondering if they had done the right thing. He and his crew had travelled the universe for many years and seldom encountered situations with humans that endangered their lives. There was practically nothing he felt he could not handle, but being in love with a human had changed things. Humans were much more fragile than his kind for one thing. They aged, they could get sick easily, succumb from hunger more easily, suffocate easily, and break bones easily. A small part of him regretted that Ava was human. This was not how it was supposed to be. All these long years he witnessed each of his crew members find their match, their true other half of their kind. He did not know why his match happened to be a human, it didn’t seem fair, and it didn’t make sense. However, all isn’t fair in love he reasoned. Shortly after he discovered Ava, his affinity for her consumed him. The shock that she was human quickly faded and he embraced what might be his only chance at love. He knew he would eventually tell Ava the truth about himself and the others. However, he wanted to wait for a more appropriate time, not during an emergency. He hoped she would be able to accept him, he believed that she would.
After a few hours, Ava’s breathing pattern changed, she turned on her side and opened her eyes. It took her a few seconds to realize where she was. She saw Wesley sitting with her, sat up in the bed and reached out for him. He moved to a sitting position on her bed with her and hugged her. He reached over to the bedside table and handed her the glass of water that was waiting for her and she drank to quench her thirst. After a few minutes and the glass drained, Ava looked down at her leg, which seemed fine. She wondered how she had gotten back to the Andromeda.
“Wesley, how did I get back here? I don’t remember.” She looked at him closely. Had she been worried about him? Her instincts contradicted themselves. There appeared to be no reason why she should be, he looked fine. She realized she had a slight headache.
“Ava you were in the hangar looking at some old junk and accidentally tripped. You twisted your leg and hit your head on the floor, but you are all right now. How do you feel?” He hated lying to her but he had no choice.
“I’m okay I guess. I have a mild headache. My leg aches a tiny bit. I’m so sorry, I can’t believe I was that klutzy.” She tried to think, did she fall? She remembered it now that he said it. Her head ached a little more intensely as she thought about it. The memory was real enough, but she could not help but feel like there were holes in her memories. She knew that was crazy. “Are you okay Wesley?” She noticed, for the very first time since she met him that he seemed exhausted, perhaps drained.
He smiled at her. “I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be?”
“I don’t know. Never mind. How is the ship?”
“She’s holding up great. The patch job didn’t take too long. Once we’re back on Orionis we’ll be docked for at least a week to make the real repairs.”
“Really!” A sudden wave of excitement swept over Ava. She would be able to see him every day for a week. “That’s great. I mean, not great that the Andromeda needs repairs, but great that we will be able to see each other a lot.”
“Yes I know, I’m happy about it too.” He kissed her a few times and then she started asking more questions.
“How far are we from Orionis?”
“We’ll be there in less than eight hours so you have some more time to rest. Is there anything you need, are you hungry?”
“Famished . . . and thirsty.” She looked down at herself. “I feel like I’ve been wearing these clothes forever. I need a shower. Can I take a quick one and change and then can we grab something to eat?”
“Sure. I’d like to stay here with you until you are ready if that’s all right, just to make sure you are okay standing up. You did hit your head pretty hard.”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine, but you can stay with me if you like.” She appreciated his concern for her.
He moved back onto the chair next to the bed and watched her as she slid to the edge of the bed and stepped onto the floor. He practically held his breath, ready to leap into action to catch her if she started to fall. He kept his eyes focused on her legs as she walked away from him to the closet to collect some new clothes. He sighed with relief as he realized she seemed to be walking just fine, with no hint of pain. She smiled at him as she stepped into the bathroom and shut the door. She had never felt so adored by anyone else before in her life. Although neither one of them had said it yet, she knew they loved each other. She smiled as she wondered what the future might bring.
Chapter 12: A New Year
After the holidays Ava arrived back to work rested and excited for a new year. She felt proud of her adjustment to her life and job on Orionis over the past year and was grateful for her boyfriend and her group of friends. Since the Andromeda needed repairs Ava and Wesley spent as much time as possible with each other during the week. Ava did not have much vacation time left so they would fall back into their usual pattern of being together only on the weekends. Ava couldn’t believe she had been with them during their narrow escape from Capri and their impromptu visit to an abandoned space station. Wesley asked her not to mention it to anyone as some of their activities had technically been illegal. He told her it would be a long while before they would ever go back to Capri. Their adventure did give Ava a new appreciation for Wesley’s job, and for the frailty of life in outer space. She found herself worrying about him more now that she was aware of the space pirates and the other dangers his job involved.
In early January the OMC announced the addition of Dr. Grant’s son, Thomas, as an infectious disease specialist. The infectious disease clinic, or ID clinic, was located down the hall from the general practice clinic Ava worked in, separated only by a set of sliding doors. Ava enjoyed the change of pace in her job at the beginning of the year. Their clinic had been busier than ever in December and she welcomed the slightly slower schedule. It would only be a matter of time before things picked up again. Since things were slow in the ID clinic as well, Dr. Grant brought his son around and introduced him to everyone. He quickly took on the name of “Dr. Tom” as no one wanted to confuse him with his father.
“And this is our newest Nurse Practitioner, Ava Amherst,” Dr. Grant announced as he brought Dr. Tom around to her station.
“It’s nice to meet you, welcome.” Ava smiled at him and shook his hand. She did not see much of a similarity between him and his father. He had short sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. Not as tall and as built as Wesley, but he was a handsome man.
“Nice to meet you Ava. My father speaks highly of you,” he said pleasantly.
“Thank you, that’s nice to hear. We’re glad that you are joining the ID clinic, I’m sure that we will be referring lots of patients to you.” Ava felt flattered by the compliment. She liked Dr. Grant’s easygoing, laid back personality, and appreciated having such an amicable collaborating doctor to work alongside with. She wondered if his son would be as agreeable.
Despite the strict criteria of optimum health for migration to Orionis, people still managed to become sick. The OMC had specific guidelines for managing ill patients. If a general practice provider suspected anything unusual, patients were sent for a mandatory evaluation by the ID clinic. The two doctors who worked in the ID clinic also welcomed the addition of the new doctor to help lighten their load of patients. By mid January all of the OMC clinic patient loads were back to normal. Dr. Tom made it a point to greet Ava daily on his way to the ID clinic since he started later than she did. He seemed nice enough although he was not as likeable as she thought he would be; he seemed to have a bit of arrogance about him. She noticed his eyes seemed to linger on her during their brief encounters. Ava paid it no mind, she did not have any interest other than her professional relationship with him as a colleague. One evening she mentioned the new doctor and his friendliness towards he
r to Wesley.
“He says hello to you every day?” He eluded a slight hint of jealousy.
“He’s just being friendly, it’s not like we work together all day.”
“Sure. What is it with you nurses and doctors always getting together?” He joked.
Ava laughed. “Nurses and doctors hooking up? Hardly. Maybe that sort of thing happened a century ago but not in today’s world. I don’t get it, why does everyone think that?”
“You mean it’s not a soap opera?”
“Sorry to disappoint your beliefs. Besides, a doctor would be the last person I would want to hook up with romantically.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. I guess I just don’t think they feel enough. Does that make sense?”
“I can see that. It’s probably easy for them to become desensitized with all they have to cope with to stay sane in order to do their jobs. It’s part of the deal I guess.”
“I wish I could see you every day,” she said softly.
“I like the sound of that.” He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. “Maybe someday we will see each other every day,” he continued. “Ava, promise me you’ll be careful at work. Don’t let this guy walk you home or offer you a drink okay?”
“Very funny.” Actually it’s not, she thought, remembering the incident at Labyrinth. “I’ll be careful, I promise.” She mockingly held up her hand as if she were swearing in. “Maybe I should introduce him to Elaine?” She pondered out loud.
“How is your self defense class going?”
“It’s going pretty well. I have only a few weeks left, then it’s over. I’m not sure what I’ll feel like doing after that. I do think that I have more stamina, although my left leg still aches a bit when I’m practicing my kicks.”
The Solar Wind Page 13