All Our Tomorrows (Part 4)
Posted on Thu May 22nd, 2014 @ 4:39pm by Commander Patrick Leroy
Mission:
Breaking New Ground
Location: USS Sibyl - Sickbay
Timeline: unknown
* * * USS Sibyl - Sickbay * * *
A diffused light hit his eyelids as he emerged from the black layers of unconsciousness, perhaps too strong a light. He felt the contact of the biobed against his back. Voices argued around him.
“... We can’t put the ship at a risk for this individual. For what we know he could be the cause of the anomaly.” A male voice said.
“We can’t even abandon him here.” a woman voice replied firmly.
“I concur.” A third one added
Patrick opened his eyes, instantly averting them from the strong lights looming above the biobed.
“I think our patient has regained consciousness.” The holomed stated underlining the obvious.
Captain Faye Leroy along with Steiner and Biko, the two he’d encountered on the station in the first place, stood in the room watching him with mixed feelings, well… Not so mixed for the bigSecurity officer who seemed quite hostile. After a few moments the captain nodded them the doors:
“Go. I’ll deal with him.”
Grumbling something in disappointment Steiner walked out of the doors closely followed by Biko, doors hissing close behind them.
Faye turned then again to him her expression a concerned one. “How do you feel?”
“I’ve seen better days.” he spat out in a fit of coughing. while the holomed, with relentless zeal, passed the medical sensor over him.
Not without effort, Patrick managed to achieve a sitting position on the biobed border.
Faye moved a step forward closing the distance between them as she cast a worried look at the holomed in a silent question.
“He’s dying.” The Holomed stated, sternly.
Patrick lowered his head as his worries and suspects suddenly became painfully true.
“What?” Faye exclaimed eyes widening in surprise “What do you mean?” She ended more authoritatively than she really wanted.
“I’m just underlining the inevitable.” The Holomed stated in response to Faye’s growing concern.
“This... ‘Anomaly’ has rendered the patient’s cells unstable: the aging level they gain in a normal subject in one day it takes a mere hour for him, maybe less. I can do nothing for him aside monitoring his vitals and administering what drugs I can to slow the effect. But nothing I can try will work for long. His only hope is to reverse the peculiar process started by this anomaly.”
Patrick inspired deeply as the holomed continued administering its usual ranting about the ungrateful sentient beings never happy with diagnosis and underlining the fact that he hadn’t been programmed to be nice, etc. etc.. But only to do his work in the best way possible.
He wasn’t listening anymore.
“We can bring you to SB900.” She said after a while “Medical help there will be better...” Offering what seemed the most logical solution.
“No... No.” Patrick stopped her slowly shaking his head while furrowing his bushy white brows. He raised his eyes to meet hers “We will never make it in time and you know that. The only hope I have is to make the machinery on the station work again and reverse the effect of that experiment.”
“What if it doesn’t work? What will you do? You’re going to die.” Faye answered biting his lip. A thing that didn’t escape Patrick giving a brief glimpse of the girl behind the austere ‘Ship captain’s facade’
“We are all dying. It’s our nature,” He replied calmly “At the moment I’m just being more efficient at it.” He ended in a pale attempt to irony. His words lingered in the air, though, the silence becoming thick.
For long moments she paced back and forth as if debating herself, then she heaved a sigh “So be it. I’ll give you my best technicians from engineering to repair and help you with the Ialnalyn apparel down on the station...”
“No need. Repair will be sufficient but all the operations we will do from remote control from here. No one but me has to be exposed to the subspace anomaly when it will present itself again. I can be teleported right inside of it as it will engulf the station. I’ll be the only one risking.”
“Agreed.” She replied crossing her arms “Now before I’ll let you to your work I would like to know something about you, do you have a name?... perhaps?”
Patrick sighed as the moment he feared had come. What could have he said? Recent regulations coming directly from Admiral Wegener forbid him to diffuse the knowledge about the existence of alternate universes. Moreover, under no circumstances, he could come to tell the whole truth to the woman before him.
“My… My name is Francis.” He stated only partially lying “And I’m sorry but I think I’ve forgotten anything about or before the incident.” and this time the lie was complete.
Faye nodded, not without a hint of disappointment.
“I would have hoped for something more. But I think I cannot get that squeamish in front of the whole situation.”
“Shock could have temporarily inhibited the memory section of his brain.” The holomed intervened helping him unexpectedly “Perhaps any detail can come back in the following hours.”
“Well." Faye responded "In any case there is no time to lose. A way to restore you to health has to be found quickly and also we have to be away from this sector as soon as possible.”
***********************
Patrick F. Leroy
SB900 CSO Abroad
