Humans. Everyone thinks they're indestructible. But most don't see what I've seen. Like the ones here in this hospital recovering. Sure they saved their crews, but their bodies need a lot of repair, and rest. -- Anon Guest
The warning had gone out years ago, that Humans die slowly. When something causes their demise, it is either swift and messy - or clean, slow, and agonising. When the human is too hurt to complain about the pain, they're really in danger.
The good news was that the Alliance had learned how to save their Humans from their mishaps.
Which lead to the next difficult lesson. Humans healed in the same way they died. More or less. Surgical intervention was the messy part, and healing afterwards was slow and painful. Some could walk -or hobble- out of Medical with exterior re-inforcements on a limb and an optional mobility aid. For those lucky few, the healing was a period of convalescence and inconvenience. For others...
Human Zor floated in a tank of fluid. There was a tube that fed them essential nutrition. There was a tube by which they breathed. There were intravenous tubes and waste management tubes that took care of essential biological functions. That was simply basic care. The actual medical intervention was invisible to the naked eye.
The Mediks, working with virtuality goggles and glove interfaces, were directing nanomachines to reconstruct Zor's shattered skeleton. Zor was safely anesthetised during the process, which was going to take days.
Companion Thrask waited out of the way, working on their personal sanity project in order to keep their anxiety at bay. It was work that ze had memorised and could let hir hands to the work while the rest of hir waited patiently for some form of news. Guilt kept hir there, and anxiety kept hir making little, colourful squares that could be turned into other objects once sewn together.
The Mediks exchanged shifts and information twice before the Therapist sat beside Thrask.
"You've been awake since you arrived, at least," said the Therapist. "How long have you been awake before your arrival at the station?"
Thrask looked into infinity, seeing nothing. "Since the mishap. Since they threw me out of the path of the rockslide and--" Thrask shuddered. "They went under. A million pebbles, they said. When it all stopped, I rushed after their tracker to dig them out. There was so much blood and bits were bent wrong..."
"It's natural to think that such events are your fault," said the Therapist.
"But it is. I'm the fool who wanted a sample when I was already warned the area was unstable. The last thing they said was... Look out, ye numpty. I'm a numpty. I got our Human smashed."
"You also got them out of danger," said the Therapist. "You called for the ships' Emergency Response Team while you excavated your friend. It's that quick action that got Zor put into medical stasis before they could enter a state of shock. You saved their life."
"Only fair," said Thrask. "I put it in danger in the first place."
[Photo by Patti Black on Unsplash]
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