Lana opened the door to the medical bay and found Dan standing on the far side. "Dan, good to see you. Coming for an evening visit?"
"Yeah, I was hoping to," Dan said.
"I am sorry, we've wore your friend out today. She's already asleep."
"You did?"
"It was a very productive day. We replaced most of her fingers with artificial digits."
"Ahh, the clackers," Dan said. "Or crackers."
Lana smiled at the shared joke. "Yes, the clackers. Like the eye spider, the process itself is not so bad. But it takes time to fine tune the nerve interface, especially when you are dealing with extremities. I offered to give her breaks, let her nap, but she wouldn't hear of it. She's driven to be ready before the press conference." The press conference was still a couple days away. Cheyenne would be, mother willing, able to leave the tank for a short time to attend. She was the hero being honored after all.
"She's not pushing herself too hard," Dan said, sounding worried.
"We are monitoring her life signs closely," Lana assured him. "Today was hard, but mostly mentally. She's not had any naps. Now she will hopefully sleep soundly."
"Has she been sleeping okay?"
"Since the eyes, yes. It's really help with her confusion and isolation. She can bring herself to the edge of the tank and check the clock or just get a visual of what's going on in the room, and that helps ground her in reality. Janda is with her now, if you want to go in. I thought now might be a good time to take a short break, see my own quarters for a change."
"I won't disturb her," Dan said. "I'll just pop in and tell Janda to let her know I came by. She can contact me if she wakes and wants company."
Lana nodded and left Dan to deliver his message. The guest quarters and general staff quarters were bustling with people. Many of the faces were unfamiliar and it was disconcerting for her. She knew, intellectually, that they had taken on a crew of patients as large as their own. But Lana had spent the lions share of the last five days in her own medi-bay. This was her first real experience of being among the earthsiders.
The hall allotted to senior healers was mostly single occupancy and they had not been commandeered. It was silent. Her own quarters were dark and had the feel of an abandoned place. Lana shook her head. Was it ever so different? She'd always devoted most of her time to work. When not treating patients, she consulted with other healers on their cases or spent time studying the data banks for new information or interesting case studies.
Her room was small, a kitchenette, a single bunk and a table. It had two great luxuries, a private shower and a porthole window. She stripped and climbed into the shower, letting the warm water flow over her.
When she finished and redressed, she found a prepared lunch tray that had not expired, she would have to clean out the fridge soon, and poured a glass of water from the sink.
As she sat at the table, she watched the planet in her port hole window. Why had she come here? As the thought hit her, she wondered why she had never asked herself that before. Most of the others were cognizant of why they had joined the expedition and they talked about it.
Kavinda was an experienced master healer. Yet in the core it would be another ten years or more before he could expect to assume command of a vessel this size.
Janda wanted adventure, pure and simple. "To treat routine cases from graduation to retirement?" he had said in his interview to be her apprentice, "No thank you, Ma'am."
Martus didn't get along with his family on Gallius Prime. He wanted a galaxy's worth of distance. Kavi's family lived on Shin station. It was coming here and she came because of them.
What about Lana? Her family was kind and loving. No big drama or issues to escape. And yet they weren't close either, at least Lana wasn't close to any of them. She had distinguished herself and earned the rank of master healer long ago. She was not given routine cases. She desired no command or political advancement.
Since her early teens, she had been obsessed with becoming a master healer. She had immersed herself into her studies, rarely going out or partying. She'd dated, a couple of guys and a couple of women, but never really clicked with anyone.
She sighed. Maybe that was her answer. She came to this new galaxy, this new planet, because she had nothing holding her to the old one. It wasn't the best reason, maybe, but it wasn't the worst either.
Her meal finished, she lay on her bunk. She ordered the lights down. She spent a long time staring across the room at the dark wall. Her eyes had grown accustom to the pale glow of the medi-tank right about there, and to the woman who floated inside. She found she missed both. She wasn't sure when she finally managed to close her eyes and sleep.
#####
Captain Lannister looked around at his assembled men. It was the first general assembly he had called since the first day. Most of the men and even a large percentage of the women had shaved their heads. Those women who hadn't, had patches of hair missing. A few had rashes or areas covered over in black dressings.
Despite this they looked, to Lannister's eye, better. They stood at attention with stronger postures. Their eyes were bright, their salutes firm. Proof of the Consortium's vastly superior medical technology was apparent; Fox and his skeletal arm. Johnson had snapped his neck falling down a flight of stairs in the blast. They had built a bridge over the damaged bone, used nano bots to bridge the nerve damage. Instead of being confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life, he stood at attention with the rest of his men. Ensign Kismet was even able to be out of the tank for short periods, though he had so much black patching the others had nicknamed him "mummy."
He returned their salutes and called at ease. "We've survived five days now and it looks like a lot of you are starting to feel better. That's good news. But we've still got a long time to go before we are done. I have three things I want to go over with you. Good news, even. Your Commander in Chief wants to congratulate all of you. You will be seeing a message from him in a little bit. Some of you, he will congratulate in person. The ship will be hosting a holo-projected press conference in just a couple days, to mark the one week anniversary of the attack. A select few of the crew will be there, including Ms. Cheyenne Walker."
There was a stunned silence.
"Her healers tell me she will be ready, that she will able to be out of the tank for a short while at least."
This was greeted with a sudden cheer.
"I've more good news for you," Lannister said when the cheer died down. "As you know, we can't dock until the quarantine period is over. But that doesn't mean they can't send a cargo pod with new supplies to us. The ship will be receiving a pod tomorrow, with some medical supplies and some food stuff. Captain Dowlings has informed me that there will be extra space on that pod and the Consortium would like to offer each of you a small reward for the heroism you showed. They emphasize that this reward is not full repayment of the debt they owe you all, and Captain Dowlings emphasized that it will be small.
"Some of you have slates. Those people will find a new package icon. That will bring up a catalog of possible things. Each crew member can select one and it will be shipped with the pod."
"Sir? What sort of stuff are they offering?" one of his officer asked. He knew, but it was for the benefit of regular sailors who hadn't been privy to the planning.
"Just a little something to help pass the time while you are stuck here," Lannister said. "Personalized clothing, treats or other snacks, for those who have slates, they will have a wide array of data cubes available with educational or entertainment content."
There was another cheer.
"One more announcement, as of next week I am putting most of you back on duty."
"Huh?" a voice echoed through the now silent room.
Lannister gave a rueful laugh. "Though I admit, I am not quite sure what that duty will entail. But the officers and I have agreed, five more weeks of sitting in your quarters twiddling your thumbs will be enough to drive anyone mad. So here's the deal, for those well enough we can use this bay for physical exercise. The rest of you, I am open to suggestions. Is there a skill you can teach? An activity you want to learn or practice? Let your immediate superiors know. We will be firming up classes by the end of the week and starting them next week. Understood?"
"Sir, yes, sir," the men responded.
Lannister saluted and then called for dismissal.