Doctor in the House

[a_mere_child]

[immediately following this]

The door opens onto a dark corridor. It's not a corridor that's supposed to be dark, but the overhead fluorescent lights aren't working just now. The walls and carpet are old, but surprisingly clean. There's an odd hitch in one's center of gravity as one walks through; the floor at Milliways is level, but here the

Comments

[stealth_bandage]

Arcade ducks into the corridor, carefully glancing this way and that before straightening up. "Thanks for the warning," he says. "This doesn't look too bad so far."

[a_mere_child]

"Most of the injuries came from poorly-secured furnishings and equipment banging around," says Alyx. "The guys who built this boat weren't exactly noted for workplace safety."

[stealth_bandage]

"So bruises, lacerations, broken bones, that kind of thing?" says Arcade. "I can handle that. Just don't ask me to be particularly reassuring or warm, I'm not very good at it."

[a_mere_child]

"There's a few people with more severe trauma, but they're stabilized. Mostly."

One short trip down a narrow, winding staircase later, they reach a room where the lights are working--the Borealis mess hall, which has been repurposed as a makeshift infirmary. There are so many people lying on the floor that not a glimpse of the linoleum can be seen.

[stealth_bandage]

Arcade looks over the scene and bites his bottom lip a moment. Then he squares his shoulders and says, "Nothing I haven't seen half a dozen times over in some of the desert communities. Who's doing triage, or have you not been able to sort them out yet?"

[a_mere_child]

"Arnold and Diane are taking care of it," says Alyx. "The really bad cases are in the infirmary proper, two floors down. That's where they're most likely to be."

[stealth_bandage]

"Mm." Arcade taps one forefinger against his chin. "In that case I suppose the next question I should ask should be: where do you want me to go that'll attract the fewest questions? And if anyone asks where I'm from, is 'out west' an acceptable answer?"

[a_mere_child]

"Here would be better, I think," says Alyx. "And unless 'out west' would mean the west coast of Australia, then no."

[stealth_bandage]

"All right, fair enough. 'Nowhere you'd have heard of' is an accurate enough answer anyway," says Arcade, and starts rolling up his sleeves. "Anything else off limits before I make actual contact?"

[a_mere_child]

"Try not to let on that you've had sex earlier than seven months ago," says Alyx. "The Combine had an energy field over the entire planet to keep humans from breeding. We took it down about a week before I got pregnant."

[stealth_bandage]

Arcade opens his mouth, considers this, then nods. "Fair enough," he says. "Although how they worked that out, exactly, I both want to know and never ever want to find out."

[a_mere_child]

"You're far from alone in that," replies Alyx. "D'you need anything else or should I just get out of your way?"

[stealth_bandage]

"I think I should be all right from here," Arcade says, and raises his voice. "First person to get an appendage in the air gets medical examination and care from a qualified complete stranger."

It's not the kind of thing anybody was expecting to hear, so the hands are slow to go up. Arcade kind of figured it would be a viable way of picking somebody desperate enough to accept help without questioning too much. He sets off for the patient in question, a middle-aged man of swarthy complexion and an uncomfortable look on his face.

[smelltheashes]

"My leg," the man mutters, sounding pained. "They said it wasn't broken, but..."

[stealth_bandage]

"That kind of thing can be tricky," Arcade assures him, moving forward. "Let's have a look. Can you tell me exactly what happened? Impact, torsion, bending in the wrong direction, something along those lines?"

[smelltheashes]

"I got pinned under a filing cabinet." He carefully tugs his pant leg up to reveal a badly bruised and swollen shin and ankle. "I could barely feel my ankle for a while. Now it just hurts to move it."