Day 55: Male Showers [4th Shift]

[zack_fair]

Having to be around food that he couldn't eat hadn't been nearly as bad as it could have been considering what that food was, and so Zack felt fairly decent as he left the cafeteria and headed through the Sun Room into the showers. Actually, it was his feet that were bothering him more than his stomach. He hadn't been allowed to sit down all day (

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[hes_deadjim]

The next shift couldn't come soon enough. Being on his knees that long on a hard floor hadn't done him any good either. His knees ached after awhile and, embarrassingly enough, when he got to his feet, he was pretty sure a joint had cracked softly in protest. He only hoped no one else heard it.

McCoy had passed on the lunch. He wasn't feel hungry at the moment. He was far more concerned about what had just happened. It seemed like the punishment had worked. He could spot a few resentful glares cast at the people responsible and far more sullen faces in the cafeteria, and not a single piece of food thrown.

He wondered how long that would last. He stripped off and stepped under a shower head.

There was going to be trouble if one person's actions made the entire group responsible. Maybe this lesson would get through, but then again, it only took another slip up and they all paid. Or someone who got it into their head to do something like that again for fun just because of that. They could try to keep their heads down, but that might not even make that much of a difference. He could see this fragile system played and abused. That was if the soldiers didn't take offense at the slightest mishap. McCoy had no desire to repeat the same exercise, and frankly, he didn't want to see Jim get both sedated and nearly concussed again like that.

[free]

[stlg13bomber]

Carter was left pondering philosophical conundrums as he undressed for the showers. Miss Aigis seemed very human indeed, even if she was mostly (or previously mostly) a robot. On the other hand, the guards here seemed positively like robots. So what made a human? Could you be human with a brain of metal and plastics?

It was making his head hurt. Hopefully a shower would help out. Carter rubbed his chemical-scarred hands together nervously and asked one of the guards if anything had changed or if they could just shower normally. Gas with your clothes on was bad enough, but naked would just be humiliating.

He received only a military sigh, an eyeroll, and a 'you're fine'. Carter scuttled into the shower and took up the nearest empty slot, running his hands through his wet, thinning hair. "We're fine," he reported to the man next to him. "They haven't changed shower procedures at all." The water began to heat up above him, soothing the goosebumps on his skin. "And it's even still warm!"

[hes_deadjim]

"Carter," it took a second for his name to come to mind, but he certainly remembered the man's enthusiasm for space, the great unknown, and the disconcerting love for explosives and taking out the enemy, something he didn't exactly approve of. Carter had said just what he'd been thinking. He'd almost expected it to be cold, if not to continue that lesson they were pushing on the entire patient body. "It makes sense though. We're more trouble to them if we all start coming down with something."

McCoy rinsed the shampoo from his hair and finally took a look at the man. That was when he caught a glimpse of the man's hands.

"What the devil happened to your hands?"

[stlg13bomber]

"Huh?" The right one had been broken, sure, but that hadn't left so much as a scratch. Carter washed the soap off his hands, having to stare intently at them with pursed lips before he realized what McCoy was talking about.

"Oh!" He held one out to the space-traveler. "They don't hurt or nothing. It's chemical burns, from working with acids and explosives and stuff. I guess when we first met I was still trying to hide it. Back at the old prison camp I just wore gloves all the time so nobody would ask awkward questions." Klink wasn't that observant and Schultz was oblivious by design but there was always the chance that some visiting official might wonder why a man who'd been imprisoned for six months had burns only a few days old.

[hes_deadjim]

McCoy leaned over despite himself and inspected his hands. He was right, because those were chemical burns if he'd ever seen one. Usually they got treated very quickly, because working through it was both dangerous and painful.

At least they didn't look too recent. The doctor frowned and leaned back.

"You weren't wearing any protection were you?" he asked disapprovingly. Even if it was a prison camp, if he'd managed to secure components for explosives, it should have been just as easy to get a hold of gloves or something. Aside from the ones he used to hide that he'd been burned. "Back where I come from, we could have still healed that old scarring."

[stlg13bomber]

"Oh, I know! These guys healed me up in three days and that was a full-on broken hand." Carter twisted his right wrist and then flexed his fingers, still finding a small joy in the ability to move them again. "I guess they didn't want to bother with anything as small as these. They don't keep me from doing anything important."

After all, Miss Aigis had seen his hands and she didn't have any problems with--wait, where was he going with this? She was a robot. Of course she didn't care. Besides, robots probably liked big metal guys with wires and steel arms and...hrm.

Carter wrinkled his brow in confusion. Did robots even like humans?