13 // video // everybody to your panic stations

[40410]

[ Less than twenty minutes ago, Lamb's room appeared uneventfully over the network. Now it appears again, with a frantic face in front of the monitor. ]

Doctor. We need a doctor in here!

[ Alex's face is sort of sallow and pinched, slightly-raised red blotches climbing up his throat and jaw. The doctor's not for him, though. He keeps glancing

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[tiancai_doctor]

What room and floor?

[40410]

[ A sharp, relieved intake of breath. ]

Nine. Room nine. Seventh floor.

[tiancai_doctor]

I'm on my way.

[Simon grabs his bag and hurries upstairs. He doesn't bother knocking when he gets there--as long as the door is unlocked, he just walks in.]

[40410]

[ It's most definitely unlocked, and will stay unlocked until the lock stops being smashed.

When Simon arrives, he'll see Sofia Lamb seated on her bed, back to the wall, hollow-eyed, barely breathing, motionless. She could be a corpse if not for the faint, occasional movement of her chest. There's an empty syringe on the floor, some distance away - it was kicked there.

Alex is standing beside her like a guard dog, his eyes on her face. He whips around as he hears the door open, fist raised, then realises that it's the doctor who's arrived and lowers it, breathing shakily. ]

[tiancai_doctor]

[Simon takes in the scene as he's crossing the room, sets his bag on the bed and opens it. He begins to examine her, checking her pulse, seeing if her eyes will focus, and so on. Doctory things.]

Do you know what happened?

[echo_of_utopia]

[ From one doctor's narration to another? Uh oh.

What you will notice first of all is that she's severely dehydrated.

As for the whole pulse and eye thing, well, let's see... pulse probably rapid and weak, pupils probably dilated and showing no reaction, same with the lack of reflexes and general unresponsiveness.

Long story short? She's not doing anything other than breathing anytime soon. ]

[40410]

I don't know. I just found her. I...

[ His eyes go to the syringe on the floor. (Not for the first time. He has no idea what was in it, of course, but just the shape of it makes him... weirdly jealous.)

He points to it, then his hand goes to his arm, the fingernails digging in. ]

That was next to the bed. [ He doesn't have the patience to wait until Simon's done examining her before he adds, his voice strained: ] She's gonna be okay, right?

[tiancai_doctor]

[Simon had already seen the syringe, but he spares it another glance, noting Alex's movements as well. Then his attention is back on Dr. Lamb.]

That's hard to say. It would be best to move her to my clinic.

[40410]

Then--

[ He realises he's looking at the syringe again, and drags his attention back to the room, fingernails raking his arm - that is not what's important right now, that is not what he will focus on and that is not how he will act in front of the doctor. It's not. ]

Then let's move her.

[tiancai_doctor]

[Simon crosses to the closet and pulls out a simple stretcher. He brings it back over to the bed and quickly has Alex help him get Lamb on it.]

Can you help me carry her?

[Because he's noticed Alex's behavior but doesn't know what exactly he's on.]

[40410]

[ Technically he's not on anything right now, though a lot of him wishes he was. "Harshly strung-out" would be a pretty good description. ]

Yeah. [ Alex doesn't need asking twice - he was already installing himself at one end of the stretcher. ]

[THIS IS A MAD SCIENTIST THREADJACK, EVERYBODY CALM DOWN!]

[angel_junk]

[ Doctor Bhamba arrives fashionably late and strolls into the room, not exactly in 'emergency situation' mode. When he takes in the scene he raises his eyebrows in surprise. ]

So she is real. Interesting.

[tiancai_doctor]

[Simon glances up, but chooses not to address that right now, nodding to Alex to lift the stretcher.]

[angel_junk]

Doctor Bhamba.

[ He introduces himself to Dr. Tam with a small nod and steps aside to let them pass... and to get a better look at Lamb. ]

Did you figure out what happened?

[ Still addressing the other doctor, because Alex has quite obviously not been very helpful on the subject. ]

[tiancai_doctor]

[Well, it doesn't do to be impolite.] Doctor Simon Tam.

I won't know until I can do a more thorough examination.

[40410]

[ Alex braces his shoulders and lifts his end of the stretcher, carefully, trying not to jostle Sofia. He startled at Bhamba's entrance - seems to startle at a lot lately, can't seem to settle - but he was still too focused on not focusing on ADAM, still a little bit too spaced to respond to what he actually said. ]

...Thought you weren't coming.

[ Well, you did take your sweet time about it. ]