<FWG> <Meridian> Karma's Payment, Part 1. (Zach Auron)
- From: Jason Ziredac <ziredac@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: fwgalaxy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 18:21:16 -0800 (PST)
Karma's Payment
by Zach Auron
Shawna Kenton
&
Jack Leirone
1.
Under the bed. In the third drawer. With the flowers. Over the lights.
And repeat.
Under the bed. In the third drawer. With the flowers. Over the lights.
One more time. Be sure, Auron.
Under the bed. In the third drawer. With the flowers. Over the lights.
Good. Now he just needed someone who didn?t hate him to actually go and do
it. Actually go and do Zach Auron a favor. The list of candidates on the
Meridian was a short one, but surely there would be someone he could even pay
off somehow. How could he get leverage on a person if no one would speak more
than three words to him other than ship business?
Nurse Malloy silently brushed past him on her way to the hand-sanitizer and
she smelled of odium for him. No eye-contact required. She stuck her hands
under that blue light that whisked away all infection and bacteria, washing
away the sick and replacing with the sterile. Exactly the thing his body was
doing now, now that the?now that?it was out of his system almost completely.
He had slept last night, in his office of course, but the proof of slumber
was enough for him. It was one of those quick dozes, the moment when you look
at the clock, blink, and it?s six hours later than it was. Not that his body
felt all that refreshed. Holodeck Three had been his bathroom every morning
from five a.m. to six a.m., and it was there that he had to reconfigure the
damn thing into a replicator so he could have fresh clothes.
The work Zach had been doing was affected over the weeks he was steering
clear of his quarters. Just last week he was doing a minor operation on an
engineer?s elbow and he forgot what he was doing. Forgot. Who forgets what
they?re doing when the have a patient on their table? It wasn?t long before
someone else took his idle scalpel away and told him to get some rest.
Still, he was at the top of the Everybody?s Most Hated list. Nothing he
seemed to do could improve anyone?s decision that Zachary Orpheus Auron was
nothing but a worthless sociopath who took his own comfort before someone?s
necessity. Hadn?t they seen that he was trying to improve it? Hadn?t they seen
that every single ?thank you? that came from his lips made his teeth chatter
less each time? The only thing that knew his personal evolution other than
himself was The Drug.
?Nurse Malloy,? he said, trying to sound as kind as possible, which was
outwardly seething.
Obligation ordered her to respond, ?Yes, doctor??
?Can I get you to do me a personal favor??
?No, sir.?
?It would mean a lot to me,? he pleaded. ?I?ll even repay you somehow.?
?You don?t think anything means a lot to anyone except yourself, Doctor, and
I don?t mind a day in the brig for saying so.? She reached into a supply closet
and yanked out a crate, beginning to hurriedly sort through it, perhaps hoping
that this one task would get done before Dr. Auron called Security to take an
insubordinate into custody. But all she heard was a shy shuffle and a sigh, and
this surprised her.
?I, uh?? he searched the ceiling for words and understandably found none. ?I
know why you would say that, but I just need??
?Get someone else to do it,? Malloy retorted sharply, now that she was
confident a casual chat with the captain wouldn?t follow. ?I?m busy.?
?You don?t have to do it right now. You can do it later??
?Get someone else to do it.? And her burning eyes hit his like a sniper?s
aim.
Zach sighed and rolled his eyes, a child?s signal of defeat, and he didn?t
watch as Malloy walked away. A wallowing chasm was now flagged in his heart of
hearts, and he knew that for the rest of his days he would be a marked man, one
of blackened thoughts and ill will. Forever seemed a long time for everyone to
think of him as an reprehensibly and consciously cruel goblin of a man. Was
there room for reconciliation with everyone he had ever given an ounce of
meanness to?
If there was, was it even worth a try?
The comlink system beeped and Zach was the only person in Medical to give a
dejected reply. He would have, if the panicked voice on the other end didn?t
start first. ?Oh God,? it said aside. ?Er, Medical, Medical, is anyone there?
Oh Lord, don?t move her! Don?t? Medical? This is Ensign Fyrsta from Science.
Medical!?
?Auron here, what?s the problem??
?Incoming?oh God, oh God?er, incoming patient, Doctor. We?re beaming a pat?
we?re beaming someone directly from the cargo hold??
?Stop blubbering, damn it, and get the patient here if it?s such an
emergency!? He shouted and ran to the beaming receptor. There was no response
to his order beside the shimmer of the beam and the materialization of a person
lying on their front with a three-foot metal rod sticking out of their back.
From the look of the blood that ran from the top of the rod to the person?s
shoulder blade, it looked like they impaled themselves on it.
And it looked like it had dead-on stuck her heart.
?How did this happen?? he inquired, hastily preparing a biobed. A couple
nurses were already dutifully preparing the young woman to be moved.
Fyrsta in the cargo hold responded, still breathless and sounding like she
was about to cry. ?We were unloading the tanks of salicin that came in this
morning and they were all individually held in place by four of those metal
rods. She was?she climbed up onto another crate to see if there was room behind
it for the empty container when she slipped? We cut the rod from the rest of
the holding structure but didn?t move her otherwise? Is she?is she still a??
?That will be enough, Ms. Fyrsta,? Zach cut in. ?Yes, she?s still showing
vital signs.?
They moved the girl, still with her back up, to the operation table and Zach
was about ready to remove the obstruction and begin to patch?the patient?up.
?What?s her name, Fyrsta?? Zach called, miraculously baffled that this Ensign
was remaining so concernedly on the comlink. As if there wasn?t still an
apparent shipment left to un?No, Zach, think of the girl.
?That?s Lieutenant Kenton, Doctor. Shawna.?
And for the second?and last?time Zachary Orpheus Auron forgot what he was
doing. Not the young one, not the one with all the issues and a boyfriend from
four hundred years ago. Visible to him was only the back of her head, her
auburn hair looking freshly dead with the morbid thought that he and Fyrsta
might have been too late in saving her life. All whispered away to black around
her, and soon only she was in this void in his vision. Dreamily he saw her push
herself up and turn to look at him, pushing her lips off to the corner of her
face with a look of doubt.
?Honestly, Zach, I don?t think you?re going to save my life.?
?I could. I can?I will, just please, lie back down.?
?You?ve come all this way, running from (TO) the problems of your family, and
along the road you have picked up nothing, so it is not in your worth to
preserve me. You?re going to let me die.?
?No I won?t.?
?Doctor Auron??
In a blink Shawna Kenton was again unconscious, face down on the operation
table. One of the nurses?ashamedly he didn?t know the young man?s name?had his
hand on Zach?s elbow. ?Doctor Auron, are you ready to remove the rod??
Stammering out like a dying star, Zach said, ?More than ever.?
?Okay, Doctor.? And the young man smiled at him. Obviously new to the ship
and deaf to gossip, but he saw faith in this young man, faith in him. There was
going to be either a miracle or a tragedy here and it was going to happen in
the next fifteen minutes at a rapid pace more so than a deck of cards being
sprayed all over the room for some sucker to pick up. With the confidence fed
to him by this nurse, Zach looked at the rest of his crew (Malloy had joined)
and began.
?Get ready to seal the wound immediately.? With the grace of God he pulled.
The wound was sealed within minutes, no more blood, and Ms. Kenton would have
a scar on her chest for the rest of her life, but something was still wrong.
One of the vitals blinking and reaching from one end of that black screen to
the other was not the way it should have been. Her circulatory. Her heart.
Something didn?t go right with her heart. Surveying her heart in the midst of
failure, they found that part of it was not repaired properly with the laser
surgery and that they had to remove it and manually reconstruct her pulmonary
valve.
?Prepare a holographic replacement for her heart while I get the tools ready
to put hers back together.? He turned to the table next to him and did as he
said he was going to do until the young male nurse yet again grabbed his
attention. ?What is it??
?Zach, the structure of the tissue surrounding her heart is making it
impossible for the holographic projector to work.?
?What do you mean?? he asked, now panicked completely.
Calmly but quickly the nurse elaborated, ?The scarring of the surrounding
tissue is too fresh from the wound. Unfortunately the computer can?t comply
unless the heart has been surgically removed from an unmarred body.?
?So you?re saying she needs an actual heart.?
?Yes, we need a donor.?
?What?s her blood type??
The nurse sighed, worriedly. ?O negative.?
Zach nodded. That O stood for a big zero on compatibility. They needed
another O negative donor, and right smart. None of them had O negative. None
except?
?Take mine.?
?But?but Dr. Auron, who?ll continue the surgery??
?Who do you think will continue the surgery?? Now, he didn?t say that in a
vicious manner. Sarcasm, vehemence, none of it. Confidence. Trust. He put a
hand on the young man?s shoulder and nodded. ?I?m the only willing donor on
this deck, with all luck, who has O negative blood. You take mine or Ms. Kenton
doesn?t have a heart. Understood??
?Yes, Doctor.?
?Good,? Zach replied, reaching down and pulling his uniform shirt off. Sweat
had built up all over him, and it was visibly gleaming. Not since his first
practice surgery had he perspired to such copious amounts. ?Let?s, uh?heh,
let?s get going.?
After Zachary Orpheus Auron?s glorious donation, he somehow broke past the
anesthetics and had a blurry view of the other operation table. A holographic
heart was safely cradled in his chest. Before forced slumber took him again, he
caught a glimpse of the young male nurse handing Shawna?s repaired heart to the
other surgeon, and as the surgeon?s hand and the heart disappeared into
Shawna?s body he smiled and fell again into sleep.
---------------------------------
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