Mission of Mercy (poetlore and dunruffle)

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Natalya blinked experimentally, "it feels much better. I will report any discomfort as a lack of attention on your part." She glared at harrison but turned to Cassandra and gave her a conspiratorial wink that harrison could not see. Getting up she straightened her uniform and gave a curt nod to Cassandra and Harrison. "Your treatment will be recorded and logged for future reference." With that she turned on her heel and marched out of the clinic.
 
Harrison glared back, "You won't have any," he said and turned and walked away.

Cassandra just grinned but then when they walked out she was straight faced and serious, "Have a good day Captain," she said as Natalya walked out with a few minutes of her two hours to spare. Looking around at everyone else she whooshed a hand, "Dinner everyone," she said, "We have a lengthy procedure after dinner, so eat up and refuel properly," She said looking at Graves in particular, "No burger and fries tonight. Something substantial." She said pointing a finger at him.

Graves gave her a thumbs up and strolled out of the hospital wing. Never had to tell him twice to take a break, no siree.

Harrison gave her a hard look, "You go eat," he said, "I'll hold down the fort here."

Cassandra shrugged, "I'll grab us both to go boxes and come back with it, that way I can keep looking over those notes and you won't have to eat alone."

Harrison rolled his eyes at her, but knew he wasn't going to change her mind, "Steak if they have it and sweet potatoes. If not a regular baked potato will suffice."
 
A message popped up on a terminal from Kirst. "Sorry doc but the saints are on a training exercise. Cannot join you for dinner." Suddenly doctor pearson walked through the door to the clinic. "Oh hello Doctor Brandford! I was on my way to dinner and wanted to see if you had settled in properly. I heard you got a visit from the demon captain." He shivered, "she creeps me out. You never can tell what is going on in her head."
 
Cassandra smiled at the message from Kirst. How thoughtful of him to think of her. She'd ahve to make sure to let them know when she wouldn't be able to go up as well. She glanced up from the screen to see Doctor Pearson, "Well hello," she said standing to greet him. "I've had more than one visit from the Captain," she said with a smile, "So far she and I are getting along wonderfully." She knew that would probably make his mind do mental gymnastics, and she let him. She had no intention of outing Natalya's dual fronts.

"The rest of my team are already at dinner," she said, "I was just about to head that way myself to grab food for Harrison and myself," she said as she started for the door, "Would you mind some company along the walk?' she asked.

Once on the tram she smiled, "And to answer your earlier question," she said, "I am settled in and have already performed a few procedures and am working with Doctor Sechen on another after dinner tonight." She was actually excited about this imperfecta patient. "How goes the portable plasma gun?"
 
Pearson smiled and sat down on the tram as it departed. "Well that sounds good. We are actually taking the plasma gun out to the firing range tomorrow. Would you like to join us? It is quite fun...and safe I add. We have only had five deaths in the past year and only a few dismemberments. But thats what the locals are for. Plus they practically line up to try out the new toys."
 
Cassandra lifted a brow, "OH?' she asked surprised he'd gotten it done after all that hemming and hawing in the director's office. And then he destroyed her moderate opinion of him with one single sentence, 'that's what the locals are for'. She somehow managed to keep from punching him in the face, but it was a close thing.

"I would be delighted to join you," she said because NOW she wanted a chance to get inside his operations area and scan his data. "I have been meaning to get to the shooting range anyway, to practice a bit in case I am called upon to go into the field again."

She glanced over at him and tipped her head, "Do you happen to know anything about the locals suffering from something called rotlung? Or about bad air?" she had a feeling he did, and hopefully he'd tell her.
 
Pearson frowned and stroked his chin, "hrmm..I have heard a few people talking about rotlung...no idea what it really is besides its some kind of disease. As for bad air, I am not so sure. Bad air could be a variety of things, poisonous gasses from underground, some unknown bacteria, the list goes on. There are the fumes from the various disposal areas and such. But that is all vented up to the surface. Sorry if I could not be of any help." Soon the tram arrived at the cafeteria and Pearson hopped in the elevator with Cassandra. At the top, pearson grabbed a tray and rusged off to get in the ordering line.
 
Cassandra listened and actually recorded the conversation, so she could write all of that down later. "Thank you for trying," she said, "I will have to ask around. I had a guard come in coughing up blood. I think it can be prevented though."

She got out of the tram and rode the elevator up to cafeteria, and went to get into the take out line. She asked if they had steak and sweet potatoes and was delighted to find that they did. She ordered two and added broccoli to the orders. She went over to the condiments area and grabbed a few packs of steak sauce (Just in case), butter, brown sugar and honey. She grabbed a few sets of utensils and then went to lean down to Point before she left, "The guys are not going to be here tonight," She whispered, "Kirst messaged me to let me know."

She took the food back to the hospital wing and set the bag down in front of Harrison, "You were in luck.."
 
The door to the clinic opened and the nurse from sechen's lab pushed Ray otranto in on a wheelchair. "Hello Doctor Brandford. My name is Clara, I am Ray's caretaker. Thank you so much for helping." Ray looked up and smiled, "they have been saying you are one of the best doctors around. Thank you for taking on this procedure."
 
Cassandra looked up when the doors slid open. She set her nearly finished food aside and stood to greet them with a genuine smile. "Hello Clara," she said and then smiled at Ray, "Mr. Otranto, I am delighted to perform this procedure. I am blessed to have a very highly trained and skilled team to support me, so you are in good hands. Shall we begin then?" she asked.

She had Clara wheel him back to the operating bay where they had the table in a standing position. "Can you stand, Mr. Otranto?' she asked, "We can hold you to the table with a force filed if you can stand up in front of it. I have no desire to hurt you before we begin."
 
Ray stood up and gingerly walked over to stand in front of the table. The nurse watched from outside the bay and anxiously wrung her hands together. "Are you sure the force field is not going to hurt him, he is very delicate..."
 
Cassandra smiled at ray and then over at Clara, "I am sure," she said confidently, "I could not be as certain had we been forced to lift him onto the table." She pressed the button and initiated the force field. Once it was engaged the table began to slowly lower Ray until he was completely flat on his back. "Still doing ok Ray?" she asked and when he nodded she nodded back, "Very well then, " she said, "Time to go to sleep." She lowered the operating dome over him and Harrison injected him with a sedative and then proceeded to monitor the sedation levels manually after that.

Point brought the artificial marrow to her and placed it inside the dome in the air seal and then closed the outer door. Cassandra then spent the next three hours extracting the defective bone marrow and then implanting the artificial tissue in its place. It was a long and tedious process and it was made even more difficult by ray's fragile calcified layer, but she took her time and was finally finished with the last of the implanted tissue. She withdrew her hands and Harrison nodded, "Stable."

She brushed her arm over her forehead and wiped the swear from her brow. She moved out and went to Clara, "He's stable, but needs to stay sedated for a bit longer before we wake him. Everything went as planned, now it just remains to be seen how his body responds to the new marrow. Does he have any family we should notify?" she asked.
 
Clara shrugged, "he has an ex-wife but other than that he has no other family. He actually did quite well for himself on his own. He is a chemical engineer, he was on the team that developed the new synthetic lubricants for prosthetics. He is an amazing man." She looked at ray and smiled, obviously infatuated with him. "His bitch of a ex-wife only was with him for the money. But he quickly found out and got rid of her." She huffed but turned to Cassandra. "Thank you so much for everything."
 
Cassandra nodded, "Well then," she said, "There's an extra set of quarters here if you'd like to stay close. He's going to be out for a few hours and then on a lot of pain medication while the new tissue works its magic. I'm sure you know it's going to be rather painful."

She looked over at Ray, "I'm very glad I chose him then," she said, "We use those lubricants all the time." She smiled and then went to the center console and typed in a bunch of notes, and forwarded the video of the procedure to Doctor Sechen, along with her personal notes, as to the ease of use, and the initial success.
 
Clara nodded and smiled, Thank you so much doctor brandford. You have given ray a new lease on life. Now I am going to rest as I have been helping prepare ray all day." She waved and wandered off to the guest room and promptly fell alseep, snoring loudly.
 
Cassandra finished her dinner, though ti was cold and not a tasty as it had been, but she needed the food. Luckily she'd snapped up a few of those pudding cups too. Every fifteen minutes she checked on Ray and scanned him and made notes. She had decided that Doctor Sechen was thorough, so she would be too, for the purpose of helping him further his research and improve his acceptance rate. And she really wanted this particular creation to be successful.

By morning They had allowed Ray to regain consciousness and were allowing him to eat. He was moved carefully from the operating room to a recovery room where he could be less confined. Cassandra could scan from anywhere so he didn't have to stay in the dome. "How do you feel?' she asked him when he was fully awake.
 
Ray shrugged and sat down in a chair. "Honestly? I feel sore all over. Like someone beat me with a bat. Is that normal?" Clara walked in and put a hand on ray's shoulder. "That is probably the new calcium layers growing over your bones. Right doctor brandford? I only know the basics of the treatment..."
 
Cassandra smiled, "This is not a painless procedure, as I'm sure you were warned. The regrowth of that hard outer surface of your bones it's pain free. Still, once that layer gets stronger, you'll be able to have normal function without fear of breaks or other serious injury." She smiled at Clara, "I replaced the marrow in all the largest bones, but that is where most of the DNA signals come from. If Doctor Sechen's research is correct, those tissues should overwrite your genetic code and all your bones will grow thicker layers of calcium and be cured of the Impefecta. I'm going to keep you here for a while, so I can safely administer the extra calcium you'll need as well as chronicle your progress. I'm sure you can recognize the importance of documenting this throughout the entire process for other patients like yourself."

She glanced from one to the other and she could see that they had a mutual admiration society going on, though she wondered if either had let the other in on that fact. "Is there anything we can get you?" she asked, "Something that might help you pass the time? Clara tells me you are to thank for the wonderful lubricants we use for our prosthesis. You could work from here, if you had your computer mobile unit. I just don't want you moving around too much yet. And let me know if the pain becomes worse. I can help with that."
 
Ray smiled and waved his hand, "no need for a terminal. I finished my work long ago, the patent is what gave me enough funds to keep myself alive this long. The only thing I would ask is if I could have my books. I am almost through the second book in the series."
 
Cassandra smiled, "Of course you can," she said and the looked at Clara, "I would assume you know where to find those," she said, "Any personal items you'd care to bring in here will be fine. You will be here for a while." She had no idea how long, but it would be until she was satisfied with the calcium layer's thickness and strength.

She left them then, having scanned him thoroughly with her eyes. She went back to the terminal and downloaded the scan images and made notes. She was sending Doctor Sechen hourly reports with detailed notes. She didn't feel it necessary to do them more frequently than that. She was sure if it was, he'd send her a message about it.
 
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