*** Sickbay * USS Chimera-C ***
"This will be a light anaesthetic. You'll feel generally
relaxed and
able to understand what's going on. Before we begin though,
is there
anything else you want to ask?"
It was the morning of Gustav's scheduled surgery and he,
Rangi and
Alexander Rice were in one of Chimera's surgical suites.
Gustav sat on
the edge of the bed. Above him the large overhead cluster
shone
brightly. Nearby were two med trolleys, one set out with
medical tools
and on the other lay what appeared to be an arm. It was
referred to as
an RPL...a Robotic Prosthetic Limb...and was remarkably
lifelike from
the 'skin' colour right down to little freckles. Rice had
explained in
detail how biosensors would detect signals from Gustav's
nervous and
muscular systems and
assured Gustav that the result would be good. Gustav should,
rice
said, be able to carry out most of his working requirements,
given a
little practice.
Looking the Dr Rice Gustav asked "will I be able to tinker
with the
arm… you know modify it after the surgery?"
"Tinker with it?" Rice looked aghast. " It will do
everything its
designed to do… there wont be need to 'tinker'" Rangi gave
rice a
'meaningful' look and turning to Gustav said: " I'm sure
you'll be
able to look it over."
"That's good" Gustav said adding, "I might be able to add
some
engineering essentials to it"
" Indeed." Rangi said, ending the conversation before Rice
could say
anything. " Ok...shall we begin? If you would like to lie
back...
that's fine. Just relax."
Gustav lay back a little nervous as he had never had any
major surgery
before but then again he had never had an arm ripped off
before.
She picked up the hypospray ready loaded with the
anaesthetic and
pressed it against Gustav's neck.
Gustav began to feel more and more relaxed until the point
that he was
almost asleep, it was an odd feeling being awake but not
being able to
move, feel or talk but to be able to hear and understand
what was
happening around him.
It had been agreed between the two that Rice would lead the
surgery
and Rangi would assist. Aware that Gustav would be able to
hear them,
they gave a sort of running commentary, explaining in
laymen's terms
what was happening. They began by implanting electrode
arrays, which
the biosensors would detect. It was delicate work and took
some time.
Something they referred to as needles, which were in fact
not, were implanted into muscles and Rice explained how they
would
work, thinking that Gustav would appreciate the theory.
Gustav listened carefully to what the Doctors were saying,
not really
knowing exactly what they were doing but he could imagine
what they
were doing from the description the pair were giving him
while they
performed the surgery.
"Now lets try the arm." Rice said and Rangi lifted it from
the
trolley. Rice stimulated a muscle in Gustav's shoulder and
the fingers
on the arm clenched tight. "Excellent." Rice declared and
Rangi laid
the limb back in its place as the fingers relaxed.
"We're over half way now" she told Gustav who lay staring up
at the
cluster as though in a dream.
Kroitzer was laying there on the table thinking about how he
could
improve the arm when he heard Dr Rice say " Ahh..damnit..."
very quietly to
himself probably hoping Gustav wouldn't hear him, he then
said
something about heavy bleeding from the Brachial artery,
Gustav
started to worry as although he didn't know a lot about
anatomy he did
know heavy bleeding from an artery wasn't good.
The next thing Gustav heard was Rangi telling Rice that she
was going
to put Kroitzer under a full anaesthetic, Rangi approached
Gustav with
a hypospray in her hand and placed it at Gustav's neck then
everything
went black.
It was perhaps just as well that Gustav would have no
recollection of the following events.
Hypercoagulin stopped the massive bleed but damage had
already been done and a few tense moments passed when
Gustavs vital signs made a rapid drop. Rangi worked to
stabilise him as Rice continued with the surgery but it was
some minutes before Gustav responded well to the 20mg of
Legrazine.
"Done." Rice stepped back, relief clearly written on his
face. " How's he doing?" he asked Rangi.
"Well enough...now." she replied "If you're finished I'll
administer Triptacederin and then we can think about walking
him up."
Rice nodded. " It went well, all things considered." he
said " Pity about the nanotech though."
Rangi glanced towards Rice who was staring thoughtfully at
the sleeping Gustav.
She said nothing but added a phial to
the hypospray, pressed it against Gustavs skin and fired
the medication into his system.
*** End Log ***
Commander Rangi Summers
CMO
USS Chimera-C
MedAdv.1st TF
&
Lt JG Gustav Kroitzer
DCEO
USS – Chimera
&
LtCmdr Alexander Rice
AMO
USS Chimera-C
(npc) Rangi
