Martin's first major task after establishing camp was to fix the damaged medical equipment. Many crew members, who survived through the emergency landing, still remained in a serious condition and were under continuous observation since staying alive depended on several factors.
In normal circumstances, with fully operational medical capsules, they could count on numerous solutions supporting the regeneration process of human body. The most popular options were modified bacteries and nanomachines.
Modified medical bacteries injection could be used in a variety of conditions as they were not only capable of hastening tissue recovery, but also served the purpose of improving the general regeneration, curing specific diseases or even extending lives - everything depended on how these were programmed.
Nanomachines worked pretty much the same as bacteries in terms of standard functions, though there were some specific differences between the two, and to shortly sum these up - nanomachines were mainly targeted at repairing and physical enhancement.
However, comparing both types of these advanced medical tools, nanomachines had two big advantages over bacteries - production time and durability. Bacteries needed a lot of time to be grown and programmed, while specifically adjusted to specific patient, while nanomachines were created in a matter of minutes in large quantities and programming could be done quickly, without the need to specifically bound to specific patient's DNA.
It was obvious which ones were more useful in the field.
The problem right now was that equipment used for producing both tools were currently non-functional. Fortunately, both lines used for creating bacteries and nanomachines used similar components on the base level, making them much easier to fix.
Still, Johnson was specialized in other device types, preferring vehicles, engines and drives - basically, his knowledge about medical equipment was a bit limited. Good things, other guys from his crew were better versed in this area, owing to gaining familiarity with such machines in the past. Liu and Thorsten both were really useful in that matter, though Liu had the most knowledge - as it turned out, in the early phase of his engineering career he worked with micro-circuits before moving to "more serious", as he used to call it, equipment.
Fixing the first batch went quite smooth, about the half of local day, though they had to dismantle several devices to obtain required components. Nevertheless, Kate was really grateful.
- Finally, we can connect some of the capsules - a huge relief could be seen on her face - Without these modules, their capabilities were extremely limited. Even the most basic procedures were not possible, and we need to replicate some limbs and organs here.
Martin was familiar with general idea behind the functionality of replicators, or reconstructors, because both terms were used for naming these specific devices.
Tissues were reconstructed on cellural level - with the use of nanomachines and bacteries, doctors would program re-assembling process of lost limbs, cell after cell, segment after segment. It was a really laborious, precise process which could last for over a dozen hours. During that time, the body part under reconstruction had to be separated from a connection point with a special, sterile capsule, filled with reconstructors - either bacteries or nanomachines.
Despite this advanced technology, many people still preferred cybers as a solution - artificial limbs made of materials other than human tissues. Of course, biological limb allowed to maintain the natural look and symmetry, whilst cyber one could serve the purpose of not only restoring full efficiency, but even improve the body's capabilities - back on Earth, there were even situations where people would intentionally get rid of their natural limbs to replace them with mechanical, specially modified body parts.
Johnson, as majority of modern people, had a chance to see with his own eyes how these replacements work and had to admit that the capabilities of these make a great impression. Still, he liked his own body at the moment and would rather not make any artificial adjustments. After all, if he needed to enhance performance of his own body, F-suit or any other Light Tactical Suit worked wonders. Besides, most of the functions of cybers were linked to implants, putting additional strain on the brain, engaging the areas which are useful for other activities such as equipment control.
Martin's internal dialogue did not last for long - in the end, he had to focus on work related to capsules specifically. Repairing modules was one thing, but bringing all the capsule functions back up was another. As it turned out, this next step took them twice as much as fixing the components.
As they were leaving the hospital, through viewers, it could be seen the day is coming to an end.
- Damn, with the length of local days you can easily forget for how long were you going - Thorsten pointed out - It may be just a single day, but you don't wait twenty four hours for the sunset.
They all were up for much longer than a single Earth day. They had every right to feel tired.
- I don't know if I'm ever going to get used to such long days - Julian was wiping the sweat from his forehead as he said that - Mother nature couldn't expect humans to go to a different planet. We are not programmed for staying up that long.
- Back on Earth, people live in the planet's poles and they somehow manage - Johnson mentioned - If they can do it, you should too, Jules!
- Since when do I look like an Eskimo?
The whole group laughed. Suddenly, they realized how much they were missing this feeling, a good laugh. The last two days were really hard on them.
- We could talk for much longer, but I think we have right to get some rest, right? Have a good sleep, because we have a lot of work to do. See you all tomorrow!