"I am so sorry for having to do this. Try not to hate me, who has no choice. You will probably never know that I do not exist." Jarrad said as he began his work. Jarrad gently titled the female's neck and swept her hair aside. He sanitized the area. He grabbed the interface and loaded it into the tool and used a scanner to guide his movements. He swallowed a bit of saliva as he wrestled with his nerves and conscience. He bit his lip in displeasure and forced himself to press the trigger as he inserted the interface and quickly flooded the area with stem gel to heal it. He sucked in a breath of remorse and thought of the things he wanted to learn and do to distract himself from his feelings. He had wanted to run further tests to determine the genetic cause of her skin and hair pigmentation. Find distant relatives for her to make her feel more comfortable here.
However, he was almost out of time. He was ordered to be careful and non-invasive to the female. Taking more samples would be out of the question since she had not consented. It was the least they owed her. Jarrad grabbed her limbs and injected peripheral inputs and the latest medical monitoring equipment as ordered. There was not much to improve upon with the hardware. He did not know why he had to wait for a special shipment. He methodically moved as he carefully and flawlessly placed the hardware. Last were the inputs to prevent pain in general for women, but it had other, dreadful purposes for people like him. Jarrad finished and opened up his interface to send in the activation request to Hudai. He had not done this since he had worked his way out of the nursery. He felt a pang of guilt like he always did when he did this procedure.
The infants that he would have to do when someone on the station would cry and reach out for their fathers before being sedated. He fantasized about calming his own infant like those proud fathers. A blush crept across his face as he fantasized. It never seemed to click for him. He and Yeom had enough joint credit to apply for parenthood. But it never seemed to happen to them. His partners were always obsessed with females, celebrity Alphem. That all just seemed so bothersome to him. These people were their oppressors. They acted like they were fighting some war against extinction. The odds would be lower if they were cloned, but there would still be the possibility. A lot of Matriarch's genetic information will be stored for resurrection should it come to it. Ovum could be harvested from the last woman to resurrect them all on a rack. However, this would just prolong the end of them.
Jarrad walked out into the hallway and grabbed the next prepared tray. He disconnected all the intravenous lines. He healed the sites on her upper arm, blood and the nutrition required a port placement and a catheter to be placed into the vein. He had a special trick to prevent site scarring. He could hear his coworkers and cleaners outside talking about her. The question of where, who and what happened to her and her people has been a hot topic among everyone working in the Izaberne Station since she appeared in the territory. An expert was already preparing to receive her in the capital since she did not speak the universal language. He disposed of the waste again in the hall. His ears pricked at the chatter.
'It is no surprise that they will have you go to the capital. It will be a culture shock for you. It is clear that you are an outsider. I fear for you because it is unfair.' Jarrad thought to himself.
Jarrad prepared two syringes. One was filled with a fluid to flush blood and any remaining fluid out, the other was filled with Stem fluid. Stem was used ubiquitously in medicine to heal wounds, to grow new organs, and heal internal injuries. It was a miraculous biological tool. The Tissue Regenerator was a powerful tool in the right hands. It accelerated the speed of regeneration so what would take weeks or would not heal naturally would take minutes to make it look like it never happened at all. Jarrad could not imagine the pain from the rudimentary care that she felt. Jarrad added them to the equipment he would be bringing into the room. He pulled it all in with him on a cart to her bedside.
"Alright, time to disconnect these, pity I cannot show you this. You would probably be amazed." He said with a smile to the unconscious woman. He did not know why, but she seemed like she might be smart as well as a survivor. It would take a lot of intelligence to avoid the scanners for so long. He grabbed her left limp arm and opened the closed valve and attached the first syringe to each port. Next, he filled one port with Stem Fluid. He flushed the line with Stem fluid and slowly removed it. As he got near the end of it, he ran the Regenerator while applying pressure. It healed as the line was pulled out. It was tedious, but the extra time it took was worth the results. She would be awake in time for the first meal in southern Callor, so no other nutrition was needed. Jarrad grabbed the cart and pulled it towards him. He pulled an absorbent pad out and unfurled it. This was going to be messy. He lifted her calf and placed the pad underneath it. The procedure to heal her leg would usually be done by two Trauma specialists. He, however, was used to doing them on his own from his time in the outer planetary mining operations that were sparsely staffed.
Now that that infection was gone and rid of her flesh, the wound did not need to be debrided. This meant the wound could be healed with at worst a little depigmentation. He was so happy they covered the wound and left it for him to work on. He had seen some pretty ugly yet functional jobs. He wrapped a tourniquet around her leg and removed the anticoagulant bandage that kept the wound fresh while the infection was clearing. Serosanguinous fluid and blood poured out from the wound and trickled down her calf. He irrigated the wound and then used the clamps to open the wound. It was important to ensure that there were no cavities left behind. She would probably have some weakness until the new tissue grew and matured. He would attach a Stimulator which would help her. It was regenerated in a fresh state, which caused atrophy. She would experience throughout her body being immobile for days.
He then filled the wound with stem gel and started to mend the muscle tissue using the tool. The muscle tissue mended together as he manipulated her leg. He paid attention to flexing and double-checking his work, pausing to work on the ligaments. This was partially his favorite part about working in Izaberne or in the system. He had some pretty complex cases. Never a patient with so many issues happening at once. She was a challenge and her circumstances were a mystery. It has been a very rewarding case so far. There would be more benefits to the hospital, rewards for the staff depending on who was paying attention.
'This must have really hurt. I have felt pain once, briefly, and it was something that changed me. You performed some emergency care on your own. Do you know folk medicine and emergency wound care?' Jarrad thought as he removed the clamps.
He again cleaned the area and flooded it with fresh stem gel and neatly manipulated the flesh, smoothing it down. It was now time to work on her flesh. Her legs were hairless. The follicles were all damaged. It seemed intentional. The same was to be said about her arms and under arms. He frowned. She would develop a ring of hair here. He did not want to damage the follicles again. He would not replicate the damage.
'Who would do this to her? This would also hurt. Was it intentional so you would look like a child? Why?' Jarrad thought with a frown. He was appalled. He continued to work. They would be there soon. A layer of sweat formed on his forehead and back. It was an arduous task to do alone.
Jarrad was a perfectionist. Jarrad then applied more stem gel and mended the flesh, watching it mend layer by layer, taking instructions from tissues around it. Jarrad added more and pinched her flesh slightly. He could feel the heat radiating off of her as her flesh sealed without a visible seam or discoloration, pigmentation developed randomly. He pressed on the flesh to ensure that blood was circulating well. He slapped the skin double check. Pleased with the results, he put the equipment down. He was proud of the work.
"Good work." he said audibly to himself, happy with the results. Jarrad smiled as he completed his work and he looked over to visually inspect the wound and then checked over his shoulder to see if he was being watched.
Jarrad touched the area that he had repaired. It was so smooth and warm. There was nothing special about it, she was not some mythical creature. She was more pitiable. He was sure that even if there were enough females around, he would not be moved by them. He liked men. He just needed to find one that did not want him to play a female role in the relationship. It was just how he was raised. He was raised with pride. Jarrad finished by checking the mobility of the limb. He flexed her leg and calf while scanning them to show Leadership that the repair was done perfectly. She would not be allowed to do much walking for a couple of days. He quickly added the instructions to her medical information, along with her injection schedule.
'Would they make her aware of how close she was to dying or keep her unaware?" Jarrad wiped her leg clean and removed the absorbent pad from the bed.
'It is very unfair. You might hate us for saving you. You were at the brink of death. The only escape from this.' Jarrad thought, and pulled a disposable wipe from the console by the sink. He wiped his face and looked at his reflection on the surface above it.
Jarrad was depressed, he hated doing Interface installations. That is why he took an Outer System position in the first place and learned how to reattach limbs well, to get away from it. A cold sweat formed on his face. If he were ever demoted, he would go back. There was no way he would do that again. There were plenty of accidents and a lot of time in the Outer System. He became the perfect candidate for this particular job because of this work. Fate always dragged him back to this.
Now that her infection was resolved, it appeared the female had a higher baseline temperature than normal than average. This was uncommon. She was now healthy and would be fertile again in two cycles or less. It was unfortunate they were not permitted to do any research and only diagnostic work on this unique individual as she had not consented. The leadership were sending a military team to bring her to Callor, where a linguistics expert awaited her. Coincidentally enough, he was the firstborn Alphem son of the Allari Clan, his employer. He could not raise his skepticism about the arrangements. He just hoped that she would not be taken advantage of and that he would teach her well.
'Maybe one Matriarch, this new one would incite some change. Would she be able to cope? Corporations across the globe would want their Alphem sons to have a chance to meet her. She was fresh blood. The named first Alphem son of the Allari clan would be the first to interact with her, since he might be able to talk to her. He would be able to teach her language quicker than anyone.' Jarrad thought.
The Allari were traditionalists, they were protective and encouraging of their male children. Even Bitas males interacted with their sisters. Allari was lucky to be able to study as he pleased and not at the beck and call of a desperate Matriarch. He did not care about the politics of the class. He was even more shackled in sense than himself. The women were dying faster than they were being born. This female was incredibly important to leadership. From what he read, the only place she could have come from was the north, from an isolated people who were thought to be wiped out when the temperatures dropped in the Northern Hemisphere hundreds of years ago.
Her physical technology had been sent away to Hudai to see if they could pull anything useful out of it. Much of what was found by the crew had to be incinerated and disposed of. A single hair ornament was picked out of her hair after decontamination. He saw that it was included in the packages that were going with her to Callor. The recordings of her brief moments of consciousness had her try two different distinct ways to try to speak to the people around her. If they could not engineer translation software for her, Allari would get to spend months, maybe years, with her teaching her and naturalizing her. She would need to learn etiquette and how to use technology to take the role that would be granted to her.
'It seems like they have arrived. Goodbye.' Jarrad thought as the alert chimed.
Jarrad picked up his pace. His hands started to work quickly, packing up everything in the room that needed to go with her. Jarrad felt the hair at the back of his neck rise as he sensed the arrival of the Military in the building. Whoever coded this weakness into their genome was unethical. Whoever had used their ability as soon as they entered the facility was a pompous idiot. He felt adrenaline flood his system and anxiety as his heart began to wildly beat.
"They must have done it near the air vents. Ugh. It is inappropriate, huh?" Jarrad said to the unconscious woman on the bed in the room.
'This was not a dangerous hostage situation. Did they really need to come in like this? Did they expect resistance from a bunch of weak doctors? I am going to lodge a complaint.' Jarrad thought as he calmed himself as he packed his equipment onto a tray, checked the window and doorway.
Jarrad took an image on his Interface of her before they left and put it in a private folder, as a password secured file. He did not know why he did it. It was a very bad idea. It could be bad if he was caught. She would never know it existed. It was if she was different, or she was being manipulated, she probably had no idea what she was going to be involved in now. She probably thought she was seeking help. What she got was imprisonment, albeit in a very nice cage. If she was misled or tried to run north, he would try his best to calm her down. Everyone knew that the Matriarch Prime of a region could kill with a button press. If she acted out she would just be killed and cloned and raised to be more compliant. He would show it to her to prove that he helped her, it was not illicit. She could trust him to tell her how to save herself.
It was a precaution so he could tell her rights so she could protect herself. Callor would be an annoying place to work, but he could always transfer elsewhere afterward. Jarrad felt guilt towards her, he had installed hardware in countless people. She, nor her clan did not choose this. His staff came into the room with a bed for transportation. She was gently transferred into. A temperature-adjusting blanket was added on top of her as they secured her to the bed. They connected fresh enriched oxygen. He had a lot of respect for his coworkers. Every detail was perfectly completed. Everything was packed and ready to keep the interaction with the transportation team to a minimal amount. These men had a secondary relationship with the Allari.
The team leader was of Bitas class, the brother of the current Matriarch of the Allari clan. He had a reputation for being difficult to work with. Jarrad would not even be able to complain about the intimidation tactic. He heard the door automatically slide open and foot fall in the distance; a hushed dialog being discussed among the Bitas Military who were carrying equipment that the station hospital lacked seemed like a consolation prize. At least the scanners, equipment and buildings will be improved after all the excitement is over. It would pacify most of them after they dealt with the psychological impact of her visit.
Jarrad's ears pricked at the low timbre of a Bitas Soldier scoffing at the conditions, and he sighed as he internalized a sarcastic thought about how he was not really shaming them but the Allari. He did not dare to put it in the report. What appeared to be the leader of the Bitas eyed him and his badge and in a low voice greeted him..
"I am with the Allari Security Team; Supervisor Merren greets you Administrator Jarrad, may I have your report?" Merren asked, keeping his tone hushed out of respect to the patient. Jarrad used a practiced face in front of the commander, who had a higher status and social rank than he did. He had a problem in his youth with authority that his fathers had to teach him to mask.
"She is still sedated as instructed, so we can talk freely. Instructions on her care are included in her charts. We have included everything necessary for her care until she no longer needs it." Jarrad said as he transferred her charts to his Interface by waving his hand over Merren's hand. "She has just been fitted with all the updated tech and sensors as instructed." Jarrad rattled off.
'He probably does not understand a word of the report,' Jarrad thought. He felt his eyes looking at him, deeply scrutinizing him. Jarrad did not feel like he would be bullied today. Jarrad held his gaze.
"Good work," Merren said and flashed a toothy smile.
Jarrad hid his impatience as he watched as he stood there sending off communications. He sent an update to Matriarch Allari, who was sponsoring the female in the capital and received a prompt response back instantaneously. The dullard did not even turn their privacy features on. He just did it out in the corridor. He did his best to control his facial features. He knew he was looking for something that he could find wrong, he would not find a single thing.
'Was this man really a Bitas? Did something go wrong with the rack he was born off?' Jarrad thought. The interaction was awkwardly long. The silence and look on Merren's face made it almost unbearable. Jarrad could smell the obnoxious scent on him, this man had a superiority complex for a Bitas. They were all the same to the Leadership class. What did oppressing Gimmels do for Bitas? There was no gain?
"It is best that you write a report and send one to her as well, Administrator. All this looks perfectly in order," Merren said to him.
"Thank you. I will send off the prepared report after you depart, so I can ensure it is complete and up to date. Are there any more instructions?" Jarrad said and promptly sent off a confirmation that the hand off had commenced. He straightened up his posture and coat, feeling more relaxed since the work was done. A bit of melancholy flooded his face since she would be departing. He still confidently looked at Merren, not daring to look at her.
"No." Merren said as he noticed the look on Jarrad's face. He narrowed his eyes at the Gimmel physician standing before him and cleared his throat. There were so many eyes on them and unnecessary lingering of staff around the room she was in. He felt an urge to move on. Gimmels always gave him this look.
"Alright. Administrator Jarrad, Leadership is pleased with the work you have done to heal the female, your station will receive a refit and new equipment, you will receive a twenty percent pay bump, and five thousand credits for your efforts. Congratulations. You now appear to have enough credit to start a family and upgrade your home," Merren said. "You could even move to a less frigid place." Merren said. Jarrad wanted to roll his eyes. Out here in the cold, there were dangers, but the lower interaction with even Bitas made it incredibly worthwhile to bear the horrible weather. Sure, he had to deal with injuries periodically when there was a mass casualty event or an accident. What the cold kept away was better.
"Since the female is out of danger and ambulatory, leadership wishes to move her before awakening her to prevent any shock. My team is standing by for transport. Can you prepare additional sedation?" Merren said, relieved to be finished with the formalities. Jarrad turned around and picked a loaded cylinder off the tray beside the beside. He checked the container and handed him a preloaded cylinder which he had prepared for this scenario. He did not get to the Administrator level by being careless or under prepared.
"This has three days worth of sedation, I prepared it for this eventuality. Is it adequate?" Jarrad asked. Merren took the cylinder with a smile, he too enjoyed a smooth hand off. He opened his Interface to give instructions and his team began fervently fulfilling the order after receiving them. Jarrad kept an emotionless facade, he picked up the case and handed to Merren. The large man took the case of her new clothes and jewelry with ease. A perplexed look crossed his face.
"This is a gift from all the staff of Izaberne Station and the sincerity of the workers of the North. We hope she enjoys them. There are no personal notes, or toxins. I performed the scan myself." Jarrad said as he placed it under the bed. He did not want anyone to be misunderstood.
Luckily, Merren was too preoccupied at the moment to notice. It was not like he could assume her will anyway. He was grateful that he had a chance to observe her briefly. She was going to be very interesting to study. Jarrad looked forward to reading the reports at least someday. His teammates then loaded slides and swabs of her infection and the virus she was carrying in secured cryostasis for study pending her approval. Every staff member received a message that workers would be coming in for the refit and orders to pack up for paid time off were handed down. Some of the staff were very grateful for the break and would be heading south for vacation.
"Here, apply this to her face and arms after the next dose of sedation, it is to treat her skin." Jarrad handed off the balm they used to heal the radiation burns. "It will need to be applied twice more. Four hours apart." Jarrad instructed carefully. Merren's eyebrows raised suddenly.
"This, is it handmade?" Merren asked. Jarrad smiled and answered, it was his own creation.
"We have many burn victims, the skin can get wind burned during the cold season. There have been many gifts delivered, if your team is hungry there is so much food. Please take some for your meals." Jarrad pointed to the staff rest area. There was a little kitchen and furniture to rest on inside. Every surface was filled with delicacies.
"Thank you." Merren nodded and bowed. The floor was emptying out as the staff exited, leaving Jarrad and the team that came to bring her to the capital there. A Calloran Doctor directed everything. You could tell he had never worked in a cold environment. Jarrad found himself with a grin. He handed the doctor a spare heating blanket.
"Here, there is no reason to be uncomfortable," Jarrad said. He would probably never run into the man again, he looked so helpless and small around all these tall soldiers. It was very endearing.
"Thanks Administrator Jarrad, My name is Civas, code 92255723. If you are ever in Callor, send me a message. I will show you some hospitality, and you can tell me about your work on flesh preservation in limb repair in person." Civas said.
"I will take you up on that should the situation arise, Civas." Jarrad smiled and nodded. The young doctor was kind of cute.
Civas felt a rush of excitement bubble up inside him when he smiled. He had not had a lot of field experience, he had actually watched two of Jarrad's presentations and demonstrations on trauma care, and a form of recovery therapy. Not only was he sort of a fan of his, it was nice to be treated with kindness. It was a long trip with the most inconsiderate men on the planet. No one went their way to help each other in Callor. They would betray you for merit and credit in a heartbeat. Both their hearts fell a moment later.
"Alright everyone, we are ready to depart. A storm system that will make travel hazardous is predicted to come to the area in an hour. I intend to be clear of its radius before that. We have important cargo. Move out!" Merren shouted.
"It was an honor to meet you.' Civas said, and gave Jarrad a parting glance and began pushing the gliding bed out to the elevator bay. The leader of the team following him, Merren, then communicated with the others outside on his Interface that the crowd had been dispersed. The team began to roll her out of the station hospital once the area had been cleared and loaded her gently into the transport. Once the pilots received the all clear. Jarrad watched the transport depart and felt a pang like he was losing something important.
Large cargo transports of materials and equipment for the refit rumbled over the icy trails in the distance. Transports with workers could be seen coming down the personnel road to the station efficiently. Snow slid off the distant peaks. The treeline off in the distance disappeared for the season, making the landscape look incredibly barren and lonely. Jarrad thought to himself as he packed up that he wished that he could have heard her speak even if he could not understand her. The nursing staff said it was the most beautiful thing that they had heard. He imagined that she must have been very frightened when he watched the footage. She did not speak the universal language, which was really odd. She was innocent enough for him to dismiss any suspicions about her. He left them out of his report.