An Unlikely Friend. part 1

Chapter 23: Recuperation for Body and Mind

Isis

Do you think I want this?

Isis opens her eyes and her heart is racing. It takes her a moment to remember where she is and when she does, she sees a female Erohsian doctor reviewing the holographic screen on her wrist computer.

The doctor smiles and closes her computer. “Good morning Isis. I'm glad you finally got some sleep. How are you feeling?”

“Meh.” Isis closes her eyes briefly as a wave of nausea passes.

“That's from the accelerators. You’ll be feeling like that for a few days for as much as we had to pump you with.”

“When can I leave?”

“Well let's see. You had multiple third degree burns from shrapnel melting through your armor. You have a sprained shoulder and a broken wrist. Your spine is bruised and a number of your ribs are broken with some minor internal bleeding. The base of your skull is fractured from when your helmet was ripped off and your throat is bruised. Overall you should be here for a little over a week total.”

“That’s unacceptable.”

“Were you listening? If it weren't for the accelerators and other treatments, you'd be in the hospital for months.”

“You need to do better.”

The doctor's eyebrows rise. “I heard I was treating a female Erohsian officer and had a glimmer of hope you'd have some sense.”

“Don’t talk to me about sense. The only reason Erohsia is anything is because the men have the drive to get things done. If I’m to keep up, I can’t be in here a week. They’ll show me no mercy”

“Like the way they showed the humans no mercy when they took their land?”

“Oh don’t tell me you’re one of those touchy-feely human sympathizers. They’re a dangerous race and they need to be monitored.”

“Any race is dangerous with too much power,” the doctor says. “How do you think they feel about us?”

“Oh please…” Isis throws up her free hand. “I’m not sure if I’m nauseous from your exorbitant sympathy or the drugs. Will you just get me something for it?”

The doctor lets out a sigh and nods. “There was a General Belshiv to visit. I told him you needed rest. Will you permit visitors now?”

“No. I’m not in the mood.”

“Okay then. I’ll be back soon with your medicine.” The doctor turns and walks out briskly.

Isis repositions herself with pain and looks at her bed stand. She sees her wrist computer and carefully reaches for it, laying it on her lap and turning it on. The holographic screen pops up perfectly in front of her.

Isis has a long list of messages, several of which are from General Belshiv. I’ll deal with that later. She calls the field doctor from the medical pod.

After a moment she pops up on Isis’ screen. “Ma'am, how are you feeling?”

“Wonderful...”

“I'm not surprised. I'm still impressed we cut you out of your armor in one piece.”

“Did you find anything about what the hell we were chasing?”

“As you know, all of the targets were killed. The primary target was shot multiple times and he was confirmed dead on site by a soldier on your order.”

“Were you able to confirm as well?” Isis asks.

“After stabilizing your condition and sending you to Sunta, I ordered the bodies of the targets to be brought back and isolated. It seems, though, RIGID found my preliminary report interesting and snatched up the bodies before I could examine them.”