Almost an hour had passed. A loud click sounded, followed by an incoherent of Lorath speech, sounding Miles name repeatedly with a screeching sound. It was followed by a sharp bang before another click sounded the communique into silence.
"What the fuck…?" Miles groaned, as he heard the sound, which stirred him from the distraction which he held in his arms, and found so important to the point where he did not care for his work, or what needed to be done.
"Sana? Sana. Sana.
“What?”
“did you hear that too?" Miles asked
He wanted to make sure he wasn’t dozing off in wonderful cuddling and their informal proposal. But why would he dream about his boss, if he did doze off?
No wait. Not his boss. Damnit. The stupid L’manel bunny. Why was she calling his name?
"N-Nnnnh? Is she drunk again?" Sana drawled. It was then that a thud sounded through the wall and a series of tinkling sounds as tools fell from a table. She just stared up at Miles and shrugged. "She drinks too much… Where… Where were we?"
There was a pause, as Miles thought to the matter of cuddling, of enjoying Sana's warmth against his body.
"Enjoying eachother's company, if I am not mistaken."
Part of him wanted to just go with that, but, he had not made it as far in life as he had by just letting things go.
Internally, there was a recall and playback, ran through a data buffer embedded in his abdominal cavity.
What was incorherant Lorath babble was worked over by the processor in him. A few key words were already worked out, which were enough to make him sigh.
"I think the word 'help' was in there... I think I should check."
"You're thinking of her? At a time like this?" Sana frowned - squeezing herself against Miles in such a way as to emphasize herself - the strong ex-armour pilot’s arms wrapped about his chest, fingers intertwined behind him. She soon unlinked them, grumbling quietly.
"Hey, she signs our paych--- Oh god damn it that does make her our boss."
Miles let out a hiss of frustration as his lagging Nepleslian logic met with the sudden truth of the Lmanel in the other room actually being his supervisor.
"Really though, paycheck, we need to make sure we get the next one."
With that, Miles leaned in and placed a kiss upon Sana's neck, where the soft flesh met to the skin of her jaw.
He felt the firm endoskeleton beneath which he had placed there, but was pleased to find that the synthetic flesh and filler which stood between made the feature hardly notable.
"Keep the sheets warm, okay? I'll be right back." the Nepleslian spoke, as he worked his way out of the bed, and went about finding his pants, deciding that any other clothing would just be too much, if Aiesu were merely dunk and babbling, he'd be able to get back to business with Sana all the sooner.
Moving through the halls of the vessel, through those perfectly square and featureless corridors in the wee hours of the morning, he found Aiesu’s door was locked. Any attempt to open it was usually met with shouting and hissing and often unwelcome nudity.
Normally, locking the door was a perfectly sensible thing to do.
A preventative measure.
Miles stood outside of the door for a moment, frowning and scowling as he wondered just why he would have bothered to check on his boss.
Yes, he thought, still in denial.
Its a fact now. She is your boss.
"Damn it, this is just a goos---" He silenced himself, as the faint sound of choking reverberated in the confines of the installation wall - rasping for air.
"Oh fuck my life..." All doubts vanished, as a wireless link was established to the habitation area computer. "Initate link with Lazarus dormitory computer... Security..."
"Established." a voice sounded aloud.
"Open the door."
"I can't do that without a reason, Miles.
"Medical emergency suspected in Aiesu's quarters, cycle the door lock." Miles transmitted, knowing that the Lazarus computer was merely another ARIA, skipping the formality of command-lines and fancy dialog, going for the simple request.
One moment...
A heavy thud sounded with a deep resounding clock of metal whacking against the inside of the lock assembly - the red light above the door turning to green.
With all the grace given to Nepleslian men barging into rooms late at night, Miles quickly worked the manual latch on the door, then slid it open with a loud and resonating thud within the door mechanisim.
Once the door was opened, his synthetic eye quickly glanced about the room, light amplification equipment cutting through the darkness instantly.
Miles saw a figure. It was definitely female and at a second glance, definitely Aiesu. Something dark marred the rug - her normally fluffy white hair damp with something a dark flakey red.
She arched her back - wheezing for air as if she'd just been kicked in the throat - what little light there was catching the simstim suit she'd been wearing to ride shotgun with her construct.
Glancing aside, Miles would spot the scalpel and the smashed clasp - along with the ripped material about the neck of the suit.
"Shit, what the hell did you do?" Miles spoke, but it was not a scolding tone, it was a tone of concern as he quickly closed the gap between the doorway and Aiesu.
There was no need for words. He knew what needed to be done as he put his hand upon Aiesu's throat. He pressed his palm firmly against the wound which oozed with the rich dark Lorath blood.
From the look on her face, she didn't even know he was there. Scrunched up in horror something - hands trying to cover her face from something as if what she were seeing was unbarable. Her hands were shaking.
As he drew near, she hissed and yelped in shock - reminding him of a dog he’d had as a child that he’d carried to the vet after a car had struck it. That helplessness in reflex, baring her teeth in reflex to bite into his hand. Her whole body shook before her jaw went limp and her eyes slipped into a blankness. He could still feel the faintest thrash in her limbs as muscles tensed but lacked the energy to move.
Miles resisted the urge to recoil away seeing her teeth and felt a minor rush of appreciation at the fact that she was unable to deliver a bite, not for his sake, but for her own.
He would need his hands intact to save her life, there was no doubt in his mind about that matter. He was appreciative of another fact as well; the fact that she was as small as a Nepleslian adolecent, and, there was the further reduction of weight in the form of her missing legs... all the better to carry her.
Without a second thought, Miles scooped Aiesu into his arms, before quickly, if not a little clumsily, he made his way down the hall and in the direction of the nearest first aid station - leaving a spotty trail of thick blood against his clothes and along the floor behind.
He was thankful for Lorath engineering, they tended to put such essentials everywhere, as if they expected to be caught in a siege at any given moment.
Lorath paranoia paid off in this case.
As he quickly strode the distance he opened another wireless link;
"Miles to Sana, looks like the sheets are going to have to get cold again. I need you at the first aid station near Aiesu's quarters, I need an assistant, and bring my bag. Hurry."
Sana huffed as she stumbled out of bed in little more than a shirt and a pair of undies, her hands hooking about his bag along with a bottle of something tall and strong before she nudged the door open with her foot - staring up at Miles in the hallway - following along after him quite quickly.
"Huh. Fancy seeing you here." Sana smiled, before taking note of the quivering wreck of a lmanel and the blood running through the hallway. Her enthusiasm soon evaporated into some grim disappointment. "And you."
There was a huff from Miles in response to Sana's clear lack of enthusiasm regarding the Lmanel. It was not the time for such matters.
Well, perhaps afterwards.
For the moment though, Miles was a doctor again, and that was where his mindset was, being a doctor and saving a life. Engineering, loving, drinking, all those things were assigned to a back-seat position as he stood near the automated door for the first-aid station.
He turned and stepped in, making sure not to bump Aiesu's head on the doorframe as he deposited her on the relatively simple exam bed that was available in the room.
Inventory was quickly taken, the bed was rather simple in design, in fact, it was just a regular bed, not even one of those medical beds made by Kakutama Heavy Industries.
It would have been nice to have one, but that was just a creature comfort really.
It wouldn’t save a patient. That took skilled hands.
A doctor was a doctor, always.
What mattered to Miles at that moment was the availability of actual medical supplies meant for a skilled pair of hands. With what Sana brought along, there was not a concern to be had, as he took the almost nostalgically iconic black bag from Sana, speaking a soft and quick 'Thank you', before he opened the clasp on the top of the case of leather and synthetic polymer.
"Sana, check the drawer for an infusion unit and a container of synthetic blood. Should be in the supply cabinet on the wall." the Nepleslian instructed, as he pulled a laser scalpel from his bag.
With a ginger movement of his thumb, he tuned it properly for the first task at hand. There was the smell of burnt synthetic polymers, as he quickly went about slicing the shoulders and neck of the suit which Aiesu wore, intending to remove it from her so he could properly work upon the Lmanel's injury.
Her hands were already rumbling through drawers - a thin clear cord, a series of needles and stoppers she didn't really know how to use and... A bag of something dark and read - almost a deep brown.
Sana hadn't ever seen Lorath blood and was surprised by its color, staring through it. It was... Almost rustic - and looking at Sana, it was as if she was degrading like some worn out car around the wound.
"Here," she passed things, knowing to hook the bag up to the tall metal rod next to the bed but knowing nothing beyond that.
Sana watched, big green eyes drinking in the sight of the suit peeled away like the shell from a boiled prawn or shrimp, revealing pale vulnerable flesh beneath.
She also noted the redness left by the heat of the laser - but no damage. Miles could be precise, even in a situation like this.
"Good girl, Sana." Miles spoke, as he shifted his gaze to the synthetic blood bag.
His eye darted over the barcode on it, comparing it to Lazarus records, and quickly confirming that it was still shelf-stable. He then gave a nod to Sana;
"There should be something like an arm-band in there, stored near where you got the blood. That's the infusion unit. I need it, a regular IV flow won't be enough." Miles spoke to Sana briefly, before she cut him off.
"She isn't breathing..." Sana watched, paradoxically detatched - still more concerned with the state of her evening.
Her hands darted through a multitude of cupboards, throwing all manner of small plastic sealed bags of equipment onto the floor.
"Band" she said, tossing him the thing he'd asked for - still packaged in an air-tight seal in the clear bag. What else?
Aiesu hadn't moved in a few minutes now - a pale blue entering her complexion where snowy white normally sat - a darkness around her eyes.
"Uh... Miles. I'm no doctor but I don't think her heart is working. Do you really want to do this? She might be brain-damaged or something after this." Sana said, already rooting through for an oxygenator.
She'd used one a few times before and didn't need a prompt - hooking up the small box to the silvery tanked marked 'O2' and twisting the handle - handing Miles a pair of clear tubes - one marked with an end in red, one marked with an end in blue - inlet and outlet respectively.
"Here."
Miles' cybernetic gaze landed upon the Lmanel again, checking for any sign of physical movement from resperation, and even her external temperature. It was clear she was in bad shape.
With much the same detachment as Sana held, Miles grasped the bag and quickly opened it, before he set the infusion unit aside, ready to apply it as soon as he would ensure that Aiesu's oxygen levels would be maintained.
"Sana." Miles spoke electronically from here, as he quickly placed his lips upon Aiesu's, begining to breathe into her.
"I found her concious, it has not been long enough for Lorath brain tissue death." Miles continued to speak through his cybernetics as he took his lips away from the Lmanel's, then took the oxygen infusion tubing from Sana, as he tilted Aiesu's head back, then went about intubating her, making sure to rest the tubes so they would not be severed by Aiesu's razor-sharp maw.
Sana watched Aiesu's eyes continue to darken until Miles loomed over her. Aiesu's lips were cold, a pale blue now as she laid there like a rag-doll. Sana summarized her position and posture were quite uncomfortable - and that if she were awake, she'd be cramping up by now.
"She looks pretty dead to me."
"Sweetie, more often than not, you've looked more dead than this in our time together. Don't worry." Miles spoke, in a softly spoken retort as he activated the oxygen infusion equipment, before his hands quickly went about placing the infusion band around Aiesu's upper arm.
Sana questioned exactly what it was he was implying, opening her mouth to respond but nothing came.
Lorath engineered liquid infusion devices made things easier than usual, since the device automatically embedded a line into the artery beneath the flesh once it was fixed in place.
With the infusion device in place, and with it connected to the synthetic blood supply, the Lmanel would have some of her lost fluid replaced with the universal match which would hopefully keep her from succumbing to death.
"That's… an interesting way to describe our sex-life" Sana found her words, her arms crossed now as she lurched over the two, watching rather curiously.
"Anyway, aren't there like another hundred of her? Why are you so worried?" she mumbled, watching Aiesu continue to bleed-out - a puddle forming beneath the med-bed. "Blood goes in... Blood goes out... Huh. All very complicated, isn’t it?"
"This is the original. The template. Don't you recall Rebeka's conversation?" Miles was unphased by Sana's sarcasm, because the wound, ironically, was the least of the concerns as he quickly reached into his bag, and produced a container of Lorath medical nanomachines, with a clotting agent embedded into the suspension. He placed the container near Aiesu's neck, before the hiss of a gas-release sounded, as the nanomachines were applied upon the wound, while the clotting agent effectively sealed off the blood-loss.
"You’re like a plumber for people. If she even is a person. I'm here because you are. Just because I can take an interest in her doesn't mean I want to. Anyway, what difference does an original make?"
"I don't know, maybe it is a matter of being sentimental?" Miles joked, as he gave a soft shrug.
In truth, it was being sentimental, it was one of the few quirky things about Nepleslian philosophy, it was the reason why full-conversion to a Yamataian body was not favored by the Nepleslian people, it was the reason why full-conversion cyborg bodies had not fully replaced the Nepleslian population.
"I never would have taken the Lorath as sentimental" Sana hummed, hands behind her back now as she watched.
Another quick inventory, it was as if Miles had reached a check point. Oxygen infusion, blood infusion, wound sealed... Miles took note, as he brought his hand to the back of Aiesu's head, looking for the neural-interface port, if she did have traditional cybernetics of Lorath design incorporated into her, surely he'd find the port somewhere in the area.
Sana almost instantly realized what he was doing. "She doesn't have one. She does everything wirelessly, remember? No augmentations. If she has those things, people would 'ask questions'. As if anyone cares enough..." Sana was visibly irritated now.
"Wirelessly, sure, but the Lmanel lack embedded telepathy or signal transmitting capabilities. She has to have a neural interface somewhere around here." Miles debated the matter.
"...No augmentations, I told you. Why do you think she's so obsessed with that tard-helmet she's always going on about?"
"Urgh, it is rather retarded, ain't it?" Miles responded, with a huff, the neural-interface augmentation was so common place in Lorath society, and it was far more workable than some silly helmet.
At least to his reckoning, that the helmet Aiesu used did in fact seem rather silly. Abandoning his search for a means of making treatment a bit less uncertain, Miles gave a nod to Sana.
"Be a dear, I need the medical scanner from the cabinet."
She soon fished through more nonsense for the essential equipment.
"How do they ever find anything in here? There's so much junk..." she grumbled, tossing a small watch-sized device to Miles.
"Catch."
There was a swift motion from Miles as he snatched the device from mid-air, without turning to look in its direction.
It was clear to him now that Sana was being a little jealous of his work, but, that would have to wait until later.
For the moment, he fixed the device around Aiesu's wrist, before he wirelessly linked to the monitor to eye her vitals according to the sensor.
Though, that would have to just linger on his HUD, as he brought his hands to Aiesu's chest, lower than where they would have to go for a Nepleslian, as he began to deliver a steady and rhythmic pressure.
Sana watched her small pale body beneath large his hands, starting to wonder if she would ever wake up at all. She hadn't been receptive so far - with Lorath L’manel hearts being notoriously force back into a normal rhythm, post augmentation.
Using the already established computer link-up, Miles sent another request to the ARIA server-farm.
"Requesting biological data regarding Aiesu, I need her medical records, specifically her organ composition and what aspects of her biology have been impacted by her Lmanel traits."
I can't do that without a reason. Please clarify.
Even now, Aiesu's handiwork was likely going to get her killed - refusing to serve him as she laid there like a dead fish. Typical.
"Learn to use your internal sensors from time to time. I'm treating her for severe blood loss, oxygen depravation through blood-loss. Heart failure. Respiratory fai—"
Before he could complete his sentence... Uploading...
There was a hunch on Miles' part, something in his gut, that came to him based upon those razor-sharp teeth which so barely were avoided the moment he started to help Aiesu, and, those teeth which so frequently mocked with each smile she would give when he would collect his pay. "Sana, do me a favor, get one of those tracheotomy collars, with the plastic dome on it."
"Here." she passed it almost immediately.
"My hands are busy, I need you to put that dome over her neck, to the side, over the artery. Then, I want you to breathe into it. Like you're filling a balloon. But keep a seal on her neck." Miles instructed.
There was a clear reason why there was no motion from her chest cavity, he was fairly sure that her lungs were a convenient back-up organ.
Sana grumbled quietly, doing as she was told. She didn't really understand what it meant but she leaned in to do it anyway, until she paused as she saw something which caught her eye.
"What are those things on her chest?" she'd ask - fingertips pulling at the plastic over Aiesu's front to reveal the strip shaped bumps she'd noted. "They're leaking."
There was a pause from Miles, as he pieced together things. "Leave the tracheostomy collar there, but get the suction hose." He spoke, as he reached for his scalpel again, and went about cutting away more of the suit to reveal what Sana had spotted.
"Is that oil from the suit?" she mumbled.
"No, it is old blood." Miles explained.
"How does she not have septacemia? And why hasn't it clotted?"
"Lmanel biology, fuck if I don’t know everything about it. Their doctors don't even know everything there is to know about it." Miles replied as he tossed aside the cut away portions of Aiesu's suit, before peeling back the gills, with a very delicate touch.
"Because they're doctors" Sana sighed, almost smiling now - a grim cheeriness to her. "Not veterinarians."
"That's it exactly. Thankfully for Aiesu though, I've taken courses in enough xenobiology to double as a vetanarian... aliens and animals, interchangable when in medschool"
“Must make dealing with Rebeka a blast”.
As her gills were peeled open - pale skin lifting to reveal pinkish flesh turned a faint gray - a dark fluid oozed oout from beneath - weeping as if they were crying.
"If she's leaking something, doesn't that mean she's full of something?"
"Good girl, now that suction hose, come on."
"Got it. Here."
"Thanks." Miles spoke, before he put his thumb over the end of the hose, to feel the vacuum pressure. It was within acceptable ranges for what he intended, as he held the gills open, before
"You do realize her heart still isn't beating, right? Its been like six minutes now."
"What the fuck…?" Miles groaned, as he heard the sound, which stirred him from the distraction which he held in his arms, and found so important to the point where he did not care for his work, or what needed to be done.
"Sana? Sana. Sana.
“What?”
“did you hear that too?" Miles asked
He wanted to make sure he wasn’t dozing off in wonderful cuddling and their informal proposal. But why would he dream about his boss, if he did doze off?
No wait. Not his boss. Damnit. The stupid L’manel bunny. Why was she calling his name?
"N-Nnnnh? Is she drunk again?" Sana drawled. It was then that a thud sounded through the wall and a series of tinkling sounds as tools fell from a table. She just stared up at Miles and shrugged. "She drinks too much… Where… Where were we?"
There was a pause, as Miles thought to the matter of cuddling, of enjoying Sana's warmth against his body.
"Enjoying eachother's company, if I am not mistaken."
Part of him wanted to just go with that, but, he had not made it as far in life as he had by just letting things go.
Internally, there was a recall and playback, ran through a data buffer embedded in his abdominal cavity.
What was incorherant Lorath babble was worked over by the processor in him. A few key words were already worked out, which were enough to make him sigh.
"I think the word 'help' was in there... I think I should check."
"You're thinking of her? At a time like this?" Sana frowned - squeezing herself against Miles in such a way as to emphasize herself - the strong ex-armour pilot’s arms wrapped about his chest, fingers intertwined behind him. She soon unlinked them, grumbling quietly.
"Hey, she signs our paych--- Oh god damn it that does make her our boss."
Miles let out a hiss of frustration as his lagging Nepleslian logic met with the sudden truth of the Lmanel in the other room actually being his supervisor.
"Really though, paycheck, we need to make sure we get the next one."
With that, Miles leaned in and placed a kiss upon Sana's neck, where the soft flesh met to the skin of her jaw.
He felt the firm endoskeleton beneath which he had placed there, but was pleased to find that the synthetic flesh and filler which stood between made the feature hardly notable.
"Keep the sheets warm, okay? I'll be right back." the Nepleslian spoke, as he worked his way out of the bed, and went about finding his pants, deciding that any other clothing would just be too much, if Aiesu were merely dunk and babbling, he'd be able to get back to business with Sana all the sooner.
Moving through the halls of the vessel, through those perfectly square and featureless corridors in the wee hours of the morning, he found Aiesu’s door was locked. Any attempt to open it was usually met with shouting and hissing and often unwelcome nudity.
Normally, locking the door was a perfectly sensible thing to do.
A preventative measure.
Miles stood outside of the door for a moment, frowning and scowling as he wondered just why he would have bothered to check on his boss.
Yes, he thought, still in denial.
Its a fact now. She is your boss.
"Damn it, this is just a goos---" He silenced himself, as the faint sound of choking reverberated in the confines of the installation wall - rasping for air.
"Oh fuck my life..." All doubts vanished, as a wireless link was established to the habitation area computer. "Initate link with Lazarus dormitory computer... Security..."
"Established." a voice sounded aloud.
"Open the door."
"I can't do that without a reason, Miles.
"Medical emergency suspected in Aiesu's quarters, cycle the door lock." Miles transmitted, knowing that the Lazarus computer was merely another ARIA, skipping the formality of command-lines and fancy dialog, going for the simple request.
One moment...
A heavy thud sounded with a deep resounding clock of metal whacking against the inside of the lock assembly - the red light above the door turning to green.
With all the grace given to Nepleslian men barging into rooms late at night, Miles quickly worked the manual latch on the door, then slid it open with a loud and resonating thud within the door mechanisim.
Once the door was opened, his synthetic eye quickly glanced about the room, light amplification equipment cutting through the darkness instantly.
Miles saw a figure. It was definitely female and at a second glance, definitely Aiesu. Something dark marred the rug - her normally fluffy white hair damp with something a dark flakey red.
She arched her back - wheezing for air as if she'd just been kicked in the throat - what little light there was catching the simstim suit she'd been wearing to ride shotgun with her construct.
Glancing aside, Miles would spot the scalpel and the smashed clasp - along with the ripped material about the neck of the suit.
"Shit, what the hell did you do?" Miles spoke, but it was not a scolding tone, it was a tone of concern as he quickly closed the gap between the doorway and Aiesu.
There was no need for words. He knew what needed to be done as he put his hand upon Aiesu's throat. He pressed his palm firmly against the wound which oozed with the rich dark Lorath blood.
From the look on her face, she didn't even know he was there. Scrunched up in horror something - hands trying to cover her face from something as if what she were seeing was unbarable. Her hands were shaking.
As he drew near, she hissed and yelped in shock - reminding him of a dog he’d had as a child that he’d carried to the vet after a car had struck it. That helplessness in reflex, baring her teeth in reflex to bite into his hand. Her whole body shook before her jaw went limp and her eyes slipped into a blankness. He could still feel the faintest thrash in her limbs as muscles tensed but lacked the energy to move.
Miles resisted the urge to recoil away seeing her teeth and felt a minor rush of appreciation at the fact that she was unable to deliver a bite, not for his sake, but for her own.
He would need his hands intact to save her life, there was no doubt in his mind about that matter. He was appreciative of another fact as well; the fact that she was as small as a Nepleslian adolecent, and, there was the further reduction of weight in the form of her missing legs... all the better to carry her.
Without a second thought, Miles scooped Aiesu into his arms, before quickly, if not a little clumsily, he made his way down the hall and in the direction of the nearest first aid station - leaving a spotty trail of thick blood against his clothes and along the floor behind.
He was thankful for Lorath engineering, they tended to put such essentials everywhere, as if they expected to be caught in a siege at any given moment.
Lorath paranoia paid off in this case.
As he quickly strode the distance he opened another wireless link;
"Miles to Sana, looks like the sheets are going to have to get cold again. I need you at the first aid station near Aiesu's quarters, I need an assistant, and bring my bag. Hurry."
Sana huffed as she stumbled out of bed in little more than a shirt and a pair of undies, her hands hooking about his bag along with a bottle of something tall and strong before she nudged the door open with her foot - staring up at Miles in the hallway - following along after him quite quickly.
"Huh. Fancy seeing you here." Sana smiled, before taking note of the quivering wreck of a lmanel and the blood running through the hallway. Her enthusiasm soon evaporated into some grim disappointment. "And you."
There was a huff from Miles in response to Sana's clear lack of enthusiasm regarding the Lmanel. It was not the time for such matters.
Well, perhaps afterwards.
For the moment though, Miles was a doctor again, and that was where his mindset was, being a doctor and saving a life. Engineering, loving, drinking, all those things were assigned to a back-seat position as he stood near the automated door for the first-aid station.
He turned and stepped in, making sure not to bump Aiesu's head on the doorframe as he deposited her on the relatively simple exam bed that was available in the room.
Inventory was quickly taken, the bed was rather simple in design, in fact, it was just a regular bed, not even one of those medical beds made by Kakutama Heavy Industries.
It would have been nice to have one, but that was just a creature comfort really.
It wouldn’t save a patient. That took skilled hands.
A doctor was a doctor, always.
What mattered to Miles at that moment was the availability of actual medical supplies meant for a skilled pair of hands. With what Sana brought along, there was not a concern to be had, as he took the almost nostalgically iconic black bag from Sana, speaking a soft and quick 'Thank you', before he opened the clasp on the top of the case of leather and synthetic polymer.
"Sana, check the drawer for an infusion unit and a container of synthetic blood. Should be in the supply cabinet on the wall." the Nepleslian instructed, as he pulled a laser scalpel from his bag.
With a ginger movement of his thumb, he tuned it properly for the first task at hand. There was the smell of burnt synthetic polymers, as he quickly went about slicing the shoulders and neck of the suit which Aiesu wore, intending to remove it from her so he could properly work upon the Lmanel's injury.
Her hands were already rumbling through drawers - a thin clear cord, a series of needles and stoppers she didn't really know how to use and... A bag of something dark and read - almost a deep brown.
Sana hadn't ever seen Lorath blood and was surprised by its color, staring through it. It was... Almost rustic - and looking at Sana, it was as if she was degrading like some worn out car around the wound.
"Here," she passed things, knowing to hook the bag up to the tall metal rod next to the bed but knowing nothing beyond that.
Sana watched, big green eyes drinking in the sight of the suit peeled away like the shell from a boiled prawn or shrimp, revealing pale vulnerable flesh beneath.
She also noted the redness left by the heat of the laser - but no damage. Miles could be precise, even in a situation like this.
"Good girl, Sana." Miles spoke, as he shifted his gaze to the synthetic blood bag.
His eye darted over the barcode on it, comparing it to Lazarus records, and quickly confirming that it was still shelf-stable. He then gave a nod to Sana;
"There should be something like an arm-band in there, stored near where you got the blood. That's the infusion unit. I need it, a regular IV flow won't be enough." Miles spoke to Sana briefly, before she cut him off.
"She isn't breathing..." Sana watched, paradoxically detatched - still more concerned with the state of her evening.
Her hands darted through a multitude of cupboards, throwing all manner of small plastic sealed bags of equipment onto the floor.
"Band" she said, tossing him the thing he'd asked for - still packaged in an air-tight seal in the clear bag. What else?
Aiesu hadn't moved in a few minutes now - a pale blue entering her complexion where snowy white normally sat - a darkness around her eyes.
"Uh... Miles. I'm no doctor but I don't think her heart is working. Do you really want to do this? She might be brain-damaged or something after this." Sana said, already rooting through for an oxygenator.
She'd used one a few times before and didn't need a prompt - hooking up the small box to the silvery tanked marked 'O2' and twisting the handle - handing Miles a pair of clear tubes - one marked with an end in red, one marked with an end in blue - inlet and outlet respectively.
"Here."
Miles' cybernetic gaze landed upon the Lmanel again, checking for any sign of physical movement from resperation, and even her external temperature. It was clear she was in bad shape.
With much the same detachment as Sana held, Miles grasped the bag and quickly opened it, before he set the infusion unit aside, ready to apply it as soon as he would ensure that Aiesu's oxygen levels would be maintained.
"Sana." Miles spoke electronically from here, as he quickly placed his lips upon Aiesu's, begining to breathe into her.
"I found her concious, it has not been long enough for Lorath brain tissue death." Miles continued to speak through his cybernetics as he took his lips away from the Lmanel's, then took the oxygen infusion tubing from Sana, as he tilted Aiesu's head back, then went about intubating her, making sure to rest the tubes so they would not be severed by Aiesu's razor-sharp maw.
Sana watched Aiesu's eyes continue to darken until Miles loomed over her. Aiesu's lips were cold, a pale blue now as she laid there like a rag-doll. Sana summarized her position and posture were quite uncomfortable - and that if she were awake, she'd be cramping up by now.
"She looks pretty dead to me."
"Sweetie, more often than not, you've looked more dead than this in our time together. Don't worry." Miles spoke, in a softly spoken retort as he activated the oxygen infusion equipment, before his hands quickly went about placing the infusion band around Aiesu's upper arm.
Sana questioned exactly what it was he was implying, opening her mouth to respond but nothing came.
Lorath engineered liquid infusion devices made things easier than usual, since the device automatically embedded a line into the artery beneath the flesh once it was fixed in place.
With the infusion device in place, and with it connected to the synthetic blood supply, the Lmanel would have some of her lost fluid replaced with the universal match which would hopefully keep her from succumbing to death.
"That's… an interesting way to describe our sex-life" Sana found her words, her arms crossed now as she lurched over the two, watching rather curiously.
"Anyway, aren't there like another hundred of her? Why are you so worried?" she mumbled, watching Aiesu continue to bleed-out - a puddle forming beneath the med-bed. "Blood goes in... Blood goes out... Huh. All very complicated, isn’t it?"
"This is the original. The template. Don't you recall Rebeka's conversation?" Miles was unphased by Sana's sarcasm, because the wound, ironically, was the least of the concerns as he quickly reached into his bag, and produced a container of Lorath medical nanomachines, with a clotting agent embedded into the suspension. He placed the container near Aiesu's neck, before the hiss of a gas-release sounded, as the nanomachines were applied upon the wound, while the clotting agent effectively sealed off the blood-loss.
"You’re like a plumber for people. If she even is a person. I'm here because you are. Just because I can take an interest in her doesn't mean I want to. Anyway, what difference does an original make?"
"I don't know, maybe it is a matter of being sentimental?" Miles joked, as he gave a soft shrug.
In truth, it was being sentimental, it was one of the few quirky things about Nepleslian philosophy, it was the reason why full-conversion to a Yamataian body was not favored by the Nepleslian people, it was the reason why full-conversion cyborg bodies had not fully replaced the Nepleslian population.
"I never would have taken the Lorath as sentimental" Sana hummed, hands behind her back now as she watched.
Another quick inventory, it was as if Miles had reached a check point. Oxygen infusion, blood infusion, wound sealed... Miles took note, as he brought his hand to the back of Aiesu's head, looking for the neural-interface port, if she did have traditional cybernetics of Lorath design incorporated into her, surely he'd find the port somewhere in the area.
Sana almost instantly realized what he was doing. "She doesn't have one. She does everything wirelessly, remember? No augmentations. If she has those things, people would 'ask questions'. As if anyone cares enough..." Sana was visibly irritated now.
"Wirelessly, sure, but the Lmanel lack embedded telepathy or signal transmitting capabilities. She has to have a neural interface somewhere around here." Miles debated the matter.
"...No augmentations, I told you. Why do you think she's so obsessed with that tard-helmet she's always going on about?"
"Urgh, it is rather retarded, ain't it?" Miles responded, with a huff, the neural-interface augmentation was so common place in Lorath society, and it was far more workable than some silly helmet.
At least to his reckoning, that the helmet Aiesu used did in fact seem rather silly. Abandoning his search for a means of making treatment a bit less uncertain, Miles gave a nod to Sana.
"Be a dear, I need the medical scanner from the cabinet."
She soon fished through more nonsense for the essential equipment.
"How do they ever find anything in here? There's so much junk..." she grumbled, tossing a small watch-sized device to Miles.
"Catch."
There was a swift motion from Miles as he snatched the device from mid-air, without turning to look in its direction.
It was clear to him now that Sana was being a little jealous of his work, but, that would have to wait until later.
For the moment, he fixed the device around Aiesu's wrist, before he wirelessly linked to the monitor to eye her vitals according to the sensor.
Though, that would have to just linger on his HUD, as he brought his hands to Aiesu's chest, lower than where they would have to go for a Nepleslian, as he began to deliver a steady and rhythmic pressure.
Sana watched her small pale body beneath large his hands, starting to wonder if she would ever wake up at all. She hadn't been receptive so far - with Lorath L’manel hearts being notoriously force back into a normal rhythm, post augmentation.
Using the already established computer link-up, Miles sent another request to the ARIA server-farm.
"Requesting biological data regarding Aiesu, I need her medical records, specifically her organ composition and what aspects of her biology have been impacted by her Lmanel traits."
I can't do that without a reason. Please clarify.
Even now, Aiesu's handiwork was likely going to get her killed - refusing to serve him as she laid there like a dead fish. Typical.
"Learn to use your internal sensors from time to time. I'm treating her for severe blood loss, oxygen depravation through blood-loss. Heart failure. Respiratory fai—"
Before he could complete his sentence... Uploading...
There was a hunch on Miles' part, something in his gut, that came to him based upon those razor-sharp teeth which so barely were avoided the moment he started to help Aiesu, and, those teeth which so frequently mocked with each smile she would give when he would collect his pay. "Sana, do me a favor, get one of those tracheotomy collars, with the plastic dome on it."
"Here." she passed it almost immediately.
"My hands are busy, I need you to put that dome over her neck, to the side, over the artery. Then, I want you to breathe into it. Like you're filling a balloon. But keep a seal on her neck." Miles instructed.
There was a clear reason why there was no motion from her chest cavity, he was fairly sure that her lungs were a convenient back-up organ.
Sana grumbled quietly, doing as she was told. She didn't really understand what it meant but she leaned in to do it anyway, until she paused as she saw something which caught her eye.
"What are those things on her chest?" she'd ask - fingertips pulling at the plastic over Aiesu's front to reveal the strip shaped bumps she'd noted. "They're leaking."
There was a pause from Miles, as he pieced together things. "Leave the tracheostomy collar there, but get the suction hose." He spoke, as he reached for his scalpel again, and went about cutting away more of the suit to reveal what Sana had spotted.
"Is that oil from the suit?" she mumbled.
"No, it is old blood." Miles explained.
"How does she not have septacemia? And why hasn't it clotted?"
"Lmanel biology, fuck if I don’t know everything about it. Their doctors don't even know everything there is to know about it." Miles replied as he tossed aside the cut away portions of Aiesu's suit, before peeling back the gills, with a very delicate touch.
"Because they're doctors" Sana sighed, almost smiling now - a grim cheeriness to her. "Not veterinarians."
"That's it exactly. Thankfully for Aiesu though, I've taken courses in enough xenobiology to double as a vetanarian... aliens and animals, interchangable when in medschool"
“Must make dealing with Rebeka a blast”.
As her gills were peeled open - pale skin lifting to reveal pinkish flesh turned a faint gray - a dark fluid oozed oout from beneath - weeping as if they were crying.
"If she's leaking something, doesn't that mean she's full of something?"
"Good girl, now that suction hose, come on."
"Got it. Here."
"Thanks." Miles spoke, before he put his thumb over the end of the hose, to feel the vacuum pressure. It was within acceptable ranges for what he intended, as he held the gills open, before
"You do realize her heart still isn't beating, right? Its been like six minutes now."