"Who are you? Where am I? What is this place?"
27 Nov 2020Synthya Wylder
Forensics staff often worked closely with those staffing the Morgue.Here at this station, they were one & the same, simply 'spinning their hats' & stepping through a steri-field, thought the Practitioner. "Damned credit-counters," she muttered to herself. "You'd think as busy as a station could get, they'd be able to squeeze a few extra credits out of their bottom line & afford to staff them separately. But, NOooo..."
A chime reminded her that she had yet another task on her daily list, & she turned to skim the summary as it auto-scrolled down the screen on the wall. Or should it be called a 'bulkhead', here aboard something as large & substantial as a station?
She shook her head. She let her unanswered question fade away in the flow of her thoughts. At least this one might be more interesting than the usual remains of some victims of armed brawling. A frozen body found sealed in an ancient intact life pod. "Finding a mummy's mommy" she quipped to herself, a smirk crossing her lips.
"Join Medical Off-World", they said... "Live Your Adventure", they said... "Meet new bodies & explore their insides..." She broke out in laughter at that one she'd added herself after learning the harsh truths of station duty in one of the outer regions. She peeled her gloves, mask & outer layers off & stuffed them down the chute on their way to Reclamation, paused before the door to the steri-field chamber, & stepped through as it slid aside & shut behind her. She held her arms out, spread her legs, & closed her eyes as the mix of mild ions, UV radiation & antiseptic mist played over her. The signal beep-chirped, & she stepped forward through the opposite door & brushed her now-bleached hair & twisted it back again into its typical bun, then donned a fresh set of protective gear once again in automatic movements. She walked a few steps into another room, its interior glistening white in its stark lighting, its almost acrid antiseptic odor strong but unnoticed in her nostrils.
The doors opened as two Medical orderlies wheeled in a body bag on their gurney, & she stepped forward as they unzipped it with its usual faint raspy sound as the seal was broken. A cloud of fog rolled out, cooled to sub-zero by the still frozen contents within.
"What have we here?" she asked in her usual routine. One of the orderlies replied, "Nothing more to add than what's on your screen. Some pilot found it floating about, & must have picked it up hoping it was salvage. He'll get his usual bounty, but no one's sure whether it'll be for 'damaged/empty' or 'occupied'. That'll be up to the credit-counters in Admin & Legal..." He was interrupted by a cynical snort from the Practitioner. "Guess it'll be up to you to try to establish the identity for notification of next of kin."
She sighed & stepped back as they lifted the board-rigid body onto her examination table. The two orderlies paused for a final glance, then turned away, en route to other duties. She stepped forward to do a close visual inspection, speaking her findings to the auto-corder.
"Begin record, Forensics. Body, frozen. Appears in excellent state of preservation, female, early to mid-twenties, pale complexion, reddish hair, dressed in what looks like some kind of service uniform coverall." She peered closely at the name tag & shoulder patch. "Name on the uniform reads... S. Wylder." She paused, & continued. "Shoulder patch reads... La Belle Heaulmière. Must be the name of her ship." Her voice changed in tone. "Record Archives. Do a search for personal name, 'S. Wylder', aboard ship name, 'La Belle Heaulmière'." She took note of the body's physical dimensions, mass & height.
"Well now, my dear, before we check for obvious wounds or trauma, we'll need to warm you up a bit first." She often found herself speaking to those in her care. She thought to herself, "If one day, they start speaking back, it'll be time to retire..." She spoke to the MedBot attached to her diagnostic panel. "Initiate gentle thaw, & then obtain standard Bio-sample set. Perform analysis, toxic & genetic, notify any abnormalities, & then stabilize with pause before preserve. Engage." The cool, dry professional voice of the MedBot responded, "Acknowledged. Commencing as directed."
She turned to the Auto-corder. "MedBot engaged, standard procedure. Suspend record pending results." She stepped to the exit towards her old friend, the steri-field, thinking of caffeine & some casual chit-chat in the medical break area.
She tried her best to move her thoughts away from work while on break, & she wasn't sure if it was better or worse that all those in the break area also worked in various Medical depts. At least, those she met there were living & she enjoyed the light banter over various trivial matters & hot caffeine. She sighed, relishing the aroma of something other than antiseptic.
She was startled back to the present with an alarm accompanied by a red flashing bar on the wall panel.
"Alert. Alert. Alert. Forensics. Practitioner required, Stat! Alert. Alert. Alert. Forensics, Practitioner required, Stat!" The message repeated itself. Her mind whirled, "What in Creation..?" she said, half out loud, as she jumped up & half-ran back through the steri-field chamber, rushing through her procedure. She burst into the Forensic exam room, & was met with the vision of her now-patient, now quite obviously alive, one hand grasping the bloody probe of the MedBot, its warning indicators flashing in alarm, while her body shook with spasms.
She rushed over to the Comms panel & smacked "Code Blue". She then looked wildly around for the controls to engage emergency life-support procedures, thinking frantically, "Who in Creation ever expects to actually need this in Forensics???" She then turned to her patient & tried to manually stabilize her as the several arms of the MedBot swung down into action, plunging several IV needles into critical locations & an oxygen mask slapped into place over her patient's mouth & nose.
She looked into her patient's face & saw her two eyes, one blue & one green, blinking & darting wildly around, as her muffled voice hoarsely croaked between gasps, "Laik ai stedaunon? Chon yu bilaik? Chit ste disha?"
She thought to herself, "Well, this day just got really interesting..."