Human to Alien: Could you please have the head of engineering come here? Don't worry, nothing is wrong. I just... saw a way to improve this! I am holding it so I don't lose track on the spot I want to talk to them about. Please hurry... I don't want to "forget" what I want to tell them.
Human to Engineer: So... Please keep this quiet. I don't want to cause a panic and make this worse... But, if I let go of this everything is going to get REAL bad REAL quick. If you can find a fix or bypass immediately I would appreciate it... Not to stress you any but I am pretty sure my hand is (burned, frozen, bleeding, damaged) to much for me to use anymore already so we are kind of running on death grip right now. Sorry for the trouble. -- Anon Guest
Engineer Grorx stared at the Human, and looked past them at the hand they were concealing from more public view. It appeared to be a reasonably healthy skin colour, but... it wasn't the same skin colour as the rest of the Human. Scans indicate that the flesh there - half-frozen and half necrotic - was all that was preventing a major systemic collapse. The Human had evidently intervened when it was a small and ignorable trickle and, at a loss for what else to do, had used their own body to prevent catastrophe.
A part of their own body that was evidently and clearly sacrificed for the greater good. The rest of the Human was showing some undeniable signs of stress, so Engineer Grorx got on the private comms and arranged for the necessities to occur as quickly as possible. It wasn't just an engineering problem. It was also a medical issue, a PR problem involving civilian foot traffic flow, and an administration issue since several authorisations were necessary for all the other re-routing needed in order to actually fix the problem.
Worse, this was, at maximum, a space for only four butts at a time. Medik Lati would have priority over the injured Human, of course, and most of the other business could conceivably occur outside of this particular hallway junction... However, if anyone was going to insist on sticking their nose into things, it had to be second-shift Captain K'naax. He was exactly the type of captain who would insist on overseeing everything during his duty phase.
In this case, it meant getting his entire butt into the space available, suggesting things after someone else started already doing that, and asking the kinds of questions that took too long to answer. Add to that stew Grorx, his assistant, and anyone else in Engineering who would hear about this and want to rubberneck, and that was already a recipe for people attempting to make way for other people by trying to move through still more people.
Which was yet another reason why Grorx was trying to keep this as quiet as possible for as long as possible. Preferably without waking second-shift Captain K'naax.
"It's going to be all right," soothed Grorx. "We're going to fix all of this with a minimum of trouble for all concerned."
The Human relaxed only a little. "I knew it was a problem the instant I felt my skin melding to the pipe. Followed by the numbness. That sort'a thing can only be very mondo bad. Watching my hand change colour wasn't fun either. How soon will the Mediks get here? I -uh- activated my eyecam after I saw the problem. Just in case."
Humans. Always up for leaving a record of the disaster, even if it meant their doom. Grorx had to be civil and calm to prevent the Human from either panicking or submitting to some form of shock. "You're doing great. I'm getting all the paperwork out of the way, because - wouldn't you know it? This is one of the more key junctures in ship functions."
"Swell," cheered the Human.
"What's your name? Mine's Grorx."
"Uh. Most call me Bree. It's easier for most cogniscents."
"Bree. Thank you. You have done well and may have saved the entire ship." Medik Lati was sending urgent texts to Grorx's eyescreen, including instructions on how to apply a tourniquet to Human Bree's arm. Grorx preferred to think of it as shutting off coolant flow to prevent further contamination. "The Medik's on their way, and hir name is Lati. Ze's sent me some instructions to follow, starting with a very tight band on your arm, here." Four centi-du's from the definitely necrotic flesh, right on the boundary where Human Bree would feel it. "How long have you been standing here, Human Bree?"
"Dunno. Hours, maybe. Feels like hours. My feet wanna kill me and my knees are next in line."
Grorx used his toolbox's lev pallet as an improvised seat and apologised for the wobble caused by the lev units taking on slightly more than they could hold. It was, after all, made for things and not people. "I'll tell Lati to bring you a hot, sweet beverage, too. What's your favourite?"
"Strawberry mocha, heavy on the whipped cream. I love scooping up the-- oh. Maybe make it a heavy latte. Can't hold it and scoop because of the embuggerance."
Grorx passed that along via the vocal link, and continued tightening the tourniquet. "You are aware that this hand is lost, yes? You can choose a replacement option now, if you want. No rush."
"Part of me wants a steampunk mechano-hand, but another part of me wants purple and sparkles. I've got like a week in trauma recovery to decide, though. Maybe we can design something that's both."
Grorx's assistant arrived, almost outpaced by a breathless Lati, and both of them whistled backwards.
A sure and certain sign of something expensive about to happen.
"Yeah, I kind'a figured," laughed Human Bree. "Long as we all get to walk away, right?" It was the kind of laugh that was three breaths away from screaming, and holding on to those breaths for dear life.
At least they got everything sorted before second-shift Captain K'naax woke up. That would have been a disaster.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / GeorgiosArt]
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