Buttercup.
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Jezz didn't like the idea of going in unarmed one bit. Sure, some melee weapons made out of scrap probably wouldn't have done her much good if anything bad happened in a hi-tech compound where the guards probably carried rayguns or someshit, but she felt naked without at least a dagger stashed somewhere under that cloak. But all those scary sensors and scanners would surely pick it up, so... Oh well.
All the hyper-formal interactions between Ayah and her colleagues were completely alien. Jezz understood the words, sure, but it was rare to hear them spoken with such care and what she interpreted as fake deference. She had no time for such bullshit, but these people clearly did and well, she had to do things on their terms for now. Not saying a word to anyone but Ayah seemed like a good enough plan in any case.
Eventually they arrived at one of the surgery wards in the infirmary. Damn, look at all that machinery. Jezz would've fantasised about scavenging it for supplies but she wouldn't even know what the purpose of most of this might've been, all she knew was it looked vaguely scary. Was this a good idea? Well, the more important question was: did she have a better one?
"Take off your shoe."
Yeah she could do that.
"So uhh... you guys always talk like that?" she couldn't help but ask now that they were alone again. Sure, the way Ayah was speaking the entire time suggested this was second nature rather than some servile facade, but it was still hard to believe. "WELCOME, DR AYAH BAYAN! Time a-lot-it is 45 minutes." She did her best to replicate that posh pronunciation and chuckled a little at her comedic genius. Yeah she was a bit nervous, leave her alone.
"Anyway, uh... what's all this shit?" Towels and gauze she recognised, but the can with some green goop sloshing around in it was worrying.
"Superior grade medi-gel. It will sting a little when I apply it to the wound, but you should feel much better in a matter of minutes."
"Sounds good. Okay, let's get this over with."
Ayah carefully took off the old bandages. Jezz snuck a peek at what it looked like underneath and honestly, it still wasn't great. The other woman started cleaning the wound, removing all the extra tissue and dry blood before spraying some liquid on it and carefully scrubbing some residue off with a wet wipe. So far this was nothing new.
The medical anthropologist grabbed one of the numerous devices on the tray and took an x-ray (not that Jezz knew what that was). "Hmm, this looks surprisingly good. Two slightly chipped metatarsals, but nothing is outright broken. The medi-gel should suffice." She opened the can and poured a bit of its suspicious contents in her hand. Then she started rubbing it into the wound... Yeah this felt weird. Awful, even. What Jezz didn't know was that it wasn't just some chemical – medi-gel owed its miraculous healing properties to nanorobots which analysed the surrounding tissue and rearranged it to minimise blood loss, repair nerve and blood vessel connections and facilitate natural healing. Once that job was done they bio-degraded into a harmless substance with analgetic properties. But who cares about that when your foot HURTS LIKE HELL?!
"Ughhh... I'd kick ya but that'll only make it worse."
Ayah was fully concentrating on the procedure so she reacted only with a non-verbal 'just a little longer, I promise. you can do it. you're a big girl'. After some time she shone a weird lamp on the wound and started dressing it in bandages again.
"Well, uh... did it work? 'Cause if it doesn't, I swear to god..."
All the hyper-formal interactions between Ayah and her colleagues were completely alien. Jezz understood the words, sure, but it was rare to hear them spoken with such care and what she interpreted as fake deference. She had no time for such bullshit, but these people clearly did and well, she had to do things on their terms for now. Not saying a word to anyone but Ayah seemed like a good enough plan in any case.
Eventually they arrived at one of the surgery wards in the infirmary. Damn, look at all that machinery. Jezz would've fantasised about scavenging it for supplies but she wouldn't even know what the purpose of most of this might've been, all she knew was it looked vaguely scary. Was this a good idea? Well, the more important question was: did she have a better one?
"Take off your shoe."
Yeah she could do that.
"So uhh... you guys always talk like that?" she couldn't help but ask now that they were alone again. Sure, the way Ayah was speaking the entire time suggested this was second nature rather than some servile facade, but it was still hard to believe. "WELCOME, DR AYAH BAYAN! Time a-lot-it is 45 minutes." She did her best to replicate that posh pronunciation and chuckled a little at her comedic genius. Yeah she was a bit nervous, leave her alone.
"Anyway, uh... what's all this shit?" Towels and gauze she recognised, but the can with some green goop sloshing around in it was worrying.
"Superior grade medi-gel. It will sting a little when I apply it to the wound, but you should feel much better in a matter of minutes."
"Sounds good. Okay, let's get this over with."
Ayah carefully took off the old bandages. Jezz snuck a peek at what it looked like underneath and honestly, it still wasn't great. The other woman started cleaning the wound, removing all the extra tissue and dry blood before spraying some liquid on it and carefully scrubbing some residue off with a wet wipe. So far this was nothing new.
The medical anthropologist grabbed one of the numerous devices on the tray and took an x-ray (not that Jezz knew what that was). "Hmm, this looks surprisingly good. Two slightly chipped metatarsals, but nothing is outright broken. The medi-gel should suffice." She opened the can and poured a bit of its suspicious contents in her hand. Then she started rubbing it into the wound... Yeah this felt weird. Awful, even. What Jezz didn't know was that it wasn't just some chemical – medi-gel owed its miraculous healing properties to nanorobots which analysed the surrounding tissue and rearranged it to minimise blood loss, repair nerve and blood vessel connections and facilitate natural healing. Once that job was done they bio-degraded into a harmless substance with analgetic properties. But who cares about that when your foot HURTS LIKE HELL?!
"Ughhh... I'd kick ya but that'll only make it worse."
Ayah was fully concentrating on the procedure so she reacted only with a non-verbal 'just a little longer, I promise. you can do it. you're a big girl'. After some time she shone a weird lamp on the wound and started dressing it in bandages again.
"Well, uh... did it work? 'Cause if it doesn't, I swear to god..."
