Hospital Visit

An Apex Short Story

-by Ninmast Nunyabiz-

You always knew a hospital when you were in one. The smell of antiseptic and plastic, the constant low hum of activity, the sounds of monitors and life-sustaining machines. Apparently, that was true even on another planet a galaxy away that no other human had ever set foot on.

This was Ashley's first time being rolled into one on a gurney, though. To be fair, "rolled" was inaccurate. That had bumps and jostles over every shift in terrain that transferred itself up into your body. Union medics used hovertech to make the process heavenly smooth.

They also used an armed paramilitary squad, but that may have just been for her. None of them were interested in listening to her, either. Not about how the constant threats of violence were unnecessary, or that she hadn't done anything wrong.

Not that she'd been saying much for a bit now. The medics had injected her with an anesthetic that made her feel relaxed and took away the pain in her side. From the EMT chatter, it was also supposed to knock her out, but they were afraid of giving her too much, either. Instead, she was pushed through the double doors handcuffed to the gurney and with a fading high.

Fading too fast, as it turned out, and she hissed and twisted away when somebody with plastic gloves and a face mask pried the wound open to check for particulates and wash it out. At least, that was what it felt like.

The soldier police officers immediately started barking orders at her that she couldn't understand in the moment, and from the sound of equipment, they were training weapons on her again, too. Not that she could do anything about that.

Above it all, a woman's voice cut through even the soldiers. It, too, was muddled, as if Ashley's language implant was as drugged as she was, but it sounded angry, and in short order, it was the only one barking commands. Soon after, the room was notably emptier, though she couldn't be sure when she actually got to a room.

The masked face appeared in her vision again, and spoke slowly, calmly. "Can you understand me?"

Groggily, the human nodded.

"That's impressive," the woman praised as she fiddled with some tubes and the pain faded again. "The medics said they dosed you twice. Once should have had you lost in dreamland."

"Dedicated ... organ ..."

"So it's true. You're not Undpani."

"Human," she provided with a slow shake of her head. "I get that a lot ..."

The woman that she assumed to be a doctor continued working with something out of her line of sight, making the conversation like it was a perfectly normal thing to do. On some level, Ashley's mind flagged it as a diversionary tactic, to keep her focused on talking instead of whatever she was doing with her hands, but the human couldn't quite bring herself to care.

"I'd imagine so. The similarity is striking. That's probably where the medics got their dosage. So why don't you tell me how you got stabbed in the first place, hmm? Must be quite the story."

Ashley gave another slow shake of her head. "We were ... attacked by preds. Heading home from class. I tried to fight them off to buy the others time to run away. Get help."

"That's very heroic," the doctor praised.

"It's uncomfortable."

The doctor blinked. "Getting stabbed? I would imagine so."

"No, whatever you're doing down there. Feels like you're peeling me open, but I can only feel you doing it."

"Sorry about that." A red hand adjusted something and the discomfort faded. "Is that better?"

The human nodded. "You didn't stop, did you? You just tranq'd me more."

"Don't you worry about that. Tell me more about humans. Was this normal behavior for one?"

"I'd like to think so," Ashley answered. "Risking yourself for others is considered the greatest thing you can do."

"That sounds dangerous," the doctor mused.

Ashley grunted and resisted the urge to shift as an awkward lack of sensation reached the side of her stomach. "It comes with the caveat that you should be more capable than the person you're helping, or you just make two people for someone else to save."

"I see," the woman above her intoned. "So it's the highest regard, but not expected of everyone?"

"Not everyone is up to every challenge," Ashley countered tiredly. "And some people are better at different ones than others. Knowing your strengths and making sure you're ready to use them is a big responsibility."

The doctor chuckled. "Your people sound like knights." Then she paused. "Ah, did that translate?"

Ashley gave a drunken nod. "Noble warriors of upright virtue who ride to the defense of others? Yeah, it translated." She let her head list to the side. "We're not all knights. Every group has its bad apples. But we strive to be, or would like to. Everyone dreams of being a hero at least once in their lives."

"What a dichotomy," the doctor answered. "You speak as if it's the norm, but it's really quite the exception. Rather, isn't it more normal to shy away from conflict? To reduce it?"

"Never escalate a battle unless forced," the human replied. "At least, I'm pretty sure I heard that somewhere. A knight, a hero, wouldn't try to make a situation worse. De-escalation is a whole thing, right?"

"Right," the doctor agreed, then paused again. "You said you were leaving school. What are you studying?" She turned to a nurse and handed something off with a quick instruction.

"Ah, I'm in remedial classes on a refugee visa right now," the brunette answered after a sluggish pause to gather her thoughts.

"A refugee? From where?"

"My home planet. Sol-Three." She grunted again. "Do you have to be doing whatever you're doing in there?"

Another adjustment on the gauges from that red hand. "Sorry about that. We're almost done. What's happening on your homeworld? Is it at war?"

A slow shake of Ashley's head. "No. At least, I don't think so. I don't really know what's wrong with it, but I'm not allowed back because I met aliens."

"New aliens?"

"Union aliens. Humans are the new ones. To you guys, anyway. Worried about contamination or something, so they brought me back with them."

"The Union members were worried about contamination?" The doctor spoke as if such a thing were unexpected behavior.

"No, my people were. Makes sense. Whole civilizations have been wiped out by new diseases from foreign people."

"How ghastly," the doctor intoned. "It's fortunate that most diseases can't hop between species, then."

"Ours can. It's hard, but some of the worst are the jumpers."

"Yours must be an unusually virulent world. Swampy?"

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Some parts," Ashley indifferently agreed. "I wouldn't know if it's worse than others. It's just normal to me."

"Of course not. I didn't mean to put you on the spot. Have you been sick since you got here?"

"No. I had some congestion the first week that I thought was going to turn into something like a flu, but it faded before it ever reached that point."

"Hrmm." That almost sounded concerning, if Ashley had been cognizant enough to care. "And has anyone close to you been sick?"

"I don't really have any. It's just me here."

"What about those friends you were walking home with?"

Ashley paused to consider the question. "I hadn't thought to ask. Meuget was gone for a couple days not long after I got congestion, actually, but she never said why."

The doctor gave that hum again, but changed the subject. "After you get your remedials done, do you know what you are going to do?"

Some light returned to the young woman's eyes. "Ah, I want to study Artificial Intelligence!"

"Really?" the doctor asked with genuine surprise on her face.

"It's fascinating," she insisted. "Creating a whole, real person from code! It's the kind of thing my people dream about doing! Nothing less than the creation of new life from nothing but raw science!"

The doctor chuckled. "I didn't mean anything against the field. You know, we have a course in it alongside neurology?"

"Really? I guess that would make sense. There must be a good amount of overlap."

"Not as much as you'd think," the doctor admitted. "And it was little more than an introductory class, so it wouldn't be long before you knew more than I do on the subject."

The doctor worked for a moment more, then gave a gentle clap of her red hands. "Well, that about does it, Miss Human! We'll get you to a room to recover, and I'll do my best to make sure that trigger-happy security detail of yours gives you space."

She knew she should ask how bad it was, but the question just couldn't make it all the way to her mouth. There was another one in the way, even as she watched the doctor peel off the red hands - right, they were gloves - to reveal blue ones underneath. Wait, weren't the gloves white? They were already out of her sight, and the details were muddling in her stupor.

"Doctor, why were you surprised I wanted to go into AI?"

The question surprised the woman again, clearly. "Oh, well, from what you were telling me about your people, I expected to hear you wanted into law, or to become a Defender."

That second one confused her. A Defender was both law enforcement and soldier, charged with keeping the peace and protecting people from preds. The people who had pointed the guns at her were supposed to be Defenders.

"Oh, I don't know," she waffled. "I'm just some girl. I'm nothing special like that."

One last time, the doctor chuckled. "I think your friends would disagree. It takes someone special to be a knight for someone else." And she flagged some orderlies down, said goodbye to the human, and was off to another emergency.

A knight for someone else. Ashley mused on those words as the ceiling above her began to move again.

* * *

It was later, in another room, an office. The chief practitioner's office, in fact, but it wasn't him sitting behind the desk. Instead, it was a slender man who spoke in an even, quiet cadence, and was clad in a black, reinforced bodysuit underneath a military-grade combat rig. His blue jacket with the emblem of a planet, moon and star was tossed over the corner of a table.

His first words had been the chilling warning that nothing said there was to leave the room.

Across from him was the doctor who had treated the Human, a species just that evening recategorized as a Predator.

Recategorizations never happened. It was always obvious which category a race fell into, and they didn't change. Yet one had happened tonight. A predator had slipped through the gates, as it were, intentionally or no, and if there was anything to warrant heads rolling, that would certainly qualify.

As a consequence, there was a rush to learn more about the beast, to make sure they knew what they were dealing with. Her fellow classmates had already been questioned under the guise of asking about the attack, and their teachers would be questioned tomorrow.

Well, former classmates and teachers. Obviously, a predator couldn't be allowed to attend a university. One might as well roll out a buffet and ask the beast not to feast. It was the law for a reason.

The students had been categorized as potential targets of the predator, luring them out under a friendly disguise. Most predators weren't that subtle, but it was the only explanation that made sense. Instead, if the Human had tried anything, the girls were oblivious to it. They even refused to accept the idea that their so-called friend was a predator at all. They'd eaten salads together for lunch that very day.

With the doctor, he was more hopeful. The woman would be objective, and was trained in behavior studies. Considering she'd been rooting around in the beast, if he was really lucky, she might even have some idea of how to deal with it.

"Doctor, thank you for seeing me," he opened.

"Your men ordered me in here, officer," she countered calmly. "Let's not play pretend. I'm far too busy. Every moment I spend in here, lives are literally on the line."

The slender man held up his hands across from her. "I'm not here to cause you problems, Doctor. If lives weren't on the line, we wouldn't be troubling you."

She crossed her arms and her legs both. "This is about that girl that came through with a knife wound and a squad of Defenders that nearly shot my E.R. up because she had the gall to be in pain."

"That 'girl' was a dangerous predator, Doctor."

"Don't put it in air quotes like that, officer! I don't care if she's a rock! She's a patient here, and she will be treated with all according dignity!"

The officer slapped the desk. "She killed three people tonight!"

Silence fell over the room, but the doctor didn't unfold her limbs. Instead, she let the tension simmer before she asked, "Did it hurt?"

"Did what hurt?"

"For you to call three preds people."

The man visibly got a handle on his temper before it could break loose again. "Doctor, I'm going to ask some questions about ... your patient. This will go faster if you cooperate instead of attempting to antagonize a Defender on duty."

"Ask away," she replied. "Just don't think your boys are getting any further into her room than the hallway."

The officer gave a tired sigh. "Doctor, I really thought you would be more objective than this."

"You nearly. Shot up. My E.R.," she slowly repeated. "You're already in the hole with me, Officer. Ask your questions. Just don't mistake cooperation for camaraderie."

"Very well." The officer sat up straighter before starting. "Did you notice anything unusual, biologically, about the patient?"

"You mean like the fact that she was on enough anesthetic to kill a man twice her size and was still conscious?"

The officer's eyes narrowed. "Yes, like that."

The doctor uncrossed her arms to rub at her cheek in consideration. "Well, her muscle fibers were thick. Caused her discomfort when I tried to move past them. In fact, she has a very sensitive nervous system in general, able to pinpoint what I was doing and relay it to her even through all of the nerve dampeners the equipment was administering."

"It's sensitive to pain, then?"

The doctor shook her head, choosing to interpret the officer as referring to the nervous system. "I couldn't tell you from what I saw. I stress again that she was already under heavy sedation."

The officer nodded. "Anything else?"

"If I didn't have the medical reports, I'd have reported your team for neglect," the doctor continued. "That wound looked hours old. Heavy clotting and some flesh already stitching together. I had to open it back up to make sure everything sealed properly. If the knife wound hadn't been so deep, she wouldn't have needed us at all."

The officer took a note down at that. "Notable healing factor ..."

"There was something else, too," the Doctor added. "The medical scanner detected a dense cluster of neurons as we approached the stomach."

The officer raised his head at that. "Neurons, Doctor?"

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think she had a second brain."

The officer leaned over the desk. "DO you know better?"

The doctor frowned back at him in offense. "Yes, of course I do. The bioscans were very clear. Mental activity took place within the cranium, just like the biological standard."

"Theorize as to the purpose of this second brain, then."

"It's attatched to the digestive system," she reasoned, "so it must be involved with that. It would make it the most complex, advanced digestive system I'd ever seen, like needing a dedicated computer to run your toaster."

"That's a fancy toaster," the officer agreed.

The doctor nodded. "Of further concern is her bile."

"Bile?"

"The contents of the stomach that serve to break down your food into absorbable nutrients, predominantly stomach acid," she explained. "We were able to clean up what leaked through, but it caused caustic burns on what it contacted. Not that you care, we were able to treat that, too."

"Your equipment was fine?"

"Only because of so little direct contact. I have no doubt it is capable of breaking down most metals at that acidity."

"And how acidic are we speaking?"

"Quite frankly, Officer, it might very well be the most caustic natural substance known to medicine."

He made another note. "You spoke with the ... patient while you worked. Why?"

Her arms crossed again. "To keep her distracted, of course. Getting dug around in is a disturbing experience for anyone. Since she wasn't unconscious, standard practice is to keep her mind on something else."

"And what did you discuss?"

"A number of things. What happened, what her people are like, what she's studying."

"She's not studying anything," the officer insisted vehemently. "Preds are prohibited from attending public universities."

"Predators are," she tersely corrected him. "You have no evidence she was engaged in pred behavior and abundant evidence to the contrary."

"I don't tell you how to diagnose a wound, Doctor," he bit back. "Don't tell me how to read evidence."

"You're wrong about her," the doctor persisted. "She is not a pred. She risked her life for the sake of others, for no reason other than it was needed."

The officer placed a hand on the desk. "Is that what she told you? Forgive me, Doctor, but I'm not in the habit of taking predators at their word."

"There is a reason anesthesia is used as a truth serum in the holos, officer. It's because lying takes a mental focus that is very hard to manifest under its influence."

She turned away with a sigh, looking vaguely in the direction of the patient rooms, vaguely in the direction of the Human girl. "Even she doesn't realize it, but she might very well have more in common with the Defenders than you do."