Somebody was yelling.
No, he was yelling. His vocal cords were strained, the sound coarse and awful, which matched the pain in his chest. Now that he was thinking about it, that was why he was yelling. Fuck did it hurt.
Something clattered to the floor nearby, a pale shape hustling over to his bedside and clicking a box on the rail beside him. His eyes remained unfocused as cold meds flooded his chest, a shudder momentarily making the pain worse before his body settled. Alex was very much not sure what was going on right now, but now that whatever that was hit his system, that was OK. It was good to be, right now. He smiled and the dry skin of his lips cracked and bled, but he didn’t really feel that either.
Once he figured out how to focus his eyes again the world materialized around him. Sort-of familiar colors drew into focus on the ceiling, a wide ring of soft indirect light still a little too bright to look at. He cast his gaze around the room, taking in the bank of monitors next to him first.
He stared at them, trying to figure out what was up with all the lines. They moved, slowly, evenly. Little lights flashed in colors that didn’t mean anything to him, blue and yellow and orange. Whatever they were displaying, it seemed to be really stable. That’s when it hit him: that was medical equipment. He’d only seen stuff like that in movies set before the mediboard had been invented. Then again, he hadn’t spent much time in hospitals unless he was using one.
That bit of knowledge absorbed, he scanned further, the small room not ever coming into sharp focus beyond the bed that was just large enough to hold him. There were indistinct shapes that were equally likely to be a table or a chair, and one that was almost definitely a door. There was one blob that was different, sort of a stack of colors that looked, in his opinion, Tsla’o-like.
Alex focused on the Tsla’o shape and willed it into focus. Nothing happened for a moment, but it did shift a bit. Then, almost miraculously, it started to clarify. She was still standing next to the bed, violet eyes watching him inquisitively. He was disappointed to find that it wasn’t Carbon, but he should have known that even before she came into focus. The pale lavender fur was a dead giveaway. She looked different in another way he couldn’t put his finger on yet, and was clad in a blue jacket like Carbon had worn, a personal AI perched on her shoulders.
His mind shifted gears as he remembered being stabbed in the back, if only distantly. He hoped Tashen was alright, the beating he had been taking had looked vicious, and he hadn’t tried to protect himself. When he asked what happened, nothing remotely like words came out of his mouth. Just the rough murmur of his breath escaping him. He licked his lips and tried again, already feeling short of breath. Alex did manage to get the question out this time, even if it was hardly more than a whisper.
“You were attacked, my lord. Stabbed. Your assailant has been caught, thanks to your actions.” She watched him with cautious eyes.
The difference clicked in his head. She looked more fluffy than all the other Tslao he’d seen. The rest of them had slick fur, but she appeared to have an undercoat. He decided staring was probably not appreciated and shook his head, his brain sloshing around in there and spurring a headache. “Just Alex. Is Tashen OK? Where’s Carbon?”
She seemed nervous as she considered his questions, possibly because he had spent the better part of a minute scrutinizing her as intensely as he could before suddenly looking away. “Of course, Prince Sorenson. Tashen was beaten badly before you stopped the assassin, and he is still in recovery also. Princess Tshalen is currently attached to a diplomatic mission.”
He shook his head again, lips drawn tight. The cracks stretched and actually hurt as his voice returned, and breathing was starting to make his chest ache. Made sense, he had been run through. “Just Alex, please. Do you know when she’s going to be back? Is she still upset?”
“She was very upset, Sir. The first responders did the best that they could, but they did not adapt methods to your biology. We hope she will be back before the end of the day.” She nodded and seemed very earnest about everything, at least.
Alex tried to roll his eyes and let her call him sir. It felt far less awkward than lord or prince. “I meant about the marriage and her argument with Eleya. She was upset about that. Didn’t seem to want to see me.”
She looked confused for a moment and then understanding dawned upon her face. “Oh, that. I believe she is still upset at the Empress, but not with you. but she only left your side so that she could oversee a diplomatic team working on the acquisition of appropriate medical supplies.”
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The word ‘appropriate’ was unsettling in that sentence. “Medical supplies?”
“Yes, you were severely injured and the responding team used a tissue regenerator designed for Tsla’o biology. Your body rejected the new tissue immediately.” She seemed to be getting more comfortable talking to him, becoming a little more animated as she spoke.
His surroundings suddenly started to make more sense. Tissue regenerators were pretty common, so not a big surprise they had used one on him... even if they didn’t think about compatibility of the tissue they were regenerating. Structures must have been similar enough, even if the underlying cells were completely wrong. “You guys don’t have mediboards? What was the damage?”
“No, our medical technology is not that advanced yet. The blade punctured your lung and scored your... ah, I am sorry, Sir, I have never done well with internal anatomy.” She looked up for a moment as she tried to recall something, her eyes returning to him a moment later. “It scored your lung artery, which tore almost to the heart.”
Alex wasn’t familiar with a lung artery, but there were a bunch in there. Could just be a bad translation. When he replied, his voice had gone up an octave. “And what happened to the tissue?”
“As we have no human-safe anti-rejection drugs on board, they removed the dying organs.” She said it like it wasn’t that big a deal, though she seemed more cautious again.
He let that sink in, rolled it around in his brain for a moment and sussed it out carefully. Despite this, he could feel a spike of adrenaline hit his body, but no corresponding change in his heart rate. He couldn’t even feel his heart beat, now that he was thinking about it. A leaden hand moved to his chest, fingers delicately probing a thick protective layer of gel covering most of his chest, several tubes running out of it. Alex took a glance down that he immediately regretted, an angry red scar visible beneath it that ended just past his sternum. He couldn’t see the top of it. “You removed my lung and heart?”
“The doctors did, yes sir.” She hesitated and quickly added, “you were given an artificial heart, of course.”
That explained that. “And you didn’t try sending me back to Earth, literally a few minutes away? A planet that is covered in human medical supplies? That has ready-to-launch medical emergency ships that could have been ordered in?”
“I actually did suggest that.” She was very particular about making sure it was clear she hadn’t been the one making these decisions. “Carbon did, as well.”
A sigh hissed out between his teeth. “Eleya?”
“Ah. Yes, Sir. She did not want your-” She caught her words, hesitating before continuing, “the Confederation government getting involved.”
“I suppose calling my parents to let them know I’m not dead is out of the question?”
“Carbon notified them that there had been an accident and you were receiving care on board.” She tented her fingertips and looked away for a moment. “At Eleya’s request.”
Figures. He’d known her for an hour or whatever, and this was already par for the course. “But Carbon is getting something to actually patch me up, right?”
“Yes, sir. As I said, she should return soon.”
He rested his head against the pillow, forcing his body to relax, and sighed again. “My medkit was right there.”
“Sir?” She tilted her head, a little nod encouraging him to say enough to make sense.
“My medkit was right there, in my hand. Hard white box, a couple of red symbols on it?” He was pretty sure they hadn’t tried it, given everything he’d just learned. “CPP gets special units in case we get boarded. I gave that stabby fuck a shot of muscle relaxants so he’d stop beating the shit out of Tashen, but I didn’t get it back to myself.”
“Oh.” This was news, it seemed. If the first response team had tried it, word hadn’t made its way back to her. “Would what was left have been enough to repair your wounds?”
Alex really didn’t know if it would have been. It was mostly nanite-gel like the mediboards employed, just thin enough to be injectable. It was nowhere near as capable, the lack of a dedicated medical suite leaving it intended for short-term emergency repairs, not permanent fixes. “I mean, I’d probably have at least one more original organ right now.”
“I will make sure that the response teams are made aware of Human emergency medical equipment.” She gave him a little nod, resolute. Reminded him of how Carbon would do that.
“Good.” He was out of danger, apparently, and knowing that Carbon was working on getting him new organs was at once weird and comforting. Alex exhaled and relaxed a little. That seemed to put her at ease again. “Hey, I didn’t catch your name?”
Her eyebrows went up at his request. “Oh, yes, of course. I am Neya Khensha.”
“Neya.” Was this the Neya that Eleya mentioned, that had set Carbon off? Or was it a common name among the Tsla’o? Eleya’s comment that she needs good news echoed in his mind. Maybe now would not be the best time to investigate that further. The one person he knew was a good guide to Tsla’o stuff was off doing diplomatic stuff.
Her ears and antenna rose in curiosity. “Yes, Sir?”
“Just making sure I’m saying it right.” He looked around the room again and drummed his fingers on his legs. The haze of the drugs was mostly gone, replaced with a manageable though sharp ache in his chest. “So, what is there to do around here?”