Kel
Date July 14, 2116 Time 9:30 a.m. Location The Coeus
Perhaps forbidding Vond from turning off the infirmary lights while he slept was cruel.
However, Kel refused to change her mind.
Darkness bred corners where the man could set a trap; potentially incapacitate her with some cobbled-together contraption she had not realized him capable of making from his meager supplies.
The light was better.
The light was...safer.
Besides, it would likely off Vond’s circadian rhythm, and his confusion as to when “day” and “night” were in the void of space was something Kel might be able to use to her advantage at a later date. It was a solid tactic.
The soldier strode into the infirmary without any preamble. A bag of supplies she predicted they would need dangled loosely from her left hand. After a short scan for traps, she focused her attention on the shackle still solidly secured around her seemingly sleeping captive’s ankle.
Still there.
Still perfectly sealed.
Some of her tension immediately eased.
As long as that scrap of metal was in place, Vond was unlikely to try anything too foolish. No matter how much his accommodations scared him.
The operating tables had been some of the more difficult elements to transfer from the facility: the solid frames of the Dolos’ few mobile gurneys proved too long to fit in the bubble created by her personal shield, even expanded to its widest and flimsiest protective radius. She only had to dodge one mangled wreck of metal and padding before opting to take a few of the semi-foldable operating tables in the main lab instead. Amazing the difference just a little more flexibility could make.
If Vond did not find them comfortable enough for his liking, he could sleep on the floor.
Although from the looks of it, that would not be a problem.
As Kel drew closer, it became clear that her captive was, in fact, fast asleep. The complete absence of fear or tension in his features; the absolute limpness of his limbs as he lay curled up on his left side, testified to that. His torso swelled and shrank with even breaths, and with the injuries to the left side of his face half-hidden underneath the crook of his good arm, Vond’s visible expression seemed somewhat serene.
Were Kel unaware of his atrocities, she supposed she would have even thought he looked...innocent.
Fortunately, she knew enough to see through that illusion.
Kel grabbed Vond’s right shoulder, and shook hard.
Her captive’s eyes flew open.
He let out a squeaking gasp, and attempted to scramble away.
Kel maintained the firm grip on his shoulder, forced him onto his back, and easily prevented him from falling off of the operating table. He only resisted a moment more, before seeming to come to his senses.
A pathetic reaction, but one she had anticipated correctly.
Kel gave her captive a mocking smile. “Good morning, doctor.”
“M-morning.” His quiet voice shook, the abrupt awakening hindering any attempt to mask his emotions. The motley bruises and fading swelling on the left side of his face enhanced the terror in his eyes.
A decent starting point for their day.
She moved her hand from his shoulder, up into his messy hair, and smoothed it back for him.
Wisely, he kept still.
“Sleep well?”
A tense nod.
Well, that was one of them.
“Good, then we will begin after breakfast.” Kel drew an assortment of five ration bars from her bag, and set them on the bed beside him. “No pineapple, I promise.”
Vond looked hungrily at the food, but his bleary gaze quickly shifted back to her. “What are we doing?”
A billowing cloud of bed breath reached her nostrils; she took a more few steps back; covered her retreat with a waive of a hand at the supply shelves. “Making portable emergency kits. I want three. And explanations on how to use the equipment inside. But eat something first. I don’t want you distracted.”
The doctor’s shoulders relaxed. He nodded, and unwrapped the first ration pack in the pile. Chocolate-flavored, from the color and smell.
His eyes nearly rolled back into his head at the first bite.
Once again, unsurprising. She had not fed him yet. He had ruined that for himself the night prior with his insensitive comment.
But she needed his mind focused for the day ahead, so that punishment had to come to an end.
As her captive ate, Kel crossed to the operating table closest to the storage shelves, set down her bag; then withdrew a tablet from it, and began a check of their inventory.
“Everything had best still be in its place,” she turned her head sharply to give him a threatening glance.
He flinched; swallowed a mouthful of ration. “You said I could treat my arm. So your count’s going to be short a roll of bandages and a bit of surgical thread, and––”
“Right,” she cut him off. She should have performed inventory after allowing him to treat that particular wound, but his attitude had compelled her to allow him to wallow in his pain for a while. “Did you replace the suture kit that you used?”
“Yeah, it’s sterilized, and back on the shelf,” he sighed. “Not like I was going to try to suture you to death...but it’s there.”
It might have been a fair point, but Kel did not put anything past him.
She checked each suture kit in turn; confirmed that every needle, pair of pliers, and set of sharp scissors was in its proper place. Even the smallest needle could do severe damage in the right spot. She was not about to be blinded due to negligence.
As she worked, Kel kept her ears tuned for sounds of clinking metal. It would be nearly impossible for Vond to sneak up on her while trailing that chain, but once again, caution was paramount.
However, she heard nothing, and finished her checks in short order. The seal on a pill bottle of painkillers was broken. But it had been the day prior as well. Given the injuries to her captive’s throat, face and arm, she had expected that. And if she wanted him to be useful, she needed his mind focused on something other than pain.
However, she believed one of the vials containing what Vond had claimed was an antibiotic had a lower level than the day prior. Why, she was uncertain. A simple cut from a blade that had been in her own body before it slashed his was not the kind of thing infections came from. That only happened from truly filthy weaponry.
Perhaps it was different for regular Humans?
She would question him about that, if he did not supply an answer himself in short order.
But everything potentially dangerous to her seemed to be in place, so there was no need for a truly harsh reaction.
Kel crossed back to Vond; frowned as she noticed that, in the entire time she had been going through their inventory, he had only eaten one of the five ration bars which she had supplied. He should have had time for far more than that.
“Aren’t you going to finish breakfast?”
The doctor gave her an odd look; glanced nervously at the rations. “I...um...one bar’s enough for now. Don’t want to eat too fast. Thank you. I’ll eat the others later.”
Perhaps he was rationing; not wanting to risk going without again. She did not intend to starve him to death, but after well over a day without food, she supposed he had no way to know that.
Regardless, it was his loss.
“Very well,” Kel shrugged. “Go brush your teeth, and take care of anything else you need to take care of in the bathroom, and then we will begin.”
More relief crossed the man’s face. The chain attached to Vond’s ankle clinked noisily as he rose, stiffly made his way to the room at the back of the infirmary, and closed the door as much as the chain would allow.
Kel grimaced as sounds echoed out of that small, metal room.
Perhaps she could take a small slice out of the bottom of the door to allow him to close it fully. She had no interest in hearing his bodily functions, or seeing him in that state should a shift of the chain swing the door open.
Then again, this made it far more difficult for him to attempt to barricade himself in there. And a hole at the bottom of the door would do little to solve the sound issue.
Something to think on later.
Soon, the doctor returned to the main room. He had taken the time to tame his hair into a neat coif. Whether to prolong his time out of Kel’s sight, or out of an innate fastidiousness, the soldier could not yet tell. The effect made the man look far more fitted to his neon green scrubs than the scraggly man who had entered the bathroom.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Still, it was not a perfect effect. The stubble compounded with the bruises on the left side of his face, reshaping it to something which would have appeared deranged or dangerous on someone with a modicum of power. And his uniform was still wrinkled from sleep and the previous day’s excitement.
But, she had not allowed him any way to remedy either eyesore, so she could not reasonably rebuke him for those flaws.
Perhaps this slight disorder was better. It would be a constant reminder that he was not what he claimed to be.
Still, she would need to provide him a change of clothes soon, before the reek of fearful sweat seeped too deeply into his current set to wash out. Kel needed a medic, not a biohazard.
“Alright,” Vond drew a deep breath in. “So, you said we were working on emergency––”
“We will get to that,” Kel cut him off. “First, let me examine your arm.”
Vond hesitated for a moment, but made the smart choice, and held his injured arm out to her.
As it had the day before, his cast pulsed with a violet glow. His fingers looked slightly less stiff, but she did not pay that much attention.
Instead, her eyes shifted to the white bandage wrapped around his forearm.
She seized his arm by the elbow, a little harder than necessary, and began to unwrap the bandage.
“It’s best to keep it covered for at least a day,” the doctor’s voice was shaky, but he didn’t try to pull away. “It helps with healing––”
“How can I have an experiment if I cannot gather data?” She didn’t stop, and he didn’t do anything foolish.
The last few layers of bandage stuck slightly to each other where a red stain permeated the white cloth.
Vond sucked in a breath as Kel made short work of peeling away the remaining gauze covering the actual sutures, but the doctor remained compliant.
Finally, Kel saw them.
A series of small, black loops, neatly connected with a thread of the same material above the skin, forced the edges of an angry red line across the man’s arm to connect. The cut was framed with pink, inflamed skin; crusted over with yellow and red seepage, and in one place it appeared to still be slightly weeping a clear liquid.
...This was how a wound was supposed to look an hour after the injury, not the next morning.
At least, for her.
“It hasn’t healed,” Kel muttered.
“Yeah, I did what you said,” Vond claimed. “It’s not my best work. Hand-sewn sutures aren’t something I use much, and I’m not left-handed, but it’ll hold.”
“Will it scar?” Kel had heard of those.
Her captive sighed. “Unless you let me treat it with more than painkillers and an antiseptic...then yeah. At least for––”
“I didn’t say you could use medications.”
For a foolish, clearly instinctive moment, his arm twitched in her grip, but seemed to quickly realize the futility. “You just said not to accelerate the healing. I couldn’t stitch myself up without numbing it first, and that won’t affect how it heals. And the healing time I gave you was for a sterile wound, not an infected one, so if you really want your...your experiment...to be accurate, antiseptics are part of the process. I thought it was just implied that I could––”
“You inferred wrong.” He had answers for everything, didn’t he? Was this how he explained away his actions well enough to sleep so soundly? “When I give you instructions, I expect them to be followed to the letter, understood?”
The man’s face pinched in confusion. “You said you wanted my hands ‘operational.’ Letting an infection set in is a surefire way to risk that. Antibiotics help prevent infections, which seems in line with what you said you wanted me to do. So how am I not following––”
She slapped him.
Not hard.
Just enough to make her point.
Still, a new red mark began to spread across the doctor’s stubbled jawline. Annoying tears welled in Vond’s eyes; his lower lip began to quiver like an infant’s.
Pathetic.
She grabbed his chin; forced his watery gaze to focus on her.
“Do not argue with me. Understood?”
He nodded stiffly in her grip; she released him; gestured towards the discarded bandages.
“Wrap it again.”
He hesitated; looked towards the back of the room; back to her. “C-can I please use the sterile sink first? And fresh gauze and bandages? It’ll help stop infections.”
Kel thought about it for a moment. In truth, she had no objections to him using fresh supplies, as long as he did not waste them, and he informed her of exactly what he had used, and how much. Mainly, she wanted to avoid the risk of him creating some incapacitative concoction to use on her with misappropriated medicines.
But the fear in his voice when he spoke of infections...well, it indicated that such things were in fact far more dangerous to ordinary Humans than she had initially believed. Perhaps she could find a copy of a Human anatomy text, to compare his claims to the known scientific reality...if she could find the time.
Regardless, Vond had asked politely. And was obediently waiting for an answer.
Best to err on the side of caution.
“Tell me exactly what you use,” Kel ordered. “I will note it in the inventory. The count had better be correct tomorrow.”
Vond wiped his eyes on the shoulder of his neon green scrub top, nodded, and clinked off to the back of the room.
Even her limited medical knowledge, it quickly became clear that the man was not attempting to trick her. At least, not about the appropriate treatment of his injury. The wound was re-wrapped in short order, and the old gauze discarded in a small biohazard bin affixed to the side of the rear sterile sink.
“So, um, what kind of environment are you expecting to be in when you use the emergency kits?” He re-approached her cautiously, but without needing coaxing. “There’s only so much room, so it’d help to know if you plan to need them while working on the ship, or if you’re going to a planet or moon where you might need a specific––”
“What makes you believe we are on a ship?” She kept her face blank.
Predictably, the man winced. “It’s either a ship, space station, or some kind of base. I...well, if the kits are for any of those, then I probably don’t need to know which. They should be about the same.”
Kel maintained her poker face. “Should be?”
“Unless you’ve got some hazards here that I don’t know about, then yes,” Vond claimed. “Just basic kits for basic accidents in a place without dangerous flora or fauna. Stuff to treat a bump on the head, or a cut, or burns, or...well...laser burns? With your...line of work...I’m guessing laser burns would be more common.”
Her ‘line of work...’
Well, this could prove insightful.
Kel tilted her head. “And what exactly do you believe my ‘line of work’ to be?”
He shifted uncomfortably. “I’d rather not guess.”
“Oh, so you enjoy being in pain?”
Another wince.
The ring on his left hand glinted as he absently brushed the bruises on his throat. “I...think you’re a pirate. Stealing what you can, where you can...and, sometimes, who you can, to make a fortune off people without your firepower or...or strength. But you’re definitely not with one of the cartel crews. They don’t leave survivors, and you said you didn’t kill anyone on my ship. So maybe you’re pretty new at it, and trying to make a name for yourself by leaving a bunch of witnesses behind, or maybe––”
“And if you are right,” Kel allowed herself to smirk at the misdirection, “then what does that make you?”
A coward. A spineless, weakling tool, too afraid of being injured to refuse her demands. A––
“Your slave.”
Kel blinked. “Beg pardon?”
Vond drew a deep breath; let it out. “That’s what I am, right? I’m ‘whatever you want me to be,’ like you said yesterday. You don’t need to hurt me anymore. I’ll do what you want. I’ll be your medic, and I won’t try to run. I’ll be––”
“No,” Kel glared. “You are not a slave. You are a prisoner.”
The doctor hesitated; then shook his head; spoke slowly; deliberately. “Forcing a prisoner to work makes them a slave. The definition fits, whether you like it or––”
She raised a fist.
He flinched, and stared at the floor.
Kel felt a pit in her stomach.
...Oh.
Oh no.
She lowered her hand.
A few of his points...might...have merit.
But she was still in the right.
After everything he had done, she could be treating him far, far worse, and still be in the right.
And that...word...she refused to believe it truly fit his situation.
After all, if it did, then what would that make her?
“You are a prisoner,” Kel said it like an order. “Understood?”
Vond lowered his arms. He gave her a look that momentarily made Kel believe he was going to continue his foolish argument...but then simply sighed, and nodded. “Understood, Kel. So, emergency kits?”
Better.
“If you would be so kind.”