Archimedes was finishing a plan of action on a young female patient when his new instructions came in. The new orders were not at all to his liking, so he decided an in-person discussion was required. He pulsed signals into his communicator to be moved, then began severing and withdrawing several tendrils into his central mass.
An urgent email was sent to his orderly, Jeremy: "Tray AR-79 relocated to Lab 1, Rack G, any empty slot. Highest priority."
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Jeremy Silvas immediately stopped his cleaning task when the nearby terminal sounded. He logged in, read the instruction, and allowed himself a sigh. The specimen trays were massive and heavy, AR-79 especially so, and Lab 1 was at the very rear of the building. He was expected to do the relocations slowly and carefully so as to disturb the contents as little as possible, but they also seemed annoyed at the time it took him. And within a day or two they would almost certainly have him move it back.
He wished he knew what the point of it all was. His immediate supervisor claimed complete ignorance as to the origination of these commands. Jeremy knew Panacea did amazing work and were highly secretive, but he had taken this job expecting he'd get to see some part of the research they were doing.
With great care, Jeremy unlocked the rack and spread his arms to grip the tray, almost two meters wide. As he slid it out, he felt more than heard the sloshing of the liquid therein and detected the faint odor that always accompanied these moves. Jeremy suppressed his growing nausea and slowly, carefully, placed the tray on the wheeled cart that was set aside for just such transfers.
Jeremy passed no other workers on his long trek down to Lab 1, but once in the lab, he nodded cordially to the two researchers working there. Neither of them had specimen trays or other samples in front of them. Their work seemed to consist only of tracking data and records on the computer. He needed the assistance of one of the men there, a supervisor he knew, to unlock Rack G. It had two keyholes, and his key only opened one.
Jeremy always found the Lab 1 racks to be more revolting than those in the other labs. Some of the biological samples had been allowed to grow between adjacent trays, despite this obvious breach of experimental protocol (and basic cleanliness). His supervisor had made it very clear that this was to be expected and ignored. Once Jeremy had very carefully slid the tray into the vacant shelf in Rack G and made sure to secure the cabinet lock, he proceeded on his way, certain he would be called in before long to move the same tray yet again.
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Archimedes felt the sharp spike of visceral joy and satisfaction as his connection to the executive committee stabilized.
This enthusiasm dulled as he tasted their emotions and found disapproval and irritation to dominate. There was an underscent of panic as well that he didn't understand.
“Your new instructions are most urgent,” Athena insisted. “If you had any questions, you could have asked them over the digital system. Why are you here?” He still felt a background of respect and affection that always flowed from her, but the disapproval was strong.
“Is there some extra-medical reason why this particular patient is so important?" Archimedes asked.
Erastus replied with a hot rebuke. “The circumstances of your patients are not your concern. We merely need you to focus on their treatment and recovery.”
“I am overseeing the care of fifteen patients and actively concerned with the treatment of seven. You have instructed me to give those over to colleagues and focus solely on this one male patient. Yes, his case is severe, but the treatment is not novel. This is atypical behavior for you, these are not orders that I recognize, and therefore I wish to have more understanding of why they are important." Archimedes felt several of the leaders respond to this explanation with the scent of agreement.
After a short pause, Athena replied, “We are reaching a decision on public disclosure. This man is our best candidate for leading that venture.”
This took Archimedes by surprise; he hadn't been aware that the matter of disclosure had progressed so far. “Why then are we so concerned? He is missing only the lower parts of his body. I can easily regrow his lungs and place him on equipment allowing him to function even with the lower half absent.”
“He will not consider that acceptable. Restore him to full health and operation. That is how we gain our best bargaining position with him.”
“You are correct; this is not my area of expertise. When this patient, Gelf, is stabilized you will return me to my larger roster?” Archimedes attempted broadcast professional concern, but he knew some amount of his ambition shone through.
Erasmus answered, “Should this patient recover fully, it will have even more clearly proved your abilities as a healer. We will expand your roster and place you over Hypatia and Manach's teams."
"Then I shall assure the patient's full recovery." After appropriate salutations, Archimedes severed the connections, retracting full into his tray again before once more summoning his orderly.
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Jeremy sighed. It was almost exactly 36 hours since AR-79 was moved, and sure enough, he was now instructed to move it back.
He didn't mind the work. He just wished there was some way to know if anything he did was actually important.