WORLD 4: AWAKENING

Hours into inventory, I couldn’t take it anymore and needed a break. My head was in a fog from the constant back and forth between supplies and the inventory list, my eyes seeing double, Ceres’ random humming annoying me to such a level that I had to step away before I said something I’d regret.

We’d been at it all morning, having patients pop in for an appointment every now and then. Kai would do the initial exam, and call either me or Ceres to assist. Just as I was coming out from the bathroom, I heard a nervous voice.

“Mayla?”

Ebie stood in the doorway to Med Lev. I ran to greet her with a friendly hug. We’d become well-acquainted over the years, considering she was a Senior Officer and worked with my father frequently. Her chin-length hair was midnight black and made a dramatic contrast with her eyes. If Athan’s teeth were overly white, then Ebie’s eyes were overly green. They were the brightest, most beautiful shade and every time I saw her I felt a pang of jealousy. But only a little bit; my blue-gray eyes were something I’d inherited from my mother that I would never give up. Normally, they weren’t anything special, but when I cried, they turned beautiful shade of bright blue.

“I’ve got a sick one for you today,” said Ebie, holding to her side a young girl who shared her deep hair color. The girl’s little arms crossed over her stomach and her pale cheeks were streaked with tears.

“What’s wrong, Taegan?” I asked quietly, reaching to pull up her chin. She whimpered something back.

Ebie’s face was just as pained. “She’s been complaining that her stomach hurts. Last night she started throwing up and this morning the pain has been really bad.”

I led them over to an exam table while Ceres alerted Kai of the situation. “I’m sure we’ll find out what’s going on, don’t worry.” I felt that guilty excitement begin to grow again and tried to hide it.

Kai shuffled from his office over to us. “Hey there, darling. What seems to be the problem?”

After another overview of the symptoms and a short exam, Kai’s face grew more concerned. “Mayla, can you go get a scanner, please?” he asked quietly. His bushy, white eyebrows furrowed as he kept his eyes right on Taegan.

My expression lifted instinctively. “Sure!” I shouted in excitement, then brought my level back down to normal. “I mean, no problem.”

Running over to a supply cabinet, I retrieved a scanner. It was a square, clear screen about two feet wide.

Ceres leaned against the cabinet with a frown. “Why do you get the good ones? All I got to do today was wrap up some stupid sprained ankle.”

“That’s what happens when you suck at your job, Ceres,” I teased and ran off. He mumbled out some kind of nasty name at me I didn’t stop to pay attention to.

“Here it is!” I exclaimed as I jogged back to the group.

“Alright, why don’t you do the scan, Mayla?” said Kai.

“Really?” I said with as much composure as possible. I’d never actually done a scan by myself before.

“Sure! You know how to by now, so get to it.”

The thrill I felt was running full-speed; I fought against all natural urges and kept my voice at a normal level. Pressing a button in one corner of the screen, it lit up softly white around the edges.

“Taegan, I’m just going to hold this over your belly; it’s not going to hurt at all, okay?” I said.

She nodded tearfully.

I positioned the screen a few inches over her little body and watched it come to life. Color images of the inside of her abdomen appeared, revealing to us exactly what everything looked like in detail. I could zoom in, or look deeper into the organs with just a push of different buttons.

“Ahh,” said Kai. His wrinkled eyes squinted as he hovered over the other side of the screen. It seemed like he knew what was going on already. I nodded to pretend like I understood exactly what he was talking about.

“What is it?” asked Ebie. Her arms were crossed over her body, knuckles white from clenching the sides of her dark blue shirt so tightly.

“Something is pinching off part of her intestines,” he replied. “Do you see it, Mayla? Right there.”

He pointed at part of the screen and I zoomed in to see. Finally, I caught a glimpse; part of the intestine had been squeezed shut, pinched and torqued in a way. No wonder she was hurting.

“Uh-oh,” I mumbled.

“Mayla?” Kai asked me again.

“Yes, yes I see it!”

“What can you do?” asked Ebie, her voice beginning to waver. Tears welled up in her gorgeous green eyes.

I handed the screen to Kai and put an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t worry! We can take care of it easily, right?” I looked to Kai. My eyebrows raised as a signal that he needed to tell her something good.

“Absolutely, don’t worry one bit.” He patted Taegan’s head and smiled at her reassuringly. “I’ve seen this kind of thing countless times, never had anyone die from it. Not yet, at least!”

Ebie’s eyes flashed with fear as he mentioned death and I cringed. But Kai didn’t even notice.

“So she’ll just need surgery, which isn’t a big deal,” I assured her.

Thankfully, Kai didn’t make another joke. “That’s right, it’s fairly routine. We’ll just keep her for a night afterward to watch her and then she can go home.”

“When will you do the surgery? Right now?” asked Ebie.

Kai shook his head. “No, we’ll fabricate some pain meds to keep her comfortable, then wait for another surgeon to come in. I’m trying to get away from surgery these days, you know.” He frowned but gave a deep chuckle. “A little too old for that kind of steady hand. Tylenian should be coming in for his shift any time now, he’ll do an excellent job.”

Ebie breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay, that sounds good.”

With a final wave, Kai slowly walked off to fabricate the pain medication. I let go of Ebie and turned to her. “So my dad said you guys have been really busy lately?”

She jumped a little and breathed out a nervous laugh. “What? I mean, yes. Yes, I’ve been busy with him planning. A lot of planning for Science Lev and everything.”

“I’m sure there’s a ton for you guys to get ready, with all the stuff you’ll be doing out there. I think more than any other Level, right?”

She let out another unnatural sound. “Oh yes, all of my Science Officers are very anxious to get down to work on an actual planet. It’s been non-stop planning for months for us.”

“Ah, well no wonder you’ve had so many meetings with my dad.”

“Yes, Archauus definitely likes to hold meetings,” she replied quickly, then changed the subject. “So I hear you’re done with training in the next year?”

“Well, not until a year and a half from now. But still, I’m excited to be able to do stuff on my own eventually.”

“What will happen when we’re on-planet? Will the Med Lev program change?”

“I don’t think so. I’m sure they’ll just continue it in whatever permanent place we create there.” I paused, my voice losing some of its energy. “Although, who knows if we’ll get to that point. I’ve learned not to get my hopes up.”

Ebie put a graceful hand on my arm; she was well aware of my doubt. She knew more about my issues than most, being one of the only adults on board I confided in. And she listened even though she had her own problems: her husband, Goran, had died suddenly almost five years earlier, leaving her and Taegan alone. After losing my mother before A-Day, I of all people knew exactly how horrible it was to have someone you loved ripped away. It made me feel a special bond with Ebie.

I grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. “My shift is over, but I’ll check on you guys later, okay?”

“Sure. Thanks, Mayla.” She kissed the top of my head and turned for Taegan’s side.

I heard the doors hiss open as I used a person screen to sign myself out, but didn’t bother to look at which patient it was. I smiled as he announced his presence.

“Anyone going to take this junk from me?”

Baylen stood at the main doors with a delivery from Tech Lev. He looked directly at me from across the room, arms crossed smugly over his black uniform shirt.

I made my way to him. “Junk, huh? So you’re saying you can’t do your job or something? I thought you Tech idiots can fix anything.”

“Yeah, of course we can. We can fix anything, even the crap coming out of Med Lev.”

“You’re hilarious, Baylen,” I said with a punch to his shoulder. My hand reached out and touched the light scruff on his face. “Getting kinda sloppy there, aren’t we?”

He rubbed his jaw. “Hey, I heard it’s coming back — the messy look, you know?”

“Hmm, not sure about that one,” I said. The truth was, I actually thought the thick stubble looked great on him. It accented his hard jaw line and matched his unkempt, sandy-colored hair I secretly loved as well.

“Yeah well it makes other guys jealous because I can grow a beard at eighteen. Even if it’s only a pathetic one.”

“Now that I believe,” I said and pointed at him. “You do have a natural talent for facial hair, I must say. But enough with hair — how have you been? I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.”

“Yeah, I know. We’ve just been so busy in Tech Lev, and especially with planet four happening I feel like I haven’t had time for much else. Lots of tech to get ready and everything.”

My smile faded. “Everyone seems to be much busier with the planet thing happening,” I said, a little sullen. Baylen put a firm arm around me from the side.

“Hey, this one’s different, you’ll see,” he assured me. He knew exactly why I was acting like such a baby about everything.

I grabbed onto his waist in return. “I’ve heard that one before.”

Baylen had been with me on that night so long ago. His father, Wes, served as Second Commander and so had been saved from death as well. We barely knew each other back then. Yet we huddled together by the shiny windows in Command Lev, crying as we watched the destruction and not fully understanding the magnitude of what was going on. It created a bond between us unlike I’d had with anyone else. Baylen was like family to me, and I knew he felt the same.

I pulled away to look at him. “Hey, the second you have free time you have to come see me, okay?”

His eyes widened. “Is that an order?”

“Maybe it is!” I replied dramatically. I began to giggle. “You know what happens when you mess with me, Baylen. I think I’ve won every fight for the last eight years.”

“What?! Yeah right!” He tried to put me in a headlock.

“I’m not interrupting your play time, am I?” came a voice from behind.

Tylenian sauntered over with his famous half-smile. Only a couple years older than I was, he was a doctor who’d become somewhat of a medical prodigy. Training had only taken half the normal amount of time for him, and he possessed such a natural talent for medicine that he was soon advancing faster than doctors twice his age. He was even promoted to the position of supervisor a few months earlier. Although he’d never admit it, his ego seemed to get bigger by the day.

“Ty!” I greeted him with a huge smile and let go of Baylen. Ty took me by surprise, scooping me up off the ground, spinning me once and then grabbing my face for a kiss.

“Hey there,” he said quietly.

Ty definitely looked the part of a Medical Supervisor. Confident, with dark hair always perfectly combed to one side, his square face always smooth. His ice-blue eyes were unbelievably vivid, like gazing into an ocean. It made me feel like a little bit of the world was back with us.

I darted a look at him, slightly confused. Elaborate displays of affection weren’t usually his thing. “Hello to you, too.”

His long arms wrapped around me from behind and he pressed his lips against the top of my head. His eyes stayed fixed right on Baylen.

“Finally dropping off supplies?” he asked politely.

“Uh, yeah. Sorry. Here’s the packing list.” Baylen cleared his throat and handed over a screen into Ty’s waiting hand. I stepped over and grabbed some of the supplies to unload.

“Oh, the other Drug Fabricator is fixed, then!” Ty exclaimed. He peered over the screen with a chastising expression. “That one took you a while, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, those things are pretty complicated,” Baylen laughed out.

“But not complicated enough for an old man like Kai to invent.” Ty snorted a little bit to himself in amusement. All it did was create an awkward silence.

“Well,” I said, trying to break it, “Kai is a genius, unlike us, so I guess we could all learn a little something from the few old guys here in the Colony.” The quiet continued. I hurried on. “Anyway, thanks for fixing this stuff for us, Bay, I don’t know how you do it.”

“Yes, thank you, Bay, we appreciate it,” Ty added in. He handed the screen back over.

I cringed immediately. I hated when Ty referred to Baylen as “Bay.” Not only did it sound like he was trying way too hard, the nickname was something only a select few ever called him.

“Alright, see you later, Ty,” Baylen said with a wave. He made eye contact with me and grinned. “Bye, May.”

I smiled briefly, then turned to face Ty. “Why do you give him such a hard time?”

“Baylen?” he asked innocently. I raised my eyebrows. “Oh come on, I just like to tease him.”

“So do I, but you do it with an awful lot of arrogance.”

He grumbled with a laugh and then pulled me in close to him. “So, I heard Kai is going to retire after planet four is set up.”

My mouth fell open. “What! Where did you hear that?”

Ty stroked my ponytail. “Someone in Command Lev told me. They said he’s been talking about it in the Senior Staff meetings.”

“Oh, no.” I frowned. “That makes me sad thinking he’d be gone.”

“Mayla!” Ty said urgently and pulled away from me. He took both of my hands. “Think about what that means for me, though! I’d be one step closer to becoming Senior Medical Officer! Your dad and Wes would choose Kai’s replacement, and based on how much your dad likes me, I would probably be one of their top choices.”

“Yeah, well I guess that’s one more reason to stop treating Baylen like a child, huh? If his father is going to help decide your fate and everything.”

Ty’s jaw stiffened. “Oh, no…I better apologize to him. I will, don’t worry.”

“Or you could just be a great guy to him from now on. You know, you and Baylen would probably get along if you could both just act like normal people.”

“I’m sure you’re right about that one.” He quickly kissed my cheek and walked over to sign himself into the system, then called out over his shoulder, “You’ll put in a good word for me with your father, right?”

“Do I really need to?” I said. “He kind of already loves you, Ty.”

He chuckled out a noise of agreement, then grabbed a personal screen from the table. “Ah, I see Taegan has an intestinal blockage, interesting. Surgery shouldn’t be too bad…wonderful!”

I tried to hide a huge smile. Although Ty was extremely vocal about his excitement at practicing medicine, I couldn’t fault him for it — what he said out loud was how I felt on the inside. It might have been irritating to most people, but to me, it was actually really cute.

“I’m going now, I’ll see you later?” I called out over my shoulder.

His eyes were concentrating on the screen in his hands, reading over Taegan’s diagnosis notes. “Hmm? Oh, actually I have a surgery after dinner, can I make it up to you?”

“Sure, I’ll just see you tomorrow.”

“Love you, May,” Ty half-mumbled, still only partially paying attention to the world around him. My mouth parted slightly to reply, then shut just as quickly. I turned and exited the main doors instead. Even if I’d said it, he wouldn’t have heard me. Ty’s mind had switched into work mode and was completely somewhere else by that point.

But it didn’t matter. Details about anything having to do with love were immediately forgotten as soon as I walked into the transport — the place I was off to next was almost as dreadful as my tiny shower.