✅ Project SETI 2: The Daxut Plan

Part XXIV: Self

Sudala begrudgingly gave in after that. When she hesitated, Temet discharged a shot into the floor beside her and urged her to get to her feet and hurry up. She was still visibly shaken by having to take up arms, but she forced herself to power through, knowing what was at stake.

"I'm still dizzy," Sudala said impatiently as she carefully stood up and tested her balance. When she was steady, she started toward Nova and could just make out the top of Mikren's head jutting out from behind the desk. Her feathers retracted and shrunk when she realized what had happened.

Novala counted the compressions of the second cycle under his breath, razor-focused on maintaining a perfect rhythm. Trying to resuscitate what was essentially himself was overwhelmingly weird, but he pushed that feeling down as best he could. Sudala joined him just as he leaned down to breathe for him again and quickly surveyed the scene.

"What do you need," she asked flatly.

"He needs to be in the pod to sustain both eggs, right?" Temet spoke from behind her.

"Yes."

"Then take them out," she bent down to pick up the tube she'd found earlier as she spoke. "I saw this being used to insert eggs. I assume you can use it in reverse?"

Sudala took a moment to observe the sonogram, and she nodded when she saw what she was looking for. "Yes, but... I have a better idea."

Novala glanced up at the monitor when he was done administering another round of mouth-to-mouth. Nova was still in full arrest, and he shook his head at the flatline. He looked up at Sudala when she passed behind him to get to the supply drawer beneath the control console and raised his eyebrows to say what are you doing?

Sudala kneeled down once she'd gathered the needed infuser cartridges. She'd grabbed three different ones and immediately loaded the cartridge with the translucent blue substance inside. "I am going to induce labor."

God damn it, Novala thought when a sharp pang of arousal shot through his groin. He nodded in acknowledgement and positioned his hands over Nova's sternum again. Stop it. Now is so not the time...!

Sudala bent the prongs of the smaller infuser and pressed it against the rhythmically distending bump in his lower abdomen. As soon as it was administered in full, the monitor above them sounded off with a different alarm. Everyone turned to look at it at the same time and saw that he was in ventricular fibrillation.

"I got it," Sudala said as she opened the wall panel that housed the defibrillator. She took the three electrode cables in one hand, kneeled down, and pressed them in place over the appropriate valves as Novala continued to thrust into his heart in the meantime.

When the unit got a read on Nova a few seconds later, it recommended a 300J shock. She promptly pressed the charge button and the joules were quickly made available.

"I'm going to shock," Sudala warned.

Novala silently shifted away and watched intensely as Nova jerked and shook with the defibrillation. There was a long pause, and then sinus appeared—but it was very slow at just 36 BPM, and it steadily began to slow down again almost as soon as it had appeared.

"Come on..." Novala pleaded quietly as he watched the trace. The spaces between sinus rhythm only grew with each passing second, and his oxygen level also continued to tank without intervention.