✅ Project SETI 3: Eve's Advent

Part XI: Progress

"So, uh... I was wondering... do you know what happened to Temet?" Nova asked while they made their way to the operating room that housed the advanced sonic probe. Even though he hadn't had a chance to forge much of a relationship with her, he still felt concern for her well-being. She did help him escape after all, and he recognized the bravery and selflessness it took to defy not only the Daxut hierarchy, but her own mother. That train of thought led him to remember shooting Jarah again, and he let out a near-imperceptible soft sigh as the emotions he felt in that moment gripped his body all over again.

"Well... near the top of this building, there's a 'secure' area where I used to meet with Ms. Lancaster and the Daxut officials... it's more like a conference room than anything else, but she's being kept there," Julia explained. She figured it was okay for Nova to know; he already knew everything else anyway. "The doors are locked from the outside and watched twenty-four seven by armed guards. The Director doesn't really know what to do with her yet—can't say I blame her."

At least she's not dead, Nova thought grimly. "Yeah... well... thanks for telling me. She... kinda deserves some credit, I think... she helped me and Gabe out of the goodness of her heart. She didn't have to do that—any of it... she even helped resuscitate him, in the end..."

"I'll be sure to tell Ms. Lancaster, okay?" Julia shot him a reassuring smile as they approached the decontamination chamber. "You remember what happens in here, right?"

"Yeah."

The decontamination chamber did its thing and it decided that two treatments were needed this time instead of just one. Julia and Nova were given a short time to prepare for the next fumigation cycle, and then it allowed them to enter the sterile surgical theatre.

Nova recognized the large version of the dual-headed sonic probe immediately. And even though he hadn't been conscious when the table-version was used on him, he still recognized what it was—Jarah used their own version of it to upload a perfect scan of his body.

"You weren't awake when Gabriel and I had to use this on you," Julia said while she brought the gurney to the table, "but it's a very thorough type of scanner—it actually scans from the inside out, and it'll reveal if he has any blood clots or anything of that nature."

Nova nodded and watched as she prepared to lift Gabriel by herself. "Er... do you need help...?"

"Actually, yeah. I didn't think that one through," Julia admitted.

Together, they lifted Gabriel onto the soft white surface of the probe with the help of a sheet. He remained hooked up to the mobile life support and monitoring implements on the gurney, since Julia didn't anticipate being here terribly long. The sheet was pulled out from under him, and he remained in just a hospital gown to preserve his modesty.

Julia picked up the table's control tablet and powered it on, and a large monitor suspended from the ceiling nearby flickered to life. The scan was initiated and a shimmering gel-liquid substance extended from the edges of the table on all sides. It looked like a fast-flowing river as it completely covered Gabriel and distorted his image, and then it began to draw through him and back into the table again.

Nova watched intently as this happened. He sorta remembered being on the other end of this, and he couldn't help his fascination at witnessing it from the other point of view. He trailed his gaze up to the monitor and saw the extremely detailed report as it began to fill out, but he found it difficult to interpret.

"The internal burns he suffered are healing nicely with the acceleration from the gel patches," Julia said when that information became available. "And his brain is okay, relatively speaking—no blood clots, at least."