Practicing Medicine // Complete

Chapter Twenty Six: The Prisoner's Dilemma

"They can always hurt you more."

-Samuel Shem, 'House of God'

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"THE-PRISONER'S-DILEMMA"

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STATUS

Battery Level: 18%

Wireless Signal: (?)

Operating Temperature: 83F

HEALTH

BP: 120/90

SPO2: 100%

Temp: 98.5F

RR: 12

HR: 70

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TIME

Day: 5 October 2279

Time: 7:21

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Current Temperature: 68F

Atmospheric Pressure: 760 mmHG

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"Good evening, friend. I know you've been asked many questions by many different people tonight, but if you would indulge me just a few more before the sun rises, I would really appreciate that. Understood?"

I shuffled my feet. The only sound now was the pattering of rain on the tin roof, and I preferred it that way. The rain didn't ask me any questions, or hit me in the head with rifles, or menace me with bayonets. The rain wouldn't kill me if I said something that it didn't like.

"I will take your silence for resigned acceptance. So, doctor, let's do this one more time! Who are you?"

"My name is Isaac B. Saller. I'm a medic. Who are you?" The calm little man in front of me sighed, and leaned back in his chair. His face was impossible to read.

"I'm James Hsu, NCR colonel and commander of Camp Mccarran. Lieutenant Wolf thinks you might know something useful about this mess, but he wasn't very forthcoming about what." He took a long sip from his faded 'I 3 Vegas' coffee mug. I didn't get the sense that he was in any sort of hurry to finish it. "So, I decided I'd talk with you myself. Is there anything else that you'd be happier knowing before I go through some questions with you?" I shook my head.

"No sir," I replied. The colonel smiled.

"Good! I'm afraid I'm not a particularly interesting person. You're the one with the story, after all." I laughed- he didn't know the half of it- and Hsu took another sip of his coffee. He'd been in the room long enough now that the little concrete pillbox was filled with the smell of the stuff, which irritated me because it smelled so much like the coffee that Savanna would make for us in the mornings. I hated the idea that the scent could belong to someone else. "So, first, an icebreaker: how has your father been? It's been too long since Doctor Lucas graced this camp!"

"Dead," I replied. Hsu raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? I'm sorry to hear that, he was honestly one of the kindest people I have ever met. A shining star in a dark, stormy sky." He shook his head. "But, it's too late to do anything about it now. Should I even ask about your mother?"