✅ Project SETI 3: Eve's Advent

Part XXXI: Stabilize

While Temet desperately maneuvered out of Rey's garage, Julia and Nova tended to Gabriel. His seizure continued, and Julia rushed into the medbay to get the medical supplies that they'd left there. While she did that, Nova checked his condition more thoroughly. His face was tight as he held the back of his hand to his mouth, and his expression only grew more concerned when he didn't feel anything. He pressed his fingers into his neck and let out a sharp sigh when he felt his pulse there—it was fast and beat with irregular strength against his fingers, but it was there nonetheless. He winced quietly as he positioned himself so he could hold his head in his lap to protect it; even though he wasn't thrashing about anymore like he was on the stairs, he was still extremely tense and continued to shake erratically.

Julia flew back into the room with the foldable AED in one hand and the supplies to draw up some diazepam in the other. She slid on her knees as she approached Nova and Gabriel and put the equipment down at the same time.

"I don't think he's breathing," Nova said worriedly. "And his pulse is... it's not normal."

"Shit," Julia confirmed for herself by palpating his carotid pulse. She pressed her other hand firmly against his chest and felt how tense he was right away—she also couldn't detect any movement other than his shaking. She tore up the tank top he'd hastily pulled on in the escape, and just as she finished, the second atom blast rocketed through space and shook the vessel. The pressure that lingered in the air afterward seemed to make Gabriel's convulsions markedly worse again, and suddenly Julia understood. "I think it's something about the low frequency and loudness of that... whatever it is... and this pressure—I think it's causing his neurons to misfire..."

Nova frowned and looked down at Gabriel with an intense but sympathetic expression. "Will the injection still help then...?"

Julia expertly drew it up as he said the words. "I'm going to find out. Get the pads on him."

Nova reached over to the AED and opened the lid. He ripped open a fresh packet of pads with his teeth and pressed the sticky electrodes in place on his right pectoral and on the left side of his ribcage as quickly as he could. While he did that, Julia held Gabriel's arm still and pushed the benzodiazepine into his bloodstream with the other.

The monitor began to trace his heartbeat and respirations shortly after the pads were in place. It showed the same fast and weak rhythm that they'd both felt earlier, and it confirmed that he wasn't breathing. Nova pulled the ripped shirt out from under him and bunched it up under his head so he could shift to administer mouth-to-mouth.

"C'mon, baby..." Nova pleaded with him as he delicately adjusted his chin and pinched his nose. "Breathe for me."

He watched out of the corner of his eye how his chest rose and fell, and he also noticed that his shaking and twitching was rapidly receding, and the tension in his body seemed to finally release.

"It seems to be working," Julia said flatly. "But his heart's still not beating properly..."

Nova continued to administer mouth-to-mouth as Julia contemplated what to do about that, but she barely had time to gather her thoughts before the third atom blast rattled the ship. The resulting pressure was so severe this time that they could feel their ears popping in response, and even though Gabriel had a decent dose of anticonvulsant medication coursing through his veins, his sensitive brain had another reaction to the intense thundering vibrations that accompanied the blast.

Nova couldn't help but flinch when Gabriel made a terrible strained gasping noise as his throat contracted with the beginning of another seizure. He frowned and squeezed his eyes closed for a second in an attempt to ground himself when he saw a thin trail of blood trickle out of his nose and down his cheek—he was immediately thrust back into the same feelings and sensations when they were fleeing Project SETI the first time. He'd been status epilepticus then too, and he'd almost lost him...