The X Files: Titanix

Chapter 13

13.

'You look like shit,' McCallister said as she sat down on the settee beside Mulder in the medical centre waiting room. She didn't look much better herself, still wearing the shirt with the torn sleeve and bloodstains on it, though her arm was now bandaged and in a light fabric sling thanks to one of the ship's medics. She held out the takeaway cup she had brought with her. 'Here, take this. Americano, with lots of sugar. Mind, it's hot. How is she?'

'Thanks,' Mulder rubbed his tired eyes and yawned, taking the cup from her. 'I don't know. Pretty bad, I think. What about the re-embarkation?'

'Complete. All boats and tender embarkation platforms stowed and secured. We were delayed a bit while Agent Kent dismantled the last of those devices, but the engineers are restarting their engines and we're almost ready to get back under way. Not a moment too soon either, as the deteriorating weather will start to make things dangerously uncomfortable if we stay hove-to for much longer.'

'The storm?' He stood and stretched as McCallister nodded slowly. He thought he could detect the ship moving more under his feet now, but it didn't seem to bother him. If this is what it took to cure seasickness, he thought idly, I would have done it years ago. He removed the plastic lid and sipped tentatively on the hot coffee before sighing. 'What a night.'

They looked up expectantly as the door to the consulting room opened and Farrens stepped out into the waiting room still wearing his scrubs, and looking extremely tired. He offered them a thin smile.

'How bad is it?' Mulder found his voice first.

'Bad,' Farrens sighed as he rubbed his eyes. 'But it could have been worse, I guess. She's just about holding her own right now.'

'That's good, right?'

'Definitely improved over where we were a few hours ago,' Farrens admitted. 'But we've got a long way to go. Agent Scully has lost a great deal of blood and is showing signs of deep hypovolemic shock. I've operated and stopped the worst of the internal bleeding, got some saline into her, and cleaned her up as best I can.' He paused, to let his words sink in before continuing. 'But her vitals aren't very stable and I'm afraid I'm struggling to reach any form of positive prognosis.'

Mulder and the Captain looked at each other. 'Isn't there any more you can do?'

'I'm a ship's doctor not a consultant surgeon in a trauma hospital, although Dana's fortunate that I have had some surgery experience in my past. I'm very sorry, Agent Mulder. She's a very lucky lady to have survived this long but my hopes are not high.'

'She used to joke in the past she was immortal,' Mulder said softly.

'I'm sorry to say none of us are,' Farrens said gently. 'Dana has undergone a major trauma that has already caused her to arrest once and I'm doing my best to make sure she doesn't again. Right now, we are keeping her deeply anaesthetized, almost comatose, to give her body chance to start recovery and we're giving her round-the-clock care; but she needs medical support above what we can provide aboard.'

McCallister spoke up. 'Will she regain consciousness?'

'We'll try to bring her round in about 12 hours or so,' the Doctor replied. 'If she comes to the surface, it would definitely be a positive sign, but she needs hospitalisation ashore to give her a fighting chance.'

Mulder felt like he'd been winded. All the breath seemed to have been sucked out of him, choking him. He managed to take a few deep, shuddery breaths and looked up at the doctor. 'Can I see her?'

'Not just yet,' Farrens shook his head. His tired face softened. 'In a few hours, perhaps.'

'Is there anything I can do right now?'