Welcome to the Madhouse

Welcome to the Madhouse: Chapter Four

Chapter Four: Welcome to the Madhouse

"In many ways, it is not only surgery we practice here, Dr. Grace, but also biomedical engineering, genetic engineering, cybernetics, robotics, veterinary medicine, and most important of all, psychiatric medicine," Dr. Al-Fadi said, while they sat in the doctor's lounge after the surgery was over. The lounge, a room just off the operating rooms, was warmly lit with glowbulbs and an imitation fireplace that threw off no heat. There were chocolate-brown, artificial-hide covered couches and a wall lined with glass-paneled shelves filled with actual paper books! Grace had been astonished to see so many precious medical tomes, knowing that just one of those books would likely cost her a small fortune. She had just stared in at the texts, not daring to reach in and touch them.

They now sat around a low table, mugs of hot stimulant kofi clasped within their hands. Having successfully revived the tiger soldier, after rebuilding him almost completely from the inside out, and after having transferred him to the recovery room safely, Grace, Dr. Cech, and Dr. Al-Fadi were taking a quick break. The nursing staff and SAMM-E 777 were getting their next patient ready for cryo-reversal and surgery.

"We have tiger-adapts, cetacean-adapts, reptile-adapts, bird-, wolf-, bear-, bat-, dog-, cat-, primate-adapts, etc., etc., etc., and these are just the soldiers! I am not talking about the civilians who want their looks changed just for cosmetic reasons!

"Snakes! There are people out there who just want to look like snakes! Ridiculous!" Dr. Al-Fadi exclaimed, his large eyes rolling.

"Then there are the cyborgs, the physically boosted, the space-adaptations, marine-adaptations, who all have specialized physiology and anatomy to allow them to work in their chosen environments more safely! There are the cerebrally-enhanced, like you and I, Dr. Grace - not Dr. Cech! - who need to be wired and augmented to do our jobs efficiently, but are at risk of problems like meningitis, encephalitis, and brain abscess, because of the brain/augmentation interface. I could go on and on. . ."

"Which, unfortunately, he will," Dr. Cech sighed, giving Grace a woeful glance and an apologetic shrug.

" . . . Of course, none of what we do here is normal anatomy, normal medicine, normal psychology, anymore! I can't remember the last time I saw a fully normal human! And although the literature suggests that the adaptations are only physical, I don't find that."

"Would you mind elaborating on that a little further, Dr. Al-Fadi?" Grace asked, her brow furrowed.

"Well, for example, the bird-, bat-, primate-, and reptile-adaptations are all terrified of the predator adaptations, like the tigers, wolves, jaguars, and bears. It's deep-seated instinctive fear and it seems to be triggered by sense of smell or pheromones or something like that. Even though the prey-adapted humans know that the predator-adapts are rational, controlled human beings, it does not matter! The fear is ingrained and we have to work around this, when we are treating these people.

"Most of the time, all the soldiers sent to a specific planet have similar animal adaptations, suited to the planet, so there are few, if any, inter-species interactions. Aquatic worlds have cetaceans, usually dolphin or orca. Jungle planets use tiger or jaguar soldiers or primate soldiers, like orangutan or chimpanzee or gorilla. Underground colonies or mining planets may use the bat adaptations, primarily for echolocation in the dark. Marsh worlds may use amphibian soldiers. Winter worlds tend to alter soldiers or colonists to a wolf or polar bear adaptation, in order to withstand the frosty temperatures better. But there is hardly ever any inter-species mixing on the individual planets. Conglomerate policy . . . and a damned good one, for a change! However, no one ever thought about what happens here, on the medical stations, where patients from different systems are all sent!"