The Stars Between -- (VLD)

[38] Do you want to see something really cool?

"Lotty, can you grab some of the wipes for me?" Lance asked, mind searching for a job he could get the girl to do that would not lead to injuries for her, or for the few patients he had today. He would need the wipes eventually, so it was probably best to get them before he forgot.

Lance turned back to his work as Lotty left the tiny medbay used for checkups and minor injuries, giving a reassuring smile to the child sniffling in front of him.

This particular species of alien had brittle, lightweight arms, which had once been used for flight. But as humans had adapted to walk on two legs, they had adapted to their surroundings, and no longer took to the sky on wings.

The poor kid had stepped on some metal, a spike breaking off in his foot.

He aimed with the tweezers, before whispering "close your eyes."

The kid did so, and Lance yanked the tweezers back as quickly as he could, pulling the metal shard with it. The kid shrieked, flinching back in pain.

"It hurts!" he cried. Lance crouched down so he was level with the kid's four eyes, a sympathetic look on his face.

"I know buddy," Lance said quietly, "But uh—" He floundered, trying to find something to take his mind off the pain. He hoped that kids universally were like those on Earth. "Do you want to see something really cool?

"Yeah?" the child responded hesitantly, shifting forwards to sit closer to Lance.

Lance smiled and pulled out a vial from the pocket of his scrubs. He'd gotten sick of washing blood from his clothes, and Kelaan had given him the scrubs for just this reason. They were a little small, but Lance didn't mind.

"This here," Lance said, holding up the vial and prepping the needle inside. "is going to make all the infections go away."

"R-really?"

"Yup." He smiled. "It makes your foot go all icky and gross for a bit while it kills all the bad things in your body."

Lance held back a sigh of relief as the child's eyes lit up.

"Will I have to wear a bandage?" He asked in excitement, leaning even closer.

Lance nodded seriously. "Of course. You might even have to use a special stick to walk with for a while so you don't hurt it again."

"Wow..." the kid breathed, and Lance pressed the vial to his ankle. It latched on, needle flicking out and injecting the contents into his bloodstream.

"And done. See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Lance asked, wrapping the boy's foot in a bandage. It morphed to his foot, just as Lotty came back with the wipes.

"Thank you, Lotty." Lance said, lifting the boy up from the bench and setting him gently on the floor, keeping his injured foot up.  "Would you be able to take Khi-ahn back to Click and Koadda? They can handle the rest from there."

Lotty nodded, immediately looping an arm under Khi-ahn's and helping him out of the room.

Lance grinned a little at their backs as they left, dropping the now empty vial into the waste bucket.

He left the tiny medbay, ducking across the hall into the bigger infirmary, the one where Lance spent most of his time - for good reason.

His two major patients, Shiro and Rolo, were stationed here, regardless of Rolo's complaints and annoyance at his slow recovery.

Lance was on his own today, having insisted that Kelaan took the day off. "How're you today, Rolo?" He asked, moving to Shiro's bed and checking the vitals running over the screens. He flicked one sideways, scanning over the graph for any problems.