Alpha Centauri

You Dream?

I walked briskly next to a floating Nix, directed by Nev. Lyra and the others hung back, shooting me wary looks.

We got into MedLab and I lowered the board onto one of the cots. I grabbed a white handheld object with a green plus sign on the outside.

I turned the machine on, my hands directing me and the inner voice encouraging me to continue. I ran the machine along Nix's body, just inches above, careful not to touch him.

"Can you take a deep breath in for me?" I asked softly.

He winced as he took a deep breath in and held it for a second as I held the machine over his chest.

"You can exhale now." He couched and spluttered, holding his chest as tears ran down his face again.

An image flashed up onto the screen next to the bed showing me Nix's whole body, and next to that was a full image of his ribcage.

"There's a hairline fracture to the right side of your T4 rib. You're very lucky that no more damage was done." I told him, the others just stared at me, their eyes almost popping out of their skulls.

"Thanks Doc." Nix coughed.

"I'm not a doctor." I said looking away.

"Phee, can you please tell me where the healing pads are?"

"Access denied." She replied.

Access denied? That doesn't make sense, shouldn't we have access to all medical equipment?

"Phee, I need a healing pad." I snapped; my patience was running thin.

"You don't have security clearance." She replied in her annoying flat voice.

"Well, who has clearance then?" My blood was boiling.

"I do." Lyra said stepping forward.

"Can you please find the healing pad. It will help with the pain and help his rib heal quicker. Otherwise it will take six weeks to heal with minimal activity." I pleaded with her and she nodded.

She walked off and then came back holding a large white healing pad wrapped in plastic. She handed it to me and then moved away from me quickly, almost like I was contagious.

"I need help getting his suit off." I looked at the others who looked around at each other, no one offering to help.

"Come on guys!" I pleaded with them.

Nev stepped forward and I nodded at him, hoping he would see my appreciation. He helped me sit Nix up carefully as we undone his suit and slid it down to his torso.

Grabbing the scissors, I cut open his black under suit and applied the healing pad to his right side.

Nix instantly found relief as his face went from being contorted to relaxing a fair bit. I smiled at him, rubbing my hand over his short red hair.

"Feeling better?" I asked him.

"Much!" He smiled.

"You can leave now." Lyra snapped.

I looked up at her, tears begging to well in my eyes.

"You need at least a few hours rest, then I'll do another scan and see how it's healing." I told him as I moved away from his bed and walked out of MedLab.

Finding my room was easier these days and once inside I shut the door, grabbed my blanket and fell to the floor. Heavy sobs filled me as I cried into the soft blanket.

I don't understand how I knew all that, how I kept a cool head and didn't panic.

It was like I was born to do that, born to heal people. But where did all my knowledge come from?