Apprehension

[Craven 0]

The dust began settling in the cavern where a cave-in had caused the away team to be separated from Commander Corizon. Pilot, Admarin and Weyoun seemed to escape most of the debris, but as Jack collected his thoughts he looked over to see that a large boulder had knocked him down and pinned his right arm.

 

Must be my lucky day. he thought to himself. Truly, if he had said this aloud his crewmates would certainly think it to be a matter of sarcasm, but the truth was if the boulder had pinned down any other part of his body, he would most certainly be critically injured.

 

As it stood, the large rock had landed on his durasteel arm, the one severed and replaced during his encounter with Lore so many years ago.

 

That was not to say that the steel did anything to stop the pain that came from the tissue damage, for the arm was in reality, living tissue over an artificial skeletal structure that extended all the way to the socket at the clavicle - but even the nerves were artificial and stored beneath the durasteel frame, so no neural damage would have occured.

 

Still, the arm did in no way make him invincible, nor did it even increase his strength by a rediculous amount. Being left-handed probably hindered that.

 

As he looked down, the skin had been torn down from mid-bicep, exposing the shining durasteel framework.

 

Craven began ripping off a piece of his pant-leg and tied it around his shoulder, prevening any further blood loss, and put the excess fabric in his mouth to bite on...he was going to need it.

 

He began to pull.

 

Aaaarrrrgggg!!!!!

 

Although he had been told by doctors all his life that he had an exceptionally high pain tolerance, the pain of skin being peeled off his arm was never a pleasant experience. It had happened to him twice before, all with no permanent neural damage, and without a substantiall loss of blood. In fact he had been told that under conditions of extreme heat or cold, it was actually favourable to have the skin surgically removed so as to prevent it from freezing to the arm, or slowly melting away (the skin was natural, but the procedure for placement over an artificial limb made of durasteel was still a bit sketchy, since it was an android who had constructed it).

 

When arm was freed all the way to the wrist, Jack reached for a panel on the lower forearm, which opened a small faceplate in the durasteel, exposing some very sensitive circuitry. He adjusted a single diode that controlled the nerve sensitivity in his hand, primarily at the fingertips, which were the most sensitive parts of the entire arm, allowing them to become virtually numb. This would reduce the pain of the flesh being ripped off them.

 

When he finished the procedure, he closed the panel and gave a final heave, pulling his arm free, still biting the fabric which he had tied around his arm.

 

Then he stood, dusting off the blue-topped uniform which was now quite ragged, and he looked up to see Weyoun and the others looking at him curiously.

 

"What?" he smiled as he walked nearer, the arm glistening in what little light remained in the tunnel, "oh...yeah....that. Don't worry, I'll be fine."