"As Long As You've Been Alive"

[Eruc Contagion 0]

Eruc continued working in silence, making sure not to look at Delphi. This was more out of annoyance than anything else, although Eruc would not let such a trivial matter such as this get in the way of doing his job. The entire situation was rather childish in his opinion, but knew that stating that would only reinforce Delphi’s point about Eruc being ‘too young.’

 

Yet it became increasingly difficult for Eruc to deal with Delphi as the hours dragged on. Eruc hadn’t slept for hours - sans the nap he attempted to take before - and was beginning to get set off by even the smallest things. Things like the smirk on Delphi’s face, which had become permanently etched into Eruc’s mind for the past few moments as he listened to the man rattle on.

 

And for the moment, Eruc didn’t care much. He was truly doing his best to make sure the comments that the doctor spoke - things like ‘I've been a doctor almost as long as you've been alive’ and ‘I am one of the best diagnosticians in the quadrant’. However, at the same time, Eruc knew that these retorts were getting old - fast - and that he’d have to confront Delphi if he didn’t stop.

 

For the moment, Eruc was dealing with enough confrontation. He knew that Doctor Levy would not want to see bickering between her staff members in such a critical situation as this, effectively making Eruc put up with it.

 

But after this confrontation was over, Eruc knew that a long talk was needed with Delphi if they wanted to continue working peacefully. It was hard for Eruc to imagine coming to the infirmary day after day and having to deal with some ‘crackpot old man’, as he so commonly put it.

 

Maybe he’ll croak. Eruc thought maliciously at a time when Delphi’s comments began to get to him. But he caught himself in time, forcing himself to focus on the task at hand and not pointless interpersonal relationships such as these.

 

As the minutes dwindled by, the silence in the room increased to a level at which Eruc would have not though possible. The silence, Eruc thought, was a nice diversion. It allowed him to be calm for a few short moments just as he finished preparing the biobed that he had been working on for quite some time.

 

Until Delphi’s voice rang out in the air once more, completely shattering the silence which had previously gripped the room so tight. Eruc did not listen to a word the doctor said - and had a feeling he’d be doing that a lot in the days to come.