Did Something Hurt?

[Finn 0]

Finn opened his eyes slowly. Did something hurt? Not sure. He saw a dim yellow haze, then a series of black blurry dots, each one chasing the other in an ever quickening spiral. Did something hurt? Still not sure.

He closed his eyes again, the black dots receding slightly and thoughts pushed at his head. A cargo bay somewhere. Somewhere. Aegis. Yes, one of the Aegis cargo bays. He’d been helping civilians into the lifeboats. He was…ooh, did something hurt? Possibly. Somewhere above his eyes maybe. Maybe not. Maybe behind his eyes. Red splashes splattered across his vision. Pretty but worrying. Red’s never good when you’re a doctor.

Where was he in his recall? Ah yes, the lifeboats. Lifeboats. Red alerts sounding everywhere on the Aegis. Finn and Grissom ushering people quickly into the lifeboats. Life boats being launched. Grissom was shouting things. Can’t quite remember what. His face was very red. Probably high blood pressure, stress. Gotta talk to the guy about that. He needs to relax more. Grissom still shouting. Too loud. Head aches. More red splashes. Did something hurt?

Finn felt through his body, a routine system check. He was laying down, that was for certain. He could hear the electric thump thump of a biobed. He hoped, vaguely and without concern, he wasn’t badly disfigured. What would the women think if he was? His ears tuned into the thump thump and his head didn’t like it.

Did something hurt?

He was back in the Aegis cargo bay. Grissom was opening another lifeboat. More civilians and Starfleet personnel this time, were all running into the boats. Finn had picked up his tricorder. He was scanning something. What was he scanning? Grissom had put his hand on Finn’s shoulder. Finn was still scanning.

‘Get into the boat!’ yelled Grissom. Finn had shaken his head. The thought of that head shake sent a yellow swirl into Finn’s vision. Thump Thump Thump Thump. Did something hurt?

Ensign Khan had entered the cargo bay, staggering. He was too far away. They didn’t have time. Grissom had his arm around Finn, dragging him into the lifeboat. Finn had fought free, punched at Grissom and hurled him into the lifeboat. The lifeboat had launched. Finn and Ensign Khan stood alone in the cargo bay. Ensign Khan had collapsed.

A huge purple square swam across Finn’s vision. A couple of other Thump Thumps joined Finn’s own Thump Thump. He was in a sickbay. Maybe Mimi was here, pottering away with reports. Maybe Lepage was working nearby, occasionally looking up as he worked on Rixian things. Finn thought back to the cargo bay. Khan was losing consciousness. He struggled, slung his tricorder into his pocket and pulled Khan onto his own shoulders before lumbering out of the cargo bay. Smoke filled his lungs instantly. Fire sparked from control panels as he struggled onwards. Not much fun, he’d thought at the time. Sprinkler systems, usually programmed to quench even the smallest spark were offline. Smouldering.

Bodies of civilians and crew were strewn across the corridors, emergency forecefields in place where sections of the bulkhead had gone. Finn looked out into the depths of space as he struggled onwards, Khan on his back, and wondered if that inky blackness would be the last thing he saw. He’d had to lay Khan down to manually open the doorway. Smoke came straight out as the door swished open. Finn coughed and fell to his knees. Laying on the floor he grabbed Khan’s tunic and pulled him along the length of the corridor. The lifeboats were up ahead.

The images of that corridor faded. Finn felt queasy. Was he going to be sick? No. It was probably concussion. Or compression. He took a deep breath and suddenly felt a lot worse. Won’t be doing that again, he thought. Small pinky rectangles chased each other in a long line across his vision. Thump Thump Thump Thump.

He wondered if his brother had gotten married to that woman from Canada. No. No. He was remembering. He was at the lifeboat with Ensign Khan. He’d opened the door, there was no one else around. He’d hurled Khan inside and closed the door behind them both. He remembered fastening Khan into the seat before looking over the consoles. They were all offline. He’d gritted his teeth. He hadn’t dragged Khan halfway through the Aegis just to let him die in the lifeboat!

He’d thumped his fist onto the panel and it had hummed to life. ‘Full system scan’ chirruped the lifeboat computer. Finn hadn’t waited. He’d hit the launch sequence. ‘Inertial dampers offline’ chirruped the computer. The lifeboat had launched, and Finn had been hurled against the back of the lifeboat in an extremely fast ride!

He smiled to himself suddenly. Inertial dampers offline. His lips felt dry as they moved. He hadn’t checked all systems before launching the lifeboat. He grinned slowly. Inertial dampers offline. He’d only gone and smashed his own head!

Did something hurt? Oh yes. It was absolute agony.