Adding Insult to Injury

[Atragon9 0]

I'm home once again, back on the Manticore. After all I went through and all I put my friends, my crew, my "family" through. After my deep cover Op with the Belosians, when I wasn't sure if the Federation would survive, but was pretty sure that I wouldn't. I'm home. I'm back! I'm flat on my back, that is - in a hyperbaric chamber in Sickbay.

 

No exosuit, no feeling below my waist and searing pain in his joints above the waist. The medical staff is doing all they can, but it just takes time. I have to be patient - great, I'm SO good at being patient, huh? I wonder if they'll ever get the groove out of the deck up on the Bridge from where I always pace. ::he chuckles and then catches himself as his neck and shoulders feel like they've just burst into flames. He slows his breathing and catches his breath:: It was nice of Tess to set the chamber to Titan normal grav, so at least I don't have to fight against Terran G's just to lift my head. They tell me the N2 bubbles in my blood are getting smaller and I guess the pain is less than it was when they first put me in here, it's just hard to be objective about my own discomfort. All I know is that I am slowly going crazy being stuck in this storage pod with just my own thoughts for company. One of my biggest thoughts is, why am I still not able to feel anything below my waist? I keep debating whether I should ask the docs about this, but I know they will tell me anything of consequence once they have the facts. If I push them now, they will offer medically-recommended platitudes designed to bolster my self esteem while promising no real answers.

 

So, I wait - in my little box, feeling the thrumming of the ship beneath me. The monotony broken up only by the occasional chat with Vilanne or Tess or even Nancy. What I'm not getting is an update on the ship, the crew, the mission. Isn't part of the healing process to also include keeping the mind engaged, the psyche bolstered? There I go, second guessing the experts, jumping to conclusions, not waiting for events to take their...

 

"I DON'T WANT TO HURT YOU" - The voice is my father's voice. I jerk my head up and look around my chamber and out the window into Sickbay. The people I see through my window looks as stunned as I feel, they are looking around themselves at an invisible speaker. I hear his words in my ears, but it is not coming into my ears, I mean, I don't understand how I'm hearing this, especially since my father has been dead for over a decade. Is this what going crazy is like? Are we all going crazy?

 

"THERE'S NO NEED FOR PEOPLE TO BE HURT" - It is my mother's voice now. She is alive, but she is not on this ship. Without realizing, I raise my arms and clap my hands over my ears. The pain is stunning, but I succeed in covering my ears, just as ...

 

"I WON'T HURT YOU" - My father again, loud and clear, even though my ears are covered. Suddenly, Tess is at the window of my chamber, looking concerned and I realize she hear it too. I slowly lower my hands.

 

"Do we have a special guest onboard, Tess?"

 

"Not that I am aware, Admiral. Did you hear something as well?"

 

I nod yes to her before I can stop myself and wince at the pain. Okay, so something is talking to us and we don't know who or where or why. Is everyone hearing this or just the lucky folks in Sickbay? Is Vilanne experimenting on telepathy? But that didn't feel like communication with a telepath, it was like talking, but no vibrating air in my ears. And the voices... it was like pieces of my memory, spliced together. It was more of the thoughts of safety and comfort and security more than the actual words. It was so powerful - and so comforting - and it stopped! More than anything, this looks like a job for Manticore, I just need to...

 

::He gasps with pain as he tries to lever himself off the bed and doesn't get anywhere, between the pain and the paralysis. He let's himself go and falls back onto his back::

 

Yeah, this is the very definition of adding insult to injury. ::he squeezes his eyes shut::