Bad Feelings

[DrDMatthews 0]

"You've got that look on your face."

           

      Debbie was busy tending to the burns suffered by Ensign Tamara Wilson. Tamara was drinking hot coffee when the shockwave hit. The steaming liquid splashed up all over the Ensign's face. All of the biobeds were occupied so Debbie had Ms. Wilson sitting in a chair by the storage cabinets. The CMO glanced to her left to find Rocco Studly beside her, reaching up to pull supplies down from an upper cabinet.

 

      "Which look are your referring to?"

      Rocco smiled sadly. "The 'we've got big trouble' look."

      "It may not be that bad," replied Debbie as she again focused her attention on her patient. "We won't know for sure until the AT gets over there."

      "You sending Brian?"

      "Yes."

      "Is he up to it?"

     

      Debbie looked around and spotted Brian Smith near the entrance to Sickbay. He was with a patient. The newest member of the medical staff wore a brace on his lower left arm. It the fractured ulna was bothering him, he hid the discomfort quite well.

      "He's up to it. He's taking Gracie with him. She's got more experience than all the rest of us combined. He'll be fine."

      "Gracie's a good choice. Probably the best nurse we have."

      "That's why she's going."

 

      Rocco finally located what he was looking for and pulled it off the shelf. He closed the cabinet door and started to walk away. "I hope it's okay over there. But I have a bad feeling about it. Thought you should know that."

 

      Debbie stared into the other doctor's deep blue eyes. Studly's intuition was legendary. Somehow, he always knew just how bad a crisis would be. Matthews couldn't remember a single incident where Rocco had called it wrong. What troubled her even more was that she too had a bad feeling about this one.

 

      The CMO stepped away from her patient to speak privately with Studly. "It's probably worse than bad on the Cairo."

      "Which means we'll have to bring their injured over here."

      "That's right. This might turn into a large scale medical emergency."

      "Do you think we'll have to convert one of the shuttle bays?"

      "I don't know yet. But go ahead and take care of the preliminaries, just in case."

      Rocco nodded, his expression grim. "You've got it."

 

      Studly hurried off and Debbie returned to Ensign Wilson, her bad feeling made even worse by Rocco's admission that he was equally concerned.