Last Voyage of Delilah, Episode 106: Newhall, New Directions, Part 4
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Tian catches Nuri before she can hit the ground.
Tian: Oh my God …!
She looks at the Imam.
Tian: Has she been showing the same symptoms?
Imam: Of course. We all have.
Tian tries to discreetly feel Nuri's body for the tell-tale nodules. She has to be careful, as she's doing this in full sight of everyone, including the girl's father. It's not enough. Tian paws through her medical bag for her simple handheld scanner. It's not advanced as the scanners found in Core-side hospitals but in Nuri's case, it shows well enough what her ailment is: her heart has become enlarged and soon will be too big to fit in her chest. The organ is getting squeezed and is starting to fail in the tight space it currently occupies.
Nuri will need a new heart if she's to survive, but who here has a compatible blood and tissue type to save her? Tian looks up from her quick analysis and sees the Imam is swaying in shock. What can she tell him? He's just seen his daughter collapse in front of him, as if dying before his very eyes.
Tian looks around at the gathering crowd and calls out to the most alert person in it.
Tian: Do you have a medical facility?
Man: Yes. This way.
Valentine scoops Nuri into his arms and follows Tian and the man to a building, which houses a crude infirmary. It's crude enough to make the facilities on Delilah look luxurious. It's basically one big room with about a dozen beds. They hold people in various stages of the disease. Everyone looks pretty bad off. There is no sign of any medical equipment. She turns around to Valentine, who's still holding Nuri.
Tian: I need more than what my bag has on me. I need you to go to the ship and get me—
And she rattles off a list of things with a surgeon's commanding air. Valentine follows as best he can.
Tian: And I need them now.
Valentine finds an empty bed for Nuri and runs for the ship. He has his comms on him and as he runs, he comms ahead to the ship, yelling what he needs to have ready for him when he gets there. It takes some repeating, as Poco doesn't understand half of what Valentine's saying. Poco asks Rachel to take over and she does. Together she and Valentine coordinate what's needed. Vikki is hard on Valentine's heels, dragging Boykin with her. When all three of them arrive, Vikki starts loading up their air car with the meds and equipment as fast as she can, drafting Boykin to help her.
Meanwhile, Tian does what she can to stabilize Nuri. She succeeds. The girl isn't going to die right this minute but unless a new heart is found for her soon, she will. Some of the villagers change out cold compresses on Nuri, hoping to make her more comfortable.
A patient, a man in his twenties, cries out in the next bed over, clutching his stomach. Tian goes over and scans him. He's got a huge growth in his side. The scan reveals a hyper-inflamed pancreas. Tian can't remove it. The patient is dying. She catches the eye of one of the women attending the patients and she confirms his history.
Woman: Yes, he came in a few weeks ago, complaining about a pain in his side. It seems to have grown dramatically. We've been giving him tea and broth, but we've no medicines.
Tian: I'm afraid all we can do for him is try to make him comfortable. I have some pain killers—
Woman: He is Nuri's cousin. (sighs) Their family may be cursed …
Tian: (firmly) No such thing. This illness can be treated.
Woman: You can save him?
Tian: I can't save him. He's too far gone. I can save the children and I can try to save the other people. I don't know how far it's progressed among all of your people. It will just depend but yes, I can treat it.
Nuri is stabilized for the moment so Tian makes the rounds with the other patients as she waits for Valentine to return. There are two patients even worse off than the first. She gets permission to administer a pain killer to the pancreas man and starts doing what she can for the others.
Back at Delilah, Vikki turns around to hand Boykin the last crate of meds to load onto the car and she nearly drops the medicine into empty air—Boykin's pulled a fade. It throws her but only for a second. Boykin's probably gone off to take a leak. He will just have to take care of himself. She's got lives to save. She shoves the meds into the car. Just to be safe, she comms the bridge.
Vikki: He's gone. Go find him. I gotta go. Bye!
Vikki starts the air car, undocks it from the undercarriage of the ship, and takes off for the village with Valentine.
Rachel looks at Poco.
Rachel: Poco. We got a lost sheep.
Poco: All right, Baron. C'mon.
Poco hefts his big-assed gun and follows Rachel down the stairs. They look through the ship but Rachel's got a suspicion that Boykin might be sniffing around the cargo. Rachel and Poco split up—she'll serve as the distraction, calling out for Boykin so Poco can get the drop on him from behind.
Rachel: (calling) Mr. George? You seem ta have gotten kinda lost …
Poco manages to sneak up on Boykin and sure enough, he finds the man nosing around the IRP container that has the hidden weapons in it.
Poco: (sotto voce) Hi there, George.
Poco has the Baron out but not up. Ain't no reason to go shootin' anyone just yet. Boykin turns around, sees Poco, and manages not to get too flustered. Still, Baron's a really big gun …
Boykin: Just lookin' for some of that … tri-cycla …-cline …
Poco: Oh, well, I think Tink's got all she needs.
Boykin: Oh, okay, right. We probably should go … um …
Poco: Yeah. Why'n't you and I go up to the bar? Not much for us to do at the moment.
Boykin: Well, I took a … a CPR class … to get my Marshal's … um …
Poco: Tink's already left. It was an emergency …
Boykin: Okay … (eyes the Baron) … All right.
Rachel sees the two men walk out from the assembled containers both eyeing each other suspiciously. Poco waves Boykin on toward Rachel. Boykin demurs.
Boykin: No, after you.
Poco: It's all right. I'm just going to make sure everything's closed up here.
Rachel: Where are you boys off to?
Poco: We were headin' up to the bar. (looks pointedly up) For a nice friendly … whatever.
Rachel: Oh, the bar! (takes Boykin's arm) C'mon. Let's go up to the bar. I got some beer, honey.
Boykin: What kinda bar …?
Rachel: We got a Tiki bar. You can come see our fine Tiki bar.
Boykin lets Rachel muscle him up to the top deck, where she serves him up a beer from the fridge. While she's busy with Boykin, Poco closes up the containers as best as he can.
Back at the village, Tian examines Nuri again and knows that she's not going to survive this episode without extreme measures. How extreme? The girl needs a heart transplant. Heart transplants are normally tricky procedures that are carried out in hospitals with cardiac specialists and high-tech machines. Here, Tian has only her skills as a trauma surgeon and whatever she can gin up. Still … Coreside or Rimward, some things remain the same. Relatives of the patient make better organ donors than strangers. The shared genetic material reduces the chances of rejection by the recipient. And there, lying on a bed beside Nuri's is a relative dying of a failing pancreas. Tian examines his heart as best she can. It's healthy. There are a few others who are also terminal but they are old and in less better health, though in not as acutely declining as he. She knows that the pancreatic patient offers the best chance to save Nuri … but she also realizes that there might be cultural reservations about the operation she wants to propose.
As Valentine and Vikki arrive with medicines in hand, Tian walks over to the Imam, who is praying at Nuri's bedside. She waits respectfully until he finishes his prayer and when he's done, she touches his shoulder gently.
Tian: (soft) Imam? May we speak?
Imam: What is it?
Tian: I believe I was sent here to help you. I just didn't realize until now how it was to be done. I think I can save your daughter.
Imam: These drugs are that great?
Tian: No. But her cousin is dying.
The Imam looks at Tian a long moment. Then:
Imam: What are you suggesting?
Tian: I am suggesting that you allow me to attempt to transplant his heart into her body.
Imam: There is … There is no hospital here. There is not even a hospital in Salt City.
Tian: No, there's not.
Imam: The nearest hospital is … five thousand kilometers.
Tian: I cannot promise you that this will work. It is a desperate measure. But I believe I can do this. And I believe your God sent me here to help.
Imam: You cannot take the life of one to save another.
Tian: No, I cannot. I will not. But he is already going.
Imam: If you can save her I will consent to it.
Tian whips around and nails Valentine with a steely eye. She points and her voice brooks no dissent.
Tian: I need you to go back to the ship. And I need you to bring me plastic sheeting—
And she fires off a list of everything she needs to get a heart transplant done. Valentine puts the box of meds he carrying down on the nearest clear surface and listens. Beside him, Vikki does the same.
Tian: I'm going to need plastic sheeting. I'm going to need sterility. Vikki—I need you to basically build me a surgical suite.
Vikki: Okay. (to Valentine) Let's go. We got plenty of stuff back on the ship.
And that's what she does. While Tian monitors her patients and administers palliative care for the dying man, Vikki starts pulling elements for a surgical suite together. Delilah is a treasure trove of parts: electronics, mechanicals, metals, plastics, the works. It just needs to be assembled together and retasked into something new. Vikki is especially adept in making things on the fly while using low tech materials or materials originally designed for other purposes. And this time, she's got all the shiny equipment the IRP shipped with them. Together with the tons of extras Delilah has aboard, Vikki's got an amazing amount of parts to work with. Somewhere in the middle of all the frenzied building, Vikki smashes her hand by accident. She yelps and wags her hand and flexes her fingers. Geez, that hurts! But she can still operate her tools.
Valentine: Are you all right?
Vikki: I'll be fine, I'll be fine. Onward. We got the oxy and we got the scanner … What else does she need? Anesthetic delivery system. How would we—Hey, I know! One of the breather masks off the wall …
She gets it hooked up and Valentine tests it by breathing deep … and his face goes numb:
Vikki: Are you all right?
Valentine: … iimmmmm guuhhhhuhuuud …
Vikki: I guess it's working, right?
Valentine's mind is unaffected; he just can't make his mouth work right.
Valentine: … uuhh yuhhhhhh …
Vikki: (wincing) All right. Let's go …
With her highly educated mind and her insane inventiveness, as well as help from the rest of the crew finding and handling the materials, Vikki gets that surgical suite built. To save on time and power logistics (and after confirming the patients can be moved), Vikki installs the surgical suite in the IRP clinic container on Delilah. The container offers an edge on controlling the environment and cleanliness for the procedure. When Vikki's finished, Valentine flies the air car as an ambulance to transport the patients to the ship. His face might be numb but he can drive just fine, thanks.
While she's waiting for Vikki to get that suite built, Tian uses the time to treat the other patients and research the heart transplant procedure. Once Nuri's been transferred, Tian has to double check all her tubes and connections—some of them got loosened during the transfer and Tian needs to be extra careful. It's a complication but Tian isn't going to give up now. Vikki scrubs up to help her with the equipment—after all, she built it—and she has to tape up two of her fingers from her injury earlier. It's another complication but Vikki likewise doesn't let it deter her. Rachel offers her steady grandmotherly presence to help Tian to stay calm and focused. Rachel pats Tian's shoulder.
Rachel: Don't worry. I seen it all. Honey, it's gonna be okay.
Tian's not a cardiac specialist but she was a combat/trauma surgeon. She's accustomed to working under pressure but she will never become accustomed to losing a patient under her care. She's had her hands up to her elbows inside people while saving their lives, has felt them live or die as she tried to save them. Freddie's death on the tarmac haunts her as she works to save Nuri.
No way is she going to lose this girl and leave her behind, too.
The operation takes hours. Tian perseveres. When she finally steps back from the table, Nuri has a new heart and a new lease on life. Her cousin, whose death provided her the heart, will be attended to according their rites for the dead.
In the meantime, Poco keeps Boykin occupied in the lounge on the top deck. Even though there's beer to be had, Boykin seems twitchy. Poco drinks the beer with him but keeps an eye on the Sheriff.
Boykin: You got anything other than beer? (gets up) I could go look and see whatcha got.
Poco: Nahhh, you don't want to do that. You don't wanna get up.
Poco can tell Boykin wants to nose around and as we've still got those weapons to hide, Poco knows letting Boykin nose around would be a very bad idea. Besides, the man is moving for the set of stairs down that aren't safe. Poco pulls The Baron and holds the gun in plain sight as a reminder who's in charge—nothing threatening, just … reminding.
Boykin's already at the staircase and when Poco draws The Baron, it takes Boykin aback. So much so, he misses the top step on the stairs and falls down them to the deck below.
Ooops.
Poco moseys down to Boykin and nudges him with his foot. Boykin's drawing his gun halfway out of his holster and he's in obvious pain from a broken arm, but he's no real threat. Poco gently takes the gun from him.
Poco: I told you, you didn't want to do that. The stairway's broken. Why didn't ya listen?
Looks like we might have another patient on our hands. Poco helps Boykin up and they get him down to the clinic. His arm is broken. Boykin's break is set and his arm put in a sling.
It's a minor thing compared to Nuri's condition. Heart transplant surgery is a major procedure, inflicting much trauma on the body. A heart transplant patient, therefore, isn't going to get better like someone who's had a broken arm set. Nuri is going to need better care than what Tian can provide under the relatively primitive conditions of our ship. The options are limited.
Vikki: There's hospitals on Beylix, right?
Tian: Yes … I think.
Vikki: Well … there is another option.
Poco: What? Kill her?
Vikki: No! (eyeroll!) We put out a distress signal, flag down a Tohoku, and—they've got really kick-ass facilities and they're supposed to administer out to the Rim anyway.
The Tohokus were originally tasked to provide administrative, military, and medical assistance to the systems outside the Core. While the Alliance no longer has as strong a presence as it once had, the Alliance does retain jurisdiction of the space between planets and systems via its Navy. They might be convinced to assist an emergency medical case such as Nuri's. The drawback, of course, is the Tohokus are the Navy.
Vikki: Yeah, but I know. It sucks to be us doing that, cuz … you know … (mutters) … We're on their watch list but it's an idea …
Valentine: It is. So … (to Tian) Amazing work.
Vikki: Kick-ass work. Simply amazing.
Poco: Now what?
Tian: I could send a Wave. I have enough professional contacts back in the Core that I might be able to get hold of somebody who can take her on as a patient.
Valentine: Okay.
Valentine takes this in and nods as he turns the options over in his head.
Valentine: Any other thoughts before I decide it?
Poco: I vote against going to the Alliance. (a beat) Also, vote against going to the Triad.
Rachel: That said ….?
Tian: The only other thing I can think of at this moment would be to make for Georgia and hope the hospital at Vandenburg can take her in.
Poco: That's all the way across the Verse.
Tian: I know. (sighs) I don't know anybody out at this end of the Verse. I don't know if we can find a hospital out here that can take her. We could try.
Valentine: The question is how stable is her condition? How much can we be carting her around the Verse? Do we have a time frame?
Tian: With a transplant, it's always dicey. She's probably going to require anti-rejection medication for the rest of her life.
Valentine: I understand that but in the immediate timeframe, what will she need?
Poco: So, Beylix wouldn't have hospitals on it at all?
There are a few hospitals on Beylix but they might not be of a quality we need. It's mostly a junk yard/scrap heap industrial sort of planet. Beaumonde has hospitals more suitable but there's no guarantee that they would take Nuri on as a charity patient. They might just shake their heads and tell Tian, "Congratulations, you've managed to give the patient life for another week."
Valentine: Is there any hospital who'll take her?
Tian: I don't know.
There is an old Chinese saying: When you save someone's life, you become responsible for it. Tian knows from her military service experience that a doctor such as herself could keep Nuri alive with able help. She already has the crew for help and she knows what medicines Nuri needs to survive. Dropping her off on a strange world with no one to advocate for her is repugnant to Tian. Even if she were able to convince Nuri's family to leave the planet to go with their daughter to advocate foer… dropping Nuri off with her family to deal with strange doctors isn't something Tian can do.
Tian: I don't know who would take her. Unless her family is willing to go with her, I don't think that—
Valentine: Any other options if you don't know where to take her? Leave her here?
Tian: If we leave her here, she's going to die.
Valentine: Okay. In what scenario does she not die?
Tian: We take her with us.
Valentine thinks it over a beat.
Valentine: Permanently?
Tian: Until we make sure she's stabilized and get her settled somewhere else.
Valentine: And where would that be?
Vikki: A Science and Math school for girls?
Rachel: For heart transplant patients?
Tian: (shaking head) She's going to need constant medical attention for some time to come. Months, probably.
Vikki: I can share. I mean, I have two beds in my bunk.
There. Vikki's already jumped ahead to making it a done deal. Not everyone's aboard with that idea, however. Tian notes Valentine's expression.
Tian: Can I interject here that I'm sorry? I just think I should say I'm sorry.
Valentine: It's not an apology situation. No, I just need a little bit of time to think about it.
Tian: You're contract with me is essentially up. I'm not even sure if I have another contract coming up. These pictures might not be what they want.
We'd taken footage of Nuri's village and the work we did there, as required by further funding from the IRP. However, the IRP makes no guarantees that all footage sent would translate into continued funding.
Vikki: Oh, c'mon! Saving the life of someone. Doing a heart transplant! Under primitive cond—
Tian: That you can't send.
Valentine: (agreeing) No.
Vikki: But—
Tian: Do you understand that what I did was probably highly illegal?
Valentine: I wouldn't know about illegal but this is not the kind of pictures they want.
Tian: They want happy smiling people being vaccinated. We got lots of footage of those, absolutely, which may mean we may get funding for another month but that doesn't have to do anything with you. You can drop us at Beylix. I will deal with the situation from here.
Valentine: I need to think.
Vikki: I don't see how this couldn't be good PR for IRP because if it weren't for them, we wouldn't have been here to save her life. If it weren't for the equipment they shipped out with us with their name on it we couldn't have saved her life.
Valentine: It's too complicated a story line. They want a simple story line, Vikki.
Vikki: (sighing) … All right … well …
Valentine: I understand and I appreciate what you're thinking, but no.
Poco: There's probably a good spin they could put on it. Or they may choose to discard the footage but I don't see how you shouldn't send it. You didn't do anything illegal and you did do it all with IRP tech.
Tian: Okay, I'm okay with that. As long as it wasn't illegal, I'm fine.
Actually, Poco and Vikki have the right of it: it would be good PR for the IRP to show doctors doing more for the Rim than just shooting people up with inoculations. Jabbing someone with a needle is easy. A heart transplant? An order of magnitude harder. So it's a good chance that the IRP would be pleased with the footage and continue to fund Tian's mission. With the funding, we have the means to see to Nuri's care.
Vikki: If I might interject here? Don't send the IRP the only copy of the footage. Make one of your own.
Poco: Whaaat? You don't trust the IRP?
Tian: (slowly) In truth … now that you've raised that concern, I'm more concerned that they could twist it.
Vikki: And if you've got the original?
Tian: The original won't—anyway, let's leave that alone.
Because there's only so much cross and doublecross you can anticipate before it makes you crazy. Once the footage leaves our hands, we have no further control over its final use.
There is another matter more pressing before the crew. Despite the heart transplant saving Nuris life and Tian being her attending physician—none of it matters if we kidnap the girl, which is what we'd be doing if we take her without her family's permission.
Tian goes to them and speaks to them about the matter. Their choice is simple: Nuri can stay on the island and Tian's pretty sure the girl will live maybe a week or so longer in our absence before dying OR Nuri can come with us and we can find a chance for her to live. Faced with such a choice, what family would choose death for their daughter? Not Nuri's. They give us their blessing to take her with us to Beylix.
Tian decides to stay on the ground for a few more days to allow Nuri to recuperate before lifting off. Over the next seven days on the island, Nuri's health improves enough to allow space travel. Boykin, his arm in a sling, is taken back to his duties at Salt City. The crew uses the week to take care of ship repairs, provisioning, and all the little things that require maintenance as best as the island resources can fulfill. There's some lazing around on the beaches as well. Not so much, but at least Rachel has the good sense to take in some relaxation. Tian, of course, spends most of her time at Nuri's side, constantly monitoring her patient.
During the stay, we catch a news report. It's an IRP Missions reporter interviewing Boykin. In it, Boykin has his arm in a sling. The crew watches the interview on the ship's monitors. The IRP reporter asks Boykin what his experience with the crew was like. Boykin makes a big deal about his arm.
Poco: He fell down the stairs. No, really. He literally fell down the stairs.
Boykin: Yeah … I ran in with them and they, ah … (sighs, hitches belt one-handed) … I managed to get out alive, but barely.
Poco: Really? I took him to the infirmary! We patched up his arm.
Valentine: I like this guy. At least he's predictable.
The report flashes a ticker at the bottom of the screen: "IRP STRUGGLING TO EXPLAIN!"
Reporter: Well, we don't know who was with that mission because of the data corruption problem we're having on Persephone at this time, but we're looking into this. We can assure you, though, that all IRP missions are safe. If they are really IRP, look for these symbols—
And the screen shows the official IRP logos.
Reporter: Any fraudulent usage of these symbols can easily be checked.
The screen shows the resources available for checking authorizations.
Reporter: Meanwhile, the search for whoever is responsible for this ... (gestures to Boykin and his arm) … goes on.
Poco: I swear. He just literally fell down the stairs.
Valentine: I believe you, Poco.
Vikki: Persphone? Data corruption?
Poco: Yeah, they're claiming that their data's corrupted.
Valentine: And your truck was hijacked.
Tian: It wasn't hijacked and we reported that.
Actually, not exactly. Tian was on hold in the process of calling in the report when the bullets started flying on the tarmac and we blasted out of port. She never got to complete that call. To further complicate things, that very truck wasn't the one Tian and Vikki were supposed to be on. Thanks to Vikki's snafu with the wine glass, she and the doctor were reassigned to the truck at the last minute, instead of boarding the shuttle that would have taken them to their original assignment. So … who boarded their original posting in their stead? And whose place did Vikki and Tian take aboard Delilah?
Tian: Oh, shite! So we ended up with someone else's cargo?
Under those conditions, the reporter's comment is understandable. However, Tian's been sending reports of the mission's progress to the IRP ever since we'd left Persephone. Surely the IRP would have a better understanding of where she is and what ship she's on.
Right?
There is no telling from here. All we can do is carry on with our plans and keep our eyes open for trouble. Valentine decides the matter of our immediate plans: we're going to Beylix. It's an industrial world with lots of traffic. With that traffic come options we that we would never get here. Only time will tell if those options are in our favor or not.
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