Editing
Difficult Decisions
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
<br> The medical bay was not in horrific shape, but it certainly wasn't in shape to keep a heart transplant patient in it. Tian looked around, a furrow between her brows as she worked out the logistics of putting Nuri in here and wondered about the possibility of setting up a different room for her recovery. But it wasn't as if they had a lot of space that was in better shape, either.<br><br> She lowered herself into the chair at the desk, propping her elbows on the desk and burying her face in her hands. ''What have I done? I saved this girl's life, but... to what end?'' She was at a loss. Long-term care wasn't exactly her forte -- she was a trauma doctor. They left her hands and nurses and residents dealt with them once she did her thing. And now she'd taken on the responsibility for a teenaged girl while essentially... what? On the run?<br><br> "I know that feeling," Val said as he walked into the med bay, seeing Tian with her head down. "I've been burying my face in my hands for the last few weeks, especially this last day or so. It helps, but eventually you have to lift up and look around. Decisions don't get made in the dark, even self-imposed darkness." <br><br> He leaned up against the doorway, putting more ship grease and dust on his vest. He normally kept his vest in "on duty" condition but it hadn't been that way in weeks. ''What was a little more grease?''<br><br> Val had been walking the ship, trying to get his own bearings again. Every time he thought he had a grip on what to do, a new variable would enter the equation. And Newhall had added more than just one. He felt the decision would be easier if he could get a grip on his father...on his own mental image of his father, really, but that was like trying to grab coins from a jackpot - it just all falls through your hands. So he found his path headed towards the med bay. Because Tian had the keys to the other half of the problem - a young, intelligent girl that threatened to make his life even more complicated.<br><br> Pulling herself upright, Tian turned to face the captain with the same pleasant expression that seemed to be her default, perhaps because it hid the signs of persistent weariness. But given the strain of the surgery she'd just performed and the fact that he knew she wasn't sleeping well, the indicators of strain and exhaustion were more pronounced. "Val," she greeted him quietly. The implicit question of what she could do for him was simply left hanging there, allowing him to speak as needed.<br><br> "Let's start with me asking how you're holding up." There was concern in his voice, but not pity. "And what I can to do to help. Then we can get to my questions." Val liked the good doctor quite a lot. He saw many of his own personality traits in her, especially an independent streak and an almost stubborn need to be able to handle things without outside help. He admired that. But because he needed Tian, he needed to make sure she took care of herself. ''When someone won't ask for help, then you had to offer it.''<br><br> Tian flashed him a smile, one that reached her eyes easily, and she replied, "I'm fine. A little tired, but it's not every day I pull off a surgery I've only ever watched done and never performed." She moved to stand, gesturing for him to come in and take a seat. "Nothing a little sleep won't fix. I'm just working out in my head what I need to do to make it so Nui can be in here for a few days. She's going to be susceptible to illness for quite some time to come." She tilted her head slightly and said, "But I think your questions take precedence at this moment. What do you need me to tell you?"<br><br> Val pulled the chair back and sat down in a single smooth motion. "Nothing that a little sleep won't fix," he repeated. "*Are* you sleeping, Tian? When you were giving out treatments and were on duty, I noticed you were working exceptionally long shifts. I appreciate dedication as much as the next person, but...,"<br><br> There was a pause as Tian debated what to say. He could see the moment she chose not to blow off the question. "Not well," she admitted. "And there are a great many people here in need and not enough time on the ground to treat them all. I'll catch up when we lift off again."<br><br> He nodded slowly. "Ok, I don't know the medical profession, so I'll trust you to know where your own limits are. But do try and take care of yourself." From a purely practical standpoint, he didn't want to burn out one of his key resources from overuse. But viewing people as resources required a mile high vantage point. As Val spent more time with them, he was finding it harder and harder to maintain the distance he had been trying to maintain.<br><br> "So let's talk about Nuri." Val knew that Tien had very quickly grown attached to the whip smart young girl and that was before she had saved her life. He could only imagine that would create a stronger bond. But she was going to complicate matters in multiple dimensions. "What will you need?"<br><br> Pursing her lips, Tian glanced back at the desk she'd been using to write notes. "From here, it's simply a matter of recovery time. Getting her on her feet while keeping other infections away from her," she said slowly. But her eyes slid back to meet his and there was clear worry in them. "I need to take her to a full hospital, Val. The scans show that in terms of her body, heart problem aside, she's in great health. But ... I'm concerned that mutation is occurring in her brain. And I am nowhere NEAR capable of handling brain surgery, if that's what's required."<br><br> ''Brain mutation? That didn't sound good.'' "By full hospital, what do you mean? Does this mean the Core? Or would something not quite as cutting edge suffice?" Val was still trying to figure out exactly *how* deep of trouble they were in with the Alliance. Enough that they couldn't go to the Core anymore? Those guns - they were a big fat bullseye with a question mark in the center. He started unconsciously tapping an irregular rhythm with his foot as he thought through the possibilities.<br><br> "I wish I knew," Tian told him frankly. "This is so far outside my area of expertise that I might as well be a student again. The scans show that the tissue in her brain has a much higher density than normal. And Val... when she woke a little while ago from the anesthesia... " She hesitated. "She has a grasp of medicine that boggles me. I would expect the level of knowledge she's demonstrating from someone with decades of education. And there seems no reasonable explanation as to why a 16-year-old girl would be able to spout off to me the list of drugs she would need to recover from a heart transplant." She shook her head.<br><br> "I don't even know what COULD be happening here, though a couple of possibilities do creep into the back of my head... Some people have genetic mutations that the virus reacts to differently. It's possible that either she has a seriously enhanced mutation that essentially rendered her a genius -- not unheard of -- or else maybe the virus has caused something to grow in her brain that is making what she can do possible. Though if it's the latter, it will eventually cause her head to explode. Literally, I'd imagine."<br><br> "How does *she* feel about all of this?" Carting around a heart transplant patient was one thing, carting around an unwilling, moping, angry one would be something different. Although from the brief impression Val had gotten from her, his instincts told him he wouldn't have to worry about her. Other than trying to figure out how she changed the equation for him. If at all. The foot kept tapping as his brain kept churning.<br><br> "She wants out," Tian told him simply. "She seems very excited about the possibilities. Very adventurous. She's apparently managed to turn away suitors that her father tried to marry her off to in cunning ways, so I'm less inclined to believe the plague is what created her brilliance, though the possibility does exist that it potentially enhanced something in her brain. Whatever the case, she is jumping at the chance." She paused. "I've caught us in a Catch-22, though. With what's going on here," the weapons and such, obviously, "bringing her aboard could just as easily be signing her death warrant as leaving her behind." She sighed.<br><br> ''A super intelligent, adventurous teenager coming into freedom after a restricted childhood.'' No way that could go poorly. But the most important thing to figure out, he realized, was what Tian had planned.<br><br> Val looked at Tian seriously. "Now that I know what she wants, what do you want, Tian? I'm trying to figure out what I need to do," he admitted bluntly, "and I need to know what happens on Beylix if I can manage to scrap the ship. You, Vikki, and Nuri go off on IRP adventures?" This sounded more and more implausible the more he considered it all. Like some sort of Cortex sitcom.<br><br> Once again Tian said quietly, "I wish I knew." She met his gaze head-on. "I came out here to help people. I want to help people, it's what I *do*. I expected it to be a lot of mundane medical work with the occasional Oh-Crap moment thrown in. What we've encountered so far has blown all expectations sky high. I have no idea what to think," she admitted. But her tone was firm. "Your obligation to me ends on Beylix. What you choose to do with the ship from there obviously affects me -- if you scrap her, I have to find another ride. That said..."<br><br> She hesitated. "Frankly, I don't think bringing still more people into whatever the hell the IRP is doing is a very good idea. So I don't really know what I'm going to do." His tone, however, brought a faint smile to her face. "I keep hoping the IRP is what it says it is... I really would like to keep doing what I signed on to do." Just as his skepticism showed in his last sentence, her own shows in the reply. "Whatever I'm going to do, it's not your problem, though. I -- *WE* -- are not your responsibility. And you're probably a lot better off going your own way once we hit Beylix. Getting as far away from this mess as humanly possible."<br><br> She could say all she wanted that they weren't his responsibility, but that didn't make it magically true. Val also wasn't convinced that it would be as easy as dropping Tien and Vikki off with their cargo, even if that was what he wanted to. Smuggled cargo like those guns could follow a person around, even when left behind.<br><br> Val understood where Tien was coming from with Nuri, with things being laid on you unexpectedly. He and Dr. Grace had much in common and if he were in her shoes, he would be taking care of Nuri, just like she had decided to do, even if she hadn't said so specifically. And he wanted to tell her that he'd be willing to keep flying the ship, to reward taking that task on her shoulders. He liked her, despite his best attempts to stay at a distance. But every time he thought about helping, he would think about his mother back on Paquin, her bitter comments floating in his mind.<br><br> ''This will do things to you. You're more like your father than I let on.''<br><br> The thought made him angry...left him wanting to dump the ship in the ocean. Then he would swing the other direction when he remembered that his father had helped out these people before at no charge. Just like Val had. Like father, like son and back full circle to his mother’s accusations. Val had never less clarity in his life than he did these days.<br><br> "I can't promise anything one way or the other, Tian. I have so much to think about and so much confusion. But I understand where you're coming from and I want to help as much as I can," he said. He needed to find a place away from the ship to think about it for a little bit, maybe.<br><br> Not unaware of the dilemma facing the captain of the vessel, Tian offered quietly, "Never quite as black and white as it seems, is it?" She leaned back, one shoulder against the wall, and crossed her arms on a heavy sigh. "Just when you think you've got your life figured out, there's a monkey wrench in the works." She studied him. "Let me know if there's anything I can do, Val. I know you're struggling with a lot of baggage. I may not be able to help much with it, but I'm willing to loan my ear if you need to vent."<br><br> Val smiled a genuine smile. "I haven't had many friends, Tien. I find it nice that I have found one in this surprising left turn in my life. But for the moment, I think I might just need some quiet time to try and integrate all the variables, figure out where I'm left." He just wanted to do the right thing, even if it was getting harder and harder to see what the right thing was. He had tried to keep his life simple to make the decisions simple. It had worked for a while but now seemed to be an utter failure as a life strategy. But if there was one thing he knew, it was that failure just meant being handed a learning opportunity. ''Let's see if I’m smart enough to get anything out of this one...''<br><br> <br><br><br> ---- Return to [[Delilah Episodes|'''Episodes''']] | [[Last Voyage of Delilah, Season One|'''Season One''']] | [[Firefly-RPG|'''Firefly-RPG Homepage''']] | [[Delilah_Crew|'''Crew Page''']] | <br>
Summary:
Please note that all contributions to RPGnet may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see
RPGnet:Copyrights
for details).
Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Page
Discussion
English
Views
Read
Edit
View history
More
Search
Navigation
RPGnet
Main Page
Major Projects
Categories
Recent changes
Random page
Help
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Special pages
Page information