Bactine (18 page)

Pirates would not attempt anything here, Ulaman assured Daniel who remained vigilant despite that. The fact they had never done it so far did not mean they never would. Nothing happened, though.

"After the night we're almost back," the captain said. "Half a day at best then. The Seigner will not be happy we failed to deliver the cargo, but at least the ship's not gone under."

That was something to be grateful for, Daniel agreed.

Towards the evening Daniel felt sick. It felt like a fever was spreading inside him and he could not explain it. The people around him noticed that he was doing poorly also and commented on it, suggesting he should hit his bunk. He agreed eagerly and staggered down to his cabin, tumbling onto the bed.

Not much later Xandree and Ulaman came down to see him. Xandree had tea with her, and her small medical kit. The tea was the best she had to offer though, nothing in her kit seemed to be the cure for Daniel's situation.

Ulaman thought it was the fact he had fallen into the sea. "Those chemicals do rotten things, Daniel. You should be okay in a few days."

"I hope so. Don't like this a bit," the ex-soldier muttered. The tea made things more bearable for him, and Draiky the cook made it her personal mission to supply him with copious amounts of it, sitting by his bed and talking with him if he was not sleeping.

As he drifted in and out of sleep, the Pricosine reached port. Daniel was aware of people coming into his cabin and lifting him out on a stretcher. As they were carrying him up the stairs, Stroro's voice warning someone to be careful or else, he passed out again.

"Mr. Zacharias? Can you hear me?" The voice was gentle and female.

"Yes, I can." Daniel was quite certain. He opened his eyes slowly and stared at a friendly face with brown eyes and a white cap in tucked back dark hair. Beyond the face everything was white.

"Wonderful, Mr. Zacharias. Good to have you with us," the nurse smiled.

Daniel was not so sure about that, but probably she was more coherent than he was.

"How are you feeling, Mr. Zacharias?"

"Somewhat better. Not so hot," he determined. "A bit numb too."

The nurse looked away from him. He tried to follow her gaze and discovered that he couldn't. It was as if his head was held down by something, like an anvil. "I am in a hospital, aren't I?"

"Yes," said the nurse, her attention back with him. "You are taken care of as well as we are able to, sir."

Somehow this did not fill Daniel with a lot of confidence. "What's wrong with me?"

Another voice, male, spoke. The owner of that, a balding man with a short white beard, bent over him. "You are packed in ice, Mr. Zacharias. We have to admit that we are not all certain with respect to the cause of your affliction. It may have to do with the rather unusual substance your body is made of, so we have contacted your seniors in order to determine a treatment."

Daniel slowly blinked. He noticed how sluggish it was. "Don't give me the medical careful routine, doctor. Please, what is going on?" He did not feel like politeness now.

"To put it bluntly, sir, you seem to be falling apart."

Daniel heard the words. Somehow they left him as cold has his ice-covered body was.

"It looks that keeping you in ice is slowing down the process, sir." The doctor looked at him. "I am sorry, sir, you asked for this information."

Daniel hoped he nodded. "I know. What are my chances?"

"We are not certain."

"Let me in, you runt, I know him! And I'm here on business!"

Daniel's heart jumped. Seconds later it did so again: Rhonda's face appeared in his view.

"Gods, you look like crap," she greeted him. Her face was hard. She started to push ice to the side and examined Daniel.

Daniel waited for her to say something, but she remained silent during the time she was looking him over.

"I need to talk to people, Daniel. I'll be back soon. I promise." Rhonda looked at him, this time in an emotional way he had never thought possible for her. She touched his forehead, then she left, taking the doctor with her.

The nurse started packing the ice onto him again, and the lights faded.

-=-=-

"Daniel? Daniel, can you hear me? Give him some more. Daniel?"

He crawled out of the grey fog. "I hear you." Slowly his eyesight came back. "Hey, you."

Rhonda stood watching him. "Hey yourself. I heard what a mess you got yourself in. You never grow up, do you? Playing pirate and going for a swim."

"Seems that's needed to get you back here," he tried to grin. There was no feedback from his face whether the attempt had succeeded.

"You're an idiot. Daniel, I need to talk to you and please listen carefully. It's getting harder to keep you awake."

At least she did not say 'alive', Daniel thought.

"We think to know what is happening to you, Daniel. Your friends from the boat said-"

"Ship" Daniel said.

"What? Oh, stop that. Your friends from the... ship said that you all were sprayed by something that made everyone sneeze. I assume you sealed yourself from it, because I found some of that stuff inside your Bactine parts, or what is remaining of them. It looks as if that stuff combined with the ocean water here is severely..."

"Daniel? Are you with us?"

"What? Oh. Yes." Daniel had not noticed that he had been unconscious again.

"Damn that stuff," Rhonda said. "I'll have to be quick. The stuff of the pirates and the ocean water degrades and finally dissolves the Bactine. We have to operate on you or you'll die. We can't take you back to the star base for a new Bactine transplant. It is too far away, and also it's never been done before. Daniel... stay with us... We are going to operate on you..."

-=-=-

There was pain. Not a deep and screaming pain, but a dull and throbbing one. It was everywhere. Daniel groaned softly and wished he hadn't. It triggered some more pain, in his throat.

"Mr. Zacharias? Are you awake? Try and move a finger, sir, if you can hear me. Don't try to speak, that will be too painful."

"Okay." Argh, she was right. He moved a finger.

"That is wonderful, Mr. Zacharias. Very good. Now, just relax. I am going to remove the covers and put more oil on your body, sir. It will help the recovery."

While Daniel still was working on the meaning of her words, he felt a rush of cool air flowing over him.

"Keep your eyes closed, sir, please. I will start with your face." Gentle, soft hands and fingers touched his face, and a warm slick sensation spread over his face. The dull pain seemed to yield to whatever it was the woman did.

Slowly and skilfully she worked his whole face, his shoulders and his chest, down to his abdomen. "I am now going to oil your private area, sir. Don't worry, I will be gentle."

Daniel, halfway dozing, wondered about her remark. His genitals had disappeared as he had been put inside the Bactine body and-... His mind froze for a moment as the feelings that rushed up to his brain told him something that could not be. Then another sensation, one he had not had for a long time, told him something else.

"Oh," the woman said. "Not to worry, sir, that happens at times.."

Daniel had an erection. The impossibility of this puzzled him so much that he did not even felt how the woman oiled his legs and covered him again. She said something.

"What? I beg your pardon... I did not hear you."

"You will be feeling better soon, sir. I'm taking my leave now, another nurse will come to sit with you."

She left, leaving Daniel in wonder. She returned again also, to oil him again.

"How are you feeling today, Mr. Zacharias?"

"Much better already, thank you, miss." Daniel could speak again without pain. Also most of the pain in his body had gone, save the odd tweak and throb.

"Very good, sir. I shall be oiling you again, and after that we will see if you can sit up." As she was oiling him, this time without the embarrassing situation, she told him that there had been people asking for him. "Alas, you are not allowed visitors yet, but they said they will return as soon as they may see you."

"I wonder, miss, if you can tell me what has happened to me?" Daniel asked. He had asked the other nurses too, but they had simply said they could not tell him.

"The medical team, assisted by the rather unladylike woman doctor have removed the material that was your other body, sir, and you have been restored in Glandrine. Do you know what Glandrine is?"

Glandrine. "Yes. Some people sort of explained it to me. Uhm. Thank you." Glandrine. "So they used Glandrine to fix me?"

"Yes, sir." She pulled the covers over him. "Now, do you think you want to try and sit up?"

Daniel was all in favour. He had been on his back forever, and bored out of his mind by the white ceiling. As she helped him up, his body screamed from all pores, but he was sitting. Such a relief.

"That was quite good, sir," the nurse smiled. She put a small mountain of pillows behind his back. "You can lean back now. Careful, sir."

Cold fire ran over his back for a moment as he sunk into the pillows, then it felt all good.

"You must be hungry, sir. I'll see that a tray of food is brought to you." Quickly she left the room.

Daniel looked at the dresser against the wall opposite him. Then he looked in the large mirror that hung over it. He scared himself. His face was black and blue, as if a herd of cows had taken a stroll over it. He pulled the cover down, to discover that his whole body was in that shape. And he stared at the penis.

A knock on the door made him cover himself again, quickly. A nurse carrying an insanely large tray came in. "Good afternoon, Mr. Zacharias. We heard you would fancy some food. Here is a starter for you. Do let us know if you are in need of something. You only have to pull the cord here by your bed."

He had the tray, which had short legs, on his bed in an instant. The nurse had left before he could respond. The smell of food made him forget that. He attacked it.

-=-=-

A gentle knock on the door. "Mr. Zacharias?" a nurse asked as she opened the door. "Ah... you are awake. Do you think you can see some visitors, sir?"

After three days of nurses, Daniel could certainly do with some other company. He was glad that most of the bruised colours on his new skin had gone away. He was a strange shade of blue still, but the nurses and the doctor had assured him that would settle itself once he was up and moving about.

To his surprise, Ulaman, Xandree and Draiky came in.

The three kept a respecting distance to him, something he did not understand, until Xandree explained that the nurses had told them to do so. "We should not chance to touch you, as your skin is healing."

They told him that the repairs on the Pricosine were going well. "In a few days we will be taking her out for a test again. And you are supposed to stay in bed for that, Daniel," said Ulaman.

"The doctor said you will be fine, Daniel. And you will be fit to sail with us again." Draiky sounded very happy about that, and Daniel was glad to hear it. He missed the ship already.

"The Seigner asked me to tell you he is very sorry about what happened, Daniel. He is very busy, so he could not come to visit you. He does regret that," Ulaman also told him.

Daniel told the visitors what he had learnt about his mishap. They all nodded, probably not understanding everything, but he felt that they had to know at least. They had done all they could to pull him through.

Their visit was short, but Daniel felt good about them having come to see him. It meant a lot to them.

"Next time I want to see you on the ship again, my friend," said Ulaman.

When he was alone again, Daniel felt better than he had done in days.

The next morning, a doctor came to see him and this time the man had time to talk to Daniel.

"I am sure you are wondering about many things, Mr. Zacharias." He got that right.

Daniel learnt that Rhonda and the local surgeons had worked on him for many hours. "The knowledge of the anatomy of a person that your doctor Flower possesses is amazing." In turn, they had surprised Rhonda by reengineering Daniel's genitals, something that the doctor was especially proud of.

"I am very grateful for that, doctor," Daniel said.

"It was our privilege to be of service, sir," the man brushed all praise away. "Most of your physique that is under the skin has remained intact, so your strength should be close to what it was. Doctor Flower also asked us to inform you that the air pockets in your limbs are still present, but you cannot use them to breathe through anymore. Concessions had to be made."