Tani's Destiny (Hearts of ICARUS Book 2) (11 page)

“It might give us a starting point,” Tani said. 

Both women stopped walking when they heard running footsteps behind them.  They turned in time to see Steel slide to a stop in a cloud of red dust.

“Tani, I’ve just learned that one of our people has been seriously injured,” Steel panted.  “I ask that you please look at him.”

“I’ll do whatever I can, of course, but I really am not a physician or a med tech.”

“That is understood,” Steel said.  “But you know more than any of us.  Without aid, Naran will surely die.”

“Where is he?”

“In our clinic,” Steel said and turned to lead the way. 

“What can you tell me about him?” Tani asked as she struggled to keep up with Steel’s pace, Astra at her side.

“He’s my age, 26,” Steel said.  “I don’t know what happened yet, but I’m told that his injuries are quite serious.”

“Is he conscious?”

“I don’t know.”

“When did the accident occur?”

“Last night,” Steel replied as he turned into a cave on the lowest level, ducking beneath the overhang.  Tani was surprised to see that the room was lit with electric light, and very clean, but small. 

“Electricity?” she asked as Steel led them to the back of the cave.

“We have generators,” Astra said as they entered a connecting chamber.  This room was set up just like any clinic except that, like on the
Stray
, the equipment was outdated, though sparkling clean.

Steel went straight to the man lying on the medi-cot and bent over him, talking softly.  Tani stayed back to give them privacy, taking the time to look around, relieved to find that she recognized most of the equipment despite its age.  When Steel straightened and turned toward her, she approached the other side of the medi-cot.

“Naran, please meet Princess Tanjelia of Jasan,” Steel said.  “Tani, this is my friend and third in command, Naran.”

“I’m glad to meet you, Naran,” Tani said.  “I’m sure you wish it was under better circumstances.”

“I wouldn’t complain,” Naran said with a faint smile.  “Steel says you can heal.”

Tani frowned at Steel.  “I have some medical knowledge, Naran, but I’m not a med tech or physician.  If you prefer that I not touch you, I will abide by your wishes.”

“If there’s any chance that you can help, I’m more than willing to take it, Highness,” Naran said, his voice weakening.

“Then I’m glad to do all that I can,” Tani said.  “And please call me Tani.”  Naran started to open his mouth but she shook her head.  “No, don’t talk any more right now, Naran.  I’ll be asking you some questions as we go along, so please save your strength for that.”  Naran released a slow sigh of relief, which didn’t surprise Tani in the least. 

“Steel, I need to know anything and everything that’s been done so far,” Tani said as she reached for the medi-cot control panel and lowered the bed so she could reach better. 

“Drya?” Steel said, and Tani looked up to see an older woman approach the medi-cot and stand beside Steel.  “He’s been given some pain meds and antibiotics, and his scrapes and wounds have been cleaned,” she said.  “I wrote down the meds and doses we’ve given him.  We didn’t know what else to do.”

“You did well,” Tani said, smiling gently at the older woman.  Drya nodded with relief, then stepped back.  Tani grasped the edge of the light blanket covering Naran and folded it back, nothing in her expression or manner revealing her shock at what she saw.  The man was scraped, scratched and bruised all over, though his left side had taken the most damage.  She glanced up at Steel who said, “He was knocked out of the sky.”

“While in
mahrac
form?”

“Yes,” Steel replied.  “I don’t know how he even survived, let alone fly back, but he did.”

“You really don’t have an ability for self-healing, do you?” she murmured as she began a visual inspection of the wounds.  “At least I understand why you don’t have healing tanks.”

“You do?” Steel asked in surprise.

“Yeah, they don’t generally work on shifters, so my guess is that they don’t work on you, either.”

“Your guess is correct,” Steel said with a little smile.

“Astra, would you find me a pair of sterile gloves please?” Tani asked as she leaned closer to one rather serious looking gouge on Naran’s left leg.  “Whoever cleaned his wounds did a remarkable job,” she said, accepting the gloves from Astra.  She put them on, looked up at the scanner mounted over the medi-cot, then turned toward the control panel beside the bed.  She turned it on, and mentally crossed her fingers.

It began to hum softly, causing her to frown worriedly.  She adjusted the image on the view screen above the control panel.  It was blurred, but a few adjustments corrected that.   

She began pressing different areas of the touch screen.  The scanner responded to her commands by lowering itself from the ceiling and moving to a position just above the center of Naran’s body.  She sharpened the image, then spent a few moments studying it.  The room around her was absolutely silent, but Tani didn’t even notice. 

She made some adjustments to the control panel and the image on the view screen changed to a close up view of Naran’s right foot.  Tani adjusted the scanner so that it traveled up and down Naran’s entire body.  When she was finished studying the resulting scans, she stepped back, took a deep breath, and turned to face Steel across the medi-cot. 

“Would you please tell me where I can get some water?” she asked.

“Water?” Steel asked blankly.

“Yes, please.  I’m really thirsty.” 

“I’ll get it, Tani,” Astra said and hurried to one corner of the room where a large chiller sat.  She removed a container of water and handed it Tani. 

“Thank you so much,” she said, then drank half the bottle before setting it down on a tray table behind her.  “Well, Naran, I’m sure it won’t come as any great surprise to hear that you’re a mess.”

“Not really, no,” Naran said.  “I hurt everywhere and I can barely move, so I figured it was bad.”

“Do you want to hear this?”

“Yes, I do,” Naran said.

“You have two broken legs, three cracked ribs, a broken arm, and several broken bones in your left hand.  Aside from the various scrapes and scratches, you have a deep laceration in your left thigh which, unfortunately, extends deep into the muscle, and that cut on your head needs attention as well.  The scans indicate a wound of some sort on your back, but it’s not deep or potentially life threatening at the moment.  I’ll wait until you’re put back together a bit before I turn you over to check it.  The good news is that, aside from the one cut and a few scrapes, you have no head injuries, and no injuries that affect your internal organs.”

“Will I walk again?” Naran asked tightly.

“Surprisingly, none of the breaks are serious.  They should heal without complication.  My greatest concern is the wound in your thigh.  The muscle damage is extensive, so there’s a chance you’ll limp, though I’ll do all I can to prevent it.  Aside from that, I see no reason why you shouldn’t be able to walk assuming all goes well.”

Naran stared at Tani for a long moment, then nodded slowly.  “At least there’s hope.”

“Always,” Tani said, smiling.  She looked across the bed where Steel, Marbic, and Astra were gathered.  “I’m going to need help.  Are any of you willing?”

“We all are,” Steel said, and the others nodded.  “What you just did with that machine on the ceiling is something none of us knew how to do.  We didn’t even know what its purpose was, Tani.  That’s how little we know.  But if you tell us what you want, we’ll follow your instructions to the letter.”

“Thanks, Steel.”  She looked back down to Naran.  “Each broken bone must be set, Naran.  That means I have to move the bones back into alignment with each other.  If that’s not done, the bones won’t heal straight, and your chances of being able to walk afterward fall dramatically.  Unfortunately, setting bones is very painful, and I don’t know enough about medication to safely sedate you.  I’m sorry.”

“Pain I can handle,” Naran said with a faint smile.  “Drya just gave me some pain med before you arrived, and it’s kicking in now.  That’ll do me.”

Tani nodded, then looked up at her assistants.  “I need a bone annealer to begin with.  Please tell me you have one.”

“We have two,” Astra said, going to a cabinet on the opposite side of the room and opening it.  A moment later she placed two portable bone annealers in Tani’s hand that had to be as old as she was.  But they were clean, and looked almost new.

“I need to run recalibrations on these before we can use them,” she said, taking them over to a counter and setting them down.  She opened the control panel door on the side of one of the long, narrow objects that looked much like ancient curling irons, and pressed a button on the control panel.  The battery was down to fifty percent, so she snapped it into one of the chargers mounted on the wall in front of her.  Then she picked up the second one, relieved that it had a ninety percent charge.

“Do you mind if I watch what you do, Tani?” Astra asked as she joined her at the counter.  “Nobody here knows how to use these things, and there were many times they would have been useful.”

“Not only can you watch, I’ll teach you,” Tani said, then pressed another button.  A yellow light began to flash and Tani relaxed a bit.  “It’s recalibrating,” she told Astra.  “It’s very important to do this before using it.  Every single time, Astra,” she said.  “If you have to stop in the middle of healing a bone, which you generally have to do at least once, always run a recalibration before each start.  These things can cause a lot of pain and damage if not used properly, and each time it’s used, it needs to be reset so that it can rescan the bone before healing.  That’s what the recalibration does.”

“Got it,” Astra said, nodding once.  “Recalibration before each use.”

“When the flashing yellow light stops, check the screen.  If it needs you to do something, like recharge it, or enter data, it will tell you.  If it’s ready for the next step, it will say that as well. 
Always
read the screen and
never
ignore anything it says.”

Astra nodded.  “The yellow light stopped flashing,” she said, squinting at the little screen.  “It wants data on the patient.  Height, weight, age.”

“The medi-cot displays his measurements and weight, and you know his age, so go ahead and enter those numbers.”

Astra hesitated.  She was nervous about doing something wrong, but this was the first chance any of them had gotten to learn how to use any of this equipment, and she wasn’t going to let it pass without taking advantage of it.  “Yes, all right,” she said, then blew out a nervous breath.

“Don’t worry, Astra, I’ll double check your settings,” Tani assured her, much to Astra’s relief.  While Astra went to the medi-cot for the stats, Tani began opening and closing cabinets and drawers.

“What are you looking for?” Steel asked. 

“Wound adhesive, bandages, a steri-lamp.”

“We have no wound adhesive,” Marbic said.  “What is a steri-lamp?”

“It’s a special light that sterilizes wounds more quickly and thoroughly than antiseptic, and it doesn’t burn.”

“If we have one, we don’t know its purpose,” Marbic said.  “But it sure would come in handy.”

“You have one,” Tani said, reaching into a cupboard and removing it.  It was small, with a long thin light tube.  She turned it on and smiled when the bulb immediately turned dark blue, indicating standby mode.  She checked the panel, then turned it toward Marbic and Steel.  “Right here it tells you that the unit has an eighty percent charge, and it’s in standby mode.  When you use it, you press this green button.  The bulb will turn red.  You hold it over whatever you want sterilized until the panel tells you that it’s finished and the area is sterilized.”

“That’s it?” Steel asked in surprise.  Tani nodded, then looked around for the charging base.  She found it mounted on the wall next to the bone annealer charging base and snapped it into place.  “That will charge while we work on the bones.”

“Like Marbic said, we don’t have any wound adhesive,” Steel said.  “Can you use that sewing method you spoke about?”

“Sewing method?” Marbic asked in surprise.

“Yes,” Tani said, answering Steel’s question.  “First, let’s see if there are any sterile sutures here.”  She began opening and closing drawers again, but it didn’t take long this time to find what she wanted.  She removed a box of pre-packaged sutures and set it on the counter, then opened it, smiling to find the box nearly full.

“What else do you need?” Steel asked.

“Well, thanks to Drya, or whoever did it, we don’t have to clean all the scrapes and scratches.  We’ll sterilize them all later with the steri-lamp, but for now, we’ve got all that we need.”

“You said you would need our help,” Marbic said.

“Yes, I will,” she said, walking back to the medi-cot so that Naran could hear what she was about to say.  “When bones break, the muscles and tendons that surround them contract.”  She looked at the blank faces around her and tried to think of another way to explain.  “Imagine that the muscles are like strong rubber bands that are stretched out and held in place by the bone.  When the bone breaks, tension on the muscle…rubber band…is relieved, allowing the muscle to contract, which pulls the bone further out of place.  To set the bone, the muscles have to be stretched out far enough that there’s room to put the ends of the bone back together.  The stronger the muscles, the more difficult that can be because the muscles work against you the entire time.  Naran looks pretty strong, so I’m going to need you guys to stretch those muscles and tendons far enough for me to set the bones, then hold them in place until the annealer has completed a minimum of thirty percent healing.”