الحركة بركة (Al harakat barakat - Movement is a blessing)
Content Warning. Please see this post for the advisory information.
Part 5
2400
The sanitised white roof blinded Ayesha every time she tried to open her eyes. It was easier for her to close them and rest, especially due to the splitting pain emitting from her head. But this time, she felt compelled to try to open her eyes a bit wider. And then everything came into focus. She was lying in a hospital bed. Low beeps and pulses emitted every so often from the machines around her. She became aware of a halo around the top of her head.
Turning her head slightly, she could see a typical hospital room. Light translucent curtains were drawn across the windows, dimming the golden light of the setting sun that spilt into her room. There were two chairs, pointing inwards at an angle. One had a folded-up prayer mat. Ayesha tilted her head a bit more and her eyes picked up a bunch of flowers beside her bed, along with a PADD of scrolling get-well-soon messages. Ayesha tried to move her arms, but her brain didn’t seem to want to listen. Instead, the halo around her head began to spin, and the low beeps began to increase in frequency. This was followed by the door flying open and a nurse rushing in.
“She’s…” the nurse paused as she locked eyes with Ayesha. The nurse tilted her head slightly. Ayesha mimicked the movement. “She’s… awake,” the nurse finished, in a quiet tone, as another nurse joined her. “Please inform Doctor Oka that she’s awake,” the nurse said to the other, who nodded and left. The nurse then entered the room slowly, as if she was approaching a hungry animal. “Hello Ayesha,” she said kindly and slowly. “Do you know where you are? Blink once for yes, twice for no,”
Ayesha frowned. What a stupid question that was. She knew that she was in a hospital. Judging from the light, she could possibly guess which hospital she was in, but the specifics. She didn’t know. In any case, a stupid question required a stupid answer. She blinked once.
“Good. Do you know how you got here?”
Again, Ayesha thought that this was a stupid question. How else does one get to a hospital? Clearly through doors at the front. Ayesha blinked once.
“Good. Ayesha, you suffered a severe injury. I will let the doctor explain more, but you need to take it easy, understood?”
The trifecta of stupid questions. It was not as if she was going to go and play a vicious contact sport at this moment. She couldn’t even move her arm. She turned away from the nurse to look at the ceiling.
“Ayesha?” The nurse stepped close.
Of course, Ayesha thought. She wanted a response. She blinked once, to affirm it. The nurse seemed to relax.
“Good,” she said, as the doctor arrived. “She seems to be stable enough. She understands and is responding to simple questions,” the nurse informed the doctor.
Stupid questions, Ayesha thought. Then she smirked.
“She also finds something amusing,” the doctor replied as she approached Ayesha. “Readings seem normal. We need to monitor to see if brain activity doesn’t drop again like last time,” she says, tapping the screen. “Increasing sensitivity,” she vocalises, before looking at Ayesha.
“Hello Ayesha, I hope you are well. I am Doctor Nerra Oka. You are at Nux Neurological Hospital. You suffered a severe subarachnoid haemorrhage, caused by multiple intracranial aneurysms. Your body went into shock and you began to suffer secondary cerebral ischaemia. We had to put you in a coma to protect your brain and performed surgery,” she explained.
Ayesha’s thoughts mulled over the doctor’s words. She seemed to know what they meant, but everything seemed so jumbled and mixed up. The doctor smiled, however.
“It’s good to see that you have some understanding of this,” she said. “Your brain suffered a lot of damage. It’s going to be some time before you can get away from here,” she says. “The halo here is monitoring your brain activity. If it begins to spike, we’ll be here to help. It also will help the neurosuppressants we’re giving you, to prevent your telepathy. Please try to keep your mind closed. At this stage, any stimulation to your brain could kill you. Do you understand?”
Ayesha nodded. “I do,” she managed to vocalise.
“Good. Rest now. I will inform your father,”
Ayesha nodded as the doctor left. She sighed. She was going to be extremely bored, it would seem.
2422
“She will also need Agenezole Levatrol to manage cortisol levels in her brain and encourage neural growth. Given the Shinari biology, I wouldn’t risk using Diprocion,” she advised the Peacecraft’s CMO. “That’s just what I can see. You’re obviously the doctor in charge,”
“No, I will take your advice. Thank you for the help,” the CMO smiled. “You are considered an expert in these matters,”
Ayesha shook her head. “This is counselling’s department. I just know the mechanics,”
“That’s sometimes all you need,”
Ayesha nodded and let the Peacecraft’s medical team go about their duties. She pulled out a hypo from her pocket, checked her brain activity on her PADD, and injected herself. “Yeah, sometimes all you need,” she mumbled, as she saw the other Captains enter the medical bay.