Deja Vu?

The air was clean. Cleaner than Jade had ever known on a spaceship despite the humidity. Even having been left to grow wild in the time the ship had been abandoned, the hydroponics lab was still something to behold. It had obviously been well looked after. Jade busied herself with taking cuttings of some of the rarer herbs and useful medicinal plants, it had been quite a while since she had been able to let out her inner herbalist. In that room, surrounded by the miniature forest, she lost track of time. It was only when two cyborgs entered that she remembered why she’d come on board the Sovereign in the first place.

“We have located the medical facilities on this ship.” One said, looking into the bluish gloom of the hydroponics lab for Jade.

“Show me.” Jade said, emerging from the undergrowth with armfuls of cuttings. In her haste, neither Jade nor the cyborg saw the beautiful exotic flower bloom in the lights Jade forgot to turn off. Likewise, neither of them saw the pettels quiver and flutter, as if they were batlike creatures ready to hatch.

*****

Jade hadn’t been able to return to the medi-bay after all that had happened. It was difficult after they had healed up Jaxx to stay and tidy up. It was so quiet now. So lonely in that room without anyone. Briefly, Jade wondered when she had stopped not minding being alone. Perhaps it’s the knowledge of why it’s so quiet? All that death… She shuddered as an involuntary image of Phi flickered through her mind. The cyborg gestured to a door with a faded name plate and stepped aside.

“In here?” Jade asked.

“I think you will be surprised.” He said, pressing on the button to open the door. As she entered she gasped at the kit available, at the relatively untouched equipment that could be salvaged for use on the Dwarf. Scanners, beds, analytical machines way beyond the tech of the Dwarf, and in far better repair than any of the 3,000,000 year old kit she currently had to work with.

“Can we move it all?” Jade asked tentatively to the cyborg.

“We have already begun to strip out the old equipment from the medical bay on Blue Dwarf. We may not be as good as your Jamie, but we’ve been fixing up ourselves for decades. We can hotwire all of this into place don’t worry.” He replied, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“Really? That’s fantastic. I need to look through the medicines here…” She said, carefully putting the plant cuttings down onto a trolley cart. The cupboards holding the medicines were a sort of micro stasis, the supplies within not ageing, not degrading. There was Ibuprofen, Loratadine, Aciclovir, Penicillin, carbenicillin, oxacillin, Natalizumab, bevacizumab, Diphenhydramine, Acetaminophen and Hydrocodone amongst others that would prove mroe or less usefull in various situations. Jade made a list of what would be most useful, then tore it up and threw it away, she turned to one of the cyborgs helping to move all the kit.

“Can I just have all of these please?” She said, hoping that finally, she might have something good to work with, rather than a couple of trestle tables in an old store room aided by what could be found from the local pharmacies. Phi and Jade had made the most of Dr Keto’s ‘training bay, but in reality it was nothing more than several of the old abandoned store rooms cobbled together with what could be found. It was a bit like working on the front lines, with nothing but your wits, a ball point pen and a high velocity rifle. Hopefully, that would all change now and Jade would be able to get the health of the crew more stable, it wasn’t going to be long in this environment before fungal infections and disease ran rampant. Too much damp air and degraded metal.

She sighed as she helped disconnect kit and pile it onto carts for removal. Finally, a medi-bay of her own.