Jethro Goes to War (Wandering Engineer Jethro's tale) (13 page)

“
Sensory
overload due to tissue inflammation and over stimulation. We're
treating it. We thought it would be licked when he was in the regen
tank but no such luck. It's more pronounced in him because of his
augmentation,” she replied looking at the noncom. She shook her
head.

“
Inbreeding,”
Hurranna said with a sniff. “I knew it'd come back and bite us
in the ass sometime. Hopefully you are not rejecting the implants.”
Jethro felt a pang of fear over that.

“
Inbreeding?”
The doctor asked giving her a look. “It's not tissue rejection
I checked for that.”

“
Yeah, we, ah,
the clan that is tried to keep good records, but with our limited
numbers we know things got mixed up a time or two,” Hurranna
explained.

“
I'm not sure
that has anything to do with this actually. Genetics are a
possibility, but I think it is unique physical adaptation that is the
root cause. We'll get it sorted out.”

“
Hopefully
soon,” Jethro ground out. He hated feeling like crap. Helpless.
It just wasn't his style. She patted his sheet covered foot and then
walked to the center of the bay. She looked around, noting the others
were awake and watching her.

“
Okay, by now,
you've all noticed you’re not feeling any different yet right?”
she said turning around to look at them. They nodded. “And no
special sight, or anything. That's because for now your implants are
locked down as they integrate with your body and your body adjusts to
them. That way the swelling will go down before we start
rehabilitation.”

“
Which will be
fun,” the gunny snarled. “At least for me.”

“
Most
definitely for you. And you better not be a cantankerous patient. I
can have an enema nurse come by every couple hours if you try my
patience gunny,” she said giving him a reproving look.

“
Wouldn't
dream of it doc,” he said and then sat back as the recruits
stared and then chuckled softly. “Not in a million years while
I'm under your thumb.”

“
Boo hoo,”
she said smiling. “I think nurse Joy was looking forward to
it.” She smirked at him. He gave an involuntary shiver and then
glared. “Well, if you change your mind, let me know,” she
said as he opened his mouth. He closed it with a clop firmly. She
smiled sweetly at him. She turned back to the group who were trying
hard not to snicker. “Tonight you'll get your first sleep
session. It'll be basic and brief, but repeat a few times. Each night
you'll get more info that will build off the first. The faster you
process and absorb the information, the faster you'll get out of
here. So sleep. That's an order,” she said. She looked around
smiling.

“
Can't you
just induce us? With a somatic neuralizer or something?”
Valenko asked.

“
No, that
would interfere with your sleep teaching. Besides, no doctor likes to
over medicate when they don't have to. And right now, I don't have
to. You are soldiers. By now you've learned to sleep whenever you
can, however you can right?” she asked, eyebrow raised.

“
Yes ma'am,”
the gunny said one arm behind his head. He closed his good eye.

“
Then get to
work. Or in this case sleep,” she smiled as she walked out and
the lights dimmed.

...*...*...*...*...

“
How is the
eye doing?” Thornby asked the gunny as she came into his bay
area.

“
Better
Commander,” he answered looking over to her.

She sighed and shook
her head in resignation as he said that. “Will you soldiers
stop... oh hell; it's like talking to a wall. Never mind.” She
sat on the edge of the bed. “Any problems?”

“
No. I'm
adjusting to having depth perception again.”

“
Good. Clarity
is okay?” She took a pen light out and pointed it at his eye.
She moved it around then stopped. “Follow the light. With your
eyes.” He did so.

“
Good. The
muscles have adapted well. Luckily the scarring wasn't too
intensive.” She nodded making a note on her padd.

“
The eye is
easy,” he said and then shrugged.

“
Well, I did
offer you a prosthetic for it if you remember?”

“
No thanks
doc. Having a camera would have been hard to swallow. Besides, it
would have meant going through this rigamarole twice.”

“
Already tired
of hospital food?” she teased, then smiled, looking up from
studying his notes. He shrugged.

“
Just eager to
get back to work.”

“
You'll be
snarling at the recruits in no time gunny,” she smiled again,
patting his foot. “The arm will take longer to get used to.
You’re in for a lot of rehab. Are you sure you can balance duty
and rehab?”

“
I've made it
this far ma'am,” he shrugged.

“
Good
attitude,” she nodded. She got up. “You've got a
therapist coming in an hour to work you over now that the swelling is
down and your tissues have integrated.”

“
Doc?”
he asked. She paused at the door.

“
Yes?”

“
Thanks.”

She smiled. “You're
welcome. gunny.” She cocked her head to him in a slight bow,
and then used the padd to give him a jaunty salute. She turned, put
her free hand in her pocket and left.

“
Humans,”
the gunny sighed. The doctor obviously didn't understand military
protocol. He tried to flex his right hand. It was still bound up in
the cast. Not for much longer though. He was eager to give it a shot.

...*...*...*...*...

Jethro grimaced as
he woke. It was hard to tell time in here, they didn't have a chrono
on the wall, and all this sleeping left him confused and dry when he
woke. He licked his dry lips. He didn't have a choice, he'd have to
do something about it.

He opened his eyes
and then locked onto the juice on the nightstand nearby. He reached
for it, and then paused. He slowed his approach but still ended up
knocking the glass off.

It fell to the floor
with a clatter as he swore. “Here, let me get that,” the
male orderly said, reaching over and picking the cup up. “Still
having trouble?”

“
Yeah. It's
like I'm floating sometimes. And sometimes it's hard to move,”
Jethro grimaced. He hadn't counted on being like a baby. The first
group didn't have this problem. The gunny didn't when he had his
implants. At least that was what he had thought. He'd have to
remember to ask later. Hopefully without getting his tail in a
wringer when he did. “To tell you the truth it's driving me
crazy. Maybe implants aren't all they are cracked up to be,” he
admitted. He shook his head.

“
Easy,”
the orderly said, resting a hand on his chest. “I wouldn't
know, I've only got the basic implants. Data and IFF stuff. You've
got the muscle enhancements and stuff. Full kit.”

“
Yeah,”
Jethro grimaced again then exhaled slowly trying to release the
building frustration.

“
What we can
do, we did. Or at least some of it anyway,” a nurse said,
looking up from her padd. “You'll get specialty implants when
or should I say if you graduate.”

“
Which isn't
going to happen with me stuck in this bed,” Jethro sighed
fighting the frustration again. He tried to get up but the orderly
pushed him back down.

“
Nope, not on.
Not in your condition son,” he said firmly. Jethro's lips
writhed in a snarl. The orderly drew back at the sight of his teeth.

“
Sorry,”
he grimaced again. “Muscle cramp. And yeah, I gotta get up. I
gotta... ah, you know.”

“
No... I don't
know. I do know you’re stuck in bed. Doctors orders.”

“
But I gotta
ah... number two,” he grimaced at the kids saying.

“
Oh,”
the orderly snorted. He shot a glance at the amused nurse. “Hang
on.” He went over to the nursing station and then came back
with a bedpan.

“
Oh like
that's going to work,” Jethro sighed rolling his eyes. “I've
got a tail remember?”

“
Hmmm... Yeah.
But I already went through this with brear bear over there. One work
out is enough for one night,” he said. He waved in Valenko's
direction.

“
Oh hell. All
right, you get to clean up the mess.”

“
Name of the
game son,” the orderly smiled. He pulled the privacy curtain.

...*...*...*...*...

“
So, if you've
got implants, why do you use a tablet?” Sergei asked the shift
nurse. Her eyes cut to him then back to the tablet. After a moment
she set it down. She looked over to him. He turned on his night
light.

“
It's...
you'll see. It's one thing to get info in your sleep. The neural
downloads can dump a lot of data onto you, but it's unsorted and you
don't have any contextual reference framework to integrate it into
your memories. For some it's hard to assimilate. But also, getting it
through your implants can be scary for some. And downright hard or
impossible to assimilate for others no matter how hard they try. If
you don't use it, that means assimilate it, you loose it.”

“
Okay.”

“
Besides, I
think it tickles. Doc says it's a psychosomatic response to a
perfectly normal sensory input,” she shook her head. “To
me getting data like that is just a little unnatural, you know?
Having something just pop up in your vision, or hearing someone's
voice talking to you. It can startle you if you're out of it.”

Sergei nodded,
purring a chuckle. His right arm went up to prop his head up to see
better. His left hand groomed his whiskers. “You've had them
long?”

“
Oh no, only a
month or so,” she admitted. “It's great for when you're
assisting during surgery, doing micro vision and kinetics... and
don't get me wrong, the implants are great for keeping you on your
feet when you’re doing a double or triple shift,” she
grimaced. “But it takes some getting used to.”

“
Ah,”
Sergei nodded. “I was wondering why we had it so easy with that
last exercise.”

“
Exercise?”
the nurse asked.

“
Yeah, we did
a hostage rescue scenario. I'm the front man. Heavy weapons and
demolition,” he grinned a little at her confused expression.
“At least that's what I'm shooting for. I'm not sure if I'll
get it. Pack mule mole likely.”

“
You'd be
surprised,” the nurse said shaking her head. “There have
been a lot of changes lately. I'm even thinking about joining the
military as a reservist. It'd add to my resume and I'd get an extra
check so I could upgrade from that crummy apartment we're sharing
now.”

“
What's wrong
with the pad?” the orderly said coming out with the bed pan at
arm’s length.

“
Whew. Where
to start,” the nurse said shaking her head as he went to the
toilet to flush. “Wait. Weight and condition?”

He rattled the
statistics off and then flushed. He tossed the cardboard bedpan into
the recycler and then opened the privacy curtain. “Feel
better?” Sergei asked dryly.

“
Much. A pound
lighter at least. You should try it,” Jethro retorted. The
nurse and orderly blanched.

Sergei grinned. “I
just might. But later,” he grimaced. His ears flicked as he
caught the staff's relieved but suddenly exasperated expressions.
“Think you folks can get me a bigger bed?” he asked
turning to them.

The nurse shook her
head and cleared her throat. “We've got the foot bed stuffed
under you and that is the biggest bed we've got. You, the Tauren, and
the bear,” She shook her head again, trying to get over the
sheer size of the cat. “Is it uncomfortable?” she asked
tentatively as she came over to get a better look.

He shrugged. “Only
if I stay like this long. As a cat I don't usually sleep on my tail
like this. I think it fell asleep,” he grimaced and rolled a
little. His hand dug down and pulled the limp limb out.

“
You don't
have those docked?” the nurse asked amused but fascinated.

“
Oh hell no.
Affects our balance. The shrimp over there only has a stub but she
was born that way,” Sergei waved to the snoring Hurranna. “Lynx
and bobcat genes. Go figure,” he said. He shook his head.

“
Besides, it
does have other uses,” Jethro said. His tail drooped down off
the bed and played with the hem of the nearby nurse’s skirt.
She turned, blushing and swatting at it.