Yuma Robotics HQ, Central Dome, New Astarte, Planet Yuma, Coronado
midnight, 3-4 Aug. 824 A.S.
As she went in, her hands still at the back, Erik noticed a few scars on the inside of her left hand, possibly going up the forearm (he couldn't tell because of her blouse). He didn't give it much thought at the moment, but he was a bit curious.He reckoned he could ask later on about it.
"Let's see," she said in thought, "a coroner drone which detects a cause of death and/or it takes tissue samples?"
He smirked lightly as he replied "That's correct, although this one has been retrofitted to scan for specific substances as well, offering a precise location."
Doreen had a certain grace to her demeanor that Erik picked up quickly enough, but seeing her in her element was outright fascinating. He'd seen scientists before, both male and female, but she just had something inexplicable. His partial reverie was quickly brought down as Doreen turned to him. He replied while leaning back on a chair "Normally my colleagues would agree with you, but those aren't live tissues. Not yet anyway..." - he gestured towards a chair in front of him and continued "Please, have a seat."
He turned his head towards the hologram stand and spoke firmly "DODO, come here." Suddenly, the stand raised a few centimeters from the ground and hovered over until it finally sat down between the two chairs, as if it were a small table, while still displaying the cell-like hologram. A mechanised voice queried "Shouldn't you be home, sir?" to which Erik chuckled and replied "Maybe, but right now we have a visitor, so please help me show her our project."
The holographic display changed, representing a bug-like, but clearly mechanical, creature with five pairs of short "legs" and a rather oval shape.
Erik was about to begin explaining...
She put the fingers of her right hand over her lips as she softly laughed at, "\"Shouldn't you be home, Sir?" Still, she took the seat as offered and prepared for a short lecture or class from Erik.
As she sat, the thought of John's old nanite research came to mind. One would have thought little of it but he was indeed secretive about it, even unto her. Maybe it's because she hadn't heard from him in so long that she worried about him.
"DODO," she said kindly, "it is good to meet you."
She noticed a small refrigerator with a glass door on the front. Inside were water bottles. Her mouth being a bit dry, she opened the door.
"Erik, if it's OK, I could use one. You?" she asked offering him one.
She then sat back in her chair and crossed her legs. Opening the water, she took her first sip as she prepared to listen to Erik and DODO.
Yuma Robotics HQ, Central Dome, New Astarte, Planet Yuma, Coronado
midnight, 3-4 Aug. 824 A.S.
"What you see displayed here is a new design of nanite, indeed." he began, while gesturing towards the hologram. "While nano-technology has been in use for a few medical procedures already, we're trying to go beyond standard concepts like precise drug administration. Considering that our nation's main cause of distress is war, most people suffer not from pathological ailments, but rather wound-based ones. The purpose of this project is to, in fact, develop a synthetic stem-cell production that would ... " - he pauses and sighs, partially lost in thought for a moment - "completely recreate human tissue of any kind. The nanites we're working with are zinc-based artificial organisms that should function like 'factories' that produce, program and direct new stem-cells in damaged body parts. Unlike ships, the human body - being organic - can be helped to heal without expending a large amount of resources. If successful, we hope that this could be a step towards actually recreating lost limbs even."
Erik reaches for the water bottle set by Doreen in his reach, opens it and gulps a few times. Moments later, he places his hand into the hologram and says "DODO, preview 13 please." "Yes, sir." - the odd robot replies, adjusting the hologram to portray a human cell right next to the nanite. "The two objects are displayed on the same scale, for a size comparison."
The nanite was just a tad bigger than a basic human cell, while it was clearly composed of two main body-parts, a tiny head-like section and a larger one, Erik used his hand open up the nanite hologram, showing the inside. "As you can see here - the inside of the nanite is completely isolated from the outside, save for one small 'hatch' that would be used to deposit the stem-cells it produces. In theory, the point is to offer a completely sterile and controllable environment for the new mother cells to be produced. After enough of them are ready, they are liberated into the desired area and allowed to further multiply and replace what was lost."
Erik stops for a moment and looks at Doreen with somewhat caring, yet uneasy eyes. He then extends his hand towards hers - as if to grab it - and asks "I'm sorry, may I?"
She is intrigued by what she is seeing and hearing. Nano technology was nothing new to her but this application was. How good would it be to not have to do an organ transplant when one could be regenerated? It be a medical breakthrough and of course, a whole new level of medicine to study. She watched intently as he explained and showed. For Doreen, a lot to absorb was never difficult. Her intellectualism made up for her lack of combat knowledge.
When Erik grabbed her water bottle, she only gave a look of "well" and gave a quick snicker to herself. She did notice though his distraction. As it was late, he was probably exhausted. She herself had a long day and was feeling the onset of fatigue herself. Fatigue at the moment was taking a back seat to all the knowledge she was acquiring.
"Completely rebuild human tissue," she stated. "This is.....huge and it's only our first stop."
It was when Erik turned to her, looking at her, his eyes uncertain that the doctor in her kicked in. Her face became on of concern, "Erik, are you OK?"
But then she saw his hand reaching towards hers that she became a bit confused. She nodded and gently said, "Sure. Erik, what's wrong?"
Yuma Robotics HQ, Central Dome, New Astarte, Planet Yuma, Coronado
after midnight, 3-4 Aug. 824 A.S.
As Erik took Doreen's hand, it felt soft and tender, even with the scars that he now looked at and touched gently. His curiosity was building up and he could only wonder what could have happened to someone like her to have left her marked this way. Still, he was visibly tired and tried to maintain focus on the project... He attempted to speak in a polite manner, so as not to offend Doreen when suddenly mentioning something that might have been personal. "Uhm... I noticed your scars earlier and... as I'm sure you know... the reason we usually have scars is because our bodies do not have the power to fully regenerate lost tissue without a large consumption of resources and time. The point of our project is to offer the human body help in this endeavour, but giving it exactly what it lacks through these nanites, while it will do the rest naturally."
Erik tapped a button on DODO and the small robot closed the hologram and went back to it's resting place, next to the lab's wall. He let out a partial yawn and continued "I'm sorry - it has been a long day indeed. In any case, to finish... The reason my team and I require help with this project is because we haven't found a way to miniaturize the stem-cell production enough to make it fit inside the nanites. That's where you come in... if you think you could help."
He rose from his chair and smiled gently, while still looking at his guest. "Of course, I'm sure we can discuss further details on another day. Perhaps you'd like to go home and rest...?"
She was taken aback when Erik took her hand and studied the scars. Few ever noticed them as they often hid under a blouse or a set of scrubs or whites. She also wasn't used to being touched, especially so kindly and especially by a man....one that she had recently come to know. As a doctor, she did the touching and studying. As to men, well, after the circumstances of which Benjen was conceived made her smarter, she kept her distance. Still, as he touched the scars, memories of a time in Omega 41, sitting inside an escape pod, hoping someone would rescue her came to mind. So strong were the thoughts that she missed a lot of what Erik was saying. "Uhm... I noticed your scars earlier and... as I'm sure you know... the reason we usually have scars is because our bodies do not have the power to fully regenerate lost tissue without a large consumption of resources and time. The point of our project....... At this point, she took the hand gently back and held it in her own hand, rubbing the scars and dazed. A flashback of an exploding ship with her in the small hold. "Take the escape pod, Doreen, and save yourself" Close to giving birth and her hand and lower forearm badly cut from debris, she barely escaped....but to what. The radiation fields of Omega 41.
That's where you come in... if you think you could help." She jumped and took a quick breath as she came out of the flashback, her left hand over her chest. She then looked at Erik, "Yes, yes, of course I can help."
She stepped towards a window, realizing then what had just happened. She managed a smile which wasn't fooling anyone, "Yes, Erik. Perhaps we both need some rest. I'm sure the children are probably asleep if not exhausted. Then the smile faded. She knew Erik was trying to help and explain and that she had another flashback, one she hadn't had in years. "I.....I'm sorry, Erik. I.....didn't mean to."
Yuma Robotics HQ, Central Dome, New Astarte, Planet Yuma, Coronado
after midnight, 3-4 Aug. 824 A.S.
Being exhausted, Erik's mind wasn't paying full attention to what was happening either. Still, at the end of his statements, Doreen was visibly shaken - it was impossible for him not to notice it. His smile faded, he left out a sigh and realised she had a look he himself knew well. He didn't know any details, but it was there... the look of an exile, someone who went through hell to escape alive... it was a look Erik, like all Crayterians, had at least once. For him, the first exodus - from Crayter - was hard... but not as hard as the one from Tau 44, when the Gallic invasion began. Him and his siblings nearly died when fleeing Borneo, with only chance and the skill of trained fighter pilots as protection from the enemy armada. To be face to face with a force that was (and is) ready to reap both you and all you hold dear was one of the most terrifying and illuminating moments of his life.
He could only stutter and say "M-My apologies, Doreen. I... brought up something i shouldn't have." His mouth gasped as he stopped himself from saying more. He wanted to ask her what the scars meant, but it was clearly not the right moment. In his mind, such a moment might not even exist. It rarely does.
He walked around the room, closing a few monitors, then went to the door and opened it slowly, waiting for Doreen to come as well.
In Erik's office, at the top of the tower, the children would be waiting, already asleep. Each of them was curled at one end of the sofa from the office, while toys and holopads would be scattered all around the room's floor. A tiring, amusing and blissful sight would be waiting for Erik and Doreen when they'd arrive here.
"M-My apologies, Doreen. I... brought up something i shouldn't have." "It's OK, Erik." She smiled a bit as she hid the scars under the sleeve of her blouse. She exited the door that was being held open for her, smiling at him on the way out.
Looking into Erik's office, she smiled like only a mother could upon seeing the two boys, fast asleep on the couch. She turned the smile to Erik and then back into the room. She made a quiet walk over to Ben and knelt where he was sleeping.
"Benny," she said softly but to no response. "Beeeeennnny," she said again but to no response. She looked over to Erik, smiling and shaking her head and with almost a whisper, "they wore each other out." She then looked about the room and noticed the hurricane's wake scattered about. With Benjen asleep, she began picking up and putting away the toys and many other things the boys scattered everywhere. Erik did, after all, have to work tomorrow and she wasn't about to leave his office a wreck. Once finished, she again knelt before Benjen only this time she picked him up and held him, his head on her left shoulder.
"Fortunately he's small framed," she joked.
As they headed out, they spoke softly. "Tomorrow is a paperwork day for me so I'm only in my office for part of the day if we want to continue this after lunch or something?"
Yuma Robotics HQ, Central Dome, New Astarte, Planet Yuma, Coronado
after midnight, 3-4 Aug. 824 A.S.
After the two reached the office, Erik chuckled at the mess the kids made, but he didn't mind it. These day, the innocence of children was probably one of the only few things keeping his mind away from the horrors of war. He softly walked around the room, trying to avoid making noise, and helped Doreen put all the toys in boxes. As they finished, he mimicked Doreen's movements, slowly kneeling before Peter and picking him in his arms, then resting the little boy's head on his right shoulder. Peter's eyes opened partially, for a split-second, after which he yawned and hugged his father tight, just as suddenly going to sleep again.
"Tomorrow is a paperwork day for me so I'm only in my office for part of the day if we want to continue this after lunch or something?"
Erik pressed the elevator's button for the lobby and replied "That sounds like a good idea. Send me a message when you're available and I'll have someone bring you to the lab."
As the the two were exiting the building, both with their kids in their arms, Erik turned to Doreen and whispered "It has been a productive and... lovely evening, Doreen. Good night!"
He was tired, but truly happy. His mind was now racing with the thought of getting to work with Doreen. These past few hours had been full of fun, good company and last but not least... a chance to finally bring a novelty of science to life. In truth, he wasn't entirely sure if he was more excited about the scientific implications of this partnership or about something else entirely, but he dismissed his confusion to being exhausted.
As Doreen left, Erik took his personal shuttle back to New Thessalonica, aching to set his son to bed and then rest himself.
She intended her next day to be a relatively easy day, a day of paperwork in her office until another major battle would call her to the surgery ward. It wasn't just her but every available off duty surgeon was called and they were still overwhelmed. She had but five minutes to send a transmission to Erik.
Erik,
I don't know where all the casualties came in from but my staff has been overwhelmed by a battle.....somewhere. So much for this afternoon and quite possibly another day or two. Yes, it's that bad. I hate to ask you but I have a couple of requests. One, I may need someone from your nanite research. Even if the program isn't fully ready, we may have a need.
Second, I have no one to look after Ben. Would you mind? I mean....I have no one else and he likes you and of course, Peter. It looks like I'll be downing a lot of coffee over the next 24 to 48 hours.
*she frowns* Sorry
She felt guilty. One thing she hadn't set up was baby sitting for such emergencies. Hopefully Erik would be able to take care of Ben for her. For the moment, she didn't have time to think about it. Her first patient came in, a Colonial pilot badly burned with extensive internal injuries and his left eye was destroyed. He also had a chest tube stuck in his side.
"He was screaming," stated the paramedic, "we sedated him enough to stop that and re-inflated a collapsed lung. He's all yours, Doc."
She went to work on him, cleaning him up and began the process of fixing the damage. A laser scalpel, clamps, natural stitching and a host of other items were on her operating tray. The man was a mess.
"My God," she said under her breath, "And I though Corsairs and Bounty Hunters were bad." Yes, it would be a long night and the first of many patients.