Dr. Mackenzie Wilson climbed the last few steps of the stairs to the reception room. She was a 39-year-old woman, with blue eyes and long golden hair, which she had carelessly tied up in a kind of half-undone ponytail. She was dressed in a white doctor's coat, and a stethoscope hung from her neck.
Her eyes scanned the reception room. It was a spacious place, with several seats placed in a line that mainly served as a waiting room for those awaiting the departure of a ship, or as a communication path to the settlement for those who arrived in one. On one of its walls, a large glass-steel window allowed a view of the outside.
Wilson looked out the large window, overlooking Landing Pad A. The reception room was in a a cubic cement building located on one end of a huge cavern interior, excavated under the surface of the planet. On the roof of the cavern was a large metal hatch that could be opened to the outside. Through it, the ships could enter to rest on a big cement build landing platform. This pad was erected on the rocky floor of the cave, surrounded by luminous signaling beacons, and communicated with the reception room building through a mobile metal walkway, which was only extended when ships had landed.
Dr. Wilson looked into the room again, and located Monsignora Greta Meyer, who was waiting for her next to the screens, embedded in one of the walls, and which offered information about the colony's flights. Greeting her with a wave of his hand, she approached her.
The monsignora returned the greeting while waiting for Wilson to finish reaching her. Meyer was a woman of about 40 years old, tall and thin, with sharp features and very short blonde hair. She was wearing her black uniform with purple trim, and the white collar, which were appropriate of her rank in the Church.
"Oh, hello Mac." she said, when the doctor could hear her. "I thought you weren't coming." Meyer looked quickly at one of the monitors in the wall, and then pointed her finger to it. "Saito's ship entered the atmosphere about thirty minutes ago."
Dr. Wilson looked at the screen for a few seconds, and then smiled at Meyer. "I already told you I would come, I wouldn't miss this for anything in this life. I've been waiting for something like this for years, but unfortunately I had to spend more time than I expected with Matt Brennan, you know, the one who crashed his drilling machine into a scaffold full of workers in Sector 14."
Greta nodded her head. "I remember the incident, it was last week. 7 workers admitted to the emergency room, one almost had to have his leg amputated. However, I thought the drill driver was not injured, or at least that's what I read in the report."
"That's how it seemed to be, but I preferred to do a complete examination before sending him home, and I received the tests two hours and a half ago." Mackenzie smiled wearily. "It turns out that he has neurodegenerative damage that has caused the onset of Parkinson's Disease. I have also found quite high concentrations of mercury in his body, which is why I understand that inhalation of vapors of this metal for a long time is what is causing this pathology."
Monsignora Meyer raised an eyebrow in concern. "Inhalation of mercury vapors? Where has that happened?"
"In the new galleries that are being excavated for the expansion." Wilson looked away and looked through the window again at the landing platform, around which some of the ground crew could be seen doing their tasks. Then he turned back to Meyer. "I've been doing a little research, and it turns out that in Sector 14 we're drilling a fairly large vein of cinnabar to open up hallways and rooms. It is quite normal, cinnabar is quite present in Pygar, but whoever handles it has to be careful. Cutting lasers and diamond drills heat the cinnabar veins to such an extent that mercury vapors arise from it, and these are very harmful to health."
Greta opened her eyes wide, with a gesture of indignation. "Damn, and the workers don't wear masks?"
"Calm down Greta, of course they carry them." Mackenzie raised her hands in a sign of peace. When I found out about all this I went to check Matt Brennan's equipment in case there was any type of failure. And, indeed, the filter is leaking everywhere. Basically this man has been breathing mercury since we started digging in that area, and the team of workers he is part of has been working there more than ten hours a day, for three weeks... It doesn't surprise me that he lost control of the drilling machine, with such exposure to the vapors and the neurological damage he now has."
"May Deux protect him." Greta whispered, quickly making the sacred gear symbol on her chest. "And there is a medical solution for his problem? Can he be cured?"
Dr. Wilson looked doubtful. "For now, I've obviously removed him from his work crew and placed him under observation. He has lung damage too, but what worries me most is the brain damage that I've been able to identify from the deposition of mercury there. That type of pathology has bad treatment, but I've in mind an intravenous infusion of synthesized ethylene diamine tetracetic acid, that could help Matt to recover. That acid can trap heavy metals and help his body get rid of them." Wilson shrugged. "Unfortunately I won't be able to take care of it personally, as I will accompany Dr. Saito as soon as she leaves Faith Haven, but I have left Dr. Vasquez in charge of everything. She's very good at her job, and frankly, she needs to fly free a little."
Monsignora Meyer shook her head sadly, looking the paved ground. "I don't understand the virtues of applying that acid to the human body, you know it's not my field, but I hope it works." Then she raised her head and spoke in an angry voice. "Anyway, if you haven't already done so, I will speak with Monsignor Patel to update the reviews of the work crews' safety equipment. These types of misfortunes are perfectly avoidable, and it's his ministry that must take care of it."
Mackenzie nodded in agreement. "Of course, this was a stupid mistake that could have cost 8 lives. I hope that Patel investigates it to the end, and reviews the security protocols."
Greta Meyer's communicator began to ring. The cleric made an apologetic gesture, and she moved to the other side of the room to answer the call in private. Left alone, Mackenzie glanced at the screen showing Dr. Saito's inbound flight. Due to the position in which the ship was, there were still a few minutes before he could even see the settlement. In addition, it seemed that there was a level 3 storm on the surface of the planet, nothing spectacular, but quite annoying for navigation and for the operation of the sensors.
Mackenzie approached the window again, restless, and entertained herself by watching the comings and goings of the ground crew working under the landing pad. She was nervous, couldn't deny it, although she used to always be very sure of herself. She had to be, there was no choice, her job demanded it, and normally she always had someone's life in her hands, so there was no room for nerves, only cold logic. But for the first time in a long time, he had uneasiness running through his stomach. She wanted Dr. Saito to like her, since they were going to spend a lot of time together. Furthermore, the fact that Saito had voluntarily accepted her as her pupil for Psychology studies only increased her feeling of responsibility not to disappoint her expectations.
"For Deux's sake, Mac, stop it." she said to herself, with anger. "You look like a first grader girlie."
She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. She had to stop thinking of Saito as some kind of goddess who would come down from the heavens to judge her smugly. Quite the opposite, right? Saito had chosen her to train her personally, so he must have noticed or perceived something to take the trouble to do so. Psychology classes were taught at the Academy, there were other teachers, but Saito wanted her to accompany her on her trips and for her to gain knowledge through her own experience. That was a priceless gift, which without a doubt Deux put within her reach for her to take advantage of. The more she learned the more good she could do in the future in Faith Haven.
Mackenzie also truly believed in her abilities to be a Psychologist. In addition to her purely medical skills as a neurologist, everyone said that she knew how to calm patients who came to her mentally damaged. What questions to ask and when to ask them, how to filter the information they gave to her to separate relevant from the merely anecdotal, how to use that information to direct them so that they themselves would end up finding what ailed them inside... Many people had come up to thank him for the help provided through the long speaking sessions, which she did altruistically outside of her medical practice hours. And she couldn't help but admit that she felt more fulfilled when she helped someone exorcise their inner demons, than when she simply physically healed their injured or sick bodies.
A harmonious call sounded over the public address system speakers, startling Dr. Wilson out of her thoughts.
"Attention Landing Platform A". A metallic and slightly distorted voice was heard both inside the room and in the outer cavern. "Flight 12-HJ inbound in five minutes, repeat, flight 12-HJ inbound in five minutes".
Mackenzie looked back and saw Greta Meyer fixing his sight at the speakers, with her communicator still in her ear. Then she spoke a few more words and put away her device, approaching her.
"Well, she's already here." Meyer offered Dr. Wilson with one of those splendid smiles that characterized her when she was excited about something. "Let's see what happens."
Mackenzie nodded, and both women waited in silence for the door in the cavern ceiling to open.