it's not a problem if I never get caught, oh (part C)

(Roleplay entry. Continued from part XCIX.)

Emilly returned as quickly as she'd fled, slightly breathless. "Okay. Back," she said, handing over the samples from Tannhäuser.

Zack calmly administered the hypospray to Justine's body and took a sample of her blood. He removed the blood vial from the hypospray and put it in a socket in the console. He then dropped the soiled hypospray into a bio trashcan and removed his gloves. "Okay...we let the machine analyze the sample and we are ready to start the procedure. Duchess, can you confirm certain details for me before I start?"

Emilly took a moment to respond, lost in the memories of finding Cleo limp on the floor, her thoughts pulled to a stuttering halt. Shaking herself out of it she replied, a little too brightly, "Yes! What?"

Zack ran through his checklist. "Is Lady Justine's bloodtype AB+? Does she have any medical allergies to anesthesia products that I should be aware of?"

Emilly thought, eyes focusing internally. "AB+, yes. Anaesthesia, I don't think so..."

Zack pressed a button as Emilly heard the comm activate again. She listened a moment, then replied. "What's left on Tannhäuser Gate at this point...?" Addressing the doctor she said, "I'll be back, checking on something--" and dissolved into static.

Lokizen watched the machine anxiously. Rusty started to pace, stopped, then started again, looking agitated.

Emilly sparkled into being on Tannhäuser Gate, moving quickly to the command deck, having to dodge several patches of construction. She pulled up a scan for intelligences, saw the cluster in Gearhaven, that would be the clinic, saw a dot over Krakenstorm, which was puzzling, and saw another dot over the Dark Sea. Then a dot popped up on Tannhäuser.

She turned the scanning system to it, pulling up camera view, and saw Hiro walking down the corridor. But--the Prometheus had said--

The penny dropped. The Prometheus had said. Throwing up her hands, she snarled and left Tannhäuser again, making her way back to the clinic.

Lokizen left the clinic again, returning to the lighthouse to breathe, the sounds of the gears turning the great light soothing his nerves for a few moments. In the clinic, Rusty looked on as Zack finished punching in the DNA reconstruction program. "All right," he said. "That should do it, then." Taking a deep breath, he entered the start command of the derma mender, watching the arms of the surgical dome begin the skin regeneration.

Lokizen returned, shifting his weight from foot to foot, hoping for a miracle.

Emilly walked back in again, muttering about ships with cruel senses of humor. "He's not...dead," she finally told them, watching the dermal regeneration.

"Not dead is a good state to be in," Lokizen replied carefully. The Duchess just nodded.

"He's not...really focused, he ran into--something--moving from Tannhauser to the Dark Sea, but he's not dead."

Zack's hands flew over the derma mender like a real professional, the needles and lasers working on Justine's body regenerating her completely without leaving a single scar on her, almost like she never had any kind of injuries at all.

Lokizen watched the procedure, entranced by the skill demonstrated by Zack

Zack looked up from the surgical unit console, breathing a sigh of relief. Opening the dome, he put a hospital robe on the unconscious Justine. "Well," he said with a satisfied smile, "It seems like the surgery was a total success."

In a corner of the clinic, Emilly blew out air through her nose, reached up, twisted her fingers, and yanked the leopard to this-here. After he completed apparating, she narrowed her eyes at him. "Hiro...why didn't you tell me the Prometheus can talk?"

Eyes wide, Hiro shook off the confusion of sudden teleportation. "Well, the Ship's Mind...can," adding with a smile as if it explained everything, "The Eschatological Practicum is its chosen name."

Mouth in a tight line, Emilly snarls. "And does the Ship's Mind dislike the Duchess?"

"I don’t think so..."

"It told me you were DEAD, Hiro!"

Hiro thought, then shook his head. "I was just prepping it for orbit...Sending it on a trade mission..."

Unimpressed, the Duchess folded her arms across her chest. "And now there's that floating--THING--by the shore temple--"

Looking over Emilly's shoulder, Hiro saw Zack lower Justine onto the hover stretcher and transfer her to the clinic bed. Distracted, he followed, looking down at the Countess. "Justine, are you ok?"

Justine’s eyes opened partially and she focused on Hiro, mumbling sleepily. "Box...of fluffy...ducklings..." before her eyes closed again.

Rusty joined Hiro at the bedside. "Welcome back, Lady Justine," adding, "Hiro. I'm glad you're okay," to the Duke.

Emilly frowned. "If she starts talking about dovecows, I'm going to worry, but ducklings are fine, right?"

Lokizen smiled at Zack. "Thank you Healer, for your skills."

"She will be fine," Zack said. "She just needs some rest. The operation worked wonderfully well. Not a trace of burning on her body."

Hiro turned to Zack. "Thank you, Doctor."

"I will keep her under observation for the night and see how she feels tomorrow."

Tentatively, Hiro reopened the conversation with the Duchess about the ships. "...We recalled the Grown-Up Conversation from Haven."

Emilly turned and thwapped the Duke on the arm. "And THAT'S for making me think you mutated the children!"

"Should we send it back...owch! Our weapons wouldn't fire on the children--"

Emilly lowered her voice to a harsh whisper. "Did I know that?? They fire on us!"

Taking one more look at Justine, Rusty turned to the door/ "I need a break."

"I'm going to go also, I'll be back around soon, take care all," added Lokizen, following him out.

The Duke and Duchess broke off their quarrel to wave goodbye to them before Hiro turned back to Emilly and took her hands. "Duchess...do we need to check on Princess Athena?"

Behind them, Zack tidied the mess in the clinic, discarding Justine’s ruined clothes and putting a monitoring cuff on her wrist.

Readdressing the Duke, Emilly threw up her hands. "No. Cleo scared me to DEATH, though--I came in and she had no eyes!"

"When you are...what?"

Zack looked back to the arguing couple. "No eyes?"

"I thought--well, you know what I thought...Then she turned over onto her belly and asked for scritches...and when she looked up, she was fine." Rolling her eyes, Emilly added, "Turns out she was trying to shapeshift...They're far too young!"

"What about Enoch?"

"Slept through the whole thing."

“Oh. No shape shifting yet?"

"Oh, please."

Zack sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Duchess? May I give my...medical opinion?"

"They're your children," Emilly said, leaning into Hiro. "We've told them no planeswalking either, and look what happened THERE. Hmm? Please," she added, following Hiro's attention and looking over to Zack.

"As I know from shapeshifters, the process of shapeshifting development in children always varies from one to another. Some are learning at a young age and some do at a later age. But all depending also on the shapeshifter's type, and genetics, some of them may also learn to shapeshift, or at least try to do so maybe at age of one or two years old. The important thing for young shapeshifters is to make sure their bodies don’t lack nutrition so they are able to process through the learning healthily."

Emilly nodded. "It's...tricky. The genetics are...well, I mentioned." She reached up, cupping the Duke's face, smiling. "He's fine. I'm something of...an anomaly."

"Well, I do hope that this will prove useful. I know that shapeshifting might be," he paused with a heavy sigh, "well, in my case anyway...it can be...quite painful..."

Emilly nodded in agreement. "At times, especially new forms."

Zack pulled up short. "Why is the door to my office room open? I thought I closed it." He shrugged.

Emilly followed his gaze. "Isn't that your--private quarters?"

"Yes, they are," he said thoughtfully.

"Are the doors kept locked?" Emilly asked.

"It might be just the wind, it can happen. We have not installed a door to the balcony yet. As for a lock, I am still working on it."

"Well," Hiro said, "I need to head back...to the mansion...I need to get a few things written and then redeploy the ships."

"I probably should go back to setting things out," Emilly said, "but...I think tomorrow. Tomorrow will be when everything gets done."

They both thanked the doctor and walked to the door.

"I will keep you both posted if there is anything new on Justine's health during the night. But if everything goes well, tomorrow she should be back on her feet and ready to go back to her regular activities," he said before closing the door behind them.

Zack walked back over to the clinic bed, reaching over to Justine and gently caressing her head. "I will keep an eye on you, dear. Sleep well."

(Continued in part CI.)