He pressed a few buttons again to begin the nanite transfer into the tank, watching the process of regeneration and keeping an eye on her stats and vitals. She watched him, expression slightly worried. Would she feel anything? Would she feel different?
Then she blinked, wondering why she wasn't just asking. "Will I--feel them go in?"
He shook his head, smiling. "You won't feel anything at all. Just relax and breathe normally."
She nodded, working on relaxing. She heard the comm chime.
"My brain hurts," she heard Deebs say.
"So, what's happening over there?" she murmured. "I'm seeing a lot of open water."
She heard Deebs sigh in frustration. "Heck if I know--I am here, and--it's all live--"
Emilly considered that. "So...we can't see you, but you're up and running?"
"Sure. Come look."
Emilly smiled. "I will? I'm currently in a regen tank, amusingly."
"Oh dear."
"Hiro took me on a tour of Tannhäuser last night and I got shot by the new ship."
"Ahhh, it happens. Been tanked meself from time, to time."
She nodded. "Teach me to wear the wrong tag..."
She heard Deebs laugh, then caught Zack looking at her. She looked down, feeling....it was odd. She was used to feeling tissues knit when she was wounded, but...the fact that the surface skin didn't heal first puzzled her. She looked up at Zack again.
"The nanites are working on the inner tissues quite well. I can see it on the board."
"Oh, good."
"The outside injury might take a bit more time. I'll probably have to close it manually with a dermal mender."
She nodded, but her mind was racing. The Prometheus' plasma beams had thrown her system a bit, but she'd gotten through that. This, though...the way the beams had moved through her...She was going to have to ask the Duke about the weapon systems.
Zack focused on the monitors, watching the nanite levels, eyes looking up at her body in the tank, nodding professionally.
"Just another minute...and it should be fine."
She nodded. "I feel...stronger. Or at least....not as drained."
He nodded, tapped the front panel, and looked up with a smile.
"Aaaand done! The internal tissues are repaired and the nanites are going out."
She breathed a sigh of relief.
"Now, I just need to finish the job with the dermal mender, and we should be fine."
She considered as the tank cleared. "The last time something this...serious, happened? I'd taken twelve iron arrows. I thought I was going to die that night..."
Zack opened the tank, taking Emilly gently by the arm to support her while she climbed down. He led her to yet another table.
"Lay down here. I'll take care of closing the wound."
She hopped up on the next medical bed. She was feeling better. She watched him put on gloves, picking up the mender, checking the charge, and moving it close to the wound. It took a few passes, careful and slow. He smiled reassuringly.
"That wasn't so bad, was it?" he asked.
Emilly looked up at him as her skin smoothed and restored. "What, getting shot, or the...mender thing?"
Zack chuckled as he kept slowly repairing the skin. "I meant the nanite regen."
Oh. "You were right," she said aloud. "I didn't feel it. I thought I would, but...no."
Zack nodded, continuing to work. "It's a technology I used quite often on Haven as a medic. The one I was trained to use. There' no pain to it, and the nanites extract and dissolve from the body after they're done."
"That's good," she murmured, considering. "All I know is, the Duke's getting involved in some pretty heavy weaponry at this point, and...I can't just blithely assume I can take any damage and shrug it off."
Zack finished the last touches and set the mender down on a side table. He took a clean alcohol stamp, checking the contours of where the wound was, and smiled. "And done. No more big hole in your chest, Duchess."
She smiled ruefully. "Thank you, Zack."
He removed his gloves, reaching out to caress her chest lovingly. "You're welcome, Duchess."
She closed her eyes, breathing out. "Now, if we can just keep it that way..."
He took her hand, reaching behind her shoulder to slowly help her stand up. "Give yourself at least twenty-four hours of rest, no intense effort during that time. And nothing to stressful either."
She nodded. "All right."
"The nanites repaired your heart injury, but it is best to make sure they did their job well, and not let your blood pressure go too high."
She looked up, grinning. "So, nothing that makes my heart pound, you're saying."
He chuckled. "For twenty-four hours, yes. And the regenderation should hold."
"All right. I'll be careful."
"That's good," he said, his eyes traveling down her form. "You should dress back up. I wouldn't want to...make your heart pound too much myself, Duchess." He grinned at her.
She ducked her face, grinning, and strolled through her closet, choosing something she rarely wore, a simple French revolution smock in red wool.
"Fairly non-salacious?"
He smiled at her, taking her hand to give the back of it a loving kiss. She smiled back.
"Thank you, Zack. Truly. We've needed you here."
She stepped to the open door of the clinic, looking at the wide expanse of empty ocean where New Alexandria should be. Time for the next problem. She walked back down the stairs to the port circle, tracing the patterns in the air that would take her to New Alexandria's shores, not her own. Time to address the next problem...
(Continued in part LXXXVI.)
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