Chapter 16: Doctor Lewis

Doctor Lewis strides into the med bay, his steps faltering momentarily as he takes in the number of groaning men and women on his beds. Spotting his daughter shouting orders he approaches.

"Report."

"Seven injured, one critical." The scanner beeps as McKenzie barks out information. "Ruptured spleen, punctured lung, perforated intestines, broken ribs, various broken bones and some internal bleeding to add into the complications."

"Have the nanites been inserted?" He asks

"Of course. He's had two injections. One on site and one when he got here. They're keeping him alive, and have started to fix a lot of the issues but we're going to have to surgically fix his intestines to prevent peritonitis, there's too much damage and foreign material in the abdominal cavity to allow for a non-surgical procedure. I'd also recommend removing the spleen while we're in there. The nanites can only do so much."

"Antibiotics?" He barks.

"He's had a 200mg intra muscular dose of Gentamicin in preparation for surgery." She responds.

"Is he stable enough for surgery?" The Doctor asks as he scrubs himself down.

"Does it really matter?" McKenzie asks sharply. "We either operate or he dies."

"Very well. Prep him for surgery."

"Yes Doctor. I've ordered more Synth blood, he's already had three bags."

"That's not good. We need to open him up now." Looking up Doctor Lewis notices the spectators, each face asking silent questions. "Clear out! Or do you want to make him sicker? Go check on your other friends and stay out of my damn way!"

Bodies meld back into the main med bay as the Doctor shoos them out, sealing the med bed area until only himself and his daughter remain. "Damned vultures." he mutters.

"Father! They're his friends and they're concerned for him." Slipping fresh gloves onto her hands, she lays out various medical instruments. "Everything's ready Doctor."

"Re-program the nanites to enter him into a medical coma please. We wouldn't want him waking up while we're messing with his intestines." He chuckles.

Turning McKenzie punches numbers into the pad next to her, shaking her head at her father's macabre attitude. She watches as the Chief's neural responses reduce. "He's there."

"Hand me the iodine." Scrubbing the surgical site he nods to McKenzie. "Laser scalpel." The laser cuts through the Chief's abdominal cavity like a hot knife through butter and McKenzie swabs at the wound, removing the excess blood.

Plunging a tube into the abdominal cavity, the Doctor presses down on a pad by his foot, filling the cavity with carbon dioxide. Once the abdomen is suitably inflated he removes his foot from the pad. Leaving the tube in place he turns to McKenzie. "Camera please." he asks.

Placing the Laparoscopic camera within the abdominal cavity, they turn to the view screen. "There. I can see at least two perforations in the ileum. Let's check the large intestine." Rotating the camera he scans the large intestines.

"Rotate back to the transverse area Doctor." McKenzie murmurs. "You see it? I'm betting that's where the majority of the detritus in the peritoneum is coming from." A second and third pass reveals no other tears or ruptures and the camera is rotated to focus on the main tear in the transverse colon.

Passing control of the Laparoscopic camera to McKenzie he takes up the laser scalpel, making another incision into the abdomen. Inserting a malleable laser tube into the incision, the doctor proceeds to manually rotate towards the rupture. "Hold the camera steady lass. I'm almost there." Reaching the wound, the Doctor manipulates a sensor switch. "I'm going to start off low. 5MgH to start with." He mutters as he watches the laser as it shoots out to meet the transverse colon rupture. "Raising to 15MgH." He says as the laser refuses to seal the rupture. "Okay, I can't go any higher. I'm going to have to do this the old fashioned way." Doctor Lewis passes control of the laser tube to McKenzie. "Close up the ileum ruptures while I set up the stapler."

"Father! That's barbaric!" She gasps.

Pointing to the monitor he shakes his head. "It's necessary I'm afraid. Look at his stats, he's not going to last much longer. The nanites have halted the internal bleeding, fixed the lung and have started repairing the various broken bones. But the spleen still needs to be removed, and regardless of the antibiotics streaming through him, he's going to go into septic shock soon if we don't get all this shit out of him. We can't do that until the wounds are sealed. We can go in and do finer repairs once he's better healed." As he speaks he uses the laser scalpel to open another incision, inserting a third tube. Into that tube he loads a strange, thin contraption.

"The two ileum ruptures are sealed."

"Good, rotate back to the transverse rupture please." He responds. As the camera brings the large rupture into view he deftly flicks the new tube into position. Several flicks of his fingers later, the open rupture visibly reduces. Tiny metallic glints can be seen on the monitor as he sutures over thirty tiny clips into the transverse wall. Looking over his work the Doctor lets out a small smile. "Crude, but effective."

Removing the tube, he carefully sets it aside. "We need to suction this crap out before we remove the spleen." placing the suction tube into the incision, he follows the camera as it pans through the abdominal cavity. The father and daughter team continues working in concert to remove the blood and fecal matter, cleaning with  water and fluidic antibiotic spray.

"Okay, let's have a look at that spleen." he says finally. McKenzie slowly moves and rotates the camera bringing the spleen into view. Taking a moment to study the ruptured spleen closely, he suddenly smiles. "Excellent. it's not as bad as we thought. We should be able to laser the wound shut with no problem. Careful as she goes McKenzie M'dear."

Rolling her eyes at her father, McKenzie triggers the laser, carefully lazing the wound shut as he suctions away the detritus around it. Sighing deeply, shoulders relaxing, she slowly levers the laser and camera from the Chief's abdomen. her eyes flick to the monitor as she scans his vital signs. "His vitals are starting to even out Doctor." She says, a happy lilt to her voice.

Removing his own tube he looks up at his daughters relieved face and grins. "Well of course he is m'dear. He didn't stand a chance of dying once the Lewis duo got their hands on him." he turns and set his tube on the table. "I'll let you seal him up. Once he's comfortably abed start him on an antibiotic drip." removing his gloves and mask he starts towards the cubicle exit. "I'm going to find out what the hell happened!"

Doctor Lewis exits the cubicle, re-sealing it behind him and walks through the med bay checking on each patient as he moves ever closer to an extremely glum looking Sergeant Pembrook, tenderly cradling one arm and hunched in pain.

"Let me guess, you wouldn't let anyone treat you?" he asks rhetorically as he grabs a nanite tubule from a nearby tray. pressing the tubule to Pembrook's neck he grins wryly. "Damned redneck dumbass."

"My men come first doc." he rasps.

"I don't see any other man other than the Chief, as badly injured as you obviously are. MY men follow triage protocols. Next time I expect you to submit to whatever medical procedure they deem necessary, or I'll be forced to take more extreme action. understand?"

"Sure, whatever you say doc." He responds, his breath coming a little easier with every passing moment.

Grabbing a scanner, Doctor Lewis starts scanning his patient. "So, care to tell me what happened?" He asks.

"Sure thing doc. God decided to fuck me over as per usual and tried to crack me like fucking humpty dumpty. Nigel, in his infinite wisdom, decided to break my fall. With himself!"