Daniel slowly blinked. He noticed how sluggish it was. “Don’t give me the medical careful routine, doctor. Please, what is going on?” He did not feel like politeness now.
“To put it bluntly, sir, you seem to be falling apart.”
20. Bactine
Daniel heard the words. Somehow they left him as cold has his ice-covered body was.
“It looks that keeping you in ice is slowing down the process, sir.” The doctor looked at him. “I am sorry, sir, you asked for this information.”
Daniel hoped he nodded. “I know. What are my chances?”
“We are not certain.”
“Let me in, you runt, I know him! And I’m here on business!”
Daniel’s heart jumped. Seconds later it did so again: Rhonda’s face appeared in his view.
“Gods, you look like crap,” she greeted him. Her face was hard. She started to push ice to the side and examined Daniel.
Daniel waited for her to say something, but she remained silent during the time she was looking him over.
“I need to talk to people, Daniel. I’ll be back soon. I promise.” Rhonda looked at him, this time in an emotional way he had never thought possible for her. She touched his forehead, then she left, taking the doctor with her.
The nurse started packing the ice onto him again, and the lights faded.
“Daniel? Daniel, can you hear me? Give him some more. Daniel?”
He crawled out of the grey fog. “I hear you.” Slowly his eyesight came back. “Hey, you.”
Rhonda stood watching him. “Hey yourself. I heard what a mess you got yourself in. You never grow up, do you? Playing pirate and going for a swim.”
“Seems that’s needed to get you back here,” he tried to grin. There was no feedback from his face whether the attempt had succeeded.
“You’re an idiot. Daniel, I need to talk to you and please listen carefully. It’s getting harder to keep you awake.”
At least she did not say ‘alive’, Daniel thought.
“We think to know what is happening to you, Daniel. Your friends from the boat said-”
“Ship” Daniel said.
“What? Oh, stop that. Your friends from the… ship said that you all were sprayed by something that made everyone sneeze. I assume you sealed yourself from it, because I found some of that stuff inside your Bactine parts, or what is remaining of them. It looks as if that stuff combined with the ocean water here is severely…”
“Daniel? Are you with us?”
“What? Oh. Yes.” Daniel had not noticed that he had been unconscious again.
“Damn that stuff,” Rhonda said. “I’ll have to be quick. The stuff of the pirates and the ocean water degrades and finally dissolves the Bactine. We have to operate on you or you’ll die. We can’t take you back to the star base for a new Bactine transplant. It is too far away, and also it’s never been done before. Daniel… stay with us… We are going to operate on you…”
There was pain. Not a deep and screaming pain, but a dull and throbbing one. It was everywhere. Daniel groaned softly and wished he hadn’t. It triggered some more pain, in his throat.
“Mr. Zacharias? Are you awake? Try and move a finger, sir, if you can hear me. Don’t try to speak, that will be too painful.”
“Okay.” Argh, she was right. He moved a finger.
“That is wonderful, Mr. Zacharias. Very good. Now, just relax. I am going to remove the covers and put more oil on your body, sir. It will help the recovery.”
While Daniel still was working on the meaning of her words, he felt a rush of cool air flowing over him.
“Keep your eyes closed, sir, please. I will start with your face.” Gentle, soft hands and fingers touched his face, and a warm slick sensation spread over his face. The dull pain seemed to yield to whatever it was the woman did.
Slowly and skilfully she worked his whole face, his shoulders and his chest, down to his abdomen. “I am now going to oil your private area, sir. Don’t worry, I will be gentle.”
Daniel, halfway dozing, wondered about her remark. His genitals had disappeared as he had been put inside the Bactine body and-… His mind froze for a moment as the feelings that rushed up to his brain told him something that could not be. Then another sensation, one he had not had for a long time, told him something else.
“Oh,” the woman said. “Not to worry, sir, that happens at times..”
Daniel had an erection. The impossibility of this puzzled him so much that he did not even felt how the woman oiled his legs and covered him again. She said something.
“What? I beg your pardon… I did not hear you.”
“You will be feeling better soon, sir. I’m taking my leave now, another nurse will come to sit with you.”
She left, leaving Daniel in wonder. She returned again also, to oil him again.
“How are you feeling today, Mr. Zacharias?”
“Much better already, thank you, miss.” Daniel could speak again without pain. Also most of the pain in his body had gone, save the odd tweak and throb.
“Very good, sir. I shall be oiling you again, and after that we will see if you can sit up.” As she was oiling him, this time without the embarrassing situation, she told him that there had been people asking for him. “Alas, you are not allowed visitors yet, but they said they will return as soon as they may see you.”
“I wonder, miss, if you can tell me what has happened to me?” Daniel asked. He had asked the other nurses too, but they had simply said they could not tell him.
“The medical team, assisted by the rather unladylike woman doctor have removed the material that was your other body, sir, and you have been restored in Glandrine. Do you know what Glandrine is?”
Glandrine. “Yes. Some people sort of explained it to me. Uhm. Thank you.” Glandrine. “So they used Glandrine to fix me?”
“Yes, sir.” She pulled the covers over him. “Now, do you think you want to try and sit up?”
Daniel was all in favour. He had been on his back forever, and bored out of his mind by the white ceiling. As she helped him up, his body screamed from all pores, but he was sitting. Such a relief.
“That was quite good, sir,” the nurse smiled. She put a small mountain of pillows behind his back. “You can lean back now. Careful, sir.”
Cold fire ran over his back for a moment as he sunk into the pillows, then it felt all good.
“You must be hungry, sir. I’ll see that a tray of food is brought to you.” Quickly she left the room.
Daniel looked at the dresser against the wall opposite him. Then he looked in the large mirror that hung over it. He scared himself. His face was black and blue, as if a herd of cows had taken a stroll over it. He pulled the cover down, to discover that his whole body was in that shape. And he stared at the penis.
A knock on the door made him cover himself again, quickly. A nurse carrying an insanely large tray came in. “Good afternoon, Mr. Zacharias. We heard you would fancy some food. Here is a starter for you. Do let us know if you are in need of something. You only have to pull the cord here by your bed.”
He had the tray, which had short legs, on his bed in an instant. The nurse had left before he could respond. The smell of food made him forget that. He attacked it.
A gentle knock on the door. “Mr. Zacharias?” a nurse asked as she opened the door. “Ah… you are awake. Do you think you can see some visitors, sir?”
After three days of nurses, Daniel could certainly do with some other company. He was glad that most of the bruised colours on his new skin had gone away. He was a strange shade of blue still, but the nurses and the doctor
