"Working in Tight Quarters"
[Previous post: "Executive Welcome", written by the welcoming Serenna Switt]
=-=
Setting: USS HATHOR, Sickbay
As hard as Lea tried she could not imagine a Sickbay as small as the
one she was in. Yet there had been no denying the proofs that were all
around her. And at arms reach to booth.
The HATHOR's Sickbay, which had generously been named so, had barely
been large enough for the biobed. As far as the CMO had been concerned
calling the room a *room* had been an exaggeration. A closet or maybe a
hole in the wall might have been a more fitting description.
"You busy?" Susan asked as she stood in the doorway that Lea had jammed
to remain open.
"OUCH!" The CMO yelled out. The Cns' question had taken her so off
guard that Lea had suddenly turned and hit her knee on the side of the
biobed. "I am now," the CMO mumbled, rubbing her sore knee with both
hands.
"May you should lie down on the bed," Susan said, trying her best not
to laugh.
"That's all I need," Lea said glaring at her friend, "for me to be the
one and only patient in my own Sickbay. Anyone else can just have a
seat in the hallway."
"Why don't you ask Elan or David about adding an extra bed in here?"
The Cns asked, thinking that maybe one of the sidewalls could be removed.
"And put it where?" Lea asked stretching her arms and almost managing
to touch the two opposing walls at the same time. "Maybe they could
hang it from the ceiling?"
"I was not thinking about anything so drastic," Susan said with a sigh.
"But maybe one of those walls could be taken down and permit you to
extend Sickbay into the next room."
"I had already thought about that option," Lea said hopping on the bed
to sit down. "As the Ops officer, at least for the short period of
time that I was, I looked into it. The HATHOR was meant to be a
manoeuvrable little speed demon. Therefore any and every wasted or unused space
was meticulously taken care of. Some of the ship's more volatile
systems are separated from one another by nothing more than a paper-thin
metal plate. I am actually surprised that the ship is as soundproof as it
is."
"Keeping the door open won't help keeping the screams of your patients
from being heard by others," Susan joked.
"Funny," the CMO hissed. "I had to keep the door open so that I would
not have a nervous attack. It would not take all that much for someone
to develop claustrophobia in a place like this.
As much as Susan found everything quite hilarious, the Cns had to agree
that Lea had been right. The room had been so small that anyone with a
hint of claustrophobia could have an episode simply by standing in
here.
=/\= Lt. Cmdr. Serenna to Ens. Summers, =/\= Serenna called out,
interrupting the discussion between the two women.
"Go ahead captain," Lea replied, showing her crossed fingers to Susan.
If the CMO had been at all lucky she would be told that Sickbay would
be moved to another location. Another possibility would have been that
their mission had been cancelled. This would give Lea the chance to
return to her own spacious Sickbay.
=/\= Just giving you a heads up Doctor, Ens. Kea is on his way to see
you. =/\=
"I will be ready for him," Lea said, happily bouncing around, at least
as much as she could.
"You are way to happy about having to give him a medical exam," Susan
pointed out.
"Thanks to him I don't have to worry about the operations of the
HATHOR," the CMO said while reaching for a medkit. "Regardless of how small
Sickbay may be, I owe him a lot."
"Okay," the Cns grinned, "then I will leave you two alone. Just try
not to be *too* happy when he gets here. It might scare him and it would
force Serenna to put you back in charge of Ops," and with that Susan
left.
=-=
Ensign Lea Summers
And
Chief Medical Officer 2005 post #515
Stardate: 60329.1150
Tiffany Rose {lady_tiffany_rose@mail.com}
Chief Medical Officer
USS ANUBIS
USS HATHOR
