NULL SPACE - Part 9

“Thank you, I don’t know what to say for saving her.” Said Jeran as he thanked the doctor.

The doctor shook his head, “You should be thanking yourself too. Without your quick field dressing she almost certainly would have died. Though given how much she stuggled to stay alive I wouldn’t be surprised if she had survived even if you didn’t help her, well more surprised then I am that she survived in the first place.”

“That is all that matter’s isn’t it?” Said Jeran, not wanting any questions about her or her injury that he didn’t want to have to answer.

“Yes, I suppose it is. You should just be thankful. It will probably be several hours before she is counsous again so you might want to take a break, you look fairly exhausted.” Said the doctor. After he heard it Jeran realized that the doctor was correct, he hadn’t slept in ages and he must of ate sometime before everything happened because he certainly didn’t remember eating after that.

“I supposed I should get something to eat.” Admitted Jeran however the doctor wouldn’t let him go with just that.

“You will also be getting some sleep. You won’t be good to anyone and certainly not her if you don’t get something to eat. I’ll send a nurse down to make sure you follow the doctors orders.” The doctor left and Jeran waited outside the operating room in relief unless I nurse finally came down for him and usurer him into another room to make sure he got something to eat and had a place to sleep.

He wasn’t sure how many hours it was until somebody finally awakened him. He felt groggy so it must not have been that long. “Your friend had awakened and she wants to speak with you.” He heard somebody tell him, it was one of the nurses who have come to wake him up and if he remembered correctly the same one which had helped him get something to eat and find a bed.

“Oh good. I’ll be ready in a moment.” Said Jeran, however as he stood up he realized that there wasn’t anything for him to do to get ready. So he let himself get lead through the hospital, presumable to the room that Null was being kept in. When he entered the room he saw Null sitting up with her right arm in a sling. In her white surroundings her rainbow hair seemed even more impressive.

“Oh, good. I was almost worried that I was really captured and that they just healed me so that they could question me. Wouldn’t that be horrible, no offense meant.” Said Null, the last comment directed to the nurses. Null seemed to be joking but Jeran thought he could hear a real hint of fear in her statement. After being held in the Hexion Sphere being imprisoned might have seemed like the worse punishment in the world.

“Well, I’m just glad to see that you are well enough to be making jokes like that,” Said Jeran, he knew it would only hurt her pride if she found out that he knew what she was afraid of. “Next time you try something crazy like trying to fight off pirates I suggest that you think of the consquiences.”

“Right, pirates. They were a better shot then I anticipated, if I seem him I’m going to give a piece of my mind to their trainer. Pirates really shouldn’t be that good.” Said Null.

Jeran winced at that comment. He had been the trainer for many of the soldiers in Myth’s military and he suspected that Null knew that. It hurt to know that he was more than indirectly responsible for Null’s injuries. However she was going to be alright so he was able to forgive himself.

“Also,” continued Null, “I expect that we will be eating real food once we get back on the ship so I’m going to have to rely on you to get all the necessary supplies.”

“Now hold it there woman,” Came the voice of the doctor who was just entering. “I don’t care what sort of impervious body you might have but your wounds are far from healed. Your friend won’t need to be doing any shopping until your all healed. I’m going to make sure you stay here unless your completely better.”

Null seemed restless upon hearing that. Jeran knew that they couldn’t stay here too long or else his daughter might be in more trouble but he didn’t think that was why. Null probably didn’t enjoy being trapped in the hospitol and she probably wanted to be out of here as soon as possible. “How long do you think that will be?” Asked Null.

The doctor huffed and said, “It would take a normal person at least a month to recover from your injuries. Even if your body is as good at healing as it is at surviving it will take you at least two weeks to recover.”

Null’s face contorted and she stared at Jeran, “Listen to the doctor Null, if you aren’t careful it could be the death of you.” He said that but he knew that Null wouldn’t be content with it and neither was he. If he had to make a wager then Null would be making an escape attempt sometime later tonight. He would probably have to help her to prevent things from going out of hand. “I’m going to got explore town, you stay here and recover, I’ll come pay you a visit later tonight.” He could only hope she would wait that long.

Jeran left to go to town, he took the time he needed to purchase supplies for their journey. He tried to guess what sorts of food that Null wanted to take with them and he hoped he had gotten it right. He also got some spare bandages to that he would be able to change them during the journey. He also stopped to check how much money he had left using him mini-terminal. The number was starting to get depressingly low. After paying for the hospital visit and the space port fee he wouldn’t have much more to spend. He had to hope that would be enough and that there wouldn’t be any more unexpected side trips.

By the time he had finished shopping and brought everything to the ship it was starting to get late. Jeran began heading back over to the hospital, stopping only to grab some chocolate for Null, he though he remembered me mentioning that she liked it and after being stuck there all day she probably wan’t something to help her take her mind off it… also it might make her less grumpy when they smuggled her out.

When he arrived at her hospital room he say that her expression indicated exceptly what he had expected her to feel. She was annoyed and want to leave. Seeing her there he didn’t really know how she kept during long ship flights, maybe that was easier for her because it was something that she had chosen to do.

Jeran came in waving his chocolates toward her. “Now calm down, I brought you something that will hopefully make the stay a little more acceptable.” Once he got closer to her he tossed her the chocolates and with an annoyed face she began to unwrap them. Jeran smiled remembering that he daughter tended to do the same thing when he had visited her in the hospital. He wondered how much she would be like Null once she had gotten better and he wasn’t sure if he liked that idea.

Jeran glanced around to make sure there were no nurses listening before saying. “So are you planning on escaping tonight? We really can’t stay here the full two weeks. I don’t know if my daughter will last that long and we would certainly be found by either Myth or ANGEL if we stayed here that long. But we could probably stay here another day if you want to spend more time recovering.”

Null shook her head and have Jeran the answer he had been expecting, “No, I want to leave her as soon as possible. I really don’t like hospitals and if I can get my nano-machines working then I will be able to use them to heal the rest of my injuries.” She took a bit out of the chocolates before continuing, “Do you have any good plans for escaping. This place doesn’t seem well guarded so it should be easy to escape.”

“Don’t assume it will be that easy. This planet just won a war for independence and I heard that a long of people have combat experience. Instead we should take it easy and trick them into letting you go. I suspect I can convince them to let me take you our for a walk and then we can use that time to get back to our ship and leave before anybody in the hospital is aware of what has happened.”

Null nodded and she continued to eat, “Makes sense.” She pushed off the blankets and stood up. Jeran blushed and looked away when she noticed that she was only wearing underware.

“You get some clothes on and I’ll go tell the nurses what our plan in.” Said Jeran hastily as he exited the room. It wasn’t very difficult to convince the nurse to let him take Null outside for a walk. He mentioned that she didn’t like enclosed places or hospitals and they just let them go.

Once they had left the hospitol it was easy to call a taxi and since the drive didn’t know the doctor’s orders it was easy to convince him to drive them to the ship port. As they boarded their ship Jeran was thankful that for once everything was easy. It felt like a needed break… even though the reason they had come here wasn’t a happy one.

Everything went off smoothly. Their ship was able to take off without any troubles and Jeran send a message of apology to the hospital along with his bank account number. Even if they were escaping he still wanted to make sure they had gotten paid, they had saved Null’s life after all.