The Least of These
Posted on 26 Mar 2023 @ 4:11pm by Crewman Recruit Zuzal
Edited on on 27 Mar 2023 @ 1:48am
Mission:
M3 - Into the Deep
Location: Sickbay, Obsidian Command
Timeline: MD09 Evening
1185 words - 2.4 OF Standard Post Measure
Zuzal, working nights to accomodate her study hours, was checking into her shift in sickbay, and looked for the assigning nurse. Nurse Delores Grohminger was a curly dark haired lady who always seemed on the ball. Everyone in her purvey in the ward relied on her without thinking too much about her. She was a fixture. Zuzal, as a crewman recruit still finishing her remedial secondary studies, had her shift on a rotation between various departments so she could be exposed to the different experiences within nursing.
Obsidian Command was an installation with essentially its own hospital, so it was very different from her shipboard experience on the Ardeshir where even though they had specialists, ultimately most everyone covered most everything. But since she was "non-essential" during yellow-alert and her ship was in refit anyway, she wasn't on Hawthorne's crew presently, but relocated to the station and the station operations. She was resettled in her new quarters with her cat, Mr. Nurbs. Zuzal often wondered if Hawthorne ever even remembered she existed.
She'd grown up being taught how to be functionally appreciated, but invisible, serving on her homeworld in the court of the Priestesses of her region, until she had rejected their pre-assignments for her marital arrangements. Deep down she was afraid again of displeasing or inconveniencing any one in charge of her, making every effort she could to fit in and not become an outcast to this society as she had the one she was born into.
So it was very important to her to pay attention to everything Nurse Grohminger said.
"You'll need to go through the full sanitation procedure. Complete scrub down, through the UV unit, and then into the ICU hall. On the other side, Corell will show you your assignment." Nurse Grohminger said very briefly, pointing Zuzal to the scrub rooms.
It wasn't entirely clear to Zuzal what that meant she should expect to be doing but as she thought to ask more about her assignment, Grohminger was already looking at a chart and doctors orders with another staff member. Zuzal stepped into the scrub room and began the proper procedure, cleaning her hands and arms and wrapping her hair and covering it.
There were three other nurses, all of them in a row, washing and sanitizing for their shifts. Zuzal listened to them discussing their recent evenings out and last night's latest release of a holodrama she had never heard of. It sounded like a historical drama or period piece from a planet she'd never been to and couldn't find on a map. She tried to commit the name of it to memory to look up later. She was forever feeling like she didn't fit in to this new culture and couldn't keep up with all of the media and could never really share a conversation about anything. She carried on quietly, still listening.
Once in all the clean new scrubs and footies and gloves, she walked through the purple room and stood on the circle until the computer completed the sanitation cycle.
After the entire process she exited through one of the ICU doors, and looked around for Nurse Corell. She liked Nurse Corell, a Bolian woman with soft eyes and very intentional, careful speech.
"Oh good. I requested you specifically. Grohminger came through for me. Come along Zuzal."
Requested specifically? Zuzal felt a flutter for being remembered and wanted for something. But what it was she couldn't guess.
They passed the regular ICU, and Zuzal started to feel confused.
"Now, you can remove the gloves. You scrubbed up and it's actually necessary to have direct skin-to skin with these patients."
Confused, Zuzal peeled off the gloves she had just put on. Nurse Corell led them into a small room with a glass viewing wall on the opposite side. Neonatal ICU, she read on the door as they passed through. Inside there were small tank-like glass cradles. Most of them were shut of, but three were running. At one of the beds were a human man and woman in scrubs, softly talking to a baby. Zuzal could tell right away they were the parents. The father, his arms through the circle holes in the side of the cover, was brushing the infant's tiny fingers in his own.
Against the visitor's viewing window were four smiling andorian faces, two men and two women, their antennas moving as they observed the gurgling, plump little andorian babe in the bed nearest the window. They had helium balloons and soft, oversized toy animals and she could hear their excitable but muffled talk through the glass. Zuzal gathered that today was their little one's release. They were there to take him home soon.
The third lighted bed sat alone on the other side of the nursery. Corell led her there, pulling a hover stool along for Zuzal to get comfortable on.
"Your shift today and tomorrow and every other day I can get you, is to keep this little one company. He's had a rough introduction to the world before he's ready and he shouldn't be alone."
Zuzal stared through the glass at the tiniest person she thought she had ever seen. His arms and legs were curled against him. There were tiny tubes going in and out of him, for feeding and for fluids. His eyes were covered with a wrap of soft gauze. The tiniest fold of fabric was taped around him as a diaper, surrounding his tiny froglegs and tucked under his circle belly. His ears were thinner than paper. It seemed like you could see through all of his skin. He was cradled in a specially formed gel bedding which reflected indigo against him, from the lights inside the glass cover. There were monitoring life signs projected on the glass.
"I'll manage it myself if anything happens on the monitors. No need to touch any of his settings. All you need to do is gently brush and touch him, talk and sing to him."
"What's his name?" Zuzal asked.
"He hasn't gotten a name yet." Corell said softly. She pointed to the lower corner of the monitoring settings and Zuzal read.
Cumberland-Mazur, human/ male born 3.95 Lb
"Mazur? The MCO? She had her baby early?"
"Mazur died in complications of a premature labor." Corell said simply and gently, then let the girl absorb that news. "The baby's father is in grief counseling. So. Someone needs to be here. I have to cover the rest of maternity and neonatal, so I can't stay here the whole day." Corell put a hand on Zuzal's shoulder. "I've seen you work with other patients. I think you'll be very good at this."
Zuzal put her hands through the containment access sleeves and ever so gently just brushed the baby's tiny round belly. She watched him reflexively startle and stretch and then munch his lips and resettle. Zuzal looked up at Nurse Corell to see if she was doing this right.
"He has good reflexes for being this premature." Corell explained. "I'll stay with you until you're both comfortable..."
