Spec-Ops

VIII.

What could he do? DeJahn didn’t know. Maybe nothing. Looked around the techs’ mess. He was the only one there. Coffee, ersatz shit… it was cold. Nothing worse than cold, bitter, pseudo coffee.

Bullshit, deJahn. Lots worse things. Just scared that it might happen to you. He pushed the thought away. Finally, he stood, shook his head.

He took the longer passageway. Softboots scuffed on the deck, almost silent. Everything was muffled and damped in the station. Missed real sunlight. Missed lots of real things. Sickbay was at the end, south end, he’d heard. Who knew when you never saw the sun?

He stepped inside sickbay. Duty medtech just watched. Watched close.

Vielho lay in the second bay, in a medsack that surrounded all of his body. Only his face was exposed. His eyes were open, and his chest rose and fell.

A long moment passed, before deJahn spoke. “You’ll be all right. You did a good job.” Was that right? Who the frig knew? “Vielho… I’m here… deJahn.”

There was no response. The blank eyes did not move, did not blink.

DeJahn looked around the cubicle, located a stool. He pulled it over and sat where Vielho’s eyes could see him, if they could see.

Finally, after another ten minutes, the silence pressed in on him. So much that he had to say something. Anything.

‘Vielho… you know … you remind me of my brother. He’s younger. Not much, two years. He’s a teacher… some out of the way place, Escalante… he’s like you, always had something pleasant to say… That’s why I asked about the tea. He drinks tea. You know, one time, when we were moving the herd… yeah, the old man still handles sheep the old way… Casimir found one of the ewes had dropped twins late… never found their mother… he bottle-nursed ‘em until they were old enough to go with the others….” DeJahn didn’t know why he’d told that story, or the one after it.

Finally, maybe an hour, maybe two, later, he got up from the stool, and leaned over and put two fingers on Vielho’s forehead. “Hold tight…”

Outside sickbay, he thought he saw Meralez in the passageway ahead, and he took the one to the left, that went back to the mess, not that he was hungry. Most times, he would have been glad to see Meralez.

Not this time.