Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 4937701" data-attributes="member: 143">Interlude: Aftermath (May 4, 2008)Buzz shifted awkwardly in the chair in the small office.  In the other chair, sitting opposite, Jean Beauvais watched him, waiting. "Doctor Beauvais, I don't know what else to say,” Buzz finally said.  “I...I can't lose the feeling of death."  He rubbed his arms as he clutched his chest, arms folded across what had once been a gaping hole.  "I can't help but feel something missing...something else...something odd."“It is natural to feel a sense of loss in the aftermath of a serious trauma,” Jean said.  “You nearly died.”“I did die, for a while, there.  Or at least that’s what the docs said.”“Yes.  Does that make you feel… separated?  Distinct from the others on your team, and those around you?”Buzz looked at the counselor, his eyes filled with a hollow emptiness.  "It’s not that…  I keep asking, how did they fix me, I mean...the only thing I remember was looking down and seeing a gaping hole!  I'm not a physician but what did they do to fix it...is it all real?  I should be dead."  He was quiet for a long time, slightly rocking back and forth, not willing to let his mind consider some of the more paranoid options that his brain kept whispering to him. Whatever they had done, whether it felt normal or not, he was alive. “Our medical team has some of the best emergency medical therapies available…”“It’s more than that, doc,” Buzz said in a hushed voice.  “We both know it’s more than that.  Why won’t anyone tell me what happened to Doc Allen?”“Well, it’s no secret,” Jean replied.  “Doctor White wanted to send him to an outside medical facility for a few more tests that we can’t perform here.  He wasn’t feeling well after the mission, and we need to be especially careful with… with what you found out there.”“They’re keeping him quarantined,” Buzz said.  “They’re keeping all of us separate from the rest of the staff.  You can feel the way they all look at us, like we’re lepers or something…”Jean’s instinct was to reach out and offer a reassuring hand, but she knew better than to try that here from what she’d read in Buzz’s file.  Instead, she tried to put as much of that reassurance as she could into her voice.  “Doctor White has given all of the members of Alpha Team a thorough review, and you’ve all been given a clean bill of health.  I’ve seen your files, and there’s nothing there that the medical staff isn’t telling you.  They’re just being careful.  Surely you can see the need for caution in this case, Buzz.  The biological research team is still working out what happened to those wolves, and the possible connection to the sample that the team recovered from the mountain pool.  I am certain that as soon as he has an answer, he’ll share it with you, with everyone on the team.”Buzz looked at her.  “Those wolves weren’t normal,” he said. “We need to avoid jumping to conclusions, Buzz.  Let the research team do its work.” There was a slight buzz from behind Jean’s desk.  “I guess we’re at our time, doc.”“I’ll want to speak to you again, Buzz.  We’re here to support you and your fellow team members.”“Yeah,” he said, getting up quickly, wincing slightly as the motion tugged at the wounds still healing on his leg.  “Well, Doc, nice talking to ya but I'm going to go shower... can't seem to get that medical stink off of me."  Before Jean could say anything else he left, letting the door click shut behind him.  For a long moment Jean’s eyes lingered on the door, then she said, “We may need to take him off the team, at least for now.”“We don’t have anyone with even close to his knowledge of computer systems,” Garret’s voice came from the wall behind her.  “In particular, his ability to quickly assimilate and comprehend the workings of an unfamiliar system.”“That knowledge won’t be of any use if he breaks.”“Mister Olloff is tougher than he appears.”“I hope you’re right.”  She turned her head as the indicator on her door flashed red; a moment later it opened.“Come in, Jane,” Jean said, indicating the empty chair. As he made his way back from Doctor Beauvois’s office, Buzz saw Vasily in the corridor ahead of him, heading into the men’s restroom.  Instead of taking the shower he’d planned, he abruptly turned into the barracks.  His bunk was near the door, but he kept on going to the end of the row, yanking the privacy curtain out before he tossed himself onto the neat bunk.  He laid there, his face turned toward the wall, shivering slightly. Maybe this time he would have the courage to examine his wound. Interlude: Base Priorities (April 29, 2008)Four days passed, and while things were relatively quiet for Alpha Team in the aftermath of the Utah mission, the same could not be said for X-COM headquarters. There was an almost constant flurry of activity, as personnel and equipment were shuttled into the base. The surgical nurses whose absence nearly cost Buzz his life finally arrived, along with a half-dozen new scientists and engineers. For a few days, until everyone’s schedules got settled, it was impossible to move through the base’s passages without bumping into people. Workstations and diagnostic units were installed in a new extension to the South Wing to improve X-COM's research capacity. Dr. Wagner was pleased, but one afternoon in a quiet hallway, Jane overheard Base Commander Hallorand expressing concern to Director Garret about the base's lack of defenses. After his initial, almost miraculous recovery, Buzz spent the next few days convalescing. Occasionally he would pause, leaning against a doorjam or the back of a chair, clutching his chest. It took a while for his full color to return, and there was a hint of something haunted in his eyes when he talked with one of the other members of his team. On the fourth day after the mission to Utah the communicators of the Alpha Team members chimed, indicating the arrival of another e-mail from base command.</blockquote>

Verification