Young Writers Society

A/N: This is a re-write of a chapter, so don't be confused if the reviews below don't match it.

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The sickbay doors opened wide – wide enough to allow a stretcher flanked by a team of orderlies through – and Chip, all by himself, felt somewhat stranded in the centre of the doorway. Everyone in the room was too busy to turn round and notice their captain, so Chip was able to make his way to the Intensive Care Unit largely unnoticed.

The room was open plan to give a greater sense of freedom to those lying in the beds spaced out regularly against the walls. There wasn’t much noise – just a few nurses chatting with some grumbly patients – which had surprised Chip the first time he’d come to sickbay. This was the Recovery Unit, and when you were on your way to the ICU, it was the calm before the storm.

Chip strode through the room, ignoring the occasional nod of greeting to him as the patients went back to their card games and diaries. He sighed as he pressed the button to open another set of double sliding doors and plodded through into the ICU. He would talk to them on the way back out.

“Chip!” Margo, the chief physician of the ship, called out as soon as he had crossed the threshold.

She was balanced on her hind legs with her paws resting on a large mound of a body, her amber wolf eyes only just high up enough to see over it. The white furry head poking out from the sheet indicated that this was presumably Bassila Glace, the afflicted polar bear.

Chip took a step towards them and gasped as he nearly tripped over a table of medical equipment, which was being dragged past him by a squirrel medical officer. The squirrel muttered an apology over their shoulder, but Chip was pretty sure he heard them muttering about looking where one was going as they got further away. Dodging similarly stressed individuals by darting from side to side – and at one point even ducking under a sheet being folded by two enormously tall bears – Chip made his careful way to Margo and Bassila.

“Hello, Captain,” Bassila murmured, her eyes fluttering open. She didn’t say anything more, just looked up at Chip and frowned as her breath made its way shakily in and out of her body.

Luckily, Margo filled the gap in conversation and more. The questions and worries tumbled out of her. “There’s more and more cases pouring in here. Animals too hot – animals too cold. Does Treego Dart know how to fix this? I don’t know how long they all have. What do you think we should do?”

Chip felt his eyes widen and he just stared at her for a few moments.

Eventually he managed to get out, “I … Honestly, your guess is as good as mine. But that’s actually not why I’m here.”

One side of Margo’s mouth tugged upwards. “Well, I could explain what we’re doing but last time I said medical words at you you walked away and got lunch.”

Chip chuckled despite himself. “Yeah, well, I came here to escape Treego’s thermodynamics words so maybe lay off any complex explanations.”

“I don’t think you mean thermodynamics, sir.” Bassila coughed at the end of these words. “But I’m a chef, so I share your disdain for equations.”

Her voice was very quiet, but Chip was certain he could hear amusement in it. He hoped so. That was what he’d come here for: to cheer up those that he could. There were a few patients being brought into this ward but Chip wasn’t sure if it was because of the temperature problem. Still, it was enough that there was a buzz of conversation around loud enough to drown out their chat.

“So if you’re not here to offer solutions, Chip,” Margo murmured as she adjusted some of the settings on one of the machines Bassila was hooked up to, “What are you doing?”

Chip smiled, but didn’t say what he’d just thought, aware of how pathetic it would sound to someone in the middle of doing actual, tangible life-saving good for a member of the crew. All he ever did was say things.

“I’m just getting my face about,” Chip said with a shrug, “I don’t know how comforting I am myself, but it definitely feels good to know your captain cares, right?”

“It’d feel a little better if my captain had a way to fix this.” Bassila chuckled, which quickly turned into a hacking cough. “It is good to see you though, sir. Maybe you could distract me? Any juicy gossip you can spare for a bear on her deathbed?”

“You’re not on your deathbed,” Chip snapped. Then he blinked to clear his head and went on, “Nobody’s ever been this chatty on their deathbed. Clearly this is happening gradually, for some reason. Treego will fix this. There’s some weird fly things stuck in the pipes that are throwing something off. But, uh, a distraction …” Chip leaned in towards the two of them – “Can you two keep a secret for a couple of hours?”

Margo nodded and Bassila … purred.

“Alright, well, before all this started, I was happier than I’d been in a while –”

“Apologies, sir.” Bassila offered Chip a very weak wink.

Chip chuckled. “Again, it’ll be fine … I was so happy because about an hour and a half ago, we made contact with another ship.”

Margo gasped, and her open mouth quickly turned into a grin. Bassila didn’t say anything but her breathing started to speed up a little.

They stayed silent for quite a while, so Chip added, “I’m going to talk to their captain soon hopefully.”

Margo was staring just to the side of him. Chip quickly turned round to see what she was looking at and his eyes widened at the sight of all the animals rushing about from bed to bed. Margo didn’t seem to be looking at anything in particular, but Chip had somehow forgotten about the chaos they were in the midst of. He turned back round to face Margo and Bassila.

“Sorry,” Margo said. She was still a little dazed by the looks of things but she shook her head and looked Chip in the eye. “Just a bit distracted. I hope this goes better than the last time.”

Chip immediately looked at the ground between his feet and Bassila’s bed. Last time he’d had contact with another ship had not been great. An angry wasp threatening to blow up your entire crew with massive lasers was not the best way to start your career as captain. But he’d gotten through it, and the crew seemed to quite like him for it.

“And I’m sure it will,” Margo added. Chip glanced up and saw that her eyes were wide and her head was shaking a little. She went on, “I didn’t mean to frighten you. Like I said, just a bit distracted.”

Chip smiled. “It’s alright. I understand. I can barely focus on any of this. I just want to get out there and talk to whoever it is, show my face to their captain. That’s what I’m good for, you see. Showing my face to everyone – to Treego and Gerry, to you and Bassila, to captains making contact.”

“Captain,” Bassila said. Her voice was soft and Chip wasn’t even certain she’d actually spoken until she continued, “What if you showed your face to the spiders?”

Chip blinked. He shook his head and just looked at her for a few moments. “Uh, spiders?”

Bassila started to say something but ended up coughing. Eventually, she said, “You said there were weird fly things. Maybe some spiders would be good for wrapping them up in webs or something, sir.”

Chip stared for a moment longer then said, “Yes, uh, of course. I know I said you’re not on your deathbed but … most animals don’t come up with plans to save the ship on their deathbeds!”

Bassila chuckled, and coughed again. “I am attempting to get off my deathbed.”

Chip smiled and nodded, then looked up at Margo, who was grinning.

“Alright,” he said, “I’m going to go show my face to some spiders! See you two later.”