Cy-Fox

[Admiral Prower]

Medical Division
Space Colony ARK

October 26, 2109
0937 Hours, GMT

Rounds had started seven minutes ago but for the most part it was quiet in Medical Division and when it was quiet, the space colony's chief medical officer Professor Gerald Robotnik sat on the floor in the hub of the division, with his head against the base of the black marble caduceus that was in the center of the vast room. It was a known custom, and only the new arrivals and outsiders stared at him and wondered what motivated his eccentric behavior. It dated back to his time as a young intern and resident at the Texas Medical Center in Houston where he'd take a much appreciated rest. That was when Gerald was 26, and now he was pushing towards 98. He was completely bald except for a white walrus mustache, and wore a pair of round rimmed glasses with special transitional lenses that adjusted to the light levels. As the other doctors on staff did, he wore a white lab coat, though there was nothing special to indicate his status as chief medical officer. All it simply sported was an ID card that simply identified him as "Dr. Gerald Robotnik:  M.D, Ph.D." His choice of dress was just as simple, a green turtleneck and black slacks. He stared at the sliding doors that permitted entry into Med Division, with his arms crossed against his stomach, with his fingers linked. His eyes darted around as he surveyed the hub. Then they locked onto the sliding doors as they parted to allow a young woman into the hub. She had long blond hair, some of which that hung down over the front of her white blouse and the blue bow on the collar that matched her eyes. She also wore a black skirt and a pair of tennis shoes. Gerald immediately recognized her as his 17 year old granddaughter, Maria Robotnik.

Maria noticed him immediately as well, as he was the one she was looking for. She smiled and clasped her hands against her stomach as she walked over to the caduceus and sat down beside him. Gerald became more animated, wrapping his left arm around her, taking her right hand and squeezing it lightly. Maria giggled and then turned her head up and gave her grandfather a kiss on the cheek, giggling again as his mustache tickled her. Gerald beamed and tilted his head. "How are you today, Maria?"

"I'm okay," the girl replied in a lighthearted manner. Gerald nodded. Today would be a good day for her, at least medically. Being "okay" was as good as it got for her, as she was terminally ill, though it took a trained eye to notice it. Maria suffered from a condition called Neuro Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome or NIDS. Not much was known about it except that it was inherited from her mother, which was very unusual as she had no history for any degenerative diseases, though the circumstances of her death and Maria's birth were extremely unusual. An aggressive viral disease had come up out of the blue during the last week of her mother's pregnancy. The doctors at Royal Berkshire NHS Trust were at a loss for answers as to the virus' origin, and had to unfortunately sacrifice her mother to save her by performing an emergency C-section. For only a few moments, moments that would later be forgotten as others did from that time in their lives, Maria had caught a glimpse of her mother, Mitsuru Robotnik in her death throes. The only way she retained any memory of her appearance was of several photographs of her in her prime. It was very unfortunate, and it was a crushing blow to both Gerald and Maria's estranged father, his youngest son Simon, a cybernetics and computer science professor that worked for the University of Reading, until his wife's death. Afterward, he disappeared into the clandestine world of research for the Ministry of Defence. Gerald was all she had left, and she was all he had left, which was why he assumed supplemental duties as her personal physician.

Maria snuggled up against her grandfather, "Do you have anything for me to do?" she asked.

"I do as a matter of fact," Gerald replied with a nod. "Would you kindly look in on Prower in the CICU? He should have gotten through his anesthesia by now and he's probably going to feel very crappy, and no one should be feeling crappy on their birthday. Am I right?"

"Absolutely," Maria then got back up to her feet and smoothed out the wrinkles in her blouse. "I'll take care of him, Grandfather."

Gerald nodded again, "He's in room 187. If you have any problems, have me paged."

Maria bowed her head slightly. "Of course, Grandfather."



Room 187
Cardiac Intensive Care Unit
0943 Hours, GMT

Room 187 was just like any of the other rooms in the CICU. It had the same exact paint scheme, and all rooms were arranged the same depending on what side they were on. 187 was on the "north" side, as that part of the station was pointed at Earth, so as soon as one walked through the doorway, its patient was right in front of them. Right now its current occupant was coming out of his drug-induced stupor. The first thing that Maria did when she arrived was dimming the bright lights that were built into the ceiling. The ARK's lights were always on full power for the most part unless one needed to turn them down to sleep or when darkness was paramount. It would be a shock to the patient's eyes to adjust to that much light that fast.

Maria walked up to the foot of the bed and picked up the reinforced tablet PC that was hanging there. The 22nd century's answer to the hanging chart. She disconnected the power cord that was plugged into its side, and brought it out of power conservation mode. A hologram of the ARK Medical Division's logo appeared in 3D, prompting Maria to hold her right hand over it and t hen pushing down on it, forcing it to go into 2D display mode. With her fingers, she then tapped away furiously at the on-screen keyboard, logging onto Med Division's network as herself. Though she wasn't really a formal part of the medical staff, Maria had access to patient records, but only to patients that her grandfather allowed her to see. Right now all she had was Prower's. Maria walked over to the left side of the bed and began her initial evaluation.

Miles Prower, better known by the nickname "Tails" (according to his record) was as of today 17 years old. Mobian anthropomorph of the fox species, he weighed 150 pounds on admission, but right now the bed indicated that he had lost around six pounds. He was exactly two inches taller than Maria, standing at 5 feet, 10 inches. Blood type MH-O which meant he could accept either human Type O or Mobian Type O and he could also give both. Right now he wasn't in any condition to give blood, as his heart had to be completely replaced by a cloned replica that was grown and implanted by her grandfather. The original had an irreparable hole in it, brought about from being shot during the last battle for Mobius' independence from Maria's cousin, the tyrannical Dr. Ivo Robotnik, otherwise known as Eggman to the formerly oppressed Mobians because of his build. Ivo was disowned from the family when he struck against the peaceful Mobians 17 years ago, abusing his position as their military's civilian R&D chief, taking over the robotic infantry that he had built and using it to subjugate the planet.

It was during this takeover that Prower was born and much like Maria, he had only a few moments with his parents before he too would lose them, only in this case, both were dead. He had almost joined them. He was the one responsible for bringing down the command and control network that ran Ivo's war machine by infiltrating his Death Egg space station with a guerrilla unit. While the other fighters went hunting for Ivo, Tails was wrapped into the task of shutting everything down on the ground. That was when Ivo found him. The two fought hand to hand, where Tails had the advantage, but unfortunately as the early 21st century saying goes: God made man, but John Moses Browning made them equal. Ivo pulled a gun on the fox and shot him point blank in the chest. He then later escaped from the Death Egg to deep space. There were still several bounties on his head.

Since Tails was shot, he was put in a comatose state until he could reach the ARK. Mobius' medical infrastructure was trashed and it was ill advised to try to grow a new heart in a field hospital. So he had went from being harmed by a Robotnik to being saved by another. Now another would be taking care of him. Maria looked down on the fox. He had orange-gold fur with the exception of white fur extending from his muzzle, down to his chest, abdomen and groin. He also had blond hair on the top of his head which ended in bangs. It was a very bizarre combination, but Maria thought it was a very beautiful one. Maria lowered the tablet computer to her side and reached over the railing of the bed, and placed her hand against the fox's chest, close to his heart but not on the monitor leads and IV pump feeds. His heart beat faster than what it normally would, but that was to be expected.

Suddenly, the fox's eyes opened very slowly. His eyes weren't the vibrant electric blue that they were when he was healthy. They had a gray tone to them, which was very unnerving. Then his body jerked as he started to shiver involuntarily. Maria withdrew her hand and looked over at the multi-function monitor. His temperature was 4 degrees below normal. Then the shivering intensified, and the fox's body began to jerk. He brushed his right hand against the center of his chest frantically. At first Maria thought he was having a seizure, but the monitor didn't give any kind of an alarm. His Adam's apple bobbed as he tried to vocalize, but he couldn't speak as he was connected to a ventilator. Tails reached up for the plastic tube and grasped his hand around it. Maria then impulsively grabbed his hand by the wrist and wrenched it away from the tube. He turned his head towards her, his face a mix of anger and pain. His forehead wrinkled and tears flowed freely from his eyes. Tears also started to form on Maria's as well. He was in pain, both physically and mentally. He had no idea where he was. He knew no one. He was helpless and alone. Maria could read it all from the child-soldier's face.

Maria knew what she had to do. After putting the computer on the table beside the bed, she lowered the railing, leaned forward, and embraced him as safely as she could, pressing his head to her collar, nuzzling him with her chin. Tails raised his eyes, and Maria then wiped his tears away with her blue bow. The shivering was less intense and Maria could feel his body slowly relax.

"There," Maria said in a soothing voice. "You're not alone," Not anymore she thought.

Her voice calmed him down even more, and after a few minutes, she was able to put him back to sleep. After she had gotten off the bed, Maria grabbed the tablet computer and left the room to find her grandfather. Only after she left the room did she wipe her own tears away.