Chapter 3 - Dammit, Delphine! I'm a Geek Monkey, Not a Doctor!
The first rays of the dim Martian sunrise, cresting over a plateau of rock, hit Cosima in the face and stirred her to consciousness. After an initial moment of disorientation, the events of the previous day came flooding back and Cosima started, tightening her arms reflexively. She relaxed when she felt Delphine still resting securely against her chest. There was no longer any need to hold on, if there ever had been in the first place. The air was calm, holding no trace of the violent storm that had raged mere hours before.
Cosima shook her head, trying to dispel the last vestiges of drowsiness. She hadn't meant to fall asleep, but exhaustion had won, drawing her into a fitful slumber. She shifted, groaning as her muscles, stiff from hours sitting in such an unnatural position, protested vehemently.
Now that the storm was past, and the sun was up, Cosima knew they needed to move. Their air supplies had to be running dangerously low. The suits only had enough air for 10 hours. Which didn't even account for the breach in Delphine's suit. While Cosima didn't know exactly what time it was, based on the time the storm hit yesterday, and the sunrise, she knew they had to be cutting it close.
Delphine lay heavy and still against her, and Cosima did her best to ignore the most logical reason for the blonde's motionless state. She refused to accept that all of this had been for nothing.
Drawing a deep breath, she prepared herself for the task ahead. She braced her hands against Delphine's shoulders and pushed her forward slowly. Carefully, she wiggled out from behind Delphine, and laid her back on the ground as gently as she could. The environmental suits were surprisingly streamlined, but they were still quite heavy, even in Mars' reduced gravity.
In the light of day, Cosima finally had the opportunity to better assess the full extent of the damage. Cosima was happy to see that she had been correct last night; Delphine's helmet, though scuffed, had done its job, and remained intact. It was a small bright spot. The piece of metal protruding from Delphine's abdomen was far less optimistic.
Cosima gently rested her hand near the entry point, slotting the exposed portion of the rod into the vee formed by her thumb and index finger. A dark crust of blood and sand was gathered around the tear, forming a crude patch, which gave Cosima a glimmer of hope. Cosima watched as the metal rod slid slowly up and down along her gloved hand.
Delphine was still alive.
Cosima expelled a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, and her shoulders sagged in relief. Resting a hand on Delphine's shoulder, Cosima shook her lightly. It was time to get moving.
"Delphine? Hey, time to wake up." With the main communications dish destroyed, suit to suit communications were non operational, but at this distance, they wouldn't need them. Sound was muffled, but still audible.
Not receiving a response, Cosima shook her again, taking care to be gentle. Last night she had had no choice but to drag Delphine over the ground, risking further injury. Now, she was mindful not to jostle her any more than necessary. The last thing she wanted to do was dislodge the metal rod before they got back to the relative safety of the hab, or cause any further damage.
Assuming, of course, that the hab was still standing. Cosima shook her head, dispelling the negative thought. One thing at a time. She couldn't worry about the state of the hab right now. She needed to focus on getting Delphine alert, and hopefully mobile.
Delphine groaned, and Cosima had to suppress the urge to laugh in sheer relief.
"That's it, Delphine. Open those eyes for me."
As if following her urging, Delphine's eyes fluttered open, unfocused and confused. As awareness started to seep in, Delphine began to thrash, and Cosima placed her hands on her shoulders, pinning her to the ground.
"Woah there! Take it easy. You're okay. Relax. Just give it a minute."
Hearing Cosima's voice, Delphine stopped struggling. However, the panic and confusion did not leave her eyes. Delphine swiveled her gaze frantically, trying to turn her head to take in her surroundings.
"What happened?" Delphine's voice, when she finally spoke, was dry and raspy.
"We were evacuating because of the storm. Do you remember that?" Receiving a small nod, Cosima continued. "The communications dish tore free because of the storm and ripped through the guide wire. Did it hit you?"
Delphine shook her head, and licked her lips, wincing when she encountered dried blood. "Non." That, at least, was a small piece of good news. Besides the punture, they hopefully wouldn't have to deal with any other internal injuries. "Where are the others?"
"That's actually a really good question. One second." Cosima held up her finger, and started to stand. Delphine clutched at her arm, pulling her back down. Cosima paused, and smiled at her reassuringly. "It's okay. I'm just going to be gone for a second. You can't get rid of me that easily."
Delphine looked at her searchingly for a moment, before nodding her assent and releasing her hold. Cosima patted her hand awkwardly before standing up. Her legs were stiff, and didn't want to cooperate, but after a few drunken steps, Cosima got her feet under her.
The rock outcropping they had found shelter beside wasn't large and Cosima only had to go a few meters before she was looking down on the Leda III landing site. Her eyes went immediately to the hab and she breathed a profound sigh of relief when she saw that it was still standing and appeared to be relatively undamaged. Her biggest fear was alleviated. Without a hab, their remaining time on Mars would be measured in hours, not days, weeks, or months.
Shifting her gaze to the the MAV staging area, she saw only a bare patch of ground, and empty staging scaffolding. Everyone else had apparently escaped the storm. Cosima wished them safe travels. There was nothing they could do for her and Delphine anymore.
She rejoined Delphine and knelt down beside her.
"The MAV's gone, so it looks like everyone else managed to safely evacuate."
A frown marred Delphine's brow. "They left us here?"
Cosima nodded. "They didn't have a choice. The storm was getting worse and the MAV was already in danger of tipping over. Visibility was zero. Beth made the only choice she could. She couldn't risk the rest of the team looking for us."
Delphine looked at her, troubled, before nodding. "Yes, of course."
Cosima gave Delphine what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "It'll be okay. We'll figure it out. But first, we have to get you back to the hab." Cosima stood up, brushing the red Martin soil from her legs. "I don't really want to move you, with that rod still in place, and risk it shifting, but we don't have much choice. There's no way we can remove it out here and risk your suit depressurising."
Using her wrist display Cosima checked her remaining air. "I've only got about 60 minutes of air left, and due to your breach, you probably have even less."
Delphine raised her arm up in front of her and after a few quick taps on her wrist display gave Cosima the news. "I have 10 minutes of air remaining. The suit's running on emergency reserves." For someone with only minutes of air remaining, and a metal rod poking out of her stomach, Delphine's voice was amazing calm and steady. Cosima couldn't help but admire the other woman's demeanor.
Even if she didn't quite share it. Cosima bit off a curse. She had been hoping to go and retrieve the rover and transport Delphine to the hab, but with that window, they simply didn't have the luxury.
"Looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way. Do you think you can stand?"
"Do I have a choice?" Delphine asked with a touch of wry humor. Cosima took the fact that Delphine was able to joke around as a good sign.
"Not really, no," Cosima answered regretfully.
It took a little doing, but with some careful maneuvering, she was able to get Delphine to her feet without too much additional damage. Looping Delphine's arm over her shoulder she grimaced in sympathy when the blonde let out a hiss of pain.
"I'm sorry."
Delphine bit out a short laugh, struggling to catch her breath. "You have nothing to be sorry for. If not for you, I would probably be dead by now."
Cosima hummed noncommittally. She hadn't yet told Delphine the full extent to which that statement may be true. Her decision to go back and try to help had been instinctive, but Cosima wasn't entirely sure it would be appreciated. Cosima didn't know the other woman well, but what little she had been able to glean told her she was fairly by the book, and she would always put the integrity of the mission above all. Even her own life.
"We'll take this nice and slow," Cosima promised, taking a tentative step forward and allowing Delphine to follow along at her own pace. "Just, you know, not too slow, obvs, or you might suffocate."
When the airlock hissed after being engaged, Cosima crossed one more thing off her list of things to worry about. They still had pressure inside the hab, which meant the exterior shell hadn't been breached. They had shut down active air recycling as part of the evacuation procedure, but with no people to breathe it, the hab would still have a breathable atmosphere.
Cosima settled Delphine gently against the wall of the airlock. Removing her helmet, she took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the relatively fresh air of the hab. After almost 10 hours in her environmental suit, Cosima had been starting to feel more than a little claustrophobic.
"Okay, let's get that fish bowl off your head." Cosima released the latch on Delphine's helmet and lifted it carefully off.
"Thank you," Delphine said, rolling head slowly from side to side. Cosima could empathize. The helmets weren't light, and they certainly weren't meant to be slept in. Her neck would probably be stiff for days. On the plus side, she was alive to complain about it.
"I'm going to help you into the med-bay, go fire up the life support, and then we can deal with that thing in your side."
Delphine pushed off the wall, gritting her teeth. "I can get to the medbay by myself. Go take care of the life support."
Cosima looked at Delphine, unimpressed. "Yeah. I'm not going to do that. I didn't drag you all this way just to have you die of stubbornness in the home stretch. It'll only take a minute to drop you off. We're hardly in danger of asphyxiation in the next five minutes."
Delphine looked like she was wanted to argue, but the short walk to the hab had clearly taken its toll. "Fine," Delphine grudgingly consented.
After quickly stripping off her own suit, Cosima, true to her word, got Delphine settled on the exam chair, and made her as comfortable as possible before heading off to turn the air recycling and circulation system back online. She crossed her fingers that none of the external components had been damaged in the storm. When Cosima heard the gentle whir of the fans kick on, and the computer displayed the all systems operational message, she breathed a little easier. One less thing to worry about.
After she got Delphine patched up she was going to have to do a more extensive audit of their situation. On the short walk here, she had seen the path of destruction that the storm had left in its wake. A few solar panels had been ripped loose, but Cosima had been relieved to see the main field still seemed to be relatively intact. They could cope with repairing minor damage, but if any of the main systems had been compromised they would be on extremely borrowed time.
When she returned to Delphine, she found that the other woman had removed her gloves, the solid breastplate and air supply. Delphine was laying back in the chair, clearly in pain, and exhausted.
"I could have helped you with those," Cosima said, indicated the discarded pieces of her environmental suit.
Delphine's eyes opened, and she rolled her head to the side to look at Cosima. "I'm not helpless."
"No, but you do currently have a metal skewer poking out of your gut, so...no shame in asking for a little help." With only the mesh undersuit remaining, Cosima was able to get a better look at the puncture site. The metal rod was about 1 cm in diameter, about as big around as a pen. "Do you think it hit anything vital?"
Delphine shook her head. "I don't think so. If it had, I'm not sure we would be having this conversation."
"Good point." Cosima hovered her hand over the wound site. "What's the plan? Do you want to try to get your suit off first or…"
"I already tried that," Delphine confessed, not looking the least bit sorry.
Cosima rolled her eyes. "Of course you did." She was quickly learning that behind Delphine's quiet exterior lay a deep stubborn streak.
"I think you are going to have to just pull it out."
"Me?" Cosima asked, taking an unconscious step backward. She held up her hands, palms out. "I'm not a doctor. I'm a computer nerd."
"And I'm a botanist," Delphine said. "We all went through the same field medic training."
"I'm not great with blood," Cosima hedged.
"Please, Cosima," Delphine said wearily.
Cosima sighed, resigned to her fate. "Let me get some gloves." Cosima went to gather the necessary supplies. Gloves, gauze, a pair heavy duty shears, a numbing agent, and the medical staple gun. "I guess it wouldn't make sense for me come back for you only to let you bleed out now," she grumbled under her breath. There was a reason she had gone into the computer sciences. Cosima hated blood.
A frown flickered over Delphine's face. "Came back for me?"
Cosima waved the question off. "Not important right now." Cosima deposited her armload of supplies on a nearby tray and snapped a pair of gloves into place. "How do you want to do this?" Cosima rested her hand gently against Delphine's abdomen. The muscles tensed slightly under the light pressure.
Delphine looked down. "Just...pull it out. Quickly."
Cosima pressed down slowly with one hand, and grasped the protruding end of the metal rod with the other. "Okay, on the count of four." Delphine nodded her understanding, grasping the arms of the exam chair in a white knuckle grip and bracing herself. "One..two…" Cosima gave a sharp tug, doing her best to keep the rod perpendicular to the wound. She tossed the rod aside, and grabbed a piece of gauze, pressing down firmly as blood bubbled up and coated her gloved fingers.
"Putain de merde!" Delphine hissed, her head dropping back.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Cosima repeated, keeping pressure on the wound. She grimaced at Delphine apologetically. "I think we need to get you out of this suit so we can stop the bleeding."
Delphine nodded, tightening her hand on the arms of the chair and pulling herself forward. Keeping pressure on the wound with one hand, Cosima used her other hand to help Delphine sit up. She grabbed Delphine's hand and pressed it onto the now blood soaked gauze. "Hold this."
Cosima moved quickly, lowering the zipper on the back of the suit. Moving back around to the front she grasped the shoulders and started to pull, tugging the sleeves slowly down Delphine's arms. She silently moved Delphine's hand off the wound and tugged, leaving the top half of the suit to pool around her waist. Reaching for the shears, she cut through the compressive undershirt, splitting it from waist to neck. Trying to wrestle Delphine out of the skin tight garment would have been torture.
She eased Delphine back to once again lie on the chair. Cosima peeled back the loose bottom edges of the shirt, doing her best to preserve as much of Delphine's modesty as possible. She pressed Delphine's hand back onto the still oozing wound. Cosima was relieved to see that the flow of blood seemed to have slowed.
"Sorry. Usually I buy a girl dinner first before cutting her shirt off," Cosima joked, trying to lighten the mood. Using another piece of gauze she wiped the area surrounding the wound as best as she could. She grabbed the numbing hypodermic, regretting that she hadn't been able to administer it before pulling the rod free. Working her way around the puncture, Cosima numbed the area as quickly as she could. She didn't like seeing Delphine in pain.
The medicine seemed to have an almost immediate effect. Delphine's shoulders relaxed fractionally, and she let out a soft sigh. Cosima felt the tension in her own shoulders ease as well.
"You doing okay?" Cosima asked, concerned by the blonde's waxy complexion and sweat soaked brow.
Delphine smiled weakly. "About as well as can be expected." She reached for Cosima's hand, grasping it with a surprising amount of strength. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it. I'm sure you would've done the same for me." Cosima retrieved the discarded piece of metal and examined it closely. "Good news. This is a piece of the communications dish, and it all seems to all be here." Cosima turned her attention back to Delphine. " Which is fortunate for you, since I was terrible at Operation as a kid. How's everything feeling? All numbed up?" Cosima probed the area surrounding the puncture gently.
Delphine nodded. "I can't feel much of anything."
"Great. Let's get this cleaned up and put you back together then." Cosima grabbed the bottle of sterile saline. "This may be a little bit cold," Cosima warned, giving Delphine a moment to prepare herself. Even with warning, Delphine jerked when the cool liquid made contact, her abdominal muscles twitching in protest.
Satisfied that she had sufficiently flushed the wound, Cosima grabbed a wad of gauze to pat the area dry. The puncture was still oozing slightly, but blood was no longer freely flowing.
The wound was small, and a few staples was all that were required to hold the edges together. Cosima covered the area with a waterproof bandage, and smiled at Delphine. She had the insane urge to place a kiss on it, and declare it all better as her mother had done for her as a child, but she repressed it. Somehow she didn't think Delphine would appreciate the gesture.
"There. All done." Cosima removed the gloves and threw them onto the pile of bloody gauze. "Do you want a drink? Something to eat?" Delphine had lost a fair amount of blood, and Cosima wanted to make sure she stayed hydrated.
Delphine sat forward, shaking her head. "I want a shower."
Cosima did her best to dissuade Delphine from the idea, but she was quickly learning just how stubborn the blonde scientist could be once she set her mind to something. In the end, Cosima only agreed as long as she stood guard outside, not wanting to risk the other woman slipping and falling in the shower. Delphine had relented, but hadn't looked pleased about it.
Delphine had been in the shower for only a few minutes she she spoke. "Cosima?" It was only a single word, but Cosima could hear the frustration lacing the tone.
"Yeah?" Cosima pushed off the wall where she had been leaning, stepping toward the shower. "Everything okay?"
"Can you help me? I can't wash my hair properly." The tone was grudging, as though it had pained Delphine to get the words out.
Cosima raised her eyebrows at the request. Cosima was pretty sure she had had this very dream a time or two in the past. Or seen it in a porno. Shaking off her thoughts, Cosima nodded, even though Delphine couldn't see her. "Oh. Yeah. Sure. Totally."
Pulling back the thin shower curtain, Cosima kept her eyes firmly fixed. She would be lying if she said she hadn't wondered what the other woman looked like naked, but now was not the time, or the place. Delphine was hurt, and she needed Cosima's help. Delphine, for her part, seemed unfazed by her nudity.
Probably because she has bigger issues on her mind, dummy. Like the hole in her side, and the wound on her head. Focus, Niehaus.
Cosima took the offered bottle of shampoo and squirted a generous amount into her hand. She looked up at Delphine consideringly.
"Do you think you can scoot down a bit?" Cosima figured she could reach, but unless she was planning to crawl into the small stall with her, it would be difficult.
Delphine bit her lip, but eventually nodded. However, it was easier said than done. Simply trying to crouch put too much strain on her still tender stomach, and in the end, Cosima had to lend her a hand so she kneel toward the back of the shower. Cosima was pretty sure the resulting flush on Delphine's cheeks was due to embarrassment, rather than the heat of the shower, but she was too polite to mention it. Cosima knew that if their situations were reversed, she would hate being so helpless.
Even after Delphine had done her best to rinse the thick curls thoroughly, blood was still caked on in places. With gentle hands, Cosima worked the shampoo through Delphine's hair into a thick lather, carefully breaking up the mats of dried blood. They should probably be conserving everything, including soap, but hearing the blissful sigh that emerged from Delphine, Cosima couldn't find it in herself to care about the potential waste.
As the blood washed away, the gash responsible for it all was revealed on Delphine's temple. She was happy to see it probably wouldn't need stitches. After she was satisfied that every trace of blood had been removed, Cosima helped Delphine carefully back to her feet. "You got it from here?" Delphine seemed steady enough on her feet, and Cosima had the sudden urge to flee.
"Oui. Thank you, Cosima."
"Don't mention it. I was thinking about making us some food. Do you think you can eat?" The adrenaline that had been keeping her going since yesterday was finally dissipating, leaving Cosima aware of just how hungry and fatigued she was. Delphine nodded, and gave Cosima a small smile. "Okay. We'll I'll leave you to it."
Cosima drew the shower curtain closed and backed away.
Cosima placed two food trays, and two glasses of water on the table. They would need to get a full inventory of their supplies, and start conserving, but for now, she was more concerned with getting them fed. One meal wasn't going to be the difference between life and death in the long run.
Hearing the door to the bathroom open, she looked up to see Delphine clad in the pair of sweatpants and zip up hoodie. She was toweling her hair dry awkwardly, only able to use the arm on her good side.
"Feel better?" Cosima asked.
Delphine nodded. "Much." Delphine walked over to the table, taking a seat across from Cosima. "Thank you for cooking."
Cosima laughed. "Oh yeah, I can pull a tab and add water with the best of them."
"Nevertheless, I appreciate it." Delphine pulled her tray closer, picking up her fork and lifting a bite of what was supposed to be scrambled eggs to her mouth. Cosima followed suit, content to eat in silence.
There were a million things they needed to talk about. Plans they needed to make, but for now, Cosima was content to pretend like things were normal. Just two colleagues eating breakfast.
After she had eaten half of her meal, Delphine lowered her fork, looking up at Cosima. "Can I ask you a question?"
Cosima swallowed, nodding her head. "Sure. Of course."
Delphine caught the edge of her lip between her teeth. "What did you mean, when you said that you had come back for me?"
Cosima sighed, knowing that this conversation was probably inevitable. Delphine was a scientist, curious by nature, and of course she was going to want to know as much as possible about what had happened. Cosima would have been the same.
"When the wire got hit, I felt it snap. It took me completely off my feet. Coms were completely dead. I waited for a little bit, to see if you were going to appear, but when you didn't, I realized I had two choices. I could follow the wire forward, and meet up with the rest of the team, or I could go back, and find out and see if I could find you."
As she had predicted, Delphine didn't look pleased at the revelation. A deep frown creasing her brow. "Why would you do that? Given the conditions, I was almost certainly lost. It was foolish to risk yourself."
"Yeah, you're totally welcome," Cosima retorted sarcastically.
Delphine flushed, color staining her cheeks. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful. If you hadn't come back…." Delphine shook her head. "It was just...not a logical decision."
Cosima shrugged. "Yeah, well, sometimes it's not about logic. Besides, I have been accused more than once of behaving a bit rashly." Cosima looked at Delphine steadily. "I couldn't just turn around and leave, not knowing. Anyone else would have done the same."
"Except they didn't," Delphine pointed out quietly. "They surely would have felt the wire snap as well, but they all proceeded toward evac as they were ordered to."
"What can I say? I've never been great at following orders."
Delphine picked up her fork, resuming eating. "It was very foolish." There was no longer any heat or rebuke in her tone. The words merely an observation.
Cosima nodded. "It was."
"You should have followed Cmdr. Childs' orders to evacuate."
"I should have," Cosima conceded.
"I'm glad that you didn't," Delphine confessed, causing Cosima to look at her in surprise. "It is terribly selfish of me, but if you had, I would probably be dead right now. I'm grateful that I'm not."
Cosima smiled. "Me too."
Even if both of their futures were far from certain, Cosima couldn't find it in her to regret her decision. Given it to do all over again, she knew she would make the exact same choice.