Disclaimer: See Part One
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A young woman of about 25 with dark black hair stood slightly to the side of Kristin. She was dressed in a flight attendants uniform and seemed to be very anxious and wringing her hands together. "Ma'am are you a doctor?"
"Yes young lady I am, my name is Doctor Kristin Westphalen. Now how can I help you?"
The woman began moving forward toward the front of the plane and said, "Doctor please come with me and I'll fill you in on the way."
Kristin nodded and unbuckled her seat belt and got up. She paused to get her medical bag from the overhead compartment and saw that Lucas had started to rise as well. "Lucas you stay here until I know what I'm dealing with. Either I or this young lady will come back and fill you in a few minutes."
Lucas nodded slowly and sat back down in his seat. Kristin smiled at him once more and then moved to follow the young flight attendant. The passengers all watched as the two women made their way to the forward compartment. Once they were safely behind the curtains and hidden from the view of the passengers the young woman started to explain. "Doctor Westphalen we have a very serious situation. At the moment the plane is on autopilot while the Captain is throwing up in a waste can in the cockpit. He has been like that for almost an hour or so."
Kristin was furious, a man was sick and from the sounds of it very
seriously sick and this woman was standing her talking to her rather calmly and collected. "Young woman I don't need to know anything else. Take me to the cockpit at once so I can help that man."
The woman nodded and led the way into the small cockpit. What greeted
Kristin was a very small room with two chairs anchored to the floor, several panels and walls filled with knobs, blinking buttons and other type mechanical things but what caught her attention the most was of a middle- aged man, approximately 33 years of age, dressed in a white shirt and Captain's shirt and pants. He was seated on the floor behind the first seat with his legs stretched out and his head in a small trashcan throwing up. Kristin nodded lightly to the woman beside her and indicated for her to leave them alone, which she did. The doctor then came over and got down beside the man on the floor. The young man finally finished throwing up and leaned back against the panel behind him and then noticed the woman sitting beside him, "Who are you and what do you want?"
Kristin smiled pleasantly and smoothed the plastered hair away from the man's head. "My name is Kristin Westphalen and I'm a doctor. The flight attendant came and got me when you weren't feeling well. As for what I want, I only want to help you. What's your name?"
"Michael Sterik, I'm the pilot."
Reaching down the doctor gripped his wrist and found his pulse fast, but steady. It wasn't surprising considering the amount of activity the young man was doing in getting sick. "Well Michael why don't you tell me what's wrong and we'll see about getting you fixed up."
The young man nodded and said, "My stomach hurts real bad and cramping a lot. I've been throwing up for a while now too. I feel tired and I'm dizzy also. Plus I had a really runny time in the head a few minutes ago and that is the sec…" that's as far as he got when he pulled the trash can back up and placed his face back in it.
As Michael finished throwing up the doctor got in her back and retrieved the things she would need to diagnose the young man's trouble. She had a good guess what it was; you didn't spend all your time on a submarine without coming across of a case of it now and again. Once Michael was again leaned back against the console she began her examination. Several minutes later she leaned back on her heels and looked at Michael a moment before asking an all-important question. "Michael I want you to think carefully for me. What have you in the last 4 hours or so?"
The young man was silent for a moment and said, "Nothing doctor just a couple donuts and coffee. Why? What's wrong with me?"
"Michael I believe you have a case of Staphylococcal, or a form of food poisoning. Based on how it is contracted though I need to know what kind of donuts you ate."
"They were those white cream filed things."
Kristin nodded to herself and made the connection that had to be it.
"Michael I suspect the culprit is the cream in the donuts. They were
probably left out too long before or maybe someone that had handled them had a mild case and transferred it to the dairy in the donuts. At any case you're going to be fine. We do need to get you lying down though and get the co-pilot up here to land as soon as possible."
It was that last statement that forced the young man's face in a furrowed and serious frown. He tried to rise up but was overtaken by another round of vomiting. The doctor helped him and then leaned him back against the metal again. She noticed the look on Michael's face and asked, "Michael what's wrong?"
The young man shook his head and said quietly, "No co-pilot. Too short a flight and money is tight."
Kristin looked down at the young man and said, "Oh no. How can you run an airplane without a co-pilot? That's crazy. You're in no condition to fly, bloody hell you're in no condition to even walk a straight line."
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A young woman of about 25 with dark black hair stood slightly to the side of Kristin. She was dressed in a flight attendants uniform and seemed to be very anxious and wringing her hands together. "Ma'am are you a doctor?"
"Yes young lady I am, my name is Doctor Kristin Westphalen. Now how can I help you?"
The woman began moving forward toward the front of the plane and said, "Doctor please come with me and I'll fill you in on the way."
Kristin nodded and unbuckled her seat belt and got up. She paused to get her medical bag from the overhead compartment and saw that Lucas had started to rise as well. "Lucas you stay here until I know what I'm dealing with. Either I or this young lady will come back and fill you in a few minutes."
Lucas nodded slowly and sat back down in his seat. Kristin smiled at him once more and then moved to follow the young flight attendant. The passengers all watched as the two women made their way to the forward compartment. Once they were safely behind the curtains and hidden from the view of the passengers the young woman started to explain. "Doctor Westphalen we have a very serious situation. At the moment the plane is on autopilot while the Captain is throwing up in a waste can in the cockpit. He has been like that for almost an hour or so."
Kristin was furious, a man was sick and from the sounds of it very
seriously sick and this woman was standing her talking to her rather calmly and collected. "Young woman I don't need to know anything else. Take me to the cockpit at once so I can help that man."
The woman nodded and led the way into the small cockpit. What greeted
Kristin was a very small room with two chairs anchored to the floor, several panels and walls filled with knobs, blinking buttons and other type mechanical things but what caught her attention the most was of a middle- aged man, approximately 33 years of age, dressed in a white shirt and Captain's shirt and pants. He was seated on the floor behind the first seat with his legs stretched out and his head in a small trashcan throwing up. Kristin nodded lightly to the woman beside her and indicated for her to leave them alone, which she did. The doctor then came over and got down beside the man on the floor. The young man finally finished throwing up and leaned back against the panel behind him and then noticed the woman sitting beside him, "Who are you and what do you want?"
Kristin smiled pleasantly and smoothed the plastered hair away from the man's head. "My name is Kristin Westphalen and I'm a doctor. The flight attendant came and got me when you weren't feeling well. As for what I want, I only want to help you. What's your name?"
"Michael Sterik, I'm the pilot."
Reaching down the doctor gripped his wrist and found his pulse fast, but steady. It wasn't surprising considering the amount of activity the young man was doing in getting sick. "Well Michael why don't you tell me what's wrong and we'll see about getting you fixed up."
The young man nodded and said, "My stomach hurts real bad and cramping a lot. I've been throwing up for a while now too. I feel tired and I'm dizzy also. Plus I had a really runny time in the head a few minutes ago and that is the sec…" that's as far as he got when he pulled the trash can back up and placed his face back in it.
As Michael finished throwing up the doctor got in her back and retrieved the things she would need to diagnose the young man's trouble. She had a good guess what it was; you didn't spend all your time on a submarine without coming across of a case of it now and again. Once Michael was again leaned back against the console she began her examination. Several minutes later she leaned back on her heels and looked at Michael a moment before asking an all-important question. "Michael I want you to think carefully for me. What have you in the last 4 hours or so?"
The young man was silent for a moment and said, "Nothing doctor just a couple donuts and coffee. Why? What's wrong with me?"
"Michael I believe you have a case of Staphylococcal, or a form of food poisoning. Based on how it is contracted though I need to know what kind of donuts you ate."
"They were those white cream filed things."
Kristin nodded to herself and made the connection that had to be it.
"Michael I suspect the culprit is the cream in the donuts. They were
probably left out too long before or maybe someone that had handled them had a mild case and transferred it to the dairy in the donuts. At any case you're going to be fine. We do need to get you lying down though and get the co-pilot up here to land as soon as possible."
It was that last statement that forced the young man's face in a furrowed and serious frown. He tried to rise up but was overtaken by another round of vomiting. The doctor helped him and then leaned him back against the metal again. She noticed the look on Michael's face and asked, "Michael what's wrong?"
The young man shook his head and said quietly, "No co-pilot. Too short a flight and money is tight."
Kristin looked down at the young man and said, "Oh no. How can you run an airplane without a co-pilot? That's crazy. You're in no condition to fly, bloody hell you're in no condition to even walk a straight line."