HD-47
Or
Fixing Commander Skywalker
I should be able to heal Commander Skywalker just fine. In theory it is an easy task. After all, the name HD-47 has long been synonyms with healing the injured.
Why I can't confuses even my fantastic computing skills.
As one of the best programmed health droids in the Alliance, my skills are often required for patience in desperate straights, patience who are highly valuable, patience who are commanders, and very necessary.
Commander Skywalker is the first patient in my memory file to have ever fit into all three categories simultaneously.
My specialty is fixing broken bones, and when Commander Skywalker does get these, they are rather minor, and I find he fixes them himself more than – to my horror – I myself do. Fascinated, I have questioned him on this. He merely begins a long conversation about something he calls, "The Force," and many sub details of it. I generally stop listening after a few moments. No medical science, pure fantasy.
But it does seem to work.
In many aspects, Commander Skywalker lives a very healthy lifestyle. He does not drink himself into a stupor, nor smoke spice until his lungs turn black. He does not pump himself with foods filled with fat, so his eating habits are….
Well, actually, his eating habits are quite horrific.
It was General Rieekan that asked me to limit my care specifically to Commander Skywalker, if just for a little while. This was a very strange request, but the general insisted. Who am I to argue? Of course I accepted.
On the matter of the commander's eating habits – ah, forgive me, I suppose I should say the lack there of. Commander Skywalker rarely eats. He is dragged into the mess hall by his friend and co-Rogue Squadron pilot, a one Wedge Antilles, from time to time, but even then he more picks at the food more than eats it. Still, I've managed to supplement this, as I do many things for the commander, with many, many vitamins, minerals, and other medications. I reported that the problem had been put aside to the general, but he was not entirely satisfied.
"I am very glad you can do that, 47, really, I am. But the boy needs to eat."
I have protested that eating is a very inefficient thing, but General Rieekan merely laughs.
"Maybe so, but we like it."
Commander Skywalker doesn't. I have asked him to eat many times, and he makes several excuses of, "Well, sure, but I'm not really hungry." Or, "Sorry, I've been very busy, I just forgot." Or, if his mood is particularly obstinate, he merely shrugs and says, "I don't want to."
It is very hard to argue when you are programmed to obey.
The commander also has large amounts of scar tissue. Some he briefly explains are from previous engagements before he joined the Alliance – more than that he never says – but I sometimes find very bad, not to mention odd, cuts around the major vein on his wrist. When questioned, he simply pulls the sleeve down and mutters some unintelligible excuse. They aren't serious, heal in a few days, and sometimes leave no scar at all. I never question it.
However, when I report such findings to General Rieekan, the blood tends to drain from his face – a very odd human attribute.
Humans are very odd, but I enjoy fixing them. Commander Skywalker has merely proven to be a fresh challenge.
Another terrible habit of the commander's is his lack of sleep. He has admitted that he does often purposefully keep himself awake, and that I can never understand. Neither human nor droid cannot function without enough rest. That is one thing I cannot supplement.
When I report this to the general, it seems that it is often reported to Princess Leia Organa. She is a fiery girl, and, quite oddly enough, just about the only one the commander will listen to one hundred percent of the time. The members of Rogue Squadron, quiet justifiably worried for their commander, refer to it as when, "It's time for Luke to get his ass kicked again." The response is often, "Finally. Now he can start eating again."
I find this to be an odd phrase, as Commander Skywalker exhibits no signs of physical abuse afterwards. However, I am given to understand, the encounters including quite a bit of yelling, begging, and use of the rather odd human tear ducts. I never have understood tear ducts. Commander Skywalker comes out much the same as before, with the exception that he eats or sleeps for a time. A week, generally. If the session is particularly long, maybe two.
Somehow, however, I do not think these visits increase his mental health any.
Mental health is a terrible problem, and it is obviously the worst of the commander's problems. He has sometimes admitted that his poor health is why he takes such reprehensible care of his body. The why has ever escaped me. I do ask him, and I get muttered replies of Father, Obi-Wan, Master, Jedi, Sith, Force, darkness, and dreams. I do not understand these words, and it seems that neither does the general, really. Only the basics. The details and what they have to do with Commander Skywalker are a mystery to pretty much everyone.
Who his father is is not on file. Who this Obi-Wan is is not on file.
About the only coherent thing on file is the commander's dental records. He has excellent teeth.
Begrudgingly, but never complaining, Commander Skywalker never misses one of our weekly appointments to check on his ever decreasing health. I cannot pinpoint what is wrong with him. If he would just eat, or sleep, or somehow avoid the lacerations he keeps getting around the wrist (I have warned him that if he does not watch out for that, he might get a very serious one and bleed himself to death. He has responded that he is quite well aware of that, and I think I heard him mutter, "So far, it hasn't worked.") he would be the healthiest person on base, easily. But he never listens. I can't say why.
General Rieekan is taking me off duty as the commander's personal physician. He thanked me for it, but said that it simply wasn't working.
He is convinced that all the problems lie within Commander Skywalker's mind.
I have never understood human minds, nor can I fix them. I told the general this, and he merely shook his head, saying, "They can't necessarily be fixed." He sighed and walked off.
It is sad to be taken off an assignment where all you've successfully done is subscribe dietary supplements.
I should be able to fix Commander Skywalker.