Chapter 16

Governors Island Space Port
New York City

"I didn't think it was that bad." Spencer said. "I feel all right."

"You are far from all right." Essa Linalter replied. "Severe gastroenteritis, chronic from the scarring. Malabsorption, malnutrition, mild osteoporosis, you're forty pounds underweight. Sit. Gently." He said, shooing Spencer down onto the exam table. He cradled Spencer's head in his gloved hands and pulled down his cheeks to look in his eyes. "You're showing neurochemical levels indicative of extreme insomnia. You're also starting a cataract. Drink a lot of coffee with sugar?"

"Several large cups a day." Penelope said before Spencer could protest.
"Good. It's been keeping you alive. The malnutrition and insomnia are contributing to the cognitive impairment."

"Cognitive impairment?!"

"Wait." Penelope said. "Are you saying he hasn't been…thinking clearly?"

"Chronic insomnia and lack of food energy can cause a slowing of mental responses, yes."

"So you're saying he can get…smarter?"

"He will." Essa Linalter turned back to his patient. "No sex drive? Not surprising, you haven't completed puberty."

"What?!" Spencer said. Oh this was a bit much. "Of course I have! I'm thirty-five!"

"Reproductively you have. Neurologically you have not. It's not a question of age. And not uncommon since the diaspora. Lay down." Essa shooed Spencer down on his back and started gently palpating his abdomen. "Tell me if this hurts."

"That makes no sense whatso…ow." Spencer said as the doctor poked something tender. He went on to poke more tender places. "What is that?"

"Your intestines. They're swollen. What happened here?" He started poking around Spencer's knee.

"I was shot, They had to repair the kneecap. And there. And there." Spencer said to his shoulder and his neck.

"Not going to say a word. If I did Nar would thrash me. Why is there scarring in your lungs?"

"An infectious disease I contracted. I can't discuss it." Spencer sat up and looked at the holograms. "Are my lungs bigger? What is wrong with my prostate?" Both organs looked far too large.

"Ours are. Thinner atmosphere on Quadris. We compensate with a smaller stomach. And nothing from what I could tell." Dr. Linalter turned to look. "Huh. I guess ours are larger. But it looks fine. Healthy."

"Oh good." Okay, this could be fascinating. Spencer decided he was going to gather as much data as he could before he left. Emily was right, there was always room for improvement. But first things first. "So, am I cleared to return to duty."

Essa chuckled at that. "You're not cleared to leave this hospital."

"What?!" This was not happening! This was a nightmare! He had seen this movie!

"You're not leaving until I can put you on a healthy diet so I know you're not going to die on me. That starts with a liquid and IV diet for three days until all that swelling goes down. And that's assuming you let me eliminate the source of irritation."

Spencer fell back on the bed with a groan. This was hell. He was in hell. Alien hell.

"Um, I'm acting as his legal companion." Penelope said. "Is there a place I can stay?"

"Did you mother teach you that?" Esaa gave an understanding smile. "You can share a room if you like or we can set you up next door."

"Thanks. If someone else from the team wants to switch places with me…"

"Not a problem. There's some paperwork."

"Sure."

"I'm sorry." Spencer groaned from the bed. This was supposed to be a one day trip.

"It's okay sweetie. When we get in a room we'll call Emily and figure it out. I'll see if Luke can come up and bring our go bags."

"Fine." Spencer didn't care. He just wanted to go home. "I hate hospitals."

"I know. Maybe they have jello."

"I hope they have jello."


Later that day Luke made his own pilgrimage to the island. He found Penelope camped in a waiting area on the ward, her tablet in her lap, the remains of lunch on a table nearby. "Okay, the tails are going to take some getting used to."

"You get used to it pretty quickly." She replied. "They're actually really sweet."

"So where's wonderboy?"

She got up and motioned for him to follow. She opened a door nearby to reveal Spencer lying in a hospital bed, snoring lightly. "Keep your voice down." She said in a whisper.

"He okay?"

"Yeah, he…"

Just then a furry paw touched Luke on the shoulder. The turned to see one of the cat-like aliens standing there, one with remarkably fluffy, ears, in a tunic with a tablet in hand. She motioned for them to step out. "Quiet." She said. "Good for Q. Helps to heal."

"Oh, sorry." Luke said. The nurse nodded and stepped away. "What the hell happened to him?" He asked as they returned to the waiting area.

"So it turns out that he has a food intolerance."

"I've roomed with him. I figured that."

"But it's not just him. It's all the aliens. They all had problems with it at first until they figured out what it was."

And the suspense is killing me."

"Vegetables."

Luke stopped. "What?"

"Vegetables. Specifically the Lactuca and Brassica genus. They can eat other vegetables, but only if they're processed, cooked or juiced or something."

"Can I get that in English?"

"Anything related to lettuce or cabbage. Including broccoli, kale, cauliflower…". She smiled as understanding came in to Luke's eyes. "Yeah. Exactly what's allowed on each and every exclusion diet. They just can't digest them. Does nasty things to the insides. And I found out that the Mrr'tani have allergic reactions to preservatives and the Eridians can't eat sugar, I am so glad I'm not one of the cooks around here.ß"

"So he just has to not eat that stuff. We'll work it. But how did he end up like this?"

"They wanted to keep him here until they knew he could at least eat without getting sick but he hates hospitals so he said he didn't want to be away from his Mother for that long in case she needed him. So he agreed to them cleaning what was causing all the irritation out in exchange for going home tomorrow."

"Cleaning out? How do you…". After a moment Luke got it. "Oh. Ew."

"Yeah. We will never discuss this again. Anyway, they gave him some sedative, he's sleeping it off."

"Don't blame him."

"So I am going to go home and head to my meeting and then get him set up with the diet he gets to be on for the next three days at least."

"What kind of diet?"

"Clear liquids. We're treating it like the stomach flu."

"Makes sense. So he goes back to work on Monday?"

"Nope. Six weeks. They don't want him going back until he is well and truly mending."

"Oh I bet he loved that."

"Yeah, well, I already told Emily so he is out of luck. So, fair warning, they are silly strict about quiet in their hospital rooms, no electronics at all. Period."

"I brought headphones."

"So did I. No good. Not even a book light in there. So you can sleep two doors down if you want. They have a little guest type room for legal Companions. Use that term, it gets you around alien HIPAA."

"Got it."

"And try the food in the mess hall. Apparently we can eat everything every other species can. Oh. My. God."


Penelope was right. The food in the mess hall was amazing. But there was no way Luke was going to spend the time between dinner and bed sitting in a dim room listening to Spencer snore. So he accepted the room down the hall and settled in to fall asleep to Netflix.

This was noticed by the nurses on station. "Unusual for Q, yes?" Soft Ears asked. "To sleep thus?"

"Yes", Ensign Marrillon replied. "But he's not Q. He's Terran. And only a legal Companion." She opened a window on her terminal. "We have other options."