Guide stared down at the motionless woman on the bed, his eyes following the thick red tentacles that had attached themselves to various points on her body. They were meant to help her, he knew, but it didn't change the fact that his abdomen twinged at the sight. Rarely did the Wraith have to "plug in," so to speak, and when they did, it was almost always with a poor prognosis. He tried not to think about the fact that the human body was much more fragile than the Wraith, and how much more severe Jennifer's condition actually was. The two Wraith medical assistants strode back and forth between various consoles in the room, attentive to even the slightest change in their human patient. Guide knew that they were not happy with their charge, but they respected their commander and would do as he asked without question.
Bonewhite had been the one to subdue the captive and pull Jennifer from the quarantine room, but Guide's anger with him surpassed his appreciation. His Second stood a short distance away from him, looking solemnly at the unconscious human just as Guide did. Finally, the commander spoke. His tone was low, stiff, and left no room for interpretation.
"If she does not survive, Bonewhite, I will not be able to forgive your incompetance. I did not expect such inaqequacy when I entrusted her to your care."
"It will not happen again, Commander," Bonewhite answered, looking at the ground now.
Guide turned to him.
"No, it won't. If she dies, you will suffer in the same way. You are dismissed."
The Second vanished from the room without another word, leaving Guide to his thoughts. He couldn't help but wonder at the nightmare he'd had mere hours before this attack. Had someone been trying to warn him? If they had, and she did not survive, he would never forgive himself. If only he had been there in the quarantine lab to deny her suicide mission to retrieve the venom. If only he had tested the tranquilizer gas beforehand. If only...Guide squeezed the fingers of his feeding hand closed. If only he had fed recently...he might have been able to heal her himself!
"My Lord?" came the voice of one of the medical assistants. The Wraith commander looked at the assistant with stern eyes. "Her condition is deteriorating quickly. If we do not wake her soon, she may not wake again at all."
Guide considered him for a long moment.
"If we wake her now, the excess strain on her body could kill her just as easily." His yellow eyes searched the room, searching for the answer.
"We can stave off the excess strain by paralysing non-vital systems," the other assistant offered, gesturing to a nearby device. "She won't be happy, but it might keep her alive longer."
"Longer?" Guide snapped, raising his brows. "This human is vital to my research and as such, you will do whatever it takes to keep her fully alive and fully functional, permanently." He scoffed now, shaking his head and started to leave the room, his mind demanding some respite from the day's events. "'Longer.' Unacceptable..." Just before he disappeared through the doorway, he made the call. "Keep her sedated for now. I will return in three hours to see her awake then."
The assistants, frustrated but trusting their commander's instincts, obliged.
The wait seemed endless, but when the three hours had passed and Guide entered the health ward, the assistants were instantly before him, awaiting his command. He simply nodded, and watched as they worked to inject Jennifer with an artificial adrenaline to wake her. It didn't take much before her eyes were fluttering open and moving slowly around the room. When her eyes befell Guide's, the Wraith approached her. By the way her mouth opened and her throat flexed, she was trying to speak, but no sound came out.
The Wraith's eyes settled on her more evenly now.
"Don't strain yourself. We can communicate this way. You need only think the words."
Jennifer's eyes widened when she heard—no, felt—Guide's voice in her mind. She tried to project a sentence back at him, but it didn't seem to work.
"It will take time to perfect this technique, Jennifer. Do you know why you are here, in the health ward? Do you remember?"
Weakly, the woman shook her head, and then her gaze fell to the red tentacles emerging from her body. Suddenly, panicking, she began to struggle.
Guide threw himself at her, grabbing her by the shoulders and forcing her still.
"Do not move! Your body has suffered an immense amount of damage and you are lucky to be alive as it is! Lie still, and be calm. The cords will be removed when you are well again."
The Wraith felt something pressing at the barriers of his mind, but it broke apart before he could make sense of it. Jennifer was trying to communicate, but she needed strength to do so. He watched as she suddenly paled and sank back against the pillow, almost limp. Alarmed, Guide slipped a palm behind her head and held her upright, looking at his assistants for answers.
"What's happening? Do something!"
The first assistant rushed for a console, calling over his shoulder as he scanned it.
"The artery we pinched off to contain the toxin just reopened. It's flooding her system again! There's nothing we can do—we're going to lose her, Commander."
Guide looked between the two assistants, both floundering at their consoles as the monitor attached to Jennifer's neck blared alarm after alarm. He flexed his free hand—his feeding hand—and thought for a moment. Then, releasing her, he whirled around and pinned the second assistant to the wall, plunging his feeding hand onto his fellow Wraith's chest.
The subordinate clutched at his commander's palm, desperately trying to remove it as his life was sucked away. Guide's teeth were bared and his head thrust back at the rush of energy entering his system. Within moments, the second assistant was not but a pile of dried skin and bones. While the first assistant looked on in horror, Guide ripped aside several of the tentacles and plunged his feeding hand against Jennifer's chest instead. He felt his energy levels draining now, as the life he had stolen was passed along to the human female instead. He knew he couldn't heal her completely, but if he could somehow help her sustain herself until the toxin ran its course...
He gasped as the last bit of his expendable energy left him, his knees buckling and his weight falling onto the edge of the bed, where he sat, breathing hard. The alarms on the monitor ceased, and the woman's eyes opened slowly again. They were bloodshot and the pupils dilated. Guide noted the tentacles had begun to retract. In spite of his own weakness, his body straightened and tensed as he studied her. The first assistant, equally tense but for other reasons, watched the scene as it unfolded.
Guide's innards twisted as he felt the soft weight of the injured woman's eyes settle onto his own. His mind swirled in confusion as it rewound over the rash action he had just taken to save the human's life. Why had he done that? What was it about Jennifer that so threw his systems into such quiet chaos and made him contradict every behavior he had once believed to be immutable. He sensed Jennifer attempting to make contact with him again, but it was faint. Guide's feeding hand hovered over the thin sheet covering her body, revealed now that the tentacles were gone, but he didn't dare touch her again. In his weakened state, he feared how his body might react. The commander looked to the first assistant.
"What are her readings?"
Still quite obviously bothered by the events, the first assistant promptly responded.
"She will live." His voice was flat and cold.
Guide nodded and dismissed him. When he looked back to Jennifer, she was fading into an uncomfortable sleep. The Wraith bowed his head and closed his eyes. Exhaling, he stared sharply at his own hand until he finally let it come to rest upon the sheet where it concealed her abdomen. He hissed when he felt his insides twist yet again. This was not the reaction a Wraith commander should have to such contact. Where hunger should have overwhelmed him, he felt not but the wrench of distress. In her sleep, the woman shuddered, and he ripped his hand away.
"Jennifer Kell-err..." he breathed in the faintest of whispers, "What have you done to me?"