A white light flickered into view on Pullo's ocular array, he was coming online again. A quick reel of text flashed in front of his vision as the kind machine spirits of his augments composed the diagnostic scan on the systems that had been gifted from the Machine God.
+++ Scan Complete +++
+++ Augmentations 100% Operational +++
+++ Biological systems impaired +++
+++ Seek Medical Attention +++
+++ Honour and Glory to the Machine God +++
'Praise the Machine God,' thought Pullo all his augments were unharmed, the only parts of him that were hurt were these weak fleshy parts he was burdened with as a human. He did not have a diagnostic readout for his biological systems, but he could feel a pain in his head and his arm was in seering agony.
"He's awake!" came the voice of a nearby woman. Pullo looked around. He was laid on his side, in some kind of bed in a makeshift hospital. There were other combatants laid about the room. Mostly from the local PDF, he couldn't see any other Skitarii around him. There were many desks and tables for laying the wounded on, with cables for monitors hanging above each one. There was a big imperial aquila emblazoned on the far wall next to the symbol for the Adeptus Administratum. As important as the Administratum was, the needs of war, outway the needs of scribes.
The woman who called out rushed over to him, she appeared to be a nurse, at least her white uniform suggested this. "How are you feeling?"
Pullo responded in binhiric, but the woman looked confused. She didn't appear to have the augments needed to understand binhiric and was confused by the sound. Pullo engaged the vocal language of the imperium, "I am operational," said Pullo, "but I require medical attention."
"I have some bad news to give you," said the woman with a heavy sigh. "Can I ask your name?"
"I am Ranger Unit 2044-Pullo."
"OK, Pullo," said the nurse with a deep breath, "When we brought you in, the damage to your arm was too great and we couldn't save it."
Pullo looked down and could see the bloody-bandaged stump where his hand used to be. He had lost his right arm from below the elbow.
"I'm sorry," said the nurse, "this must be difficult for you."
"This is good," said Pullo, confusing the nurse again, "this was only an organic hand. Having it removed gives a need for it to be replaced with a superior machine hand."
"We can't do that," said the Nurse.
"Then I require transfer to a Skitarii base. The tech priests there will be able to assist me."
"We don't have any transport."
Pullo let out a sigh, "That is sub-optimal, I will need to wait here." This field hospital will have to do for now.
Pullo Stayed on his makeshift bed. The sound of battle was distant, he was safe for now.
His head was still sore from the attack, he held his remaining hand up to his head. They hadn't tried to remove his mask; he felt around his head and couldn't find any signs of breakage. He would get over the pain and it would fade.
Every Skitarii carried with them a reservoir of air from their forgeworld, this was to be drawn upon when necessary. Pullo took a deep breath of this holy air supply. It was full of the pollution created by the endless forges on Ryza. It put his mind at ease and helped him relax. This was a rare moment of peace, he was going to make the most of it.
Pullo heard a discussion in the next room. The nurses were talking about him. "Do you think he sleeps?" asked one of the nurses.
"He's a Skitarii Ranger, I heard that they are built for chasing their targets for days at a time, I don't think they take rests." said a second nurse.
"Built? You make it sound like they aren't even human." said the first voice again.
"They don't even have eyelids, he's probably quite scary behind that mask."
"He scares me already," said another voice, "do you think he can hear us now?"
A female face peered round the corner and gave Pullo a quick glance, then sprang back again "I can't tell."
"I'm just going to talk to him, he's still human deep down, and I'm sure he would appreciate the company."
One of the nurses came around the corner and dragged a chair to sit beside the Skitarius. "Pullo?" she asked. "Are you awake?"
"I am." he said, as he sat up straight.
"Hi, my name is Hamida, can I ask you some questions? I've never spoken with a Skitarius before."
"Yes." he said.
"Do you have someone waiting for you back on Ryza?"
"The Macroclade Dominus would be awaiting my return." said Pullo plainly.
"You don't understand," said the woman, "do you have a partner back home? A family?"
"My attachment is to my forgeworld."
The nurse responded, "My husband, Darius, is fighting with the PDF. When the war is over we can be together again."
"The war goes well," said Pullo.
"Really? We don't hear much from the front. All I know is that the fighting has moved far from this field hospital. We used to get wounded soldiers all the time, but now we just hear the big guns far away."
Pullo glanced out the window. It looked like he was on the first floor of the building and couldn't see the ground from where he sat. But he could see the ruins of the next building.
"Do you know if Darius is ok?" asked the Nurse, "he's with the 56th Armored Division."
"I do not have that information." said Pullo.
"I thought you did, I thought you could connect to a communication network or something. What else would those ariel on your back be for?"
"Scanning the nooseshere, just a moment," said Pullo as he searched the network. "I do not have details on individuals, but the 56th armoured is still operational and fighting in the east."
"So he might still be alive?" asked the nurse, wide eyed and full of hope.
"It is possible."
"Thankyou Pullo."The nurse glanced around her briefly, "I've never worked with a Skitarius before, normally if a soldier is brought to us, we would remove the backpack and armour, but we couldn't figure out how to get yours off. We also left your mask on, Faustina said you need it for your eyes, is it true you don't have eyelids, that sounds nightmarish?"
"Eyelids are a weakness, a compensation to make up for the shortcomings of flesh. My eyes are always open, to bear witness to the wonders of the Omnissiah, should they be revealed to me; and I am always awake to the dangers I may face. This is a blessing that as a warrior of the machine god, I carry with pride."
"That's so horrible," she said, "is that the same as your feet? Every Skitarius I see has metal feet."
"Human feet are weak and tire easily," explained Pullo.
"Not me," said the nurse, "before the Orks came, we had running races that went for miles and we all did that with our own feet."
Pullo, was confused, surely she was in denial but he wasn't sure how to explain it, "these feet are… better."
There was a groan coming from one of the other beds in the hospital, one of the other patients needed seeing to. "We can talk later," said Hamida, "Would you like me to bring you some rations when I come back?"
"Standard rations would be incompatible," said Pullo.
"Ofcourse," said the nurse with an eye roll, as she got up and left.
Pullo accessed the Noosphere again and put a ping out for his team to find him, maybe they were still out there.