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Some time later, Stephen returned to the great cabin to find Jack sitting with an empty glass that looked to have held whiskey. A tablet computer and a stylus lay on the table in front of him.
“Good evening, Doctor,” said Jack. “Would you like a drink? We have scotch, rye, wine, beer - anything generic, I’m afraid, it’s only what the machine can print.”
“You are very kind,” said Stephen, still standing awkwardly in the hatchway. “I’m very sorry.”
“Oh, no,” said Jack, who had in fact until this moment been blaming Stephen for Roth’s clumsy jump into hyperspace. “No, no. Not at all. You had no way of knowing.” Stephen entered the cabin and Jack went on. “I should have warned you. Going into hyperspace is a ticklish thing in any event, especially once the sensor array is withdrawn. That leaves us blind, you see, and you have to be lined up just so with the coils, but if you leave the sensors deployed they’re liable to snap off with the acceleration.” He sighed. “But how are your patients, Doctor,” he asked as Stephen sat down.
“They will do,” said Stephen. “The head injury is resting, I expect a full recovery but won’t know for sure until he wakes up. The broken arm should be excused form duty for a few days - I’ll know better tomorrow, once the drugs have had a chance to work - then light duty for a week or so as the bone remodels, then we can add labors as his condition merits. The rest I’ve told already that they can go back to their work.”
“You fixed the head injury,” asked Jack, who had already written to the admiralty to let them know of Roth’s accident, including the lamented loss of Franklin Whyte, engineer’s mate. But Roth had yet to pass a beacon, so the message had yet to upload, and he could still amend it. “You think he’ll survive?”
“I do. It was a routine epidural bleed, and not terribly severe at that. Once I’m satisfied that he’s stable I’ll put in a Hillman patch, and he’ll need a helmet until that ossifies, but there was no herniation. With a little luck, there should be no permanent deficits. I think you said that the printer can print rye?”
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