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Despite how he argued that he was fine, despite how he displayed a range of motion with his wounded shoulder (complete with pained facial expressions and one yell of agony), Medical insisted on tossing Luis in for treatment as soon as they were all back on the ship. His wound was infected and there was a process Stacy needed to go through to clean it all up and make sure it wouldn't turn gangrenous and fall off. That explanation made him a bit more cooperative.

So Luis sat on his bed in the Med Bay, laying on his side, glaring at the ceiling and extremely uncomfortable as a hose-like tentacle contraption was attached to the front and back of his shoulder, placed over the wound like a suction. Yeah. Creepy.

And he'd been caught up and around the place trying to do something productive one too many times, so there was a restraint around his ankle preventing him from standing up or even changing positions too much.

Could they at least have given him a book? This was worse than being trapped in a cave.

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Luis looked almost embarrassed by the thanks, looking away and waving his uninjured hand. "Naah. It's no big deal, really... I was the one in charge down there, after all. It wouldn't look good to have everybody else getting shot around me, you know."

"That doesn't make your leadership any less important to us," Billy countered, patting the fresh pile of thick books. "If I had any medical expertise I'd see what I could do for the pain, but I don't need to make things worse. I brought books instead---they're largely focused on advanced biology, but I can run back to the library for requests."

"I'm not a leader, amigo... I just don't know when to shut up."

His eyes lit up at the confirmation that the books really were for him. "There is nothing I need more right now than something to read. Thank you so much."

Billy nodded, reflecting back on the leaders he knew back home. "Excessive talking and leadership are synonymous more often than you'd think," he commented quietly, nodding in approval at the books.

"Oh, it's not a problem. I would've needed the same thing in your position. I'm surprised they didn't bring them sooner...but they did bring something else."

That was when Billy's eyes caught sight of the restraint. Huh. Now there's an unusual addition.

"Yeeaaah," Luis muttered, glancing off to the side. "I may have gotten up once or twice or six times to try to get some work done on their lab equipment, and Dr. Hussain may have gotten really upset at me about it."

Billy was sorry to hear that, Luis, but only because it sounded so much like something he would do. He stifled a chuckle behind his hand.

"Then I'll have to be very careful to take her threats seriously if I end up experiencing an extended stay," he murmured, "because I would've done the same thing. I know it's really frustrating to be behind on work after an extended absence, but would it help if I sent someone to check on Science for you?"

"No, no..." Luis sighed, shaking his head. "I'm not worried about the department. I know Scarlet will be taking good care of things while I'm busy. But I can't stand just sitting around doing nothing. I have work to be doing. And I miss my snails."

He chuckled a bit, shaking his head. "But I guess Scarlet will be feeding them too... anyway, it's a terrible feeling to be sidelined when you know you have something better to be doing."

"I know how that is," Billy agreed, thinking back on the workload and the issue with the Clock. There was quite a lot that needed to be done, and they were shorthanded. "I'd be chained right next to you if I'd been wounded any more severely."

He tapped his chin in thought. There had to be a way around that frustrating situation. "Can we send status updates on the snails? Or give you studies to read?"

"You don't have to go to all that trouble," he insisted. "I'm sure you have plenty to do in your own department without worrying about all my whining."

"How are you holding up, anyway?" he asked. "I know they haven't sorted out all that Clock business yet, and I remember you looking pretty down planetside."

"I'd certainly feel more productive than I do now," Billy answered. "I feel as though I've already hit a wall with the Clock situation, and we've just now figured out how to handle the mountain of Engineering paperwork."

He brushed his hair back behind his ear, looking just as down as Luis had remembered. "It's gotten worse. My girlfriend and most of my friends are now young children, and that means there isn't much time left to stop it. Well...reversing it would be vastly preferable, but I'd settle for a stoppage at this point."

He frowned. "I'm sorry to hear that... I hope things sort themselves out soon. Leon's daughter is getting pretty young as well. One can hope they won't just blink out of conception when they get to the beginning, you know?"

"That's exactly what I fear will happen," Billy mumbled darkly, glancing down at his hands. "And I'd rather not wait and find out. I'll try asking around for clues again, but I don't feel too hopeful."

Still, he knew griping wasn't productive. He raked a hand through his hair in thought. "I'll look out for whoever I can. I just hope you get better soon."

"I know just how you feel," he muttered. "Having a project like that-- that there's a time limit on, for one reason or another-- and the longer it takes, the more you worry you're going to screw it up, sí?"

"Affirmative. If we had unlimited time, we could get close to perfection, but...a human effort on short notice is going to be rushed and critical errors are more likely. With those circumstances, it's miraculous that we succeed as often as we do."

He just had to get back to work with the attitude that they could pull it off again. "It's so difficult to be patient, especially waiting for..this," he gestured to Luis's restraints.

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