trans_9 | Archaeology, Natural Disasters and You [Closed]

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Archaeology, Natural Disasters and You [Closed]

The trip down revealed that Taleen was going to be of several things, none of which were pleasant. Arid, pale with a light dusting of red from the rocks, and yellow-white grass that extended in plains all the way towards far off mountains . There was a giant gash in the land near the orb landing area, which resolved itself into a massive canyon as the party drew closer. Spider webbing out across the top of the canyon were signs that a civilization had once flourished here. Traces of broken pillars and half submerged buildings, as well as what looked like a downed ship that had embedded itself in a massive building. There was no movement visible amongst the ruins now. As the dry wind blew through the stonework, it would became clear that they were walking into a mass graveyard.

Not somewhere you'd want to spend your vacation.

For some people, this was going to be a field day.

According to the scans and what little records they had, there hasn't been a sentient being around for hundreds of years. The majority of native wildlife had moved out of the area, seeking refuge. The land looked dead already. In the sky above, several specks of light twinkled in the sky, growing bigger with each passing hour. In a few days, it will be raining fire.

[Closed to Daniel, Eleventh Doctor, Sofia, Jamie, Hoshi, Howard, Billy, the Master, River Song, Cassie, Tom]

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The dose worked after a few seconds. A blue eye cracked open. The pupils were narrow pin pricks. They didn't seem to adjust to the light. Some of the blood seeped out past the gauze, the trail building up on an eyebrow and just starting to run into one of his eyes. Daniel didn't notice it immediately. Everything felt like it was moving in slow motion, himself included, like someone saw fit to stuff his head full of cotton and immerse his limbs in molasses. He limply felt at the side of his head.

It took him a second to realize he was on the ground. His chest felt cool, like there was a draft, which was funny because there shouldn't be one this far in the building... Oh. Probably because someone was trying to pull his clothes off, and that was stupid because Daniel really preferred not to do the rest of the dig in rags. He bat at the hands cutting at his shirt. Then it registered that those hands belonged to someone and that there were two people standing over him.

"Howard?" Daniel mumbled fuzzily. Glassy eyes found his face. Drifted past. Howard and John. What were they doing here? "What's goin' on?"

Edited 2011-10-16 08:49 (UTC)

"Don't move, Daniel," Howard says in a strangely commanding tone for a voice that hasn't finished dropping yet. He's shifted into his medic mindset, where the sarcasm and babbling is replaced by deadly seriousness. He pulls Daniel's hand away from from the injury and wipes the dribble of blood away from Daniel's eyes, noting the tiny pupils. Not a good sign, but at least Daniel recognizes him. "You had a bad fall and got knocked out. Just don't move none until I figure out how bad you're hurt."

He finishes cutting Daniel's shirt off and looks back up at the Master. "Alright. We'll run him for arrhythmia and all when we get him back to the ship, try and figure it out." Howard hopes it's some health problem with Daniel. At least then his hands are clean of this.

Some reddening on the torso, no crackling of air under skin, no change in breathing. Not enough to rule internal injuries out, but if they exist they're probably musculoskeletal and not organ damage. Which means they deal with the head wound first.

Howard puts another handful of gauze in Daniel's hand and guides Daniel's hand up to the injury. "Okay, keep pressure on here, Daniel. Do you remember where we are?"

Do you remember what day it is? Yeah, right.

"Do you feel nauseous, Daniel? Does anything hurt besides your head, Daniel?" It's a lot of questions, so Howard tries to ask them clearly and slowly and repeat Daniel's name to keep his attention.

He turns back to the Master, slightly peeved that the Master isn't even offering to help, but for all he knows the Master doesn't know the first thing about first aid and doesn't want to make anything worse. But Howard doubts that. "I'm not going to be able to haul him out of here on my own, if I have to. You gonna help or should we get the," his voice goes a bit dry, "the bugs upstairs?"

The Master blinks; he's been so focused on Daniel's responses to Howard's questions that he almost misses the attention turning back to him. "Of course," he murmurs, with a small smile. It's supposed to look solicitous, but mainly it's there in the first place because the look on Howard's face at the mention of the bugs is precious. "No need to call them."

For one thing, he needs to be sure Daniel truly remembers nothing; if he does point fingers at the Master, however confused and concussed, the Master will need to deal with both of them as quickly and quietly as possible.

"What would you like me to do?"

'"Just don't move at all'," Daniel emphasized helpfully. He was less helpful holding the gauze to his head. "Not 'don't move none'. Double negative."

There went his shirt. Daniel watched Howard work, his own hand with the bandage wilting in his distraction. Howard performing first aid was a completely different Howard than the one in the mummy chamber. Confident, assured, completely in his element. Daniel wished he could believe him on the bad fall. He didn't just faint. Maybe once in the library, but that was something with the TARDIS.

Daniel looked up at John when he spoke. How weird was it that out of the two of them, it was John who knew what Daniel would've wanted, not Howard? He never would've expected empathy from John. The last thing Daniel had in mind was stopping the dig or interrupting progress, and especially for himself. He wasn't more important than saving what they could. "John's right. Don't bring the others. I don't want to pull hands off the dig just because of me. The dig matters more."

First trying to tell John that he didn't faint earlier, and now he came in to see him on the ground. Daniel flushed. Ducking his head so he didn't have to see John's look, Daniel tried to get his bearings back. He looked around the room, eyes stinging. His head still felt stuffed. Heavy. Breathing hurt too. Things were coming back together, if sluggishly, but better than nothing at all. He remembered standing at the sarcophagus. Then he was on the floor, bleeding from a head wound, probably from hitting the only other thing in the room. The sand looked scuffed around-

Where was he? What a stupid question. "I'm on the floor." And wishing he could get up. And get a new shirt. "In the sarcophagus room." Maybe he was getting used to Janet and her staff shooting the round of questions after half their gate missions. Daniel tried to sit up and then, flinching, decided it wasn't such a good idea just yet. His hand went to his side. "My chest feels kinda tight." Maybe he was putting it just a little mildly.

Edited 2011-10-17 05:12 (UTC)

"Here," Howard motions for the Master to come over and ignores Daniel's unsolicited grammar lesson (and the opportunity to shoot back a 'just don't correct me, how about that?'). At least Daniel's speech is clear and coherent, though Howard still doesn't like the look of those undilated pupils. "Help hold this to his head, John. Head wounds bleed bad.

And Daniel's not doing that great a job applying pressure. Howard ignores the Master's little smile - he half expects its at his fear of Eneesh, and in that case Howard has more important things to do than get into a petty fight about irrational fears.

It occurs to Howard that Rory will be proud of him, that Rory taught him well. Something deep and buried in Howard feels excited to tell Rory and have someone congratulate him like that and look at him like he's moving and growing towards success. But Howard smothers that feeling under resentment that he'd think of Rory like some kind of arbiter of accomplishment in the first place. Rory's not his father.

"I told you not to move," he reminds Daniel. Chest pain, no, chest tightness. That's not good, but it doesn't seem to stop Daniel from taking steady, substantial breaths, and Daniel isn't coughing. Howard rests a hand on Daniel's sternum, so much less afraid of physical contact in a medical scenario than he is in his day-to-day action.

"Alright. Daniel, I think you got a broken rib, but I need to make sure it's not a collapsed lung. If you do have broken ribs, this is going to hurt a lot, but only for a second, and I need you to communicate with me and not move, alright?"

His training always told him to communicate with the patient. That's always been the hardest part, for him. Memorizing technique and procedure comes naturally, but empathizing with others and their pain has always been more difficult. It's like remembering how to conjugate verbs in a second language.

"And if you got broken ribs, I'll give you some numbing agents in a minute to help with the tightness. Just bear with me."

He moves his hand over two inches towards the side Daniel's clutching, over Daniel's collarbone, and presses down slightly. If Daniel's ribs are broken it'll feel like being stabbed, but only for a moment.

The Master dutifully trots over and crouches down next to them. Howard doesn't realize it, but he's just given the Time Lord the perfect opportunity to check in on Daniel's... shall we say, state of mind. He presses the gauze to Daniel's head, his thumb gently resting on bare skin, and nods to Howard.

As soon as Howard's examining the ribs, however, he rolls his eyes just the slightest bit. All this fuss over a simple fall. And then he concentrates, his eyes looking past Howard and Daniel's ribs, checking in with the human's memories. Making sure he did a thorough job protecting himself. If he does it right, Daniel shouldn't notice a thing. Or at least, anything that wouldn't be associated with normal head trauma.

Broken rib(s?) and not a collapsed lung and not a clue how he landed on the sarcophagus. Super. And he had Howard channeling Doctor Fraiser.

John joined them, crouching on the other side of him and for a second, Daniel felt strangely crowded. He cocked his head curiously at the man. Actually, what was surprising was the fact John hadn't made any snide comments or even argued with Howard. From what Daniel saw of him, he certainly expected him to do something like it. Or anything that wasn't actually helpful, like be his normal pain in the ass self.

"I think Howard can handle this, John," Daniel wanted to say, anything to spare himself from what came next in front of John, but then John's thumb skimmed over and settled on his skin. Daniel's mouth closed. He looked away, back to Howard. No problems here. Maybe Daniel was wrong about John. Maybe there was something more than the massive chip on his shoulder.

Howard chose that moment to press down on his collarbone. It wasn't the first time he'd had this kind of injury. He'd gotten one on Chulak, and he wasn't anymore prepared for this kind of test this time either. Daniel's face instantly closed. His jaw clenched, eyes squeezing shut for a moment to keep back the groan. It was like someone drove a railroad iron into him. A hiss of pain squeezed past his teeth. It lasted forever and then was over in a flash.

"That was fun. Can we not do it again?" Daniel kept his eyes closed. He could feel them watering. Yeah, better to keep them closed a little longer. How long was this going to take? And did either of them see anything? He'd ask the moment Howard stopped trying to collapse his chest.

Edited 2011-10-18 03:28 (UTC)

Howard pulls his hand away from Daniel and holds it out so Daniel can see that Howard won't do that again. He didn't like inflicting pain on Daniel; generally, Howard may not be the nicest person, but he doesn't like the idea of torture and that sort of pain rings too similar, and Daniel's been nice enough to him, if a little snobbish and condescending. And that fleeting guilt and concern distracts him enough that he doesn't even notice how Daniel goes placid right beforehand.

"You got a broken rib, Daniel, maybe more than one, but no organ damage as far as I can tell. I don't want you to move around none until we can get you through an X-ray and make sure you aren't going to puncture anything. When you stand, I want you to keep a stiff back, okay?"

He gets another hypospray out of the kit and fills it with a local anesthetic. He doses Daniel's side with it. Within a few seconds it should numb the area around the broken ribs and let Daniel breathe easier. He waits for Daniel to open his eyes, then gets his flashlight out and checks Daniel's eyes again - this time, they respond.

"You got a concussion, too. Once we get you up top, I'm going to want someone with you the whole time until we get you up to the ship. I don't want you sleeping for more than three hours at a time, or moving too much. We don't want you to puncture any internal organs." The snarky teenager side peeks back out when Howard follows that up with "because if you think this vacation's ruined now, just wait until you're hemorrhaging from the inside."

He takes the gauze from the Master, though he doesn't touch John's hand as he does so. Now that he's slipping out of first responder mode his uneasiness with touch is coming back. "I'm going to need to get you into better light before we get you stitches. John, can you help me get him up and out of here?"

The Master blinks again, as if snapping out of a reverie. Satisfied that Daniel remembers nothing remotely useful, he returns his blank expression to a small smile. Helpful old John Smith. That's him.

"Ready when you are, Howie."

Wait a minute. He got that Howard wanted to help and do his job, but Daniel couldn't do his job if Howard had his way. It wasn't like the injuries was lethal right now anyway. As long as Daniel followed Howard's directions, don't sleep for more than three hours at a time (checked off already, he had it under wraps due to the dig itself), don't move around too much (check, he could do that), don't move his back when it hurt (a no brainer), how hard could it be?

"What if I want to stay here and keep working?" Daniel complained. He tried to stay patient as Howard stuck the light in his eyes, blinking rapidly once it was away. Maybe he'd been out for who knew how long, but it didn't suddenly render him invisible, and or give them the right to make decisions for him over his head. He was concussed, not brain damaged. He looked to John, hoping that John didn't want to lug him around anymore than Daniel wanted him to. If John backed out, Howard couldn't carry Daniel himself. "You have a light. I've had field stitches before. Can't we just get it over with right now?"

The injection helped. It took some time but he felt the constriction around his chest fade. Now he could actually try concentrating. Daniel didn't think he triggered a trap. He'd been very careful with the sarcophagus, and besides, how did it explain the disturbed sand? One of them had to know. One of them had to have seen something.

Howard responds to the nickname with a glare. Only Karis is allowed to call him that, and that's because she's a friend. But he doesn't have the nerve to really protest it and deal with Daniel at the same time.

Besides, the Master scares him. Deeply, now, but Howard tries to rationalize away his dark suspicions about what happened here.

"You can work with someone around you, right? Look, Daniel, no matter what you might think of me, I actually know what I'm doing right now. And you just passed out with no reason either of us know, you have broken ribs that we haven't been able to scan for safety yet, and you have a concussion. So you don't have to listen to me about anything else, but I'm not going to let you go off alone until we're back on the ship," he says stubbornly. That's as close as he'll get to compromise on this. "It don't have to be me hanging around, just someone who can call for help if you seize up again or get worse."

And not John, he thinks silently, although he doesn't know how he could make that happen without looking like he suspects something.

"And yeah, doing field stitches under a single flashlight is totally optimal." He shakes his head and starts getting sutures and antiseptic out. "Just actually hold still when I tell you to this time, alright?"

And yes, he is irritated. He knows Daniel cares about this dig, could read it all over Daniel's face even a few hours ago, but he has to wonder if Daniel would be giving another adult this much lip.

Edited 2011-10-18 05:50 (UTC)

The Master's laser screwdriver does have a few 'repair' settings, believe it or not, but he doesn't suggest it. Even if it weren't under isomorphic control, he wouldn't let apes use it on each other. Instead he smiles down benignly at Daniel.

"Aren't you the busy bee," he croons. Then he glances at Howard.

"Howie--" Oh, he does love the reaction he gets from that. "It might be more trouble than it's worth to stop him from working. Surely we can find someone to look after him down here." Bringing Daniel above, in the state he's in, will surely attract more attention than he'd like.

Everything was still kind of fuzzy, and Howard's remark was doing nothing to help him out here, especially when Daniel was trying to sort through the bog his brain devolved into. Whatever Daniel thought of Howard? Howard sounded like he might be upset at him. Like Daniel didn't respect him for some reason. Daniel's opinion hadn't changed since he last talked to him, but it wasn't a bad assessment of the kid. This was going too fast. Daniel looked blankly at Howard. "What?"

Not an ideal solution, but if Daniel could get whoever it was to work as an assistant, it wasn't a lost cause.

"So it's settled. I'll work with someone down here."

The look transferred over to John, shifting into a scowl. So what if he was? Whether John believed it or not, this was important work. If he wanted to be a dead weight, fine. He had enough to do and manage on the dig that he couldn't watch everyone. But for now, he weirdly enough had John's support. Daniel was right, John didn't want to carry him. Daniel still didn't want him to. He didn't even want him down here.

All he had to do was get field stitches. This wasn't going to be fun. Daniel leaned his head back on the sarcophagus in preparation and closed his eyes. He didn't want to see the stitches coming at him. "So what happened? How long was I out?"

"Please don't call me that," Howard says to the Master in a tone partway between a snarl and a professional talking-to-idiots voice. He doesn't need to feel more diminished here than he already is, and he may not know what the Master's up to but he can recognize when he's being degraded. "And alright. I'll stay with him down here and whenever you get up top, you can tell people where we are so they don't worry about us."

He hopes John and Daniel don't argue with him on that one. He doesn't want to leave John alone with Daniel again, even as he tells himself over and over that it's just a bad feeling.

Thankfully, Stacy keeps her medics well-supplied, so once Howard's sure the blood flowing from Daniel's injury is mostly staunched, he puts gloves on and sprays the area with disinfectant - and a novocaine spray. It should make the stitching process itself a little less painful for Daniel. Howard's careful with the stitches; applying them has always been something he's excelled at, even under unsavory conditions.

"I don't know how long you were out," Howard lies. "I pumped you with some adrenalin as soon as I realized you were unconscious, but you were on the ground when I got here."

The Master isn't about to argue; he certainly doesn't want to stay with Daniel any longer than he has to. Not after what he's seen. He does grace Howard with a triumphant little smile, though. Humans make it far too easy to get to them, don't they?

"I'll do just that," he promises. He has absolutely no intention of doing anything of the sort; best if nobody knows he was there in the first place. Briefly the Master wonders if a cave-in would be prudent, but Howard's subsequent lie gives him pause. He darts a look at the other man.

Howard as the assistant. He could work with that, he guessed. Although there'd be trouble if Howard couldn't slowly learn to get used to be being around the sarcophagus or the mummy.

Daniel nearly winced as Howard started in on the stitches, then rethought it quickly. Probably not the best idea with a needle near your face. Knowing it wasn't a good idea didn't make the impulse go away. He clenched his hands in his lap and kept his eyes firmly closed. The sand kept coming back to the forefront, especially how part was disturbed away from the door. It wasn't trampled because of these two coming in. "You didn't happen to see anyone come in or out of the building?"

The fact that the mummy's one room over has occurred to Howard. Multiple times. The sarcophagus in the room, too. He keeps trying to push the thought out of his mind, even as it creeps along the corners like some sort of predatory animal. He thinks he'll be okay as long as he remembers exactly what sort of goal he has here (making sure Daniel doesn't hurt himself) and thinks of the sarcophagus as just the thing Daniel hit his head on. Not a torture machine.

Besides, he can't panic when applying sutures. His hands tend to shake and twitch when he's anxious, and that would be unfortunate for Daniel.

Howard ignores the Master's look and stays focused on the stitches. He doesn't particularly feel the need to explain John why, exactly, he lied. He just hopes it was plain enough that he's going out of his way not to implicate John in anything.

"No, I was up top looking at the gardens. Didn't see no one come or go. I came back down here to apologize for running out earlier and John was calling for someone to come help."

"Nor I," says the Master helpfully. "You did look a bit out of sorts when I entered, though. Almost in a daze. And then..." He mimics the sound of a cartoon slide whistle.

His thumb continues to graze Daniel's forehead. Just like the library, Daniel. Remember? You just took an unfortunate fall.

He's so very helpful.

Despite his best efforts to remain absolutely still for the stitches, Daniel's mouth twisted into a frown. He was reminded again and again why he already didn't like the man. There wasn't anything funny about whatever happened. And what John doing in here in the first place anyway? Probably come to bother him but John didn't seem to like his company either, so-

The Master's thumb brushed his temple, just a faint touch, and just like that, the urge to ask was wiped away, as cleanly as erasing footprint off the sand. Why John was here didn't matter. Howard said he was down before arrived, and John called for help. He wouldn't implicate himself, it made no sense. So whoever attacked him had to have done it before and left him standing there. Or something. Even though he couldn't shake the idea that someone had deliberately attacked him, no accident, it wasn't a big deal right now. The dig mattered more.

"Okay," Daniel said placidly. "I'll deal with this later. "

Edited 2011-10-23 12:27 (UTC)

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Archaeology, Natural Disasters and You [Closed]

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