The Doctor Will See You Now...

[Julius Sedaire]

Time had been passing slowly, but pleasantly for Declan after coming back to Denon with [member="Asherah"]. She was adept at learning, at the least. And showed a very strong interest and potential. Their approaches, due in part to what he suspected were just differences in their talents, were radically different. But they were both beginning to learn from one another and influence the process of each too. Which was necessary and good for a medical partnership or team.

Today, however, she was mostly sitting in with him during surgical consults and follow-ups. Not exciting, but it kept the lights on in the office. His clientele for these were not ones just squeaking by, even if not super-rich, so they paid and paid well and on time. The next patient was new to him, having cybernetic issues, so he compiled a 'cybernetics 101 dossier' and walked into the office Asherah had been given and plopped a data-slate on her desk after knocking and coming in.

No white coat, just a nice white tunic, and pants with the name and office network embroidered on the left breast. Blue piping ran the length of the outfit, a navy coloring. No instrumentation really, all of that was left in the exam room. A smile crossed his face as he noted his new student and partner-assistant. Though she was polite, she had also been fierce about getting him healthier as well. Apparently, mass liquor consumption, and stim-sticks or death-sticks, were bad for him. And it showed in the clearness of his eyes and complexion. Sleep suited him.

"That's the file and some lead work for the next patient... Think you can handle taking point? I figure later this evening, i'll let the 'sticks wear off and we'll talk about Force training, eh?"

[member="Asherah"] | [member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Asherah]

Datapads were new and quite frankly rather frustrating developments. Oh they were great in some ways, she wouldn't debate that. It let her see, hear and read about things that she wouldn't otherwise encounter, but figuring out how to use the damned things aside, sometimes she wanted to change the viewing angle slightly or to poke, prod or smell something and you just couldn't. So all in all it was fine, it was just... flat. Likely if you'd been brought up on this sort of thing you wouldn't notice, but Asherah most decidedly had not.

Her initial enthusiasm over a new patient muted slightly as she read on. A cybernetic arm? She couldn't heal a metal-made thing. Things that were born, or grown, these she understood, even when they were alien, but these cybernetics... Still, was it not a wonder that a lost limb could be replaced right away? Declan had shown her a battlefield prosthetic, one you could put on immediately to not only stop the bleeding and such, but also to give them immediate use of the replacement limb. So, if this was to be part of the world of healing then she would learn it, unnatural as it felt. She knew this was why Declan was having her take lead, because he knew this was one of her weak points. She might have resented it, but she knew he would be there to make sure the patient did not suffer for her lack of understanding, and this was most important.

Besides, she reflected, she likely deserved a little bit of needling. He'd been taking her insistent ministrations fairly well. She knew without a doubt that as much as he looked much better than when she'd first seen him, he spent rather a large number of credits on his vices, which she continually purged from his system whenever he overindulged in her mind. She'd come to understand that he was literally self medicating to numb his own force ability, and saw why he did it, but when it was slowly pickling his organs and dulling his brain she'd not allow it. He tolerated it with a minimum of grumbling, so she tolerated all this technical business he kept throwing at her.

Denon had been a rude enough shock. Not as dry as Terra Damnatias had been, but utterly lacking in.. Well, soul. The planet itself had been wholly consumed by the metal-made city that covered it. It was in Asherahs mind something of an abomination, but it was Declans current home, so she kept that opinion to herself.

After some brief skimming she offered Declan a wry smile "Stay near, this one I do not think I will be much use, but it is good to learn."

She left the matter of force training alone. She'd be happy to of course, but it was a bit of a sore subject for him, and if he was inclined to pursue it she'd not chase him off by being over eager.

[member="Declan Ross"] [member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Denon.

A world Connor had never been to in his lifetime. Always a first for everything, and especially if the place had been recommended to him for a health-care expert, doctor and cybernetic specialist by the name of Declan Ross.

Zipping over from Commenor was quick and convenient, and he needed both because there was work to do. Yet there was a painful reminder of his sacrifices and troubled past – the fact he had a cybernetic arm. The cortosis and durasteel components formed a limb as good as, if not better than, a human one. But, it was never going to be enough to hide the regret at times.

Losing part of the human body was in sense losing part of humanity, and it had taken a while for Connor to adjust. Now, it was normal. A dysfunctional normal that wasn’t working – a limb should always work. It was annoying he was hampered by something as stupid as a loose connection, a cracked plate or corrupt circuit. Flesh and bone won over cybernetics every day.

With some of the digits of the arm not responding, it had been a frustrating 24 hours for the man, and thankfully the Commenor royal house had given him a well-known name to find, and to which a shuttle was arranged to carry him to the doctor’s location on Denon.

And now, here he was.

He introduced himself to the receptionist and was show straight away to the room. Down the corridor and to the right is where he would find this Doctor Ross. Connor walked the hallway of the pristine surgery, impressive as it didn’t reek of commercialism or even influence by others. He tapped gently on the door and opened it, stepping in.

"Connor Harrison here for Doctor Ross. I was sent here on request by the Queen of Commenor and her household."

[member="Declan Ross"] | [member="Asherah"]

 

[Julius Sedaire]

Declan rose smoothly, ignoring the tension headache in between his eyes and walked to greet the patient. He had been seated in a chair in front of the desk [member="Asherah"] was behind, legs crossed as they chatted and he tried to brief her. Already from the notes, he had an idea of what *might* be wrong with the limb. Cybernetics was a side interest, just like immunology, in his career. Partly due to his beginnings as a medic and then combat surgeon for the Republic. So many limbs were removed, attached, or the like that he had become very used to everything to do with the subject, in a broad sense.

And with a mind like his, a broad sense was a fair bit more in-depth than most.

"Welcome Msr. Harrison. And honor to have you in my practice. I'm Doctor Ross, and this "

He turned and indicated [member="Asherah"] with a nod and polite smile

"Is both a colleague and pupil of mine, a Force Healer from Krajlec named Asherah. She will be leading the assessment as part of her education, and I will be the second. We've both read your file already. Please... Take a seat and tell us what's wrong?"

Gesturing to the chair to the right, he took the one to the other side of the desk, remaining standing behind it. At heart he was an old soldier, and his movements and genuine mannerisms said so, but with a patient of this high a profile he had standards and behavior to uphold.

[member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

After a warm welcome, Connor stepped in, closing the door behind him and moved to the chair to take a seat, but not before unclipping his Force embed crimson cloak and setting it aside.

"Thank you, Doctor Ross." He inclined his head to the pupil. "Asherah."

Taking a seat, he rested both hands on the arms of the chair, the cybernetic hand seeming more rigid than normal acting as a real limb.

"It’s quite silly really, and I probably could have taken care of it myself but I’m no specialist and I don’t have open line with the individuals who fitted this for me. Basically it feels like at times it has a mind of its own." The black arm turned around, palm upwards. "Not enough to really hamper my daily life as yet, but when you compare it to a human grip, movement and overall feeling, you know it’s on the blink. The digits don’t seem to always respond initially, and the grip feels light."

He looked to the both of them and offered a “that’s it” smile. He wasn’t going to divulge his history or strip to the waist or anything like that without needing to. It could be as simple as a faulty wire or loose connection in the wrist area.

"I’m sure you know what’s up. You were recommended to me by some people on Commenor, so I’m in your capable hands."

[member="Declan Ross"] | [member="Asherah"]

 

[Asherah]

A mind of its own? Was this meant literally or was this another figure of speech, there being many that were not in use on Morje. Still, hadn't her time on the holonet mentioned something about metal-made intelligence's? Droids were apparently not people, even though they often seemed it to her, unless they had.. Artificial thinking? Something like that. But wasn't any thinking done by the metal-made by nature artificial? It was a topic that made her head spin. She barely grasped the basics and honestly sometimes felt like those who were used to interacting with such things didn't truly see them and so didn't really think about these things.

This was all something to be thought about later however, there was surely not an artificial thinking machine in [member="Connor Harrison"] s arm. Focus. She noted the seeming stiffness when compared with his own biological hand and arm, but it was hard for her to ascertain how much of that was from malfunctions and how much was simply because it was not flesh.

As he expanded on the issues however, it became clear that at the very least testing the rough parameters of the issue would be easy.

"If you don't mind." She offered him a smile as she approached, she confidently turned his biologically arm so that it too was resting palm-up on the arm of the chair before resting the fingers of her own hands over his. "If you could please try to curl your fingers so we're holding hands. I'd like you to do it steadily with an even application of pressure. Don't try to correct for your mechanical hand, do it as you would if it were working perfectly."

It was interesting to have one hand on cold metal and the other on warm flesh and know that both were hands being controlled by one single mind. And fleetingly the thought came again that it was something of a shame that humans let their males get into such dangerous situations. The revelation that most risk taking was in fact done by men in the rest of the galaxy had been something of a shock.

She glanced over at [member="Declan Ross"] before speaking, so he would know why she was doing what she was doing and could add his own insights if he wanted. "From my reading on cybernetics, basic though they are, if the issue is limited to only a few of the digits, it is likely a connection issue. If all digits are affected, it might be mechanical, or it could be the programming. The lightness of the grip would most likely be related to calibration, it may need tightening, but again, it could be programming, I would need to do further troubleshooting."

 

[Julius Sedaire]

Declan smiled as she delivered the initial diagnosis. She might not be a doctor right now. Might never be one, to be honest. But she had the talent to be a competent one, and certainly an amazing healer. Spending time with the young woman, he was coming to realize there was a difference between the callings. Medicine was still, in his mind, superior to handwaving a person better. However, his hardline views were softening, and he was seeing competency required of the other that made him respect both, and hence his concession to explore his own gifts.

"Very good Asherah... That was the likely conclusion. Now, Mr. Harrison... If I may... If you concentrate harder on the movement, does the reaction time seem any quicker? Or the grip better? And do you develop headaches after strenuous use of the limb or long periods of resting it?"

He looked at the arm, considering back to his days in the Medical branch of the Republic after he had separated from the military actively. Then his eyes found Asherah's as he reached into a bag at the side of the chair and began tuning a hand-held scanner produced from it almost as if by second nature.

"We ask this, because the answer can help us determine if the fault is mechanical or programming in nature. As well, it could be psychological. Just as amputated limbs can have phantom pains, similar phenomenon can interfere with the interface. The former is easy enough. The latter can be fixed, but is less easy. The difference between patching a handgun wound or a small shrapnel blast really."

As the work absorbed him, he relaxed, and a harsh Coruscanti twang crept into his voice from his years in the Capital.

[member="Asherah"] | [member="Connor Harrison"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Connor shifted in his seat, listened and followed the orders of the doctors.

His right arm, the natural limb, did what was asked. The left arm, the cybernetic one, did to so, but was unable to feel the understudy's fingers. He frowned. While not perfect, he had been at least able to feel what the hand was touching. Now it seemed he couldn't.

Looking up at Doctor Ross as he spoke, he continued to try again. He saw the left hand was almost hesitant to move and connect with Asherah, and it could be a fear of malfunctioning that he could either crush her fingers into pulp or simply not move them at all.

"See, now I can feel pressure in the arm, and also my head. It's not painful, but I'm trying to close the hand, yet there is a block. I don't want it to go haywire and crush your hand."

After a few moments, the artificial fingers closed around that of the young doctor. But he still couldn't feel.

"I can't feel the connection to your fingers." He looked over to Ross. "I'm worried now you said that it's a mixture of both. Physical, and psychological."

It was never as simple as one hoped for.

[member="Declan Ross"] | [member="Asherah"]

 

[Julius Sedaire]

Nodding, the calibration device passed over the arm, readings that were greek to either of the others coming up, and he nodded, looking at them with seriousness. Nothing too terrible, mostly a programming error. A few settings he might could It seemed like the error had but a mental block in, and likely with resolution and proof of it working, the mental block would change in time and go away. Touching [member="Asherah"] gently on the shoulder, he nodded to the arm, asking for a better access point.

"Well, it looks like mostly a few programming issues and some subsequent settings glitches. Whoever put this on was a capable surgeon, but long-term cybernetics requires an extremely in-depth understanding of the mechanism. The best limb surgeons will often stay with a particular cybernetics company for just that reason, and many such companies run schools teaching their software and models... You were given a fine arm, but the initial programming was on the lax side, more appropriate for a temporary replacement, or for a stand-in when the regular is broken. Over time, some of the activation settings caused issues.

These compounded and when you noticed the performance problems, you developed mental blocks. Fairly common in veterans I treated from the war between the One Sith and Republic. It's worse with ocular implants. But once we fix the device issues, and you use the arm more at the right setting, the mental hold-ups should resolve. With your permission, I'd like to open the arm up and re-calibrate some physical device settings and even alter internal programming and have Asherah assist. No need for pain medication or anesthetic, it would take about fifteen minutes."

[member="Connor Harrison"]