KIA
Part I
One person got out, slamming the door in her haste. Dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt she jogged to the double doors that led into the office of radiology and consumer affairs.
By the doors a tall man stood waiting for her.
"David." She called, hurrying over, "What's so urgent?"
"I have a patient for you." He replied, his crew cut black hair giving him a sharp, military look, "Came in five minutes before I called you."
The girl hurried beside the man, flicking her soft, short black hair out of her face to expose two very blue eyes.
"Why me?" She asked, grabbing a white coat from a rack of many and putting it on without stopping, "You work for the board of radiology. The factory workers you deal with have been exposed to chemical compounds."
"This one needs your expertise." He replied. He turned and looked at her standing in the corridor, staring at him, "What?"
"My expertise? I have none in this field." She clipped on her name badge which read Kia Reeds, "I'm a vet."
"Exactly."
They entered a lift and David pressed a button at the top of the queue.
Kia studied his face as he stood silently.
"Good morning brother." She said with a slight grin, "It's been a while."
"It has." He nodded.
"You've been promoted." She noted the gold tags on his wrist, "Security officer. Well earned."
"I have worked hard."
"Ah." Kia nodded at his rather cool effort at conversation, "You'd better keep quiet David or I won't be able to get a word in edgeways." He gave her a funny look at the doors opened and Kia shrugged, "Never mind."
"Down this way." He gestured and they hurried down a corridor made entirely out of silver grey panels. They reflected hazily and Kia could see distorted versions of herself walking the corridor. It made her dizzy so she looked ahead instead.
"Is this the surgical level that all the government officials keep claiming you have yet unable to prove it?" She remarked. David nodded and Kia sighed, "Why am I here?"
"I knew you'd be able to deal with this…situation."
"I hope I don't let you down." She said sincerely.
David stopped by a door and activated the code.
"So do I." He said equally as sincerely.
They entered the room.
It glittered with black architecture blue lighting filling the room. At the back was a workstation with some alien technical objects that beeped every now and then. In a file on the table were metallic clipboards. Other than the workstation, the room was clinical and clean. Nothing out of place. In fact it looked empty. However, hidden behind secret panels and chambers was enough technology make city hospitals jealous.
But the technical equipment didn't peak Kia's interest. She was looking for her patient.
As a vet she was accustomed to working with wounded animals. Mainly dogs, cats and birds common among New Yorkers and none of them were afflicted with chemicals that could harm them.
On one side of the room was a pristine white chamber separated from the rest by a soft glowing shield. Behind this was a hard flat bed with some monitors and a drip hooked up to it. Lying on the bed was a short figure covered over in a clean, crisp white sheet. By the bed were two doctors comparing notes on their clipboards, talking in hushed tones.
They looked up as Kia approached. One deactivated the shield and they both stepped through.
"Kia Reeds?"
"Yes?" She was handed a clipboard, "Is the…patient stable?"
"We're not sure."
Kia frowned at this and studied the board.
"Is this everything you have collected so far?" She said curiously as the board only contained a few sparse notes.
"It was all we could do."
"What about Xrays, biopsies, you know, medical procedures?"
One doctor cleared his throat and looked at David.
"She's not been briefed?"
"I was getting to that." David replied coolly. Kia waved her hand.
"Don't worry about it. Just give me some space to work."
The doctors nodded and walked out, talking their chilly disposition with them. Kia sighed and tapped the clipboard.
"Charming, aren't they?"
"They haven't the necessary skills for this task."
"Necessary skills? I'm a vet!" Kia waved the clipboard at him, "And this is poor work! Nothing for me to go on. I'm starting from scratch having lost an hour to their incompetence."
"Perhaps you should look at the patient before passing judgment."
Kia nodded and deactivated the field. She stepped through and up to the edge of the bed. The patient was covered almost entirely with the crisp white sheet and all she could make out was his grey hair.
Gently she peeled back the sheet and nearly staggered in shock.
If her eyes weren't deceiving her, she was looking at a giant grey furred animal. And by his ears, long nose and tail it was clear she was looking at a rat that was at least five foot tall not including the ears.
Kia let the sheet drop, as well as her mouth, as she stared at it.
David watched impassively from his position on the other side of the field.
Kia swallowed with difficulty and looked at him.
"What is this?" She demanded, "Some kind of joke?"
"The radiology board doesn't think so." He replied, "It was found lying on the road, hit by a car and left for dead. Someone took it to an animal shelter where they realized it wasn't a dog and they contacted us."
"The department of radiology and its uses." Kia murmured, "Do you know what this means? If word of this got out…"
"You have a lot of work to do." David nodded, "Try to keep it alive."
Kia was left staring at the limp bundle of grey fur lying on the table and tried to keep her senses from spinning. She gripped the edge tightly and leaned forward.
The rat's tongue was hanging out and its breathing was erratic. The monitor it was hooked up showed the same for its heartbeat. There were abrasions along its side, consistent with a hit and run. But there were also scorch marks that seemed out of place.
Her ability and technical know how stepped in and Kia put aside her surprise to begin her analysis of the creature. She pulled out its arms, noting that they were more human than rat-like with a thumb and fingers mimicking human limbs. Slipping on her headphones Kia clipped the recorder onto her jean pocket and began recording.
"Time, four ten on July twelfth, Tuesday. Kia Reeds as chief operator. Patient, one seriously oversized rat. Despite it being humanoid in form with bi-ped limbs, this creature is still very much an animal. This is why I have been brought in. It is not a fact of evolution. In fact, it is mutation. It has to be. From the centre's factories? What kind of chemicals are they dealing with? What kind of scandal am I about to cover up?"
As she spoke Kia began shaving some fur off the creature's limbs. She worked quickly, inserting tubes into its body and hooking these up to a drip that she set up nearby. A blood bag was linked to this and quickly the life flowing liquid was moving through the tubes into its body.
Having secured its immediate safety Kia examined the wounds. One claw/arm had been clipped by the car and it hung at an odd angle. She guessed it to be broken if not dislocated. The other mark from the car was relatively superficial. The burn marks were far more dangerous and Kia made up a burn pack and wrapped it around its body.
"I don't know if there's anything wrong on the inside of it." She muttered, "Those other doctors obviously didn't think to X-ray it. Idiots."
Abruptly the rat muttered something and Kia jumped back, clutching her clipboard. She stared at it for long moments, waiting for it to speak again.
"…sons…my…take…" It muttered before lapsing back into unconsciousness. It took another few seconds for Kia to pry herself off the walls and move closer.
"I wouldn't do that again." She said in a shaky voice and tapped her clipboard, "X-rays. I can handle an X-ray at this moment."
Kia pushed her hair out of her face as she studied the X-rays in her hands. She was barely aware of David falling into step beside her. She did see his shadow across her clipboard and she glanced up.
"Yes?" She asked pertly.
"Is it dead yet?"
"You almost make it sound like you want it to die." She remarked and tapped the X-rays, "If it's bleeding internally you may just get your wish."
"Wouldn't you just operate?"
Kia held up the X-rays for David to see. They were a fuzzy blur.
"Looks like it's out of focus."
"It's not." Kia shrugged, "It's the third set I've done. They're all like this. It must have something to do with the way it has formed as a creature. Something in its genetic makeup that's making it impossible to X-ray."
"You'll have to operate."
"I wouldn't suggest it." Kia responded, pushing through a double set of doors, David following her closely, "It's so weak at the moment. An operation may very well kill it. I would like to avoid that, at least for the moment."
"For the moment." David murmured and Kia frowned. She didn't like the way he was skirting around this problem.
"David…what's going on here, really?" She asked coyly, "I mean, out of the blue you give me a call to come in to the office to operate on a mutant rat?"
"You think it's a mutation?" David looked at her keenly, "Caused by the chemicals of the factory?"
"David? Are you listening to me?" Kia stopped him, "This is far too big of an issue just for me. A five foot rat that I'm meant to keep alive without any more information? What is it you want me to prove or disprove? Why am I here?"
"You have the experience in the fields necessary."
"Surely your radiologists should be present. They could view it from a radioactive field of expertise."
"I knew I could trust you." He looked at her, "You can keep a secret."
"Just in case this is the factory's fault and you don't want those environmental green politicians to find out." Kia sighed and pushed her hair back out of her face, "David…I don't think I should be doing this."
"Kia. I trust your abilities." He put his hand on her shoulder and then took it away as some staff members walked down the corridor towards them. When they'd gone he smiled, "Do what you can."
Kia let the door swing closed behind her and sighed.
"Call me suspicious," She muttered, "But I don't think I've been given the whole truth and nothing but the truth." She took the pen out from behind her ear and opened up her clipboard. She pinned the X-rays up and tried to study the fuzzy pictures. It was relatively impossible to read them. After a few minutes she entered the pristine contamination room where her one patient slept.
He hadn't moved or spoken for hours.
Kia was relieved.
It was disconcerting enough to be working with a five foot rat let alone one that spoke.
Perhaps she should have mentioned it to David. But something didn't sit right with her about the whole thing.
Maybe she was being overly suspicious. But her presence there and working on a creature that may be the result of some deadly chemical dumping was sending conspiracies running through her mind.
With effort she shook of the images running through her mind and concentrated on injecting more drugs into the rat's arm. His eyelids fluttered and he moved slightly before settling down, so groggy he could barely move.
David sat back in his office and shut the blind behind him. He turned on his computer and on a secure channel he made a phone call.
"Mr Reeds." The voice was tinny and sinister.
"Yes sir." David said, "We've had a development. One of the creatures you've been searching for…it could be here."
There was a pause.
"Is it alive?"
"Barely."
"Who is keeping it alive?"
"I've put Kia onto it."
There was a sigh on the end of the line.
"Good. Very good. Watch her. Watch her carefully. And the creature."
"Yes sir."
"I will contact you when I wish to interrogate it."
"Yes sir."
And the call was ended.
Kia flicked the syringe and looked at the liquid inside. She lifted the rat's arm and inserted the tip causing mild discomfort to the creature before it rested back down.
"Let's see what that will do." She murmured and then went about changing the dressings around its burns. The scorch marks were severe and the bandage was soaked in the puss that was weeping from the burns. She cleaned it gently and then rolled out some clean bandage.
"Well?"
Kia looked up and saw David on the other side of the shield.
"Well what? It's been twenty four hours. I can hardly have performed any miracles yet."
David looked frustrated. Kia frowned.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing." He grunted and folded his arms.
"Nothing?" She raised her eyebrows and took her pen from behind her ear, "Why don't I believe you?"
"Would I lie to you?"
"If you'd been told to lie to me." She questioned and David's face darkened, "Can I ask you something?"
"You can ask."
She knew that she mightn't receive an answer but she'd try anyway.
"Why, if this was a hit and run incident, are there burn marks on the creature?"
A jaw in David's cheek clicked and he grunted.
"Why does it show signs of mutation that is not consistent with previous factory poisonings?"
Again nothing but a grunt.
Kia stepped forward.
"Why is it that the mutative chemicals still floating around in its systems are older than the factories this centre is connected to?" She glared at him, "What are you hiding from me?"
"Why do you need to know?" Kia was surprised at the amount of anger in his voice. Controlled anger, but anger none-the-less.
"It's important to the patient."
"It's an animal."
Kis nearly blurted out that it was a walking, talking, intelligent animal but she restrained herself.
David turned on his heel and walked away.
"Try to keep your questions locked away." He remarked, "They'll only get you into trouble. Just do what's required. That's all."
Kia growled as he left the room. She scooped her metallic clipboard off the small tools table by the rat and activated the data screen. Irritably she jabbed it with her pen, comparing her notes to the computer's analysis.
"Why is he making things so difficult?" She muttered, "I'm on a need to know basis and I need to know what I am dealing with here." She scratched the top of her head with her pen and then tucked it behind her ear, "Perhaps he's right. Maybe I do ask too many questions. I'll just get myself into trouble and wouldn't that just be perfect."
She opened a panel and began sorting her tools to distract herself. It didn't last long.
"It's not like I'm making an issue about the whole damn process. I just to know what it is I am exactly meant to be doing with a five foot rat."
She leant against the wall and hugged her clipboard to her body.
"Why am I getting myself so worked up about this?"
"You have a questioning spirit." The large rat spoke softly in a voice that betrayed its age.
Kia nearly dropped her clipboard but she tried to maintain her cool, not wanting to show weakness in front of a rather large rodent. She walked a bit closer and saw that its eyes were open, glowing yellow with an intelligence that made her skin crawl.
"You're supposed to be asleep." She remarked, her voice remaining steady to her relief, "I've given you enough sedatives to put an elephant to sleep. Yet you're still awake." She looked up over her clipboard to stare directly at it, determined to hold its gaze, "Any thoughts?"
It blinked.
"I'm a rat." It said simply.
Kia felt a grin at the side of her mouth. To hide her amusement she fiddled with the drip.
"Are you saying you're immune to the sedatives because you're a rat? Or you just don't have any thoughts?"
It gave the smallest smile.
"Always questions?"
"How else am I to learn?" She retorted, wondering if she was going to get into the same argument with this rat that she did with David.
"This is what David cannot understand. He follows orders. You question them."
Kia rolled a stool over and made the pretence of entering data into her sheet. She tucked hair behind her ear.
"David's always been a yes man. He doesn't think to ask why. He just does." She muttered, "It drives me insane sometimes."
"There is a place for both obedience and for questions." The rat murmured, "You must use wisdom with both."
Kia opened her mouth to respond then snapped it shut. She clicked her clipboard closed and stood up.
"I can't believe I'm having this discussion with a mutated rat." She shook her head, "And the irony is, you're actually making more sense than most humans." She strode through the field, stepped through and reactivated it, "I must be going out of my mind."
Kia was gently shaken awake. She looked up blearily, imprints of the documents she'd been sleeping on embedded in her cheeks. David stood over her.
Groggily Kia looked around. She was still at the lab. Although her flat was about as inviting as this room so it made little difference.
"Sleeping on the job?"
Kia growled and pushed herself up.
"Do you want it to live or die?" She demanded, "Don't criticize my techniques." Immediately sorry for snapping she stumbled over to the basin and splashed some cold water on her face, trying to wash away the confusion of the night before.
David looked down at the papers on her desk.
"What's this?" He picked up one, studying it.
Kia looked back and felt her chest tighten a little. She walked over and snatched it away.
"Nothing." She said protectively.
David eyed her curiously.
"I didn't know you like to draw."
"Don't you have any hobbies?" She retorted, inexplicably fearful that he knew she liked to draw. It was only a brief sketch of the rat, its claws, its eyes and ears. She'd even sketched the burn marks and bandages.
"Kia. It's alright." David said in a strange voice that made Kia wonder if it was alright, "Clearly you…have a gift. These are quite good."
Rather than be comforted by his praise Kia felt cornered. She quickly gathered up the loose sheets and tucked them into her clipboard.
"I'm obviously not a good enough vet." She muttered, changing the subject. Despite her best efforts the rat was deteriorating to a point where the only way to tell if it was living was by the monitor that beeped every now and then.
She rubbed her neck and looked at David who was looking slightly remorseful.
"Have you been here all night?"
It was a nicely framed question. Tinged with just enough compassion to make it sound caring. Kia sighed.
"No." She opened the watch/medallion that hung around her neck, "Oh…yes."
"Why?"
"Because it's not getting any better. It's not responding to treatment."
"Just don't let it get any worse." David clapped her awkwardly on the shoulder and walked out.
Kia growled and rubbed her eyes. She grabbed her clipboard and wandered to the computer readouts. They just made her more depressed. Nothing was adding up.
It was as though this mutation was hindering the healing process. It couldn't accept drugs or medication. Its body would reject it at the expense of dying without it.
She entered the contamination room and looked at the rat.
It was losing weight rapidly. Its fur was lank and its eyes were open a tiny slit showing the briefest glimpse of a yellow streak.
His outer wounds were healing, even the scorch marks. But because of the chemicals in its blood stream the X-rays couldn't show her if it was bleeding internally. And she was too afraid to operate. It was likely she would lose it on the operating table and then all hell would break loose.
Gently she brushed back some fur on its face.
Its eyes flickered open.
"I'm dying." It said simply, studying her face, her conflicting emotions.
Kia felt confronted by his simple assessment. She suddenly wanted to save the life of this creature more than anything. Whatever she thought of it, or David or the board thought of it didn't matter. It was a living breathing, intelligent creature.
"There's not much more I can do." She admitted, sitting down, "From all I can tell, you are healed. Yet you deteriorate."
"Perhaps some wounds are not of the body but of the heart."
There was such an echo of sadness in his voice that Kia felt a lump rise in her throat. She distracted herself by adjusting the instruments and checking the drip bag.
"And what makes you sick at heart?" She asked softly.
The rat's eyes closed for a moment. And when they opened Kia was amazed to see them glistening with tears.
"My sons." He trembled. Kia got up and found another blanket. She tucked it around him securely. He stopped shaking and relaxed as she smoothed back his fur, "I miss my sons."
Kia pushed back her black fringe and rolled on the stool so she could look him in the eyes. She set her clipboard aside and leaned on the bed.
"Tell me about them."
David looked up as Kia entered. He briefly acknowledged her presence and went back to work. Kia felt snubbed and she folded her arms instinctively.
"I have to talk to you."
"Talk." David replied, turning over a page in his reports.
"We have to let the rat go."
David looked up, Kia having finally got his attention.
"What?" He demanded, "Please tell me I didn't just hear that."
Kia figured this would be the way the conversation would go.
"You heard me."
"Damn." David swore and stood up, "Why, if I may ask?"
"It's dying and perhaps the only way to save it is to let it go." Kia explained, "It's a wild animal and I believe that the cage is killing him, among other things."
"You're a vet. Keep it alive."
"I can't." She snapped, "I have tried and failed. There's nothing I can do. Except ask that you at least ask the board…"
"No."
"David, the radiation isn't from any factories under our jurisdiction. It cannot be traced back to us." David was shaking his head. Kia stepped forward, "At least try…"
David spun around and glared at her.
"Is it your design to discredit me? To make me lose this job? Are you trying to ruin everything for me?"
"Why do you think this would reflect on you?" Kia exclaimed, "It has nothing to do with you."
"You don't understand the severity of the situation." David looked out his window, "There are higher authorities at work here than just the board. These authorities can either make or break a person and they are always on the look out to do just that." He turned his intense eyes onto Kia, "I am this close from being honoured in their eyes. If the rat lives, if you can keep it alive for just a few more hours, you will be rewarded beyond comprehension."
"What happens in a few hours?" Kia demanded, alarmed by the look on his face.
"The creature will be collected by those in higher command. Dead or alive, it won't be your responsibility any more."
Kia shook her head.
"David, who are these people that you would seek their approval?"
David's face was lined with the light coming through the blinds on his windows. He gazed at her darkly.
"They are the ones who give orders."
"And you always obey orders." Kia retorted and stormed out.
The rat raised his head as Kia entered the room. It was the most energetic he'd been since arriving. His yellow eyes followed her across the room as she collected her clipboard, avoiding his eyes. Aggravated she flung it aside and swore.
"Your request was not heard." He surmised.
Kia looked over at him. She couldn't lie. Somehow she knew he'd know the truth.
"No." She said angrily, "He didn't want to listen." The rat's eyes pleaded with her and Kia sighed, her rage evaporating at his gentle calm, "I'm sorry."
He closed his eyes and Kia felt a twinge of guilt as she studied his frail form.
"All hope is lost." He whispered.
"There's more." Kia swallowed and stepped through into the room, "Someone is coming for you tonight. I don't know who and I don't know what they will do to you."
"It does not matter." He said and breathed deeply. Kia took his claw and felt his pulse grow weaker and weaker. It was as though he was simply giving up his life.
She brushed back his fur and turned away.
"Unfortunately it matters to me." She murmured and opened a wall panel. Inside it were cryogenically chilled bags of red serum. She hooked one up to the drip and watched as the red liquid leaked through the tubing into the rat's arm.
He muttered incoherently and sank deeper into the bedding. Kia stroked his fur and watched as his heart rate became one unending line on the monitor.
"I'm sorry. I won't let you be tortured." She picked up the microphone set and switched it on, "Patient's time of death, 3:17pm."