Queen of the Stars

by Haley R Lawson

  I said, “Sir, I’m not a doctor. Jackson sent me for more supplies. We are working near the boiler room today.”

  “I don’t care. Just take him with you. I don’t want him sitting here doing nothing.”

  I invited Tommy to come with me. He carried the bag for me. I said, “So, you have more medical training than I do. Jackson’s probably really going to appreciate your help. It’s so chaotic in these clinics. Did you have a specialization in med school?”

  “I had just started interning and was with the trauma center. I haven’t really picked a thing yet.”

  “Well, we can use a trauma doctor.”

  He laughed. “So, what were you before this?”

  “A marine biologist… I just graduated when the ship landed. I like this job though.”

  He seemed pretty happy to be doing something in his field. We got back to the clinic and I took the burn cream and Tommy into Jackson. Alex was on the examination bed. A security officer yelled at Jackson about privacy and pushed us out.

  Jackson said, “Those are my assistants. I need them to do my job.” He let us in, and Alex was getting violently sick. I held the bucket for him.

  He said, “So, I think I have food poisoning.”

  Jackson said, “Oh, you do. Um… Tommy go into the hall and get me a new bed pan and bucket.”

  Alex looked at me and said, “You two are feeling okay, though right?”

  I said, “Yeah. I feel fine.”

  Jackson interjected, “But, we only ate half of the food. Rose, do you remember any of the normal vitals for Alex?”

  Tommy was back and rambled off a list of normal male vitals.

  Jackson said, “Thank you Tommy, but I was asking Rose. Can you go tell the woman at the desk to call an emergency drone for me?” Tommy headed to call a drone. Jackson continued, “Sorry about that, we have a new trainee.”

  I said, “I don’t remember the numbers for sure. His pulse is lower than ours, his temperature is higher, and the rest is all fuzzy.”

  Jackson said, “Okay, I want you to go with him. Tommy and I are going to stay here. You really need to keep a journal or paper of everything you learn.”

  Tommy came in and said, “You are sending her… with the prince? She’s not trained.”

  “I trained her enough to know what she’s doing.”

  Alex missed the bucket and got my arm. Tommy got me a towel and Jackson took him to do evaluations in another room. The emergency drone arrived and took us to the royal hospital. All of the royals who were at dinner were there and the place was in total chaos. I stayed with Alex. I was given a laptop and Alex gave me his glasses. He was incredibly dehydrated, and his salt was way too high. I was also given a notebook in which I wrote vitals for Alex’s species. I had an idea while doing so about the food poisoning.

  I said, “Alex, obviously people eat different foods on different planets. Is it possible the service staff serving the wrong food to the wrong royal could do this?”

  “Now that you say that, a few of us did switch seats without moving the placards. Maybe they serve by name plate. Go get a list of the royals who are here, and we can figure that out.”

  I always listen to Alex, but I don’t think he realized that literally every royal was sitting in the lobby freaking out. Some of them were actually sick, but others were just paranoid. I narrowed down the actual patients to Alex’s dad, Theo, Ella, Luke, Sky, Charlie, Malerie and Jackson’s new friend Heidi. I sent all the others home to just take an easy day and told them to come back if they developed symptoms. Then, I went on to treating my actual patients. I tried to narrow down who switched dinners, so I asked Alex if he remembered where everyone was sitting. He tried to draw it out for me but was still too out of it to do it.

  I recruited a trained nurse to help me administer medications. It went well until Alex’s vitals got to his range and she took off to find a crash cart thinking his heart was about to stop. Alex thought it was funny. I managed to set the machine to alarm me from deviations from Alex’s normal levels. The nurse came back and noticed it wasn’t beeping anymore. She seemed so confused. I realized I had to figure out how to do these things on my own, so I had a different nurse show me how to do an IV and draw blood for tests. I used Alex for practice. She seemed to trust me, so I moved on to other patients. I started with Alex’s family since I already had their normal levels written down.

  I started with Prince Theo because he was way less intimidating than the King. His mom was obviously making things twenty times worse, so I told her to go sit with her husband while I treated Theo. He thanked me, but said, “Do you know what you are doing?”

  “I wouldn’t be in here if I wasn’t sure.” I tried to draw his blood, and nothing happened. I tried his other arm and still nothing happened.

  “I thought you knew what you were doing. Weren’t you a housekeeper last week? How are you a doctor in one week?”

  “I’m not a doctor. I’m a nurse type person… a doctor’s assistant. I am the only one here who knows about aliens and what levels you should be at.”

  “Actually, my family doctor is with my dad. He suggested we come to the hospital, but you could just ask him for help doing the needles and tests. My vein is nowhere near that. You are just ruining your needle.”

  I thanked Theo for his input and went next door. Alex’s family doctor was adjusting the machine to properly manage his father’s levels. I said, “Hello sir, I’m Rose. We met briefly on Thursday. I was assigned to treat the royals because I have knowledge about their unique conditions, but I have very little… really no medical training. I was wondering if I might be your assistant and you could teach and help me do the parts with needles?”

  He laughed. “I would love to, but we will be treating the king first. He ate all seven courses.”

  The king wouldn’t even make eye contact with his wife. The doctor got him the treatments he needed and administered everything. He went back to Theo and told me to go and write down the normal vitals for the others.

  I got to work, and it was like the taxonomy and identification classes from college all over again. I went into each room and flipped their watch. I took a picture with the laptop of their head and hands. Then, I looked it up on a database of all the known planets and their inhabitants. It was about as awkward as it sounds, especially since I knew them all. I could not figure out what Luke was. I asked him and he was too sick to answer. I asked Ella, but she really didn’t know. I asked her where the baby was, and she said he was with Winston because he had gotten sick first. She had nursed him after dinner and whatever she ate did not mix with him. I was relieved that the baby was with someone who knew medicine and his species. I went and asked Charlie if he knew what Luke was, but he too embarrassed to even look at me. He apparently had an accident at work and his clothes were totaled. I said, “Charlie, I am a medical professional. These things don’t phase me at all. I saw worse house cleaning. I just need to know if you know what Luke is or where he came from?”

  “That man does not talk about his past. I figured there was a reason and never asked. Sorry.”

  I just wrote out his description in my notebook and wrote to be identified later. I went on to Heidi. She didn’t know that I knew she wasn’t human, so she was very confused when I asked her to take her watch off. I said, “I know that watch makes you look human. I am assisting the doctor who is treating you. He is Prince Alexander’s royal family doctor, but he doesn’t know much about people from other planets. He sent me to find out where you all originate from and the normal vitals of people from your planet.”

  “You were at the royal dinner with Jackson. Why isn’t he here?”

  “He’s trained to treat trauma. I am just a trainee. I think he felt more comfortable leaving me here with trained doctors to watch me than alone at a clinic.”

  “Why aren’t you sick?”

  “Prince Alexander told me some of you switched seats without switching name tags. I think they serve by name t
ag and all of you who are sick were served food you are sensitive or allergic to.”

  “I try to be nice and let people sit where they want, and this is what I get. I’ll flip the watch, but don’t scream at me.”

  “I promise, I will not.” She turned her watch off and she was transparent and glowing. She reminded me a lot of a comb jellyfish. I said, “You are beautiful. Why would anyone scream?”

  “You can see through me. I light up. I have tentacle like hair.”

  “I studied marine biology which is the study of ocean life. You remind me of a really cool jellyfish.”

  “That’s a first. I remind you of a fish.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m new to this whole bedside manner thing. What planet are you from?”

  She told me and I was able to find her info and write it down. I purposely saved Malerie until last, because I knew she wasn’t going to be very cooperative. I walked in and she said, “You are not a doctor! Those other doctors have no idea what they are doing. Just leave me alone.”

  She was crying for some reason. I didn’t even bother explaining why I was there. I just walked over and turned her watch off. She looked exactly like Luke, just the girl version. I said, “Malerie, what planet did you come from?”

  She tried covering herself. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. This thing just creates a mask on me. It’s a fashion thing. Just give me fluids and leave me alone.” She started throwing up again.

  “Look, Luke looks just like you and he is extremely sick right now. I just need to know which planet you are from so the doctor I am working with knows how to treat you.”

  “Are you working with Jackson? He can’t see me like this!”

  “No, I’m working with Prince Alexander’s royal doctor.”

  She reluctantly told me the planet name and I was able to write down all of the necessary information.

  I took my notebook to the doctor. He had just gotten to Charlie’s room. He asked me to get the patients cleaned up and into gowns. Charlie asked if he could do it and the doctor said, “I trained for years to be a doctor. I did that already… many times. It’s not my turn anymore. She needs to work her way up.”

  I cut Charlie’s clothes off of him and got him a gown after wiping him down with wipes. I made sure to check Charlie’s pockets and put his belongings on his table, but his clothes were totaled. I just discarded them with the sheets. I went to Luke’s room and got to him just in time. He passed out sitting up and almost suffocated. I changed him into a gown and folded his clothes on the table. The only thing he lost was a shirt.

  Once everyone was in a gown and in a safe sitting position with the correct level of oxygen, I went back to help the doctor. He was working with Malerie and asked me to double check my information. Her levels were way different than what they should have been even with food poisoning. I asked if he treated Luke, but he hadn’t yet. I asked Malerie for her planet name again thinking she lied to me or I misheard her, but the information I had written down was correct. He said, “Can you get me the information for when they are pregnant?”

  Malerie said, “I am not pregnant. She’s just incompetent. Why don’t you do your own work instead of passing it to a stupid assistant?”

  “There’s not enough time for me to do both jobs. I will gladly let her do all the poking and prodding if that’s what you’d prefer?”

  Malerie just sat there pouting. I pulled up the information and he said, “This makes much more sense. I am going to run a few more tests on you. Rose you can go and check on everyone that’s already been treated. If their levels are stable and they seem okay, you can send them home.”

  I went back to check on Alex first. His levels were all holding, and he looked a lot better. He was also more coherent. He said, “Where’s your medical journal? I hope you wrote everything you found in a journal so I can call you next time.”

  “I did, but we aren’t doing this again! I left it with your doctor. I didn’t want to turn anyone else into a pin cushion, so he did all the needles.”

  He laughed. “Fair enough. Sorry about the mess I made earlier.”

  “It happens in this line of work. I’m fine.”

  “You make a good doctor.”

  “I’m getting there.”

  “I’m working on changing how jobs are given. I am starting with the medical field. Doctors will be medical professionals and their trainees will have medical training. Jackson will have to sign off on you being his apprentice. I’m also going to schedule weekly meetings with all of my advisors. I’m not sure which day or time yet.”

  “That’s a good idea. Are you feeling okay now?”

  “Exhausted, but I don’t feel like I’m being turned inside out anymore so yeah I guess I am.”

  “Okay, I’m going to discharge you. Drink lots of fluids and get some rest. No more work today… Alex, I mean it. You can work from your bed, but that’s it.”

  “Okay, I will follow your orders and get some rest.”

  “Was your dad leaving today?”

  “No, he wants to observe me for the week.”

  “Okay, you aren’t leaving right?”

  “No, of course not. Well not today or this week. Why?”

  “I was just wondering.”

  “Eventually I will have to go to another ship and take over for someone who’s doing it wrong. I’ll always keep in touch and come visit though.”

  “Okay, feel better. I’ll get you some clean clothes to go home in.”

  I went and got him clothes. I think I realized at that moment Alex was eventually going to leave and it broke my heart. I went back into his room trying to hide my tears as I delivered his clothes. He wasn’t buying it and hugged me. His mom came in to check on him and said, “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought Alex was in here with his doctor.”

  “She is my doctor. She specializes in alien care. She was trained as a biologist which means studier of life.”

  “Is it part of your treatment for you to hug her?”

  “No… mom can I have a minute. I’ve been discharged so I’ll just meet you in Theo’s room.”

  She went to Theo’s room and I said, “I’m sorry. Did I just get you into trouble?”

  “Are you kidding, she loves you! I think she thinks we are more than friends. It’s okay though. Why are you crying? Did you lie about me being okay?”

  “No, I just. I realized that once the ship is back in working order, you are leaving. I’ve just never had a friend like you. I’m sorry. It’s silly.”

  “No, it’s not silly. I’ve been feeling the same way. I actually almost slowed down progress, but people are getting hurt. I won’t leave until I am absolutely sure the ship is in good hands. I will make monthly visits. I promise.”

  “Okay, I have other patients and your mom is waiting.”

  I went to check on Theo while Alex got dressed and he was doing well. I told him that he could have a movie day with Sky, but they had to rest. He didn’t seem to mind that. I gave him clean clothes and checked him out.

  As I was doing the final paperwork on Alex’s father, he said “I thought the other one was the medical advisor.”

  I replied, “Jackson is. I am his apprentice, but I did some research about your home planet and I am specializing in alien… I mean care of people from other planets than my own. These doctors are all trained for residents of earth.”

  “I see. Well thank you for your care to detail. Have a very nice day Rose.”

  “You too sir. I’m not going to tell you not to work because I know you and Alex are going to, but can you please do so from your bed? You guys need rest and lots of fluids.”

  “We will do our best. I’m most likely going to fall asleep as soon as I get to my bed anyway.”

  I went to Sky and checked her out next. I told her she and Theo were going to have a movie night and they had to drink lots of fluids. She thanked me and headed to meet him. I went to check on Luke. I felt so bad that I almost let him suffocate before. He
seemed to be doing a lot better. I said, “Luke, did you know that you and Malerie are from the same planet?”

  “I did not know that. How’d you find that out?”

  “The doctor I am assisting gave me the job of finding all of your home planets. The only way for me to do that was compare your appearance and home planet to a database. When I turned Malerie’s watch off, she looked like you. I also, kind of almost killed you.”

  “Did you mix up a shot?”

  “I’m not touching needles after the mess I made of Alex’s and Theo’s arms. I didn’t set the bed to the right level and you passed out.”

  “It’s alright. You figured it out. I’m fine now.”

  “Alex is going to get all the medical professionals into the medical field. You might be working with me.”

  “I would love that, if I am allowed to work.”

  “I’m sure Alex will allow it.”

  “Okay, how’s Ella?”

  “She’s much better. I’m going to release her now and bring her over. I just want to get some more fluids in you first.”

  “Alright, doctor’s orders go.”

  I went and got Ella. Luke turned on a movie and they had their own hospital room movie night. I went to Heidi next and released her. She thanked me for my time and patience with her. I told her it was my pleasure and to get rest and fluids.

  Alex’s doctor found me and told me I could handle the rest. It was just Malerie, Luke, and Charlie left anyway. He told me Malerie’s results would be back soon and I could read them to her. I went in to check on her and she was not feeling better at all. She again yelled at me for being incompetent and stupid. I went to Luke’s room. Ella had fallen asleep.