Vectors Read Online Free Page B

she didn't know what they looked like well, let alone if anything was wrong with them.
    She hoped she would get reassigned to a starship, but she doubted that she would. If Starfleet Medical had its way, she would be heading to some starbase where she would squire newly minted doctors through their residencies.
    If the truth be told, she'd rather stay on Deep Space Five than do that.
    Her combadge chirruped.
    She sighed. She would have to leave now. She wasn't ready. But she pressed the badge anyway.
    "Pulaski."
    "Doctor, sorry to bother you before you leave, but we have an emergency." Geordi La Forge sounded all business. "One of the crewmen got caught in an explosion in Jefferies Tube Three. There was a localized fire. We put it out, but he's severely burned."
    Burns. She hated them. The trauma to the skin could continue long after the fire was actually put out.
    "Beam him directly to sickbay," she said. She hated the transporter, thought it an infernal device, but it had its uses. Right now, she needed speed more than she needed caution.
    The crewman shimmered into place on one of the biobeds. His blue shirt was in charred ruins around his badly burned skin. He was human, which made her task just a bit harder. Vulcans and Klingons handled burns-indeed all pain better than humans.
    He wasn't conscious, for which she was grateful, but he was moaning. Burn pain was excruciating. She hurried to the biobed, with the fleeting thought that the sickbay wouldn't be in order for Dr. Crusher. Ah, well. Reorganization simply wasn't Pulaski's strong suit. Dr. Crusher would understand.
    The smell of burned skin filled the sickbay. The biobed was giving his vitals, but she wanted more information. She picked up her medical tricorder and ran it over him, watching the readouts confirm the information she was already receiving.
    No deep trauma, no internal injuries. Just burns. The crewman would live. But she didn't slow down. First she eased his pain and put him into a deep, restful sleep. Then, for the next five minutes she carefully repaired the burned skin, one area at a time.
    Skin repair was delicate work, but something she had done all of her career. She was quicker at it than most, but that was partly because she disliked it so much. Burns, she often thought, were the worst injury of all.
    After she had finished, she stood, brushing a strand of hair from her face, and checked his readings again. Still resting comfortably. She'd keep him that way for a few hours to give that new skin time to heal. And to give his mind time to deal with the memory of the pain. Sometimes in cases like this, the memories were the hardest to heal. Much harder than the skin. She'd have to let Counselor Troi know before she left.
    "Nice work, Doctor."
    Pulaski started. No one was supposed to be here, and she didn't recognize the voice. Had someone beamed in with the crewman? She had been too preoccupied to notice. She turned.
    Beverly Crusher stood in the center of the bay, where Pulaski had been just minutes earlier. Her long red hair cascaded around her face. She looked thinner than Pulaski remembered.
    "Very nice work," Dr. Crusher repeated.
    "Thank you, Doctor." Pulaski smiled. The compliment meant a lot. Dr. Crusher was one of the best doctors in the fleet. Picard had told her she would always have a berth on the Enterprise, so when she decided that heading Starfleet Medical wasn't for her, she requested her old job back. Picard gave it to her without hesitation, even though-as he had solemnly told Pulaski-their current chief medical officer was one of the most talented physicians he had worked with. Picard was a diplomat, so Pulaski knew he might be exaggerating slightly, but he was also the captain of a starship, and he didn't give out idle praise.
    Dr. Crusher looked around the main area of the sickbay as if she were a blind woman just recovering her sight. "You know, there were days at Starfleet Medical when I never thought I would ever see the