Subject: Grail: "Last Look Back" - The Shroud (Brinn)
Athalya Anne sat up. Her rest was over. There were things to do now; shedidn't know what that was, but she knew that there would probaly be paper
work to fill out. "Doctor." Athalya Anne flagged down the nearest one,
"What's the probability that I can get out of here soon?"
The doctor eyed her, and then pulled out the tricorder. "Has anyone told
you what you've gone through?" she asked cautiously. Athalya Anne took a
moment to probe the woman. This didn't sound good.
"I've been told that the reason my leg's gone is because of that dirupter
blast and I've suffered a mild concussion."
"Nothing else?" The doctor looked kind of..... Athalya Anne couldn't quite
place it. Dread? Fear?
"No." She couldn't contain herself, "Well, out with it, man!"
The doctor took a deep breath. "Major." Athalya Anne tried not to reach
out and strangle the woman, "Major, as it stands, you will never be able to
have children."
Athalya Anne mentaly paused. It was though some one had hit her in the
stomach with a brick. "What?" Maybe she haden't heard right.
"The raidiation poisioning......" the doctor stopped, as though she had
forgotten what she was going to say, "From the disrupter..... It...."
"Enough." Athalya Anne barked. "That's quite enough." she said somewhat
more civily. "Thank you for telling me."
"Of course, with your life span....." The doctor trailed off.
"Of course." Athalya Anne hollowly echoed.
"You're free to go." the doctor said quietly.
"Thank you." Athalya Anne hobbled off on her pirate-style peg leg. She
walked around for a while, not quite sure of where she was going or what she
was doing. She just walked for the sake of walking. It wasen't that she
didn't want kids. She did. One day. But now, she had heard what the
doctor wasn't saying. The radiation had destroyed her reproductive system.
The probability that it could be repaired, any time, was so small, it was
put into scientiffic notation. *Never. Never look into eyes like my own.
Never hold my daughter or son. Never know a motherly love. Never.....*
And for a few moments, the pain was almost too much to bear. It came over
her like a dark, smothering blanket. *Never.* The word was her shroud.
LMaj Athalya Anne Brinn