Pandora and the Preacher (Baby Blue and El Cid}

[Charybdis Richelle]

{GM}

The line rings twice, then the screen fills with a ‘Please wait one moment’ message. accompanied by some calming hymnal music. The screen remains for a few seconds. El Cid knows from having been with the Preacher in person when he received a call that the Preacher is running a dataline scanner to be sure there is nothing hinky going on with the line. Like Headstone, the Preacher has more than a a touch of paranoia.

When the Preacher knows that nothing odd is happening with the data stream, the screen switches to camera mode, showing a tall barrel-chested man with a great physical presence. His brown eyes gaze out of a face made up of hard planes, giving him a rugged weathered look. The Preacher wears his hair a little longer than a regulation haircut and white wings sweep back from his temples. He wears clothing reminiscent of an 1800's revival preacher. Although obviously of modern make and fashion, his ensemble put together gives the impression of another era.
A wide brimmed black hat tops off the black clothing unrelieved save for a white collar.

"The Lord's blessings upon you, my son. How may I help you?"

[Tay-Dor]

[El Cid]

"Preacher, its El Cid. I have a young female suffering from dumpshock and something else my medkit can't quite make out. Are you available to meet me at (insert address two blocks from the teams squat.)?" El Cid also offers up the vitals.

[Charybdis Richelle]

{GM}

“I can be there in 20 minutes. 15 if God is willing. Keep her warm and hydrated. If you have any of her medical history, it would help to have that as well,” Preacher says, with concern. “And if she comes around, keep her out of the Matrix. I will pray for her on the way."

[Tay-Dor]

[El Cid]

"Roger. See you in 15-20." El Cid hands up and begins bundling Pandora up in the blanket to keep her warm and also to hide her clothes and identity. As he does so, he asks BB, "Do you or anyone on the team have any infor on Pandora's medical history?"

[Charybdis Richelle]

{GM}

Pandora does not even stir as El Cid bundles her up like an infant in a blanket. She is completely dead weight.

[archolewa]

{Baby Blue}

"I know a few things," says Baby Blue. "I'll share them with your doctor when we see him. But I don't know you well enough to tell you. Not without Pandora's permission. Let me fetch my vest and gun."

She doesn't answer El Cid's question about whether she wants him to shadow her on her way to see Deadbeat, though she gave a noncommittal nod acknowledging that she'd heard the question. She steps out briefly to put on her armor vest and slip her gun into a holster under the vest.

[Tay-Dor]

[El Cid]

"Fair enough." El Cid says pragmatically. "Preacher was the one asking for it."

El Cid leaves the team HQ and starts walking towards the rendezvous, trusting BB is following along. He doesn't try to make any small talk, but will answer if spoken to. He is clearly giving the lady her space and trying to intrude as little as possible.

[Charybdis Richelle]

{GM}

El Cid and Baby Blue make their way to the Pixel Pantry. El Cid carries Pandora wrapped in the blanket, hidden from prying eyes. A few street kids give a brief, odd look, but quickly decide it's a big SEP and not worth getting beat over.

They don’t have long to wait. God must have heard Preacher's prayers today because about ten minutes after they reach the Pixel Pantry, Preacher rolls up in his mobile hospital.

[archolewa]

{Baby Blue}

Baby Blue leans against the wall, watching both El Cid, and the folks milling about them. She watches for anyone who might be showing unusual interest in El Cid (accounting for the whole giant-Troll-holding-a-limp-body-wrapped-in-a-blanket thing). She drums her fingers against the wall behind her, and hums a few snatches of some recent songs. When Preacher shows up, she straightens and draws closer to El Cid and Pandora, while watching the Preacher carefully.

[Tay-Dor]

[El Cid]

El Cid approaches the converted Docwagon and waits for Preacher to open up. When he does, "Got your patient, Pandora, here. Behind me is BB, she's got the patient's medical history. Ask her anything you need to know."

[Charybdis Richelle]

{GM}

The driver’s side door of the ambulance opens, and a tall, barrel-chested man steps out. Cid recognizes him as Preacher. Baby Blue immediately notices that man has a presence that makes people take notice, regardless of his physical appearance. His brown eyes gaze out of a face made up of hard planes, giving him a rugged weathered look. The Preacher wears his hair a little longer than a regulation haircut and white wings sweep back from his temples. He wears clothing reminiscent of an 1800's revival preacher. Although obviously of modern make and fashion, his ensemble put together gives the impression of another era. A wide brimmed black hat tops off the black clothing unrelieved save for a white collar.

"The Lord's blessings upon all of you, my children,” Preacher says. “Very well, El Cid. Let’s get her inside." He opens up the back of his vehicle. Looking inside, they see that it looks like a standard ambulance crossed with an emergency room bay. Preacher lowers the rear ramp to make it a bit easier to carry the patient inside. He directs Cid to lay her on one of the beds.

Looking at Baby Blue, “My child, would you please tell me as much as you can while I get… Pandora was it? settled and get an EKG started.” He begins unwrapping Pandora from the blanket so he can check her vitals and start attaching electrodes. “And the more you can tell me about what she was doing… You don’t have to give me too many specifics. But what sort of well she was in, what sort of IC she was facing. What sort of information her deck was putting out… The more I know, the more quickly I can find out exactly what’s wrong.”

[archolewa]

{Baby Blue}

"She was looking up information about a fellow O'Riordan. Runs a personal bodyguard office, O'Riordan Protective Services. Also runs in the Shadows, both as a runner and a fixer, goes by the name of Ace there. Can't tell you precisely what she was looking at when things went south, and if decks spit out information as a decker uses it, I don't know where to look. She went skating to find info on his weapons, security ratings, if he's under DocWagon, that sort of thing. Guy also employs an apparently competent decker, and we wanted to know how closely this decker watches him. Very possible she was trying to find out more about the decker too."

"Now for the confidential medical stuff." Baby Blue leans forward, and pitches her voice low to try to keep El Cid from hearing it.

"First, her family's Shiawase. Got a tainted DISERV vaccine a while back, developed by Shiawase. It made her blind, and it damaged her brain in other ways too. Makes her very likely to have a bad reaction to cyberware. She had really bad complications just getting her datajack inserted. Got an encephalon and math sub-processor a year after that, and it darn near killed her. So, no more cyberware for her. She tried a few BTL's back as a tween, but she had some very bad trips very early, and dropped it real fast. The two of us spent some time together in prison, and there her medical, no matter how simple was handled by a Shiawase biomedical team. Oh, and she's wearing an anklet monitoring her vitals. Vitals drop too low, and we get Shiawase medical folk all up in our business."

Baby Blue takes a deep breath. "So yeah. Handle with care."

[Tay-Dor]

[El Cid]

Once El Cid puts Pandora in the ambulance, he steps back a few meters to give BB some privacy with Preacher. He checks his weapons and watches their surroundings and makes no effort to overhear anything out of respect.

[Charybdis Richelle]

{Baby Blue}
"Now for the confidential medical stuff." Baby Blue leans forward, and pitches her voice low to try to keep El Cid from hearing it.

"First, her family's Shiawase. Got a tainted DISERV vaccine a while back, developed by Shiawase. It made her blind, and it damaged her brain in other ways too. Makes her very likely to have a bad reaction to cyberware. She had really bad complications just getting her datajack inserted. Got an encephalon and math sub-processor a year after that, and it darn near killed her. So, no more cyberware for her. She tried a few BTL's back as a tween, but she had some very bad trips very early, and dropped it real fast. The two of us spent some time together in prison, and there her medical, no matter how simple was handled by a Shiawase biomedical team. Oh, and she's wearing an anklet monitoring her vitals. Vitals drop too low, and we get Shiawase medical folk all up in our business."

Baby Blue takes a deep breath. "So yeah. Handle with care."

{GM}

Preacher nods. Matching his volume to Baby Blue’s he says, “That DISERV pandemic, that was a bad one. I prayed for a lot of my patients then, but God had a different plan for many of them. That Shiawase vaccine was a godsend, a literal miracle. I hadn’t heard of any tainted batches, but I don’t imagine that they would have wanted news of that to get out.”

[El Cid]

Once El Cid puts Pandora in the ambulance, he steps back a few meters to give BB some privacy with Preacher. He checks his weapons and watches their surroundings and makes no effort to overhear anything out of respect.

{GM}

Once Preacher and Baby Blue have finished their hushed medical conference, Preacher inclines his head and gives a short wave to let El Cid that he is welcome to approach, though the inside of the ambulance is quite short for Cid to feel comfortable.

Preacher finishes attaching all of the sensors to the EKG and sets that to collecting data. Then he starts an IV drip with both saline and a nutrient supplement. Then he takes a cord from one of the terminals and plugs it into Pandora’s anklet. As that is pouring out data, Preacher begins taking Pandora’s vitals manually. He compares them to the records he is getting from the anklet and nods.

He goes into one of the cabinets, pulls out an electronic device, and begins slowly passing it first near Pandora’s datajack and then slowly around the whole of her head.

[archolewa]

{Baby Blue}

If she can do so without getting in Preacher's way, Baby Blue will take Pandora's hand. Otherwise, she stays as close as possible and watches.

Either way, she makes sure to watch the Preacher closely, as well as any readouts on his medical devices. Not suspiciously, just intently.

[Tay-Dor]

[El Cid]

El Cid joins them when Preacher waves him over. He does his best to give BB as much space as possible and watches Preacher work.

[Charybdis Richelle]

{GM}

Watching Preacher work, both Baby Blue and El Cid see him pull out a separate set of electrodes from the ones for the EKG. He begins moving her hair out of the way and scrubbing hard with alcohol, scrubbing just shy of making her bleed. It seems overly harsh at first glance, but both BB and Cid realize that since Pandora has not showered in several days, the scrubbing is necessary to remove the oils that might interfere with the contact. Preacher attaches an unusually complicated set of nearly twenty electrodes and begins connecting them to a portable unit which he then connects into one of the control panels in the ambulance. In a few seconds, a three-D image of a brain displaying in varying colors which rotates slowly. Upon making two revolutions, the image shifts to a different set of colors. It shifts like this five times before returning to the first set. None of the images are labeled, but Preacher seems to know what each represents. He stands watching for a few minutes, his frown deepening.

Neither Baby Blue or El Cid knows exactly what the scans mean. This is far beyond the first aid and emergency medicine they have both learned. They are certain that parts of Pandora’s brain, those closest to and affected by her implants show unusual distortions which most likely represent brain damage. They are also both pretty sure that her datajack shows signs of activity that should not be present in an unplugged jack. Over all, her brain scans seem too active for someone unconscious, and they have the sense that this extra activity could cause further damage.

Shaking his head, Preacher goes into one of his cabinets, withdraws a vial and a needle. He consults the data from Pandora’s ankle biomonitor, measures out a dose, and injects it into her IV. After a minute or two, the colors on some of the scans dim somewhat and her overall brain activity slows marginally, and the pattern shifts subtly in a way that neither Baby Blue nor El Cid recognizes.

Meanwhile, Pandora’s temperature rises somewhat, reaching 96.6ºF; while this is still low, she no longer remains at risk from hypothermia. Her blood pressure rises, still low, but closer to normal. Her heart rate almost normalizes.

Frowning, Preacher turns away from Pandora a minute to look at El Cid and Baby Blue. “Your friend really needs to see a neurologist and a cyber-surgeon, preferably ones familiar with her pre-existing brain trauma. Her condition is stable for the moment. Fluids and nutrients should help. I’ll need to watch her over time to see if her unusual brain activity is affecting her other functions. If it is, I may need to put her into a medically induced coma.”

“Other than observe and continue stabilizing care like fluids and electrolytes, there is not much more I can do." Preacher says, making sure he has both Baby Blue's and El Cid's attention. "I would like to pray for her. Perhaps the Lord can help where I cannot.”

[archolewa]

"I would like to pray for her. Perhaps the Lord can help where I cannot.”

Baby Blue scoffs faintly. "I suppose late is better than never."

She sighs. "Alright, thanks for the help Preacher. Maybe you're the boat in the flood. Any contact information on her anklet? Someone we could call to have her taken to her normal doctors? And, you'll notice the jackstopper in her datajack. I'd hate for her doctors to jump to any conclusions, think Pandora was doing something she shouldn't. I don't suppose you have any ideas what might have caused this? I want to make sure, when her doctors start asking questions, they don't go jumping to conclusions."

[Charybdis Richelle]

{Baby Blue}

Baby Blue scoffs faintly. "I suppose late is better than never."

{GM}

Preacher gives a sad smile. “Do not be so quick to discount the Lord’s power, my child. Prayer is a stronger tool than you may believe.”

{Baby Blue}

She sighs. "Alright, thanks for the help Preacher. Maybe you're the boat in the flood. Any contact information on her anklet? Someone we could call to have her taken to her normal doctors? And, you'll notice the jackstopper in her datajack. I'd hate for her doctors to jump to any conclusions, think Pandora was doing something she shouldn't. I don't suppose you have any ideas what might have caused this? I want to make sure, when her doctors start asking questions, they don't go jumping to conclusions."

{GM}

“The anklet has both contact information in storage and an immediate contact button that is the route you wish to go,” Preacher says.

“What it looks like to me is that Pandora was exposed to a severe, targeted electroshock intended to throw her into deep hallucinations as well as cause physical neural damage,” he says. “It looks like what the decker community has begun to call ‘psychotropic IC.’ Though, I would venture, it was not alone because the neural damage is more characteristic of Black IC. Alternatively, it could be a result of some of the nastier BTLs cropping up lately. Either way, it does not look like something that can easily be explained away.”

The Preacher folds his hands before him. “Do you have any objection to prayer, my child? You do not look like you are Christopher Anderson, the person listed in Pandora’s living will and advanced directive. But you do seem the one closest to her at the moment. If you don’t mind, God’s grace may well avoid your having to explain to your friend why you chose to exposure her less than legal actions.”

[archolewa]

Baby Blue flicks her fingers. "Pray away. You'd think an omniscient being wouldn't need random dudes in old-fashioned hats nagging him to get him to help his kids, but hey. Maybe he's a little scatterbrained."