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Hubcap looked down at the human’s face, and didn’t like what he saw. With the visor opened, he could see that Elliot’s eyes were open and tracking, but not well, and the pupils were far too dilated.
“Medic!” he called over his shoulder, bellowing in the face of the local who was coming up behind him. “Oh, there you are. He hit hard. What have you got?”
The man opened a large medical kit. He wasn’t swayed by Hubcap’s reaching and pointing, and a glance at his own visor showed Asian features set in a professional level of calm. “I got this,” he said. “Scoot.” He gestured for the concerned robot to move aside.
Hubcap did, but he stayed hovering over the proceedings just to make sure it all went well. And he completely ignored the quaint human signs that he was standing too close. Sighs and eye-rolling he could handle.
“There,” the medic said, packing up his gear but leaving the neck brace and pillow. “He’s asleep and he’ll stay that way for at least six hours, and I’ve got the internal bleeding stopped with the tissue on the mend.” He looked up at Hubcap, and Vic who stood behind him. “The scan shows relatively slight damage, especially since we caught it so soon. He should be fine with further treatments.”
“Right, scan sessions an hour apart and all that. Good.” Hubcap nodded and noticed with some surprise that the entire crew was huddled around them, with the cameras filming away.
A lesser individual might be compelled to feel embarrassment at this juncture, Hubcap thought, But not I.
“Well that was exciting!” he said to the nearest camera in his best upbeat tone. “Good ol’ Elliot has demonstrated not only the best way to flush out the local wildlife and the worst way to hold on to a snake’s tail, but he has also sampled the medical abilities of the local field doc.” He clapped the man on the shoulder. “What was your name again?”
“Xian.”
“Right, Xian, good man. I can see you know your stuff. Now let’s get our adventurous friend here back to base, shall we?”
Xian agreed, and so did Owen, who showed up with a stretcher made from capture poles and tough cloth. The locals got Elliot into it with practiced ease, and carried him in a fast and sure-footed manner toward the parked aircar. Hubcap was glad to see that they were charting a course around the mud flats, and sending a pair of runners ahead to bring the car to them.
Looks like they know what they’re doing, he decided. But he was still going to keep a careful eye on everything just in case. Humans broke far too easily, and he wasn’t about to lose a friend to something as piddling as a crack against a rock.
Not again.
Despite the armor, Elliot’s scent trail was clear on the sea breeze. Hubcap jogged after the stretcher. The cameras were still watching, so he did his best to pretend he wasn’t listening for breathing problems from here.