Sophonts that go thud in the night
“Jocelyn, Are you ok?” The Hab AI had asked. Jocelyn sat up and took stock of her body. Her butt was sore where she had impacted the soft, mossy floor; luckily she had gone backwards. Jocelyn had a handful of medical conditions that even Affini medicine hadn’t been able to do much about. “Jocelyn, if you don’t provide an answer, I’m going to page the call list.” Jocelyn looked up at the couch, which is where her datapad was. She had hopped down and passed out. She tried to do everything in her power to make them comfortable, but accidents still happened.
“I’m calling them in twenty seconds unless you cancel the call.” Jocelyn was still dazed and as unable to respond. She hated it when this happened and it was the second time this week. Some weeks she’d not pass out, others it would happen multiple times. She felt like she had hit her head on something, which meant a trip to the vet. It wasn’t that she minded her vet, It was more that she felt that she was being a nuisance to her vet as the Affini still hadn’t figured out exactly how to cure the disautonomia that she had suffered from in the better part of her teenage years and her early twenties. She had often gotten laughed as when she passed out and none of her employers had ever given a shit about doing anything that would help her with the POTS or the Chronic Fatigue that often went hand in hand with the POTS.
“Calling now…” the Hab AI said. The call list consisted of Opal, who was her connivent, and Resolta who was their owner. Resolta had taken them both as florets, in spite of their medical conditions. Jocelyn wondered who would make it back to the hab first: Opal or Resolta. There was a third and fourth possibility: Terpus Hotol, Fourth Bloom and his floret Chelsea. They lived next door, and often were the first to arrive when something happened. Terpus had permission from Resolta to take Jocelyn to the vet if he felt it necessary; he was as much of a part of the family as anyone else. A few seconds later, the door to the hab slid open and Terpus and Chelsea stood there, Chelsea came in and checked on Jocelyn before helping her to her feet and to a Terran sized plush green sofa that sat next to the larger Affini sized sofa.
“Hey it’s Terpus,” Terpus was saying into his datapad. “Chelsea and I are with her, when we entered, she was on the floor in front of the big couch, Chelsea is with her. Her implant is showing an elevated heart rate and blood pressure drop and then loss of consciousness.“ Terpus listened for a little few moments and then said “Ok, do you want me to take her to the vet?” He smiled at the florets that were sitting on the couch. “Ok, See you in a few.” Terpus hung up the datapad and looked at Chelsea and Jocelyn. “So, Resolta will be here in a few, she will determine if you need to go to the vet or not.”
"But I feel fine..." Jocelyn protested, she didn't feel like she had hit anything on her way to the soft mossy floor of the hab; the only thing that had a bit of pain was her tailbone. "It was just a fainting spell..."
"You shouldn't be fainting..." Terpus said, glancing at his datapad. He was watching a near real time stream of the various data from the girls body. "And if you are feeling ok or not, it's not your call on if you go to the vet."
"But this has been happening ever since I was fifteen..." Jocelyn whined. She didn't normally whine either, usually only doing so when she didn't get her way. "I will be fine."
"Little one..." Terpus said, his voice taking that stern tone that a parents voice took. "The second you were domesticated, you gave up all rights to bodily autonomy. You no longer have a say in your care. Resolta will determine what is needed." Jocelyn blushed as Chelsea rubbed her back.
“Does anything hurt, love?” Chelsea asked.
"Only my pride..." Jocelyn said, giving a little smile. "Well, that and my tailbone..." The door slid open and Resolta came in carrying Opal.
"How is she?" Resolta asked, setting Opal down on the next to Jocelyn.
"She said her tailbone hurts, Which makes sense, given that she landed on it," Terpus said to Resolta. "She also told me that she doesn't think she needs to go to the vet..." Resolta glanced at Jocelyn, who was now cuddled between Opal and Chelsea.
Jocelyn watched as Resolta pulled her datapad out and tapped on a few things. Jocelyn knew that Resolta was going over the historical data from her implant, seeing everything that her body was doing at the time of the incident. "It looks like it was her normal syncope..." Resolta said. "I'll send a message to Sapirea and see if she wants to see her or not. Having this data is very, very useful..." She turned and looked at the three girls cuddling on the couch. "For now though, is anyone hungry?"
Resolta was tucking Opal and Jocelyn into bed and had just pulled the covers up over both of them. "You have an appointment with Sapirea tomorrow at ten, so you need to get some rest."
"Yes, Miss," Jocelyn said as a flower came into her field of vision. She smelled the flower and then drifted off to sleep. Resolta stood there for a few moments, watching her two florets both sleeping. The Class Z Xenodrugs that they both used at night helped them to fall asleep had the added benefit of them remaining asleep and feeling rested when they woke.
Resolta quietly left the room that her florets shared and went to her own room. She pulled out her datapad and opened a view screen that let her watch the data from Jocelyn's implant as well as the video that the Hab AI had recorded at the same time. After watching what happened a few times, she compared the data from the implant to the previous episodes of syncope that girl had. Resolta saved the video and data to her datapad and dipped a vine in the little stream that ran through her room.
As she sat there, Resolta wondered if being a lower gravity environment would help to reduce the occurrence of the syncopedic episodes. "Hab?" she said quietly.
"Yes, Miss Wisteria?" The Hab AI quietly said.
Resolta watched as the data on the screen of the datapad indicated that the two girls were already in deep sleep. Sleep was good for both of them, they didn't get enough and they almost always required naps to make it through most days, even the easy ones. Taking on two florets that were both chronically ill had been a challenge, but she had risen up and met it head on. "Would you please notify me if either of the girls get up?"
"Yes, Ma'am." The voice said. The girls had named the AI Erica, but Resolta rarely used the name of the AI.
She would have to take the girls on a little trip soon, just to test her hypothesis. Right now though, she needed some rest if she were to be of any assistance to the girls in the morning. "Thank you, Erica." The AI made a few quiet chimes in response. "Please turn off the lights, and set an alarm for seven AM." The only acknowledgement from the AI was a quiet chime and then the room fading into darkness with only a slight glow from a light in the upper corner of the room.
"Good morning, sleepyheads..." Resolta said, coming into room that Jocelyn and Opal shared.