16.
had done so, the medic ran a scanner over the rest of his body. "Nothing serious?" he said, "Get on that stretcher!"
" But I can fly!" argued Morn.
The medic pointed to the stretcher and in an angry voice repeated his command. Reluctantly Morn obeyed. As he laid down something touched his right shoulder, and there was a buzz.
"I didn't need that!" he frowned, disliking the injection, but the medic only shook his head. "Weren't you in pain?" the man asked.
"A little, I guess."
"Then you needed a little," the medic told him, and he adjusted the straps of his stretcher. "You are just as stubborn and brave as they say you are, and as cool and steady as a rock. Now be quiet while we get you to the hospital and I can turn you over to a doctor. I don't particularly want The Lord God mad at me because I didn't take the best possible care of His favorite son, so be quiet!"
"Yes sir," the young man answered, trying to smile back at the medic. A few moments later North's stretcher rose into the air, carefully carried by the medic and his assistant, quickly followed by Morn's. In a few minutes they were both in computerized medical units, with doctors and nurses working busily over them. Morn was taken out to a room within a half an hour, but they worked on North for almost two before he was finally transferred, Med-Com and all, to his room. He was sleeping when his father and mother came in, his mother with tears in her eyes.
"I tell you, he will be fine," said the doctor. "The leg will mend quickly of its own accord, and we are growing a new bone for his wing which will be ready in a week or so. We got all the splinters of the old one and the temporary one will prevent any damage."
"How long will it take him to recover?" asked North's father.
"He'll be walking in a couple of months,"explained the doctor, "but I'm afraid he'll be grounded for six or seven. That bone has to have time to set in good, and there's muscle damage as well. He won't be in The Games this year, if that's what you're wondering, but he'll have a medical waiver, and they won't hold it against him as long as he does well in coming years."
"Thank you doctor," said General Star. "When will he awake so we can see him?"
"Not before morning," replied the doctor. We gave him something so he will sleep. He needs it."
"We will come back later then," North's father told him.
When North awoke in the morning he found himself facing downward in the bed. He tried to roll over but found he couldn't.
"Do not struggle," came a mechanical voice. "Are you uncomfortable?"
"Can I turn around?" North asked. "I'd like to be on my back."