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Looking towards the rafters of the Medi-bay the German sighed, “Oh Archimedes what would I do without you.”
The bird in question, as usual, did not respond. They had won the battle today, but it was most defiantly a fight with his sub-par performance. A few things had been plaguing the doctor's mind, however, he deemed them all trivial, opting to ignore the majority of them until he truly had to. That was until one of his doves had died. Hippocrates, part of the original flock along with Archimedes, died. It seemed the bird had passed peacefully, of old age during the night, but seeing the lifeless body of the dove shook him more than he thought was possible. Being around death as he was, the medic figured that it would not shock him anymore. He had removed the bird’s body from his cage earlier that day, but it was still in the lab, wrapped in cloth, on the counter. He slowly stood up from his swivel chair, not quite excepting that the bird had died yet. Walking over to the counter he stood there for a moment, picking up the dove’s body before a small knock sounded from the Med-bay doors.
“Doc I was wondering if you would help me with somethin’” The Texan stated.
Medic sighed before replying, “What would it be?”
“Well, you see,” he walked into the room, cautiously “I’ve got a project and I wanted another mind to help me think through it.”
“I suppose I could help.” He stated flatly, still turned to the counter, dove in hand. His rubber gloves didn't help with holding the bird at all but he figured it would be alright.
“That’s good, is right now a good time to start workin’?” The mechanic noticed the usual perk to his voice was gone, and that didn’t happen often.
“Not really.” The medic turned around, his expression was unreadable, numb almost as he looked the Engineer in the eyes.
“Ah, well, perhaps I could help you instead?”
“I- “he paused, taking a deep breath before continuing “I would like that.” The German knew he needed to talk this out in order to get anything done.
“Alright well, what are you doing?”
“I was trying to find a box, small yet spacious enough for this” he extended his hands enough for the engineer to see he was holding something “to go in.”
“…What is it?” He seemed hesitant.
“A dove. One of my doves died this morning.” Medic stated, smiling sadly at the covered bird lying in his palms.
“Oh Doc, “The engineer struggled to find something to say, he had no experiences of his own with pets to relate this to. “I’m not the best at this but it’s alright and it’s going to be alright. You lost a good friend today; you have a right to be torn up about it. Might be a bit odd if you weren’t.”
“I guess,” the doctor quietly responded, still looking down at the dove.
“I just can’t process the fact that he’s gone. It seems like he would start flying the moment I let him go, yet I know he will not.” Medic added.
“That’s normal, first time I lost someone it didn’t click until we were burrin’ him, though I think you know by now, seeing how much you rendezvous with death.” Engineer remarked.
“Rendezvousing with death is simply what a doctor does.” He looked to the window of the med-bay, the sky now full of rich oranges, pinks, and blues, the sun slowly descending. “You figure out what is bothering, or killing, someone, and eliminate it. Perhaps the lack of something or an excess. And sometimes,” he started again, “nothing is wrong. It is simply their time to go.”
“You put that a lot better than I could have ever.” The mechanic said.
“Danke my friend.” The man was still turned towards the window. The company of the other was more than he could ever ask more, just another person there to understand his struggles. In spite of the unfortunate circumstance, the doctor found comfort by simply being around him.
“Thank you.” He repeated, quieter this time.
“No problem” The mechanic looked towards the falling sunset. The world would simply go on, there was no stopping that, but perhaps, it would go on with a companion.