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The ship began its automated docking procedure, and Dr. Y performed a cursory check of all the algorithms, sensors, and math involved in the process.
Normally, he took a delight in running the numbers himself; agonizing over the tiniest of fractions, wondering if he could perhaps squeeze a slight time save here or there, or increase safety margins without impacting anything else. Usually, even on the incredibly advanced systems of Sapient Union ships, he could. Human code made lots of little neat shortcuts that worked, but often made rounding errors or minor truncations that were not as precise as possible.
But today he did not have the desire to seek those out to solve. His mind was focused on many things always, but right now there was a much more important concern.
Keeping a constant eye on all of the diagnostics of Logus’s medical system, he communicated to the medical station, sorting out docking clearances in microseconds.
There were other injured of the Craton that had come over before Logus. Seriously injured, triage dictated that they be given priority due to the likelihood of Arn Logus dying in transit.
It was not a high possibility, not under his care. Already he’d caught seventeen minor bleeds and fixed them with micro-drones without a thought. As well as two potential clots, and several times sent out chemical signals to prevent his body from going into shock from each movement.
A human in his condition should be dead a dozen times over, he thought. It was only through the most advanced of technology that he clung to life.
It was better if he was here. The Gohhi Medical Station was not the best the Sapient Union had to offer, but its Extreme Care Unit was very good. His own checks on the staff had reassured him.
They docked, the ship moving gently, and Y preventing Logus from bleeding twice more. It was constant work, and he would be well-pleased when the man was in the stabilized ECU.
The airlock opened, and they floated over. Y counted the cosmic rays that passed through them in the less-shielded tunnel, finding that they were a trifle high for his liking. He made a note in Logus’s file to his future doctors. Only more damage to repair, this at the molecular level. It was doable.
Three doctors and a team of drones met them, taking charge of Logus. It was safer moving him through the air, to prevent vibrations and bumps, and a series of thrusters on the bed floated him gently down the hall.
“Captain Brooks, you should wait here,” one of the doctors said. The Captain had come across with them in silence, and remained that way, only nodding to them.
His eyes tracked Logus, though.
Y went through with the others, and watched as Logus was put into their care in the ECU room. Machines were connected, drones monitoring him, along with dozens of sensors.
“His condition is quite serious,” Dr. Ghaelj told him, the Qlerning blinking slowly and out of synch. “Our system estimates a one-in-three chance of him not surviving.”
“His odds are better here than anywhere else we can reasonably reach,” Y noted. “If he does not live, I know that you will have done your best.”
“Of course,” Ghaelj said. “You may stay however long you like, to observe, Dr. Y.”
Y thanked him, and Ghaelj left to go confer with the rest of the medical team.
Building a human was easy. Parts could be cloned or replaced with cybernetics or the body modified to survive without.
But saving one already alive? It was so much harder than even the organics had ever thought.
Y knew that he was free to leave any time. Logus would not know that he was on the other side of the glass, and he could not go in. But he did not wish to leave yet.
He calculated that three hours passed, his systems working at overtime so it felt more akin to weeks. He continued to parse his data as best he could, but where emotions came in, even he could be . . .
Lost.
There was an eternal war to accept that a being he interacted with often, who he found unique and interesting, who lived a full and complex mental life of their own could – in a heartbeat – simply cease to exist. Their uniqueness gone forever.
It made it all almost feel futile.
He could back up his memories, his states. If his current form was destroyed, it would experience something akin to death, but his last backup could carry on. For the totality of him, only a gap of time would be lost.
“Goodbye, Doctor Logus,” he said softly. “I will hope that I encounter your uniqueness again.”
And if he did not – he would at least remember him.
Other Terrestrial 
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