Vampires in Space

Wakey Wakey

Nakoma unplugged Cristine from all the coma support plugs and pipes. She shooed Cristine into the shower to get cleaned up, explaining the unscented cleaners as she did.

"Your new Vampire sensorium means you will not be able to tolerate as many artificial scents as you used to. Lemon fresh this and that? That means it is going to smell like someone poured a vat of Citric Acid into the manufacturing vat because that is what they did. No lemons were harmed.

Cristine sniffed the shampoos suspiciously but accepted the idea, and then I left the room because Dad's not needed. Nakoma stayed and gave Cristine a running commentary about her days under.

Cristine was toweling off in the bathroom when her Dad opened his eyes. I was out there to witness Bill sitting up slowly. Not because he was feeling poorly, but because he was entangled in the feeding tube and various other wires that were attached to monitor him head to toe while he was under.

"Nakoma! Live one!" I called out. I could unplug Bill. Done that plenty of times, but Nakoma is the Doctor on duty so she would want to.

She popped out of the bathroom, followed by a towel-wrapped Cristine.

Nakoma has seen newly awake patients a thousand times and understands their reawakening confusion at the plumbing well. "Wait a second, Bill. I'll get you unplugged. Cristine just about leaped from the bed. I had to hold her down to get her off the gear.

There is nothing dignified about the way one is hooked up for a 5-day coma. But it's better than shitting and wetting the sheets.

"Shower Dad. You stink. Might be my new senses, but not good." Cristine told her father.

"You can only clean up someone in a bed to a degree. A high degree. Not high enough for Vampire senses. Even normal Vampire ones. Dad and Morgan are off the charts there. In any case, part of the reason we have a shower in the clinic. Nothing in the scent sensorium that a shower won't fix." Nakoma assured her.

Cristine leaned over and sniffed Nakoma. "And where were you last night?"

"Vampire etiquette is we do not talk about it." Nakoma semi-scolded.

Cristine rubbed her lower lip in thought. "Oh... Because... because Vampires know things humans cannot?"

"That, and it's just kind of rude. Vampire senses give you a window into the behavior of the people around you, not unlike my Astral capabilities, but via a different route. Unless you want everyone pointing at you every time you get laid, and telling everyone else about it, you keep it to yourself. Medical things excepted. You scent an issue, you bring it up. How Morgan knew her dad was ill a while back. She scented it. It started a cascade of events, including our first successful intentional turn. Medical things you bring up at the right time and place and to the right people. Social things like who you scented on someone else that they slept with, you keep to yourself. "

"Got it.' Cristine nodded. "Vampire lesson number one."

"One of many." Nakoma finished up her work on Bill, cleaning, coiling cables, and powering down machines. She stepped back and waved toward a door near the hospital bed. "Come on, Bill. I'll show you Vampire scentless bathing products. Scentless for that reason right there. Your daughter is getting her olfactory capabilities first, it seems. It varies by Vampire, but sooner or later you will be glad to not have artificial scents around you. Cheap perfume will be pure torture."

Bill understood and swung himself, once freed, to the floor. "Got it. I don't feel any different. Other than like I had a really good cup of coffee or something."

"Vampires come out of comas in better shape than they went in. Always. Five days in bed would make a human stiff and sore. It makes a Vampire begin the whole body rebuilding process. You feel better because your immune system is already upgraded. That is the first thing the VMC does. Remake the immune system in its own image. Makes the body safe for the VMC, and deadly for anything the VMC does not like. From an evolutionary point of view, the VMC does not tolerate competition. You are either a friendly bacteria or you are out. Oddly, that leaves almost no room for the biome to evolve. If a new friendly gut bacteria came along, it would probably be slaughtered. As soon as the immune system is done, the work starts on making the vessel carrying VMC around better. Stronger, faster, and more able to survive in the Macro world. It turns the human body into an apex predator. Given when the VMC evolved, that meant very physical and mental things that it could build or adapt from the animal world. Your arm won't turn into a machine gun mount or anything. That will require us to modify the VMC."