Hawk's Fight with Buck

        (Alternative version of the fight scene from "Time of the Hawk")

by

Teresa Spanics

Chapter Eight

"You're in the sickbay of the Searcher.  Relax, dear boy.  I can understand that you find it unnerving to be with humans."  Dr. Goodfellow told Hawk as his hands were gently, but firmly pried from the sides of the medi-bed and his shirt was cut off of him and removed by the doctor and one of the medical staff.

The birdman wondered what the humans planned to do to him as his boots were pulled off and his pants were also cut off by medical staff and removed.   Hawk soon realized that he was in the presence of both male and female humans with his maleness for all to see.  The presence of the males did not bother him, but the females did as it was not customary to be seen undressed by any female except one's mate.  Hawk could only wish that his soft, white body feathers provided more cover instead of only in large numbers on certain areas of his body and few and far between on the rest.  The birdman used his remaining strength to cover his maleness up with his hands in an attempt at modesty when a female human with a name tag with one name on it of 'Jensen' approached him.

"It will be all right," the female human called 'Jensen' said reassuringly to him as she picked up a large, medical green piece of cloth.  Then she draped the cloth over his body to cover him from his waist to his upper thighs which effectively covered up his maleness and gave him some dignity.  Next thing Hawk knew was that his arms were placed on each side of the medi-bed by the female human 'Jensen'.  His left arm was then picked up and held by Dr. Goodfellow who began to swab the inside of his elbow.

"What are ... you doing?" asked Hawk.

Looking Hawk in the face, Dr. Goodfellow said to him as he inserted a needle directly into Hawk's arm.  "I am administering an anesthesia to you.  You don't want to be awake during your surgery now, do you?"

Fearful of what they will do, "No ... don't," Hawk gasped pleadingly as he felt the needle go into his arm.  He reached out to stop Dr. Goodfellow with his other arm, but found he was too late as the anesthesia quickly took effect.  Hawk soon found himself slipping down into a soothing nest of painless warmth as he drifted off into a drugged sleep.

Once Hawk was safely under and prepared for surgery, Dr. Goodfellow began the emergency surgery on Hawk's right side as it was the most serious injury.  It took about two hours to carefully removing the rock that had been embedded in it, get the bleeding under control and finally stopped using artificial blood as a safe blood transfusion.  Hawk's injured right knee had suffered less damage and took roughly an hour to repair.  

After surgery, Dr. Goodfellow ordered that Hawk to be given intravenous nutrients to bring up his electrolytes through an intravenous tube and bag as well a catheter was attached to his body to remove all body wastes while he was placed under a sedative for a few days to allow his wounds to completely heal.

The next day, Buck and Wilma entered Dr. Goodfellow's office which was next to the sickbay to inquire on Hawk's medical condition.  The monitors in Dr. Goodfellow's office showed Hawk's heart rate, respiration and other vital functions.

"Oh, Colonel Deering and Captain Rogers, how good to see you.  No doubt you are here to see how our friend, Hawk, is doing," said Dr. Goodfellow as he looked up from the readouts of the various monitors hooked up to Hawk.

"Is Hawk going to make it, Doc?" asked Buck.

"Oh, yes.  Yes.  We were very lucky that you had First Aid training, Captain Rogers, and were able to get Hawk's bleeding under control before help arrived," said Dr. Goodfellow, cheerfully.   "Very lucky indeed.  Hopefully Hawk should be able to be on his feet in a week or two.  We mustn't rush such things though.  Hawk did lose quite a bit of blood, but luckily we were able to use artificial blood for a transfusion.  It will take his body time to replace the artificial blood with his own."

"That's good, Doc.  Hawk looked like he was in real bad shape," said Buck in relief.

Wilma looked at Hawk through a monitor and asked. "Why isn't Hawk in restraints, Dr. Goodfellow?  Buck had been attacked by him and Hawk has attacked humans before."  

"My dear Colonel, I just took Hawk off intravenous nutrients and he is unconscious and sedated.  The restraints are unnecessary," said Dr. Goodfellow.

"Doctor!" exclaimed Wilma.

"All right, Colonel, all right.  I'll have Hawk put in restraints, but in belt ones.  Hawk acted like he was afraid of humans before he was sedated for surgery and I don't want to scare him any more than he already is," Dr. Goodfellow relented.

"It is more for your safety, Doctor.  You know that," Wilma said soothingly.

"I know, Colonel.  I know, but it pains me to have such a superb being tied down like that," replied Dr. Goodfellow.  "I do not wish to frighten him that is all."

"Besides, Wilma.  As I said in my report, Hawk obviously wanted me to kill him so he could be with his dead mate, Koori, and the rest of his people," Buck reminded them.

"Oh, yes.  Such a tragedy.  Such a cruel loss to science.  To have almost all the bird people killed off except for one.  It can make one weep at the loss of such rare culture.  Human stupidity has to rear its ugly head and destroy those who are so unique," lamented Dr. Goodfellow.  "I can't blame Hawk for attacking humans as some of them were the ones responsible for the deaths of his people."