“You’re sure? We don’t have to do this right now if you would rather take a break.”
“No. Let’s get this lowered in place so we can get on with the next phase,” she said.
“Fine, but be careful,” he said taking hold of the chain hoist control switch.
He pushed the down button and the multi-directional flow control nozzle started to slowly lower into place. It was time consuming because it had to be guided in such a manner that the directional veins aligned perfectly with the flow nozzle outlet ports. It was one of the critical elements of being able to control the craft direction both vertically and horizontally. If they were not in perfect alignment, control would be virtually impossible.
He was on the other side of the vessel from Lynn and could not see where she was exactly. His eyes were focused on getting the cover in perfect alignment.
“Just about there,” he said, watching the alignment intently.
Only a few more inches and then they would be able to make the final alignment manually.
“Stop. Stop,” Lynn screamed out. “Raise it. My fingers are caught,” she yelled.
He quickly hit the up button and raised the casing.
“Ouch! Doggone it! Son of a gun!” she said, pulling her fingers from under the heavy flow control nozzle.
“Are you alright, Dr. Yurris?”
“No, doggone it. Boy-oh-boy, that smarts,” she said holding her throbbing fingers. They had already started to turn blue.
“Let me take a look at them,” he said.
“No,” she said pulling them back and protecting them with her other hand.
“We need to have those looked at. You might have broken something.”
“Hold on,” she said, leaning against the reactor housing, “I feel sick. Let me just get my breath,” she said.
“Here, sit down before you fall down,” the assistant said, pushing a stool over to her.
She sat down clutching her fingers. She looked at them and could see that blood was seeping out from under two of the fingernails. She could feel every heartbeat in the tips of her fingers. The pain was like shooting bolts of electricity. The ends of her fingers were turning purple and starting to swell.
“You’re right, I think I had better have these looked at,” she said.
“I’ll get some ice to put on them and then I think we should get those taken care of professionally.”
He ran and got ice cubes and wrapped them in a towel. He placed it gently around her fingers but she still let out a small gasp.
“Let’s get you over to the infirmary. They can see what needs to be done much better than the nurse here,” he said.
He called for security and they sent a guard, who took one look at her hand and decided that she needed to go to the main base for medical treatment. Lynn didn’t put up any argument. The pain in her fingers was excruciating and just walking to the Jeep made them hurt even more.
She felt so stupid for letting this happen. If she had been paying more attention she wouldn’t be in this mess. The ride to the infirmary was agonizingly long and every bump seemed to send a wave of fresh searing pain through her fingers. The driver did the best he could to miss the majority of the holes and depressions in the road but it didn’t make her feel any better.
“What happened to you?” Angie asked when Lynn came in holding her hand.
“I did something stupid.”
“Let’s take a look,” the nurse said.
“Doggone it, they really hurt,” Lynn told her, trying to be brave.
Angie carefully unwrapped her hand and looked at the deep purple tips of her fingers.
“I’m Angie,” the nurse said, trying to distract her as she checked the fingers on her right hand.
“Yes. Everyone seems to know who you are. Sorry, I’m Lynn Yurris.”
“Oh dear. You did do a number on those. Let’s do this one step at a time,” she said getting a needle and a bottle of numbing agent.
“You will feel a little discomfort when I stick the needle in, but it will stop the pain quickly,” she said, “Ready?”
“Do it. It can’t be any worse than it already is,” Lynn replied, closing her eyes.
Somehow, having her eyes closed seemed to help when she was getting a shot. She felt the pressure of the nurse’s hands and just a small prick. Within seconds the throbbing started to ease and she began to feel better.
“Wow, that’s much better,” Lynn said.
“Boy, nothing like a couple of smashed fingers to cause pain. I can still remember the time my fingers got closed in a car door,” she said.
“This was my fault. I simply wasn’t paying attention,” Lynn replied.
“It happens. Everyone works so hard around here. The isolation and long hours take their toll,” Angie told her.
“I guess I could blame it on that. The truth is, I just haven’t been myself. I can’t seem to get back on track,” Lynn said.
“Do you think you need to get some help? We have wonderful resources available if you feel the need. I’m not trying to be pushy but sometimes talking to someone helps,” she said.
