After the investigation, the Havenworlders were carefully lead out by a team of therapists, but they found the human couldn't move, or rather, wouldn't. Sobbing bitterly, all she could do was sit there, shaking. In many ways, this had been far more traumatic for her than any of her charges. It was decided to carry her, gently, to a quiet place. The therapists had a lot of work ahead of them to deal with the trauma. In this case, the Havenworlders were the easier ones to care for. This human was a wreck.
@internutter/challenge-02842-g285-it-happened-so-fast -- Anon Guest
The Havenworlders were fine. They were prepared for offense and shock. Tourist Guide Lila was not. Her record said that she had undergone the traditional Anything-Goes Educator Defense and Protection Training. With dawning horror, the Emergency Response Team realised that this incident was her first.
The first one is always rough. Trained combatant or someone just doing their job, any of those with killing on their expectations list[1] never forget their first.
Lila was a trembling ball of misery and incomprehensible babbling. Unaware of anything outside of her personal bubble of misery. ERT Thang had to get the scene off of the public concourse. The Havenworlders had marched into the inner workings of the Service Areas like a chain of children on a Together Rope. Even the body had been carted off and Forensic Cleaners[2] had taken care of the bloodstains. Only Lila remained.
Thang had attempted kindness, and had watched it fail. Therefore, he had to be a little cruel to be kind. "Educator Lili, you are scaring the Havenworlders."
The sobbing turned to forced breathing. "I... still... cannot move," she managed, from somewhere inside her personal trauma.
"We have a trauma stretcher. Demonstrate how to get on. For the Havenworlders."
Short of breath, only seeing half the world around her, Lili went through the Educator's version by rote and, once under the foil blanket, politely asked for a little weight.
Thang connected the relevant tubes and the blanket's pockets filled slowly with a calculated amount of water. "We're taking you somewhere safe, now. You will be checked. All is well."
Tourist Guide Lili still had to have some sedation, and even then kept repeating that she was a murderer. When she did ask any questions, it was about her Havenworlder charges.
"Your clients are doing well," insisted Thang, now using his metaphorical Therapist Hat to deal with the situation. "Would you like to see them?"
The offered screen showed the Havenworlder tourists in their interviews, and then in their hostel suites taking some relaxation time for themselves. This seemed to do Guide Lila a world of good.
She still wept, but they were slow and thick tears of mourning. "I didn't mean to be a murderer..." she quavered.
"You were acting defensively," repeated Thang for what felt like the millionth time. Some facts took their time sinking in. "You did good work, protecting your charges."
[1] Even when that expectation is right down the bottom and listed under Emergencies Only.
[2] Regular Cleaners, the gengineered giant slugs designed to eat scattered rubbish, are programmed to avoid the remains of intelligent creatures.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / ibogdan]
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