I really do need to come up with a new title for this.
He woke up, which was a surprise. But he was in a hospital bed, which was less surprising. That every square inch of his body hurt like a sonuvabitch wasn’t surprising at all.
He looked around. There were the usual sensors and other junk draped over his arms, but nothing too restrictive. And there was even a bulb of water within reaching distance! Tobias shoved a box of tissues and a lascalpel out of the way to get at it, and the relief he felt as the ice-cold water went down his throat was pure bliss.
Doctors in the 22nd century didn’t need to hover; Doctor Ward entered the room not a minute later. “Good morning, Commander!” As usual, Ward looked and acted like a mummy trying to keep HR off its back. “Did you enjoy your beauty sleep?”
Tobias closed his eyes — then snapped them open again. Even the muscles on his eyelids hurt. “I could have used ten more minutes, Doc.”
“You were out for two days. So long, I’m doing this coma check.”
“Okay. Five minutes.”
I feel like “I’m doing this coma check” wasn’t quite the wording you intended. It’s *very close* to making sense, but….
Yeah. I changed it in the ‘final’ version.