etraya | un: Dankovsky

[Daniil eventually comes over to the tent to check out the doctors he’s burdened with his handiwork. He is sure to hover outside the view of Castor. No need to make him hysterical. At the same time, he promised Maya he would go see the doctors. But he’s not going to inquire about his own health. He’s spending a day in. It’s almost relaxing.]

[Danill has a bandage over his nose and bruising drained into his under eyes. He wears a white coat to signal to the others what his deal is. His usual coat has absorbed a little too much]

You’re the head of this department, Doctor? [He’s worked worse situations, he’s not about to downtalk all this.]

[ Jack recognizes the doctor who's made a morgue of the basement and a mess of his AI. He eyes the man in his white coat and with his bandage. Is that from Castor? Well deserved, if so. ]

You could say that. Been running it since before everything went to shit. Rebuilt it a few times since.

[ He motions toward Dankovsky's face. ]

Take a seat. Can't do any imaging, but I can perform a neuro exam and treat that.

I’m just here to help. My nose should be fine, or if it’s not, we should only be able to tell when the swelling comes down a bit more. [But he’s not focused on that.]

[And doctors made terrible patients, Jack should know that. He could disagree with Daniil’s assessment. And he desperately needs a neuro exam.]

[Still, he’ll take a seat. He takes every chance he can to sit with the sort of life he leads.]

It's not my practice to wait to examine injuries. There lies the path to unnecessary medical complications. Fun for me, less for my patients.

[ Dankovsky sits, at least. That's something. Translation helping with speech remains strange, but he sounds alert. ]

Tell me how this happened and when.

[ Jack sits on a stool opposite Dankovsky and rolls closer to him. ]

[His immense respect for older, modern doctors kept him in place. And he spoke true besides.]

Two days ago, around midday. An enforcer slammed my face into the pavement. I was already face down at that point, so I really didn’t have to travel far.

[He eases the bandage off so the other man can take a proper look at it]

[ Two days. An unfortunately common enough answer for injuries they get in the ER. People think they can handle things, but they wind up coming in anyway. Dankovsky didn't even come in to get it checked out. He's simply humoring Jack.

He'll take getting humored, whatever the other doctor thinks. ]

Pavement used to be crisp and clean around here, clean enough you could slam your face into it without worrying about infection. The bots would clean up any mess in no time. Now, though, now they're filthy.

[ Jack comes in closer to check for any sign the wound needs debridement. He also reaches up slowly. ]

Tell me how much this hurts.

[ He lightly touches the swelling and presses against it to feel for any breaks. ]

[Daniil doesn’t react all that much. He’s already taken upon himself to numb it to function. It is well and truly broken. It was slammed into pavement in the corpse zone. This is so bad. His attention has been everywhere but the middle of his own face. It makes a man wonder if he’d even looked into a mirror in those days.]

Ask me how much it hurts in- [He looks at his pocket watch.] forty minutes. It ordinarily hurts enough that I can’t think. [He’s got a local anesthetic, for sure.]

[ He can feel the break. The nose doesn't sit right, and the swelling is impressive. The lack of reaction is as concerning as the break itself. That's not—

Okay, he gets it. Doctors are few and far between here, but they are not meant to be their own patients. ]

That sounds about right. What'd you give yourself?

[ His gut says it isn't ibuprofen or another simple NSAID. He could be wrong. Prove him wrong. ]

I want to finish a neuro exam. Then we can talk about what to do next.

[Daniil will not prove him wrong.]

Lidocaine. 2% solution. [Daniil wasn’t afraid of needles, apparently.]

[Daniil could be a good patient, too. But he really let it all fall by the wayside in an emergency situation. Behaving was for mundane days.]

[Daniil nods.] Very well. [He sits up straight, though his posture had hardly slackened in the meantime.]

[ Not bad medication to bring into Pollux, but Jack hopes Dankovsky isn't saving it only for his personal use. Hard to say when any trip outside can result in injury or coming across those injured. Presumably, the doctor does more than autopsy the dead and create patients if he's carrying around medication.

Jack settles back far enough to perform the exam. ]

Follow my finger.

[ He moves it up and down and from side to side. He watches Dankovsky's reactions, for any tics, or any other signs of cranial or motor issues. ]

You're from Etraya. [ Not a question. ] How long have you been there? Where and when are you from before that?

[ He does a lot of autopsy and what has amounted to funerary services and counseling. He has since branched out to scavenging medicine, reconnaissance, and reducing enemy forces. He doesn’t love that last one, but the enforcers have forced themselves to be dealt with. And Jack has already dealt with the consequences of Daniil’s information gathering.]

Yes.

[ Daniil is able to follow his finger properly, thankfully.]

I had only been in Etraya for… [ He pauses. ] A month? Six weeks or so? [ Its been two months. Unclear if his confusion and timekeeping is a recent issue. ] And before- I am from the Empire, well known otherwise as Russia. 1920, September. But I was pulled from a Town on the Gorkhon, in the steppe. I was dealing with containing a plague.

Edited 2026-06-01 15:01 (UTC)

[ Small blessings that it could be worse. He can provide support for a concussion, but imaging options are limited and not helpful in this case. Jack looks at Dankovsky again at the lack of clarity for how long he was there. Etraya isn't a war zone if they're Pollux's backup. Sure, there isn't the usual social markers to a week any of them might be used to, but it shouldn't be too hard to keep track of time.

He notes it mentally. ]

Extend your arms sideways. Then bring your pointer finger to your nose.

[ He doesn't know the name Gorkhon, but Russian geography isn't his focus. Plus, different worlds can have different names. That's fine. ]

If you've been away that long, then it didn't come with you. That's good to know. We don't need a plague here.

With some extraordinary luck, I seem to have a natural immunity to it. I would know if I’d been infected, as the incubation time is the shortest I’ve ever seen in my life.

I don’t carry it either. I’ve looked at my blood to be sure, and it’s easy to find under a microscope. But yes, that is indeed the last thing anyone needs. [ This is an oversimplification for everyone’s sanity. ]

[ He is able to do so with no trouble with his eyes open. ]

Epidemiology isn’t my specialty, though it may as well now be. What is your expertise, Doctor?

Natural immunity. Any idea what makes you immune?

[ 1920 doesn't exactly give Jack high hopes on that front, but the man was studying and trying to cure the plague. He could have been doing something that would appall today's medical associations using himself as a guinea pig.

He sits back and appreciates that a CT would be recommended if he had access to one, but he's not concerned about needing to perform immediate emergency surgery on the doctor's head. At least not yet. There's always five minutes or five hours from now. ]

Emergency and wartime medicine. Basically, this shitshow.

[ Well… If he’s going to ask. He’s not too sheepish about this, as it is observable fact. But there are aspects he won’t want to explain. That might be impossible anyway if he’s dealing with a fellow curious mind. ]

I seem to have a blood abnormality that prevents the sand pest from properly attaching and populating. I have these silver blood cells. I call them amalgam, and I think they’re positively influenced by ingesting mercury.

[ He doesn’t want to say that they store physical time. That sounds insane, and he’s trying to pass a neuro exam right now. He would suffer the humiliation of retreading his antiquated understanding of medicine. ]

I haven’t had enough time to properly understand it in the seven days I’ve had studying it. I have been much more occupied with routing the source of infection and developing vaccines with blood from patients with intercurrent illness.

[ It genuinely just sounds like this old-timey doctor is ingesting enough mercury to kill anything that enters his system. And maybe he has a blood abnormality? Maybe he’s going insane? There’s a lot to interpret here. ]

[ One eyebrow inches higher, not at the name sand pest (plenty of diseases have all kinds of names) but at silver blood cells. Like most people, Jack's familiar with red blood cells and white blood cells. Silver is a whole new concept, and he lacks the context to know whether the concept should be grouped with miasma or t-cells.

Unfortunately anatomy can differ between worlds, even ones that seem awfully similar. ]

If we get the chance, I'd like to get a look at your silver blood cells. I'm curious, but I'd be remiss not to raise some concern about the mercury. Even if it helps your silver blood cells, any mercury they don't absorb will get attacked by your body. The dose makes the poison and all, but I don't have any chelation medications on hand.

[ He doesn't talk down to the man. They're both doctors, but people used mercury to treat syphilis for centuries. ]

Seven days isn't a lot of time for one person to do traceback or develop a vaccine, much less both. Not that it's our primary concern here. Our epidemic is violence.

[ Daniil has the sense that Abbott is a better man than he is, by far. He would certainly mock him were the roles reversed. ]

I didn’t bring my microscope. I wish I had, now. I usually don’t travel far without it if I’m working, if you can believe it. All medicines are poison on some level. …But I haven’t taken any mercury since I’ve arrived, to be clear.

[ He seems sheepish about it. He desperately wants to fight against being perceived as novel in his archaic medical knowledge. When Jack says “it’s not a lot of time” he lets out a mirthless laugh. ]

I wish I could bring you back there so you could tell this to my patrons. But no, it’s not. [ He sighs. ] I’m in the middle of an exam here. What would you like me to do next?

Odds are it'd have ended up like your nose. Better it's waiting for you back in Etraya than here.

[ If Dankovsky means his own world, that's another matter. However, Etrayans act like their AI is a whole lot better than Castor, and Castor gave him everything he asked for. So he hardly imagines the Etrayan AI would deny Dankovsky something as simple as a microscope. ]

I'd rather not get sand pests. Besides, epidemics and outbreaks get everyone uneasy and impatient.

[ Jack waves a hand. ] As best as I can tell from the exam, you're fine, neurologically speaking. But I have to ask, is it normal for you to shoot someone to try to get information?

[ That could be a sign of a problem, even if Dankovsky replies yes it's the most normal thing in the world. That could come from an altered mental status. Neither is easily treatable. ]

It’s not. I abhor death and violence. I don’t even try to shoot people trying to kill me …Typically.

[ Daniil puts his hands in his lap and frowns. ]

It made sense at the time. [ Daniil rubs his chin and furrows his brows. ]

I’d found him on a tip from a Polluxian. I asked him a few questions, but he’d started lying to me, and then he tried to get away before answering. [ That is distinctly not the order of events. ] And it’s life or death out here.

[ Not typical. On the plus hand, that means Jack hopefully won't receive many more allies as patients at Dankovsky's hand. On the other, it raises questions about his mental status. ]

I've served in war. I understand how much it puts on the line.

[ He slowly reaches out to squeeze Dankovsky's shoulder, ready to abort if it isn't wanted. ]

Even with all the training soldiers get, it's a lot of pressure. That's why we have rules, chains of command, and a lot of other essentials we're lacking here. So I get it.

I'd also like you to stay under observation for a while. Stick in camp. You can still do autopsies and help out here. But it means I'll be on hand if shooting Castor is a sign of some worse injury you have.

[ There are many questions about his mental status well worth looking into. ]

My father was in the military, and I was raised and expected to enter service as well. I did not. But I’m typically put in charge when no one else wants the responsibility of making choices when none of them are good, just so someone can take the blame.

[ Daniil looks up at Jack with a wide-eyed surprise. He doesn’t pull away or say anything for a moment. But it feels real and impactful, like someone genuinely cares about him and has the means and experience to help him in a way he has not really felt in a long time. Perhaps ever. He takes a moment and just wonders if this is what he should be doing, instead of his current deplorable bedside manner. ]

[ Don’t fall apart now over such a simple gesture, Dankovsky. ]

Observation? Do you think I have a concussion? [Or something else?]

[ He wants to bristle more, lash out, argue. But he’s very tired, and Jack’s manner has put him at ease. …And it’s reasonable. He knows the injury was bad. He knows he’s had multiple head injuries just days apart because of those damn enforcers. He knows he hasn’t slept properly all week. ]

[ He knows he shouldn’t have shot him. There was certainly other paths. He’s ordinarily more careful. This outcome was… Fine. But it was sloppy for him. But maybe that was just stress. He’d made serious errors before. ]

[ Jack's well familiar with the need to make decisions that could end poorly, that make the difference in how many people live or die. It's not all battles and gore. A hundred different things can make that happen. It's a lot of pressure and stress to put one person under. That builds up over time, and it takes a toll. God, he knows it takes a toll. ]

Indecision is still a decision. There's no way out of making hard choices. It's good we can make decisions. It increases the odds a better decision gets made, but hoo, that's no guarantee we make the right one.

[ We, Jack says, to include himself. Surgeons, hospital administrators, plenty of folks freak out at some of the decisions he's made. Admittedly, those decisions are usually risky moves to save a patient's life, not creating a patient. He gets it, though. He does. ]

I'd be surprised if you don't have a concussion, and in the state Pollux is in, if something goes wrong and you're out there, it'll cost you a lot more than it would in what I'm assuming are much better circumstances in Etraya. It will cost everyone. We don't have enough doctors as it is.

[ The man needs rest, to pause and to breath. Pot kettle and all that, but Jack isn't the one who shot someone. Someone not trying to kill him. He'd hardly be concerned if Dankovsky shot an enforcer. ]

When's the last time you ate?

I don’t remember.

[ Which sounds especially bad in his context. But he just doesn’t. He’s sure he’s eaten, he must have or he wouldn’t be standing, but his brain hasn’t saved that information at all. ]

You’re right. There aren’t enough doctors as it is and I can still stitch in any state.

[ He rubs his face with his hands. He knows he’s an excellent doctor. What was he thinking going out there? Especially like this, there was no chance to revise his choices. Still, he moved this all along. Accelerator told him so. Two things could be true though. ]

I should just stay and recover for now, though I spoke to a few people about infiltrating the tower. I wonder how close we could set up a tent, or if we could be hidden somehow, in disguise. I’m concerned that any injuries sustained there are too severe to make it back here in time.

[ He did also shoot some enforcers. But he’s not proud of that. Those feel like a big, ugly stain on his soul. ]

Then eating is your next order of business.

[ Before stitches, before autopsies, before anything else. It's part of recovering, and Jack doesn't want Dankovsky going out and having to make those high pressure decisions in the same state that led him to determine that shooting someone (not in self-defense) was the right decision. Not that it's impossible to get into trouble here, but here, there's an eye or two on him. ]

The tower's dangerous. Anyone getting too close risks becoming the very patient we're trying to help.

[ Jack closes his eyes and sees too many people he couldn't help. Every single trip near the tower he's taken involves them. People he liked. People he didn't. People he barely knew. They all didn't deserve to die like that. ]

You've got a point, but you're not in the state to problem shoot that right now. I don't know if there is a solution. I've risked going close a few times. Nearly died each and every time. Problem is, every Polluxian knows what stance every other still living Polluxian has taken, and since we know that, we can identify an Etrayan easier than a European tourist.

It'd be a good problem to solve, but unless one of your peers has a very specific superpower, I don't know if we can.

[ That doesn't mean they don't do it, but it means Jack doesn't say that right now while Dankovsky's in this decision making state. ]

[ “European tourist” feels incredibly pointed with how Daniil generally is, but he lets it pass. ]

Alright. I’ll eat something. Then I’ll come back here and rest right over there. You can wake me when you want to rest, or if you need a second pair of hands for surgery. I can’t do heart or anything too small and delicate, my hands aren’t steady enough. Romano’s barely steady enough by his own admission.

[ He heaves a sigh and crosses his arms. ]

But if anyone here needs heart surgery, they’re already well and truly screwed. Do we even have any units of blood? If they’re going to send a contingent to the Tower, and I know some have already gone there on purpose, then we’re underprepared.

[ He rubs his face and shakes his head. When tasked with “quit problem solving” he quite literally cannot. There’s no time. But he couldn’t afford to make worse and worse errors.]

I can think of people with specific powers. Maybe we just need to trust them. All they really have to do is install the new AI, and now they know where to look. How are you managing, Doctor? You must be tired as well.

Edited 2026-06-02 18:39 (UTC)

un: Dankovsky | video

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