Part 12: Episode 2-5: Lost in the Flames

Episode 2-5: Lost in the Flames





Sleeping with a monocle on is stylish, but difficult.

Markus: The operation was a success. All the pathogens were removed, and your heart is functioning normally.

Valerie: It was a complicated procedure, but we were able to complete it. Being operated on while you still had your strength should speed your recovery.

Rousseau walks in at this point. The fact that he wasn't already there is semi-relevant.

Rousseau: Well, Professor, congratulations on the success of your operation!

Wilkins: Thank you.

Rousseau: That Stigma is certainly a remarkable disease. I never imagined such an insidious pathogen could exist. It amazes me each time I watch the recording of the operation.

Wilkins: Recording!? Rousseau, I thought I made myself clear. I only gave you permission to read through the existing data.

Rousseau: Y-yes, that's true, but… I thought… perhaps…

Wilkins: My orders are absolute! Or are you scheming to steal my research!?

Rousseau: D-don't be silly, Professor. I'm completely loyal t-

Wilkins: I want everything in this room! That includes any recordings and extracted organisms! I won't have them where I- nngh!

Elena: Professor, please! You must stay calm!

Valerie: Dr. Rousseau, can't whatever you want to discuss with Professor Wilkins wait until later?

Rousseau: Yes. Well, then… please excuse me, Professor.

Wilkins: Please… I'd like to be alone for awhile. Don't worry, I won't overexert myself.

Markus: Then, we'll return later to explain your status.

Wilkins: Yes, thank you.



Valerie: So how do you intend to study Stigma, Markus?

Markus: Are you just going to pretend it doesn't exist?

Valerie: No self-respecting doctor would admit the existence of such a thing outside of a sci-fi movie.

Markus: That's only because they lack the knowledge.

Valerie: Oh, really?

Markus: Do you recall the incident that occurred ten years ago? A deadly, man-made infectious disease spread throughout the world. It was known as GUILT.

Of course, he's referring to the plot of Under the Knife/Second Opinion. Possibly Under the Knife 2, which takes place three years after those events, but probably hadn't been thought of when this script was written. Either way, it's completely insane that a doctor wouldn't have knowledge of a strain of alien virus thingies that nearly killed the world or whatever. Especially given it happened within her lifetime.

Valerie: Now that you mention it, I do remember that!

Oh, so she's just stupid. Carry on, then.

Valerie: Is there a connection between GUILT and Stigma?

Markus: Most likely not. The professor has already tested that vaccine on it. It had absolutely no effect.

Valerie: I guess I can see why Rousseau's so intrigued by it. If he was the one to announce it to the world, he'd become the most renowned doctor in medical history.

-Four days later-


Valerie: Aren't these Rousseau's patients?

Elena: Yes, but he's very busy.

Markus: Looks like I better get used to being sleep-deprived.



Doctor 2: But how long will it take to fully recover?

Doctor 1: The Professor's a lot tougher than he looks, you know.

Doctor 2: Dr. Rousseau must be hoping he resigns, or at least relinquishes some of his authority.

Doctor 1: I heard another hospital has been courting him as well. He's had a lot of visitor's lately.

Doctor 2: Maybe he's going to take up a position as a lecturer somewhere.

Valerie: He's the talk of the entire hospital.

Chen: Oh, but he's not the only one.

Markus: Meaning what, exactly?

Chen: I've heard from more than one source that someone will be paying you too a visit in the near future as well. Maybe "Professor-to-be" Rousseau will let you know about it.

Markus: That's not really my idea of a promotion.



Valerie: Hopefully tomorrow won't be as stressful.

Markus: What about the Professor's charts?

Valerie: He's been updating them himself. It is top secret after all. …Speak of the devil, he's paging us. I wonder what he wants?

Markus: He didn't mention anything to me.





Man: Arrrrrggghhh! Help!

Markus: That man's on fire!

yes.

Markus: We have to help him!

Valerie: Be careful, Markus!

Markus: Drop to the floor, hurry! Valerie, isn't there a fire extinguisher around?

Elena: Doctor! Stand aside!



Yes. As we can clearly see, your reaction caused a change in the situation.


Man: Nngh… someone… Professor Wilkins and Stigma…

Markus: Rousseau!? Is that you?

Rousseau: And then… set fire… urrrgh…

Markus: Hang in there! We're going to get you some help!

Valerie: He's been badly burned! His life is in danger!

Elena: I'll get something to transport him with.

Valerie: Thank you, Elena. Get the O.R. ready, too.



Burns are a fairly self-explanatory affliction. First-degree burns affect only the top layer of skin. Sunburns, for example. Second-degree burns go through more layers. Third degree burns go through all layers and begin damaging underlying tissue. Sometimes, burns that go really deep and damage nerves, muscle, bone, etc, might be called fourth or fifth degree, but I think they technically all fall under third.

For really serious burns, skin grafting can be used as treatment. This means that some skin from another area(usually one that would not normally be visible) is cut away and applied to the burned one. Depending on the seriousness of the injury, only the top few layers might be removed, or the entire thickness. In this game, we'll be doing something completely different that makes basically no sense. But I'm getting ahead of myself.



Elena: The patient is suffering from burns all over his body, concentrated on the left side. Some of them are third-degree burns, I'm afraid. The burned area covers over 20 percent of his body. He's in extremely critical condition. We'll have to use skin grafts. I suggest that we transplant skin from the right half of his body, which has fewer burns.

Markus: If we can't use synthetic skin, then that's our only option.

Artificial skin is a real thing that's being worked on. Not sure if they still don't have it in THE FUTURE or if there's some unspecified reason it can't be used.

Valerie: If we inject culture fluids, we'll be able to avoid further damage.

Elena: Since we'll be working on third-degree burns, I've prepared some coolant as well. I've said this already, but he's in critical condition. We have to hurry.

And hurry we will. Today it's…



Val's turn!



Oh, how I hate this operation. I am honestly terrible at it.

OPERATION VIDEO

Viddler Backup



You have a ton of things to manage in this operation. The first is preparing new skin patches, which are like the tumour patches but you generate them magically by injecting yellow stuff into the skinboxes. They need to be sliced out, as well. It's best to make a bunch at once, as they'll share corners, so cutting them out is faster and less damaging that way. You need at least four to deal with a burn, anyway.



The other things are bleeding and necrosis. The black burns need to have another, blue goop which Elena gives you injected into them. Then you can simply excise them as shown. They don't come back. Yet.

You can't actually do anything to the burns while there's blood in the way, and they bleed rapidly. They have the tendency to bleed just you apply a patch, causing you to get a miss and lose that patch. If they start bleeding after any patches are placed but before you can gel them to eliminate the burn, the patches fall off and are lost. There is basically no way to predict when this will happen.



To eliminate a burn, as mentioned above, you apply four patches and then gel. You can go for more than one at a time, as I did several times this run, but it doesn't reduce the number of patches needed and is not necessarily necessary.

By the way, you need to do this within 2:30, and before 25 pools of blood form. This is very difficult, but starting by making 12 patches, and then using HT and getting rid of three at once will supposedly help. The fewer burns, the less bleeding. I've never actually gotten a good score in this one.



Here's a shot of the bottom so you have an idea of what you're looking at. You won't run out of vitals here. Just time. Over and over.



But anyway enough of that.



OPERATION END



I missed doing it within 2:30 and having fewer than 25 blood pools. This is actually a good run for me on hard difficulty.



There is no satisfaction to be gleaned from this.



Markus: But the Professor's whereabouts are unknown, and we have reason to believe the data was stolen. According to Rousseau, the Professor appears to have been kidnapped. What did the detectives ask you?

Valerie: Same things they asked you. What did I see when I arrived on the scene? Did I see anything unusual? You know, the usual. Oh, they also asked about the Professor's condition. I didn't say anything about Stigma for now. They wouldn't understand anyway.

Way to assist the investigation, Val.

Markus: I can't believe he was kidnapped. What was their motive? They obviously want more than a ransom.

Valerie: What's going to happen to this hospital? What about us? The media's going to be all over this incident. We won't have time to examine our patients.

Elena: Dr. Blaylock, Dr. Vaughn… There's someone here to see you.

Markus: If it's another investigator, then forget it.

Elena: Actually, it's the director of Caduceus!

Valerie: What!?



Irene: Regarding what happened the other day, you have my sympathy.

Markus: Thanks.

Valerie: Um, what can we do for you?

Irene: It's a little complicated, so I'll get to the point. After seeing the two of you in action, I negotiated with the hospital to have you both transferred to our staff.

Valerie: You're recruiting us?

Irene: That was the plan, but circumstances have changed.

Markus: So, what does that mean?

Irene: Dr. Vaughn, Dr. Blaylock, by the authority of the federal government, I hereby order your immediate transfer to Caduceus. The decision was made based on the research we believe Professor Wilkins was performing. As skilled doctors and colleagues of the Professor, we require your expertise in the US branch of Caduceus. We'll do our best to accommodate any staff member requests you may have.



Well, that wasn't hard to see coming. And that's it for chapter 2. In chapter 3, our heroes move again, meet their new coworkers, and probably get a pay raise. It's basically just farting around for five episodes, but they're good ones.

BONUS

Since I'm terrible at this operation, I figure you should have the option of viewing someone who isn't. This is done by someone who is clearly some sort of machine, but they get the XS. Their techniques are different from what I suggested, but I'm fairly certain most people can't move this fast anyway.

Incidentally, the Firefox bar gave "Trauma Center New Blood 2-5" as a search suggestion so clearly I'm not alone on this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYl4DQYsCs0