Dr Bloom cut the omni-calm feed to his patient, and administered a light sedative.
"That should wake him up, although he will still be under light sedation. Probably be woozy, to say the least. His wounds..." he indicated the plasma burns. "Nasty. Even with dermafix spray, that's gonna sting, to say the least. I can't cut his pain killers, not without him being in agony. I'm afraid poor Drake is going to be out of it..."
He paused, then carried on.
"Another thing, and this may be breaking confidentiality, but to hell with it. I found evidence of a lethal mutation in his DNA. Cotard-Wilkinson* sequence. It attacks the peripheral nervous system. Probably only mild symptoms right now, but he is facing slow progression and death in 10 years, and that's if treated..." he said sadly. "I don't know when it happened. Perhaps recently, perhaps years ago. Can be due to radiation exposure. Very rare sequence, only a few dozen cases reported. Had to look it up myself..." he said, apologetically.
*
And so the commander was, mumbling and slipping in and out of consciousness.
"
*Mumble Mumble* Wu...wu...can't die....can't....no...promised...sorry...no..." he whispered, delirious.
"What happened...what happened?" he said, reaching out weakly with a burnt hand. "It hurts...who fried me? who?" he asked, more strongly.