Hold Onto This Life

[Natalie Denisov]

Natalie waits next to the gurney with her body on it, gently shielding her body's face as the Muir craft touches down. Their loading ramp lowers and an orderly approaches Natalie as a couple of his associates begin unloading boxes and placing them to one side. "Miss Denisov?" To his credit, he doesn't double take when he sees the two nearly identical people.

"Yes, that's me... us." She says, shaking his hand. She turns to the body. They exchange pleasantries she doesn't really register. Everything's on autopilot as she just wants this to be over with so she can move on to the next step. She watches as they finish unloading and bring out a gurney of their own. They gently lift her body, placing it on the other gurney and making sure she's secure before they take her back towards the aircraft. The first orderly has some paperwork to sign, which she does.

"That should be it," the orderly says, "Doctor Zhou said to tell you good luck and if you need anything else, just let her know and we'll figure out how to get it to you."

"Tell her I appreciate it. I'll know something more solid in a few days. Have a good flight and take good care of my body." It briefly registers how weird that phrase is, but the orderly smiles.

"We'll do our best." With that, he turns and heads back up the ramp which begins closing after him. As the craft revs up and takes off, she raises a hand as if to wave. It's a ridiculous gesture. The body isn't conscious and she hardly knows the crew well enough to do that. More importantly, she doesn't have time for that sort of sentimentality. She has work to do. Pulling a cargo dolly from where it rests against the wall, she begins loading up boxes and ferrying them to the lab to start working.

((Open, if you feel like dealing with an angry Natalie))