Sci-Fi+Story+ICS16TOR

"Woah, watch it, Alex!" I shouted as I passed him in the hallway. Today was the day of Meredith Grey's big surgery, the surgery that would decide her life. Meredith had recently experienced complications with her heart and was finally admitted to an operating room on November 13, 2055. I had been very stressed because Meredith was the chief of general surgery, and I could not let this procedure be messed up by a bunch of aliens that think they know everything. I teleported from the on-call room into her current patient room and looked at her body on the bed. She was alive, she could talk, she could move, but her heart was slowly failing her. The interns appeared next to me from the teleportation device attached to the wall. "I'm so thankful to be able to teleport everywhere," DeLuca spoke, "walking would mean interfering with the nurses, and that's not something I look forward to."

"Alright Meredith," I sighed, "today's the day. DeLuca, please present her case." I stepped towards the patient's bed and held her hand as a sign of comfort.

"Meredith Grey, 46, failure in her pulmonary veins and the superior vena cava, causing a lack of blood in the right atrium. A pacemaker has been inserted to increase the flow of blood because of the failure in her major arteries. The failure in her left ventricle is causing a lack of blood flow to her pulmonary artery, also causing the blood in the right ventricle and her pulmonary artery to clot, causing a lack of blood in the aorta. Patient also presents with shortness of breath, dizziness, and constant migraines. Patient also has to be transported to the hospital of Jupiter because of lack of resources here at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital."

DeLuca stepped into the teleportation wall, going to prepare the transportation room. "You ready?" I asked Meredith.

"I'm dizzy. I feel like I'm on another world but I guess," she spoke almost inaudibly.

"Let's go then," I said, pushing her bed through the teleportation wall that took us to the room where Meredith would be transported. "Now, Meredith, you do understand that being transported to another planet for this heart surgery is a major risk, correct?" I questioned.

"Yes, I do," Meredith replied.

"Alright then. DeLuca and Edwards get her to the machine and set the destination to Jupiter," I demanded and made my way to the control room as she was being taken away. After about 10 minutes of waiting in the control room, DeLuca came on the loudspeaker.

"Amelia, Meredith is prepared and ready. I set the destination to Montgomery, Jupiter, and it says she will arrive in about 5 minutes." I stared at the computer and set up the camera to make sure her flight would be completely safe. I counted down from 10 and heard the slight rumble of the small rocket taking off.

"Meredith, are you comfortable? Is everything okay?" I asked through the microphone. No answer. "Meredith?" I tried again, worried that something went wrong.

"So how is she?" I head DeLuca ask while entering the room.

"I think we lost signal," I worried, "check the control panel and turn on the security camera." He hurried and switched it on.

"Amelia," DeLuca started, "it appears she is seizing." I took a deep breath and joined him to look at the camera. Meredith was violently shaking on the table inside the rocket, and her heart monitor was beeping rapidly. "She's not going to make it all the way to Jupiter," I realized. "DeLuca, go change the destination to Boomtown, Mars, we need an emergency landing." After a couple of minutes, we changed the course of the rocket and Meredith was now entering Mars. We watched as the rocket harshly touched down onto the red sand, causing the camera to fall onto the floor, shielding our only way of seeing her. "Call the doctors up there. Tell them what we had to do," I ordered.

"Meredith," I spoke into the loudspeaker, "can you hear me?" I was desperate for a response from the woman because nothing was going right so far. The microphone attached to the camera was obviously buried in the dust of Mars. I waited for a reply, but I knew she couldn't hear me. "The doctors said they can't make it up to Mars right now," DeLuca sighed, "but I heard Mars has a team of medical aliens. If we can connect with them, maybe we can put an end to her seizures."

"This is getting really risky, DeLuca. She's on a completely different planet than planned and I don't even know what's going on because I can't even see her! What if she's having life-threatening seizures? What if she untied herself and is exploring the vast lands of Mars with a failing heart? Now you want to send aliens for her? For all I know, Meredith Grey is dead. And she died because I don't know how to set up a camera properly! She's dead, and I killed her!" Before I could continue, DeLuca smashed his fist into the desk, interrupting me.

"Amelia! She's not dead, okay? Meredith is perfectly fine. She's probably just unconscious, or maybe wide awake. The thing is I don't know, you don't know, and nobody on Earth will ever know if I don't contact those doctors right now." He left the room with no further instructions from me. I sighed and leaned back in my chair, waiting for any news on my patient.

After what seemed like an eternity, I saw DeLuca enter my room again. "They're on their way. I gave them the approximate declination and right ascension of the patient."

"Okay," I sighed and waited for progress.

"Amelia," DeLuca said as he shook me, "there seems to be something weird going on with the camera. I glanced at the computer screen and saw a weird oval-shaped figure wearing a white lab coat. The alien got up close to the camera and turned to the group of creatures behind him. "Oh…" I muttered because of the weird sight. "Hello?" I asked, hoping the microphone was working again. Suddenly, the alien put the camrea to his face and set it down on the table. "Derek Shepherd," is all he said.

"Is that your name? Are you the doctor? Is Meredith okay?" DeLuca shouted.

"Who is this Meredith?" the creature asked. "I am the Derek Shepherd. The only man who has ever touched down on Mars and survived. Unfortunately, my rocket broke down and I couldn't get back to Earth. NASA didn't think I was worth sending another mission to bring me back, so here I am, surviving off practically nothing," Derek stated.

"Oh, really? If you think you're so human then why are you green?" DeLuca argued and I hit him on the arm because he wasn't taking this seriously.

"The atmosphere of Mars is very different. I have been here for so many years that the air dyed my skin. I am no longer human. I am half human, half alien," Derek said.

"Oh, but if you…" DeLuca shouted and I interrupted, "Derek, are you able to help our patient?"

"Do I look like a doctor to you?" he replied rudely.

"Okay, well then I need you to step away from her and this rocket." I said.

"Meredith, can you move?" I screamed worriedly. Derek stared at the camera before he pointed it at Meredith. I saw her tied up on the floor with a terrified look on her face and heard her muffled screams. "You mean this one? There is no way I'm leaving her. I haven't had a proper meal in years! I will cut her up and make her into stew," he said.

DeLuca turned to me, horrified, and said, "What are we going to do? Amelia, he's going to make her into stew!" he shouted in my face.

"DeLuca, go call those doctors again, now!" I shouted and faced the screen again, taking a deep breath. "Derek, please don't do this," I pleaded.

"Sorry, I'm hungry," he replied.

"What can I do for you? Please, you can't take her." I asked.

"Amelia, they said their vehicle broke down. The doctors can't make it. We're on our own," DeLuca said.

I punched the wall in front of me and looked at Derek again. He was obviously thinking about what he could possibly ask from me. "Well," he started, "I was thinking that I would return to Earth in this rocket, with Meredith of course. I let her live, and you let me go home," Derek suggested.

I sat and thought about it before DeLuca quickly turned off the microphone on the computer and screamed, "No! He's not coming back to Earth. That alien is crazy, Meredith! He wants to turn people into stew! And when the police find him, they'll look for us because we let him come here. No!"

"What other way are we going to get her back? This is our last chance. It's us or her," I said.

"Well, I choose her," DeLuca said and turned the microphone back on. "We can't let you come here, Derek. You're too dangerous," DeLuca said. "No, go find those doctors, Derek. Let them perform the surgery and then you can come home," I protested.

"Amelia!" DeLuca screamed, "You're crazy! This isn't happening, I'm sorry," he stood from his previous position and opened the control panel. DeLuca hit the big switch and we heard the rocket go quiet.

"Did you just cancel the mission?" I screamed at him.

"I'm sorry, Amelia, but there's no way I was going to let him come to Earth," he said. We heard a noise come from the rocket and we turned to face the camera again.

"Okay, we made a deal then," Derek said. He faced the camera to Meredith who was clearly crying. We heard muffled screams come from the rocket and saw the camera go black.

"I'm sorry, Amelia. This is shouldn't have happened like this. But she's gone now and there's nothing we can do about it," DeLuca stated and I continued to cry. "She's dead, Amelia. You know what this means. You have to say it," I started to cry even harder and he took the clipboard into his hands. "Now, Amelia," he demanded. I glanced at the clock, and in between my sobs I managed to find the words.

"Time of death, 12:37 p.m."

Theme: Don't act on instinct.