Excuse me a moment ...
Nurse Joy, I'd like a word with you. Excuse me a moment.
Sorry for the interruption.
No, the nurse wasn't doing anything wrong. Patient hygiene's critical
and she was just taking that patient to the showers for her daily washing and
bathing. However I recognised that patient and Ms. Briefs has far less risk
potential than many in here so the restraint seemed excessive. But it seems
that's how she was handed over to Nurse Joy.
Why? Well, if I recall while Ms. Briefs isn't classed as dangerous she
is listed as irritating. So my best guess is her constant complaining got on
the nerves of a few of the Orderlies so they took matters into their own hands.
Well yes that is a breach of regulations but it's hard to find those
responsible for minor incidents as they tend to close ranks and stick
together. Situations like this they're all Spartacus.
No, I didn't say I wouldn't do anything about it. We're hiring a Deputy
Head Orderly and since she'll start working with a probationary period this
will make an exxcellent test of her competence. We'll put the problem of
those finding those responsible and doing something about it in her hands and
watch how she handles it. It'll make for a good practical test of her
abilities for the performance evaluation.
Now this patient next patient is both the most restrained and the most
active and energetic patient in the Open Ward. Yes, that is quite a paradox
but in some ways everything about this patient is a paradox.
Her full name is apparently Excel Excel so it seems her parents didn't
have much imagination. Whereas she has far too much. Not many people could
believe that a secret organization consisting of three people had a chance of
taking over a city of several million but somehow she managed. In fact she
still believes Across could succeed even though for all intensive purposes it
has ceased to exist. Her co-worker Hyatt has been confined to the Isolation
Ward (which you'll see later) as a biological hazard and their superior is now
fronting for some third rate J-Pop garage band.
Anyway while their goal was hopeless for a three person organization
Across caused a remarkable amount of chaos. Much of which can be traced to
Excel's hyperactive enthusiasm for every lame plot their leader hatched.
After F City was rebuilt the civic authorities decided enough was enough and
called us in to deal with the mysterious female lunatic who was forever
wreaking havoc and her partner the life sucking vampire woman. As you can see
we succeeded.
Originally Excel wasn't going to reside in the Open Ward. It was
decided that what she really needed was to learn to slow down and relax so a
little enforced quiet time in Boing storage was perscribed. Unfortunately
that didn't quite work out as planned.
It shouldn't have been possible since according all the medical tests
she's not superhuman but somehow she's so hyperactive that the vibrations
from her constant attempts to move caused her Boing block to keep sliding off
its shelf and crash to the floor. Which hardly fitted the mood of quiet
contemplation we wanted in the Boing storage room.
It was Tasha Polecat who suggested the solution you see before you. She
got the idea to adapt the "weeble-egg" restraint concept that I have been
developing. It's still in the testing stage so normally you wouldn't see it
outside of the Quat Labs. But needs must and all that and as Tasha pointed out
this was an adaption using proven technology rather than the experimental
version.
We cut Excel out of the Boing block and with some difficulty got her to
hold still in a sitting position long enough to cast a Boing "egg" around her.
We used to just cast Boing in blocks but awhile back we built an oval mold for
a special case in the Isolation Ward and hung onto it for future use.
We gave the egg a weighted plastic base both to prevent the egg toppling
over and to shield the bottom of it from friction heat so the Boing wouldn't
start melting. Sure enough Excel began shaking the egg back and forth almost
immediately but thanks to the new design it didn't topple over. Still it
didn't fit into the Boing Storage Room's quiet motif so we moved her to the
Open Ward. Here she can see the slower pace of life our patients lead and
hopefully learn to relax and take things easier. But that's going to take
awhile. Right now she's having too much fun rocking her egg and being the
center of attention for all the patients who wander through here.
In time the amusement value will fade for the other patients and they
won't gather and eventually even Excel will tire of the rock and roll. Sooner
or later she's got to run out of enthusiasm and settle down.
At least that's the theory.
If not well back to the drawing board and at least now there's peace and
quiet in the Boing room again.
Before we leave I should explain about the women you noticed wandering
around the ward unrestrained but wearing skintight latex bodysuits. Those
were patients, not staff as you might have assumed. To be more precise
they're the patients who qualifyed for the "Trustee" program.
The Trustees
The trustees are intended to demonstrate to the patients the advantages
of co-operation. They're Open Ward patients judged to be nearing release who
have proven themselves trustworthy. Because of this they are allowed to roam
the ward and even certain clearly specified non secured areas of the grounds
without visible restraints and receive visitors. To make their status clear
all trustees wear a bodysuit of brightly coloured Delta Latex that covers them
from neck to toes. On one wrist they wear a monitoring gauntlet which keeps
track of their whereabouts and monitors just in case the trustee attempts to
violate security regulations, take advantage of their more restrained fellow
patients, becomes intensely agitated and capable of violence and so on.
Should this happen the gauntlet activates the Delta Latex's "lockdown" program
causing the outer surface of the suit to becomes adhesive to itself so the
patients limbs stick as soon as they touch any part of the suit.
As an example here are some pictures of former trustee Asuka Langley after
just triggering lockdown mode.
While this is happening the body suit begins to grow upward to totally
enclose the patient's head. She can still breathe freely through the Delta
Latex membrane but she is now now completely sensorily deprived. Unable to
manoeuvre the patient stumbles and becomes more and more stuck to herself as
the Delta Latex follows a preprogrammed pattern to draw the patient into a
compact fetal position for easy collection and storage.
Yes, I said storage. Being sustained by the Delta Latex the patient can
live comfortably, or if not comfortably at least without risk to their health,
indefinitely. So when a trustee violates the rules and triggers a lockdown
they're placed in a storage bin to think about their mistake and learn from
their error. The length of time they spend in storage varies depending on
the seriousness of the offense. Accidentally walked beyond their boundaries
is an overnight offense while doing so deliberately will get them several
days. Of course if they push things too far then they could be removed from
the Trustee program entirely. In the case of Ms. Langely it was decided that
she had been placed in the program prematurely and she was returned to her
work therapy program.
I should mention that it was the Trustee program that lead us to develop
our Patient Internship Program as an expansion of our Internship Program.
Well that brings us to the end of your Open Ward tour. Unless you'd like
to backtrack there are a number of options for what we can do next.
Would you like to meet the dedicated medical professionals who design and
administer our therapy regime?
Perhaps you'd rather meet the Support Staff who keep the Institute running smoothly
We can even arrange an interview with a member of our involuntary
patient acquisition team if you'd like
Or you could meet our Physical Trainers and see the Gym
Don't forget our Training Staff, they test and keep everyone up to date on our
latest innovations
Of course you might also want to have a word with our student interns
I could give you the scoop on our advances in humane capture technology
Alternately some visitors have been fascinated by the specifics of our patient
restraint and control equipment
Others have wanted to hear all about our use of robotics
Then there are those who were more interested in the human interest angle of
our friendly staff rivalries
We could take a look at our underground high security storage facility
If you insist I could tell you about our Rogues Gallery
Would you like to drop by the lounge where we hold conferences and staff
parties?
And of course there is always the Grimbor Ward and the other High Security Wards