Sgt. Stauch's consciousness returned abruptly. One moment he was peacefully dreaming of exotic, nubile, alien women that used their prehensile tails most creatively, and then he
came rushing back to reality, or a twisted mockery of it...
He was in a long corridor, Egan's buxom medical assistant walking beside his gurney. He felt a comforting hand on his shoulder and looked up to see who was there, nearly falling off the gurney as a result
of his reaction.
Mr. Proteau looked down at him sympathetically his wizened features etched with concern, yet to Stauch's post stupor mind, it appeared someone had rammed a radio antenna into the security officer's skull.
The sergeant pointed up, having difficulty finding his voice. "Head...got...head...sticking...out...", he mumbled pathetically.
"Yes", Proteau said, looming over his prone form, "you got hit on the head, but you're going to be fine."
Stauch gawked as the apparatus on Proteau's head spun lazily on its perch. "No...you...head... got...!!"
"He seems distressed", Proteau observed.
Corporal Orwig cleared his throat meaningfully, pointing to his head when Proteau looked over.
The security officer shrugged. "What?!?"
"The, uh, propeller, sir", Orwig replied, not wanting to offend. "I think it may be bothering him a little."
"Well, that's odd", Proteau remarked, slightly offended. "I think its quite attractive. What do you think, Nurse Yahbo?"
"No offense, sir", she replied, "but you look like something from a Tim Burton film."
"Oh!", Proteau exclaimed, "like Smokey and the Bandit?!?"
"Uh, yes sir", she agreed, pushing the gurney a little faster, "just like that."
"Head...sticking...got...out...", Stauch reiterated more fervently.
"All the same, sir", Orwig remarked, "maybe you should lose the propeller for now."
"Yes", Proteau muttered, stroking his mustache absently. "This is Bandit, over. You got you'e ears on?"
"Sir", Orwig repeated more insistently, "the propeller!"
"Oh, yes", the security officer responded, returning to the moment, "sorry."
He began his mantra while they walked alongside the stretcher, but had to stop and find a more secluded area as Sgt. Stauch's pointing and excited
mumbling kept distracting him.
