The time was zero-five hundred hours. The chime of an alarm programmed to wake the slumbering Trill was ringing in the background. “Ugh…five more minutes.” Treylana moaned, knowing full well that today was going to be a busy day. It was graduation day. The day she had longed for the last four years was finally here.

Realizing she was not going to get the response or result she wanted, she forced herself to roll over and silence the alarm. “I don’t know how you did it Narissa, but I hope one day this becomes more routine” she muttered to herself, referring to her fourth host, before slipping into the sonic shower.

It seemed pointless for her to shower, especially if she was going to go for her morning run and working up a sweat, but the feeling of the vibrations from the shower was extremely soothing given her grumpy state. She stood there for what seemed like hours, though it had only been twenty minutes or so. The program completed and suddenly she felt like a new woman. She covered herself up with a towel and proceeded back toward the bedroom.

“Damn girl! You’ve been in there forever!” said another female voice as she scurried past the Trill into the bathroom. Treylana had almost forgotten that she had a roommate but being a cadet did not afford her the luxury of having private quarters on the campus. She did not remember her name. They were not in any of the same classes, and both were on different schedules. In fact, this was one of the rare occasions where the two of them had any interaction.

Putting aside that minor altercation, Treylana donned her athletic gear and combadge and headed out of the dorm room.

***

The sun was barely cresting over the horizon. Some of the local fauna could be heard chirping. Weather stations reported the temperature being a mere ten degrees Celsius. Refreshing for a morning run as Treylana knew that if she had gone later in the day, it would be much warmer.

The path she was on was one she had run several times. She was typically a woman of routine. However, this was a special day. There was a fork in the path further ahead. Normally she would take the right path but this morning she decided that she was going to go out of her normal routine and take the left one instead.

There were several dips and hills along this path. It did not seem to be as well maintained as the other one she was used to. Not neglected, but certainly in need of repair. As she approached the second hill, the overgrowth of trees began to block out what little sunlight there was. Lost in thought about the ceremony later that day, she had not been paying full attention to the path. It was at that moment that her foot stepped in a small pothole and she rolled her ankle. Down she went like a ton of bricks. She tried to brace herself with her arms but that was nearly as impossible as paying attention to her surroundings in the first place. Her arms buckled as soon as they hit the pavement and she slid for a couple of meters.

It took a moment and a few curse words for her to regain some composure. When she did, she inspected herself. Her priority was to her symbiont. There didn’t appear to be any life-threatening injuries. This relieved her. She did end up bruising her hip and her knees, her arms were scraped from the fall and her ankle was also in immense pain.

Since she did not know her exact location being on a path she was not accustomed to, she decided the best course of action was to call the campus sickbay and have herself transported there directly. She went to tap her combadge. Unfortunately during her fall it became damaged and was non-functional.

“Great!” she thought, “Now what am I going to do?”

She estimated that it was at least five kilometers to the main campus building where she would find the sickbay.

***

A little more than an hour later Treylana finally made it to the sickbay. She did not think she was going to make it and by all rights, she probably should not have but determination pushed her through the pain. A male Bolian noticed the trill as the doors slid open. “What happened to you?” he questioned her.

Exhausted she managed to inform the man what had happened before collapsing to the floor.

“Get this woman on the biobed immediately!” he shouted to one of his assistants as he went to grab a tricorder and a hypospray.

Two nurses stopped what they were doing and went to the Trill’s aid, each grabbing half of her collapsed body, they lifted her up and placed her on the biobed as requested.

The Bolian, Brax as he was known, scanned the woman on the bed before him, relieved that her injuries were superficial and the reason for her passing out was merely exhaustion. He programmed the hypospray for ten milligrams of Hydrocortilene for the pain before requesting a dermal regenerator for the abrasions on her arms and legs. Lucky for Treylana she had not broken any bones. She might be in some pain for a day or two, but she would otherwise be fine.

Brax finished up his treatment and let Treylana rest on the biobed. He requested the computer to monitor her vital signs in case there was something he had missed. One could never be too careful with Trill physiology. He then went about the remainder of his duties.

When Treylana awoke, she did so in a panic. “I haven’t missed it have I?” she shouted.

Startled the Brax dashed out of his office to inquire what the fuss was about. “What my dear?” he asked.

“The graduation ceremony. I haven’t missed it have I?”

“Relax!” he replied, “You’ve only been asleep for about thirty minutes. The ceremony isn’t until this afternoon.”

Treylana breathed a sigh of relief. She had thought she had messed up her whole day all over a dumb decision to veer from her normal routine.

Brax looked over medical readouts one last time. Satisfied that there was nothing further to be concerned about, he discharged his patient. “You will be sore for a bit. Unless you have any further need of my assistance, you are free to go.”

Treylana slid herself off the biobed and headed for the door. “Thanks Doc.” She said as the doors slid open.

“Just doing my job.” He replied “Oh! And congratulations!”

She looked back as she was about to turn the corner and smiled. Hopefully, her day could only get better from here on out.