10-03-2019, 06:31 AM
Empress Camaxtica Military Headquarters Complex
Imperial Military Hospital
October 3rd, 1:45 am, Xiomeran time
The soft beep of the machines monitoring the vital signs of the Emperor droned on, as it had for weeks. There had been no significant change in Topilpopoca's condition for so long that it had lulled those responsible for keeping track into a state of complacence. The nurse that was responsible for checking in on him, the guards at the door, the other nurses at the nurses' station. Nothing had changed. No one expected things to change.
But on the morning of October 3rd, they changed.
A sudden series of alarms caught everyone off guard, rising as the heart monitor attached to the Emperor began giving out the telltale sounds of failure. The head nurse at the nurses' station frantically reached for the intercom. "Code Blue! Code Blue!" she began shouting. The resuscitation team assigned to the IMH intensive care unit hurtled towards the Emperor's room. Nurses and the attending doctor desperately began trying to force the Emperor's heart back into a normal state; a defibrillator was applied to no effect. Even as the resuscitation team worked, the heart monitor slid into a flatline. Another nurse paged Lipilhitl to come to the Emperor's room.
After several minutes of trying, the attending doctor finally shut off the defibrillator. In a shaking voice, he told the head nurse to record the time of death. At 1:45 am, Topilpopoca, Emperor of Xiomera, finally lived up to the heartless reputation he had built over two decades, as his own heart finally gave up on him.
It was only then that the medical staff noticed that the Chief Surgeon had never arrived.
---
Upon hearing the Code Blue, and then his page, Lipilhitl nodded to himself. He quickly stripped off his scrubs and changed into street clothes, and grabbed his suitcase. Moving quickly, he managed to exit the hospital and drive himself to the nearest exit from the headquarters complex. At the gate, he told the guards that he needed to return home briefly. He silently prayed that the guards had not yet been notified of the Emperor's death. The moments stretched for an eternity, as Lipilhitl waited.
Fortunately for the Chief Surgeon, prayers worked better for him than they had for Topilpopoca. The guards handed back his ID, returned his salute, and allowed him to drive out.
As the taillights of Lipilhitl's car disappeared into the dark Tlālacuetztla night, the phone rang in the guards' station.
---
In the waiting room outside the intensive care unit, one of the Emperor's Shorn Ones personal guards walked over to where Yauhmi and Texōccoatl were sitting. As he whispered into Yauhmi's ear, the Emperor's wife sank slowly to the floor, her silent scream morphing into an angry wail. Her son sank to the floor beside her, his face blank as he tried to comfort her.
---
Xōchmal House
Official residence of the Secretary of Security
Montelin
October 3rd, 2:15 am, Xiomeran time
Tepilcayotl turned over in his bed as the phone rang. This had better be important to wake me at this hour, he thought grimly as he picked up the phone. "What is it?" he barked. As he listened to the voice at the other end of the phone, his face turned pale. He finally put down the phone.
"What's wrong?" Teizatli, his wife, asked upon seeing the stricken expression on the Security Secretary's face. She then sighed; his expression said it all. She simply gave her husband a hug; no words seemed appropriate at that point to comfort a man who had just lost his best friend.
---
In other official government houses, other members of the Great Council and Cabinet would be receiving similar phone calls, along with an urgent summons to the Palace of Flowers. While an Emperor may have died, an Empire had to continue on. Twenty Xiomerans would meet to decide how to keep their nation going - and exactly when, and how, to tell the rest of the world that the center of Xiomeran stability for almost two decades was now conversing with the gods.
Imperial Military Hospital
October 3rd, 1:45 am, Xiomeran time
The soft beep of the machines monitoring the vital signs of the Emperor droned on, as it had for weeks. There had been no significant change in Topilpopoca's condition for so long that it had lulled those responsible for keeping track into a state of complacence. The nurse that was responsible for checking in on him, the guards at the door, the other nurses at the nurses' station. Nothing had changed. No one expected things to change.
But on the morning of October 3rd, they changed.
A sudden series of alarms caught everyone off guard, rising as the heart monitor attached to the Emperor began giving out the telltale sounds of failure. The head nurse at the nurses' station frantically reached for the intercom. "Code Blue! Code Blue!" she began shouting. The resuscitation team assigned to the IMH intensive care unit hurtled towards the Emperor's room. Nurses and the attending doctor desperately began trying to force the Emperor's heart back into a normal state; a defibrillator was applied to no effect. Even as the resuscitation team worked, the heart monitor slid into a flatline. Another nurse paged Lipilhitl to come to the Emperor's room.
After several minutes of trying, the attending doctor finally shut off the defibrillator. In a shaking voice, he told the head nurse to record the time of death. At 1:45 am, Topilpopoca, Emperor of Xiomera, finally lived up to the heartless reputation he had built over two decades, as his own heart finally gave up on him.
It was only then that the medical staff noticed that the Chief Surgeon had never arrived.
---
Upon hearing the Code Blue, and then his page, Lipilhitl nodded to himself. He quickly stripped off his scrubs and changed into street clothes, and grabbed his suitcase. Moving quickly, he managed to exit the hospital and drive himself to the nearest exit from the headquarters complex. At the gate, he told the guards that he needed to return home briefly. He silently prayed that the guards had not yet been notified of the Emperor's death. The moments stretched for an eternity, as Lipilhitl waited.
Fortunately for the Chief Surgeon, prayers worked better for him than they had for Topilpopoca. The guards handed back his ID, returned his salute, and allowed him to drive out.
As the taillights of Lipilhitl's car disappeared into the dark Tlālacuetztla night, the phone rang in the guards' station.
---
In the waiting room outside the intensive care unit, one of the Emperor's Shorn Ones personal guards walked over to where Yauhmi and Texōccoatl were sitting. As he whispered into Yauhmi's ear, the Emperor's wife sank slowly to the floor, her silent scream morphing into an angry wail. Her son sank to the floor beside her, his face blank as he tried to comfort her.
---
Xōchmal House
Official residence of the Secretary of Security
Montelin
October 3rd, 2:15 am, Xiomeran time
Tepilcayotl turned over in his bed as the phone rang. This had better be important to wake me at this hour, he thought grimly as he picked up the phone. "What is it?" he barked. As he listened to the voice at the other end of the phone, his face turned pale. He finally put down the phone.
"What's wrong?" Teizatli, his wife, asked upon seeing the stricken expression on the Security Secretary's face. She then sighed; his expression said it all. She simply gave her husband a hug; no words seemed appropriate at that point to comfort a man who had just lost his best friend.
---
In other official government houses, other members of the Great Council and Cabinet would be receiving similar phone calls, along with an urgent summons to the Palace of Flowers. While an Emperor may have died, an Empire had to continue on. Twenty Xiomerans would meet to decide how to keep their nation going - and exactly when, and how, to tell the rest of the world that the center of Xiomeran stability for almost two decades was now conversing with the gods.
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