She sat, rose, sat again—unable to stay still. Every clock tick drove home the creature’s fragility. What if the net had trapped it for days? What if seawater mixed with oil already poisoned its blood? She pictured the larger bear, waiting on cold sand, unaware of laboratory beeps and IV lines.
Another tech hurried past carrying a tiny endotracheal tube swabbed in lubricant. “How bad?” Tessa asked. The woman exhaled. “Worst I’ve seen this season. Usually birds come in like this, not mammals.” She vanished into the surgical room.