Foot loose

Ruby looked up from her microscope and moved to one side to make a note of something. As she did, her boot-laden foot struck the leg of the desk causing it to rock.

"Tsk... fuck's sake..." she muttered.

After making her note, she realised she needed a test tube from the desk behind her. She turned, and once again her foot caught the desk leg. She growled in frustration, but ignored it. As she neared the desk holding the test tubes, however, her foot caught the leg of this one instead. She leaned against the desk and sighed. Why were her boots suddenly making her so clumsy?

A sudden thought struck her.

Was this... was this some sign of the virus? Maybe there was some sort of atrophy or paralysis involving her feet. She tried to wriggle her toes, but within the tight confines of the boot they couldn't budge. Panicking, Ruby crouched down and tore at the Velcro covering the front of the boots. This revealed a zip underneath which she lowered with trembling fingers. She eased the boot off.

Her panic dissipated as she realised that her foot looked perfectly normal. Her toes responded normally when she tried to wriggle them. She lowered her bare sole to the floor, and was satisfied that it still had full feeling in it; the smooth sterilised floor felt cool beneath her feet.

Standing a little lop-sided, she realised how stupid she would probably look to the others. Satisfied that everything was alright, she lowered her hand to pick up the discarded boot... and stopped. She wasn't sure why she stopped. The boots were needed. The floor was clean and sterilised, sure, but there were safety protocols to adhere to. And, she noted as she looked over, a floor recently covered in broken glass. Although that was easily avoided. She could give the area a wide berth, in fact, and still have full access to the rest of the room. She bit her lip.

"I mean," she thought "It's obvious that the boots aren't the right size for me. Restricted movement, making me clumsy, could cause another accident..."

In fact, she realised as she began to remove the other boot, it was probably safer to go without. When Dr Onovich noticed she would probably praise Ruby's sound, logical and safety-driven thinking!

With the boots safely tucked underneath her work station, Ruby returned to her note making.

"Excuse me!" Dr Onovich called from the other side of the room. "Excuse me, everyvon! Can I haff your attention please?"

Oh no, thought Ruby. Had she been spotted? Was the Doctor about to question her decisions?