We Meet Again At Last

Posted on 27 Aug 2014 @ 3:29am by Lieutenant Olsam Mott & EMH Mark X-C "Shirley"
Edited on on 28 Aug 2014 @ 11:03am

1,079 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 3, Main Sickbay
Timeline: MD07, 0800 hrs

[ ON ]

Olsam entered Sickbay with all the enthusiasm of a man walking to his own execution. He moved to the middle of the room, lowered his head, pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a long sigh. He never thought he'd actually have to say these words in his entire life. The thought of it actually brought on a pain in his lower abdomen; though, in all fairness, that could have been the morning's three hasperat breakfast burritos.

"Computer," he began, feeling the words catch in his throat, "activate the Emergency Medical Hologram."

With a moment's delay the EMH materialised on the far side of the room to the Bolian, before turning to look at the organic that had summoned him. Almost immediately the usually pleasant yet plain expression on the hologram's face dissolved as quickly as the rest of his body had appeared, as his visual protocols finished their cross reference against the personnel files for the ship.

Olsam stared at him, contempt reflected not only in his features but in the arms-folded hostility of his stance. "Well, did you get those files, or did you spend the entire time of my quarantine sitting around doing what you're best at? That would be 'nothing,' by the way, since I'm sure you'd struggle to find the answer due to your limited programming."

The EMH resisted the urge in his logic subroutines to inflict a blunt, concussive force against the Bolian's lower mandible, taking at least an imitation of a deep breath before continuing.

"Unlike you organics, my program continues to operate even when my physical body is offline - so yes - the requested files are ready."

Olsam first looked annoyed, then skeptical. "Oh really? You managed to retrieve medical files from the Cardassian government on a bunch of miners?" He found it hard to believe that with the EMH's personality (or lack thereof) he'd managed to extract information from the most secretive bureaucracy in the galaxy, even though he'd had nearly a full week to do it. Then again, maybe he just annoyed them into submission. "Let me see them."

"The Cardassian central government places low priority on civillian medical records. It simply required me to send off a subspace communique through the proper channels and to receive a response from a delegate from the Cardassian Medical Board. A simple task really, but I understand if you would have been unable to keep up."

Turning to the nearby shelf the EMH picked up a PADD and deftly brought up the records before showing them to the Bolian.

"I think you'll find these in good order."

Of course Olsam did find them in good order, which just made him all the more annoyed. He searched for several minutes looking for any discrepancy and finally huffed when he couldn't find one. "And I suppose you also retrieved the information for the Federation miners and cross-referenced them with the Cardassian files, checking for any indicators that might explain mass hallucinations? You looked at the mental health screenings, compared physiologies and biochemical profiles? Searched for susceptibilities to psionic or telepathic manipulation?"

The look on the Bolian's face was smug, suggesting he thought the EMH hadn't gone through those steps. He was, after all, something like a glorified personal assistant, completely incapable of critical thought, problem solving, or self-direction without input from an "organic."

"Are my photons contained within forcefields? What exactly do you take my program for? A Bolian organic Doctor? Hmph!"

The EMH picked up a second PADD that supplied information regarding the Federation civilians who were involved in the operation. Each of them had been given a routine and through medical before and during their mining activities and as such the information was far more thorough than their Cardassian counterparts.

"I'm unable to detect anything that would indicate mental manipulation or coercion - there were increased levels of certain neurotransmitters that would indicate a fear response in the Cardassian subjects - not that I would imagine that unusual for a group being terrorised."

Olsam snorted in response, still caught up on the 'Bolian organic doctor' comment. The audacity of this thing!

"Yes, well, I'll just double-check your work," Olsam said, holding one PADD up in each hand to study. He stayed silent for several long moments, silently hoping the EMH might get bored or deactivate on a timer. By the time he was finished reviewing the data, he was annoyed to see the thing was still there. "Well. There's no fault in your analysis...for the most part. It seems like we can safely rule out any physiological reasons for the miners' experiences. Have you already submitted your findings to Dr. Allyndra?"

"Not yet. I believe that would be the next logical step however." The EMH replied, crossing it's holographic arms smugly across it's chest as it's auditory subroutines confirmed that the Bolian had run out of ways to insult the hologram's workmanship.

"I'll handle that," Olsam said haughtily, holding up the PADD to indicate what he'd be conveying to the CMO. "Maybe it'll be convincing enough for Ops to keep the power flowing to your program another week longer. You know, earning your keep and all that. Must be nice sitting around in your holo-buffer, no patients to see, no tasks to perform, no medications to prescribe, so paperwork to file. Just lounging around until someone materializes you, then disappearing to do whatever it is you do." Suddenly suspicious about the EMH's off-duty activities, Olsam narrowed his eyes at the hologram. "What do you do when you're deactivated?"

"Why Doctor Mott - I study the psychological profiles of Bolians of course. A fascinating subject."

The hologram replied before giving a curt nod and heading off to the laboratory, knowing that his program would be deactivated shortly.

"Computer, deactivate Emergency Medical Hologram," Olsam said, resisting the urge to add 'and purge all associated memory banks.' He watched the hologram disappear with no small amount of satisfaction then whipped his head around to look at one of the holoprojectors over his shoulder. He was probably in there somewhere, watching. Studying his little psychological profiles. Trying to anticipate when, where and how they'd next meet, like an enemy general preparing to meet his opponent on the field....

[ OFF ]

Lieutenant Olsam Mott, M.D.
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

&

EMH Mk-X
Emergency Medical Hologram
USS Galileo
pNPC Holliday

RSS Feed