That We Might See (Part 5 of 8)

Posted on 22 Feb 2019 @ 6:29pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant Commander Ryan Alexander & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Alexion Wylde & EMH Mark X-C "Shirley" & Elegy Reiko & LuAnn Lovegood PhD

2,537 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: USS Galileo-A, Latari System
Timeline: MD 01, 0302 hrs

Previously, on That We Might See (Part 4)...

Marisa nodded. She glanced at Scarlet for permission and tapped the comm panel. "Astrometrics to bridge. Any way we could get a look at the far side of the planet to compare readings?"

The CSO's query was answered promptly enough by the captain who seemed preoccupied with another important matter. "Astrometrics, standby. We're retrieving a survivor from the debris field..."

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Deck 3 - Sickbay

Allyndra got to sickbay and was glad to see the EMH was activated. "Doctor Wylde, are we set for intensive care?"

Alexion nodded as he pushed himself away from the console, setting his hands on his hips. "Staff and equipment ready," he assured brusquely. After so long of having so little to do, the day was getting more and more surreal. A patient was something he was trained for and understood though. He welcomed the grounding interruption.

Moving to the specialized biobed, she then had her small team ready and called the bridge yet again. "Captain, we are ready for the surviving crew person."

A short pause followed then Lirha's voice replied, "Standby. Transporting to the ICU." She gave a hand gesture over her shoulder for Ops to begin the sequence.

Ryan typed in a sequence on his console, making sure that the transporter transferred the patient to sickbay. "Energizing," Ryan said making sure that everyone heard him.

As the transporter cycle activated, the occupant of the Starfleet life pod was quickly encompassed by shimmering blue light and converted into transporter particles. The form faded away, then the molecular signature was almost instantly transferred to Galileo's pattern buffers. In sickbay, the nearby LCARS displays suddenly came alive with multiple cautions and audible klaxons indicating an emergency situation.

"WARNING," sounded the ship's computer. "Unknown biochemical contaminant detected. Radiation warning. Initiate biohazard protocol Level 3. Chief Medical Officer authorization required." There was a quick pause then the message repeated with urgency. "WARNING, unknown biochemical contaminant detected -- radiation warning..."

"Institute containment, Allyndra Alpha Zeta Nine," Allyndra expected that from the reports while on the bridge. The force fields shimmered into place and at the same time a sort of glove like set appeared as well to keep the medical personnel both isolated and yet able to handle the patient.

The radiation was expected, the biological was not but that was the way of things. "Computer analysis of type of biological contaminant? Viral, bacterial, cellular or other?"

"Biochemical contaminant," answered the computer in a monotone voice, repeating the previous warning before elaborating. "Unknown microbial silicon detected within transporter buffer."

"Silicon?" Alexion repeated with confusion, looking to Allyndra with eyes that were a shade darker than usual, his frown deepening. Surely, it had to simply be a coincidence, with the area they were in. With the whispers and rumours that had been churning around the ship the last few days. A slight chill went up the back of his spine all the same.

Allyndra made a face. "Well when I heard biochemical then presumably residue from some sort of infection or contaminant but silicone?" She paused a moment thinking. "Well we have reverse isolation started for the radiation and we can start that treatment and decontamination. Let us see if the radiation is a result of a biochemical residue of an agent. Also we need to start immune support as much as possible. Radiation will bring the immune system down but if silicone based then we might be looking at immune response or T-cell siliconosis response. Alright let us get to work."

Upon the CMO's approval, the transporter isolation lock was released and the transport sequence off-loaded its stored person. Within the confines of the sickbay ward on the surgical bed, blue shimmering particles materialized a humanoid form on the bed curled in a horizontal fetal position. The brightness quickly faded away to reveal a Human with light skin and dirty, disheveled brown hair on both his face and head. The garments he wore were not Starfleet in nature but rather loose cotton garbs more fit for someone who engaged in manual labor.

The back of his clothes were torn and crusted with crimson blood stains, yet beneath the fabric revealed a terrible sight. Along the backs of the shoulder blades and center spine -- where there should have been skin covering bone -- were several large amber-colored legions protruding from the skin which resembled smooth geological crystals.

"Oh, my," LuAnn said. She was staying back where she was out of the way but available if anyone needed her to run errands.

Allyndra looked at the lesions but her concern was on the state the biobed scanner was giving. Radiation burns yes, but weird biochemical readings possibly from the infection and dehydration.

"Doctor Shirley," Allyndra did not turn away from the monitor. "Please get an IV drip, saline with glucose started. Doctor Wylde please see if you can get a sample of the growth for analysis." She noted out the corner of her eye LuAnn standing there. "Doctor Lovegood once we get a sample of the growth could you take to the lab and have the computer start an analysis please."

LuAnn nodded. "Yes, doctor."

Meanwhile, Shirley chirped back with a quick, "On it!" as she was already scurrying away from Doctor Allyndra. As an Emergency Medical Hologram, Shirley winked out of existence almost as soon as she started moving. A moment later, her holographic form coalesced beside a medical supplies locker. She swiped her thumb across the access toggle and the door panel receded into the bulkhead. Shirley snatched up three prepared saline cartridges and she carried them back to the biobed -- of course, with the saline in her hands, she had to take them the long way.

Given her own body was minimally susceptible to biochemical contaminants, Shirley approached the biobed with no hesitation. One by one, she inserted the saline cartridges into the biobed's housing and she reached for the biofunction monitor to activate the intravenous therapy functions of the bed's support frame. Shirley quickly backed away from the biobed, to allow Allyndra easy-access; all the while, she kept her eyes on the patient's vital signs, to observe how he responded to their initial treatments.

"Doctor Lovegood as soon as you get anything back from the analyzers please let us know." Allyndra nodded and continue to shake her head.

"Yes, doctor." LuAnn said as she headed for the lab.

"Doctors," she pointed to some of the readings. "Take a look at this. The radiation burning is coming from within. It would appear that whatever our silicone based thing is doing it is utilizing radioactive material. There are extremophils that do that elsewhere, taking uranium for example from one valent state to another, reducing the substrate as an electron donor. I just can not get a handle quite on how we are going to get rid of that without massive chelation."

While Allyndra was sharing her observations and interpretations, Shirley stepped back from the other medical officers. She took station at a free-standing LCARS console and set to swiping the pads of her fingers over the controls. Following the lead of Allyndra’s curiosity, Shirley adjusted the focus of the overhead sensor cluster to look more closely at the contaminant. As a result, new sensor data scrolled across the large LCARS display. A sensor composite of the patient's body materialized beside the current vital signs. "You're right, Doctor," Shirley remarked; "It's not as if there's only one source of contamination." --Orange circles appeared on the LCARS representation of the patient's form to represent the crystallized lesions-- "The contaminants are located in multiple..." Shirley trailed off, her mouth hanging open as she did so.

Squinting at the new information scrolling onto the LCARS display, Shirley tapped her fingertip on the edge of the interface panel twice. She shook her holographic head twice too. "I don't think the sensors have been calibrated appropriately," Shirley declared, waggling her finger at the equipment with a dismissive gesture. "They seem to think the patient's own tissues around the contaminants are not fundamentally based on carbon and water anymore. The scanners are identifying those infected portions of the patient's tissue as silicon and acid based." Hardly finishing her thought out loud, Shirley laughed mechanically at the absurdity of it.

It didn't take long, relatively speaking, for the lab techs to run their analyses. LuAnn reentered sickbay and held out a PADD to the doctor. "Analysis shows silicone dioxide. There are still traces of original carbon DNA, but it's degrading."

Scrunching up her face into a puzzled expression, Shirley muttered, "What? Huh?"

Allyndra still was shaking her head trying to figure out what was going on. It was almost like the man was being slowly consumed or even transformed. It made no sense what so ever to her way of thinking.

"Doctor Shirley, if you could please give a cortical stimulator, a strong one. I know, I know it might just kill our patient but maybe we can get some information."

Whatever bafflement, and problem-solving, had been distracting Shirley was instantly pushed away when Allyndra gave the order. She snatched up a pair of cortical stimulators from an anti-grav equipment tray and she raced to the patient's side. "Maybe it can even save him," Shirley countered, as she affixed the small stimulator pads to the patient's temples. As soon as the pads had come within a prescribed radius of the biobed, their operational controls appeared on the bed's LCARS panel. While Shirley tapped the settings on the panel, she reported aloud, "Starting with seventy microvolts." She hit the activation contact for a quick pulse, causing the cortical stimulators let out a whine of electrical discharge. Like the other medical officers, Shirley watched the biofunction monitor for a heart-stopping second. By her assessment, she could see no change in the vital signs, even after she activated the stimulators again for a second pulse.

"Increasing to eighty microvolts," Shirley announced before she pulsed the cortical stimulators again. She saw the patient's face twitch even before the vital signs displayed a minimal blip of a change. She tapped the activation again and again, which caused the blip to turn into a rhythm of activity.

They waited several moments but the patient's biosigns of mental activity began to rise. At least the infection or whatever it was had not reached that portion yet.

The patient inside the containment field started to twitch. Slowly at first while the cortical stimulator worked, then more violently as he began to regain consciousness. "..ah..aahhh," came the first vocalizations, "AaaHHHhhH!" he began to yell, in obvious distress. His body thrashed about on the biobed, and when he opened his eyes, one of them had somehow been altered to possess an amber-colored lens.

Allyndra figured that something like this might happen and nodded to the rest to help hold the patient while she put a device on his head. It would block the pain centers for a bit. They needed to not be working through drug induced pain relief.

Taking a look at the readings, she saw the brain activity again at higher levels but the infection or whatever it was, was spreading and she was not sure after so many days and also such an odd change that the patient would survive. This was quite beyound anything in the medical databases that she had ever heard of. Right now, though she wanted to help, it was more important to get information.

She leaned over and said, "I am Commander Allyndra aboard the Federation vessel USS Galileo. You are in the sickbay with an infection like nothing I have ever seen. Your ship and the colony was destroyed, can you give us any information on what happened, who was responsible and what has happened to you?""

His eyes fluttered open. He sucked in a raggedy breath of air between his teeth. The patient's gaze searched the overhead for answers, or for familiarity, or maybe for a good bacon sandwich. What he actually found left his mouth agape and his eyes even wider. His pupils constricted. He looked to Allyndra as if he were staring up into the face of god. He tried to speak, but all that came out was a staccato groan, as if his vocal cords were made of jagged glass. For the moment, at least, there were no crystalline lesions in his esophagus. He licked his lips and he closed his mouth, trying to swallow his own saliva. When he tried to speak again, his eyelids began to flutter. "Mmm I--" he said at a croaked whisper. His fluttering eyelids fully closed, hiding both his hazel-irised eye and the amber-irised one too. "Ehm I alive?" he finally asked.

LuAnn watched in fascination.

"Yes," Allyndra replied but in her thoughts it was for now.

Opening his eyes again, the patient stared up at the overhead. His gaze didn't cross path with Allyndra, nor any of the other medical officers. That vacant stare of his offered no clues to suggest if he had heard Allyndra's questions or her responses. He stayed silent, staring blankly, until his his face crumpled into a wince of discomfort. The neural modulator continued to block his pain receptors, but there was another type of experience getting through to his consciousness. The patient groaned again, and through heavy lips and tongue, he asked, "W's I stasis? Skin feels... frozen."

"No in an escape pod for quite awhile. Can you remember anything at all about what happened to you, the ship or the colony?" Allyndra inquired. She was not sure about this odd infection and clashes in biochemistry, and had very little hope for a long term prognosis. She wanted to help but right now information was much more valuable than trying to do something with something they knew very little about.

"How--" the patient started to ask, but he became distracted when he squinted at Allyndra and then squinted at the overhead. Holding one thought in his head at a time was feeling difficult enough, let alone juggling two or three. Utterly confused by his surroundings, he finally asked, "How'd you get in m'escape pod?"

The captain's voice came over the comm and interrupted the chatter among the medical team. "Sickbay, bridge. Report. Do you have the survivor? Are they alive?"

Allyndra walked away for a moment but before she did she looked to Wylde and LoveGood. "See what you can get from him on how he came in this state and what happened. " She then went a distance away and answered the call.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A

CMDR Allyndra Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer/2XO
USS Galileo-A

CWO3 Alexion Wylde
Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Blake]

ENS Ryan Alexander
Operations Manager
USS Galileo-A

Elegy Reiko
Patient Zero
Colonist
[PNPC ir-Llantrisant]

EMH Mark X-C "Shirley"
Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC ir-Llantrisant]

LuAnn Lovegood
Counselor
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Sandoval]

RSS Feed