Lt. JG. Vhysa’lia - Wait, Did I Hear That Right?
Lich
(( Primary Sickbay – Deck 7, USS Artemis-A ))
Vhysa’lia: One of my goals here is to try everything I can at least once. ::pause:: Within reason, of course. I have no desire to get airlocked for swimming in Cetacean Ops, no matter how tempting it might be.
Bancroft: ::amused:: A wise boundary. I’ve heard the whales are excellent conversationalists, but notoriously strict about pool etiquette. ::tilting his head:: Still, trying everything? That’s ambitious. You must have a very forgiving threshold for chaos.
Vhysa’lia: Well, almost everything. My digestive system isn’t built to handle Earth foods… or really anything from this quadrant. ::sigh:: It’s a shame, as some of the things I’ve seen while strolling along Deep Space 224 really look incredible.
Bancroft: ::thoughtfully:: That is a tragedy. Half the reason I survived medical school was through emotional support fajitas. ::beat, then lightly:: I suppose we’ll just have to find out what your system can handle – and then reverse-engineer the perfect dessert. For medical science, obviously. And mischief.
She took the sterilised tricorder from Dr. Bancroft, giving it a quick (and unneeded) once-over, typing its serial number on her PADD, before stowing it away with the rest of the tricorders that they had finished processing on the tray. The suggestion felt slightly forward to them, and likely to end in embarrassment for all involved, they feared. It just wouldn’t do to gag at a colleague’s attempts to synthesize food she could eat.
Vhysa’lia: ::unsure:: I… guess? Kobali dietary needs aren’t the easiest to satisfy, though.
Bancroft: Well, I have tried my hand at cooking recently, although… I’d say the results were mixed at best. I suppose you can’t have risotto… or mushrooms… which in this case is probably a plus.
That didn’t bode well at all for her, if he was already admitting to being unpalatable for humans, let alone Kobali. But maybe he was bad enough that it would circle around to something that they could eat… they’d just have to see if his “risotto” and “mushrooms” at all resembled the greyish paste that they were used to.
Of course, mentioning that entire train of thought would likely be exceedingly unfriendly, so she just smiled and joked along with him.
Vhysa’lia: The perks of the Kobali diet, I suppose. We’re protected from bad cooks! ::laugh:: Perhaps we should put that in our Contact speech, we might get… more volunteers.
They didn’t get many volunteers at all, but it wouldn’t be correct to say that they got none. Certainly not as many as they would like, nor need, hence the tensions that still simmered sometimes between them and other species in the quadrant (and wider galaxy, now that such technologies as the Quantum Slipstream Whatever connected them).
Bancroft: Must be freeing, in a way – getting a second life. I’m sure it’s more complicated than that for Kobali, but still… ::wryly:: As far as I know, I’ve only got the one shot to sort myself out. ::thoughtfully:: I think you have to be senior staff before they start offering backup copies in the transporter buffer.
To Vhysa’lia, Dr. Bancroft seemed more curious, and open, than most, about his own mortality. It was somewhat refreshing, in a way, if not also mildly curious. Especially the pattern buffer bit.
As Dr. Bancroft reached for another tray, Vhysa’lia rechecked her work cataloging the completed tray and its contents. She tapped away at her PADD, making a final once-over of its components.
Vhysa’lia: ::playfully:: Don’t expect anything from me, Doctor. I think both the Federation and the Kobali Medical Corps would have my neck if I did any rogue reanimation in this quadrant.
They had a few samples of the regeneration pathogen in their quarters, of course, but that was simply for their own sake, should something end up negatively impacting their own physiology. The Kobali still remembered quite vividly how Starfleet had attempted to reverse the pathogen’s hold on one of their former crew, and she’d prepared for that possibility.
Bancroft: Response
Vhysa’lia: I don’t remember anything from the process, actually. Just waking up for the first time, decently confused. ::shrug:: I made out far easier than some of my peers.
Bancroft: Response
Vhysa’lia: Enough about me, though. Why are you curious about the mechanics of living again, via transport buffer or otherwise? Is this just medical interest…? ::holding her hands up to stop him from answering the first question:: Wait. Before you answer that, I forgot to ask… is that really something Starfleet does? Save backup copies of their senior officers in a transporter buffer in case of death?
It seemed somewhat ridiculous, and almost unnatural. Which, they supposed, was a bit rich coming from a Kobali, but at least their pathogen was something tangible.
Bancroft: Response
Tags/TBC :)