Ensign Richard Matthews – Special Delivery
Matthew Gough
((Deck 12–11, Jefferies, USS Khitomer))
Grunting and groaning as he pulled himself through the Jefferies tube. Richard promised himself that he’d put an extra hour in at the gym every day for the next week or two. Honestly. This should have been easier in zero gravity, right? Right?
R. Matthews: Ugh, fu — ugh, fun times.
He grunted out, pulling himself up to one of the access panels along the path up to the sickbay. He’d just grab one from here because it would be easier to note two gel packs missing from engineering level. Then trying to remember where he’d taken one while climbing through the tubes. Better that than some ensign being sent on a wild goose chase to find a missing slot for a gel pack. Cursing his name.
He popped the panel open. The lack of gravity making the actions awkward. Working to keep the access panel from closing on him, trying to keep from floating away himself, and getting at the pack without breaking anything. Oh, and getting the pack out without breaking anything.
R. Matthews: C’mer, :: He said reaching in to pull at the pack :: what are, are you stuck on, aha!
Richard held up the pack. Even with the less than effective lighting, his tricorder was providing in the dark tubes. He could tell something was right with the thing. For one thing, he was pretty sure it was supposed to be a shade of blue. Not a sickly green.
R. Matthews: Okay, let’s get you to a do- AH!
Cut off by the sudden feel of the pull of gravity. Richard toppled to the floor. Thankfully a short trip in the small crawl space. But he was unprepared, and of course he dropped at just the right angel to tweak something.
R. Matthews: Ah-owowow. :: He reached down to pull the pack out from under him where he’d landed on it :: Please don’t be broken, please don’t be broken, oh, thank goodness.
He held up the pack again. This time under the glow of internal lighting that he’d just noticed was back on. He could see for certain that the dark pack in his hand. And the glowing packs, still connected to the ship, were a sickly green color. With darker splotches all over.
R. Matthews: Ew, nasty.
Getting up onto his hands and knees. Richard started crawling. He called out for the computer for an update but got none. So not all the systems were back up yet. Great. His best bet was more than likely to follow his original plan and climb through the tubes up to deck six and get to sickbay from there. Gritting his teeth, he started the slow and somewhat laborious journey.
oO Okay, extra hour a day at the gym, and diet soda instead of the regular stuff. Oo
((Deck 6, Outside Sickbay, USS Khitomer))
Wait, why was? Nope, best not to think about this right now. He’d ask later about why the door to sickbay was like this. Gritting his teeth, Richard dug his fingers in between the small gaps between the doors that he could. And pushed. The universe forcing him to make good on his promise to do an extra hour's worth of working out.
With a final grunt, he pushed his self in, well okay. Richard pushed open the door enough to stumble into the room. Quickly righting himself to appear a little more graceful as he surveyed the room. Nodding to people he recognized and people he didn’t alike. Because he was graceful like that.
R. Matthews: Hi, I bring gifts, they’re not my gifts. I would bring you something nicer. Commander Deitt sent me.
Ohnari: Huh. Connor always sends me super weird gifts...::winkly playfully towards Ayemet:: Bring it over here, will you?
Richard, limping a little, made his way over. Holding out the gel pack he’d been ordered to bring on up to sickbay.
R. Matthews: Here you go.
Ayemet: Response
Ohnari: ::turning towards the corridor:: Hey Othrin, I've got to handle something out here. Bring out the available suits and take stock of the backup battery systems. I'd rather have them and not need them...
Othin: You got it, Doc.
Ohnari: Connor sent me bad broccoli....?
R. Matthews: That is one radiated bio-neural gel pack. Commander T’Dara has advised that they’re vulnerable Sencha radiation. She thinks we didn’t experience this problem before during the battle of Deep space 33 because we weren’t stationary, taking the full brunt of the waves for long periods of time.
Ayemet: Response
Ohnari: I see...fascinating things, Bio-neural gel, a complex yet somewhat symbiotic combination of organic materials and sophisticated circuitry...::cooing softly:: You aren't feeling very well, little thing...::glancing around at the other two:: What? I'm used to my patients having the capability of talking....
R. Matthews: :: Nodding :: Sure.
And he found himself biting his tongue again. This time not to try to keep from saying something rude, though. But just to keep from making a bad joke. He was in the presence of people he respected, after all.
Ayemet: Response
Richard tiptoed after the others. Staying back enough to be out of the way. But close enough to watch the going ons and listen in. Spotting what looked like a blue bat like creature on the CMO’s back. Richard found himself raising a hand, mouth open to say, something. What he didn’t know. ‘Chief, did you know there’s a thing on your shoulder? Oh, of course you did, how silly of me.’ But he didn’t and as another medical officer came around with equipment. Hazmat suits, shoot, they should be in those due to the radiation, shouldn’t they? Ohnari sat about, situating the little creature on the exam table next to her.
Aborting his original gesture. Richard just waved at the little guy. Who studiously ignored him, which was fair, Richard would ignore him to if he was a little bat thing.
Ohnari: =/\= Sickbay to Commander Dewitt =/\=
C.Dewitt: =/\= Response =/\=
Ohnari: =/\= My preliminary guess? With that overload, the Sencha wave compromised the biological component of the cells, I am assuming acute radiation uh...well not exactly sickness, considering it's biological matter cells but...yeah. That's my hypothesis so far, as far as that helps.
C. Dewitt: =/\= Response =/\=
Moving to pick up one of the suits. Richard started pulling it on.
R. Matthews: =/\= Commander, I’m going to stick up here, if that’s okay? =/\=
C. Dewitt: =/\= Response =/\=
R. Matthews: =/\= Just in case medical needs assistance with the mechanical aspect of the bio neural circuitry. I sent Lieutenant Croix your way with another pack per T’Dara’s request. You should get that shortly =/\=
C. Dewitt: =/\= Response =/\=
Jumping in place while he zipped up the suit. Richard twisted to face the others. He didn’t bother to put on the hazmat’s helmet yet. He’d been carrying that little pack directly on his person. It was safe to say if the air based inoculation that he’d taken hadn’t protected him. Putting this on now was a moot point. He’d wait for the other’s to suit up and put on his helmet, then. Assuming they’d need to suit up when or if they cracked the pack open.
He didn’t think the absorbed radiation in the pack would be more deadly then. But he was concerned about the darker spots in the sickly looking green gel. Who knew what was growing in there right now.
R. Matthews: Mind if I scrub in? It’s been a spill, but I think my bedside manner is up to snuff for a patient that doesn’t talk back, can’t complain anyway.
Ohnari: Response
R. Matthews: :: Moving around to stand on one side of the doctor :: We’re lucky that in recent contacts with this weapon. The exposure hasn’t been prolonged. If this happened to a ship under attack. They’d be dead in the water.
Ohnari/Ayemet: Response
R. Matthews: :: Picking up his tricorder from where he’d laid it down :: I’ve been doing some engineering courses since I’ve been back. There are surprisingly a lot of different cases of infections they can pick up. But this is only the second case of radiation poisoning I know of.
Ohnari/Ayemet: Response
R. Matthews: A lot of the academy’s case studies were based on mission reports from Voyager. There was a mission report about exposure to subnucleonic radiation. But I think that’s different. This looks more like radiation poisoning compared to the radiation burns from subnucleonic radiation. I think.
Ohnari/Ayemet: Response
TAGS/TBC
_________
Ensign Richard Matthews
Science Officer
USS Khitomer (NCC-62400)
A238908RM0