Ensign Richard Matthews - Vulcan DNA
Matthew Gough
((Deck 16, Science Lab, USS Khitomer))
Semara: :: Straightening, eyes narrowing :: 'Scuse me, ensign? You made a Sencha Emitter?
Kind of, was on the tip of his tongue to say. He had made it, but he hadn’t ‘made it’ the specs were already on file. In truth, when he’d saw the different plans that included smaller versions of the emitter, his first thought had been to learn how to take the blasted things apart. The bright idea to actually use it before taking it apart had come to him somewhere between carrying the pieces from the replicator to the work bench.
R. Matthews: All safety precautions are being taken, there’s a field up around the table right now even when not in use.
Semara: :: Dubiously :: A field like the one Khitomer was trialing? :: Beat :: And you clearly forgot the safety precaution: "inform another officer." What was the plan if you accidentally dosed yourself with no one else here? Doesn't inspire a lotta confidence. :: A sigh :: You're lucky I'm in a good mood. :: Beat :: My paracortex will thank you for destroyin' that thing before I leave this room. And for never makin' another without askin' first.
Richard paused, no, a field to the specifications of the new shielding when in use. Regular radiation protection now while powered down and the geiger readings the computer was constantly running had it in the clear. The mini emitter really acted like a small phaser, with little to no radiation ‘escaping’ when in use. It was troubling, not the fact that it was safer than you might think, but that there were plans on file that ran towards weaponizing the emitter.
He didn’t say any of that, though. He might not be psychic, but Richard could tell when he’d annoyed someone! He usually didn’t care, unless he liked the person, and wanted them to continue being happy with him. But he could tell, and Semara was giving him that familiar ‘what the hell, Richard?’ look. It wasn’t as pointed as it could be. Bless her. But to avoid her anger, or worse, her disappointment, he’d just nod and move right along.
Semara: Alright, we'll fix it. What happened to the rest of the gel packs?
R. Matthews: And, ugh :: He shrugged :: Cleaning the units while they were being radiated didn’t keep them healthy. They didn’t even take longer to explode!
Amelia laughed and Richard mentally did a little fist pump. That sounded less annoyed!
Semara: Alright. We got some packs that survived. It ain't because of air filterin'. You can't fix the ones that get irradiated, 'least not with surgery. Let's take a moment an' think this through before we explode another one... What do we know about the packs that survived?
R. Matthews: Elaborate? Do you mean what we know about gel packs in general that could account for this? Or?
Semara: Have you looked at the packs themselves? Batch numbers, production locations, design variations, that kinda thing? This ship has been refitted and fixed up a few times, so they ain't gonna be uniform.
The more she thought about it, the more she was beginning to understand the problems Richard was running into. How does one even begin to control for all the possible variables in play here?
R. Matthews: :: Eyeing the remains of a few of the packs wearily :: I can get an inventory list from the quartermaster that should tell us what batches they’re from. I have been checking the hardware on the packs we removed and the ones that were okay. We’ve had them all completely replaced now, and the clear packs are currently here in the lab for testing. But cross-examining the packs hasn’t revealed any major differences.
Semara: Y'know, I've been lookin' at some some stats 'bout symptomatology of Sencha on telepaths for my own work. It's frustrain' how poorly understood it is. Even for a particular dose, it seems like the range of outcomes is huge. Might be unrelated, but it reminds me a lot of what you're seein'.
R. Matthews: :: Standing a little straighter as Semara’s words wash over him :: Huh.
There was something, Richard frowned as the neurons in his own noggin tried to fire off. Semara was getting close to something. He could feel it.
Semara: Actually - Neural gel packs... y'know, I never stopped to ask. Who's neurons? :: Beat :: I mean, I know they ain't an actual person's brain cells, but the synthetic neural gene sequences didn't just come from nowhere, right? :: Beat :: How much you wanna bet a Vulcan engineer with a little too much hubris incorporated a little too much Vulcan genetics into their gene matrices? :: A weird little grin. :: Wanna sequence some DNA?
The things Richard could tell you about neural gel packs could fill a small pamphlet. They fell under engineering’s purview, despite the biological aspect. He’d read the standard info doc on them, of course. And he could rattle off, ‘ they are based on the structure and function of humanoid (human-like) brains.’ But if you were to hold a phaser to his head and ask him to tell you what humanoid brain was used? He’d hope that person would at least tell his friends and family that he loved them. Because he was not walking away from that one.
R. Matthews: That’s. . . Oh my god, is that why they’re so susceptible? If not because of Vulcan DNA. Because the neurons in general are developed enough for extra sensory perception?
Richard blinked.
R. Matthews: The implications. Semara the implications!
Semara: Response
Spinning around, he darted towards the console he had been working at. Stopping to brush away a glob of slime - ew, he made a face, whipping it off in his uniform pants. Then he was typing away, bringing up medical files, and medical encyclopedias, some journals.
R. Matthews: You’re probably onto something, though. If I were designing biotech, I’d go for organic matter that was as resilient as possible. Vulcan DNA would work, I wonder if we wanted more redundant systems, would splicing a Klingon in there help? But no, focus Richard, Vulcan DNA and possible telepathic ships.
Richard froze. Then he looked up and said.
R. Matthews: Computer, personal log, creative writing. Note, ‘Psychic Star Ships’ File under ‘Star Ships that Eat People’ thanks.
Semara: Response
R. Matthews: Don’t worry about it. Anyway, What are you thinking? We can’t actually replicate a gel pack to play around with. But like, do you want to build a one on the computer and compare it to the packs we have here?
Semara: Response
R. Matthew: Say less :: He turned around and pressed a few buttons :: Okay, ignore the smiling DNA strand. I got bored and to make work more fun . . . Mr. DNA, I forgot to reset the programming. Oh shoot, that’s probably why Stelok was giving me annoyed looks. I was having fun with science.
Semara: Response
R. Matthews: :: whistling while he tried to quickly reset the sequencer :: Yeah, I might have taken some liberties while helping with the project that Stelok was working on for the exopaleontology department. :: The smiling DNA strand flickered and then there was a more normal looking DNA strand :: So, are you thinking that the Vulcan DNA might have introduced a surprise weakness because of its telepathic capabilities? I wonder why some of the packs were not impacted then? Because there are different templates for the packs in use? Maybe some are Vulcan and some are not?
Semara: Response
TAGS/TBC
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Ensign Richard Matthews
Science Officer
USS Khitomer (NCC-62400)
A238908RM0