Ensign Richard Matthews - And Nothing Exploded
Matthew Gough
(((Lab 3, Science, Deck 16, USS Khitomer))
Subjects A-1 through A-8 had faired about as well as they thought they would. Those were the group of gel packs tested without any form of protection. After a battery of testing ranging from small bursts of radiation that were gradually increased, and packs operating at different power levels, just to name a few. The gel packs with Vulcan alterations were left a dull, sickly green color. While the older models with no alterations to the generic humanoid like neurons and synapses looked to have fared better, the ones that hadn’t ruptured anyway, those had kept their pretty blue glow.
Subjects B-1 through B-8 and C-1 through C-8 were the packs with shielding. Group B had the solid-state shielding. Group C the cross-field modulation shielding. He likened group C’s shielding to the SDA they had been using during the last testing. The solid-state shielding seemed to be based on the subspace resonant hull plating. The hull platting provided a defense against the radiation. But without the resonance field that disrupted the radiation, the effect was not that great, really the plating was better as a conduit for the low-frequency subspace resonance field.
It was the subjects in group D however that their little team was most interested in. They weren’t hidden behind any shielding, just like the ones in group A. But unlike the packs in group A. The gel packs in group D that had Vulcan DNA spliced in, were fitted with telepathic inhibitors.
Why had they installed inhibitors into the gel packs? How had they installed inhibitors into the gel packs? Well, the why was because of Semara and her brilliant, if Richard said so himself, deduction regarding the impact Sencha radiation had on organic lifeforms with telepathic abilities.
The how was gross, cool, and fun, but gross. Involving opening the packs up and connecting the inhibitors to the meatiest part of the suspended cerebral neurons in the nutrient gel.
R. Matthews: Amazing, look at that! :: He pointed to the numbers on the screen the three officers stood around :: Following the same radiation dosages and power levels used to test the other groups. We have definitive results testing positive for the inhibitors used on subjects D6 through D8.
El’Heem / Semara: Response
R. Matthews: Oh there are signs of damage, but this proves Semara’s hypothesis or well at least it substantiates it.
El’Heem / Semara: Response
Moving over to a free station. Richard started punching numbers in, sitting the computer to run quick simulations to calculate the probability of gel pack conservation if the inhibitors were used in tandem with the other shielding options. Even if the combination of shielding and inhibitors didn’t increase the probability for success with shielding the ship’s systems and their telepathically inclined crew members. The inhibitors alone would give them a leg up on the Sencha wave weapon and the threat it posed.
It was just too bad this win came from those unsettling little devices. Richard had taken one look at the inhibitors that Ras had brought with him from sickbay. And almost puked. He’d found himself stuttering an apology to Semara because he was sure he had been telegraphic panic and fear loud enough to deafen someone who could hear his internal screaming.
They weren’t exactly like the devices the Senivans had used on the Vigilant crew 11 years ago. But they looked pretty darn close to the things that had been removed from Richard and his old crew. Devices that had suppressed their memories and implanted new ones.
R. Matthews: :: Turning to Semara :: So, if someone told me I had to use a device to suppress one of my senses, like sight. I would not be okay with that. I’d do it to save my life, of course but. :: He shrugged, not sure if he was voicing his worry correctly :: What would we need to do to support people being forced to suppress their telepathic senses? I don’t know what it’s like to have them, so I can’t imagine what it would be like to suppress them.
Semara: Response
TAGS/TBC
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Science Officer
USS Khitomer (NCC-62400)
A238908RM0