Lt. (jg) Toz - Let's science it
Patty Boyle
((Conference Room, Deck 1, USS 'Oumuamua ))
Toz: Lieutenant, can we trust Berglijð in our labs? You know I’m not fond of the creatures.
Katsim: I don’t know.
It wasn’t the answer Toz expected. Well, she didn’t really know what she’d expected or wanted. She liked the little Bajoran and had great faith in her scientific abilities. So it was just the answer Toz would need to accept.
Katsim: Sometimes we just have to have faith…
Faith. Her mother often told her to have Faith. Faith that she’d find something to interest her enough that she would settle in and learn it. Faith that the right boy would come along (he didn’t) and she’d get married, have a granddaughter that Thelma Tozer K’chut could spoil then send home to her mother to deal with.
A rustle and Toz turned around to see Cmdr. Brodie. Lt. Kasim spoke first.
Katsim: Sir.
She inclined her head to the counsellor.
Brodie: Response
Toz: Sir. Good to see you again.
Katsim: Commander, would you be willing to contact Berglijð and invite him to collaborate with us here?
If anyone could convince them, it was likely to be Brodie. The man had a way with people - even strange ones.
Katsim: And meet us in Science Lab 2?
Toz: ::very quietly:: Hopefully not.
Brodie: Response
Peri was nodding. Once they found out whether or not Berglijð would join them and the group was all assembled, they could truly get down to business. Turning to offer another small smile, Peri finally did make it to the door and out into the hallway, Toz following on her heels.
((Science Lab 2, USS Oumuamua)
As expected, Brodie had been quite successful in recruiting one of the two Suculese she and the away team on the dome had met.
Berglijð entered the lab slowly. It seemed slow to Toz. Maybe that was his normal gait.
Toz tried not to take a step back, away from him (was it a ‘him’?). She wasn’t successful but in her movement, she suddenly moved to the side, hoping he would think she was just giving him space he may or may not need.
The creature’s sails were furled tightly but loosened as he looked around at the lab. The appearance of someone (or something) that recognised where he was and was comfortable with that.
Katsim: All right. So…we know that your people need the sap…
Lt. Katsim’s shifted to the creature as she moved over to a console.
As Peri spoke, the continuous thrum of a tricorder met with the ships inbuilt universal translator circuits. A soft howling rang through the air.
Katsim: Maybe now that the translator has had more time…can you give us more information? Oh…doctor, could you…could you scan that appendage?
Berglijð: Toucher, the sap keepth the affliction subdued. It was by chance a sign clade should stop.
Toz was trying hard to fully understand what the creature was saying so didn’t respond immediately to the science officer’s request. But with a hard shake of her head, she nodded and turned her attention to the ‘leg’ she still carried.
It occurred to her before the briefing that she would end up somewhere other than sickbay’s lab so she tucked the thing in an evidence bag, sealed it up and took it with her. After all, it was the only one she had. And now, under the high powered microscope her own facilities didn’t have, Toz noticed that the metal part was all of the leg. What trace organic material was there belonged to the creature standing before her.
Suculese. She needed to start thinking of him as a sentient being. And treat him as such.
Brodie: Response
Berglijð: Nay, it is a sickness of the very corpuscles and hidden areas of the control box. From generations henceforth, the affliction worsens until the stillness sets. No movement, silent. For 800 cycles, my clan has toiled on this rock. Only to form a bastion against the flood, not stop the waters entirely. Methinks one cannot dam the sea.
He hoped that explanation was enough for them to understand.
Katsim/Brodie: Response
Toz: Lieutenant, commander, the material in my earlier report was incorrect. It appears that the leg is part Suculese and the metal is a… straw of sorts.
Katsim/Brodie: Response
Toz: The sap is drawn up and placed directly into the storage device we were observing on the Eesse ship. If you’ll take a look and let me know if I’m right, I think we’ll have a least some answers.
Katsim/Brodie/Berglijð: Response
————————-
Lt. (jg) Toz
Medical Officer
USS ‘Oumuamua
T239811T14