Ensign Herrick: Let there NOT be light
Mark P
((Sickbay, Deck 7, USS Oumuamua))
The sickbay dimmed around Josh as the cerulean doctor called out to reduce the
illumination — the young engineer wasn’t sure exactly what the doctor was
getting at, but he trusted the capable hands of the man that had already proven
his healing skills on Josh. In the darkened room, it was harder to make out the
details of his surroundings. The faint outlines were there, but it felt less
cramped and gave Herrick some relief.
Kel: It was that mine. We must have picked up something in that mine
that is photoactivated. T'Larn we're going to need to use the fMRI. Do you know
how to operate it?
T’Larn: It has been sometime but affirmative. I do know how operate a
Functional magnetic resonance imaging machine.
Josh wasn’t filled with confidence in that
statement; were T’Larn not a Vulcan, he may have asked them to brush up on
their knowledge, but they usually were quite sharp and excellent with
recall. Placing trust in others was hard but necessary — here and in his duty as
an officer.
Miash: Have you encountered this before doctor?
That question made Herrick tense up, his heartbeat
quickening, as the thought of being a ‘first case’ didn’t sit well with him. In
most of the medical holo-novels he played, the first case often died but the
post-mortem held the key for those afflicted in the future. At least Kovacs
would benefit, he thought grimly.
Kel: Not to worry Ensign I'll go in the scanner. You just hang tight and
we'll hopefully be able to apply our findings to both of us.
Miash: do you want me to run the machine doctor?
T’Larn: Apologies, but my background would suggest that I am the
::Choosing her word:: you may assist me.
Kovacs/Miash: Response
Herrick: Well… at least I have folks clamoring to help me. Glass half full?
T’Larn: Dr Kel, I do not see the correlation, An fMRI measures the flow
of blood that occurs with brain activity, yet we are talking about radiation. I
have to ask your reasoning.
Too many chefs in the kitchen, his mother’s
voice rang out inside his head. While medicine had mostly evolved to pure science
over the last millennia, there was still an artform to it — a blend of educated
and desperate guessing to create possible treatment plans. It was like top-notch
engineers trying to build a ship, everyone thought their idea was best, but it
was usually anyone’s game.
Kovacs/Miash: Response
Kel: We can use the instrument to check brain activity.
T’Larn: I see (beat) How logical! ::To Herrick and Kovacs:: Allow me to
provide comfort, we know what we are doing.
Herrick: Errr…
The audible noise of suspicion came out of his mouth before he could catch it. But now wasn’t the team to make the team second guess themselves.
Herrick: … (someone unconvincingly) Thanks?
Kovacs/Miash: Response
Josh turned his head, and he could make out the
figure of the doctor heading towards a nearby table. There weren’t many people
in Sickbay, but his antennae were a dead giveaway that it was him.
Kel: However, there's another approach that the MRI provides. In order
to scan, the magnet in the instrument will cause the atoms to spin in a unified
direction. When it changes the direction energy will be given off. Any
radionuclide in my system will emit at a different frequency than organic
molecules. That should let us isolate the radionuclide. Then we can figure out
how to remove it.
T'Larn/Kovacs/Miash: Response
The sight of the machine pulling the doctor inside the tunnel of the fMRI felt…
itchy to Josh. Almost like second-hand claustrophobia at this point. He was
thankful that Kel elected to take the first run at going in the machine before being
subjected to it.
Kel: How's it going?
T'Larn/Kovacs/Miash: Response
Kel: I'm guessing whatever we picked up is a radionuclide in some kind
of chromophore like chlorophyll. I'd expect some basic element like Radon or
Uranium. I doubt very much the mine was full of Plutonium.
Herrick: ::trying to take his mind off his own situation:: So... I see the
connection but how would that work with the artificial lighting in the ship?
Kel/T'Larn/Kovacs/Miash: Response
Josh hadn’t thought about it that way; instead of thinking with a plant mindset, he should be thinking about it from an energy conversion mindset. Now, like a video on rewind, he was playing back the events at the Esh-o colony. Only one thing stuck out as strange, but he had just chalked it up to a difference in cultures.
Herrick: The lighting at the colony wasn’t a Starfleet level of brightness. When we crashed into the colony, it was naturally lit during the day. At night, the streets had very low levels of artificial lighting – if you remember those lanterns. Maybe, they’ve just built their lifestyle around this issue rather than trying to fix what they might not know is wrong with them?
It was a stretch, but he offered the idea to the expects to see if it made sense.
Kel/T'Larn/Kovacs/Miash: Response
Herrick: Well, I’m not sure I can just have the computer following me around and dimming corridors on the go. (beat) It would feel pretty VIP.
Kel/T'Larn/Kovacs/Miash: Response
Tags and TBC