Survivors

Posted on 04 May 2024 @ 1:14pm by Lieutenant JG Thalla zh'Ennev MD

499 words; about a 2 minute read

Mission: Enigma Variations
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Current

Doctor Thalla zh'Ennev took the tricorder containing the latest detailed scans from one of the survivors they had rescued from the Bixilfiz and uploaded the results to the ship's main computer. The results didn't make much sense, much like the results from the other survivors, but the discovery of isolinium on the freighter brought things into a different perspective.

Her antennae twitched as the results were being ingested into the ship's computer. As with the previous scans, there was no discernible pattern, nothing that would explain the injuries they had sustained, except...

There was something there, just out of reach, she could feel it. She had been investigating the readings for the past three hours, and had collected three hourly scans from each of the six patients, uploading them to the computer every time for analysis. Her antennae twitched again as she pushed back a lock of her white Andorian hair and tucked it behind her ear.

The display on the monitor changed yet again, and the pattern made even less sense. She brought up information on isolinium, and read it again for what seemed like the hundredth time.

She took a sip of Corellian tea. Since she had been a teenager, she'd lived on a dozen starships and starbases, moving around with her family, and later entering the Academy and serving on various starships. Each ship's replicator systems had a tiny variance, producing a very subtle difference in taste. Corellian tea was her baseline to compare the replicators. The ones on the Cygnus, which had been her new home since the latest layover at Deep Space Nine, were just a bit over the median. Not the best she'd ever tasted, but definitely far from the worst.

"Computer," she said, her voice hesitant. "The breakdown of isolinium produces halyonic radiation, correct?"

"That is correct," replied the computer.

"Add another dimension to the analysis to account for each patient's species, age and weight."

The display changed yet again.

"Halyonic radiation breaks down the hydrocarbon chains differently among various species," she thought aloud. "Coranites and Kryosians are practically immune to halyonic radiation, but Bolians and humans are particularly susceptible to it. Factor in the breakdown in hydrocarbons based on the time since the hull breach."

The display changed, to a linear graph showing the data. As expected, there were signs of halyonic radiation exposure, but each patient had been exposed to differing levels of radiation.

"Based in the physical location of each patient, extrapolate the location and intensity of the source."

The display changed to a holographic representation of the freighter. Located on the third deck, a red dot blinked, roughly eight meters from the outer bulkhead.

Thalla tapped her combadge. "Doctor zh'Ennev to Doctor Winters. I think I have something."

The red dot kept blinking on the hologram, a representation of a small canister of unstable isolinium, ready to explode and take half the freighter with it.

. . . . . . . . .

A post by Doctor Thalla zh'Ennev
Junior medical officer
Played by Temerant Bast

 

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