Medicine is a real Science

[atadiscoverer]

[Medical Labs / Sickbay - Multiple Days]

So, it's been a busy few days, and a few days where a certain Dr. Beckett has basically been a permanent fixture in Sickbay and the labs adjacent. He'll have been seen bustling in and around, always with a PADD, Tricorder, hypospray or specimen vial in his hand.

He's running tests, comparisons, air screenings, water screenings, filter screenings, asking other people for their advice on terms and systems he knows not a thing about... He's quite the dilligent worker... or obsessed, whichever you prefer.

He always has time to answer questions, though, even though he has few answers at this point. People can catch him in Sickbay, or on the way to the labs. When in the labs, he can be seen hunched over equipment, asking the computer questions, and, sometimes, even holding what seems to be a non-Federation scanning device. When he's using this piece of equipment, he's physically writing things down in an odd-looking language.

He may seem tired, but one thing that never fails is his professionalism and dedication.

Comments

[theycallmetodd]

Normally, there would have been a Wraith hanging around the labs and the sickbay as well, if not with the same dedication as the good Doctor Beckett. He's been missing for a couple of days, however, without any word.

Today he comes back, stalking in, a scowl fixed to his face. Normally that would perhaps be intimidating. The problem is that it is not as intimidating when it comes from a mere child.

It makes sense to seek out the only other scientist on board that has any real knowledge about Wraith, even if it is with a fair deal of reluctance he does so. Because truthfully? This condition is embarrassing, and he knows that he will be reminded of this from Sheppard at the very least for a long time to come. While he normally wouldn't care all that much, there's now an illogically large part of him that doesn't want to be made fun of.

"Doctor Beckett," he greets, coming to a halt with his hands clasped lightly behind his back. "A word, if you please."

[atadiscoverer]

The voice sounds familiar. Most Wraith voices have similar inflections... insectoid, if Carson had to describe it, which, of course, makes sense. He does, however, have to suppress the cold feel of dread whenever he hears, or sees, the Wraith.

Luckily for Guide, Dr. Beckett is hunched over a microscope when he calls for his attention.

"Yes, of co-" And, at that point, he looks up, eyes falling on the, now young, Wraith. His jaw slackens slightly, but he swiftly regains his composure. He's only ever seen one young Wraith before, and that... didn't end so well. "O-Of course. In private?"

[theycallmetodd]

Guide had expected a reaction similar to that, but he still looks entirely unimpressed.

"Preferably, yes," he responds, and heads for a private room. He knows his way around, after all, and he doesn't need the human to show the way. Coming to stand beside a biobed, he waits for the door to close behind the doctor. Then it is straight to business.

"While it is safe to say that Q is behind this, I wish to know just how this happened. And, more importantly, what can be done about it." He has observed some of the others who had been turned into children, and though some seem to be adapting quite well, he's not. There is nothing about this that doesn't feel terribly wrong. Had there been other Wraith around it might have been different, but as it is he simply can't shake the feeling of being isolated and alone, and even afraid. As children, Wraith are never alone. But here Guide is, as the only one of his kind, even though he knows he's not really a child. It's irrational and frustrating and he wants it all to stop.

[atadiscoverer]

Pausing to snatch up his Tricorder and Medical Scanner, he follows Guide to the room he's picked out, taking care to not come into contact with the younger being.

He's expecting questions the second the door closes, so Carson does his best to answer them. "Aye, Q is behind this. He's introduced some sort of infectious agent to the crew and, for the most part, it seems to be transmitted through touch, although, we're checking the air, water and replicator filters to make sure it isn't communable through there."

He then folds his arms, frowning. "As for what we can do about it, not a lot, I'm afraid, although, if it can infect Wraith genome, it's likely a lot more complicated than a simple virus." He's going to take a step forward, holding out the tricorder.

"May I?"

[theycallmetodd]

Hopping up to take a seat on the biobed, he makes a vague gesture to signal a go-ahead. "Be my guest." If it may help to end this even only a short time sooner, he can stand scans or whatever medical testing they can throw at him.

He can only really agree with Beckett's assessment. "Indeed, if it is a virus, it is far from simple and will no doubt be far from easily dealt with."

[reasonoverrage]

Bruce has been here for a few days as well, practically living in one of the side labs, using every ounce of tech from this time and his own world, that tech now scattered around the lab he had been using. Frustrated by his aged-down state, he had put himself into isolation at first, then simply gone to wearing full covering, from a hat to gloves to long slacks, making sure not to touch anyone if he could.

He had no idea what was causing this, or how, but it had to be there, somewhere, in all these tests. It had to be!

At the moment, he was on a enforced break, eating carefully with gloves some food brought from the replicators. He waved a hand to the acting-CMO, smiling a little, even if it was obvious he was tired and frustrated at the lack of answers.

"Hi, Doctor Beckett."

[atadiscoverer]

Carson is hunched over some samples, a tricorder and his own medical scanner operating, bleeping away happily as they take readings, Carson having to note down the results from the Lantean scanner and transfer them to a PADD, something that is taking up most of his attention.

At his name, however, he does raise his eyes, offering a smile, there, as he lowers back down.

"Good afternoon, Dr. Banner."

[reasonoverrage]

After waiting a few minutes, not wanting to interrupt, he spoke again. "Are those some of the series three samples? I started running scans with both my eras tech and this one, but the scans are still running. This thing, whatever it is, has got one hell of a elusive mechanism." And Bruce is quite not the happy camper about that, too, even as he is fascinated.

"I wonder if Q made it, or just stole it."

[atadiscoverer]

"Aye, it is." He responds, finally, lifting his attention from the PADD and the paper, scrubbing at his eyes. They were starting to hurt a bit.

"I have no bloody clue where it came from, and the Federation database is having trouble finding out, too. I'm not even sure if it's a virus, or a bacterium. I can't get a decent scan of it's genetic coding to find out if it's RNA or DNA." He sighs, leaning back in the chair he's sat in. "This is one tricky bugger."

[reasonoverrage]

"Every test I've tried so far has come up negative. If it is a virus, it is an elusive one, and something outside the norm. It has to be hidden somehow." Bruce shook his head. "Q must have found something that would last longer, just to prolong his fun." The last word was said with particular disgust.

"I've even tried linking in alien tech to my scanner and seeing of the advanced combo will tell us anything, but so far, nothing." It didn't help that his own cell samples were useless for this.

[element_wizard]

Alec wanders in at some point with a cloth tied around his left hand and peers about the place - mostly filled with people trying to reverse the child plague going around before asking, "Anyone free to take a look at a perfectly normal injury?"

[atadiscoverer]

So much so that most of the nursing staff are dealing with triaging injuries, so that the doctors can concentrate.

Carson merely glances up as he picks up a few PADDs to go back to the labs with.

[endingupalone]

Ellie had been visiting sickbay a lot. She didn't want to stay in her room and go stir crazy and she didn't want to wonder around and risk being infected. So she would walk from her room to sickbay and then back to give her something to do.

She was probably in the way more than anything else. She would ask questions, not all of which were relevant.

"Hey." She walked up to Dr. Beckett leaning over his shoulder to see what was on the screen. Of course she was shorter than him because she was fourteen. Which was her natural age. "Have you fixed it yet?"

Ellie liked to call it kidificatied.

[atadiscoverer]

And what she'll see is a mix of alien characters scrolling along the screen of the clear-blue PDA-like device, whilst Carson holds the scanner end over a sample. His eyes flick to and from the screen and a notepad as he translates his findings in some sort of shorthand.

"No." A simple response, a bit clipped, frustrated, but not at the question. "But can I ask that if you're not sufficiently covered up to please step back. We're not 100% sure on how this transfers yet."

[endingupalone]

Ellie rolled her eyes at that. "Don't get your panties in a twist." But she stepped back taking a look at his work for afar rather than close up.

"I'm not infected." Which was a strange thing for her to say. "And if I was infected I'd be two years younger." Not that it would be a noticeable change, except then she wouldn't be infected with the fungus. This whole thing was just confusing.

Ellie didn't trust anyone on the ship but she was slowly starting to warm up to the doctors, to some of them anyway. "So what the hell are you doing then?"

[atadiscoverer]

"Aye, well, I'm dealing with live samples, so you might get infected if you get too close."

Definitely a frustrated tone, mostly directed towards the samples he's working on. He leans back, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath to calm down.

"I'm trying to detect what type of micro-organism is actually causing this. We know it's a foreign body, but I'm having trouble actually detecting it."

[endingupalone]

Ellie didn't need to be told twice to take a step back but he didn't have to sound so tense. She pouted slightly as she watched him.

"Wouldn't it be easier to figure that out if you knew more about it?" She was asking but she couldn't keep her annoyed inflection from her tone. "Like how it spreads to see what sort of organism it is?"

[ethnobotany]

Ever since the 5th, when she willingly stepped into sickbay for the first time since her arrival, Beverly has been an almost permanent fixture here. It's as though the crisis kicked her into overdrive and she made it clear from the very beginning that she's seen something similar. It was quickly determined that this virus was not related to the transporter accident that caused her version, so the treatment and solution wouldn't be the same. That hasn't stopped her efforts in any way.

Today finds her inside, trying to talk to the computer, but having little luck mainly due to the fact that, since she was relieved of duty, she doesn't have the level of access she normally would. And she keeps forgetting that small detail.

At some point while she's working, he'll wander by at just the wrong moment, just in time to hear the computer say, "Access denied," for the tenth time in the last hour. Beverly responds with a vehement, "Damn," as she rests her head in her hands. Next chance she gets, she's asking to be reinstated. This is ridiculous.

[atadiscoverer]

Oh, yes, he definitely heard that...

Poking his head into the door, a concerned look on his face, he's going to risk asking the following; "Dr. Crusher? Everything okay?"

[ethnobotany]

She lifts her head at the familiar voice, giving him an annoyed look that's mostly aimed at the situation rather than him or his question. She's pretty well fed up with everything going on lately.

"Oh I'm fine," she answers. "Just a little frustrated that I don't have access to the information I think I might need." Even though this is technically her sickbay. This is what she gets for getting herself relieved of duty again. Granted, this time she had needed it for her own mental health, but it's still frustrating.

"I hope you're having better luck than I am."

[atadiscoverer]

"Gone are the days of poor security, where I can just log into a computer for you, I suppose." He ventures in a bit further. "I've got access to most of the medical database, is there anything in particular you'd like pulled up?"

Because if it speeds things along, he's more than happy to spend a few minutes accessing files. This was more Beverly's specialty than Carson's.

"And... a bit. We've determined they're microbes, but not if they're bacterium or virus. It's... a wee bit frustrating." He admits.

[heartofasun]

Trance skipped into the medical lab. Sickbay. Sickbay was a silly name. She much preferred Med Deck or Med Bay. But she was a little biased. She also probably wasn't the Trance Carson Beckett was used to seeing. For one, she wasn't golden anymore. Her skin still sparkled but not nearly as much. And she was purple. With a tail. A long, thin, hairless tail with a spade at the end. Also gone was her long, red braided dreadlocks. In their place was a teased, short, blond. Trance didn't look exactly like a child either. Teenager maybe, mid twenties, but her age was very hard to tell. Still, she emanated innocence, and childlike wonder. It was an act, but it was a good act.

The being that had once been condescendingly referred to as 'cute little purple monkey' smiled at the man. She much preferred 'good luck charm' to that. Things tended to go right when Trance was around. For a very good reason.

"You should get some rest. You'll make mistakes." Trance pointed out logically.

[atadiscoverer]

"It's hard to make mistakes when there's nothing here to make mistakes on." He grouses, a bit annoyed. He does sit back, though, reaching for his mug of coffee and taking a sip.

It's then when the voice hits him. A bit higher pitched, younger-sounding, but...

"...Trance?"

[heartofasun]

"That's me! Isn't it wonderful? I missed this! And my tail!" Just to be sure he saw it, she grabs her tail and shows it too him. "It got shot off. It was traumatic." Trance nodded, not seeming traumatized at all.

"I will continue working. I don't need to sleep. But you do."

[atadiscoverer]

"Is this... a younger form of yourself?" He has to ask, because, well, some species age differently. A Wraith grows like a human until it matures, then it's metabolism slows down and, for all intents and purposes, it doesn't age.

"You're infected?"

Pointedly ignoring the sleep comment right now, because this is new information.