Pacifica Plant Plot Resolution | PARTY POST | In The Botany Lab, Deck 10

[ten_fwd_npcs]

"Enterprise's Head Botanist Keiko's log, Stardate 46172.364,

"My time on Pacifica was quite rewarding, and with the permission of a number of the locals, I have several new samples to study going forward.

"The first is a green herb they call Seajade. The Seajade seems to thrive in salt water, rather than fresh, but turns an astounding shade of teal in brackish water. It is used by the natives for cleaning impurities out of fresh water, which unfortunately kills the plant. I will be researching a way to increase its ability to live in water other than pure salt. I have been given several samples as well as some cuttings as this plant is rather common on the world.

"The second sample is called Dancer by the natives. It is a beautiful flower that for some reason is less common than the Seajade. The locals were somewhat evasive when asked about the properties. I noticed that some Dancer blooms were available for sale in the marketplace that serves off-planet guests, but no full plants, and no Dancer was sold in the main markets that the locals seemed to frequent. I questioned a scientist who studied me oddly for several minutes, then packed me a sample from her own lab, but asked that I not say where I got it. I was concerned at first, however I no longer am. I have also purchased samples of the cut plant as it is sold to tourists, to compare them. The bloom looks like a winged woman performing a ballet. It is quite lovely.

"The third sample is called Beachrunner. It was originally thought to be a weed on the world, and was removed wherever it was found for hundreds of years until about sixty years ago when a botanist from Oceanus IV discovered that it had curative properties when applied to the site of a burn caused by UV exposure. It is now one of the primary exports of the Genendo Botany Lab, which takes in enough money from the sale of Beachrunner alone to self-fund all of their research. While our technology can do the same, I bought some to study and will share my samples and my findings with Doctor Crusher.

"Computer, end log."

"Keiko's log, Stardate 46172.799,

"I have been working with these samples for hours. I have replanted all of the whole plants and have had my assistants working on properly labeling them with the information I was provided. The cuttings have been arranged and labeled for study. My hope is that Dancer, at least, will prove a fitting candidate for replanting in the Arboretum, however the evasiveness of the locals is making me hesitant. The more I think about it, the odder they seem to have been acting about it.

"And they aren't the only ones. Maybe I'm just tired. I should be tired, but I don't seem to be. I feel fine; happy, in fact. But it does seem as though everyone else has had either a little too much to drink or a little too little sleep. I understand that we are all excited to have had the chance to visit the planet and to gather samples, and it is exciting work studying them, however...

"I will be contacting Doctor Crusher if things do not change. There had been an incident on board the ship on Stardate 41209.2 where a widespread infection caused crew members to act as though they were intoxicated. We are all now inoculated against that, though, so whatever is happening now, while similar, does not seem as drastic or as quick to build. I will be setting this file to auto-send to Doctor Crusher if I have not canceled the command by 0800 tomorrow. I do not feel as though I am infected, of course, or I would have quarantined myself and my staff. It is always possible that they simply imbibed too much while on leave. Normally I might have an issue with this, but we've all been dealing with a lot recently, and there was a wedding. So long as everyone is sober and accounted for tomorrow, I will let it go. I'm in too good a mood to be angry, anyway.

"I have been working with Beachrunner mostly, though the others have been focusing on Dancer. I want all eyes on that one to unravel the mystery as soon as possible. Miles came in about an hour ago, and was so taken with the beauty of it that, rather than asking me when I was returning for dinner, he took one of the blooms to put up in our quarters. I almost stopped him, but he seemed so happy, and it was one of the ones from the tourist market. If there is some reason they should not be spread about, it is probably too late already. And he thought I would like to have it there. I have a wonderful husband.

"The only issue we have discovered so far with Dancer that could account for anything is the scent. When kept in an enclosed space the scent grows quickly to an almost unbearable level. It is pleasant, but too much of even a good thing is still too much. One of the techs has opened the vents and rerouted the ventilation system to circulate the air. Miles said even the corridors smelled nice as he came in.

"I am going to work some more on Beachrunner tonight, before I look over the Dancer notes to prepare them for the report to Doctor Crusher tomorrow. You know... one of these blooms would look quite lovely in her hair. I wonder why I didn't think of that before.

"Computer, end log."

It has been one full solar day since Keiko's last log was made, and in that time things aboard the Enterprise have grown truly unusual. The ship is well out of Pacifica's range by now, returned to open space, but things are not back to normal.

News of the Botany Lab's breakdown has spread by this point, as any are invited to help manage the issue.


[OOC: Party Post! Come get your top-levels and scenarios below! This post signifies the end of our February plots with some cool-off time before March begins. Hit up the OOC comm if you have any questions.]

Comments

[thelasttimelord]

The Doctor doesn't stop looking the affable fool. Even if he doesn't stop considering the man. The man who drops a wall from around him, making The Doctor want to know exactly what that was. How. What kind of wall. Not impossible to feel through, but like a fine mesh through the space and the air. A hard line, and very strong, but not entirely imperviable.

He brandishes the tray full of drinks at the man. "Color of choice?"

[techno_galen]

A long history of not being very good with people means that Galen is taken in by his façade. "The blue one," he says with no hesitation. It has nothing to do with the colour and everything to do with its position: it's furthest to the right on the tray. So when he takes it with his right hand, the other man's attention is drawn in that direction. With his other hand he flicks a probe onto the man, more out of instinct now, than for any hope of it working.

He sniffs the liquid and upon finding nothing poisonous in it, tips the glass up and swallows the drink. "What do you expect to happen now?" he asks, because they're in a lab and they won't be just snacks. Which is why Galen has encased the liquid in a bubble, to better analyse the ingredients.

[thelasttimelord]

"Don't rightly know quite yet," The Doctor responds, still upbeat but there are strains of seriousness coming into. Even though it was there, again, nearly making the space between his brows twitch. Something in the electromagnetic field? There it was, again, shifting. Globes inside of globes. "Hopefully it'll show signs of helping across a broad spectrum. Too many variables to count yet. It's half the fun, really, isn't it?"

We did mention there was the teeniest smallest chance, right? Maybe it's not like the others. Maybe it's like him but more.

[techno_galen]

He sends an organelle to the liquid, analysing it. The results appear in his mind, but some of the chemical compounds he doesn't recognise. But he can't hold it there forever, so he dissolves the bubble and lets the liquid digest.

"How long do you expect it to take before I feel something?" But even as Galen is asking the question, he can already feel something. At first he thinks it's just a numbness in his extremities and then he realises: it's in his tech. It's as if it's dissociating from him.

Galen's eyes go wide. His weakening legs can no longer hold him up and his knees bend without him knowing. He crashes to the ground, his hands too numb for him to break his fall. The look on his face is of utter fear. But at least he's not feeling unaccountably happy.


ooc: Hope this is ok! You mentioned electromagnetic field and I thought this would be interesting

[thelasttimelord]

[ Haaaaaa. I'm so cool for that. I just assume The Doctor can usually feel it when people are controlling certain things. ]


"woah! Woah, there!" Ten is on his feet, even if he'd already been on his feet, shoving the container of drink on the table as gently and rushed as he can without breaking them, before he's on the ground. "Well, it definitely wasn't supposed to do that. Can you still hear me? What are you feeling?" He'd wipped out his sonic, and it was blinding blue, already scanning over the man. All pretense left on the table with the drinks.

This was the problem with trying to broad-spectrum-species anything of this sort. You never knew what you might mess up entirely. There were reasons he'd gotten around the hypospray when he got here. When it would have killed the things inside his system his own physiology needed to remain in balance.

[techno_galen]

It feels like when the Shadows nullified his tech, but different. There was something in the drink or in the room, but without his tech, he can't tell what.

Galen fights to get his weakened body under control; concentrates to make his mouth form words. "I can hear you." His voice only trembles a little, but it is more than Galen is happy with. He is entirely at this man's mercy.

He has to do something. Rather than worry about his body, he turns his attention inwards. His tech doesn't respond at all, but perhaps it's worth trying the old way of speaking to it. It's been years since he did it, but he imagines the screen in his mind, conjures a spell with no equations.

And then relief as, with a burst of energy, he can feel the tech again. He feels whole again. It's unlikely that blue scanner hasn't picked it up, but for now, Galen can only breathe a sigh of relief. The feeling in his hands has returned and he starts to push himself up.

[thelasttimelord]

He's lucky it's The Doctor then, and that he has no emergency large enough to make him take advantage of the situation. That, because of that, it never even steps into the shadows of his mind half of step. Taking his hand for a pulse, until the man pulls away and starts getting up. "That definitely wasn't supposed to do that."

Even piercing, it's not aggressive. There's curiosity trying to beat back the original concern. "What are you?"

What was that he kept doing. That had fallen away entirely before the man fell, and now was back. Something humming. Almost electric. Like a machine almost. But not quite. It was like using the wrong word in the wrong language and being certain he might not actually know either. Like her told Rose and Donna. New, new universe. Everything else could be new in it, too. Time. People. Places. Everything.

[techno_galen]

Galen pauses, his eyes unfocused before he answers, doing an internal systems check. Everything is working again - almost as if nothing happened. But it was stupid to take a chance like that. There's technology here he doesn't understand that has effects he doesn't understand. Some of it was already affecting his tech.

He focuses back on the other man. "I'm a techno-mage," he says grandly. Perhaps it's not a good idea to tell him this, but in order to find out what's happened, he'll have to work with this man. Which means he has to tell him something to explain what just happened to him. The truth is going to be the best path.

"What was in that drink? What is in this room?" Although he gives the appearance of not waiting for any answers as he turns slowly around, examining the room with his sensors.

[thelasttimelord]

"Techno Mage." The Doctor tried out the word. The edge of his cheek tugging his mouth toward something of a startlingly manic smile, while he shook his head, harkening back to that same earlier thought. Except the words were absolutely enchanted, amused, adoring, even at the odds of the situation. "New new universe. I have so many questions for you."

Beat. "But later. Later, later, later." A bouncing thing as he stands back up fully himself.
All live current on bright, worn in sand shoes. As much a follow-up as a reminder to himself.

"It's a problem." This room, which the Doctor looks around at his question again. "They're under the exposure of one of the new plants they brought back. This was the origination zone, but it's become an airborn pathegen since then. Gotten to everyone and everything else."

[techno_galen]

Galen snaps his shield back up, with a flicker of blue, and examines himself with his internal sensors. There is a foreign body in his blood - one he's breathed in.

"The pathogen reacted with the liquid to..." He pauses. He's not even sure what it did to him, never mind explaining it to a non-techno-mage.

"Perhaps there is something in the liquid that will neutralize the pathogen," he suggests instead. It certainly seems to be something worth studying.

[thelasttimelord]

"That's the hope." The Doctor nods. "Score one for blue. Even if I'd like to find a way that doesn't involve anyone suddenly keeling to the floor in gasping shock or pain."

He's trying to help, not to hurt them more. He didn't like the idea of helping them at the cost of that way even.

[techno_galen]

"That would be an improvement," Galen says drily. "Do you have the plants?" Maybe if he can analyse them he might find something.

[thelasttimelord]

"It's all of these." The Doctor spreads his arms around them. There are three new variants, including the one in the middle everyone has begun all but worshiping in mass effect. Which makes that a pretty big ringer. But he's not discounting anything helping, or anything at all, until the ship stops acting like this.

[techno_galen]

He's going to have to drop his shields and the liquid has permeated his system too far for him to contain it any further. It makes him hesitate. So far the plant is not doing harm. Granted, not a great deal of work is getting done, but no one is dying. He just has to hope this man isn't so affected that he's unable to do much.

"What have you discovered about them so far?"

[thelasttimelord]

"Trickier question." The Doctor admitted. "Since they've been here the same amount of time, and everyone's been exposed to all of them for the same amount of time. I stabilized and separated different genetic traits from each of them for the test batches this time."

[techno_galen]

In other words, Galen is going to have to do this himself. He doesn't sigh and nor does he bother with much in the way of an acknowledgement. He simply drops his shields and goes over to the plants. By touching the leaves of each he can use his sensors to analyse their make-up. Which would tell him more if they weren't so alien, both to him and his tech.

"It doesn't matter which plant is the cause," he concludes, mostly to cover his lack of knowledge. "If we get rid of all three then it should halt the spread of infection." Getting rid of it entirely would be another problem, but at least this would be a start.