[Sickbay]: Round Three scans and vaccines

[ten_fwd_npcs]

New guests have arrived on the Enterprise, and that means Lieutenant Worf and his security detail are busy once again bringing them to see Dr. Crusher. Sickbay is fairly typical for a hospital. There are no terrifying devices or humming machines you could see in a sci-fi thriller. The biobeds along the walls are equipped with biofunction monitors, but look fairly standard. Instead of silver trays filled with metal tools and sawblades, there are an array of small devices that look as harmless as cell phones.

As for the staff, they're all well-groomed and friendly. As a matter of fact, all personnel look harmless. Well, perhaps excluding the sun avatar, but Trance Gemini is as skilled as the Starfleet officers.

"All right, come in," one of them calls out as you enter. "Don't be shy. It's just a scan and a hypospray, nothing to worry about."

Probably.


[ooc: Same rules as before: this is an open log for everybody. Tagging isn't mandatory, but going to sickbay is. So if you'd prefer to skip threading with one of our doctors, you can handwave that your character got a clean bill of health and a shot and were sent on their merry way. For those who are tagging, we have Julian Bashir, Trance Gemini, and Rory Williams on deck, so please specify in the subject line of your tag who you would like. Beverly Crusher can be available if needed, but the player may not always be available. If you would like more details about sickbay, here's the wiki page. If you haven't made your intro yet, you can assume the doctors will want to see your character shortly after they arrive.]

Comments

[asklepian]

Julian shoots Trance a warning look despite himself, from his position of currently being dragged behind her. Bringing this up in a room full of Starfleet officers is hardly being the soul of discretion. It was difficult enough having her know, and his secret had been exposed by loose lips before.

"Captain," he greets cheerfully, despite the momentary sour expression. "I've heard quite a lot about you--it's a pleasure."

[dreams_dont_die]

Of course he didn't mean whether or not it hurt to die. He might have killed her not all that long ago, but he'd like to think he's not that callous about it. But he's spent the past year and a bit trying to figure out just what she is and what her game is.

(He did feel bad about the killing her thing.)

Before he has a chance to say anything, though, she's gone, off across the room, and comes back dragging one of the doctors and talking about genetic engineering being illegal.

"Illegal?" He'd been lying still to let the computer do whatever scanning it's doing, but he sits up now, glaring from the computer to Trance. If that thing's scanning his DNA, his family's Heavy Worlder background is going to be there on file.

Again, he doesn't get the chance to say anything else, this time because of the man she's just dragged over. In front of whom it might not be wise to say much, given what Trance just said.

"Doctor. You too. Though I'm afraid I can't say I've heard much about you. I'm still pretty new here."

[heartofasun]

Everyone was so paranoid. Trance gave both Dylan and Julian a look. "Calm down Dylan. No one's going to drag you away to prison. You're not even in this universe. I brought it up because it's an interesting difference between our two universes, don't you think? With the similarities between the Commonwealth and the Federation, I mean. So, " She glared again in Dylan's general direction and pushed him back down on the bed.

"Lie down. And relax. If you're this charming with everyone else you meet here Dylan, we have a lot of work to do."

[asklepian]

Julian was justifiably paranoid, thank you. In his timeline, he'd been accepted--even if his enhancements coming to light also brought him some unwanted attention. He couldn't expect that here, and he could also cause ramifications for his earlier self--which would certainly affect his timeline.

"Don't worry, it's not a 'clap him in irons' type of illegal. It would preclude you from joining Starfleet, but you have your own ship to go back to. You might get a bit of a reaction from the rest of the Terran crew should they know, but not anything to worry about."

Julian smiles, as if he isn't talking about himself as well.

"It's fair, I'm actually not from this timeframe either."

[dreams_dont_die]

Trance hasn't outright said why she felt the need to introduce him to Doctor Bashir right now, but she's not always inscrutable, and babbling about genetic engineering at the same time as she drags a guy over to talk to him is pretty transparent.

"I'm guessing one of the things you've heard about me is what that scan's going to show in my DNA," he says, reluctantly lying back down, since Trance doesn't give him much choice.

Relaxing is not so easily done. He doesn't even want Andromeda giving him a physical, let alone a doctor he's just met sitting in on this scan with Trance. But he's trying to be nice to Doctor Bashir. As nice as he can.

"What sort of a reaction?" he asks. "There's a Nietzschean from my crew here, too, and it's hard to miss that he's different, with the bone blades on his arms."

He wants to know what he and Tyr are getting into here.

[heartofasun]

Trance pointed to a couple things on the medical cpu, in case Bashir ever needed to patch Dylan up and she wasn't around. "He's a Heavy Worlder, like I was telling you before. He weighs more than the average human, his musculature and bone structure is denser to accommodate the increase in gravity on Heavy Grav worlds. But, his metabolism is also higher--this can mean any reaction due to medications or illness can spread faster in him. "

She turned to give Dylan a precocious smile. "You'll be happy he knows this. What if you need medical attention and I'm not around? " Besides, Bashir was the one doctor here she hadn't pissed off. Trance grabbed a hypo from the tray beside her and stuck Dylan with it without warning. "He's also the world's biggest baby sometimes. There. All done."

[asklepian]

Julian is truly more interested in the medical scan than he is anything else. He's seen his own, of course, and that of Jack, Patrick, Lauren, and Sarina. All five of them could pass for a completely normal human, were it not for their little...quirks. Julian indeed had for many years. The comparisons between himself and Dylan are fascinating to him.

"We usually warn people before we go jabbing them with things," Julian says genially. He's amused by it, though. And grateful his Captain isn't so difficult.

And as for Dylan's question:

"Some people may be a bit uncomfortable with the idea. Earth doesn't have a fantastic history with genetic manipulation in this universe, I'm afraid. But a Starfleet officer should be rather more open-minded about it."

Julian's friends had been. Then again, they'd also known him for years before his secret came out.

"It shouldn't make for much more than awkward conversation should the topic come up. Your Nietzchean crewman might actually find this applies less to him because of the obvious physical differences. If you do encounter any such problems though, anyone making you feel unwelcome, please don't hesitate to come to me."

[dreams_dont_die]

"Trance!" He jerks, reflexively, as if flinching away from the hypo after it's been administered could actually make stop it hurting.

"Apparently we don't warn people if we're Trance," he complains, rubbing at his arm. Both Trance and Doctor Bashir seem to find this whole thing far more amusing than Dylan. Some bedside manner his medic's got.

She might have a point, though. In a world where there's no such thing as a Heavy Worlder, it's probably a good idea to have somebody around who knows what they're going to be dealing with. Doctor Bashir sure seems fascinated by it if the way he's staring at the computer is any indication.

"Almost every human in my world's genetically enhanced in one way or another. Everyone on my crew is except Harper."

He's not fond of the concept of anyone holding his family background against him. Being a Heavy Worlder is just part of who he is, a legacy from his high-G shuttle pilot mother to go with his skill as a pilot and his love of flying the stars.

"My mother was a high gravity pilot from a family of Heavy Worlders. It's not even like I've been engineered, I just inherited the genes."

[heartofasun]

Trance gave her Captain a smirk, considering this was the third time she'd stabbed him with a hypo in the last twenty-four hours.

"Don't be such a child, it doesn't even hurt." Of course, this was Dylan. He was convinced hypos hurt. And with Dylan, stubbornness was sometimes the only thing that kept him alive. "Would you like a lolipop? Make it all better?" She was amused, so sue her.

"I wouldn't warn him. It gives him a chance to come up with a plan." It was true. Dylan always had a plan. Even if it meant just getting out of sickbay.

"Remember Dylan, not only are we in another universe, but we're thousands of years in the past. There are bound to be differences. In this universe, their version of Nietzscheans didn't prevail. They didn't procreate and entrench themselves so deeply within the Known Worlds. There's bound to backlash." Dylan could understand that. Certainly there was backlash when the Nietzscheans betrayed the Commonwealth. Just ask Harper.

"But speaking of difference--and Harper, I'm a little concerned about his immune system--or lack there of-- in this universe. I've talked to Dr. Bashir about some options on how to manage it."

[asklepian]

"I know, believe me. I'm not condoning it, just giving you a forewarning." Julian is helpless to change the law--he'd been granted an exception, but it wasn't through any action of his own. Captain Sisko had fought that battle for him. And it wasn't the time nor place to fight it again.

Dylan had noticed the interest he'd taken in the readings, Julian observed. He hoped he wasn't coming off as rude. He just hadn't ever had the chance to look at data like this.

"Harper, right. Trance showed me your nanobots--impressive little things, certainly. We don't use them nearly as much. But combined with some medications we have available we should be able to keep him out of Sickbay. I'd rather he not have to visit weekly with the Ankaran flu or some such thing."

[dreams_dont_die]

He glares at Trance, still rubbing his arm.

"There's backlash in our world, too, Trance, but that doesn't mean people hold my genes against me for the Nietzscheans destroying the Commonwealth."

Even those who'd like to see the whole Nietzschean race wiped out.

"I appreciate the warning, Doctor. Good to know what I'm getting into. I'd rather know than not." He nods his head towards the computer Doctor Bashir's looking at. "Especially since it's all now on record." Which he's not so keen about, even if the doctors here follow confidentiality.

He's never thought before about what a scan of his DNA would look like to somebody who has no concept of what a Heavy Worlder is, any more than he'd thought about trying to explain what was different about him to forewarn a doctor. Heavy Worlders aren't that uncommon, though they're rarer on worlds like Tarn-Vedra where their genetics aren't needed except, for example, by high-G shuttle pilots.

"Yeah. It'd be good if you could do something to keep an eye out for Harper. He catches everything going. And who knows what there is here that we've never met before?"

[heartofasun]

"But there's always the possibility. Hatred is easy--I think we've all seen how easy that is. Even in the Commonwealth, Civilization Incarnate. Organizations are made up of people, and people are flawed. Think of it as having the opportunity to affect change, no matter the universe."

And with that she gave Dylan a smile...and a lollipop. Yup. She was hysterical. Clearly.
"I was telling Dr. Bashir how we use nanobots for almost everything--from building weapons to cleaning to medical use. I thought he should know in case anyone needed treatment. Our crew complement is certainly going up.

"Oh--Dylan. So you know, Harper's out of Sparky cola, and since it has a narcotic component he wont be able to replicate it without medical authorization." Which they both knew was easy for Harper to get, or get illegally. Trust in the Harper.

"He's already going into withdrawal." But hey, at least it wasn't flash! There's always good news. "So if you see him parked by one of the autochef----replicators, you might want to check on him. Make sure he's not rewiring it." A Harper on a mission was a focused Harper.

[asklepian]

"I can explain the history behind it all a bit more if you like, but I'd rather not get into that here. I'm rather studied on the subject, actually." It was the one part of history he'd paid especially careful attention to, seeking out information on his own from libraries and databases and message boards.

"At any rate, just because we have scans on file doesn't mean they'll be accessed unless absolutely necessary. And it will be kept in strictest confidence. If you prefer, and it's not an emergency of course, you can ask for me directly whenever you come to Sickbay, if Trance isn't available. That offer extends to your crew as well."

Julian hopes that will alleviate some concerns, but he's not entirely sure. It probably would if Captain Hunt knew about him what Trance had already figured out.

"Probably quite a lot. Aside from being in completely different timelines, I'm also fairly sure we're dealing with alternate universes. Which isn't entirely unheard of for us, but it does complicate matters a bit."

As for Harper--Julian just shakes his head slightly. "Honestly, I'm not sure how far he thinks he'll get. If he doesn't know the chemical composition, the replicators wouldn't even be able to begin to make it. Nevermind programming it in."

TW: drug withdrawal

[dreams_dont_die]

He doesn't need Trance to tell him that hatred is easy, especially hatred of the Nietzscheans for what they did to the Commonwealth. He's danced along the edge of that particular trap himself, come close to falling into it and forgetting that whatever Gaheris and the Nietzschean rebels did, there are others out there who don't deserve his hate just for being who they are.

There were Nietzschean loyalists, after all. Are Nietzschean signatories to the charter, even if some of them are proving to be a lot of trouble.

He's still glaring at Trance as she presses the lollipop into his hand.

"I'd appreciate that, Doctor," he tells Bashir, mindful of Trance's suggestion that this world bore parallels to their own that could be informative, as well as of the need to understand his own potential situation. "Can't hurt to understand it. And to have a doctor around who has some idea what to expect with me." There's a tightness in his smile that turns it wry. "I'm used to medics who know how to treat a Heavy Worlder."

The news about Harper makes him frown.

He's been through helping people through withdrawal as Captain, most recently with Beka after she'd used flash to try to thread her way through the impossible slipstream clues she thought she'd found to Tarn-Vedra. That hadn't been pretty, though he'd done everything he could to help.

He shakes his head.

"Harper's probably not going to think of it that way. He doesn't always think things through."

Dylan sits up, rubbing at the spot where Trance just stabbed him again.

"How's he coping?"

Re: TW: drug withdrawal

[heartofasun]

"Harper's okay. He's shaky, literally. Probably has a horrible headache, but you know he deserves it." Harper consumed more sparky cola than food a lot of the time. And drank it on duty, while operating heavy machinery. He was lucky they had nanobots on board to undo the damage to his digestive system. "I spotted him in Ten Forward trying to come up with an alternate solution. You know Harper." Trance turned to Julian to fill him in.

"Harper isn't a straight forward thinker. He jumps from A to M, and usually he's smart enough to make it happen, even without knowing what comes in between. And he's a bit single minded." That was putting it mildly but it was the best she could come up with, without subjecting her new friend to actual Harper experience.