Needed In Sickbay

[Ritah Lowen 0]

Ensign Watson was dead. Official time of death was 2241 hours but that wasn't exactly accurate. Vance Watson died the moment he was sucked through the hull breach after the crystalline ship's first attack. His body suffered major, irreversible trauma. It continued to function only because the silicone based entity integrated itself into Watson's organic components. This "patch" allowed the new life form to communicate with the humanoid crew of the USS Manticore.

 

But the patch could not sustain the Ensign's body indefinitely. There was simply too much damage. And so, at 2241 hours, the crystalline entity departed and Vance Watson ceased to exist. In the meantime, the silicone life form merged with the Admiral's exoskeleton, an idea Dr. Lowen had not endorsed.

 

This entity had been able to absorb Watson. Was that because the Ensign was already dead? Or had he been alive, albeit severely injured? Would the entity have been able to assimilate the young man had he been uninjured? These were questions they had yet to answer and unfortunately, there simply wasn't time.

 

They really didn't know what would happen when the silicone entity merged with the Admiral's exoskeleton. Ritah was concerned about the close proximity between the two. But the Admiral determined it was worth the risk.....they had to maintain communication with this new life form. And so it was that the entity left Watson's deteriorating body and joined the Admiral's exoskeleton. Within moments, it appeared Ritah's worst fears would soon be realized.

 

The new life form seemed to overpower the Admiral. In short, it took him hostage and demanded all attempts to purge the entity from the holomatrix be discontinued. Had those demands not been met, Ritah was almost certain the Admiral would have been killed or, at the very least, seriously injured. As it was, they had been forced to heavily sedate him.

 

They were able to transport him to Sickbay where the situation went from bad to worse. Ritah stayed with Watson until his body was removed from the conference room. She arrived in Sickbay a few minutes after the Admiral who had been accompanied by Dr. Sean Keane. The moment she walked through the door, she knew by the look on several faces that something was terribly wrong.

 

Ritah approached the crowd now surrounding the Admiral. Immediately upon arrival in Sickbay, the Admiral was moved to a biobed. Scans were initiated within seconds and what they showed was more than troubling.....it was downright scary.

 

"What's going on," she asked as she stepped up to his bedside.

 

"He was twitching a lot when he first came in," explained one of the medical team. "I thought he might be having seizures." The nurse paused for a moment. "Then I noticed these."

 

Ritah watched as the nurse exposed the Admiral's neck. "What are those things?" she asked in a loud whisper as she leaned in for a closer look.

 

"We don't know," answered the nurse. "But if you think that's bad, take a look at this."

 

Dr. Lowen turned her attention to the hyper-encephalogram measuring the Admiral's brainwaves and circuitry patterns. Her eyes widened as the scan showed alien like tendrils wrapping themselves around the Admiral's brainstem.

 

"Oh God," she murmured. Taking a step back, she immediately tapped her com badge. "Captain Sovak and Commander Farrington," she said, forcing herself to remain calm. "You are both needed in Sickbay....immediately."