An Important Guy

[DrDMatthews 0]

Myra Donatelli laughed sardonically as the recorded message came to an end. "She wants us to know how important this guy is," snorted Donatelli. "Is she kidding or what?"

 

The message in question had arrived moments earlier. It was from the CMO of a Federation Starship, the Reaent. Dr. Donatelli had no idea where the ship was currently located and she really didn't care.

 

This was the second time they'd heard from the Reaent. Several days earlier, the same CMO contacted Myra's boss regarding a member of the Reaent's crew. Moments later, Donatelli was sitting in the director's office as he replayed the message. There was a young lieutenant aboard who had just been diagnosed with Calkins Disease. Myra was so excited, it was all she could do to keep from jumping up and down with glee.

 

At first, Donatelli thought the Reaent's CMO was going to ask for advice on how to treat Calkins. That's what usually happened and it frustrated Myra to no end. Any physician worth his/her salt knew full well there was no treatment for the disease. It infuriated her that these so called "professionals" thought they could come up with a cure for Calkins within a matter of hours using only what was on hand. At Molokai, they'd spent years and more money than anyone could count trying to develop an effective remedy for Calkins. If they hadn't been able to do it, what made these idiots think they could succeed with no resources.

 

Then there were the contacts from perplexed physicians who hadn't been able to diagnose the disease until after the patient's demise. Nine times out of ten, they figured out the cause of death during the autopsy. Myra Donatelli thoroughly despised this group. She thought they had a lot of nerve calling themselves medical professionals.

 

Such was not the case with the Lieutenant from the Reaent. This patient was still alive and the CMO wasn't asking for treatment options. All she wanted was permission to send their Lieutenant to the specialists at Molokai.

 

Myra had to give the ship's medical staff credit. They diagnosed the disease within minutes. They knew there was no way they could treat him so they immediately put the patient into stasis. Good thing too! The CMO forwarded the patient's medical file along with the original communique. The Reaent's physicians estimated the lieutenant would have survived for between six and twenty-four hours outside of stasis. Donatelli knew better. The tumor in Xavier Crispin's right frontal lobe would have killed him in no more than an hour and a half.

 

Reaent was too far out to deliver Lt. Crispin to Molokai. They left him in the care of another CMO on a remote Starbase. Myra couldn't remember which one but that was okay. A few days later, Lt. Crispin was placed on a transport headed for the Sol System. He was scheduled to arrive at Molokai in five or six days. Very soon, Donatelli and her team would have a living, breathing Calkins patient to work with and that was all that mattered.

 

It had been almost a year since they had been able to put their hands on a warm body. That made it difficult to complete the testing on their latest vaccine. They were so close but they would never know unless they were able to complete their testing. Now they would have another chance. Myra couldn't wait.

 

The Chief of Staff of the Molokai Center leaned back in her tufted leather chair and grinned broadly. "Believe me, Dr. Matthews," she muttered to the darkened screen, "I know how important this guy is."