The Truth Will Set You Free

[Tachyon 0]

“The Truth Will Set You Free”

Stardate 0604.19

Lieutenant Arthur Dent

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They ate at the Very Nice Looking restaurant. Dent chose an unpalatable pizza with strange toppings; Nathan selected some form of seafood that Dent could not identify. They ate in silence first, and then they made some small talk, before Nathan finally broached the issue that he had been trying to discuss ever since he arrived on Aegis weeks ago. Dent's distractions from assignments, investigations, and his own fears had made it hard for Nathan to divulge this story, but it was finally time.

 

“How much do you know about tovanengitis?” Nathan asked between bites of seafood, food that was still wriggling.

 

Dent raised an eyebrow. “'Tovanengitis'? Never heard of it, why?”

 

“Because it is basically your entire raison d'etre, more or less. You are what you are because of tovanengitis. You see, the disease is quite interesting. It has two 'types', but I'll only focus on the first one because it's the one that matters. The first type is a neurological condition caused by severe brain trauma. It inhibits the production of certain neurotransmitters, causing severe neurological damage that can lead to death if not treated.”

 

“What's the treatment?” asked Dent.

 

Nathan replied, “I'm getting to that. Eat your pizza! Anyway, like I said, it is a terminal condition. The victim suffers excruciating pain and debilitation that increases until they eventually die, unless treated. Treatments were discovered in the mid-22nd century, but they did not become medically acceptable practices until the late 23rd century.”

 

Dent restrained himself from strangling Nathan as he prattled on, eventually getting to the treatment. When Nathan announced what the treatment was, his eyebrows went up again.

 

“The treatment,” said Nathan, “involves gene therapy to repair damaged neurons and their DNA. By tweaking the codons, the—”

 

Waving his hand, Dent cut Nathan off. “Please, I'm a bureaucrat, not a med student. I'm a bit more interested in the story about me, if you understand.”

 

“What? Oh, yes, yes. Sorry, I was getting to that. Your mother, Arthur, contracted tovanengitis while she was pregnant with you. It was a freak accident; she was spelunking and did not even know that she was pregnant. The fall nearly paralysed her, and it's pure chance that she did not lose you.”

 

Dent did not know how to react this news. He waited for Nathan to go on. The uncle had paused to eat more of his seafood. Dent bit into his pizza, but its taste had become even more salty than before.

 

“The treatment was available, of course, and she followed a regimen. Unfortunately . . .” Nathan stopped.

 

Dent leaned forward, determined to hear him out. “What?” he prodded.

 

“You see um . . . it's hard to say this, so I guess I should just say it outright. The physician was incompetent.”