"A Day In The Life Of A Xeno-Biologist"

[Aidan Driscol 0]

"A Day in the Life of a Xeno-biologist"

A log by Midshipman Aidan Driscol

 

 

After returning from sickbay Aidan had sat down and tried to make sense of the results the blood samples had come up with. Something was indeed changing the Gareem DNA into Soltan DNA. And not only that one of their former crew members now seemed to be in the brig as a Soltan. When Captain Merill had compared the DNA samples the mitochondria DNA showed a 75% match. Which means he definitely was their lost crewman.

 

Aidan's head was pounding, he hadn't had enough sleep or food and thinking about all of this made his head spin. This was pretty much inconceivable, but he knew that the Colonels would not be happy with that answer so he'd better make it conceivable somehow. Otherwise he'd have another two female crew members at his throat plus his Chief. He put his head on the console in front of him and closed his eyes for a moment.

 

After another 10 minutes of just sitting there and thinking things through he still couldn't make sense of it all. So he decided to just take notes of all of the questions that arose. That was a technique he had relied on during his Academy days, because he had found out that he didn't need to study much if he was just able to answer the questions that arose during a specific task. That's what xeno-biology was all about explaining the inexplicable.

 

So how in the universe could a virus change the DNA like that? The usual way by inserting its own DNA or RNA plasmid was impossible, it didn't explain how the cells survived and how they suddenly turned into something completely different.

 

How could the virus know what kind of cell it was infecting? Differentiated cells could never become anything else, they might produce different proteins but at the end of the day a liver cell would still be a liver cell and a neuron would still be a neuron.

 

So that would mean... Aidan jumped up and quickly accessed the computer files on basic human, Gareem and Soltan physiology and genetics. The genetics, even though vastly different at the first glance was similar enough. At least the mechanisms were the same. He had just looked in the wrong direction. Yes! He had finally found an answer. It was all in the genes themselves and not in the virus. At least this was an answer to parts of his problem. This would explain how Gareem as well as humans got infected. It also meant they would have to be careful or they'd soon be a Soltan ship instead of a Starfleet ship.

 

He would have to relay his results to medical immediately. They could confirm his findings and hopefully help with the answers to the many questions that still remained. So they could find a cure. He would also have to inform the Chief, the Colonels had to know about this.

 

Aidan took a deep breath as he sat down to send his information over to sickbay. He wouldn't get sleep for quite a while because the report for the Chief had to be finished as soon as possible. The gym, sleep and food would have to wait for another few hours.

[Kansas_Jones 0]

I just had to pop in and say that your log and the writing was done in such a way that Kansas's Player (who is not a science person to save her life) understood the science investigation in said log. Nice log Aidan!