Cleaning Out in Sickbay

[Archie Phoenix 0]

Archie groaned lightly as his stomach lurched again. His periods of sleep on a Sickbay biobed were being interrupted by the physical alarms of withdrawal. Most of the chewana withdrawal cases had already cleared out of Sickbay, leaving just a small handful of the more troubled patients. But those cases had all had a significant head start on Archie -- they’d all known from the start that the chewana root was affecting them.

 

The Sickbay doors slid open and Lieutenant Sema’J stepped through. He looked around and noticed that Archie was one of only a few crew members remaining in Sickbay. He nodded to Doctor Tynte at the other end of Sickbay and walked over to Archie’s biobed.

 

“Ah, chief,” Archie said drowsily as Sam pulled up a chair. “It is good to see you.”

 

“I can say the same, Phoenix,” Sam replied, looking over Archie’s pale sweating face and the plastic container that he was holding at side. “You don’t look too worse for wear.”

 

“Well, you understand.” Archie held up the plastic container. “I believe you used up a few of these when you were in here.”

 

Sam smiled. “I used more when I was in college. Not the Academy, mind you … when I was actually a young college student.” He nodded in Doctor Tynte‘s direction. “Now the good Doctor tells me that your most recent behavior was not, as I thought, due to irresponsible actions on your part.”

 

“The Doctor has already explained to me what happened,” Archie said. “I did not understand many of the technical terms he used, of course, but I believe I managed to grasp the basics.”

 

Sam nodded. “Those being?”

 

“Well, you see, I was exposed to the root at the same time that everyone else was, but the effects were not nearly as noticeable. It seems that it was affecting my brain, altering my neural activity on a very limited level, but enough to cause long-term problems.” Archie drew the container up as he felt another pang in his stomach, but it turned out to be another false alarm. “Immediately, there was only the heightened heart-rate and blood pressure, which made me feel warmer while everyone else was fainting and hallucinating; I was well enough to remain functioning, so I assumed that my reaction to the root was less severe and I never reported it. I even suggested to Doctor Tynte that he study my genetic makeup and try to develop an antitoxin for the rest of the crew.

 

“The more serious effect of the root became evident much later, when ever I tried to sleep. It appears that it was directly inhibiting my brain’s ability to initiate sleep; no matter how tired I was or how badly I wished to fall asleep, my brain would not allow it, even with a minor sleep aid. I am not certain, but I must have either been mistaken about how little sleep I was getting, or the root was dulling my ability to take the problem seriously. So, still, I did not report it. After six days without sleep, I began to lose my … grip on sanity. It may have been made even worse by whatever additional effects the root was having on my brain.” Archie smiled. “In retrospect, it is probably a good thing that Doctor Tynte did not make that antitoxin.”

 

“Yes,” Sam replied with a chuckle. “That is a good thing.”

 

“Well, when I finally came to Sickbay, the Doctor found out what the problem was and used medications to shield my brain from the root’s effects. With Sickbay’s atmosphere cut off from the chewana root vapors, I could recover here easily. Now I simply have to purge the stuff from my system.” He held up the container again. “That is waking me up from the periods of sleep I am catching up on.”

 

“Well,” Sam nodded and decided to switch to the topic of discussion that had brought him here. “I understand you’re trying to kinda get into the swing of some of the more … social aspects of being in this kind of community environment.”

 

Archie furrowed his brow and fidgeted uncomfortably on the biobed. “… sir?”

 

“I’ve been trying to figure out where you and I aren’t meeting up,” Sam continued. “I did a little digging into your personnel file, got in touch with a few of your Academy instructors. They said that the main crunch was social interaction. Would that be accurate?”

 

“Social interaction?” Archie answered with a frown. “Ah … you are, erm, probably upset by what happened in main engineering yesterday. I’d meant to speak to you about that.”

 

Sam nodded. “Well, actually, I was just going to say that having a raucous experience and then spending the next day or two vomiting it back up is one part of human experience that you can now say you've experienced. As for in engineering … as far as I'm concerned, you were experiencing a severe reactive state to the narcotic that was circulated throughout the ship, and it was affecting you not by your own choice. Now I may have jumped to conclusions at that point and gotten upset also, and I'm sorry about that. But in reality, I can hardly hold you accountable for your actions, and I see it as that we can only move forward from this point.”

 

Archie shook his head. “No, sir. I do not recall all that I did and said in main engineering, but I am aware that I was rude to both you and Lieutenant Black. I owe you both an apology for that. I will apologize to Lieutenant Black when I see her. Effect of a drug or not, I said many things that I regret.”

 

“Well, you’re not the only one who has regrets from the time the narcotic was in our systems,” Sam replied with his head lowered. “I had absolutely no right to snap at you when I did. It was completely unprofessional and unfounded.”

 

“Ah yes,” Archie said, recalling being admonished during his mission discussion with Captain Lo’Ami. He grinned at Sam. “Both of us were victims of the root, were we not? It just took me longer to catch up with you and the others. I forgive you for anything that you said, however.”

 

“I’m glad we’re clear on that. I think you’re a great engineer, Phoenix. You and Black both. And I’m happy to have you both on my staff.”

 

“That you, sir.” Archie’s stomach was beginning to settle and he could feel sleep tugging at him again. “I am happy to be here, even with all the dangerous narcotics in the air.”

 

“Well, that’s cleared out of the air now,” Sam said with a smile. “But I’m sure there’s some other ridiculous adventure awaiting us. There always is.”

 

“I look forward to it,” Archie replied, his eyes beginning to droop. “That is why I came out here and joined Starfleet.”

 

Sam pushed himself up on his cane, steadying himself as he stood. “I think it’s a good time to let you get some rest, though.”

 

“Chief …” Archie spoke up as Sam made ready to leave.

 

“Yes?” Sam looked back at him.

 

“If there is anything in my Academy record …” Archie began, his speech slurred by fatigue. “That suggests that I lead a life of solitude … understand, please, that it is only because I … desired it.”

 

“Archie,” Sam looked down at him, slightly confused. “What are you talking about?”

 

“Social interaction was not a … what is that very Human word you used? A ‘crunch.’” Archie pulled the container up to his chest. “It is just that … our people are so different. Please do not worry about that.”

 

“Look around you,” Sam said. “The Federation is full to the brim with different people. You don't have to feel like you need to isolate yourself because you're different. Even if there is some huge big important difference ... that doesn't change the fact that you are here now with a lot of people -- especially here in Starfleet -- people who rely on you, and you rely on them. It would be a shame in that situation to devoid yourself of also caring about those people just as fellow men and women of the Federation, heck, the galaxy. And if you're not eager to up and trust most people to interact closely with ... let me out and tell you that you can at least trust me as a friend. We'll start there. And see where it goes.”

 

“You do not understand. I wish that I could help you understand, but I am not permitted.“ Archie shook his head slowly, his eyes drooping more. “But … you and the Captain … are different from the others. I can trust you both, and I can speak to you both in a … suitable manner. I am more familiar with people like you. Do not worry about me, Chief.”

 

Sam put a hand on Archie’s shoulder. “Well, like I said, let’s start there. Sleep tight, Lieutenant.”

 

“Yes, thank you, sir. I will.” Archie’s head rolled to the side as he let himself fall asleep and dream more dreams. Sam smiled as he turned to leave Sickbay, nodding once more to Doctor Tynte on his way out.