Theories

[Nicolas Lepage 0]

This log is brought to you by Medical Productions

 

Written by Drs Delevan, McKinny, Pavilion and Lepage

 

 

Mimi went around checking the patients finding that their DNA is all the same. She thought to herself; "Why does every stowaway's DNA have the same kind of deformities?" Hopefully, the rest of the staff was finding out about the cure.

 

Nick leaned against a worktop in the medical lab just off sickbay, his arms crossed in front of his chest, his gaze wandering over his assembled staff. He was more than satisfied with the way everyone had handled the situation. With most of sickbay packed into crates and boxes it had been a bit of a challenge taking care of fifteen patients who were, for the most part, in a bad condition. Malnutrition, infections, parasites, old injuries that hadn't healed properly and exhaustion, not to mention the psychological trauma of years of slavery and the subsequent flight already would already be quite a challenge to treat even under better circumstances.

 

Unfortunately, the effects of years of abuse by the Breen were not the only problem they had to worry about. Somehow those peoples' DNA had been tampered with. All scans indicated that there were additional hydrogen bonds in the stowaways' DNA. That meant the molecules became more stable. At first that didn't sound too bad but Nick was sure it wasn't a good thing to change DNA. There was a reason why DNA was constructed exactly the way it was and changing anything about it usually meant trouble.This reminded him of the Rixians and their devastating e pidemic that had ravaged their planet.

 

At this thought Nick couldn't help but wonder how Doctor Lanvin was doing...if she was still alive. He took a deep breath before addressing his staff. "So, we have 15 patients whose DNA scans show significant irregularities. And we have a medication," At this point Nick held up the small pouch with the powder that had been found in one of the J-Tubes. "Which we assume is supposed to stabilize DNA molecules. Now we need to do two things. First of all, and this is the most important part, as far as I am concerned, we need to find out what implications this has for our patients. What symptoms are caused by those irregularities? I know this won't be an easy task because our patients suffer from many different infections, among other things. Our second task will be to come up with suggestions why anyone would want to do this. We will have to work closely with the science department."

 

Nick looked up and noticed that everyone's eyes were fixed on him. He could see in their faces that they were determined to find out what was going on. "Are there any suggestions, ideas or observations...anything that might help us?" He looked around at every single one in turn, hoping someone would point out something he had missed so far, something that would help them solve this mystery.

 

DJ crossed her arms in front of her and leaned against the door jamb. "They many have been given this substance to offset cellular damage caused by working in those mines. There must be data available about the effects of long term exposure to raw dilithium on humans," she observed thoughtfully. "But I'm not up to speed on that." She paused a moment before continuing. "Once we've gained their trust, we might be able to get more information out of the stowaways," suggested DJ. "Right now, they're still uncertain about what's going to happen to them. Getting information out of Jenny was like pulling hen's teeth."

 

Isabeau listened to DJ, nodding in response to her statement that it had been difficult to get any real information from the stowaways and then turned her gaze to the workstation at her side, its screen still showing the results from the electronic resonancy scans. But she didn't really see them; her mind had turned inward.

 

According to Nick, the powder was a medication which effectively stabilized DNA. Why did the DNA need to be stabilized? It was obvious from their pitiful physical condition that the stowaways had endured terrible treatment in the dilithium mines as slave workers for the Breen. The Breen must have been providing the medication and the medication was important enough to the stowaways that they'd managed to bring it with them when escaping.

 

The Breen didn't strike her as a species that would care enough about their slaves to go to the trouble of genetically engineering a medication and then not bother to feed their investment. She tapped a string of commands to the work station computer and read for a moment, before turning back to the other doctors in the lab. "The Breen use temporal shielding on their ships and temporal phasing has been known to cause degradation at the microcellular level. The powder may be a response to that..."

 

Nick listened to his colleagues and suddenly a headache started to form somewhere behind his left eye. Both DJ and Isabeau had brought up good points. "Alright, so we have two theories. DJ, you think this might be related to the dilithium. I must admit I have no idea what long term effects prolonged exposure to dilithium might have but I'm sure we can find out somehow."

 

Taking a deep breath Nick rubbed his temple and close his eyes briefly before going on. "We also need to look into the temporal shielding thing. Does anyone have any experience with that?"

 

Isabeau glanced around, curious to see if anyone did have any experience with it. She sure didn't. She'd heard the Breen used it but wasn't even quite sure what it was or how it worked. There'd been a class in the Academy regarding temporal singularities and known medical complications and a very specific side effect that she'd recalled was tissue breakdown at the micro-cellular level. The stowaways all exhibited this symptom but there were probably a lot of things that could contribute to that. The stowaways also seemed to be suffering from a variety of respiratory ailments and DJ's thought that prolonged exposure to raw dilithium was a factor sounded very credible in light of all their other symptoms. She looked around the room and then back to Nick. "I don't have any experience with it but I'd be happy to research the possible physical ramifications of exposure to temporal shielding,"

 

"And how long has the Federation been using dilithium as a power source?" asked DJ with a shrug. It was a rhetorical question. They all knew dilitihum had been around for more than a hundred years. "There must be a large body of data relating to the effects of long term exposure to it." She grinned knowingly. "I'll bet we can find out more than we ever wanted know." She watched Nick for a moment as he continued to massage his temple. "Why don't I start researching the dilithium connection. In the meantime, you should take something for that headache."

 

Nick looked at DJ for a second. A smile spread across his face and he nodded. At least now they had a plan. "Alright, in that case, DJ, you look into the dilithium thing. Maybe you can also re-check the scans to see if we've overlooked something that might point in that direction. Isabeau, would you please research the effects of temporal shielding and see whether that fits what we're seeing here? Oh, and maybe it'd be wise to contact the science department, see what they've found out. Meanwhile Mimi, Lillian and I will take care of our guests."

 

"Sure, I'll see what's in the database and check with Science." Isabeau thought it would be a great chance to meet the other half of Life Sciences and there was always the hope that if they figured out what the underlying reason why the medication was needed they could possibly offer them some hope of an actual cure.

 

With that Nick pushed off the desk and strode off toward main sickbay. There was still a lot to be done. Most of all, the stowaways would have to wash and get new clothes. He hoped that Porter would be able to provide them all with quarters. However, for now they'd have to stay in sickbay until the medical staff and the science department found out what exactly was wrong with them.

Edited September 19, 2008 by Nicolas Lepage