Making It The Last

[Gidgiddoni 0]

The following log is from the perspective of Dr. Susan Nuress, the character I guest-played last week.

 

She moved deftly down the gravel path toward the town school, showing no signs of awkwardness inside the stiff material of the environmental suit. She led with her tricorder. She and her team of researchers had beamed down from the John Snow less than an hour ago. It was obvious that the community of Giiwyen had been overwhelmed by the sheer number of the dead. Of thirty-five hundred citizens exposed to this pathogen, nearly everyone was dead or dying. There might still be some alive in pockets or outlying areas where there'd been no exposure, but contracting this disease was basically a death sentence. At least for 99.6% of the population... so far. At least their remoteness had seemed to contain the spread. She looked back at the Challenger tactical officer behind her. An unsealed helmet was probably the last mistake he'd ever make. According to her scans, the pathogen was already inside his suit and almost certainly inside his system. Was it because the virus was airborne, or simply because he'd been handling samples?

 

Susan knew she was being dispassionate, but it was the only way to deal with so much death. Vulcans were lucky that way, but she'd know so few that were doctors. So it was here job to learn what she could, even from people who were doomed. If they could isolate the disease and keep it from spreading, there was a chance they could find a cure and keep others from suffering the same fate.

 

She entered the gymnasium alone. Hundreds of corpses lined the floor in neat columns. Some lay in cots, others lay on the blanketed wooden floor. They had died in this overflow facility, eventually untreated after the hospitals grew full and the doctors succumbed themselves. Humans, Efrosians, Caitans, and a few other species of all ages. She blinked harder as she saw the number of children.

 

She breathed deeply, momentarily fogging the front of her helmet. No time for grief. She fumbled at her shoulder strap for the medical satchel. She needed to collect tissue samples from as many of the deceased as possible. There wasn't time for a detailed autopsy on each, not now. She needed to see how the pathogen was able to affect different tissue, different DNA. She needed to cross-examine the effects at a molecular level. And she knew she was the best person to do it.

 

Alexei Juno might not agree with her self-importance, but then, he had always been a worthy competitor. She'd been disappointed to see him leave the Grima Center. But they both knew when to set the competition aside and pool resources. Until then, they'd use their own methods. He was here somewhere, probably blaming himself for the death rate, as if it was something he could control. He'd be pursuing his own leads, perhaps looking for more survivors. The Vulcan lieutenant had said they'd been unable to isolate a vector. Maybe he was tracking that down.

 

"Dr. Nuress, this is Hurley," came a voice over the helmet communicator.

 

She toggled the switch at her neck. "Maurice, what've you got?" she asked, kneeling down beside one of the cots.

 

"It may act like the Legato or Hutzel strains," Dr. Hurley answered, "but it hasn't responded to any of the normal treatment protocols. The local doctors and the Challenger people exhausted the whole series."

 

She adjusted her hypospray to take fluid samples from the cadaver in front of her. "Damn," she muttered. "Does Summers think he can synthesize a new series, something stronger?"

 

"Jaron thinks it's a waste of time if we don't isolate the propagation method," Hurley answered. "Bowman wants to work up a background on the survivors. There's actually a few recovering, but they're scattered around town. I'd like to see if we can relocate them somewhere central, maybe closer to the lab."

 

"See if they're healthy enough," she approved. "Where's Povill?" she asked, almost afraid of the answer. She knew he'd be most interested in observing the terminal affects in play. He'd come by his ghoulish reputation honestly.

 

"There's an end-stage patient laid out in the park," Hurley replied, "And another at the hospital cafeteria."

 

She placed the hypospray vials in the satchel, entering the patient information in her tricorder. "We've got a first-stage exposure he may want to observe discreetly. Lieutenant Savros will know all about it," she explained. They'd be able to get a baseline comparison from the Challenger medical database.

 

There was a pause. "Let's hope it's the last," Maurice added.

 

Susan nodded inside her helmet. "Let's make it the last," she insisted. "It'll take me another hour to gather and catalog these samples. Then we'll get to work."

 

Edited February 16, 2009 by Gidgiddoni