Finding the Needle

[Isabeau Delevan 0]

Nick was standing in the doorway to one of the labs just off sickbay, talking to one of the med techs responsible for toxicology. "So this is the second test that comes up negative?" he asked her, scratching his head.

 

The Vulcan tech nodded. "Yes, that's correct. However, this does not mean there is nothing. We might just not be looking for the right thing." Nick considered this answer and frowned. These results didn't get them one step closer to finding out what was wrong with Sato and Douglas. The former had regained consciousness fairly soon. It turned out he had suffered a concussion from falling and hitting his head on a table.

 

"Ok, thanks T'Pau." With that, Nick turned and went looking for Isabeau. It didn't take him long to find her. She was talking to Sato so he headed over to them, smiling at the young man as he approached. "Doctor Delevan, would you have a minute, please?"

 

Isabeau glanced away from Sato, her eyes searching Nick's expression for whether or not this was good news or something else. It was noncommittal. She turned back to Sato who was now looking curiously between her face and Nick's and smiled reassuringly. "Daichi, I'll be back in a few minutes. Please continue thinking over the past week or so, thinking of where you were and what you did in as great of detail as possible."

 

"Will do, Doc." Daichi leaned back and closed his eyes; the lights still seemed too bright, even after Doctor Delevan had ordered them dimmed. He hadn't done anything out of the ordinary. He and Jerry Douglas had carried out the usual slate of tasks.

 

Isabeau looked sideways at Nick as he steered her towards the lab, and asked him, keeping her voice low, "What is it? Have you found anything?"

 

Nick shook his head. "No, and that's the problem. We still have no clue what is wrong with them. Did you find out anything that would give us some idea of what we're dealing with?" Instead of entering the lab Nick walked to a desk just right of the doors and activated a console. Then he looked expectantly up at Isabeau.

 

Frowning at Nick's answer, Isabeau looked down at the padd in her hand and read over the notes taken from Daichi's recounting of his activities over the past few days. "Nothing really sticks out. Daichi and Jerry...Ensign Douglas, they work together most days and the past few were no exception." She scrolled through, reading back what the two engineers had been up to. "Three days ago they were called up to the CT to work on a console not performing to Mr. Porter's high expectations. After that, they broke for lunch and then spent the afternoon crawling through the j-tubes trying to ascertain where a malfunction in the EPS relays was. That evening, Sato went to listen to a concert featuring a string quartet-" Isabeau looked at Nick. "Did you know Aegis had a string quartet?"

 

She looked back at the padd without waiting for an answer, continuing, "And Douglas had a date and took her out for dinner to the Replimat." Again Isabeau looked at Nick. "Ensign Douglas was most vocal that it's hard to impress a girl when all you can do is take her to the Replimat. He's wondering when or if the Midway shops and restaurants are ever going to be open again, and frankly, I wonder that, too." Again, not waiting for any response from Nick, she looked back to the padd. "Ok, two days ago, they were down in waste recycling performing normal preventative maintenance and that took their whole shift. Sato and Douglas ate dinner with a group of friends in the mess and then played poker with them."

 

Isabeau grinned at Nick, "Lt. Haggerty from Security cleaned up and Sato is convinced that he must have been getting ill then, because normally he beats the pants off of Haggerty. Yesterday, they both felt a little off while they worked in the j-tubes again, but the environmental controls were acting up and the heat was higher than normal in there. They each say they had something light for dinner and went to bed early." Isabeau dropped the hand holding the padd to her side and shrugged to Nick. "And that brings us to this morning and their work on the replicator unit."

 

Nick had taken notes while listening and now he was frowning. "So, we have no clue what happened and when it happened. You know what bothers me? It could be something they got in touch with weeks ago and while we're sitting here making wild guesses at what it could be, it might be spreading throughout the station. Damn!" Their focus right now was on finding out what had gotten those two men sick. So Nick repeated all they knew. "Alright, symptoms...dizziness, ataxia, vomiting and slurred speech. Since neither of them is drunk, I'd hazard a guess at cerebellar dysfunction." At this point he pulled up the results of the neural scans. "There is a decreased activity in those neurons leading from the cerebellum to the cerebral cortices. I just have no clue what's causing it." He looked back at Isabeau with an expression of frustration on his face.

 

She looked past him to the screen, noting the affect on the cerebellum appeared to be progressing. That was not good news, she thought, her expression reflecting her worry. "It's something they both came into contact with but I don't think it's airborne. No one else has come in with any of the same symptoms, at least not yet, and if it was being spread via the respiratory system we'd see other signs of that in the men and we'd have other complaints." Isabeau took a deep breath and absently tapped the padd in her hand against the side of her leg as she examined the possibilities. "I really think we're looking at a toxic agent, here, Nicolas. These guys end up in every nook and cranny of the station. I just wonder if they came upon something growing on its own, like a particularly nasty mold of some sort or if some hazardous chemical ended up in the wrong place." She looked from the screen to Nick's face. "Needle in a haystack is a phrase that comes to mind."

 

"That's about right. We might have to send people to scan every place where the two have been in the past week. Taking samples might be a good idea, too. What do you think, Isabeau?"

 

"I think you're right of course," she agreed. "It's a hunt, but the thing of it is, we could be scanning, be right on top of it and not find it. We're going to have to program the parameters very broadly. I don't see why we can't enlist Engineering's help in this. They already do comprehensive scans for everything from metal fatigue to vermin control."

 

He nodded slowly. "Yeah, and we should advise them to wear protective gear in the J-Tubes until we know what it is. I've already sent a note to Chirakis, informing her of the situation." Nick shrugged and a faint grin spread on his face. "Feel like spending the afternoon in the sewers?"

 

"Ah, Nicolas, it's no wonder that DJ finds you irresistible. So few men know how to extend an invitation like that with real panache," Isabeau replied dryly. She took one last look at the neural scans on the screen. "I guess it's a biosuit and a tour of the waste recyclers for the afternoon." She stepped back and tapped Nick lightly on the shoulder with the padd she was still holding. "You know, I'm pretty sure this kind if thing never makes it into Starfleet's recruiting materials."

 

Nick couldn't help but laugh. "Right. But at least you get out of sickbay for a while," he said teasingly, knowing how much Isabeau enjoyed adventures. Though he was pretty sure searching the sewer system was not what she had in mind. "I'll come with you."

 

"Ah, my Hero."