Wasting Away

[Nicolas Lepage 0]

Joint log by Isabeau Delevan and Nicolas Lepage

 

Why did it have to be waste recycling? Nick thought idly as he was on his way to deck 33. He was already wearing a biosuit and not sure it had been such a good idea to tell Isabeau he was going to accompany her. As CMO he could easily have asked someone else to help her take samples in the waste recycling units. But somehow he felt it wouldn’t be fair to have someone else do this rather unpleasant part of the job.

 

He had already double checked with Sato and Douglas in the hope they’d actually be able to get around going through the water and sewage section. Of course they were not quite that fortunate. At least they wouldn’t have to take samples of any hazardous materials. The two engineers had only worked in the solid waste and the water and sewage processors. Still, that left the prospect of wading through sludge and taking samples. Even though they weren’t even close to the waste recyclers Nick already felt like having a shower.

 

Isabeau carried her helmet in one hand and the testing kit in another. She shot Nick a sidelong glance, noting the grimly resigned expression on his face. She’d been surprised when he said he’d go with her. She planned to ask someone from Engineering, well, actually-Caelan, to go with her. “I always think it’s good to know everything that’s above or below me, Nicolas. This is actually a good opportunity to see some of the station that we normally would not.” She deliberately made her voice as cheerful as possible. ”Don’t you agree?”

 

Nick gave her an incredulous look. It took him a few seconds to reply. “Seeing new parts of the station is one thing, Isabeau, but the waste processing units? We’ll probably be spending the afternoon there. Call me weird but I’d prefer the holodecks.”

 

“Obviously, we’re not going to a party, but we’ve got the suits and the air will be filtered. Besides, if this is actually where Sato and Douglas picked up whatever it is that’s making them ill, we’re only 72 hours behind them.” Isabeau stepped out of the lift and looked around curiously, having never been on Deck 33 before, even during med drills.

 

Following her out of the lift, Nick grinned mischievously. “I could send you in there without the suit. You stay for a few hours and if you get sick we’ll know they picked it up here.” As they walked down the corridor he kept looking at the few doors to check whether they had already reached their destination. “Ah, yes. In there. After me I guess,” he said as he spotted the door to the maintenance room and walked in.

 

“You mean you could try to send me in without the suit,” Isabeau responded mildly, as she followed him into the maintenance area. “Sato and Douglas weren’t wearing any extra protective gear so it’s not like they were in wading through the tanks or anything.”

“With the engineering types, you never know.” Nick shrugged and put on his helmet. Sato had explained to him where they had been working and Nick searched the room for the hatch to the processing units.

 

“I s’pose,” Isabeau muttered as she secured her own helmet. “I programmed the tricorders very broadly. If we don’t hit pay dirt here, we’re going to be spending an awful lot of time in the J-tubes.”

 

Oh great, Nick thought. Just what I needed. Spending the night crawling through J-tubes and hunting whatever it is that got them sick. “Well, let’s hope we’ll find it here, then,” he said. “I don’t think we have enough staff to search every single J-tube on this station.”

“Oh, I’m always hoping for the best, Nicolas. You know me—I’m an optimist.” She followed him through the hatch, and then stood up, activating her tricorder immediately. “I guess we should decide on some kind of sweep pattern so we don’t miss anything.

 

Nick nodded in agreement. She was right, if they didn’t do this thoroughly they might be searching a long time yet. As he adjusted his tricorder settings slightly he said, “By the way, talking about engineering types, rumor has it you’re seeing Mr. Fletcher.”

 

“Nice segue,” she responded, not even rolling her eyes. Nicolas was always so subtle. “We’ve gone out a couple of times. He tried one of my caving holos with me and then we did a rock climbing holo he likes a lot.” Isabeau started scanning, still very sure that they were looking for something that Sato and Douglas had physical contact with as opposed to something they might have inhaled.

 

“Sounds perfect for you. Maybe we can go out to dinner some day, you know you, Caelan, DJ and I. I heard there’s a new restaurant going to open on the midway soon. I have no idea what it’s gonna be but knowing you, I’m sure you’re up for the adventure of trying even the most obscure food.” Nick smiled. He too, was prepared to try pretty much anything that would be offered on the Midway. It was about time the shops and such would open again. He was sick of replicated food and couldn’t wait to get a chance to buy fresh ingredients so he could cook decent meals again.

 

“I’ll ask Caelan if he’d like to do that, but honestly, Nicolas, if you think trying some new cuisine qualifies as adventure, then this explains why you always pretend like I’m putting you through the tortures of the Damned when we go hiking or anything.” Keeping her eyes on the tricorder, Isabeau continued walking slowly, making sure to sweep so that she wouldn’t miss a centimeter. “Still, don’t think I’m not excited that the Midway is going to be revitalized. Out here in the middle of nowhere, it’s nice to be getting some normalcy back.”

 

“Normalcy and fresh vegetables.” A blip on his tricorder distracted Nick for a second. “I think I found something.” He moved closer to the area where the tricorder had shown something that matched their parameters. “It’s on this access panel. I have a hunch we’re going to find something behind it, too.” With that, he knelt down and opened the panel revealing a small opening that allowed access to the pipes leading to one of the waste processing units.

The tricorder started beeping as Nick pointed it inside. “Ah yes, can you take a sample, please?” he asked, turning to look at Isabeau who was standing close to him.

 

Waiting till Nick shifted, sideways; Isabeau got down on one knee and carefully captured several physical samples, securing them in the kit. It didn’t look like much more than some smears of dirt but the deadliest substances were often invisible to the naked eye. “Ok, got it.” Getting back to her feet she took a look at what the tricorder analysis looked like. “Type of mold. If we’re lucky we won’t end up with spores all over the place. If, in fact, this is even the cause of their illness.”

 

Nick nodded and considered the implications if, indeed this stuff had gotten everywhere. “Let’s head back to sickbay for now and analyze this in the lab. We should advise engineering to clean this place. For now, I don’t see any reason to take further precautions. It’s pretty isolated. There’s no way this stuff can get into the water or anything.” He looked at Isabeau, waiting to see if she agreed with his assessment.

 

She looked around, and then back to Nick. “Engineering should continue to wear biosuits in this area until we can ascertain whether or not the mold is dangerous and is what affected Sato and Douglas. If it is the culprit, I would like to see that this mold be added to the regular sweeps as something to be checked for and eradicated upon discovery. They should also go ahead and check the ventilation system. If any of the spores became airborne, it would be nice to find them before they set up home.”

 

“Yeah, I’ll send them a report. Let’s go, I need to get out of this suit.” He knelt back down and closed the hatch. Before getting up he checked that it was fastened tightly and then he turned around and walked with Isabeau out of the waste recycling maintenance section.